Well this is confusing

I am off on noth trip and I haven't completed writing about the previous trip. Well never mind. I am at Auckland airport eating eir Internet bandwidth. 1 hour for my first flight. But the big question is. Can I update Facebook from here?

16th July 2010 - Rome Trip Day

Breakfast was a bit odd as in its selection,but yoghurt and bread filled us up. Then off to the Colosseum

It took us about 30 mins to get there after a short trip on the Rome underground (Castro Pretorio to Colosseo). The Rome Metro is not very extensive with only two lines. Apparently is really had to build more stations with all the remains in the ground means that it takes years as they have to be preserved first. I was tempted to take up the tours being offered but guides around the entrance gates but Gemma convinced me to ignore them.  

The Colosseum is grander than I imagined, it looks like I expected but I was not ready for the scale. It would really have been something to see working. We passed on the Palatine Hill as it was very hot and we had time issues. We went to a small food bar and had pizza slice and lemon drink. This was some of the best food we had in rome, though all the food was good if not the service. Then we walked to the restaurant to get the pictures. While we were walking along I noticed that Italian rubbish collectors are very pretty, we need to upgrade ours. We just hung around the square then back to the hotel to drop off the pictures and get ready for the trip.

We made our way to  the tour pickup point. This is the tour that Gemma was arranging when she was cooking me in the night with the assistance of her Italian boyfriend. Its a very small office with two seats for about 30 people. So we shuffled around and inside and out while we wait. There are several tours starting at the same time but it all gets sorted out. By 15:00 we were on the way to Tivioli.

Its a 45 min trip which was done at a good pace with decent roads. This place used to be where well off Romans came during the hot times. Quite a nice place.

We start off by looking at the Villa d’Este and in particular at the water gardens. The whole water system is powered by gravity, the fountains and the pools etc. Just putting your hands in the ice cold waters is quite a thrill. I found Pegasus and had a shot taken there. 

After a time we went to Hardrian Villa. The guide was working a scam of trying to get people not to go to the Villa so he could keep their entrance fee for himself. 

Unfortunately we only had one hour. Again I  did not expect the size of the place what can it have been like when it was working! 

Back to Rome in time for tea. We had dinner in a restaurant near the hotel. This time the waitress was a laugh and so we left her a tip which she seemed to be surprised about. The food was good and the beer was cold.

The place is full of Italian tourists, I expected foreign tourists but I did not expect so many italian, silly eh

Its really hot, the shower in the hotel was a god send.

I like Rome a great deal must come back again.

15th July 2010 - On a train

Not to Rome yet.

We slept badly as the ride is really rough and the noise level very high. Only coffee as there is no food left on train. The crew say they have no change but of course they have change they are just stealing from people. Time passed and so did Italy though there is no sign of the breakfast that they said they would pick up at a stop and we are 5 hours behind schedule. The guard says that we will be 4 hours late into Rome. This train is spectrally  bad (the company running it has lost the contract and service has since ceased)

Spoke to a person in the next compartment she thought she had left enough time to make a 3 hr connection in Bologna and is now very worried. They gave us water tea and a small stale bread for breakfast and we were 3 1/2 hours late into Rome Termini.

The hotel was about 10 mins walk from the station. Daniel checked us in, the place is spread over several floors but strangle the lift does not server any of them! The lift stops at mezzanine floors not attached to the real floors. 

The room is small and clean. The it was out again. Walked to the pantheon. At last a really impressive building. Stopped at a water fountain that they have scattered around, it was really cold and really good. Then a good walk to nova something. Quite packed, we had drinks at a cafe but the spoilt brat of a waitress was not impressed when I did not leave a tip.

Then down to Argentine square that Gemma knew. It was a bit early for dinner so we had a walk around. Watched a woman trying to be run over by a tram! Lots of Roman stuff, surprise!

We had a very nice dinner, with (for me) a 1L beer. Afterwards we took a taxi back to the hotel. The driving was fine, no like I had imagined it. When we got back Gemma realised that she had left her paintings in the restaurant , we phoned them and confirmed that they were there.

Went to bed, woke up boiling as the air con was off. Wondered where Gemma was, turns out she had snuck down stairs to see the boy on reception, as she had taken the room key with her the air con had switched off.

She was down there quite a while as she was trying to get a trip for the next day sorted and needed to send a fax. While the boy was sorting that out she had the work reception including booking some people in and handing out keys etc. Still she also managed to get us some free Wifi.

14th July 2010 - Outward from Paris

We had breakfast in the crypt again, still no air. We suspect that it is like this to make sure that we don't hang around and have a second cup of coffee.

We have decided to drop Vienna from our plans as transport from Venice to Vienna is to hard to arrange and seems to take up to much time. We have decide to replace it with Prague instead. At this time we have not completed our trip paperwork, we seem to be making it up as we go along, which is not really what we planned but seems to be the way its working out. Gemma had booked us into a hotel in Vienna that charged E99 if you cancelled which upset me, but after the trip I realised that even though they said they would charge us they never did.

Back to the Gare du Nord to take the Metro across to the other stations. In the Gare du Nord I watched a french teen run up behind Gemma just as she went through the turnstile which resulted in her not having to pay for her ride. She did this quick enough that Gemma did not realise what she had done. (I think Gemma would have blocked her if she had noticed) This is because your ticket is only checked as you enter the station not as you exit. This seems to happen a lot in Paris as we saw it elsewhere. The Metro system is still working well today.

Gare du Lyon still stinks today. We have somehow got lost trying to find the left luggage office. This seemed to have happened because we approached the station from a slightly different angle today which threw us off. Everything coming in to the luggage office is X-ray’d but I am not sure how effective it is as the guy watching the screen has his eyes shut.  Then its a Metro ride to the Louvre

Its a very busy day today is free entry. (Bastille day) Many fantastic paintings but what is it with the Italian slut. People swanning around as if its a religious icon, but its such a poor quality painting 

We walked and walked, it was packed as you would expect. On the way out we realised that they had closed the building to new people arriving because there were to many people for fire and safety.

My feet we hurting by lunch time, we used a food place that was as far away as we could from the crowds but we still had to wait 45 mins for food. It was good food though. Service was slow so I  suppose you are not supposed to rush. The lasagna and crepe was brilliant and the large beer a life saver. We had a window seat so that we could watch the poor people who had not come earlier enough queue up in the rain. One thing that amazed us was all the crowds were in the main areas, it was not hard to go down some gallery and find yourself alone.

As the underground station was shut we had to take a walk on the surface to another station. When we got there I was on the platform when I felt my wallet move, I turned round and found myself face to face with a gypsy girl. She was in disguise in jeans and T shirt but that is what she was OK! She realised that I was on to her and jumped back off the train just as the doors shut. I almost fell over when the train started but at least I kept my wallet. 

We went back to Gare du Lyon, for some reason Gare du Bercy is not on the metro system. There is a tunnel that leads from a Metro station by that name to almost there but not the whole way. I wonder how that happened. And what a shitty station it is. Its an old autorail terminal and you can see all the old loading/unloading yards. We were promised various things in the sleeper lounge (Wifi, coffee, tea etc) but nothing turned up just water. Even the air con was not working, quite a let down but little did we realise that the whole train ride was going to be spectacularly poor.

We were 20 minutes late on to the train and then 1 hour late out of the station. Much running around of the train crew,blowing of whistle, but not much action. The lights in our compartment blew when Gemma turned them on so we had a dark trip. One of the beds is broken and they did not attach a restaurant car and there was no tea supplies on the train,what a fuck up. But it gets far worse tomorrow!

13th July 2010 - Paris

It was a bit of a struggle getting up this morning. Breakfast was in a sort of dungeon. You went down a flight of stairs to the cellar of the hotel where there were two small rooms either side of the bottom of the stairs. The food and some sitting places was on the left with an overflow area on the right. The food was fine, normal continental food, cheeses, cold meats breads etc. the only problem was that there was absolutely no air flow. Just about suffocated. Still we managed to refuel some how. 

The wifi in the lounge was working fine and after some admin work it was off to the Gare du Nord. It's getting easier to move around now as its easier to orientate ourselves, on the way to the station Gemma and I spent our time looking at the bars and restaurants working out where our dinner will be this evening as there seems to be a good selection in that area

The underground station is under the main part of the station. There is quite a queue for the ticket office. We decide to buy a 3 day ticket so as to not have to queue like this again.  The pest of Paris (gypsies) were working the queues but I did not see them get anything. They are everywhere at the moment being a real pest. The ticket turns out to be a very uninspiring paper slip, after being used to real smart cards I don't think much of this. The trains are packed but frequent with stations noticeably closer together than London and with short dwell times. It seems like a good service. 

We walked along the river bank to the Effie tower, getting there about 10:30. It is packed of course with queues winding all over the area underneath the structure. We decided that the wait for the lifts was just to much but Gemma wanted to try the stairs that are in one corner leg. I was not to sure about that but decided I could do it at a slow pace. However then we found that that queue was over an hour long as well that finished any idea of going up the towers for us and instead we set off up the park towards the museums at the other end. 

On the way we stopped at a watering hole. Used the toilets which I was pleased to see where clean, it seems that the poor toilets that I remember from my youth have finally been replaced. All the public toilets we came across in France were clean and pleasant. 

After a very strange ham sandwich and a nice orange we set off again. We had trouble getting into the palace of the armies as we somehow managed at approach it from behind. It was quite good but not as good as the buildup on the website and reviews suggested it would be. Still we spent a happy couple of hours there and then had lunch in their canteen. , baguette , cream caramel and more original. Oringina is something that I remember from my trips to France as a youth. It's strange that the French used to not allow it to be exported. 

Then Gemma wanted to visit a textile museum so we under-grounded across to it. We walked for about half an hour then I decided I  had had enough and sat at the entrance , people watching.  After what seemed like half of eternity Gemma emerged happy but foot sore. We went back to a underground station in a different part of the general hotel area just to see what that was like. We discovered that there was a bar between there and the hotel so we stopped for some well deserved drinks. 

Back at the hotel we had a nap then went out for dinner. We went to la Luna again as we had seen some more items on their menu that we decided needed investigation. The owner was pleased to see us again. I had some really nice egg salad Gemma had pizza she was a bit overwhelmed when it arrived as it was about the size if a small planet. 

We then decided to check out the Gare du Lyon and the Gare du Bercy. Neither stations are at all attractive and at 23:00 both come across as sleazy. The path from the Gare du Lyon to the Gare du Bercy is not at well marked though it is easy to follow. The smell however caused us to rename it the Gare du pissy. The left luggage office was closed at that time but we now knew where it was and it's opening hours. 

Lots of places were closing now even the bar where I hoped to have another beer was shut. Went we got back to the hotel we had a shock as it was locked up. However after ringing for 5 mins the night porter showed up and let us in. We were really tired, Gemma did not even manage to eat the rest of her pizza. 

Tomorrow it's some more Paris and then off to Rome!   

12th July 2010 - London to Paris

We left Dad on the 08:58 Honiton to London express. Just kidding about the express bit, in fact the train seemed to take for ever to get there. Then rather than muck about with bags on the underground we took a Black cab to St. Pancras. 

The station was packed really packed, everybody and their dog was of on the trains today. We had plenty of time so we decided to have lunch at the station. What is it about British train station food that no matter what it is they fuck it up? It was just sandwiches from a fancy sandwich place but it was the worst that I have had for a long time. Why do they get it so wrong when other places can get it right?  

At 13:45 we were called to the train, as expected it was as full as the station had been. I am sure that the Eurostar had more space when I travelled on it before. It seemed quite packed and for an international service there was only just enough space for luggage after a great deal of moving of bags around. There was also no trolley service!  Tea from the buffet was black as I forgot that the default was no milk and that you have to ask if you want it.   They could do a better job I am sure. Still the service was smooth and fast and in not time we were at the Gare du Nord. 

We were only 4 mins late arriving. Gemma navigated to the hotel with only a bit of confusion as we initially could not tell which exit of the station we had come out of. We almost collided with a motorcycle crossing the road as Gemma looked the wrong way on the crossing which resulted in some words between Gemma and I. The Hotel le Rocroy is an interesting hotel, strange 70’s decor in the main areas but refitted in the rooms to a good standard. The receptionist is about 21 and typically French, Gemma reasoned that if she had been more laid back she would have been lying on the floor

Free wifi in the lobby but 3G is not working for some reason. After settling in its out for some exploring. We walked for a while working out where the various things we needed were located. For example where the nearest underground station was and found a nice bar. We ended up having dinner in an Italian restaurant La Luna, it seemed strange to be eating Italian in Paris. On the way back I saw a bunch of really rough women hanging around out side of a bar. Increased my pace (away) from there. 

Then we turned in. However at 23:30 we were woken up by the fire alarms going off. We had to evacuate to the street we Gemma claimed I did not do fast enough. It was a false alarm caused by a guest smoking in his room. 

11th July 2010 Avebury and Swindon

After a continental breakfast it's off to Avebury to see the standing stones. These stones predate Stonehenge. Unlike there these are tastefully done and in sympathy with the surrounding landscape. Perhaps because this is a Nat Trust site and not English Heritage.  Collocated with the stones and surprisingly interesting is a display of the work of the guy who invented negative photographs! (Fox Talbot) Another interesting place that we probably did not spend enough time at but it's time to set off to Fiona's. 

She does not live where I thought she did!  They are much closed to Swindon than Bath, on a modern estate on the edge of a traditional village. Fiona has turned into her mother, a fate for many daughters I guess. They have a nice modern house with a decent garden where we spend the time chatting and drinking cider. We caught up with lots of news and gossip. Unfortunatly francoise was unable to make it. When we had lunch realized that they did not know that Gemma was a veggie. Can't remember how we sorted that out.....

There is the possibility that they will visit NZ as their boy is out here for a while. 

It's 15:00 now so we move on, it's Gem's surprise. The Swindon steam museum is around here, we only have an hour until it closes but that should be enough to have a decent look as neither Gemma or I tend to hang around.  Several times on this trip we are the last people in a museum and  we end up being headed out because the staff are trying to close up. 

It's based on the old Swindon rail works. Not as much stuff as I would have expected but still very interesting and it kept us busy for our hour. 

Good motorway drive back to Honiton. It's time to give the car back, we have done about 1500 miles ( funny to be using miles again) and it has run very well. The girl on reception is not interested in checking the car ( its grubby but intact!), but she does emphasize that gypsies are in the area and I must lock the car up well as they are stealing everything.