18/6/06 Moving out

Woke up at midday after a massive night on the town to find out we had to move out of our room at midday. Terribly hungover we had to quickly pack our stuff, clean the room and try and extract the mince we bought 3 months ago from the back of the freezer. We managed to finish by 1.00 and hand over our keys. So we're now officially unemployed and homeless (at least for one day anyway). We're off to watch Australia lose to Brazil in the soccer now, and probably have a few more dinks downstairs. We're catching the train to Edinburgh tomorrow and should get there around 5pm. We're subletting a room with Claire for a month, then if all goes well, will find somewhere to move in. Don't know if I'll be able to download photos up there easily (no computer) so may not be able to post any pictures for a while. Will try to keep the site updated to let you all know how we're getting on. In the meanwhile, take care, we love you and miss you all, Sara and Gem.

PS Happy Birthday for tommorow Dad, will try to call around 6pm your time.

17/6/06 Picnic in the Park

Spent our last Saturday in London catching up up with Antony from the Royal and a bunch of other people for a picnic at Battersea Park. Was such a beautiful afternoon, despite the frisbee injuries. Said some more goodbyes before heading back to mish-mash for the 2 for 1 cocktails on the deck.

16/6/09 More sightseeing

It's hitting us that we are leaving London very soon, so had to try to fit in a bit more sightseeing. Went to the British Museum which is absolutely massive, and saw heaps of ancient relics, egThe Rosetta Stone, and lots of mummies. Wandered around London a bit more before stopping in at a boat pub on the

Thames with Tom (our lovely English tourguide) and Arnaud (Sara's mates from records from medical records). Said some more goodbyes before stopping for a tourist photo opportunity on the way home.

12/6/06 The Crown

Thought we should pop in a photo of our local (The Crown)which we often stop in for on the way home. Like the rest of London, the Crown has draped itself in St George colours and fired up its sky tv for the world cup soccer.

12/6/06 Richmond Park

Gem got cancelled for work and it was such a nice hot day, so we headed out to Richmond Park to get some fresh air. The park is absolutely massive - you need a car to see it all. We walked around for ages through overgrown paths and big open fields and got a bit sunburned. It was a "heatwave" at 32 degrees (we've gotten a bit declimatised to the heat), but it's not humid, so was really nice. Heaps of wildlife too. We saw bunnies, squirrels and deer that looked like Bambi. They're fairly timid but you can get about 25 meters from them before they move away.

9/6/06 Sara's last day

With tears in her eyes, Sara headed off for her last day at medical records. As much as she hates the job, she was really sad to say goodbye to bunch of friends she made there.

4/6/06 Rubix cube party

Had a dress-up party at mish mash, where everyone has to come as a colour of the rubix cube. After hitting the op-shops, Gem managed to find a fetching green frock, whilst Sara was the belle of the ball in her high visibility orange raincoat. Claire had just come over with a bottle of duty-free bundy rum, so we had a pretty big one which we finished up watching the sunrise on the roof.

28/5/06 Changing of the guards

Realised we don't have much longer in London so decided to do something touristy again. Headed out to Buckingham palace to watch the changing of the guards. Such a nice day that the crowds didn't even bother us, we watched all the beefeaters playing their brass band and marching back and forward for about an hour before heading to the pub.

19/5 St Peter's

After the Vatican we headed to St Peter's Bascilla which was absolutely stunning. Then celebrated our last night in Italy, as we did every other night: whith lots of Italian food and Italian wine and Italian beer, before stumbling back to the B&B. We definately supported the local grape growers industry, and beer brewers during our week in Italy.

19/5 Vatican

Decided to give the Vatican a go again, but started lining up at 7.30am, when it was a lot cooler. Got in by 9.30, and spent hours looking at the wierd and wonderful things in the museum. There was everything from Mummies to Dali paintings, not to mention all the artwork from Michaelangelo and Raphael. The Sistine Chapel was incredible (we even sneaked a photo)

18/5 Rome Sightseeing Treck

Caught the train (again) to Rome, and got in fairly late. Got to our B&B, which was right near the Vatican, and was so nice. They even put out little breakfast baskets for us. We decided to go to the Vatican, but when we got there at 10am, the line was about 2km long, and it was about 30 degrees. (That's hot after being in London) Instead we went for a massive treck around Rome. We walked about 10km in total, and got quite suburned, but saw heaps of cool stuff. We covered the river, the Panthenon, the Mouth of Truth, the Colleseum, Palantine Hill, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Finished off the day with a massive bowl of pasta, a bit of vino bianco (white wine), and an early night.

17/6 Florence

Had done a bit of sightseeing around Florence already at this point, but on our last day we decided to tackle the 2hour que to the Galleria Acadamia to see the statue of David. (Unfortunately no cameras allowed inside) He was pretty impressive and absolutely massive. (Would love to see Goliath)

16/5 Back to Florence

With our massive train adventure through Tuscany at an end (and Gem's swollen face starting to go down)we made it back to Florence around 11pm. Just in time to grab some food and a couple of beers before heading back to the scary lady in the hostel.

16/5 toilets

Everywhere we went, you have to pay for the toilets. Prices ranged from 20 cents to 1 euro. It added up over the week. I reckon we went about 4 times a day, which makes about 50 trips in total, averaging down to about 30 euros over the week. And they were often in a terrible state with no toilet paper!

16/5 Siena

After Pisa we caught the train on to Sienna. Trains around the Italian countryside are so nice. You sit back in comfort and watch the beautiful scenery of villages, farms, grapevines and mountains go by. Sienna was a beautiful old town on a hill. The town itself was tiny narrow footpaths (no cars), and big old stone buildings. But as soon as you walk outside, you're looking over vineyards and countryside.

16/5 Pisa

Caught the train from Venice to Florence, and managed to find our spartan hostel (not even a kettle), which is run by a little old lady who screamed at us in Italian when we asked her questions. We woke up and caught the train from Florence to Pisa, where we ambled down to the square with the leaning tower. It was a beautil warm day, and we goodheartedly tackled the crowds to pose for the obligitary tourist photos.

15/5 Gem's Little Accident

After our few bottles of wine on the canal, Gem thought it would be fun to jump into a rowboat. Unfortunately I misjudged the leap and stacked it, smacking my face againgst the chair. I woke up to find that the right side of my face was swollen and I couldn't smile properly... not to mention very painful.