The Last Day

Sunday - Our Last night.

Today we spent looking around Hong Kong. We visited a number of shopping malls.

Tonight we rested our legs and took a taxi to the waterfront to see a night light show. The buildings across the harbour were all lit up in different colours and there was laser lighting blazes across the ski - quite impressive.

A final walk along the night markets, a meal at our favourite restaurant and then home to the Novotel to pack.  Surprise, we just made the weigh in.

Tomorrow we have a late checkout and then catch a taxi to the airport at about 5 pm.

We have loved every place we have visited for one reason or another.  They have all been so different.  Milan city was ordinary but Colene loved the shopping there and Lake Como was beautiful.

Hope you all enjoyed our trip, of course we did.  We are looking forward to seeing you all soon .

So it is now farewell, au revoir, arrivederci and 再见 (goodbye in Chinese).

UP in the Clouds

Saturday

What a difference 24 hours can make.  Rome now seems so quiet compared to Hong Kong.  There are so many people going in so many directions. Today was our tourist day. First we went via ferry to the other side of Hong Kong and caught the Peak Tram to the top of the world or so it seemed.   We had a drink at the top and took some photos of the views. The view of Hong Kong was like a massive painting.

From the Peak Tram we walked the longest underground passage we have ever seen and then caught a train to the cable car. This cable car seems to go on forever. By the time we got to the top we were up in clouds again. A quick look around, had some lunch, then back down via the cable car.

We caught the train back to our hotel, did a little more shopping before the night’s end.  The shops are open until around 10 pm here. The Hong Kong dollar is worth about 1/8 of the Aussie dollar.  2 bottles of water costs HKD$11 and so is about AUS$1.50 which is quite cheap, especially compared to the euro.  We also find most things are cheaper here. 

Tomorrow we will be off to some apparently famous markets for a look.  Colene said the HKD $ is much cheaper than the Aus $ so again we will be saving a fortune! Women’s logic???

Hong Kong traffic jam.

View from the top.

 The Peak Tram

 The Cable Car that goes on and on and on....What you see is about 1/4.

 Busy Hong King streets.

Getting closer.

Friday

We have been on the go for the last 24 hours. We are now officially battered and bruised. Lugging suitcases and hand bags has finally taken its toll.

Thursday started with catching a bus from Termini Station to the Rome airport. We can equate it to pushing cattle onto a sale truck. However, once on board the bus the trip to the airport went smoothly.

There seemed to be a lot of walking around Rome airport before we eventually got to our boarding spot. Italians never seem to organise procedures efficiently. We finally got our flight to London. Once at London we only had a short time to get to our connecting flight which meant a lot more walking and a automated transit bus to our boarding spot.  Our flight to Hong Kong was very restful and we slept well on the flight.

We arrived in Hong Kong at around 7:30 pm which means we have been travelling for over 24 hours.

It’s Friday night and we are off to the Temple Markets to get something to eat. Everything is opened to 1am.

We asked the Concierge where to eat and he recommended a local restaurant just around the corner. Michael recognised  the front of the restaurant from tripadvisor and which had raving reviews.... and it was excellent.

We are now only 2 hours behind Melbourne time, getting closer.

 Off to Temple St markets.

 Friday night and there are lots of people everywhere. This is not our restaurant.

ROME DAY 2

Wednesday

Today we took the Subway to a stop called Spagna, which is near the Spanish steps. It was certainly an adventure. The local subway does not run as smoothly as the trains we have been on so far.

At least there is an English option when you buy your tickets. Anyway, we eventually arrived at the Spanish Steps. Took some photos and then on to serious business. This area is the fashion precinct of Rome. Via Condotti and Via Corse are the 2 main streets. Yes, you guessed it, another record. This time it was a one shop record. After Colene had made the purchases the owner shut the shop and was heard shouting something like “I’m off to the south of France.”  (I think Michael is exaggerating just a little!).

We continued on for a while but the day was getting dirty and so we made our way back to the hotel, had some lunch and waited for the weather to improve. We then explored the local area around the hotel and found a lovely little Italian Deli and some small, quaint shops.

Tomorrow  (Thursday) we leave our hotel around noon and head for the Termini station for a train to the airport, then off to Hong Kong.

Ciao 

 The Spanish Steps......

 One of the main Fashion streets of Rome. Not much wider than Flinders Lane

 These are the funniest looking but practical buses

 We have been told there are 3 different Police forces. Typical of Italy they don't talk to each other yet have overlapping responsibilities

 Another major fashion street. A very long straight street.

ROME DAY 1

Tuesday - the day started in bright sunshine but with a chill in the air.

On our way to catch the Hop on Hop off bus we met a weirdo, scammer.  He asked us for directions to the Termini Station as he was in a car with a map out.  Michael was giving him directions and he gave us this big spiel about how he worked for Armani and wanted to thank us by giving us these 2 leather jackets which were his samples. We only had to give him some cash for petrol as he had driven from Milan.  We looked at each other and laughed, the jackets were ugly anyway.  We think he was surprised and disappointed but said thank you and drove off!    

We got off the bus at the Colosseo (the Colosseum) and it is massive, almost as big as the MCG. We then got the bus to the Vatican City.   We had an amazing tour of the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peter Basilica.  Out of all the churches we have seen so far St Peter Basilica blows them all away.  Inside is made out of marble and the paintings are actually mosaic,  Quite incredible.  As we approached the Sistine Chapel there were lots of signs and loud speaker messages saying no photos to be taken inside the Chapel. The reason being that the Japanese paid  millions of dollars for the cleaning of the ceiling and obtained the copyright for all the paintings.  We were stunned as we walked inside because  we were blinded by the camera flashes going off everywhere.  Michael was happy because out came Junior.  We think the Vatican have to say no photos but in reality they got their money so now they don’t give a damn!

Next stop – The Trevi Fountain.  We were both surprised to see the location of the Fountain as it was at the end of a narrow street.  The Fountain is quite amazing though. The place was really crowded so we threw some coins in with our right hand over our left shoulder, took some pics and moved on.

Continued on the bus back to our hotel and sitting on the balcony having a relaxing drink before dinner.

Caio   

 What an impressive place.

 The Holy City.

 To think that this was made with a hammer and chisel.

Sistine Chapel. Michaelangelo was in his seventies when he painted this.

 We needed sunglasses to cut out all the camera flashes, even though no photos were allowed to be taken.
At least junior had no flash.

 St Peter Basilica. The Vatican has 2,500 different types of colored marble so the paintings are a mosaic not paint. I looked closely and you can tell its a mosaic. Red marble came from Eygpt.

On the floor are the names of many churches from around the world. The names are graded as the closer to the altar the smaller the church. Its 186 mtrs long. About the same as  MCG ground post to goal post

 Michaelangelo created this when he was in his early 30's. That was around 1530 AD

 Tevi Fountain. Lots of coin throwing. The police were around to make sure you didn't go in and collect some pocket money.

 Our first effort was to throw coins in over our right shoulder. A local told us we should have thrown the coins over our left shoulder. So had to do it again, the right way.

 The fountain was down a little lane and the Trevi piazza was not very big.

Positano to Rome

Monday

Our trip to Napoli was quicker than our driver had expected. There was a very long line of traffic but luckily for us all going the other way. Most Italians go for a picnic out in the countryside on Easter Monday and looked like everyone was going to Positano. This meant that we had to spend 2 hours at the infamous Napoli Central Station.  We had lunch in a cafe and there were lots of police and attendants around to keep the peace.  We were told that the police have cleaned up the station over the last few years as it used to be a very dangerous place.

Train travel in Italy is very easy. We travelled first class as the cost is not much more expensive than economy. This means you get a complementary drink. A big deal is made about this. The drink is in a small plastic cup, it can be a soft drink, coffee or even a white wine. But you are only allowed one and it is about a quarter full.  Colene nearly got a second drink on one of our trips, but the conductor was most impolite when she realised that she had already had her quota.  She had almost poured it and quickly stopped and probably tipped it out (very funny)!

When Michael booked the train to Rome, he assumed that the train would go to Rome’s largest train station, Termini and so he booked a hotel only 100 mtrs from the station, however, the train from Napoli to Rome stops at another station called Triburtino. It was not a problem we just caught a taxi and as it was a public holiday there was no traffic on the roads.

As everything is closed today, the rest of the day was spent chilling out in hotel and going through our luggage to work out if we had any excess baggage. To our surprise we are still just under, but our hand luggage could be a worry.

English speaking TV over here consists of only CNN and BBC. We have no idea what is happening in Oz .

Tuesday morning and the sun is shining and we are off to see the sights.

Ciao 

 A view to eat breakfast and work on the blog. The food somehow tastes better.

 The dining area of our hotel.

 The round doors add to the beach feel in your rooms.

 The view from our bed. Something special to look back on.
We had the best room in the hotel for views. This is not a painting.

 And we do mean views

 We just wonder at how they built these roads into the side of  mountains.

 On our way to Napoli, Views of Vesuvius. Luckily all the traffic was going the other way.