When you are having a great time you often don't have time to blog

We have had a great four days. Albeit it is often hard to leave our base of Vellano, driving down the mountain with the morning sun making our little hill town shiny always makes us smile.  

On Saurday we drove quite a long way to the little town of Montepulciano.  Now our source for Italy is usually Rick Steves and this and Volterra are his favourite hill towns and I can't say we disagree with him.  We had a lovely day strolling through this picturesque little town, lunching on calzone pizza and drinking spritzes. It was a glorious day and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  We headed from here to find this classic Tuscan scene which was hidden away in some tiny village.  We had to drive over dirt roads but were pretty determined to find it and drive the road,  pretty nice hey.  They have just harvested their crops so a lot of the countryside is brown and not the usual Tuscan green.

From here we headed to Siena to try to go to the Palio.  Unfortunately we were not willing to park over three kilometres from the town and walk in and we had had such a lovely day we really didn't feel like crowds of people.  So we headed home and up the mountain.

The next day we headed to Volterra where they were holding their annual medieval festival.  We are suckers for these especially when the setting is so good.  Well, what a day.  The whole town was bedecked and the people were in costume.  It was fantastic and made the decision to stay overnight down there so we could see the night time festivities as well.  

One of the main things was a flag throwing competition from the various quarters of the city.  I loved this.  They would march up through the town, with trumpets and drums, to the main square.  It was so colourful and exciting.  

They had a section set up as a camp and village with arts and crafts going on.  We sat there and watched a falconry display.

This was an archeological park and apparently the towers that dominated it was a prison where they keep a lot of the mafia bad boys so they are away from their families.  They had weapons, tents, crossbow demos, weaving, etc. in this relaxing and cool green space.  

They also had a big area of the town given over to great food stalls.  It was not expensive and was delicious.  We thoroughly enjoyed tasting many different foods and John particularly loved the mulled wine.

From here we headed the next morning to San Gimignano.  It is such a pretty town and evyone who has been to this part of Italy loves it.  It very touristy but there's always a good reason for this.  We were going to stay for an hour but ended up being there for nearly five.  Bought some souvenirs.  

Now today we have just arrived home from another day in Florence.  We visited the Academia to see the David and the Medici Chapel.  Michelangelo is such a genius and Florence was his city of choice.  The David is gob smackingly beautiful and one could stand and admire all day.  We had a delightful lunch and headed home.

Feeling a bit seedy today.  John and our hostess drank a couple of bottles of vino and a litre of beer last night.  I found him face first in the fireplace and had to scold him and put him to bed.  Seems to happen every holiday.

We have also just had news that our baby is back in hospital with high fever.  So so worrying.  Also Eileen, John's mum, had a fall and is also in hospital.  So Matilda and Eileen, we are thinking of you and hope you will both be better soon.

Ciao.

Firenze

Had a great day in Florence yesterday. Didn't have to rush around as we will go back another day or two while we are here. Caught the train from Pescia - a nice relaxing way to travel. That means I slept most of the way.  Firenze is pretty crowded with tourists but it didn't affect us too much. Walked to the impressive Duomo and Baptistry. The Bapistery was wrapped in glad wrap albeit the doors were partially exposed and oh so beautiful.  The queue to get into the Duomo was huge so we decided to admire it externally and come back later in the hope of a shorter queue.

Wandered down the main drag which contains minor sights which still take your breath away.  One of the breathtaking sights for John was a Roman soldier in bronze which he promptly bought.  The palazzo Vexxhio and Uffuzi Gallery are all within easy walking distance as is the Ponte Vecchio.  Loved browsing through the gold and silver shops on the bridge with a husband who was more than willing to shell out. 

Had a visit to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens with its wonderful views of Florence.  Went through the Costume Gallery. You would have loved it, Cait and Lans. The dresses were exquisite.  Here are two of the wedding dresses.

Strolled along the green Arno River to San Croce Square where Michelangelo is buried and then back to the Duomo to join a much shorter queue and see the simple beautiful interior of this exquisite cathedral. Up to Mercata Centrale and that was more than our poor feet could bear.  Mix all this up with cappuccinos, food, meeting people and you have a wonderful day in Florence. 

Chiantigianni

Or the Chianti Road was where we headed yesterday. Nothing is far from Vellano and our first stop on the S222 which is considered one of the most scenic drives in Italy was Greve in Chianti. It was quite lovely up to here but after this got spectacular driving through typical Tuscan countryside. We visited many little towns including Montefiorani, Radda, Volpaia, Castelina in Chianti and ended up in Siena. The weather was beautiful and we had taken a picnic with us. Not a bad way to spend a day. 

Siena is preparing for the Palio on Saturday and we sneaked through the. Arrives and walked around the track.   They have bought a clay base in for the horses to race around. 

We will go back to Siena on Saturday but the logistics of getting into the race are a bit horrific for a one minute race. 

Today we visited a few of our local towns. Our favourite was Pistoia. It really surprised us with beautiful buildings and good food.  Really enjoyed our day out exploring Pescia, Monticatini and Pistoia. off to Florence tomorrow. 

Some pictures

 want this in my suitcase

Main piazza in Lucca

Cycling around the ramparts of Lucca

On the ramparts

Sad day

Hearing of Robin Williams but just as sad that another young girl from Barrett has suicided. It is in our face and we need a government that doesn't close down facilities that help these people whether they be famous or not. There is no facility in place to help adolscents with chronic mental health issues long term in Queensland.  We need to give them an apportunity for good choices

Vellano where we are staying is one of ten hill towns in the valley. We can see six of these from our kitchen window and in the morning they are bathed in gentle light. On Sunday we drove to four of these little villages and wandered around each of them. We had lunch beside a babbling brook at one of the family run restaurants in the valley.  Everyone says that there is no bad restaurant in the area.  We have found that so far.

We spent the day yesterday in Lucca. It is an "unbombed" City and it's walls are perfectly intact.  We had heard a lot about Lucca and we both were keen to go.  It was lovely wandering around the streets (with our ever present Rick Steves guide in hand).  We hired bikes and cycled around the ramparts which was delightful.  Can you tell that reluctantly we weren't as impressed as we thought we would be.  Not to say it wasn't wonderful.  Last night we had been invited to a dinner for some of the Residents of the area who are trying to build community spirit and awareness.  It was great and we got to meet some of the locals, both Italian and expats.

We have not, before this been great fans of Italian food in Italy but this time we are relishing it.  Food is very cheap and to eat out for lunch, say, with wine and a couple of dishes is never more than about ten euro. We are enjoying a great variety of pasta, pizza, fruit, local produce and wine.  Not bad at all.

Our new home for three weeks is here in the hill town of Vellano

We both burst into laughter when we looked up and saw the town/village of Vellano as we were driving down a lush valley.. It was picture perfect and on our arrival here we were met by our hosts Peter and Anna and shown around our new little townhouse.  It is only 800 years old but refurbished. Out the kitchen window we can see right down the valley and about four neighbouring hill towns. It is extremely comfortable and if I ever work out how to put a picture on here on my ipad it is up near the tree.  We had a glorious meal last night at the local bistro - pizza, pasta, local porcini, and beer, wine, Campari and limoncello on a verandah with a view.

We started off this glorious day in Orvieto after a very long catch up sleep. The breakfast at our little hotel was extremely bonnisimo with at least ten sweet cakes, croissants, bread, salamis and cheeses, yoghurt and coffee. From Orvieto we drove to Lake Tarismeno as John wanted to see some historical sites there. It was a very scenic drive and we visited the towns of Castaglioni del Lago and Tuoro. We read that there was a market day at the nearby town of Cortona so we went there as well. Did some wine tasting and had a leisurely stroll around this beautiful town. For the first time then we hit the autostrada to head north, past Florence, to the town of Pescia where, joy of joys, we visited a great Italian supermarket.  We spent some time here getting groceries and ooh and aahing at the quality and variety of Italian yummies.

We are about to head off to church. Better go and get dressed. An easy day for us today.  Got to learn how to our photos up on an ipad. 

Hill town glory

I always say about travel that it adds such richness to your day and our days since we left Australia are evidence of this. Had a wonderful day in KL not doing anything spectacular but enjoying the culture of Brickfields the Indian quarter of KL and taking in a movie and eating wonderful food.

The long flight to Rome was interrupted by a short stop in Doha Qatar. For the first time on a plane I heard people audibly anxious when flying through turbulence. A general nervousness to a degree I had not noticed before. We arrived in Rome about 6.30 this morning, picked up our Fiat 500 and headed north. What a beautiful drive. We stopped at a small town called Nepi to have some lunch. The sky was blue, the bread and salami were delicious and the peaches juicy.  Nepi was not a place mentioned in any of the reading we had done but what a wonderful little town.  We walked around it and was stunned that it doesn't make it on the tourist travail. Another place we went a by was Caprinca. Beautifully set into the side of the cliff. Our first major stop was Civita de Bagmaregio. Wow. A medieval village set out on a pinnacle connected to the new town by a pedestrian bridge. We had a coffee in an Etruscan cave and loved wandering in the sunshine through this Italian picture.

We then drove on to Orvieto and have just got back from walking this town known for its position, its  duomo and its ceramics.   The duomo was astonishing and took our breath away. It is striped on its side walls by virtue of the stone work colouring. But the facade made the most beautiful cathedral externally I have ever seen.  We sat and had gelati looking at this masterpiece.

We have hit a bit of a wall now. No wonder but might go out later.  Giovanni is asleep beside me and I am heading this way. Ciao for now. 

One more sleep

What a fantastic few days we have had. We had an uneventful flight over and thank heavens for that cause as we landed we all voiced our concerns that IAEA the plAne had gone down our whole family would have been gone.   Picked up our cars and drove to the Queen Kapolani Hotel to check in. After an interesting brekky at Lulus we had the obligatory walk along Waikiki Beach and was entranced by the beach culture and relaxed. Atmosphere. The sun was shining and the water was warm and sparkling. Think we all hit a wall at about the same time so headed back to the hotel for a shower and a nap. 

One more sleep

Tomorrow we leave Brisbane - 10 of us leave Brisbane - and head for Honolulu.  Patrick and Abbey, John and I, Caitie, Lanie and Ben, Lynda and Bob and Marlene Crawley (Abbey's parents) board the plane at 6.35 pm to start a holiday we have all looked forward to for a long time now.

Paddy and Abbey's wedding will be on Tuesday November 26 at 4.30 pm (sunset) at Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu.  They will be married on the headland and the reception will be at the beach restaurant.

This is very exciting for the Mill family as we all head off together.

Nearly home

Our final days in Rajasthan were spent in the blue city of Jodhpur.  Once again, the heat was a killer often up to 48 degrees.  Jodhpur is a wonderful city, and we spent a very interesting morning at the Fort overlooking the city.  It was amazing.  I also did a cooking class and now can make a mean biryani, raita and lassi.  The bazaars were so interesting but we were limited in the amount of time we coud spend outside.

We flew back to Delhi on Saturday afternoon and spent an interesting morning on Sunday at a big market to the south of Delhi.  We both thoroughly enjoyed Delhi.  It was interesting.  The mad driving, the food, the wide tree lined streets of New Delhi make it easy.  Old Delhi is obviously more challenging but still fascinating.

We overnighted on Malaysia Airlines and have spent the last two days in KL.  We love it here and have just relaxed and shopped and movie-ed and ate.

So we are back tomorrow night.  We are looking forward to coming home now.  Asia, especially the countries we have been in, has not been kind to our health this time.  It has been a challenging trip but one with such highlights of our travelling that it has definitely been worth it. 

Our next trip is to Hawaii to see our son, Patrick marry his fiance and the whole family will be there.  Can't wait for that one.

Thanks for reading.

Deb and John

Rajasthan



Indians never do it by halves



Doesn't that word conjure up millions of pictures in your mind.  We have only been here four days and have a wonderful time the only drawback being the scorching heat - often over 45 degrees.  Obviously the highlight of our trip here has been seeing the First wonder of the modern world - the Taj Mahal.  We got up at 5 in the morning on Tuesday and our driver took us to the West Gate where with surprisingly few people we entered the Taj and watched the sun rise and make those jewels sparkle.  It was an experience not to forget.  What a perfect and stunningly beautiful monument.  John is already making plans to knock the fish and chips shop down and build me a fitting tomb over the road.  Come to think of it, I think he'd rather have the fish and chips shop and maybe that will be a fitting monument to me.




The Indian government has put in place many plans to clean up pollution in Agra to keep the Taj in tip top condition but it remains a dirty conjested city so we set off to Jaipur that morning.  Stopping at Fathepur Sikri, a palace built in the 16th century and only used for a short period of time due to water shortages, was a real eyeopener and we really enjoyed looking around and taking in the striking Indian architecture.  We arrived in Jaipur about 4.  It had been so hot we just went to the hotel and chilled in the air con for a few hours.  Each night, our driver, Mohan, takes us to a local restaurant where we can have great Indian food very cheaply.  He is a real gem.  He always keeps cold water, cokes and beer in his ice box for us and never makes us go into shops or factories if we don't want to.  Absolutely no pressure and he is constantly alert to show us "special" scenes along the road. 



Yesteray we went out to the Amber Fort which we also really enjoyed and were totally surprised at.  Particularly beautiful was the mirrored palace.  Mohan drove us around to the other highlights of Jaipur and then gave us time to wander the bazaars.  We haven't bought a lot here but we did buy a beautiful carpet in Agra so figure we have a lovely reminder of our Rajasthani trip.  We said goodbye to Mohan last night when we caught the overnight train to Jodhpur.  Arrived here about 4.30 am and as we were walking along the platform a guy came up to John with his mobile phone and had my name on it.  He was there to pick us up and bring us straight to the guesthouse.  Always a nice surprise.  We have just had breakfast on the rooftop where we had an uniterrupted view of the Fort guarding this blue city.  Today we are walking into the old city and looking at the bazaar.  Hoping to book up a cooking class for tomorrow.




John at the Red Fort, Delhi





The place where Gandhi was assassinated











At the Taj Mahal

Fatephur Sikri

What I saw on the road today

when we were driving from Delhi to Agra ...

A few good bookshops at the Khan Market in Delhi which was our first stop on our road trip
A scooter with three adults and three kids and luggage on it.  One of the kids was asleep on the front and one of the women was breastfeeding her baby as they went along.
A bus on fire.
A tractor with a load as wide as two lanes.  A huge load of wheat chaff which had split and spilt across the highway.
A horse and cart.
A buffalo and cart.
A cow and cart.
A milkman - the guy on the scooter with about 20 stainless steel jugs hanging off him.
Cars, buses, scooters going the wrong way up the highway.
At the end of a lane, the magnificent Taj Mahal.  We were the only ones there watching the sun set on the Taj across the river.

India is an assault on the senses - all the senses.  It is hard sometimes to cope and be patient but is worth it.  We arrived here on Saturday from kathmandu and had a wonderful day doing some of the big sights in Delhi in a tuk tuk.  When we realised that we couldn't get on the train to Agra, we booked a car and driver through our hotel and are really glad we did.  We have had a wonderful day.  Considering the fact that is is at least 45 degrees here travelling has the potential to be nightmarish but with our very considerate driver we have thoroughly enjoyed a lazy drive down from Delhi to Agra.  Tomorrow morning we are going to the Taj for sunrise and are really looking forward to that. 

We are both feeling much better after quite a rocky time in Nepal.  Even John is enjoying the Indian food though we are not eating too much and giving our stomachs a chance to recover.

Hope all is well at home.  Missing everyone.

Long bus trips are for young virile backpackers

who can't afford anything else and do not have yearning for cleanliness.  We have done a lot of long hot dirty bus trips in our travels and when the taxi driver accidentally took us to the airport this morning instead of the bus station, I nearly sprinted to the terminal to book our 22 minute flight but stupidly contained myself and laughingly told him, "Oh no not the airport, we are going on the bus!!!  You know the bus that takes seven or eight hours - always closer to the eight - and nearly goes over the edge on every corner of the high passes.  Yes, that one!!!" 

So after three very relaxing days in Pokhara, we headed back for Kathmandu on a bloody bus!!!!  Pokhara was the place where we were going to do a trek but after finding out that we needed at least five days and we had three we were left with rather a gap in our itinerary.  We did enjoy going to the Gurka Museum and strolling along the beautiful lake but other than that there was not a lot to do especially as the Annapurna Ranges were under cloud for the majority of the time. 

It was a good rest though and I think you need that when travelling in Asia.  It is so much more demanding than Europe.  So we made the most of it and we are now back in Kathmandu.  We have a few things we still want to see here.  We also have to sort out our luggage which has grown considerably before we fly out for India on June 1. 

Our friends the Glindemans leave for Poland soon and we wish them a happy and safe journey.  Make the most of it guys and look forward to catching up when you return.  Also for Ron, hope you have an exciting time in Holland making your big purchase.

Cheers.