Hudson Holiday 2010

Thought it best to write this on location and continue the authenticity rather than write from afar.

Disneyland is every child and as I have discovered, adults dream. The most magical place both in set design and experiences. Seeing all the little girls, and some big girls, dressed up as princesses, men and women from all over the world wearing their Mickey tshirts and ears was just gorgeous. Three days was unreal which culminated in a fireworks spectacular which was set as the backdrop was the fantasyland castle with both jumbo and tinkerbell making an appearance flykng over the castle in the night sky.

We went to univrsal studios which was interesting and we also went on a tour of Hollywood ANC Venice beacch. I could have given Venice beach a miss. Not a pleasant experience. Saw the stars on the pavement and the Hollywood sighn.

Shopping was good and we have just checked in airport with only 2 kg over limit. Those 6 boxes weighing a total of 37 kg that we have sent home was a good idea. C u soon. 14 hour flight.

It's extremely hot in Athens. We caught a ferry which looked very pro
using as we used three sets of escalators to get on the ferry but then we were shown the way to the roof. It had a roof but was really stifling with the majority of people there smoking. It lasted for 6 hours.

When we got into the port we found our way tp the station and then once on the train the people were really friendly. One woman took it as her duty to make sure we found our hotel easily.

Today we went to the Acropolis which rivals rome for spectacular ruins however doesn't have the commercialism that exudes from the Italian ruins.

I have really liked it in Athens. The people are really friendly and helpful and it is heaps cheaper

We leave in the morning. Need to set the alarm for 4.00 fligght at 6.45 to USA kids are ready for Disneyland ! Personally I am ready to come home .

One word - Paradise!!

Beautiful clean water, reasonably white sand, lovely food like stuffed capsicums, dolmades, lamb and tzatziki and all reasonably priced. And the people are friendly and welcoming. It has been a lovely relaxing time. Platis Yialos is the place to go in Mykonos.

We started out at a cracking pace starting the bus tour which we had booked for 48 hours and taking a cruise on the River tiber within 2 hours of arriving in Rome.

The river tiber was a relaxing affari but as the walls fo the river have been built up so high you could not see anything other than the walls of the river. We got off at the first opportunity.

After disembarking we bought a frozen drink containing either fruit and cordial or an alcoholic version which was very refreshing. We got back on the bus and went to the Trevi Fountain. This was a strange moment in which I came to the realisation as to where I actually was. There were quite a few hundred people at the fountain. A beautiful piece of sculpture from 1735 by Salvi. I was watching a woman put her makeup on before shge attempted to get her picture taken. We went to have dinner and had a pretty poor dinner but in Italian standards was better than some. We then returned to the fountain to get a nightime picture. tried a few different options on the camera and hopefully some will turn out.

The next day we went to Piazza Di Spagna looking for the spanish steps. Quite funny because we found the Trinity di monta or something like that and the piazza di spagna was pretty close on the map. We walked around the block about twice before realising that we had been at the piazza di spagna the whole time. It just wasnàt what i had imagined, as in all the puictures there were red flowers in abundance and on this occasion there were none.We then had to get to Vatican city for our tour of the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica. We saw some remarkable pieces of sculpture in the museums and had the paintings of the Sistine Chapel explained to us outside by the guide using reference boards which are in abundance in the courtyard. By the time we finally arrived in the Sistine Chapel the significance , i feel was diminished by the calls for Silence which screamed out across the hoards of people by teh guards inside the chapel.

St Peters was good but we didnàt seem to have much time to feel the significance of the location.

The next day we went to the war memorial known as Piazza Venezia or the Victoria Emmanuelle Monument. Then we went to Piaza Navone to meet our guide for the walking toure of Ancient rome. It was cool. We went to the Panthenon and saw the tomb of Raphael who we have recently learnt alot about. We also went back to the Trevi Fountain and we decided to go to the toilet first which was advantageous as all the people went to the fountain first in awe and then had a mile long line for toilet and icecream. Next we went to the Roman Forum and saw the area where JUlius Caesar is laid to rest apparently. Lots of Italians still lay flowers here on the pile of rocks.Lots of other ancient ruins we walked around. then we went to the Colloseum and was incredibly surprised by the many narrow alleyways below ground level. I bought a book which shows the before and after which we can use to try and understand the area from Roman times. We went back around the whole area of Rome on the bus at night to try and see it from a differnt perspectve,

Had a few hiccups last night. Shane had blocked the toilet early on in the afternoon. We went out for dinner thiking that it might just solve itself. By the time we got home we had more problems. Kelly had stomach problems and we had no toilet facilities. Phillip told Kelly to go to Macdonalds about 200 metres down the road to go the toilet. She went and they had no paper, so when she came back she had to have a bath. During the night she apparently went to the toilet a couple of times, not flushing to cause a mess. We were all awoken when she was trying to put a large bottle of water back in the fridge. We ended up having a bit of a chat in the middle of the night, a little like the waltons and i mad e a harsh decision to try and flush the toilet. We had already had one overflow during the afternoon and I did not want to have another incident. Anyway it went down with a lovely gurgling sound and our toileting problem has been fixed, although poor old Kell is still not well.

We went to a film today putiting ius as time travellers and Kelly had to stay at dhome. She is still not right theis afternoon but she managed to have soem chicken noodle soup from teh chinese restaurant.

Off to Mykonos tomorrow.

I booked The best of Tuscany Tour before we had left and the day had finally arrived when we were to meet the bus at Santa Maria something or other station. The bus had quite a few aussies on it,; with one couple known by friends of Shane. Small world!

We went to Sienna. A lovely town which was endeared to us by the story of the celebration of Palio. The city is divided into 17 sections which are given animal names. One is the porcupines and others I canàt recall. When a child is born they are given the identity according to these areas. Twice a year July 2 and August 16 celebrating the Virgin Mary on one of the dates an another religious celebration on the other each section is randomly drawn and given a horse to participate in a 3 lap race around the main square in Siena. We were lucky to be there so close to the Palio as the square was being decorated and prepared for the big race. As you can imagination, pHILLIP HAS BEEN very enthralled by this whole event. We bought a flag from one of the sections that we will be cheering for on Aug 16, as yet we dont know what it is called, but it is orange and blue. Our favourite colours. For the rest of Siena we went to the Duomo which is made aout of black and white marble. Very impressive church.

After Siena we went to an organic farm and had lunch. Bread dripped in olive oil for entree with a bottle of white wine which was actually very nice, then tagliatelle with meat sauce. Very much like our spaghetti bolonaise with less meat. This was accompanied by a mild red wine from the Chianti region made on the farm. Next was a couple of slices of prosciutto, salami and some cheese with a green salad. For desert we were given almond biscuits and a sweet desert wine to dip the biscuits in. Kelly liked the biscuits. Our view was incredible. Farm areas of grapes and olive vineyards were sprawled in front of us with San Gimignano and its famous towers in the distance.

Next we went to San Gimignano. 50p or whatever the cents are called in Euros to go to toilet. Seems like a good business these toilets, as ther are always queues miles long; and if you have a dollar, we dont give change. Walked up and down the main street of San Gimignano and bought an olive oil container.

Finally we went to Pisa. It wasnàt exactly like we had imagined the surrounding area but the actual tower was impressive to actually see. Have a great picture of Shane holding the tower up- The Heinkens were there of course playing silly buggers with the police who were basically whating them.

We had a great day and it wouldnt be possible to see all of the things we did if we had done it on our own. One negative was the motion sickness Kelly had which meant she vomited throughout the bus trip. The lovely French woman in front was not impressed and as you can imagine we did not feel sympathetic to her needs.

I would definitely do this tour again if i had the opportunity.