Here's some photos of Holland - the previous entries show some of France and of Italy ... read more

Back home again - thought I'd stick a few photos in ... read more

Well we're almost home - just one weekend to go. We're drinking coffee in Haarlem (Netherlands not New York). We didn't make it to any internet cafeswhen we were in Italy, but we were busy. The day we arrived at Roger's flat in Barga had been a lomg drive - mostly mad Italian motorways including the Milan ring road - think M25, but crazier, with more unindicated lane changing.The last hour or so, only about 40 miles was on a twisty turny up and downy road, a bit like New Zealand, but with traffic and little villages everywhere. When we got to Barga, we just unpackedand chilled, sitting on the balcony looking at the wonderful view:range upon range of high mountains. Next day we worked out where the bus stop to Lucca was and caught a ... read more

Only a little European jaunt this time: we'll travel through England, Nertherlands, Belgium (perhaps), Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy in about the same time that it took to drive from Katoomba to Melbourne. We're off to Florence... well we're on our way. Had an uneventful ferry trip, then down to the Dutch border where we stayed in a nice hotel in nice walking country deciduous woods and rolling hills. We had a really good meal with some Trappist monk beer, Grimbergen, with a 6% alcohol count. Thence via Belgium Germany Luxemburg Germany again, into France and a slightly run down hotel in the Vosges that did really cheap very good gourmet food (£25 for 3 courses plus wine). Then things started getting exciting. We got stuck in a traffic jam on the motorway in Basel for ... read more

When the overnight train from Aswan arrived in Giza, we were less than 10 miles from the Giza pyramids, so we decided to visit. After refusing to part with 40 Egyptian pounds for a taxi ride there, we found a much more reasonable driver and set off. We reached the pyramid site without incident and were deposited on the edge of a scruffy village beside them. The taxi driver agreed to wait for us - I guess his chances of anyone wanting a ride back to town at 8.30am were slim - and off we went. We wandered about and took a few photographs and admired the sphinx (very small), but I guess we were suffereing cultural overload and weren't as appreciative as we might have been. It was also freezing cold and looked about to ... read more