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Europe 2019

August - September 2019
August 2019 Read more
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  • Europe 2019
    Day 7

    Bordeaux Day 1

    August 12, 2019 in France ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    We woke up in Paris and with great sadness we got ready to move onto the next adventure. There is so much to see and do in Paris that we both agree it’s somewhere we would love to come back to. But on to Bordeaux. We caught our fast train which was super comfy and fast. Great way to travel. Pete says better than the plane!

    Arrived in Bordeaux and worked out the transit system and found our bnb, which is in a quiet neighbourhood in a 17th century apartment. Amazing building and a lovely hostess called Michelle.

    After settling in we headed out to explore and found our way to some of the sights in Bordeaux. We went to two art museums and tried to get in to a couple of things that were not open Monday’s, but we walked through some amazing parts of the old town. We were worn out, well our feet and calves were, so we headed back for a rest.

    Seems like the best way to do it as when we woke up we headed out for more exploring. Went to the mirror pools, which because of everyone walking in it wasn’t so much a mirror but still a beautiful building. Watched some line dancing, yes in Bordeaux and then wandered the old town until we found a dinner spot and then home. Really amazing how we are finding our way around without too much trouble! Google maps does help 😊😊    Read more

  • Europe 2019
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    Day 8

    Exploring Bordeaux

    August 13, 2019 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Definitely a beautiful place to stay and explore. We are pretty proud of ourselves managing to work out the public transport wherever we go. The weather is perfect and this morning we set off to the La Cite du Vin where we spent about three hours walking around this amazing museum of wine and wine making. The tour was topped off with a glass of wine on the eighth floor with an amazing view of the city. We then caught the ferry back to the old town and wandered around. Had some yummy lunch and then went to the Musee d’antiquities. Incredible that we have been to more museums in Europe than I have been in my whole life!

    Totally worn out we headed home for our siesta. Decided to stay local for dinner so we went to the local pizzeria and had an early night ready for the travel day tomorrow to Montpelier.    Read more

  • Europe 2019
    Day 9

    Travel to Montpelier

    August 14, 2019 in France ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    Our wonderful Air BnB host Michele offered to drive us to the station which really helped with the bags. She has been wonderful and her room is beautiful. We arrived early at the station, mainly because I would rather be there early and have a cafe and not have to rush or panic we might miss the train. Is working so far.

    The fast trains are an amazing way to travel and it’s a good way to relax after a couple of days of sightseeing.

    We arrived in Montpelier early afternoon and our hotel was in walking distance to the station. Mind you our room was the size of a matchbox compared to our previous place, but it was clean and in a good location. We headed out to explore the old town and to have a glass of wine, of course and some crepes which were yum. We found an old church that was amazing inside and in need of renovation. So much history to these towns. Pete found another musee that was in an old house which he explored while I rested my weary feet.

    I had a craving for pomme frittes (chips) and Pete found me some. We wandered home as I had had enough. Pete was going to go out again, but was soon settled in beside me asleep. I don’t think one night stays are worth it as you don’t really get a chance to explore. Tomorrow it’s on to Nice.    Read more

  • Europe 2019
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    Day 10

    Nice - I'm in Love

    August 15, 2019 in France ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    After a reasonable nights sleep in the shoe box we made our way to the station. We had breakfast in a park, with a group of homeless people circling us for smokes. No luck with us. It is amazing how many homeless people we have seen in France, and makes me think how incredibly lucky we are to be able to live our life as we are.

    The train was once again fast and got us to Marseille where we had a three hour stopover. We stored our luggage and went to find somewhere for a glass of wine, of course! A truly beautiful town that has a beautiful port and looks like it would be great to explore! Maybe next time 😉😉

    Onto Nice where our Air BnB turned out to be amazing and our hosts were lovely and helpful, giving up their room so we could stay for two night! We dumped our bags and headed off to find the beach, which was beautiful. We found a place on the beach to sit and sip our drinks and watch the amazing fireworks they had arranged on our behalf, obviously!

    Wandered back along the streets and had a kebab as we walked. A very relaxing and pleasant city that we will explore tomorrow.    Read more

  • Europe 2019
    Day 11

    A Day Exploring Nice

    August 16, 2019 in France ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    Had a wonderful nights sleep and breakfast was provided by our hosts Gerard and Madeline. We then set off to explore. It is the most beautiful city with amazing buildings, parks and statues. And of course the beach. We found a street market where we found our food for our picnic on the beach to watch the sunset.

    We found a cafe where we sat upstairs for quite a long time people watching and just enjoying the atmosphere. We did more walking, eating and drinking and then headed back for our siesta!

    Headed out to the beach, not the white sand beaches we are used too. It was quite stony, but one benefit, no sand in your bathers. Though the stones are a bit tough on our soft feet so looks like ref booties will be acquired. Ooooh more to carry 😂😂

    We had a picnic after our swim in the azure blue ocean. What better way to end our last night in France than with a bottle of Rose, bread, cheese and olives. Yum!

    We ended the night at a wine bar where we enjoyed live music and a couple of drinks. Was our Friday night Guildford Grumpies night and a great way to finish our stay in Nice. Returned to our BnB giggling like teenagers trying not to wake everyone up. Early start tomorrow and 4 trains and we will be in Florence!    Read more

  • Europe 2019
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    Day 12

    On to Italy

    August 17, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    A full on day of train travel today, with us sadly leaving Nice at 7:40am. Then onto Milan where we ended up have a burger at Burger King as we didn’t have enough time to leave the station for real food! The trains were amazing and we had business class which gave us free snacks and drinks! After a long day on trains we finally arrived in Florence at 5.00pm and had no internet, which meant no Google maps to find our way! Lesson learnt - download map when you have wifi so you can use it offline!, so thank goodness for MacDonalds where you get free wifi eve if you don’t eat there! We downloaded our map and headed off for a 20 minute walk to our BnB which turned out to be lovely once we found it!

    We freshened up and then headed out to explore Florence albeit it briefly and wandered along and found the Ponte De Vecchio in time for the sunset. Found a great place for dinner and the wine was wonderful. Great finish to a tiring day.    Read more

  • Europe 2019
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    Day 13

    Getting to San Gimignano

    August 18, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    So what a drama!! We had paid for a hire car to pick up in Florence from Hertz. After finally finding the office, we waited and waited to be served. Finally we were told to go across the road to pick up the car. Ha ha that was a joke. We wanted to change the driver to me and all of a sudden we were told they would not honour our reservation. So here we were in Florence with no way of getting to our next stop. So I said to Pete, no stress it’s part of the adventure 😂😂😂

    We ended up at Budget, with the same paperwork and within 10 minutes we were on our way with a car. Lesson - don’t hire with Hertz, absolutely no customer care and would not help!

    Anyway we got over that eventually and found our way back to the BnB and picked up our luggage and set off for San Gimi. My favourite place! The driving was pretty good, I just need help remembering my left and right. Pretty important when driving on the other side of the road!

    Our BnB is amazing and we spent some time exploring San Gimi till the heat got to me and also the drive i think. We went back to the BnB with our snacks and had a swim and a yummy dinner. So nice to be in the county side!    Read more

  • Europe 2019
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    Day 14

    Tuscany

    August 19, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    The weather is amazing as is the location. Truly spoilt in this beautiful place.

    In the morning we went and found a laundry and washed our ever growing bag of dirty clothes, bought some food and then headed off in the car for an adventure.

    We headed to Cecina which is on the coast going through amazing villages and fantastic scenery. Arrived at Cecina and it was not the quiet little town I remembered! Firstly we found an Italian Aldi store which was amazing. Found a couple of beach towels and bits and pieces, then headed down to the beach. Absolutely packed beaches with umbrellas as far as the eye can see.

    We then drove on down the coast to San Vincenzo where we were looking forward to a seafood pasta, but no luck we arrived too late and the kitchen was closed, so we shared a kebab instead!

    On we drove and that’s when the fun began! We only had offline Google maps that had trouble keeping track of where we were. We found a gorgeous village called Rocca Strada which had lots of housed built into the side of the rock with narrow windy streets. Best part was we were the only tourists there!

    On we drove heading for Siena, where we took so many wrong turns and one time ended up going under a bridge that we were supposed to be going over! No we didn’t kill each other but it was getting pretty tense and in the ended we skipped stopping in Siena and we both agreed never again without a online map!

    Drove on and muddled our way back to San Gimi where we stopped finally at a local Pizzeria as Pete was desperate for an Italian pizza and I had seafood risotto to make up for missing out during the day. We were happy to finally be at home and we will remember the adventure of getting lost in Tuscany for years to come! Pete finished the day with Limoncello!    Read more

  • Europe 2019
    Day 15

    Taxi, taxi

    August 20, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    Up sort of early and the Taxi driver set off for Pisa! Good navigation got us into the centre of Pisa and parked. We walked through the streets, having to stop for a refreshment, as it was hot, hot! We found the tower and of course Pete had to try to push it over, while everyone else was trying to hold it up!

    After looking at all the incredible buildings we headed off for beach nearby for a swim. Soooo many people but it was still great to have a swim, but too hot to sit on the beach for too long. It was amazing seeing the mountains in the distance while standing in the water.

    Then we set off again and went to Lucca, a walled city where we wandered around, we have done a lot of that, oh and also had to have some refreshments too!

    We finally returned home and we made a platter for our last night in San Gimignano. Off to Venice tomorrow.    Read more

  • Europe 2019
    Day 16

    Onto Venice

    August 21, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    After a lovely breakfast on the terrace we headed off in the car back to Florence to drop off the hire car.it was an easy drive with Google maps until we realised our offline map had sent us to a bridge that was closed! Lucky we had internet so we quickly recalculated and managed to get the car back with incurring any traffic fines, we hope.

    Made it onto our train and had a relaxing couple of hours speeding towards Venice. When we arrived the clever accommodation booker (Pete) had found us a hotel that only had one bridge to climb to reach our hotel. Mind you we had four flights of narrow stairs to make it to our room, but the lovely staff carried our bags for us.

    After a quick refresh we headed out to explore Venice and marvel at the beautiful buildings and canals. We were going to do a go dale ride but 100 euros about $180 made us think twice. Still we found a lovely place to stop for refreshments, but had some pretty average food. We went back for our afternoon siesta which was much needed!

    We decided to stay close to the hotel for dinner and found a lovely little restaurant on a canal. Weather was a bit cooler with quite a bit of wind, but quite refreshing after the previous hot days. Sooooo many tourists it makes it hard to walk the streets during the day but easier at night so we did more wandering until we were well and truly exhausted. More exploring tomorrow.    Read more

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