Desenzano del Garda

We had the day in down town Innsbruck on Saturday. Poor Amy was too tired out from a day skiing on the glacier and piked out on her dad who was keen for a third day on the slopes. We did some shopping and even managed to take in a couple of games of basketball (the German league) on the T.V. Couldn't understand a word the commentators said but at least we knew what the players were doing.
Jumped on the train early this morning - luckily we realised that something was a bit unusual with our clocks and asked at the hotel desk and they changed to Summer time today....so we were out and about an hour earlier. We arrived in Desenzano del Garda and took a stroll along the esplanade and into town. They had markets and it was definitely the place to be with loads of people dining and drinking and enjoying their Sunday afternoon.

 The Austrians LOVE Easter. They have bunnies everywhere...even made from bread. Very cute!

 Our last night in Innsbruck. Cheese, salami and wine.

 John finished the bottle by himself. Amy and Janelle are not very good drinking buddies. "It was very easy to drink".......apparently.

At Desenzano del Garda. No surf here. 

Skiing on Stubaier Gletscher

Amy & I have a big day on the Glacier.  Long trip from town on the field but was it worth it.  The engineer feat was amazing. Caught one of two gondolas (6 persons, skies in the rack on the outside) to the top.  There was a station where you could change gondolas and explore the other half of the mountain.  Runs were wide and mostly uncrowded but you would not know this looking at the car park and bus lines.  Long runs, much longer than ii have ever skier, and a 10 km run the base if you were up to it, we were not.

Ride up to the top

At 2900 m our favourite run today

Top of the mountain

As you can see the weather was terrible.  Hope tomorrow is much the same.  Amy very tired and in bed early.  What about Janelle I here you say.  She stayed home and wandered around town.  For a quaint little cafe for lunch where she had Austria's version of fish, chips and salad. Her only problem the owners didn't speak much English.

Lunch was crazy 

Skiing in Innsbruck

Ready to go.

Janelle excited in the hotel room but we changed that. We hired an instructor to help us navigate the public transport, the lift passes and basic lessons.  If you are skiing in Innsbruck, the buses are free, just get on the right one.  It does help, if you have the carry your gear everywhere.  We caught a cable train to a gondola.  It carries you up the mountain on the northern side of Innsbruck.  It is the mountain in the background of yesterdays photos. Alexis was very patient with Janelle and helpful to Amy and I.  Red Bull were holding a sled race down one of the slopes.  I was lying back enjoying crazy uni students making fools of themselves sliding down a slope of a vehicle made from Red Bulls cans.  Many did not survive the trip to the bottom.
Tried after a long day enjoyed dinner with a good beer. Tomorrow Amy and I are going up the Glacier to go skiing.

Steady does it

Amy Me and Alexis

Lunch was good

Lying back enjoying others making a fool of the themselves

We're in Innsbruck

We travelled up from Florence to Innsbruck on Monday. It was three different trains so we did well not to stuff up. The closer we got to Innsbruck the more spectacular things got.  They have had their best snowfalls of the season last weekend.
We wandered around town today - without getting too lost (that was yesterday) and did a hop-on-hop-off bus tour. We are getting good at them!! There's not a lot to see and do but downtown Innsbruck is lovely with lots of cool shops.
We've got our snow gear and are off to the snowfields for the next three days. It should be interesting. John and Amy have been skiing in NZ before but Janelle has never seen snow until yesterday....hope the instructor is patient.
To finish the day we are relaxing in the hotel's bar and watching European handball on TV. John has an Austrian beer and we are eating bread from the local bakery. Much better than working for a living.

 Downtown Innsbruck.

 In the palace gardens.

 The view from the train on the way up to Innsbruck. It looks like a Christmas card scene.

This is what we see when we look out our window.

John and Amy downtown Inns'bruck

A Rainy Day in Florence

We woke to the sound of rain. Not to be deterred we set off for the local food market, in the rain, only to find it doesn't open on Sunday. Most of the shops open at 10 am and stay open late. We bought an umbrella each...very cheap and nasty. The rain brought out the umbrella salesmen. There were at least 2 on each street corner.
We thought the rain may have stopped some of the other tourists from getting out and about but the lines at the Uffizi proved otherwise. After about a 15 minute wait we were let in to purchase our tickets....just as a bus load of Asian tourists were let in as well. Once we were inside though the crowds were not too bad. We saw paintings by Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli and others. Some of the paintings have been hanging in the gallery since the 17th century. 
Wandering around seems to be the thing we do best. It was pizza and waffles for lunch and then back to the hotel to escape the rain (there was thunder and lighting by now!). We bought a few souvenirs, a leather bag or two, had soup for tea and bought wine, cheese and fruit for dessert back in our room.

The girls atop the Uffizi. You are not allowed to take pictures inside the gallery so, this is as good as it gets.

 We bought a watercolour of this church - The Bascillia di Santa Croce. 

Tonight's bottle of red. Amy thinks it is great because she can drink legally in Italy. The other night at dinner the girl just poured her a glass of wine....no questions asked. You should have seen the smile on Amy's face!!

Day 3 in Florence

A tough day on holiday.  Caught the hop on hop off bus around the city.  Got off at Piazzale Michelangelo which is on a hill over looking the river and town.

Back on the bus to Palazzo Pitti (Palace for King of Italy for a time).  It shows what money can buy.  It now houses six museums, we went to Museo degli Argenti ( silver Museum).  While photos were not allowed they would not do it justice.  Painted ceilings, all manner of collectibles, carved marble, jewellery, china (yes from China), cameos, and christian icons. Some truly stunning.  Large garden surrounds the Palace.

It is amazing what money can buy.  Below is an Egyptian obelisk sitting on a marble plinth atop four stone turtles.
 We only saw a fraction of the garden.

Walked into town for lunch and then the Mueso Galileo (girls not overly impressed by old science stuff). It is strange looking at a map of the world and there is no Australia. It was made in the 1600's.

Dinner was wine, cheese and salami.  Tough day on holidays

 

Day 2 in Florence

Sat through the reason why we are.  Some talks were interesting.....others outright boring.  Met some people, talked a lot and had to explain that in Australia, when you work long enough you get long service leave. This was a foreign concept (pun intended) to them. Girls walked the streets of Florence and this is what they saw.

Rome to Florence

Wednesday - a day for walking. Went to check out the Pantheon today. It was much more spectacular than any of us thought. Well worth the walk. Thought we'd go back to the Trevi Fountain so we could toss a coin in ... and maybe there would be less people! We did the coin toss but there were still loads of tourists.
We are now in Florence. Had a wander around after we arrived. John is off to his Conference tomorrow and Friday so Janelle and Amy are going shopping. Have never seen so many leather bags, shoes and belts in one place.

Yay Pompeii!!

We went to Pompeii today. Managed to sort out the trains and even get off at the right station. Though we did get conned by some old man at the Naples train station....he did get us tickets and on the Pompeii train ...but for a price. It was cool seeing all the sights we have heard about and seen on telly since we were kids.
The train we went down on travelled at speeds up to 280 km/hour....just a bit faster than the Sunlander. Put up with Amy and her grumbles but her first piece of Italian pizza and chocolate donuts quickly fixed that and she was back to our Amy again.

 This needs explaining.  All the guides stop their tours an show this stamp in the pavement.  It is of a penis and it points the brothel district.  I watched 3 tours groups within 3 minutes stop and have this pointed out.

 Trying to do the Beetles across the stepping stones.  They are everywhere it was how you crossed the street.

 Placed was packed with school groups and USA college tours.  Looking down a street avoiding the kids in the forum.

More impressive considering this in the middle of the suburbs of Naples.

Day in Roma

Caught a hop on hop off bus around Rome.  Saw most of the famous sites, St Peter's Square, tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum and walked to Trevi Fountain and as you can see packed by tourists..  The second photo was taken of the Victorina before a fly over by the airforce, which Amy missed catching.  We know it fly over was because we are in town but it was closed off for unknown reason .  Tired and sun burnt but ready for Pompeii tomorrow..  

Janelle's List

There is probably more.  You can not see my clothes list as it is blank.  I will be taking clothes.  In fact, bags are packed but no doubt we will be checking the lists.

4 more sleeps

Janelle has 2 runs, 1 water aerobics, 3 days at school and a Crocs game before we head overseas.
Getting excited now.

6 days to go

Plane Tickets - check
Passports - check
Accommodation in Rome - check
Pick-up at Rome airport - check
Train tickets to Florence - check
Conference registration - check
Accommodation in Florence - check
Train tickets to Innsbruck - check


If you think my list is long you should see Janelle's