One of the joys of travelling is meeting lovely, kind people who then become your friends. So over the years as I have travelled, exchanging my home and hospitality, I am lucky to have collected several wonderful friends who now have become travel companions. And so it was that Colleen and Peter from Albany, Western Australia invited me to join them on their trip to Italy. No day recuperating from the long flight from Oz ...they were up and running with me and off we all went wandering down our street through the local market marvelling at tubs of artichokes, cheeses and salami, and such beautiful flowers, then through St Peteres Square where the Maundy Thursday Mass was being broadcast onto big screens. After a stop for coffee and croissants it was on past Castel San ... read more

Yes I have been reading Mary Beard and swotting up before I got here, however I only got to 63 BC and the e-book had to go back to the library . SPQR is dotted about the city, even on the drain covers 'The Senate and People of Rome ' and there it is all the history laid out in this magnificent grand city. This is my first visit and I am awed at the grandeur and that's just in these first few hours on the HOHO bus loop around. everything is so much bigger and there is so much of it ... I really don't know what to do next!! Getting here was easy on the train from Le Marche (15 € for 2 h 30 min journey ) .. the train carriages were modern ... read more

We were on our way to Denver and were told to stop off at Fairplay where there South Park outdoor museum is located... Thanks Velma for the tip!! What a great place, it takes you back to the 19th century when the town here was bustling with folk searching for gold. You can tramp along the wooden walkways , hitch up your horse ( if you have one) to the posts peer into the stagecoach stables, the schoolhouse , the drugstore with its soda fountain , the saloon and imagine what it would be like to live in here. Great stuff ... I love outdoor museums , they give you a feel of what life was like. And it's good to,know that many of the artefacts inside the houses and buildings were donated by local residents. ... read more

Last time I was here I didn't get to Dead Horse Point so it was a "must do" this time. So following in the footsteps of Thelma and Louise ... Their last scene as they go over the Canyon was filmed here...but we had no intentions of following them that far ? So it is as all our days have been absolutely mind blowing as we drive on the tops of the Mesas and then reach overlooks to see canyons stretching far into the distance with glimpses of the Green Rover or the Colorado River below. And how we marvelled at the steep steep gravel tracks/ roads which went down into the canyons ... Would need a land rover or jeep for them and perhaps a nice cowboy to drive us in case we had any ... read more

If you are staying or passing though Torrey eat at Cafe Diablo, we had great food sitting out on the patio under the stars ... Such an enormous portion of pecan breaded chicken ( back in England chicken breasts are never that big ) that we had it for picnic next day. Capitol Reef National Park was another day of surprises with fantastic overlooks along canyons, massive cliffs and white rock domes and then nestling in a canyon the area of Fruita along by the Fremont River , where some enterprising pioneers built a homestead and found they could grow fruit and sustain life in this remote region. You can actually pick fruit yourself it is harvest time .... This is the only historic orchard maintained by the NPS and there are more than 3000 trees, ... read more