After a better night sleep for both of us, we were up and had breakfast in our apartment. We had bought some lovely fruit and yoghurt and also a baguette which we still had some cheese from Rome to eat with. I found the right coffee for the coffee device and heated up some milk to make myself a flat white (the Italians call this cappuccino). We then walked in towards the Duomo as we decided we wanted to at least go inside but at best walk up the Duomo so would see if that was possible. Firstly Janine wanted to sort oit her molbile phone at the Vodafone shop as she wanted to confirm just what she could use. After this we walked to the Duomo and spoke to someone that was selling tickets for ... read more

I woke around around 7:30 this morning so I could spend sometime on updating my blog. By 9 both Janine and I were up and after we had showers etc. we ventured out in search of breakfast. The first couple of places didn't appeal much but the third one seemed to have just what we needed. We both had a half toasted sandwich each with freshly squeezed orange juice. I had a cappuccino and Janine had a black tea. Very nice! We headed back to the apartment to finish packing and then checked out at 11:30am. We walked to the Metro stop near the Colosseum, stopping at the supermarket to pick up a fresh baguette and a bit more prosciutto. It was another hot, hot day today so we took our time. We bought our tickets ... read more

Slept in until 9am which I needed as I am still suffering from this damn head cold. The morning was spent enjoying the apartment and to catch up on this blog. I just never found the time to do it when I was visiting people and once you get behind it takes quite an effort to catch up. I had breakfast of cereal and yoghurt with a nice apricot juice. I didn't venture out until well after midday and my first stop was the Colosseum (again!) but this time there were so many people around! From here I walked to the Roman Forum and explored around this area. So amazing. I have memories of both the Colosseum and the Roman Forum from my time on Contiki - a zillion years ago. I can clearly remember the ... read more

This morning i was up early to shower, pack and eat some breakfast as Tonz and I are going to pick up Vince & Alison at 9:15am. Before I left, Nina came upstairs with Evi to say goodbye and then I went downstairs to say goodbye to Muma & Pupa. Always sad to say goodbye but hopefully I will see them all agIan in the not too distant future. Our plan today is to pick up a hire car from Köln airport for a road trip to Switzerland! We picked Vince & Alison up pretty much on time and got to the airport around 10am. Tonz dropped us off and we all said farewell. We are all so grateful for everything he did for us. Truly a fabulous host. After a bit of confusion on where ... read more

Big day planned today so was up and ready. Had coffee and a lovely smoothie Tonz made. He has been living in Germany for such a long time that he sometimes has trouble remembering the English word for something. He was explaining all the items that were in the smoothie - banana, avocado, berries and then he says with mince. I'm like "what..... wait a minute...." until we worked out he was saying Mint but the German words is minze. Haha - all good, there was no raw meat in the smoothie. Tonz went and picked up Vince & Alison and then we all walked to the Strassenbahn Linie 1 (this is the tram). We changed over to the train at Deutz and then got the regional train to Linz. Tonz & Susi had been on ... read more