Como

We spent today on a booked tour to Lake Como. We only had a couple of hours sleep as we were on viber with everyone in Melbourne in the very early hours. We got up at 7am and had a lovely breakfast at the hotel.  Cereal, hot food, fresh fruit and sweets (donuts, cakes) not that we had any.

We had a bus tour to Lake Como, which is about 75 minutes from Milan.

Como is a very picturesque destination. It is on a huge lake with the Swiss Alps in the distance and steep hills all around.  We had a thing to listen to the tour guide’s comments but it didn’t work most of the time so missed the commentry which was a bit of a shame .

 Michael was chuffed -  Como, like everywhere else in Italy has a lot of history, all the way back to the Romans....of course.

We were given lots of spare time and we utilised it looking at all the fashion shops.

Colene again loved the fashion and Michael was also impressed on how well the Italians dress just to go done to the local piazza (shopping area). Today being Saturday there were lots of families out and about and Como was full of people. A trip on the cable car to the top of the hillside gave us  breathtaking views of  the Swiss Alps and the Como township. We met a number of Aussies who were also traveling through Italy and  we shared stories.

Of course, we couldn’t let a day go buy and not buy clothes, and Colene found some bella vestti (beautiful clothes). Once again we saved a fortune.

We had a boat ride on the lake but as we were both tired we fell asleep in the beautiful afternoon sun. The trip back to Milan was very quick as we both slept most of the way.

Once we were off Colene wanted to see the Meeca of Milan fashion.... Via Monte Napoleone. Everyone we asked was very helpful in finding this street of fashion. However while Colene visited the house of Versace, Chanel etc Michael was very keen to take photos of the Maserati, Bentley, Ferrari and other common cars, that just happened to be parked along the Via ( Italian for Street).

We then took a taxi back to the hotel.  It is amazing how excited people are when you tell them you’re  from Australia. We met some of the people from the tour at the hotel and also a couple of others from Estonia.

We decided to have an early night as we are traveling to Venice tomorrow morning.

Ciao

 

  

Como's cathedral

Just your average view over Como...

 Doesn't get any better.....

 Como at its best...

 Milan was vibrant and full of people...

Michael's type of window shopping

Colene's type of window shopping.

 The Mecca of  fashion..... Not impressed

Don’t know why comments can’t be posted – sorry.
We had to pack for the airport, so Michael posted our latest parcels back to Australia - Le Poste is going to make a profit this year for sure.
Easyjet (cheap like Jetstar) is very strict on luggage and allows you to only take 1 piece of hand luggage (that includes a handbag) and pre-booked 23kg of hold luggage each.
 The French think very different to us. You can take one piece of hand luggage but with no weight restrictions – work that one out.
Also with Easyjet its first in best seat, we had booked a speed boarding pass and were one of the first to baord the jet. When it came time to get off you wouldn’t believe it but we had to go via the back of the jet – a problem with the stairs.  Anyway Milan was very easy to exit with no customs.
We arrived at our hotel about 100mtrs from Centrale Station. Coming from a quaint but old apartment in Paris to a hotel room was great. We went to the Duomo and Galleria. The Duomo is massive, but unfortunately closed by the time we got there.
 We have both been coughing for the past week or so and visited the doctor in the farmacia. We found out later that anyone with a degree, is called Dr. Lawyers, teachers, engineers etc can all call themselves doctors. We had actually seen a chemist, he gave us some great natural herb cough medicine which seems to be helping.
We caught the metro to and from the Duomo which we were told would be very safe.  We walked into the Galleria and Colene's eyes nearly popped out of her head. Prada, Louis V, Swarovski and lots more. The shops close at 7:30 so we didn’t have time to do too much damage.
On our way back from the Centrale station Michael realised that they were being followed and they had to duck and weave through the station to lose the culprit. Maybe it was the bright shopping bags or Michael getting junior out to take some photos of one of the most impressive railway stations in the world, which brought his attention. It was a bit scary and the next day on the shopping tour, junior stayed home and we were on our guard.
We went to biggest shopping outlet in Europe. OMG Colene loved every minute of it.
At 5pm the bus brought us back. Colene did say we had saved a fortune, yet Michael couldn’t quite understand her logic.
Tomorrow we are up again bright and early for a day trip to Lake Como.
Ciao.

A smile as big as Cheshire cat.

 The Duomo

The muggers paradise

 Look we saved a fortune...Huh?

Today was ....Heaven in so many ways.  Michael thought it was heaven because he had to wait an hour in line at the Notre Dame Tower entrance. You would think it was heaven because Michael had to climb 387 steps to the top of the tower.

Everyone else thought it was heaven because they finally found a really trendy shopping mall - Printemp. Michael finally met up with the others and they all went to the top floor, which to everyone’s surprise had a cafe and bar. The view was like looking down from heaven. Michael and Andrew appreciated  the ice cold beer.  Kyan thought it was heaven because he could crawl around on the 10^th floor, and on the patch of artificial grass and around the decks making new friends once again.

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When we all finally came back down to earth, we headed back to the unit, via some shop inspections.

Michael and Colene were off to St Chapelle to hear a recital of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”. Hearing such a rendition with violins and cello inside a medieval cathedral was fantastic.

Although there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky and little breeze a bug has hit each of us with sore throats and flu symptoms.  Everyone laughed at Michael for taking his medicine chest full o f goodies but everyone has been dipping into it and we can save some luggage space there now!!!!

Being the last night in Paris Michael and Colene followed up the recital with a beautiful meal in a restaurant about 50 mtrs from the unit.. Andrew and Karina stayed in and have a pizza and pack their bags.

An unusual observation is that Parisians like to take their dogs everywhere, even to restaurants.  In Somerset we found dogs in pubs and in Paris there were lots of little pooches being carried into restaurants and sat on a rug or even in the bottom of prams. The dogs must think its heaven over here.

Our Paris stay has just about come to an end. But before we leave tomorrow, there has to be one last quick stop at Le Poste to send another 14 kgs back home. Total so far 34kgs.

Michael and Colene head off at 10am and leave Paris on the 1:45 flight to Milan. Andrew and Karina head off at 4pm and their flight leaves at 7:30pm, stopping at Heathrow, Singapore and then Melbourne at 6am on Saturday morning.

 Au Revoir and tomorrow night it will be arrivederci .

The look from Heaven

   What heaven is made of....

Standing on top of the world

 Love to live here for a very long time..

 

Today was ...D day, that is of course Disneyland.  We headed off around 10 to a metro station that goes directly to Disneyland. It is called Chalet- Les Halles to Marne la Vallée-Chessy. We had no problem at all getting there. There were lots of people even though it wasn’t a holiday here. We all went on some rides that were suitable for Kyan.  We had a ball especially Kyan.  We had lunch, wandered around looking at all the sites until 5pm which was when the big parade started.  Kayn was his usual self and entertained the crowds while we waited for the parade to get under way.  Mickey and Minnie ended the parade after which we headed off home.  The train was surprisingly empty and our trip back to Paris was smooth and painless .

We are all exhausted but tonight although Michael and Colene went out for dinners and Karina and Andrew ate in.  Stephen would love to have the waiter we had in his restaurant.  He ran the whole show in a restaurant about the same size as Greensborough Italian on his own.  He was the waiter the drink maker and the cashier all in one.  There was 1 chef and 1 pot scrubber.  We would have given him Stephen’s number but he couldn’t understand English!  The menu was all in French but we managed to order a chicken and potato salad and a chicken and chips dish – a bit much chicken but very nice.

We have found both Paris and London not as expensive as we had thought.   In fact we think Melbourne is a little bit more expensive.

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Tomorrow is our last full day in Paris. We have done so much yet it has gone so fast. We are happy to say we have not seen a cloud in the sky the whole time we have been here.

We are excited about tomorrow as we will be visiting  Paris’ main shopping centre. Colene, Karina and Andrew will be excited to shop and Michael because it has a full 360 degree view of Paris.

 Walking past the little known St Merry..

 Yes it's Disneyland

Yes we are at Disney.

The train express

Kyan loved he rides

 Kyan wins them over again, just watch this space with this kid

Mickey at his best

 

There is nothing like a big parade to keep you interested.

 Today we started off expecting to do some shopping but as it is Sunday in Paris most shops are closed.

When we got up our watches said 7am but our phones said 8am.  We worked out that Europe has gone to daylight saving so we have an extra hour of daylight for the rest of our trip.

 Parisians are out and about on another beautiful sunny day. We haven’t seen a cloud since we arrived in Paris.

At 11:30am we headed off for the Palace of Versailles. We decided to take a taxi and 40 euros later we were at the front door ie.  a massive wrought iron fence with gold trimmings.

The line in was about 250mtrs long and took us about ½ hour to get through security.

How do we explain Versailles...too hard - after you go through the palace and gardens you can understand why the French peasants chopped off all the heads of the French aristocracy.  Brutal, but the amount of money spent to build this place would have been phenomenal. Inside we looked through all the rooms of the Palace, again quite amazing. There are some 1500 fireplaces in the palace. The rooms are typical French 17^th century decor.

We then went to the gardens surrounding the Palace where we had lunch.  We will leave the explanation to the photos – massive and incredible! We keep using the word massive and that is an understatement for a lot of places here. We stood on a large hilltop and could not see the end of the garden.   It is that massive.

After 5 hours of walking around ...about half the garden, we caught the train back to Paris. The train system is excellent in here. We hit our unit and the first beer, wine and soft drink went down well. Once again we ate dinner in as we are all worn out for today.  We off to Euro Disney  tomorrow.

Bonne nuit (good night).

French decor

What 100 steps looks like..

Can you see the end of the garden ?.... we couldn't

Look what a cloudless day does....

 

 Our unit

 This photographer can now say he has taken a photo of a professional model. She was on a fashion shoot as we walked by...and no she wasn't running away she was off tho her caravan.

 Thinking of renovating your backyard.....