Moving on up through England:

Enjoying the streets of Cambridge

We only had a brief stay in London, but liked what we saw. The bus tour was fantastic, but left us wishing we had more time to stop and look more closely at a few things. We picked up a rental car from Heathrow, which was a mission as there are 5 terminals there, and we didn't know which one we were supposed to go to. Turns out that all the rental car companies have courtesy shuttles which pick you up from the terminals and take you to their site. So that was fine, only when they were putting our car through the carwash before handing it over, one of their technicians jammed the key into the ignition and broke it, and after quite a long time of unexplained waiting, they finally told us they were desperately organising another car for us. So after leaving our B & B around 11am, travelling to Heathrow & lots of waiting around, we were finally on the road around 3pm!

We arrived at Colleen & David's house (Glen's aunty & uncle)in the small village of Loddington, and it was lovely. We sat outside with a drink, and to the kids delight, they have a small fluffy dog called Ziggy, who is very playful, and that was all the entertainment the kids needed. They absolutely loved her, and by the end of the evening, had completely worn her out! In the morning, we were up early and all went for a drive into Cambridge. It's a lovely city, although the "race for life" fun-run was being held which made carparking quite a mission! After Colleen did some brilliant work negotiating a good price between 2 different punters, we went punting down the river which was lovely, and got a good history lesson along the way while looking at the different colleges. We then looked through the inner city and the markets, the kids found an old fashioned sweets shop which was so cute, and eventually made our way back home. While David cooked us a lovely roast dinner, we went with Colleen to the Foxton Locks, and watched a couple of boats heading up and down the canals through the locks, and it was quite fascinating. And such a scenic area too. Once again, it was lovely to stay in a home, and Colleen and David were great hosts.

Lucas and Ziggy (don't get jealous, Zoe)

Punting on the Cam in Cambridge

The canal boats at Foxton Locks

We woke up this morning and unfortunately Stefan wasn't too well. He had a fever and bad headache, and no appetite, and wasn't looking forward to travelling, but we dosed him up on Panadol and he slowly came right. We had to be in Leeds by 1.00pm as Glen was dong a presentation at the university. Thankfully the university is very close to the city centre, and Stefan was feeling alot better so the kids and I walked around the shops, and then right into a medical centre. I had been meaning to find a doctor for him as he had picked up something nasty on his foot in one of the campgrounds, and despite a pharmacist in Italy selling us some potent lotion, nearly 4 weeks later it is no better. So I had him thoroughly checked out, and he now has antibiotics for the rest of the week. Turns out the rash on his foot has turned into a bacterial infection, which would have been making him feel a bit yucky, and as for the fever, well, the doctor thought it was a combination of heat & humidity, lack of sleep, poor immunity, etc etc, but nothing too serious, and thankfully he is feeling much better this evening. I'm also very grateful for the fact that taking him to the doctor here, and picking up the prescription is completely free for all children under 16 years! And if his foot doesn't improve before the weekend, I can take him back to any NHS centre in England free of charge.

So the afternoon went quite quickly, as we looked round the inner city and through a few shops, and sorted out medical issues. We then met up with Glen when he was finished, and checked into our hotel which is beside the river. We had a walk round the river early in the evening and stopped at a lovely Italian place for dinner.

Tomorrow we are planning to drive out to York, and then through the Yorkshire Dales, and back to Leeds. The following day we head down to Bristol, via the Manchester United Football Museum, and perhaps detouring through Stratford Upon Avon if time allows. Time is flying now!

One more shot of Cambridge (this is Stefan's version of a smile)

Holland to London

Our time in Holland went quick! And it was lovely to stay in a home for a few days, and Jolanda was a great host, and really looked after us. I'm sure she will sleep well tonight though, however she insists she is going to miss the noise....... Really?

We spent a day in Utrecht which is the town where my mother was born, and where my grandparents owned their bakery before making New Zealand their home. We went to the house where they lived and the current owners who run a dry cleaning business there (and whose family knew my grandparents), kindly invited us in and spent some time chatting away to us, while their big dog licked my feet. And they even gave the kids some souvenirs. We looked around the markets, the Dom Tower & cathedral, the canals, the railway museum, and the kids were entertained by a delightful waiter during lunch. Utrecht was a beautiful city, and it would have been nice to see some more of it. And the people were so friendly there too.

The house where Di's Mum was born, in Utrecht (and the current owners)

We also spent a day in the Hague, looking at a few shops, the art gallery where the original "Girl with the Pearl Earring" is, and looked through their parliament buildings, the working palace of Holland's queen, etc. We also saw some sand sculptures in the middle of the city, which were pretty cool too. Last night we walked down the road to a small Italian restaurant, which is owned by a lovely lady from Turkey, and she was just amazing, and she really made the kids feel quite special.

This morning we got up early (thankfully) and got to the airport with plenty of time to check in for our flight to London. However there was only one check-in counter open for British Airways and 3 flights all needing to check in at the same time! Not impressed. We finally got through and then had to race through customs and security and charge through to the other end of the airport to catch our flight. Thankfully our flight was running half an hour late otherwise we would have missed it!

Anyway, we got to London and grabbed a bite to eat before leaving the airport, then took the train ride into town, and walked a few minutes down the road to our B & B. Once we were settled in there, we thought the best way to see London's attractions with only a limited time here would be on a sightseeing bus. It was fantastic! The tour guide on the bus was hilarious and was joking around with the kids. We saw the palace, Hyde Park, the Tower of London, London Bridge, the London Eye, Parliament buildings, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, St Pauls Cathedral, where the rich and famous live, and many other buildings and places of interest along the ride which was close to 3 hours long (we got caught in a traffic jam during the trip due to a protest at Parliament Square), but it was great. The tour guide also gave us a good history lesson, as well as pointing out the sights. We got off finally near Buckingham Palace to have a closer look at it, as no buses are allowed to pass directly in front of it, then walked through St James park where the kids found squirrels! A young couple at the park saw the kids interest in the squirrels, so gave them some peanuts to hand feed them, and they were so excited. Yes, they had squirrels eating out of their hands!

On the London tour bus with Westminster and the London Eye behind

Do you think this face might put off the Palace guards?

Anyway, tomorrow morning we have a couple of hours to look around town again, then we are picking up a rental car and driving north to Colleen's house for a couple of nights. But for now, it has been a long day, (I got up more than 18 hours ago) and I seem to be the only one with eyes still open! Goodnight!

The photo version

Day 2 at legoland was also fantastic, and we all tried out some of the fun rides, and of course, we just had to buy ourselves a lego set, and the kids chose a limited edition castle set which you can't buy in New Zealand. We thought that would be the way to go.

Here are some more pictures of Legoland:

Meeting funny people at Legoland

Glen and girls on a fun ride


Mount Rushmore - Lego Style


Disney Castle - Lego Style


Hans Christian Andersen - Lego Style

After we left Legoland, we drove back to Copenhagen via Odense, stayed at a hostel for the night, which was quite a "squashed" affair, but comfortable enough, and had a lazy morning before catching our flight to Holland. We arrived in Amsterdam late afternoon, and met by mum's cousin Jolanda who has been taking very good care of us since we arrived. It is lovely to be in a home again, with home cooked food, our own room, and being able to drink water without having to pay for it! Today we looked at some of the attractions around The Hague, including an "overview" of Holland, in miniature: a place called Madurodam...

Girls looking over "little" Holland

Lucas admiring the view


Stefan supporting the Dom Tower

At the beach in The Hague at the end of the day

Well that's about it for today - time for bed!

Half way there!

The kids in old Copenhagen

Yes, this weekend we are about half way through our trip - and in the last 5 weeks, we have travelled through 10 countries: Singapore, Germany, France, Spain, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, Switzerland, Austria and Denmark.

Anyway, Copenhagen was very kind to us, with warm (but not too hot) weather, friendly people, who all seemed to speak good English, which was incredibly helpful, and a comfortable hotel. As well as walking the big pedestrian shopping street, we also found a shopping mall, walked round the man-made lakes, had a look at the canals, and visited the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. That was really fascinating, and it was quite interesting learning about the life of Ripley. In a time when most people didn't travel more than 100km from their homes in their lifetime, he travelled the entire world looking for the weird and unusual. There was another man though who spent his lifetime trying to prove Ripley's findings to be wrong, without success. Ripley kept every piece of correspondence from this man! Sorry - you were probably all bored by that trivial piece of information!

So moving on, yesterday we went to Tivoli which is a great big amusement park, and we had so much fun. As well as some weird and wonderful rides, there are also over 40 restaurants, lots of gift shops, a playground, man made lakes and beautiful gardens, a concert hall, aquarium, open-air stage, and so on. Glen met the kids and I there when the conference finished, and we joined his friends Sandra and Andrew and had dinner with them. We enjoyed the rides, especially Lucas who proved to be quite a wee dare-devil! Lucas and I went on this swinging ride, which takes you 50 metres in the air up a great big pole, and swings you round. It was heaps of fun, and Nicolette was completely surprised because she thought that Lucas and I would be the 2 LEAST likely people in the family to do this ride! But it was fun. Before we knew it, it was well after 11pm, but when you're having fun, and it's light till 10.30, it certainly didn't feel that late.

The girls at Tivoli (note the t-shirts, compliments of Dad's cycling conference)

Yes, that really is Di and Lucas up there!

Lucas flying at a slightly lower level

So Copenhagen was a great place to visit. I would have liked to have visited some of the museums and historical parts, but the kids don't have the same appreciation for these things, so its easier to find things that keep them happy!

This morning we picked up a rental car - which is brand new - (we are the first to rent it), and drove out to Legoland. We are staying in a cabin in a campground about 10km away, and the package includes a 2 day pass. So we spent all afternoon looking round Legoland, and it was so cool! It is so much bigger than what we imagined. The displays are absolutely incredible - so much work must have gone into them - and there are heaps of fun rides to do too. Also lots of restaurants, cafes, shops, and even an aquarium on-site. So now that we have seen what's there, tomorrow when we get back we are going to get on some of the rides. First up, the kids are all booked into the Peugeot Traffic School! Yes, they get into little cars and learn to drive, and if after half an hour they are doing ok, they will even be issued with their very own "licences".

Some of the amazing Mini-Land displays at Legoland

We then drive back to Copenhagen tomorrow afternoon, and fly to Holland on Monday.
But for now, we better upload some photos to make the blog more interesting.

The amazing cycling city of Copenhagen

So my second conference, VeloCity 2010, has come to an end, and what an amazing experience that was. It was probably the most interactive conference I've ever been to; I only attended one conventional "sit down and listen" lecture session. The rest of the time was devoted to inspiring keynote speakers, group round-table sessions (where I presented some work on cycle safety for example), "speed dating" sessions where a range of people could present some findings in about 7 minutes before you moved on to the next one, and opportunities to explore on your bike and talk to people stationed at a dozen locations of interest around the city.

In fact, for me, the city itself was the highlight of the conference. It's one thing to know that Copenhagen is famous for its cycling; it's another thing to see it in action! The range of facilities was impressive and it was particularly interesting to see how they worked in practice, esp. when some of them seemed not "technically optimal" - it didn't matter; people used them! In fact it could be almost dangerous to ride around with the sheer number of people on bikes; any time a "tourist" like me wanted to stop and take a picture and then start again, I had to be sure that I didn't wipe out a bunch of cyclists behind me.

The normality of cycling is striking - people rode in all kinds of clothes (often very stylish) and on all kinds of bikes (esp. lots of wonderful "cargo bikes" with extra people on front or back). I think it's a myth about slower, more casual riding in Europe - many of the cyclists I saw were moving pretty fast actually. Also interesting to see that many were quite blasé about road rules; there was a certain brazen attitude exemplified by cyclists who ignored intersection controls or stop points, chatted on their cellphones, and jumped around pedestrians. I guess when there are that many of you, the level of ill-feeling by others is rather limited...

It was also good to catch up with my Christchurch colleagues who were also there for the conference (including enjoying a drink at the pub while watching NZ play Paraguay!), as well as may other old and new colleagues. I understand that VeloCity 2012 is being hosted in Vancouver (another of my favourite cities) so already I'm pencilling that one in...

All up, Copenhagen is a wonderful city and I'd love to return - just as long as someone else is paying! Man, it's expensive... Before here, on our final leg in the motor-home, we also visited some other very lovely places in Switzerland and southern Germany, including Zurich and Freiburg. Again, all too brief a visit, but I'd certainly like to return to that part of the world again too.

"Copenhagen-style" bike lanes, behind car parking (in other places, it was kerbed; in other places it was just conventional painted lanes)

Clever use of limited street space for bike lanes, car/bike parking, and pedestrian crossings

This street has 32,000 cyclists a day!

"The gang" at VeloCity; all from Christchurch - Glen, Andrew Macbeth (ViaStrada), Simon Kingham (Canty Uni), Michael Ferigo (Chch CC)

Lovely Copenhagen

Well we didn't know much about Copenhagen before we got here, other than its the capital of Denmark, Hans Christian Anderson, the Little Mermaid, cycling is popular here, and Legoland is somewhere nearby. And I was wondering how the kids and I were going to fill in 4 days while Glen attends his conference, however we have all been pleasantly surprised by this lovely place.

As I mentioned, it was pure bliss arriving in the hotel yesterday afternoon, and the kids were all given gift packs on our arrival which was a nice added touch (probably built in to the cost though), which included bath products, toys, art supplies, and yummy treats), and last night in a proper bed felt like total luxury after 4 weeks in a campervan. We started the day with a buffet breakfast which the kids all made the most of, and after Glen headed to his conference venue, the kids and I explored some of the central city. We walked down the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe, and bought a couple of things along the way. The weather has been sunny all day, without being too hot, and we found that almost everyone speaks good English, and are very friendly. We visited the Guiness World Records museum which was really cool, and alot of it was interactive.

So the next few days we plan to visit the Ripleys Believe it or Not museum, there is a great big park with playground down the road which we might visit, a brand new shopping mall about 1.5km away, which is also on the waterfront, and apparently has been beautifully landscaped with pools etc, and on Friday we are heading to Tivoli gardens which is a big theme park with some cool looking rides, they have a huge lake there and gardens, restaurants, playground, bands playing, etc. Glen finishes early on Friday so will meet us there, as it is open late into the evening. And then on Saturday we are going to Legoland. Not sure who is most looking forward to that - Glen or the kids!

No more motorhome

 Is there any place in the world that doesn't have a Macca's? (Pantheon, Rome)

Well, we've dropped the motorhome off in Munich and have flown to Copenhagen and our hotel is GREAT!!!!! Coffee maker, comfy beds, good space, good bathroom and not a disgusting campground one and most of all a TV THAT WE CAN WATCH THE WORLD CUP GAMES ON!!!! YAHOO!!!! Although driving and sleeping in a motorhome was a new experience. A living hell experience really. So back to yesterday, we got up at about 6 which sucked coz we had to bring back the motorhome back by 9 so we did that and got a lift from a taxi to the airport. Then we got our bags checked, walked through the tall (security) thingamabobs and then had lunch and looked in a few shops until we had to get on our plane. It was a very short and fast flight. Once we landed in Copenhagen we got our bags, got train tickets, got on a train, got off a train, got on our legs, got into the hotel reception, got given a kids pack that had all sorts of stuff in it, got our keys, got in the elevator, got out the elevator, got into our rooms and said WOW! So yeah busy day.

OK now go away

 THIS is why we came to Rome!

Bye Bye Campervan, HELLO hotel!

Well we left Freiburg, which was quite a pretty place, just a pity it poured with rain the whole time we were there, so we didn't enjoy it too much. We moved on to a lakeside town just south of Konstanz, which was a quiet little place, very scenic and the lake was lovely, but again, the rain just didn't let up, so we couldn't enjoy it too much. And the poor boys continually looked out of the window of the campervan at the great big sportsfield outside, with goalposts etc, eager to get out and play soccer.

So we didn't stay in this place too long either, leaving early in the morning as we had a long drive back to Munich, with a detour to the castles in southern Germany - one of them made famous partly because it inspired Walt Disney. The walk up the hill in the rain to get to it wasn't so wonderful, but the castle was beautiful! And very popular. We spent a few hours looking at the castle and at the village by the carpark where all the shops and cafes are, then carried on to Munich where it continued to rain.

Schloss Hohenschwangau, the 19th century German royal palace

Schloss Neuschwanstein, the original "Disney castle"

So trying to clean out the campervan in the rain when we couldn't send the kids outside was a huge mission. We got up really early this morning to continue cleaning and packing up our stuff, then took it through the car wash (and now the kids don't want to wash our own car any more - they want to sit in it while I take it through a car wash!), and returned it to its home. Yay! We lost a small part of our deposit due to the broken mirror and a scuff mark, and apparently there was a wipe mark and 2 crumbs on the bench, so they deemed it to have not been cleaned properly! The fact that I was up till midnight cleaning, and back at it from 6am, while trying to keep 4 kids calm as it kept raining, was beside the point!

Anyway, we then took the most expensive taxi ride in history, from the rental place to the airport and had an uneventful flight to Copenhagen. And we are all in heaven. The sun is shining, and we are in a nice hotel with big comfortable beds, a big bathroom with shower AND bath, free wi-fi, TV, and perhaps more importantly, enough space to swing a cat around! The kids have all just enjoyed long baths and showers, and a few hours of downtime. We have 4 days ahead to explore this city, while Glen attends a conference. There seems to be alot to do here, and all within walking distance from our hotel, which certainly makes life easy! So except for the fact that this is quite an expensive city, I think we are really going to enjoy it here...

(PS we have now started to put up all of our photo collection on Picasa - enjoy!)

Rain, rain, horrible rain!

Well, we are in Freiburg and it has rained heavily all night, and continues to rain all day today! It could be worse though - we could still be in the south of France I guess.... We had a look at where the flooding has hit France, and one of those towns we had driven through a few weeks ago.

Thats little comfort though when the 6 of us are stuck in this campervan, and the temperature has dropped down to almost Christchurch winter temperatures. Yes, we are sitting in here, cold, bored, and frustrated!

Yesterday though, we drove right through Switzerland, and it was just the most beautiful place. The landscape was amazing with high mountains, lakes, waterfalls falling from the mountains everywhere we looked, lots of little villages dotted everywhere, some of them incredibly high up in he mountains. Zurich was beautiful too - but unfortunately we only had a quick look through there. So we haven't seen much of Freiburg yet, we were hoping to explore the town today as we only have a short drive to our next destination, but the weather is putting us off doing that. So we might just do a drive through town, and then carry on to Konstanz. We are staying by the lake, so lets hope there's not too much more rain! Roll on Copenhagen!

On the Road Again...

Another day, another campground... After our "hiatus" at Rome, we're moving again for our final push back to Munich and the novelty/luxury of hotel/hostel beds again (and another five nights of not moving anywhere when we get to Copenhagen).

We've now driven over 5000km around Europe. Correction: I'VE driven over 5000km. In 24 days. No, make that 16 actual days driving. I can't really complain, since I picked the itinerary, but my right calf has bad cramp from sitting on the accelerator all day (the remaining rental cars better have cruise control) and the rest of the body feels like it is slowly wearing down.

But we've seen a lot and (in case you thought this was a complete holiday for me) I've made a LOT of notes and taken a lot of "technical" photos that will prove very valuable for future teaching and research. I continue to be amazed at the crap that many parts of Europe call a roading system, both in terms of operations and safety (the traffic engineer "fixer" in me just wants to get in there and sort it out!), while being intrigued by how the locals work around it (e.g. creeping your way into traffic seems to be a fairly accepted form of movement, while I now understand why so many Italians drive very small cars).

The sporadic internet is proving to be a pain; I was sorely tempted the other day by a Vodafone modem stick with a number of hours of data time, to avoid the varying internet charges we've had at each stopping point (if it works well at all...). It doesn't help that my work email system needs to be online even just to read them (unlike the rest of the family's emails). Coupled with the long driving days, I'm finding there's not a lot of time left at the end of each day to get some work done, hence a few research reports are taking a while to knock off (sorry, Simon), not to mention other things like forthcoming conference presentations and University research portfolios. The other challenge is filling in the remaining gaps in our future accommodation in UK and US, which is also somewhat tied to making various arrangements to meet people. Oh, and now of course, the World Cup football is providing another potential distraction...

If this sounds like a whinge session, it's really just to remind everyone that this is a "study tour" for me and my work doesn't stop while I'm on sabbatical. So it's been a hard journey for me and I probably won't fully catch my breath until after August. But it's also been an amazing journey and one that I'm really glad I've been able to take the family along for the ride this time.

Time for a little bit of R&R at Lugano (that's our white campervan in the background)

Mishap No: 1

OK, one more picture of the Colosseum...

Well today while driving through the scenic but narrow inner city streets of Bologna, and trying to avoid the tiny little cars confidently negotiating their way through heavy traffic and narrow spaces, we discovered by accident a big rubbish skip that had been pushed a bit "too" far out onto the road and broke the side mirror of the campervan when we hit it! Only a minor thing, but we'll have to pay for that when we return it in a few days time. Argh!

Anyway, Bologna was otherwise lovely, and even though it was our last night in Italy, it was our first night there that we weren't listening to late night loud parties! Yes, the Italians come alive at night, which is great when we arn't too tired to be part of it, but a bit much at 2 or 3 in the morning! Having said this though, last night we were staying near the airport!

Today we drove to Switzerland, and we are staying beside Lake Lugano which is close to the Italian/Swiss border. Driving through the Lake Como & Lake Lugano region - just absolutely stunning! One of the most beautiful parts of the world we have seen so far. Everything is so green and fresh looking, the views over the lakes are beautiful, with huge mountains all around, and architecture that fits in perfectly with the environment without being too imposing. Our campground is right on the lakeside, and is very appealing to all of us, with lots of facilities to keep everyone happy. The boys have been busy playing soccer on the sports field, and they have all been in the playground on the flying fox and climbing wall. This place also has a lounge with a big TV, so the boys have just been watching another FIFA game. However, once again, we are staying by the airport.

The temperature is also a bit cooler, which is very welcome, we have had quite a bit of rain this evening, even a brief thunder storm. So hopefully we will all sleep well tonight. The weather here for the next few days is looking a bit cooler actually - lets just hope it doesn't rain EVERY day!

Lovely Lake Lugano

Italy: According to Lucas

Enjoying the Italian Riviera (Vernazza)

We went to a campground that had hundreds of tadpoles and we caught them and then released them. We went to the 5 villages and 4 of them were cool and one of them was boring. Then we went to Pisa and saw the leaning tower and then we went to our campground and went for a swim. It had 5 pools. Then we went to Rome and we had a swim in the pool and we saw the Colosseum, and the pope, and the ruins, and we had McDonalds for lunch, and I had 2 drinks. We also went shopping in Rome, and blobbed for a day. Yesterday we went to Bologna and we had pizza and chicken burgers for tea.

We have had lots of icecreams in Europe, and the weather has been good. We have only had 4 or 5 rainy days.

See you soon, from Lucas.

Touring Rome is thirsty work...

Arrivederci Italia!

Hanging out in the Cinque Terre (Corniglia)

Italy is fascinating and such an interesting place. Although the highlights at the moment from being here are going round the cinque terre on the Mediterranean with all the little villages, and definitely Rome with its History like the Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi fountain, Castle Saint Angelo, the Roman Forum etc. The camping grounds we are staying at have been cool, one of them we got meeting in with the locals not just the Italians but also kiwis! We found NZ people staying at one of our campgrounds which was cool. Also one of the other places had an incredible pool (it had atleast 3) as well as a gelateria and cafe. But as of now we have 5 nights left in the campervan and are making our way back to Munich,Germany. Then after that take a plane over to Copenhagen, Denmark and stay 7 nights in hotels round Denmark. Yesterday we went to the biggest mall in Italy which is called Euroma 2. It was quite big and new and had at least 3 floors. Although I think the Mall was mainly targeted to People who want to buy expensive, designer type clothing and accessories, which sucked because I was planning on getting something nice for me but all the prices were high. Grrrrrrr! But it was cool though cause you could bring your dog into the mall. Anyway we are almost halfway into the trip already, by the end of next week we will be halfway.

At the Pantheon, Rome

Things we've learned so far ....

European's have some bad habits: A huge percentage of them are smokers, spitting in the street, pee-ing on the road-side, and treating the world like your very own rubbish bin are all quite common, and its quite disgusting how many of them don't wash their hands after using the bathroom!

However, the toll roads are great! Pity about the "toll" (so far France being the most expensive), but the roads are a breeze to travel on, they're fast, multi-laned and they cut through hills with tunnels and viaducts and make the journey much easier. And these roads have regular service stops which are fantastic. Some of these service stops include not only petrol stations, but restaurants (commonly known as Autogrills), ATM's, bathroom facilities, gift shops, picnic areas, some of them even have accommodation attached. It's great when travelling with kids!

European driving is quite interesting. It seems road rules are optional here! And we think NZ drivers are bad! Red lights are commonly treated like stop signs (ie: the driver stops for the red light, and if nothing is coming they will drive through!), if they want to join the flow of traffic, they'll just push in causing the traffic flow to stop for them, and on the 2 lane roads through town, one of the lanes is frequently treated as a car park! These are just some of the examples we have seen.

Anyway, yesterday was our last day in Rome, and we headed to the southern side of Rome (we were staying on the north side), to Italy's largest shopping mall. It took a bus ride, 2 trains, and a 20 minute walk to get there, but the kids were looking forward to some retail therapy. Travelling to this side of Rome was a huge contrast to the tourist activities of a few days earlier. This part was very modern, with big flash buildings, wide streets and modern landscaping, and the mall certainly fitted this picture. It was 3 floors of ultra modern and flash shopping. The top floor was restaurants, a huge electronics shop and a few smaller shops, and 2nd floor was all designer stores (certainly not fitting to our budget), and the ground floor was a mix of clothes, gifts, a toy shop, supermarket, pet shop etc etc, and appealed to us more. It appears you can buy all sorts of creatures to keep as pets in Europe, and now the kids would like to know why we can't have pet reptiles, chipmunks, etc at home! The chipmunks were really cute, but bite! (yes, speaking from personal experience!) We did get ourselves a few things there (no pets), but Xanthe is really disappointed because the one things she wants to buy herself is a book! She didn't think to bring one with her, and when we finally found a bookstore in this mall with an English section - they were all adult books. Oh well, we will be in England in just over 2 weeks, and we should be able to find something there.

Today we travelled to Bologna, and are staying in a really nice campground, the kids are currently all in the pool, and I am enjoying some poolside relaxation with the laptop... We passed through Florence, but got a bit lost and ended up travelling round in circles, and the kids got grumpy, so rather than persisting with our mission to find the historical parts, we just headed for the exit and carried on to Bologna.

Speaking of the kids - they all seem to have developed enormous appetites since arriving in Europe. They just want to eat all day long - and we can't keep up! Then again, the only times they are sitting still are when we are sleeping or driving, so they are certainly burning it all off!

Tomorrow we leave Italy and head to Switzerland. We are staying by a lake which looks really pretty. And I know you are all going to hate me for saying this, but we are hoping for some slightly cooler temperatures too, as we head to this region. Too many days in a row of 30+ temperatures has been very tiring! Even when it rained yesterday, the humidity was unbearable!

Thanks for all the comments - we enjoy reading them!

Xanthe: News from Italy

So the Leaning Tower was actually quite small...

well we made it to our first Italian campground at about 5 o'clock in the late afternoon. the campground is pretty good, there is no pool but there is a cold, fresh water stream that has tadpoles - so while mum was cooking dinner me, Lucas and Stefan were catching and releasing tadpoles! a couple of days later we drove to Pisa and saw the leaning tower of Pisa!!! and of course its on a lean, we took lots of pictures of us pushing the tower, kicking it and leaning on it along with the hundreds of other tourists. we got to our campground in Pisa at about 3pm so we had a VERY long swim - unfortunately i scraped my top lip on the pool floor when i dived in. then the next day we drove to ROMA
( Rome )!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rome is not as populated as i thought it would be with 3-4 million, but don't get me wrong that's still heaps compared with Christchurch! on the first full day we had in Rome we got on a train into the city of Rome and went to the Vatican city and saw the pope!!! there was a big crowd though, then we walked further till we had lunch at McDonald's right outside the pantheon!!!! the pantheon has lots of paintings and statues inside. we made our way to the old, ancient, roman ruins,which were interesting. then... we... went... to... the......C O L O S S E U M !!!!!! ITS REALLY BIG - it can fit like 50 - 80 thousand people. the Colosseum is so awesome how its ancient and is still standing after 2 earthquakes!!! in the next couple of days we swam, met the other campers and went shopping. can't wait for more to come!

Someone really let this place go to ruin... (Roman Forum)

Yep, here I am (Colosseum)

When in Rome ......

At the Trevi Fountain in Rome

Yesterday we were the typical tourists, and had a great, but hot and tiring day out in Rome! We took the train into town and our first stop was The Vatican, and yes, we saw the Pope, although from a distance it could have been anyone dressed in white standing at a window (??), and listened to his 15 minutes of prayer in at least 5 different languages. We then walked down the road to the river and through the Navona Piazza, then to the Pantheon which to our pleasant surprise was free to go into, and very beautiful inside. We sat outside the Pantheon and had McDonalds for lunch (this choice for lunch mainly because we needed to use the facilities, and you can always count on McDonalds for having clean and modern facilities). We then carried on our walking tour of Rome to the Trevi Fountain, which was incredible, but due to the crowds, it was hard to get close to.

"Was that really the Pope, Dad?" (St Peter's Piazza, Vatican City)

"Aw gee, they're still building it..." (Pantheon)

But the highlight of the day must have been the most historic parts of Rome, the Roman Forum, Palatine Museum and Colosseum. The Roman Forum was just spectacular and we were all in awe of what we saw. Especially Nicolette, who just wanted to keep exploring the area. Its amazing to think that these ruins were built thousands of years ago, and that people actually lived there. It was just fantastic. And the Colosseum was equally impressive. Unfortunately we were all very hot and very tired by this part of the day, and had walked around 8km in 30+ degree temperatures! But a really good day anyway.

"Don't you love your Mum for dragging you all the way to Rome?"

At last... the Colosseum!

Today we had a really slow and relaxed start to the day, Glen has caught up on some work, the boys and I wandered down to the local supermarket, which the boys were quite impressed with, as it was a 2 storey supermarket! The kids and I then spent the afternoon in the pool, and sunbathing beside it. Tonight we are in the bar (which is a wi-fi zone), and joining the locals watching the Fifa Italy vs Paraguay game. Quite an atmosphere!

One more day in Rome!

Onto Roma,Italia

Well we left the beautiful Italian Riviera a few days ago and headed south towards Pisa. Amazingly, we were able to find a carpark close to the leaning tower, however it seemed to be on a street full of street merchants who spoke no English, but were very aggressive in their approach trying to sell their stuff. One of them in particular really bothered us, and despite trying to explain that we didn't know what he was saying, and walking away from him, he continued with his "aggressive" approach and foul gestures when we returned to the campervan. Never mind! We wandered across the road and yes, that tower REALLY is on a lean! And it wasn't as tall as I had imagined either. But the kids were all keen to try a variety of poses around it, and wander through the 101 souvenir stalls as well.

We then continued down the road for another 60km to our campsite, and that was lovely. We got there mid afternoon, and were able to spend around 3 hours in the pool before finding some dinner. When I say pool, it was actually 3 pools, with a bar, playground, etc attached to it - so it was just lovely. This campsite was really good, and had excellent facilities - the only drawback being that one of the neighbouring properties had an all night party going on, so we didn't get a lot of sleep!

And today we arrived in Rome, where we have 4 nights. Again, we timed our arrival so we could have a couple of hours in the pool, to cool off after travelling, before settling for the night. Only in this place, it costs extra to use the pool! However it does seem to be a nice place to say, and only metres away is a huge sports complex which the boys are very excited about (and free to use). We had dinner in the on-site restaurant tonight and it was just beautiful - very rustic looking, with exposed beams and joists, cobbled floors, old artefacts dotted around the place and a big wood-fired oven in full view which really added to the character. And to top it off, there is a dachshund and a long-haired German shepherd lazing round the restaurant too, which the kids absolutely smothered with attention. I guess I should add that the food and service were fantastic too!

So, we have the next 3 full days to explore Rome. We plan to do lots of sight seeing, perhaps some shopping. Glen needs to spend a day working, so the kids and I might have that day to have some 'downtime' here.

And only 9 sleeps left in the campervan! Yes, it is a very modern, clean and comfortable to travel in - vehicle, but we are all "over" the lack of space and limited facilities we have in here, and all getting on each others nerves. This would be a great option for travelling for 2, maybe 3 people, but not 6! This is our first and LAST time! I know this is supposed to be the experience of a lifetime for us, and I don't want to sound ungrateful - but seriously - only 1 person at a time can move through the cabin, and when 6 of us are trying to get organised for the day ahead, it is a frustrating exercise! Not to mention the dismantling and re-assembling of the furniture twice a day everyday so we can all sleep in here! And then trying to cook a reasonable meal with 6 each of knives, forks, spoons, plates, bowls, cups, 1 pan, 2 pots, a colander, a chopping board, a bread knife, a wooden spoon, and a vegetable peeler that doesn't peel anything! We also have to keep this thing clean, which is fine except that no cleaning products are provided. We have had to go out and buy everything we need to keep it clean: dishbrush, cloths, detergents - everything! So I hope you can understand when we say we will pleased to move onto Denmark and into a hotel where we will each have a little bit more than 10 square inches of space!

And I guess the icing on the cake today was when I was trying to choose between 2 pieces of swimwear before going to the pool, and an impatient Xanthe said "it doesn't matter which one mum, its not like you're THAT fat!"

And on that chirpy note - I really should get some sleep right now!

A fine place for a picnic lunch

Kids, stop fighting...

Bonjourno Italiano!!!

Really, I'm quite excited to be in Manarola...

YAY!!! We are finally in Italy. It is soooooo awesome. Today we went to the Cinque Terre. They were 5 little villages which were very histori-cool. The weather was as hot as an oven. We had so many drinks. The names of the villages were cool names. They were Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. At the moment I am the professional at the language. I feel so tired right now coz of all the walking we did today plus some train rides which weren't bad but the funniest part of the day was when Lucas mistook a condom machine for a juice machine coz he saw a button saying orange flavour and he said can we get some I'm thirsty and I stood there laughing. Oh well, common mistakes made in life.

Arrivederci for now

Enjoying a well-earned gelati (ice-cream) after the 382 steps of Corniglia