Come on you lazy lot...!

About time I was hearing comments from more than just my mum (love the posts mum, don't stop!)

Hope you are still enjoying the info, but please you can pass on good places to visit or anything else that takes your fancy, am a bit partial to funny jokes, don't be shy...I aint the only chatty person in the room surely?!

Hello again...

This wi-fi access is fab. Have booked another week or so here because the weather is so good. Hard to believe I know. Apparently it is quite unusual to be so warm so late in the year. Anyhoo, off to Monaco on the train next week, will let you know how that went...

Thought I would share a pic from Volterra with you all, it is of the Roman Theatre on the hillside...very steep and quite impressive!

Latest news

Righty ho...we are currently in the north of Italy in a lovely little place called Diano marina. We loved Volterra, north of Siena, and Pisa was amazing, although there wasn't much else there apart from the squinty tower (see pics) and all those men selling tat. We are in a really big camp with lots of lovely friendly people. We have met Anna & Guido from Glasgow and tried to help them with their computer problems...thanks for the campari!

We have managed to catch british tv and have seen the british weather...eek! Glad we arent at home! We have had constant sunshine and the streets here are lined with orange and lemon trees, quite lovely. It really feels like we are properly away...strange but true!

We are thinking of staying put as long as the weather stays fine and making a trip in to Monaco on the train. Not too keen on staying on or around the Cote D'Azur, but would like a visit.

As for the pics they are of the boys in Verona with their heads out of the front skylight, the venice skyline from the ferry, The Duomo in Florence and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Hope you like!

Some pictures at last...

Beautiful Volterra

How things change. We came from Siena up through the most winding and narrow roads to the hilltop village of Volterra. Our whole take on Italy has been altered in a good way. This is a little more like what we expected and wanted. Vibrant little village perched on the hilltop, full of friendly people, great shops and reastaurants serving local food. To top it all there is a roman theatre in the hillside which is amazingly complete given its age. The sun is shining we have a great parking space on the hillside and our little jaunts to the town show us something different every time...and there is an internet cafe, so I can keep you all up to date...hooray.

The boys were impressed with the pool full of fish that they found at the side of the (many) steps up to the village. The toy shop hit the mark too...birthday and christmas shopping started!

Joshua and Euan love the three wheeled vans and old fiat 500's that there are lots of.

Venice to Tuscany

After Venice we decided to pack in some more culture...

We were struggling to find campsites, but have managed to do some wild camping (not as wild as it sounds, mostly car parks with facilities for motorhomes). We travelled down the coast to Cesenatico, apparently famous for its fish? The countryside around here is a real mix. Imagine ancient looking fishing nets suspended on poles over quiet waterways...next to bloody great factories belcing steam and smoke, power stations etc. A real mix.

Travelled inland to Bologna, but couldn't get stopped, so moved on to Florence. Again an amazing place and the Duomo was a sight to behold. This is the city of the Medici and pretty rich in its time compared to some other places. Imagine wandering narrow streets (with beggars) and coming upon Piazzas with huge marble covered facades...surrounded by so many stalls selling tourist tat that you can hardly get close to the buildings. Then there are the unlicensed hawkers that pursue you through the streets if you catch their eye. Lots of walking around looking at your shoes!

Not entirely what I expected. We enjoyed the sights the Medici Palace, the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio and Ufizzi, and had a great lunch in a trattoria, but were glad to leave. Had a long chat about what to do next and have decided that Rome isn't really what we want to do at the moment, so are heading north to something a little more sane?!

More of Italy

After Verona we travelled east towards Venice. We stopped at an Ikea on the way for lunch and guess what...they serve Italian food instead of the usual meatballs! The coffee was better than usual too!

Anyhoo, we camped directly opposite Venice at the end of a strip of land in the lagoon, past the town of Jesolo. We walked the 800m to the ferry terminal and caught the vaporetto (water taxi) to Venice. It was amazing. Despite never having seen Venice I recognised the skyline immediately.

We got off just to the side of Piazza ST Marco and walked to it...the whole place was exceptionally beautiful and under a foot of water! Despite being the off-peak season for toursits it was still busy and felt even worse because we were all herded on to raised walkways to keep out of the water. Did I mention that it was freezing cold and rainy!

The other strange experience was the beggars. I assume they are Romany, but they prostrate themselves on the ground holding out plastic cups and occassionally groaning and rocking. Very strange.

We then took the ferry to Murano, which looks like a run-down version of Venice. The whole place looks ready to fall in to the water. However, the shops full of glass were amazing. Everything from statues made entirely of glass (huge) down to little sweeties in their wrappers!

Italy

After our departure from Austria, we headed in to Italy. Through the Brenner Pass which was not as spectacular as I was expecting, but there you are! We camped north of Bolzano just over the border and in all honesty you would not know that you had left Austria. The lady in the campsite didnt speak Italian when she addressed us. We moved through the Dolomites...Wow, on to Revereto for an overnighter. Quite warm and sunny. Then we headed for Verona.

I would just like to pint out that I have lots of pics to post on the blog, but every time I try to upload them I get lots of numbers and no photo??!!

I was bowled over by Verona. Quite beautiful. The Castelvecchio was amazing. Built of brick and quite ornate. The Roman Arena still in the centre of town, and of course place of Romeo & Juliet. We went to the balcony and the passageway is covered in graffiti and post-its declaring love and devotion presumably. Quite sweet.

The ice cream was good too!

Our stellplatz was great, right in town and nice and quiet.

Germany again

We stopped in germany again, this time to Berchtesgaden which was spectacular. Apparently it was a favourite with Hitler and his cronies and the "Eagle's nest" was there. The other things that happened in the hills were the mining of salt and the making of beer, each essential in there own way! The rivers are an incredible blue green colour, which I assume is from the dissolved salts in the water. The scenery was quite spectacular. Snow on the mountains and the trees changing colour.

Austria

After Regensburg we headed on to Austria. Beautiful scenery, but generally disappointing. Apparently the Germans say that there is no such thing as a poor Austrian, and that sums up our visit there. Our best experiences were staying on a working farm where the boys were allowed in to the milking parlour, where they played with the farm cats and dog. They liked touching the cows too! Very brave. Being boys they loved Hangar 7 at the airport where the Red Bull owner has his collection of motors. Everything from jet packs to F1 cars. There was even a display of artwork.

More of Germany

Hello again. More information about our travels so far. After Stadtseinach we went to Bamberg, but were foiled in our attempts to get in to the city. Some of the older places are not as well set up for access with big motorhomes. We passed Nuremberg by and headed to the more picturesque Regensburg. We found a stellplatz at a spa in Bad Abbach just outside the City. Imagine a big car park with lots of motorhomes in it surrounded by trees on top of a hill.

Regensburg was beautiful. There were Roman relics, the Danube, and a really vibrant atmosphere in the town. The spa waas fabulous too. The boys and I had a great morning in the various pools. None of the scandinavian freezing water nonsense...warm as a bath, and full of wrinkly old people...myself not included in that description! No comments, please.