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Published: August 12th 2007
Rome
Rome - near our hotel.Hi everyone!
Sorry we haven’t been able to do another blog for such a while - its been crazy!
So, we start with Italy. We spent 3 days in Rome before the Contiki tour started which worked out really well. We had some fantastic meals - soooo yummy! Found some more 1 litre beers - yummy too! And did all the sightseeing stuff - so cool!
The Collosseum was interesting. The line to get in was HUGE - it went about half way round the bloody thing and in the hot sun so we thought twice about it, but then there were guys rounding up people outside for a guided tour and for $10 (euro) on top of the ticket price they would take us STRAIGHT in AND give us a 45 min guided tour of it, which made all the difference! It was very much worth the $10e more. The stories are pretty amazing.
The ruins where Caesar died were unreal. We spent ages there and so many great photos! I (Kylie) found Rome to be one of the best places in all of Italy because it just has so much to offer. Every ten metres
Rome
Rome - near our hotel. you could actually stop and take photos of a new thing. Its got so much history and so many more ruins and older buildings etc. It was wonderful. Its also where we started to eat lots of Gelato. Someone should open a proper Gelato place at home!!! Very very yummy and SOOO many flavours!
The Contiki tour took us up to Venice first which is just like you imagine it to be really. Its gorgeous little streets and bridges over the water, the Gondola’s EVERYWHERE!!! We were reminded heaps of the scenes from ‘The Italian Job’ - you know the movie - when they steal the safe from the Venice home and drop it down into the water and then there are speed boats racing through it all - well we saw some of those speed boats do their thing through the alleys and my god it was awesome! I would be PETRIFIED of driving one of those things through there and they do it with speed and accuracy that just blew our minds! VERY entertaining!!!
There were Venetian masks everywhere and Venetian glass items (got me one of them!) and lots of Africans selling fake LV and Prada
Rome
Rome - near our hotel. etc - but really really dodgy!!! Ate some more Gelato too in Venice - yummmm….
After Venice we made our way to Florence and were pretty lucky to actually have a hotel in the heart of the city, instead of AGEEESSS out of the city like Venice & Rome. Florence was really quite small in comparison and didn’t have tooooo much to offer. It did have the famous ‘David’ Statue though, and we visited the two replica ‘David’ statues which you are actually allowed to take photos of. Not as big as we thought, but still a nice piece of art with quite a story to it. Oh - and ate lots more Gelato!!!
Then after Florence we headed back to Rome, where instead of doing the Contiki tours and hanging about waiting for the group we took off and went back to visit our favourite restaurant in the centre of the city where we had previously stayed. Payed $15euro for ONE BEER (that’s equivalent to a cheap CARTON of beer at home!!!) Though this was still not the most expensive beer we have brought so far!!! Its sending us broke! But still worth it!
Then what,
Rome
Rome - near our hotel. oh yeah, we finished the Contiki (met some really cool & lovely people there too) and had to find our way to the airport.
Because Contiki had booked us in a place soooo far out of the city, it then was said to get to the airport would cost a fortune by taxi, or to do it cheap we would have to do a lot of train & bus transfers and it would take a long time. So many people on our tour had been ripped off by dodgy Italian taxi drivers to get to the hotel FROM the airport so everyone was really quite worried about using them. We had been quite lucky in all our dealings - they put the meter on and were very helpful. I think what made the difference is that wherever Matt & I go we use their language (or at least try to!) and they really respect that. All the people that had been ripped off didn’t, so I think the drivers took advantage of the situation. Italian is quite similar in words to Spanish, especially thankyou, yes, no etc, and we had been using them for a week prior. So when
it came to leaving the hotel and getting to the airport, we went and asked the reception for help and he said he could get us a ‘private car’ to the airport for $60euro. This is about $100 au. Other people were booking taxi’s and getting a quote for $80euro. So we decided to try the ‘private car’ not quite knowing what it was! When it turned up peoples heads turned! We were very very happy! It was a brand new you beaut Mercedes with all the bells & whistles and a driver who was very well presented, took all our bags, opened our doors, and smiled the whole time!!! He even stopped somewhere and walked me to an ATM so I could get some more money out. Service was great! So we got to the airport cheaper than some others AND got there in STYLE!!! LOL Needless to say he got a tip out of it too!
So, back to Madrid for a stopover to get to Heathrow UK, and luckily our connecting flight was in the same terminal and we didn’t have to go through immigration and it was running late - so we made it!!! We
Rome Ruins
Ruins in Rome. 1st day sight-seeing got into Heathrow airport, were in the first half of the line for immigration and it took us over an hour to get through! Holy crap! There were HUNDREDS of people behind us and planes were still coming in and they only had three immigration officers working! Frustrating! There was this NAZI immigration officer working who was shouting at people and threatening everyone to arrest them and stuff, so he kept us entertained! Some aussie guy a few behind us asked one of the staff there why they don’t have more people on when they are so busy and she said theres nothing she could do (that was it in a nutshell anyway) and then the Nazi dude came barging over and started yelling at him and it went something like this:-
N: is there a problem sir!?!?!?
A: No - no problem.
N: Well why are you abusing my colleague then!
A: I wasn’t abusing her - I asked her a question and she answered me.
N: Why are you abusing her - is there a problem? You are abusing my colleague, what is the problem!?!? (yelling over and over giving himself such a head-swell)
A: Um, I
Rome Ruins
Ruins in Rome. 1st day sight-seeing wasn’t abusing! There isn’t a problem!
N: (Snatches the aussies passport) give me that sir. Theres a problem
A: (sighs!)
Nazi walks off and eventually comes back with the passport and gives it back but now has something new in it! Says to the guy ‘my superior immigration officer will see you when you get to the desk sir, he’d like to talk to you!’
So you can imagine, when he gets to the desk, he is taken into a room, and probably kept there for HOURS just for voicing a little frustration!!! We all kept our mouths tightly shut!
Then we had to get our bags, and two of three turned up. ARGH! So had to wait to check up on the other one. It didn’t get the connecting flight and was still in Spain. It would be coming in on a flight the next day. It didn’t get to us for two days, but at least it wasn’t lost!
Had a few days visiting my parents old houses, where they were married, met, grew up etc which was great. We were with my Uncle Phil & Aunt Lyn. Their place is gorgeous and I remembered
Rome - LV
Found Rome! quite a bit of it.
I went and visited my Grandparents graves and met my Grandfather on my Dad’s side for which I believe would be the first time. (I don’t think I went there when I was 6 yo) He passed away before I was born. My nan was there too which was a very big surprise to me (a nice one) because she was my closest grandparent having been living in Australia with us for years and then passed away in Oz. It was really nice, sad, but happy, but really really nice.
Then we took off to Paris! Woohoo! Bonjour Paris! We went with my 2nd cousins the first day Liz & John, and then the lovely Kirsty joined us (Johns gal) and Liz took off to a Prince concert! We stayed on the top floor looking over Paris and could see the Eiffel tower! It was lovely. The only thing was that it rained most of the time. Didn’t put much of a downer on it though - it just meant that we had to stop in more café’s etc to have more beers!!!! LOL
At night we watched the Eiffel tower light up
and then sparkle. It was beautiful.
We ate so much food! We had to try everything!
And this is where one of the best ever things happened!!! I brought my FIRST REAL LOUIS VUITTON!!!! I will have to update those photo's later - but it was UNREAL!!! I couldnt wipe the smile off my face for hours!!! WOOOHHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
So back to the UK and then we have just been with Sheila & Paul (Sophie’s Parents) and we have had a blast! And I thought Sophie could drink!!! Paul gave me a few headaches!!! Hehehehh.
Then - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MATT!!!!!
On the 10th, We went to the Isle of Wight, visited a wicked castle, then traveled further on the island to a really nice Waterfront restaurant where we had a nice birthday lunch for Matt - a whole lobster & a big steak! Yum! Oh, and some prawns & crab! Very nice food.
That night we had booked in at one of Sophie & Kye’s fav places for dinner & drinks owned by one of the gayest guys in town - he is so nice! Funny! And we had a bit of a chat to him
Rome - Vatican
St Peters Museum at the Vatican and spoke about Kye & Soph and I mentioned it was Matts birthday so he bought out a choc cake with a fireworks candle in it (seriously- fireworks, not wax!) and played a happy birthday song soooooo loud through the whole place and everyone there sang Matt happy birthday! It was so funny. Matt was bright red when Mark (the gay owner) gave him the cake and smiled all cutelike at him!!! Ive got the perfect photo! LOL Gold!
So yesterday was our last day with Sheila & Paul and we took off to Stonehenge. That was great. A really nice day out. After that we went down to the Marina nearby and watched the boats going in and out of the Lock which was heaps of fun - checking out all the amazing boats and stuff, and then, this family of swans came in and watching them was HILARIOUS!!! When the gates were opening and the water was pouring in they were trying to get out and paddling with all their might! It was really really funny to watch but you might have had to be there to get how funny it was!
Right now Im sitting
Rome - Vatican
St Peters Museum at the Vatican on the coach on our way to Oxford to my Aunty & two nieces and Matt is sleeping next to me. Im getting a little travelsick and have had to sop a few times! Typing on the coach isn’t the greatest idea! Oh well.
We have tried hard to get online and update blog etc, but when we have either the blog site has been temporarily having problems or the interent has been down altogether! Sux.
Well hope you are all doing well. Time is going pretty slowly for us over here which is great! We have about another 2.5 weeks yet! Cool!!!
Happy Birthday to Danielle & Wendy - hope you had a great time at your party Elle. Cant wait to see all your Birthday Party photos - bet it was a great night and sorry we couldn’t share it with you.
Thanks to those who sent Matt Happy Birthday messages/emails/called - he didn’t expect it and was really touched! Cheers!
Speak soon and enjoy our fav pics from the last week and a half - there are HUNDREDS more of them!!!!
xxx ~ K&M ~ xxx
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