Blogs from Europe - page 10051

First off, I'd like to apologize for taking so long to post an entry! It was my intention to post at least one per day, but... well, I'll explain later. So thanks for being patient, and I'm planning on doing one-a-day until I'm back! Whew! Okay, so on the first day of my trip (actually just the flight part), I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie with my friend Laura. It was fantastic, I'm really glad I went to see it, and was even more excited when they went to PERU! Nazca AND Cusco... I can't wait! We caught the 1pm show, my flight wasn't until 9:25pm, so I figured I should have plenty of time to get to the airport after the show. Looking back, I'm glad I planned for the worst ... read more

Friday 23rd May We had a bit of excitement (and a near disaster) in the morning. I was taking some last minute pictures of the B&B while Brigitte and Yves helped Marion back the car into the tiny lane. As I clambered into the car it rolled forward onto my shoe, trapping my foot. I yelled "Reverse, reverse!" and the wheel moved forward a millimetre. "No reverse!" I yelled. The car moved back releasing my shoe. I quickly clambered in checking my foot. Miracously, the car wheel had only trapped the upper leather of the shoe to the sole, somehow missing my toes by scant nanometres. After negotiating the narrow winding streets of Suze la Rousse we were back in the countryside of vineyards and terracotta villas. Some of the vineyards we passed may well be ... read more

When organising this trip, we noticed that the blog boards were full of every man and his dog expressing an opinion over which is better: Pompeii or Herculaneum. Well we had the time, so we decided to over-expose ourselves to ancient Italia and visit both in the same day. Maybe not the wisest plan, as it ended up not really a question of which site was ‘better’ as they were both really different. We visited Herculaneum in the early morning before the sun had really gotten some heat into it, and before the site had any other tourists in it. Apart from the odd school group or architecture students, the place was virtually deserted. It was amazing because all the buildings in Herculaneum are open to be explored and because the site is so much smaller ... read more

For my last bank holiday in the UK, I headed to the weird and wonderful Iceland, joined by Alison and Kiwi friends Sarah and Glen (pronounced "Glin"). We based ourselves in Reykjavik (staying at a really cool place called Home Luxury Apartments - if anyone is looking for a hotel tip) and headed off in the 4WD each day to explore the sprouting geysers, lava fields, ice-capped mountains, and thundering waterfalls that make up Iceland's breathtaking landscape. We didn't see any of the elves or trolls that lurk in the moutains according to Icelandic folklore, but we did get a chance to do some traditional dogsledding which was fantastic fun (the dogs were so cute - although apparently deadly), and we made the most of the near 24 hour sunlight. I hope everyone is well back ... read more

From Nimes, I headed north to the Gorges de l’Ardeche. This is an impressive gorge created by the Ardeche River cutting through limestone rock. The road along the river is quite scenic, but not a place you want to try to get a knee down. I can see why the south of France is so popular as it's dotted with scenic villages and farmhouses. I continued west to the Gorges du Tarn. While not as famous as the Gorges de l’Ardeche, I thought the Gorges du Tarn was just as impressive if not moreso.... read more