hello!

we are now somewhere in france, in a little hotel at the base of a castle (not in the castle this time unfortunately(something i could get used to)). it is far, far too cold to be camping...so we are eating less to meet budget (not really) and bad weather and hotel wifi means catching up on the blog. its a bit of an epic...

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last time we posted photos we were in siena (nb. frazers reading this can refer to the frazer-white photo site as i think we basically followed each other around italy) however they would not have this photo...
rohan in (regulation (it would be fair to point out)) swimming cap

we drove from siena up to florence and got caught up in some horrendous mid-town traffic (it was toms fault). anyway, we had good intentions to set up camp and head into florence, but we were a little frazzled and thought we'd check out the pool. bad move, the sun was shining, they had chill-out music playing and deck chairs and we lay down and didnt move all afternoon...well except rohan who felt compelled to buy a swimming hat and do a few laps.


the next day we went down into town and stood in line to see the Uffizi Gallery. Annoyingly, we decided to get audioguides (to help our appreciation) and saw that we could get 1 for 5 euro or 2 for 8 euro - so we got 2 (a good deal it seemed). Turns out that 2 audioguides is actually 1 audioguide with a headset attached to it... as soon as we saw this I said 'actually, could we just get one', but i had handed over the money and was told that 'we dont give refunds'. So I saw the first few rooms through a sea of red...and with Rohan and I joined at the head, not unlike siamese twins (it was a while before we learned how to live with this and not attract stares). But, it was quite cool to see Botticelli's masterpieces which i have always loved and michealangelo, di vinci, raphael and other lesser known talented artist's work all in one morning, but a bit draining and it wasnt long before we decided to head back to our little oasis in the foothills. it was nice to be above it all for a while (physically, obviously).


important bridge in background (last old ones after they were burnt down in the war)





Its hard not to be impressed by the ornate marble exterior of florence's duomo
Palace in Florence

After Florence it was time to head to Venice. It was love at first sight for both of us when it came to Venice...even Rohan, who had been grumbling his way around Italy (too many tourists), was in awe. So much so that we spent a very long day wandering the alleyways as there was nothing I could do to stop him trying to capture every canal, flower, gondola we passed. so it was a bit of a photographer's dream and a photographers girlfriend's nightmare, but i didnt mind too much.

our first glimpse of Venice



me and my buck teeth happy to be in venice


canal

gondolas





wall art




washing

stature in San Marco Piazza (a concert was being held here the two days we were here (the guy who did the music for The Mission, we met a very animated serb who had travelled for three days to see it).


food - i was so excited to see something other than the usual pizza/pasta options - so i ordered it - cuttlefish in squid ink - not technically vegetarian but still, i have suffered on this trip food wise. I got a few curious looks from the other customers. Rohan opted for the less adventurous gnocchi.


This woke me up! (but Rohan actually got out of bed to take the photo) The view from our campsite.

Despite the black cuttlefish, by this time we had had enough pizza and pasta (i think rohans record from pizza was four days in a row) and headed east to Slovenia. Our first stop in Slovenia was the Postoyna caves which one of the biggest cave networks in Europe- 21km or something...slighlty more impressive than the Peak District 'cave' we visited earlier in the year (although as greg pointed out, that did have comedy value). In fact, these caves were almost too impressive - i dont think i need to see another stalectite or mite as long as i live.

Pisa take two



big cavern

The camping site we stayed at was deserted and freezing aswell so we didnt have too good a first impression of Slovenia. However, from Postoyna we headed to Ljubljana and as i wrote earlier

I Heart Ljubljana. I just loved it. I am not sure why and there is no point really putting photos up because they wont capture the atmosphere and do it justice.

Central Markets - Ljubljana



Flowers in Ljubljana

From Ljubljana we headed to Lake Bled which was stunning and did some rafting, some hiking and some rowing.Rohan rowing.

dont need words for these ones

Then we headed up to Viena (Austria) with a pitstop in Graz along the way. In Viena we stayed in an apartment with some rowdy canadians, kiwis and aussies. It was a bit of a shock for us as we have been living a bit like the elderly lately but it was fun to meet some travellers (for a bit).

Art Deco inspired jewellry that i loved...but couldnt afford so took a photo (birthday 11/12)

Famous ferris wheel in Viena

me and mozart in viena

We picked up Greg in Viena and headed down to his families castle in southern Austria (Styria) for a fabulous weekend - good food, good wine, great company, perfect weather and of course amazing and unusual accommodation...a definite highlight and many thanks to greg's family for putting us up and showing us around.

View from the WeinStrasse, where we munched on chestnuts and drank Sturm (fresh wine) (the done thing)lunch just over the border in slovenia (stunning location) with greg and family

castle cloisters

the castle - waking up here is something i wont forget in a hurry, or the room with the ping pong table and chandelier.

but all good things have to come to an end and we headed up to Salzburg and back to the tent, which, as palacial as it is, was a bit of a step down...still, the view wasnt bad.

Another day, another picture-perfect lake (no, we're not sick of them yet) this one near Salzburg.

Our last campsite for a while! (notice the lack of tents in the background)

After Austria we raced through Switzerland (not the plan but we have had bad weather and it was so expensive) and now we are in France....but it has been a great month or so...

Hope you are all well.

Ainslie and Rohan.