We are heading home to be with our family. Our trip has been wonderful and we have made so many lasting memories that will have us talking and laughing for a long time. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our blog and thanks for coming on our European ride! Our highlights:

Jac

The grottos on Capri, travelling to Switzerland and being amongst the Alps, and the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Stella

The best thing about this trip was going in the thermal spa in Brig. The water  was very relaxing  and it felt very calm .

Daisy
I loved the beaches in Capri. When the water touched my body, all the tension and stress that was relieved was incredible. I also loved the thermal bath  tub

Dan

I have really enjoyed being completely present with my family, without the interruptions of work email, phone calls or deadlines (my watch broke in Singapore and I spent the month literally not knowing what day or time it is!).  I also loved seeing our girls’ confidence and independence grow throughout our travels.  Finally, I really enjoyed Venice, especially my extra special birthday celebrations and the gondola ride.

Stella

Day 28 – Today we went on a ferry ⛴ to Capri. The ferry ⛴ was about half an hour ride. It was very enjoyable. For some reason it made me feel quite grand – da da da daaa.

When we got there, we started exploring the town of Capri. We looked in all the souvenir shops.  Then we went on an amazing  boat  ride. There were quite a lot of other people on there.
We saw some amazing  things and we got to go under and in and through three caves. It was very exciting. My absolute favourite thing I saw was the statue of the person on a very high cliff.

Then we went down on the beach , had lunch and ended up having a swim ‍ because mum brought our bathers. I had a swim ‍ and then I made a castle out of stones.

Then we did this long walk We didn’t end up doing all of it because it was so far up. So then we got on our ferry ⛴ and said “bye, bye” to Capri. When we went home we looked around for a good place to eat and we found a nice place near the beach but we didn’t go into the water. Instead we ate dinner… mmm. I had some steamed vegies and chips then we went looking around and I bought a  little handbag with flowers on it for seven Euros. Today was fun .

Daisy

Yeah! Today we got up and had breakfast…mmm chocolate cake! Just kidding, we had that for lunch  and surprise, surprise we’re coming home early (only two days though) because you guys were missing me too much! I know, I know, oh stop flattering me  tee he tee he. We’re still not going to school though!

Today we went on a boat tour. It took us around the island of Capri. First we saw villa Jovis (home of the great Roman emperor), next Grotta Bianca (white cave) and then we saw Arco Naturale (natural arch). After that we saw Marina Piccola (where the rich people go to holiday). Next we saw Grotta verde (green cave) and soon after that we saw Grotta Azzurra (Blue Grotto). Finally, best of all, we were back to where we started – the harbour tee he!

Jac

We fast ferried to Capri today and then did a boat tour around the island. The landscape and colour of the water near the grottos was amazing, as captured in our photos.

I ran into a school friend a few years ago and she mentioned that she was living on the Isle of Capri. Very impressed, I said “It must be great living in Italy”, until she told me it was the Isle of Capri on the Gold Coast”! A significant difference between the two Capris is the alphabetical listing of resident celebrities- A listers and D listers. The Italian version of Capri is full of A listers including Georgio Armani and Sophia Loren and as our tourist guide pointed out, many other “unidentified” celebrities (likely from Roswell!). There is an exclusive area on Capri that costs $45000 Euros per square metre and celebrities only venture out at night to avoid the swarms of tourists during the day. It’s hard to think of any A lister on the Gold Coast Isle, however “Old Coaster” Warwick Capper would probably pass for an Italian playboy in a pair of short Armani shorts, given his liking for gold hot pants!

I estimate that the number of selfie sticks visiting Sorrento, Pompei and Capri is more than the number of French, American and Australian tourists combined. Whoever patented the “ its all about me” hand extenders, must be making trillions! I’m not a great fan or taker of selfies but this doesn’t mean I haven’t picked up a few tips on our European trip. My top tips are never pose with a background more captivating than you, position your head at the same angle as your pouty lips, and finally if your “good side” isn’t perfect, then designer shade with a pair of expensive looking sunglasses!

Dan

I am wondering if there’s something called ‘Tourism Fatigue’, where operators of services in high tourist areas no longer remember, or care, about why they do the work they do i.e. ensuring visitors get the information they need to enjoy their paid experience so much that they share with others and plan return visits.  I have been frustrated these past couple of days, particularly with ticketing staff, where I have been under the impression that I have purchased everything required, to then find out later on that something was missing.

At Pompeii yesterday, we got off the train and were steered to an office to buy tickets for the site.  We were told that we only needed tickets for the adults, under 18s did not have to pay, and it was cash only (lucky I had been to the bank and had that sorted – lesson learnt from Venice!)  After going to the entrance and showing the entry tickets to the person on the gate, I was then told we had to go back to another ticketing office to be issued with separate passes for the kids!  Frustrated, but compliant, we lined up for a good 20 minutes at least to get the passes (which took all of 5 seconds when we eventually got there!) The most annoying part of all of this, however, was that people in the second queue were using credit cards to purchase their entry tickets…

Another case in point happened today, at the Sorrento ferry terminal ticketing office.  From all information given by various people over the previous days, we understood that, unless we wanted a private boat tour (at a huge cost of 85 euros per adult, 75 for kids without even landing on the island), there were only two companies selling tickets for Capri; a fast ferry with a much more flexible timetable than a second slower one (which had only one return ferry after 1.30 which was at 6.45pm).

We wanted time to explore the island, so decided to take the faster option and have more flexibility for the afternoon return trip. However, when I finally reached the front counter to purchase tickets I was told that the only ferry back was at 3.30pm – the rest were sold out due to the number of tourists making the most of today’s great weather. I asked if there was another option for the return trip and was told no, and to go to the other ticketing counter to sort it out.  I then told him that I would take the return time of 3.30pm and purchased what I thought were return tickets for the 4 of us.

After our fun in the sun and on the water at Capri, we turned up to the ferry ahead of schedule (another lesson learnt) to find out that the tickets we were issued were one-way, and when I looked at the Euros paid that was indeed the case (pity I didn’t pay more attention to that this morning!) So, thinking in the back of my head about what the ticketing guy had said about all ferries being sold out – and not really wanting to contemplate finding accommodation on Capri for the night – I set off to the ticketing area to see what I could do.  It turned out that there were ferries from other companies leaving regularly for Capri, seats available and at a cheaper price than what we paid to come across! If we had known that was the case, we would have gladly paid for one-way tickets first up!

Of course, we are now much wiser than when we first started travelling, although Jac was a little worried when I negotiated and paid cash for our boat tour of the island this morning whilst standing in line for the ferry!  She even took a sneaky photo of the ticket seller, just in case!  The kids loved swimming, we all loved the boat tour and who wouldn’t love a kiss under lover’s arch to seal a lifetime commitment to each other! I think all couples on our boat took up this opportunity under the direct instruction of the ship’s captain!

 

 

 

Stella

Today we went to Pompeii and we saw all of the nearly dug up buildings that had been covered up in larva many years ago and sadly ☹️ everyonewho lived there died . We saw some bones from people that died and some hand  made pottery. We watched a short movie  about what it used to look like  – cool!

Then we went out for tea at a place that we had not been to. I had some seafood risotto. It had prawns 🦐 in it and it also had octopus  and squid 🦑. Mmm. Daisy had carbonara,  Mum had gnocchi and Mumma Jac had pasta  Today was fun.

Jac

Pompeii was our site of choice today, and what a sight it was. Accompanied by a couple of hundred fellow train travellers, we secured our tickets and entered the city of ruins. I half-expected Frankie Howerd to appear in his “Up Pompeii” get-up, rolling out a repertoire of risqué double-entendres! It was fascinating to see the layout of the city and the prevalence of baths and water areas for relaxation. It was also interesting to see that the design of wood fired ovens hasn’t changed over the centuries. It will take some time to process all that we saw, as the site covers a very big area and there is so much information to take in.

Pompeii has a history well beyond the lava incident, as Pink Floyd filmed a documentary in 1971, performing their music in the ancient auditorium. They played in front of 10 people, mainly film crew, and a few local kids who skipped school. They had difficulty getting power to their equipment so they used a very long cord from the Town Hall!

As per usual, the girls were interested in the Pompeii souvenirs but couldn’t really see the value in them- it’s pretty difficult selling souvenirs that are ruined! I loved the “not quite what we meant” sign that I saw advertising chips, near the site. Firstly, not a great outcome for the French and secondly, not exactly sensitive to the impact of heat in this area! It could only have been beaten in bad taste by a local café selling chocolate lava cakes!

Daisy

Sometimes you don’t know what it’s like to miss home so much that you go psycho! So people be glad you’re at home!
Today we went to Pompeii, the magma covered city  yay! So many rocks yay, yay! Even geodes. Scientific 🧪 example: geodes are rocks that have been around for a very very, very, very, very long time. As plain as they may be on the outside, they have been hollowed in so that crystals can grow in all different types shapes and sizes.

We saw some ruins. They were all made out of bricks. Bricks are made out of wet land that was hardened into clay. The best thing that I saw today was the stadium because it was very big and there were loads of tunnels. I liked today.

Dan

Travelling with kids requires a lot of thought and preparation, especially with regards to food and drink provisions to get us through a day of site seeing.  Pompeii today required 6 rounds of sandwiches, 4 pieces of fruit, 4 slices of cake and 4 biscuits (baked by our host) with 4 drink bottles full of water to wash it all down. Carrying all of that in the back pack, along with hand sanitiser, sunscreen, jackets, phones and purses (you never know where the next bargain might be…) makes you feel like you’re going some way to working off those extra holiday treats, and I’ve certainly enjoyed more treats than most!

Strategic planning for the kids’ personal needs is also a must whilst travelling, especially in places where there are very few public toilets or when visiting large historic sites where signage is lacking. On more than one occasion over the past few weeks, I have had to make a mad dash to find facilities for one or both kids.  In the early days, I tried to use the toilet in cafés only to be met with a stern “No public. Go to the square” (or similar). In Venice this was a major challenge; the twists and turns to find the right square sent me, and poor Daisy who had the tummy bug, into a state of utter confusion and desperation.  Today at Pompeii we lucked it in by taking a guess that the area crowded with school kids was the one to aim for…!

I wasn’t actually sure what to expect at Pompeii today. I had done a bit of reading but really didn’t have a sense of the history or time periods we were talking about. We entered the site through Porta Marina and were fortunate enough to view a brief documentary about the site that showed the key areas that have been uncovered and get a feel for the place in the times prior to the eruption in 79AD. After that we followed our noses (and the map) and listened in to snippets of information from the English-speaking tour guides talking to their groups near by. I loved exploring the temples, forums and seeing glimpses of the mosaic tiled floors and painted walls. Given the short time we were at the site, we certainly covered a lot of territory and ticked off many of the significant items of interest.

Tomorrow is Capri & the Blue Grotto.  Fingers crossed the weather continues to be kind to us so that we can get into the cave and see what all the fuss is about!

 

Dan

Walking, talking…wandering and wondering….what a wonderful day we’ve had.  Although I was armed with maps and brochures on all things Sorrento, today we ended up getting lost in the crowd (figuratively speaking) and treading our own path . We paid some attention to the historical centre in between souvenir shopping; visiting the port and the old city walls, viewing a number of bone containers (Saint remains) at the Church of Carmine and unofficially attending a wedding at the Church and Cloister of Saint Francis.

The wedding was a bonus, as we were really only there to look at the gift shop and the Sophia Loren exhibition, but as luck would come our way, Daisy and Stella ended up in a prime viewing spot for the bridal party’s entrance, complete with flower girls and page boy. It brought a tear to my eyes (and surfaced some long-lost memories) to see the late arrival of the bride and her bridesmaids following some very anxious moments up front for the groom and his best man (who spent at least 10 minutes on the phone trying to work out where the hell they all were!)

We also had a lovely connection with home today, when we ran into a couple from Orange in NSW who have just arrived in Italy to begin a 4-week adventure through Europe. We were in a gelati shop, which Stella was attracted to because there was a statue of Olaf out front!  The other Australians were already enjoying their ice-creams when the girls sat down and started asking them about the flavours they had chosen.  Within minutes we were all sharing travel and food stories and giving tips on where to go and what to do!

Tonight we had a lovely stroll along the beach after dinner. We actually had promised the girls to go swimming this afternoon but it was really cold for the majority of the day so we decided that wasn’t the best idea.  However, at 7pm the sun was shining and the temperature was begging the girls to get their gear off and take a dip.  Of course we didn’t have bathers with us, but after Stella’s shorts were drenched when paddling, we did the usual Orford thing and let them get down to undies (leaving t-shirts on)…. Oh to be 8 & 10 years old again – joy!

Stella

Day 26 – Today we went to the place that every one goes to shop. We looked into each and every souvenir shop that we could find and I ended up getting a little Pinocchio 🤥 with its very long nose 🤥 hehe. When you pull the string he moves his legs.

Then we went back to the place we were staying in to have a little play. We counted all the souvenirs, or should I say things that we had bought from the souvenir shops. We ended up with 58 different things all up! Then we did a puppet show for mum and mummy then we went out for tea. 

After that I did just enough convincing to go and have a little paddle again (hehe  ) on the little beach  and guess what? My shorts fell down into the sea  so I had to walk home with no shoes on, wet underwear and soaking shorts.

Jac

Our morning was greeted by a buffet breakfast prepared by our very generous and hospitable Airbnb host. The picture tells a 1000 calories: homemade biscuits, cake and cannoli with fresh ricotta, croissants and on the healthy side a fruit medley of oranges from the garden, strawberries and apples. A slide of ham, Jarlsberg cheese and scrambled eggs became an Italian breakfast sandwich for Dan.

On our way to the centre of town, we passed the old Greek wall and the remains of the mill and wash house, in a gully about 50 metres down. Its a good example of how Roman domination played itself out, because the Roman town was built over the top of the Greek one, similar to how pizza gained cultural popularity over the embattled souvlaki!

We walked down the steps to the Marina Grande which gave us access to the beaches and bathing sheds that can be rented in summer. We also saw the Ruccio hotel which was part of the movie set for “Pane, Amore” starring Sophia Loren. Coincidentally, there was photo exhibition of Sophia Loren held in a local monastery, somewhat ironic, given Sophia in her heyday was deemed to be the most beautiful and wanted woman in the world. Stella was keen to come along to look. I explained to Stella that Sophia Loren was a famous actress and because she grew up near Naples, she was Neopolitan. “Oh”, said Stell, “so she was an actress and an ice cream maker?”

Talking ice cream, a local gelataria celebrated the birth of the new royal baby with a party tonight, including balloons and free gelato; vanilla with a stripe of blue flavouring. I was pretty sure that I had the royal baby’s moniker covered with Spencer Charles John, but I think I went too far down the aristocratic line. I did go searching for a Sir Archie or a Prince Archie but there was no posh or royal genealogical connections to be found. Either Harry and Meghan just happened to like the name Archie, or Meghan was an avid reader of comics. Also, the fuller name Archibald would have been too early a reminder of the genetic predisposition to royal hair loss. As for the second name, Harrison, this either hailed from Meghan’s side and her celebrity connections (thinking Harrison Ford) or the name was a way of avoiding future royal rumours, by confirming that he was definitely Harry’s son!

Daisy

Today we went to wander about and soon came to a beach . Mum said we would go to the beach! Hooray, Hooray, Hooray. The beach is my favourite place to go to, any time of the year!

After we finished our walk we went home  to our new house to rest and count all our souvenirs. There were about 43, not including a little surprise for my class. Zip, I’m not saying a word!

 

Stella

Day 25 – Today we had to get up super early to get to the Train  station. We were rushing around everywhere to get to the right platform because we had been sent to the wrong platform – Waah – and we even missed the train. So mum had to spend 170 euro just for the new tickets!So unfair. Mum should not have to spend that much on tickets! Then we got to Naples and caught the other slow Train  to the place where the person would pick us up (Sorrento). We were warmly welcomed to a cozy little apartment then we went exploring in all the souvenir shops. After that we went to a little beach.  I paddled in the cool water  then we had dinner  and went home. Today was fun 

Daisy

Run‍! Today we got up and went straight to the train station. We were wandering about waiting for the train and we asked a man which gate we had to go to. He said ‘A’ so we went down to the other end of the station, remembering that this is Rome and the station is very big. Half way there the gates changed and we had to run as fast as we possibly could to the other end! I told mum the only thing lagging me was my heavy backpack! We arrived just as the train was leaving.

Just so you know these are my favourite emojis. 🦠🧨⚔️. Back to normal now ok .
It cost mum a fortune  to buy the new train tickets  But in the end all there was, was a “yay  we’re finally on the train” !

Jac

What a resilient family we are! We got through our unexpected early morning train challenges and ventured to the beautiful Amalfi coast. If you thought travelling with Jetstar put you in cattle class, then our rail ticket from Naples to Sorrento put us in claustrophobic class, with an allowance of one shoulder width per person, 6 breaths per minute, and a 2 degree positional change every 10 km! Thank goodness there was a reasonable tourist attraction at Pompeii where we could drop a few off, and reclaim a bit of body space.

We were picked up from the train station by our host Anna in her Chevrolet Spark. The Chevrolet bit sounded grunty and SUV-ey but the Spark bit brought it back down to a car size that just squeezed in us and five suitcases, one case in the boot and the rest on our laps. Off we went, around corners and up hills to Sorrento Sunshine Airbnb. We nestled into our new abode with a beautiful view of Sorrento from our balcony, including a water glimpse and at arms reach, a fully laden orange tree.

We walked around Sorrento this afternoon discovering amazing views and lots of interesting shops. One change from Rome is the shift in souvenirs from bobbing Popes to lemon everything including limoncello, lemon infused perfume, and lemon soap on a rope. Tomorrow we will have a relaxing day with no time schedules, no trains to catch or miss, and as much breathing space as we like!

Dan

So, no need to tell you much about the trains today, at least not the Roma to Napoli leg!

From Naples, we literally crammed ourselves, our luggage and 150 other people into an already fully loaded, graffiti-covered train!

Suffice to say, we arrived at Sorrento in one piece and were able to explore the city centre, the beach and have dinner before the sun began to set and we wound our way up the slopes to home.

It has been really fascinating to see what the girls have been interested in buying as their souvenirs for this holiday!  They both started with a good stash of euros (courtesy of grandma) and were tasked with making them last for the 5-week, 9 destination trip. They both like to do their research, finding something that the area is famous for (think Eiffel towers, Murano glassware and wooden puppets), and then going into every store to see if they can buy the item that they fancy in the right size, right colour and for the right price! It will be very interesting to lay out their final collections when we get home to see exactly how far they stretched their loot!

The girls have also been very interested to see what the street sellers have on the go each day in the tourist areas. When it was wet, out came the umbrellas and ponchos; sunny days, sun glasses and selfie sticks; and for the colder weather, scarves offered from every corner!  One item in Rome that kept Daisy and Stella coming back was the ‘splat ball pig’ (not sure of its real name).  The sellers had balls of slime in the shape of a pig, that when thrown onto the ground they splatted apart and then slowly re-formed into the original shape.  However, as much as that was fascinating to watch, the real draw for the girls was the squeaking noise that was made when the pig ‘hit the floor’. Stella was convinced it was the pig, Daisy wasn’t so sure.  I had seen the gimmick before and knew that the sellers had a squeaker whistle in their mouth, but thought I’d stand back and watch it all play out. Stella splatted the pig whilst Daisy watched, then they swapped and stood to the side talking about whether it was real or not.  In the end they decided to ‘think about it’ and then spent the next few hours watching all the street sellers with pigs that we passed do their thing.  Of course some were not as proficient as others in hiding the squeaker in their mouth and the trick was exposed.  However, Daisy still decided to part with her 1 euro for a gold pig she found in a shop near the Trevi fountain, as she thought the splatting was the best part anyway!

This afternoon their focus was on jewellery, with both girls deciding on a unique piece for themselves after trying on a multitude of bracelets and necklaces. I know there will be more to buy as the euros must be spent before we leave Italy next week…here’s hoping there’s no more splatting in the process.

Jac

We had some great adventures on our last day in Rome. We continued our Colosseum “extras” tour, visiting the Roman Forum, including more temples, one of which still had a centuries old working key to the brass door. We also saw some beautiful gardens in the forum which, back in the day, must have been such a beautiful place to relax and take in a rooftop view of Rome. We saw the Trevi Fountain in all its splendour, sat on the Spanish steps, where Stella wrote a song, and also visited the Pantheon.

However, one of the highlights of the day, which had been crescendo-ing from Venice to Florence to Rome, was a surprise visit to the Magnum “build your own calorific masterpiece” in the style and extravagance of the Classic masters. We had seen the Magnum speciality shops elsewhere, but it was never quite the right time to indulge- either we had already had our gelato fix for the day or it was too close to breakfast. So I promised the girls that if we came cross a Magnum shop in Rome, then it was all on.

As the photos show, in the mold of build-your-own-teddy or build-your-own-burger, it was a simple 5-step approach to build-your-own-decadence-on-a-stick:

• Step 1 Choose vanilla or chocolate ice cream
• Step 2 Choose dark, milk or white chocolate and then dip to double coat the ice cream
• Step 3 Choose and roll into your pleasure bits (eg popping candy, brownie pieces, crushed pistachio, chocolate caramel buds, honeycomb crunchies etc )
• Step 4 Drizzle with another chocolate coating
• Step 5 Place Magnum in its box and present for eating
  

All that was left to do was to eat without breathing or talking, wipe our chocolatey mouths and sticky fingers, and think about how many hours of exercise for the burn off!

As we leave Rome, it occurred to me that when the girls return in future years and tread their own travel path, there will be so much more to see and in different ways, as new things are being discovered and Rome is ever evolving. Like driver-less cars, there may also be people-less queues!

Stella

Daisy

Today we got up and had breakfast. Oh yummy! After that we got dressed and had a lovely walk that took a long time – it was almost lunch time. We went to this lovely fountain called the Trevi fountain ! It was really cool and fun – there were loads of people there!

After that we went and had lunch I had a salad with salmon! After that we got a surprise. Mum got us Make a Magnum! I chose a chocolate magnum with white chocolate, fudge caramel and soft coconut 🥥. We were really full after that!

Today was excellent!

Dan

Energy levels were up today and we conquered everything that we set out to do, and more! We walked over 21,500 steps (for Stella that’s around 25,000) / approximately 16km, which was just as well given the Magnum experience we all indulged in!

Generally, I have been surprised at how little I remember of our previous trip here: the forum seemed much bigger, the Trevi fountain much fancier and the Spanish Steps… well I can’t remember them from the last visit at all!  I was also pleasantly surprised that, once we had our bearings according to monuments already visited, the city centre was very easy to navigate. We wandered in and out of ‘Vias’ and ‘Piazzas’ with confidence that we were heading in the right direction and it took very little time to go between our identified sites of interest!

My highlight today was the Pantheon.  As the towering structure came into view, Daisy exclaimed: “Well that’s impressive!”  We spent time, both outside with the frisbee and inside with the hordes, and took it in turns to watch video footage outlining the historical developments of the monument over the centuries. Daisy was most intrigued in learning about fellow artist Raphael. She quickly went and found where his ‘bones and ashes’ were located and told me all about the sunlight coming through the open dome, with the last beams falling on his resting place at the end of each day.  Stella was fascinated with the open roof and how, when it rains, the water just soaks into the floor below the circular opening and goes away.  It was a wonderful ending to a magnificent last day in the Italian capital!

 

 

Stella

Day 23 Hooray   We woke up to a lovely breakfast made by the ever so loveliest owners. Ok this will take donkey  years. From the house we went out to see the colosseum. It was about an hour standing in line – boring  – but when we were finally in the coliseum the view was spectacular. In the very old days they used it to kill people 🤭. That’s horrible. We saw all the archaeologists and the dug up things. It was very interesting. Then when we had seen just about everything we went and had lunch. I had some salad 🥗 and Daisy had some carbonara – mmm yum.  Then we went and had ice cream  Delicious. Today was awesome. 

Daisy

Today was a fun day because it was Monday and we went to the colosseum. We looked at all the old columns. Some of them had fallen apart. 🦚The archeologists were digging up and under the stadium you could see were the medieval gladiators would fight the animals . After that we had lunch .

Jac

We conquered another Big European thing today- the Colosseum. We also had a European style wait of 1 1/2 hours in line and it was a constant exercise fobbing off locals who constantly asked us if we were interested in skipping the line by joining their tour, with the promise of saving heaps of time and losing heaps of Euros. We could have started up a subsidiary business, selling “You’re not the first person who’s asked but I’d rather wait” t- shirts- which could also be worn when managing multiple marriage proposals!

Once in, it was an incredible experience and there was so much history to learn about the Colosseum and its uses over the centuries. It has housed gladiator fighting, been turned into a botanical garden, a fortress, and a place of religious devotion. Rome is comprised of layers of construction and architecture and the process continues in unearthing these many layers. Many beautiful temples were deconstructed so that other monuments and churches could be built using these building materials. What also struck me was the perfectionism in the design and build of Classic Roman architecture and how that quality delivery and work ethic has diluted and disappeared over the centuries. Nowadays it’s a given for a builder to come back half a dozen times to redo a dodgy bit of work- thank goodness no one’s wanting Corinthian or Doric columns in their bathroom refit!

Always good to check the KPIs of our wonderful blog to see that we are maintaining our readership. We are liking the stats so far- Week 1 (667 views), Week 2 (956 views) and Week 3 (736 views). But because there’s been a recent unexpected dip and we want to to ensure a final week or so spike, my next blog will be solely devoted to Meghan and Harry’s new arrival and why they chose the name Spencer Charles John.

PS The owner of the key ended up being an Uber Eats guy who delivers to the masses in the Vatican City area.

Dan

After over 3 weeks away, I think the girls are in a bit of a mid-holiday slump.  Yesterday, Stella had a bout of homesickness after arriving at our new place, this morning she told me she was ‘all religioned out’ and at lunch time she had difficulty finding something to eat from the menu – “All I want is a home-cooked meal, like steamed veggies”. She ended up choosing salad and proclaimed all afternoon that she was “starving”!

Whilst waiting in line at the colosseum this morning, Daisy got talking to a lovely couple from Slovakia who were in Rome for a few days break. They asked her about her travels, where she was from and where she was off to next.  During their discussions, Daisy spoke longingly about home, school and her family (including our budgie Wavy!). She even asked me to get out my phone so that she could show some pictures.  Tonight she told me she didn’t really feel like doing the blog…

I guess tonight I am sort of feeling a little like that too.  We are in a wonderful country, immersed in fascinating history, culture and food, yet I am keen for a home-cooked meal, a catch up with mates and a night in my own bed!  I know these are ‘first world problems’ so tomorrow it will be a check in with the troops to see how we are all feeling, prioritising a healthy feed for us all and re-energising ready for our last 10 days of adventures!

 

Daisy

Today we went to get on a train pretty much first thing. But the ground was saturated so we took off our shoes when we were on the train! Now the next thing I needed to do was go to the toilet. I walked down the aisle and into the cubicle. I was in the toilet but the toilet floor was covered in wee and I had no shoes on because my shoes were very wet! Well, now my feet were covered in wee! I thought  I’d better wash my feet so as not to get any more wee on them. I put my knee on the toilet, turned on the tap and I started to wash. When I finished washing my foot, I dried it with toilet paper. Then it was time for the rapid switch…Yes, yes, yes! The whole process again except that I did the splits this time! After that, the next step was opening the door. That was very hard because I didn’t want to get my feet dirty again. So, I unlocked the door and took one ginormous step out!

Soon after that we arrived in Rome.

Dan

245km/h and the train is making a swooshing type of sound. From time to time it sounds like popping, as the train passes another or picks up more speed. The rear camera on the train flashes up every minute or two and, out the window, in the distance, I can see ‘slow line’ trains and stations occasionally littering the landscape. We’re not stopping anywhere else today; Rome is destination 101 for Train 9125.

All of us have now realised we are on the back end of the trip after 3 weeks away and only 2 more stops before home. Today I realised just how much the girls have grown up over this holiday; confidently navigating train stations, trams, subways and souvenir hawkers (Daisy’s bargaining skills are phenomenal).  Their personal reflections on what they are learning, and life in general, have often surprised me but also made me feel extremely proud that they are able to think with such depth, feeling and empathy.

In looking at today’s photos, I am also surprised that we haven’t reached church saturation point!  However, often it isn’t us adults leading the sightseeing way.  The girls genuinely want to explore each location and, when they see something that looks impressive, or a cluster of souvenir stalls in close proximity to a building, they are keen to go and see what all the fuss is about!  As a result, today we saw the Cathedral, Baptistery and Chapel of St Lawrence (including holy stairs which must be navigated by the knees) and Stella must have sat and prayed at 10 different chapel / churches in the climb up Via Sacra (from the colosseum). Tomorrow we will continue our Rome-ing!

Stella

Hooray  to day is our last day in Florence. We awoke to a lovely breakfast, yum. But wait, there is no toothpaste – waah! We’re all going to die! We hurried to get on our Tram  We got off at the Train  station wanting to get on the train to Rome. Our one problem, it was just pouring with rain.  Umbrellas  up ladies…oh but wait for it, we did not have an umbrella! Oh then, in that case we’re definitely all going to die! We got completely and utterly soaked to the power of 100% and the worst possible thing that practically happened was that my socks got soaked. But, on the train it was a lot better than outdoors.

In Rome it was pouring too, so we went for a not very peaceful walk in the rain  waah. We went in to a café. The worst thing that happened in that silly  old shop was that it played the worst song ever – Perfect by Ed Sheeran – twice! Today was fun.

Jac

We almost had to hire a gondola today to cross our road to the tram. There was a huge downpour this morning, puddling the roads and footpaths, and putting the Flo into Florence. The sound of rain was lovely on the old house’s roof, and if we weren’t in Italy with a sight seeing agenda, then it would have been a perfect day for reading a good book and trying to win (or at least navigate the never ending rule changes) a game of cards or a board game with the girls. However we had some stuff to do in Rome.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, the pigeons and their small bird allies can create havoc, and today Santa Maria Novella train station looked like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. Dan’s nerve endings are frayed when it comes to swooping birds and this morning she couldn’t wait to escape to the safety of seat 13A on the fast Italia train heading for Rome. Yesterday, Dan needed some ‘animal free space” after she was simultaneously swooped by a hungry pigeon and barked at by a small dog!

I’ve never been one to say “I’ll take charge of that map” or “I’ll show you how to get there”. It’s one of the those areas of life where I prefer to be a follower than be a leader, and this also seems to sit pretty comfortably with others as a way of preserving their patience and sanity! However, my confidence is growing. A couple of days ago, by seeing a “hell of a big dome”, I led us to Santa Maria del Fiore, and today I successfully found the Colosseum by seeing “ a hell of a big wall”.

I think this strategy also worked for the three wise men when they spotted “a hell of a big star”. I admit that this new found directional confidence may be limited to structures over 50 metres, however I’m backing myself to be the first to spot the Big Pineapple, Big Banana and the Big Prawn on our next Australian road trip.

As has been the trend with all our stops, Daisy and Stella have been attracted to the souvenir stalls and shops, so we have frequented quite a few. Rome is no different, however the souvenir shops have taken on a more religious feel. One of the souvenirs, I particularly liked was the “Holy Spinner”, not to be confused with the similar sounding, “Holy Sinner”.

As we were leaving to come home, I found a key to some kind of modified crowd greeting vehicle. I’ll try and track down the owner.

 

Dan

Apart from a last minute dash to platform 7 to catch our 9:38 train, we had a stress-free and fun day in Pisa.  In order to avoid disappointment, I had worded the girls up that there may not be the option to climb to the top due to high tourist demand and the small number of people allowed in the tower at any one time.  However, a positive result at the ticketing office made the girls giddy with excitement well before any stairs were tackled!

Given we had an hour and a half before the main event, we went and explored the Baptistery. The girls spotted a group of priests dressed in their robes and spent the majority of their time asking questions about who they were, what they did and why they wore those fancy dresses and beads!  They also wanted to know what nuns did and why they weren’t priests as they were ‘married to the church’ too.  Not sure I answered those questions very well!

Stella also watched some video footage about baptism and heard about how some people ‘in the olden days’ almost drowned during the ceremony. She then spent quite a lot of time asking questions about our extended family; who was baptised, how it was done and whether there was still the risk of being drowned these days.

Daisy’s visit to the Camposanto (Cemetery) was also the source of many questions and wonderings, particularly after she saw the relics (human remains) of the apostles on display in one of the chapels. She was already freaked out by the glass sarcophagus in the Cathedral, so we made short work of this building and moved on to enjoy another ‘linner’ before making our way back to the station for the return journey to Florence.

Stella

Ok I am going to tell you about my day – well actually my amazing day

We caught a tram to the fast train place, then we went on a one hour train ride and then we caught a bus to the land of Pisa. Gees, we bumped into a few almost head-less statues then we went and got the tickets  for the leaning tower of Pisa and the other buildings around it.

First we went and saw a baptistery, it was a lot like a normal church. Then we climbed up the leaning tower of Pisa. The view was stunning  I could not believe my eyes  We were the first people in our group to be up there. Cool. Then we went back to the old days and had a homey day in a different grave yard. Daisy got completely freaked out about the fact that we were standing on dead  bodies. Today was awesome 

Daisy

A not quiet day! Today we got on a train  to Pisa and started splongking around and guess what? We ran into the leaning tower of Pisa and there just happened to be spare tickets  yay Today is the best day of my life ! And guess what? The tower was amazing, the view was incredible and it was entirely made out of marble.

When that was finished we went to this scary place, a grave yard. Some of the graves were open. I don’t even want to write about it! I’m going to ask mum for garlic when I go to bed .

Jac

What a great day we had at Pisa. We climbed to the top of The Leaning Tower of Pisa, recording it all on the Garmin, the first time that I’ve exercised with a lean! We covered 0.58 km, took 13 minutes to complete the walk up and down, and I expended 64 calories (working off one lick of a tartufo gelato). We had an amazing view at the top, and it was an interesting sensation sitting on the steps, leaning forward, at a great height. The experience raised an interesting question for Daisy “When will the lean be too leany?”

It was also an excellent people watching day, especially watching those trying to achieve the perfect pose of holding up the Tower.

Of course we showed the way with our “supporting” roles with the towering star.

And then there were many other variations:

We also enjoyed the other less well-known Pisa sights:

 

 

Stella

Day 20 – Yay  our first full day in Florence yay . I get away with that emoji poop every day – he he  cheesey  me. Mwah ha ha har …ok I’m over and done with it. Mwah ha ha har. Ok sorry  I just had to do that. Ok I admit it. I promise I won’t do it again and put all my heart  into this promise. Look  I said I promise so, please accept that. I’m begging you on two legs. I tell you ok. Thank you. .

We went out exploring the new town of Florence – cool  We went into an interesting museum. My two most favourite, well actually three, things were:

• the gift  shop;
• then seeing Michelangelo’s statue of David – did you now that that statue is at least 5 metres tall? Wow  that’s amazing 
• and we saw a video of David the statue and in it he was saying very dramatic things like: “Maybe they’re worried that I will get too handsome. I think  I will just have a good little bath. He he. Oh and don’t laugh  at me. I’m too handsome and magnificent and famous for that”.

Ok  people. Ok  you got that? Ok 

Jac

Time seems to be going faster now we are in Italy. Perhaps we’re experiencing a bit of Italian fast train transference! The girls feel like they are on one big school excursion; an amazing changing classroom of learning and new experiences, with the best Principal in the world (Lansdowne’s Mrs Carter is pretty good too!). We were in cultural heaven today amongst the work of Michelangelo, Bernini, and Botticelli at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence. Even though I’d seen the statue of David before, it was still as mesmerising and magnificent this time around – it’s hard to capture in photos.

Dan is not a great buyer of souvenirs, so when I suggested we buy a set of coasters depicting the statue David, so that we could “Have a drink on David”, it ended up being a really cheap laugh, because Dan said No!

It’s been great hearing comments coming from the girl’s experiences and it seemed to be Stella’s day of quotable quotes. She was pretty excited in the lead-up to meeting David, continually tugging at me, saying “When can I see the handsome one”. She was also impressed with the religious artwork and asked “When Jesus was a baby was he well-fed, because his parents are covered in blankets and so they are probably poor?” As we went through the museum, she was relieved to find that the baby Jesus was in fact on a good wicket, often depicted as double the size of his devoted followers and surrounded by gold!

Stella was very interested in the value of the artwork. As she began to see a few of the big ticket items, she realised it might be a good reference point to determine her economic value within the family, prompting her to ask “If you were to sell me would that bit of art be worth more than me?” Either Stella sees us as child profiteers or she’s sitting pretty, knowing that she’s worth more than a Michelangelo original – a million times over, and then some!

The girls are developing a great sense of humour. It’s been important to explain that there is a lifetime for a joke and/or funny thing. We have set the “funny joke/thing” as telling a joke once, repeating a funny thing for no more than 10 seconds, and no more than one poo emoji. If this criteria is exceeded then it immediately becomes annoying. It’s working well for Dan and I, and here’s hoping that the girls also get on board.

Daisy

Today we hopped on a tram  and went to sight see. We were wandering about, “ a little bit lost”. Ok, let’s just say that if we hadn’t bumped in to this lovely  couple we would be sitting on the floor wondering which turn to take, which button to press and what road to cross! After we solved that difficulty and actually got where we needed to go…Oh wow  That church  was beautiful = all the pattern, time and detail on each individual piece was exquisite!

We looked around us to find something to drink. Stella and I got hot chocolate  – I was clueless about Italian hot chocolate, so the un-stretched truth is the hot chocolate wasn’t really a hot chocolate like we usually have, it was thick, melted chocolate with whipped cream on top! Oh it was yummy.

Then we slowly made our way to the museum to waste 30 minutes of our life standing in line! When we finally got into the museum, we went straight to the paintings. Most of them were religious. Then it was the instruments turn. We looked at ancient violins and cellos – cool  Then…the best – we saw David. Oh, he said hi  When he waved his arm his arm fell off and we had to plaster it back on, but it turned out fine! Today was fun!

Dan

The writing was on the wall this morning.  We started our sight seeing adventures armed with a shonky map and my sense of direction slightly off; we ended up in the fog for an hour or so, taking a left instead of a right after alighting from the tram. Remarkably, we circumnavigated Fortezza Da Basto Fiere and returned to our starting position (more or less) instead of heading to Piazza San Marco!

But with every cloud (and there were many about today) there was a silver lining…namely the unexpected sights that we passed along the way to Galleria dell’ Academia which added to our MoFlo experience.  The stunning Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore  (referred to numerous time as one hell-of-a big dome) and Battistero literally took our breath away, as did Santa Maria Novella.

After our visit to see David, we wandered the streets again, then escaped the rain by ducking into Hard Rock Café Firenze for a bite to eat (Linner we called it – lunch-dinner combo given it was after 3.30pm!)

We couldn’t believe our fortune; we were seated in a booth where Madonna’s handbag was on display and Melissa Etheridge’s guitar was hanging on a wall close by. Memorabilia from two of my long-ago favourites, eating a Texas Burger and washing it down with a beer, was a great way to end the day.