Blogs from Europe - page 11916

Finally, Italy! I've been waiting 22 years for this! After getting to Italy and a half day’s forced rest, I was restless to explore beyond the suburb in which my aunt and uncle live. My uncle, suggested the ruins of a castle called Mathilda de Canossa on a nearby (still a lengthy drive away) cliff-top, which we could quickly visit and then be home for dinner (dinner is very VERY important. I’m happy we kept to this rule). So we drove the rental car, a silver fiat punto, in a straight line on the autostrada. Then we began to weave through the hilly Italian countryside. Then we began to drive up a hill of a pretty significant height. Winding roads.. ah yes, car sickness, I’ve found you again! Needless to say, I got to ride ... read more

We left Birmingham (we stopped at Iain's last night to make the trip a bit easier) at 9am and 9 hours later we reached Oban on the west coast of Scotland. It's quite a busy port with views over to the Isle of Mull and has fairly rugged Highland scenery. We pitched up at the Oban Camping & Caravanning Park, about 1.5 miles south of the town on a windy thin road that followed the coast. It's a pretty cool campsite (though expensive at £10.50 for a pitch! ) The site also had several mallard ducks that constantly waddled the site. During the night a group of three males and one females slept next to our tent. The atmosphere was thick with midges so we sprayed on some of our Boots insect repellent. This only seemed ... read more

The other day Lelde and I took a bus to the coast to go for a walk along the beach. This is when we saw a beaver cleaning himself by the sea. This brings the thought that Latvia's ecology is stil well intact, with a system that supports many large mammals, including wolves and the odd bear! Yesterday I experienced something new. Lelde and I were waiting at a bus, stop to go home, when an old coach pulled up, opening it 's doors. We got on and Lelde informed me that this is a form of ''unofficial'' public transport, something that used to happen alot more often in Riga. Surely enough, the coach quietly made it's way along the normal bus routes, pulling in at the stops- very enterprising(read- illegal). The idiosyncrasies of life in ... read more

Weekend trip to Portugal - thanks Michelle! We were thinking of you, wish you could have made it ... read more

Giverny: A Day at Monet Headquarters The day was planned out pretty well - almost. Bob got up at 5 AM!!! I think he’s the type of man who needs to have “chill” mornings, not just get up and go. So he had his coffee and read his online news while Tita Lut and I stayed in bed until it was our turn to get ready. We met Leroy and Melissa at 8 AM at Metro Villiers. It was a short ride to Saint-Lazare to connect to the train toward Rouen. The train ride itself went pretty fast considering it was just 45 minutes. I guess we were all still wide awake and energized, so we talked a lot…believe me the other way around was not the same. The train dropped us of at Vernon. From ... read more