Home to Jacks Coffee Lounge

We have missed the coffee in NZ. The watery cappucinos we have been served up in Italy and Croatia aren't a patch on a Jack's flat white. It must be time to come home.

With only 3 days in the UK before we leave we decided to take it easy.

We took the train out to Chippenham (scene of our year here in 1987) and visited our friends Peter & Jackie Mitchell and their children. We enjoyed a mostly familiar walk around the old haunts of Chppenham but the town has grown 50% since we were there so a lot has changed.

Here is the house we rented in Wood Lane in 1987. A nice little "two up - two down".

Hasn't changed much in the last 21 years.

Back in London it was great to see Tracy, Ethan and the girls who had arrived home from Switzerland the night we were away in Chippenham. It had been over a week since we had seen them and we received an excited arm and leg-waving welcome from the twins - they remembered us!

And Hannah helped us pack.

No visit to London is complete without a curry and our last London supper was at a superb Indian restaurant called Paradise.

It was a very sad farewell to Tracy, Ethan and their lovely girls. Unbelievably they may be back in NZ next year. Who knows, they may need some help to get home again!

Picturesque Plitvice

We spent all day exploring the many kilometers of board walks providing access to the wonderful waterfalls and lakes of the Park. Truly a highlight of the trip. Each bend offered increasingly magnificent views. The pictures tell the story.

The next day we had half a day up our sleeve before flying out of Zagreb so got out the maps and decided Karlovac fitted the bill. The first rain of our trip, going around in circles and a lack of attractions meant we pushed on to Sarobon for a late lunch. This detour went through a grape growing region on the hillside which was very attractive. Samobor, while a pretty village, was closed for lunch but open for beer and cake. Not exactly what we had in mind.
The last leg to the airport involved a circumnavigation of Zagreb while we tried to decipher the signs to the airport. This unintentionally gave us another view of the city.
We have both really enjoyed our short time in Croatia. No problems with our travel arrangements and our accommodation choices have been excellent. All places had generous tourist-sized breakfasts and comfy beds. Just about everyone spoke English. Tim and Dawn have kept us constantly entertained with their many travel and family stories... but London calls.

Dubrovnik to Plitvice

Left Dubrovnik feeling we got very good value from the long drive south to get there, a concern in the trip planning stages. Set off early on the return trip North.

Dawn had spotted the gateway to the Krka National Park earlier so we stopped for a look at the impressive viaduct and park entrance to break up the day's very long drive.


Lunch was spent at Sibenik and included a visit to St. James Cathedral which is built enirely from stone. Pre-cast construction invented in the 15th century.
Finally arrived at our accommodation, House Tina, (8 hours later) just north of the our destination for tomorrow - Plitvice National Park. This was the original inspiration for our Croatian trip so we were looking forward to seeing this Unesco World Heritage site.

A Day in Dubrovnik

George Bernard Shaw called Dubrovnik "paradise on earth". We drove a very long way on some dodgy roads to get here and I wondered whether it would be worth it.
It really does live up to its reputation though. It is unbelievable to think it was so heavily shelled in the war in 1991. It has been restored beautifully to its former glory.
The black marks on the map show the extent of the shelling; 68% of the buildings in the old city were struck by shells.

We took a 2km stroll along the walls this morning sharing it with a couple of aged tour parties who struggled gallantly with the cobbled contours and steps. Some of the towers were described as optional by their guides.
The views from the walls were spectacular. Looking in we peered down narrow alleys and looking out we viewed the picturesque Adriatic coastline.










Behind the old city is a very large hill with a Napoleonic fort on top that proved irresistible to these daft Kiwis and after struggling over very rough rock studded ground we nabbed some great photos of the city. No tramping boots so feet a bit sore.

Dubrovnik

Great game last night - Liverpool vs Chelsea. We have heard a lot of Croatians talking about it today including the host of our accommodation in Dubrovnik.

Travel down here was a mixture of the very fast on the brand new A1 toll-road and the very slow on small and lumpy minor roads when the motorway ran out. Its under construction all the way to Dubrovnik. Took a detour over the hills so we could get a vista of the Adriatic at Malacka. Turns out there was a war memorial there to all the locals who died in the recent conflict.

We have chalked up Bosnia - Hertzegovina on our world travels now - a short stretch of road 9.3km long, only stopping to flash Tim's passport.
Dubrovnik is very beautiful. Our Villa Busovina is on the hillside overlooking the old city with no vehicular access so very quiet.

We have completed a circuit of the old walled city in preparation for a big day of sightseeing tomorrow. Once again we are thankful we are here in the off season as we hear the main street of the old town is the busiest street in Croatia in the Summer.

Sunny in Split

New country new blog editor - Linda asleep after a hard day on the tourist trail.

We both enjoyed the sleeper train trip through Austria (dark & night-time to) & Slovenia and then finally Croatia. Dawn & Tim met us at Zagreb Station and apart from a return trip to get Dawn's accommodation and directions travel folder (panic) we were on our way south in the rental car. Learnt how to say "hello - four beers please" in Croatian on the way.

First stop was Zadar on the coast and a walking tour of the old city parts of which date back to the 9th century. Good start but we didn't feel we needed more time there so traveled on to Trogir for the night. Our accommodation is in a converted palace, the Villa Moretti, right on the harbour. Lovely room and an unsecured wireless connection to boot - woohoo! Dinner last night was a rather grander affair than planned comprising a huge platter of several fish (whole), squid and shellfish. It was accompanied by a bill to match! Have agreed to a more modest pasta and pint meal next time to balance the budget.

Started today with a short trip down the E65 to the Dalmatian coast city of Split, site of the roman emperor Diocletian's summer pad (AD245- 313). He got a bit stressed running the empire so did the unheard of and retired to the sticks. Very impressive pile that has been"saved" by various occupants adding the latest essential features (e.g. cathedrals, tat shops) and not pulling the whole thing down. The tour of the basement (recently excavated) gave us some idea of the immense size of it. Very interesting and totally worth the hype. Pic is of Gregorious of Nin outside the Golden (North) gate to the walled palace. Yes, Linda is giving him a toe rub - supposed to bring good luck.

Returned back to Trogir visiting Solin (Salona) on the way which is among the hillside vineyards (but also industrial sites) north-east of Split. The roman city ruins are the most important archelogical site in Croatia. Pic is of Emperor Tim V (AD1955-) inspecting the troops while slave Dawn peels another grape for him. The amphitheatre (AD200) accommodated 18,000 before being destroyed by the Venetians in the 17th century. Bloody vandals! - not that we can talk mind you.

We pack up and leave tomorrow and move on to Dubrovnik - "the pearl of the Adriatic" (Byron). Dawn and Tim share the driving while Linda & I do the last minute swot with the travel guides in the back seat. Arrangement is working well. Time to go and find the reasonably obligatory pivo (beer) and hopefully a big screen as Tim wants to watch a football match.

Till the moro - wifi permitting.

Flims Farewell

Our time in Flims has come to an end and it feels far too soon. Its such a pretty Swiss village and of course the ski field is fantastic. This is the view from our balcony.





As you can see from the picture the apartments are very comfortable. The apartment we have been staying in is the 3rd floor balcony on the left and Tracy and Ethan are in the one on the right. The two apartments are very spacious and well appointed.





Yesterday we walked to a lovely lake called Cauma. Its about an hours walk from Flims and in the summer is a picnic and swimming spot. The colour of the water is a surprising blue.
It was a long walk at the end of a day's skiing but well worth it.





And here is the crew we are farewelling. It has been fun and will feel very quiet next week.

Tonight we are boarding an overnight train to Zagreb. Who knows what sort of access we will have to the Internet when we get there!

Sausage sizzle Swiss style

We treated ourselves to a sausage on the slopes today. All over the ski field there are little bars and restaurants. This one was way out in the middle of nowhere and they had a massive BBQ with beautiful fat European sausages, buns and sauce. Absolutely delicious, especially when you have been skiing all morning.





The BBQ was set up next to a little mountain stream and afterwards we lay down on the mats provided and sunbathed for a while. It was very peaceful.





Every morning we arrive at the base station and get on the gondola to take us up the ski field. It is always very busy and I shot this movie so you could see what it looks like. Luckily at this time of year there aren't many queues for the gondola. We usually stay at the top until the end of the day then ski home on Home Run. It takes about 30 minutes to ski from the top to the bottom with a couple of little rests on the way.

Another fantastic day in Flims.

Such a beautiful view.









Hannah hits the slopes.











Tracy and Linda enjoying the relaxing slopes of Home Run. Tracy Telemark skiing on the right.
Well done Paul for managing to ski and video at the same time.

Exciting! We're in Flims, Switzerland.

Yesterday we boarded a train in Venice and traveled to Milan and then on to a little place called Bellinzona on the border between Switzerland and Italy. We stepped off the train and 5 minutes later we were on a bus heading into the mountains. The scenery was stunning on every side. Booking this part of the trip was very tricky and time consuming on the Internet but it all fitted together seamlessly and was a very easy day.
My sister Tracy and her husband Ethan have a lovely apartment 5 minutes walk from the bottom of the ski field. Its very warm and comfortable. This morning we awoke to a sunny calm day and got out on the slopes.
The field is unbelievably huge, nearly three times the vertical height of Whakapapa. Have a look at the piste map.
http://www.laax.com/flash/index.php?l=en#/de/ski_area/ski_area_slope_map

We spent the day getting to know the field and getting used to the hired skis and boots. This photo is taken at the top of the field. We skied from here down the glacier.
We have a seven day pass so tomorrow morning we will be out early again.

Venice Day 3

First decision of the day was whether or not to go out to the islands. A visit to the Accademia Gallery decided it for us and we stayed in the city.
The Accademia Gallery displays Venetian art from the 1300s to the 1700s. A fascinating progression through the ages but most fascinating of all is that Venice looks the same now as it did then.
We realise that many of these attractions are so crowded in summer that unless you do a reservation you can queue for hours. We have walked straight into all of them.
We spent the afternoon visiting yet another beautiful church and then finished our visit with a gondola ride... as you do. Expensive, but a great end to the Venice holiday.

Venice Day 2

An early start today to walk to St Marks Square before breakfast. We wanted to see the square before the hoardes of bored French school kids arrived. They spend their time eating McDonalds and taking photos of themselves, oblivious to the beautiful buildings around them. Great entertainment for us when our feet are too sore to walk anymore.
We visited the spectacular Doge's Place this morning. You just can't describe the opulence of this residence of the 120 rulers of Venice. It is stuffed with carved marble and wood, gold leaf and enormous works of art by the great masters. It dates from 697 and was added to until 1797 when Napoleon invaded. An overwhelming display of craftsmanship that we will never see repeated again. For obvious reasons no photos were allowed inside the palace.
A vaporetto trip along the Grand Canal provided an interesting perspective of Venice from the water. A chaos of boats and no obvious rules.
The afternoon was a feast of art at the Peggy Guggenheim gallery and then a wee lie down to recover.

Venice Day 1

The alarm went off at 3:15am for the taxi dash to London Stanstead airport. The driver must have been in a hurry... at one point he was traveling at 160km/hr (is that legal?). Flying Ryanair was a budget experience.
We travelled into Venice by bus and were both entranced by our first glimpse of the city from the causeway.
Paul has expertly navigated us around the narrow, confusing alleyways all day keeping a firm grip on his less directionally able wife.
Top sights today include the view from Accademia Bridge (just like the jigsaw at home), St Marks Square, the unbelievably spectacular Basilica and the fantastic views from the 100m high Campanile.
Our hotel, Locandro Art Deco, is a very central place to stay and our room on the 3rd floor is clean and comfortable. Being short is an advantage though.

Last night in London

We whizzed around London today visiting the Tait Gallery and the British Museum with a bit of shoe shopping in the middle.
We walked along the Thames towards Westminster and encountered a couple of film crews starting their coverage for G20. There was a huge police presence outside the Houses of Parliament and a few of them were armed. The daffodils were amazing too.
Barack flies in tonight so it can only get worse.
Thank goodness we fly to Venice tomorrow.

Day 2 in the city

Felt remarkably good today as long as we kept moving.
One of these photos should be of us outside a huge outdoor and sports store called Lillywhites because that has probably been Paul's highlight so far. He has managed to find most of the outdoor stores in the central city and has done some serious research on a new climbing jacket.
He managed to catch up with his cousin Helen and we had lunch with Dawn and Tim and Owen in a beautiful area called Sicilian Avenue. Check out the panorama at http://www.urban75.org/vista/sicilian.html.
And then of course there is the photo of Paul being the complete tourist at a mystery pedestrian crossing. Guess where? Shame it was too cold to go barefoot.

We made it!

Here we are in London and all in one piece if a little tired. The leg from Singapore to London was an epic 13 1/2 hours. We needed all of us on duty most of the time to keep the troops happy and/or asleep.

Hannah proved to be a handy little bag handler as you can see from the photo.

We arrived at Heathrow 6.45am this morning and our only mission for the rest of the day is to stay awake until tonight.

Here we are in Singapore

Wow what an epic flight. There were babies everywhere and most of them weren't ours. Mind you with three in our camp the odds of having even two asleep were pretty slim. I think we managed two babies down for about half an hour.
So now we are camped in the airport for a 5 hour stopover. We are all looking forward to arriving. Tracy is a legend.

Traveling Buddies

Here's the cute crew we will be traveling over to London with. Should make for an interesting trip.

The schedule

The reason we are traveling is to support Linda's sister Tracy back to London with her 3 children. Seems a shame to go that far and not have a look around Europe.
Three and a half weeks isn't very long so it's hard to decide where to go.
Venice is first up on the must-see list because 21 years ago we had to bypass it due to flooding. Andrew was only two at the time and couldn't swim.
From there we head off to Switzerland to enjoy the end of the ski season at the Laax-Flims ski resort.
We have decided to spend the last week in Croatia. Apparently very beautiful, even at the end of winter.
We will try to update the news regularly but as we discovered on our last travel blog, Internet access is not always easy to find.