Heading Home

All good things must come to an end and today it was time to start the long journey home.We had our last breakfast in Italy and finished packing. Peter had arranged for us to be picked up and told the company we had lots of luggage but we didn't think we needed an 18 seat mini bus all to ourselves!

We made it to the airport after a hairy ride (this driver was busy sorting out his paperwork while driving next to a concrete barrier at 100km/hour). We checked in at counter number 380 out of 436! After we had checked in we had to catch a shuttle to another terminal where the departure lounges were. Sarah still had some Euro to spend so she lashed out and bought herself yet another handbag - not just any handbag but a Guess handbag! Our flight was delayed by an hour so we didn't takeoff until just after 1pm...

Then the fun started! Sarah and I settled in to watch some movies but everytime our movie got about 10mins in it would cut out. Sarah got very annoyed - 12 hours sitting next to an angry movie fan wasn't very appealing to me so I buzzed the stewart but evertime I did that it set off the people in fronts buzzer. Then if we turned on our lights it would turn theirs off! Anyway after the guy tried to fix the problem he confessed we would have no movies for the whole flight. Luckily Peters was working so he agreed to swap with Sarah. Janelle, Sarah and I got a $75 voucher to spent in the in flight duty free shop each. If that wasn't enough it was an awful flight and the food was disgusting. They served us food based on Singapore time (6 hours ahead) so we got dinner at 3.30 in the afternoon (our body clock time) and then breakfast at 10.30 at night. We were very glad (and hungry) to land in Singapore. We had a 3 hour stopover before leaving at 9.30 for Perth. This flight had a bit of turbulence and much better food. After taking an hour to get through customs we found the car and headed for Bunbury, feeling very, very tired. We arrived home at 6.30pm on Monday to two very excited dogs and a happy to see us Poppy.

We had a fantastic holiday with so many great experiences, saw so many amazing sights, learnt about different countries and their history and we feel so lucky to have been able to do all this as a family.

So then it was time to do 10 loads of washing, go back to work , school and university and reminisce about our wonderful time. Unpacking all our bits was fun also...

Sarah had a hard time being motivated to unpack and her room stayed like this for a few days...

We can only look forward to our next holiday - back to France!!??

Rome by ourselves

Even though we were all very tired we resisted the temptation to sleep in and got up early. We had our breakfast and caught the Sheraton shuttle bus into the center of Rome at 8am. We got dropped off just near this building that we had driven past quite a few times. It is Vittorio Emanuele Monument. The Romans do not like it and wish it was more inconspicuous and it has a few nicknames "Rome's False Teeth" and "The Wedding Cake". It was built from 1885 to 1911 to celebrate the unification of Italy...

Just a short walk away was The Forum ruins...

The Arch of Septimius Severus...

Next to the Arch are the columns of one of Rome's earliest temples, The Temple of Saturn...

As it was so early in the morning there weren't many people about yet so we had a bit of fun with self timer photos...

We could also see the Colosseum up the road but didn't go back to it...

We then walked the cobblestone streets to the Trevi Fountain again. It was so crowded last time we went on the tour so it was nice to see it with a few less people...

Another water fountain from the ancient days still used...

One last attraction of Rome we hadn't been to was The Spanish Steps. These are one of the most popular meeting spots for the Romans. The steps ascend in three tiers to the 16th century church Trinita dei Monti and at the base of the steps is a marble fountain in the shape of a sinking boat called Fontana della Baraccia...

We sat on the steps for a while in the shade as it was getting very hot very quickly!

The view from the top of the steps...

We did a bit of souvenir shopping then went to a huge McDonalds for a rest and drink. This was nothing like a McDonalds here in fact you would hardly believe it was as the decor and setout were beautiful. We then wandered the streets doing some shopping...

After a bit of lunch (pizza again) we went back to my favourite building in Rome - The Pantheon and it was just as incredible seeing a second time as the first...

Having seen all the sights we wanted to there was still one mission left to accomplish - Janelle's RED shoes from Italy! And we were slowly running out of time. Luckily Sarah had great eyes and spotted just the pair...

Well done Sarah! Feeling relieved we did a bit more shopping (I got a pair of red sandles) and then Peter announced he was all shopped out so we caught the shuttle back to the motel. We had a bit of a rest then went and sat by the pool and relaxed. Janelle and I hadn't had our Italian coffee yet so we did that...

We couldn't be bothered moving so we had dinner there as well. Then it was time for the dreaded job of packing all our stuff up for the flights home. Janelle and Sarah got side tracked trying on their new stuff...

I had to get a shot of my tanned feet from wearing my sandles everyday...

After much sorting we got the cases packed ready for an early pickup in the morning.

Pompeii and Rome

Back on our big bus today and our first stop was a wood parquetry demonstration which was very interesting. Then we left Sorrento. Today was our lucky day with the seating arrangements on the bus. Ernesta made us rotate everyday around the bus so it was "fair" and we struck both sets of front seats for the trip to Pompeii and back to Rome.

We arrived just before lunchtime and went straight on our tour of Pompeii. It was so hot and not much shade to rest in. Aside from the heat it was very interesting. It was on August 24th AD 79 that Mt Vesuvius erupted burying the city under a layer of lapilli. Out of Pompeii's original 66 hectares, 44 have now been escavated.

It is fascinating how they built their buildings all those years ago...

Some paintings still remain...

This was the bakery and an oven still remains...

The brothel with explicit pictures on the walls and a stone bed...

It was much bigger than we expected and we spent 1 and half hours wandering through the ruins...

This shot has Mt Vesuvius in the background...

There was a display of moulds of how people and animals were found buried in the ash...

We had a late lunch and we were all glad to get back on the bus into the airconditioning...

Next stop was the Commonwealth Cemetery in Cassino. No one was very enthusiastic but we all made the effort to get off the bus. It turned out to be a beautiful Cemetery and a very moving experience walking amongst the head stones and reading the words...

It was a slow trip back into Rome as the traffic was very heavy. We got to the Sheraton just after 4pm.

This was also a huge motel. Sadly it was time for our last get together with our group. We had met some very interesting people from America, Singapore, New Zealand, Denmark, Pakistan and we were the only Australians. We got on the bus back into Romes centre for our farewell dinner at a restaurant which we worked out seated about 400 people! As always Gino (our bus driver) and Ernesta were supervising us...

Italian driving, no lanes...

The meal was ok (how much more pasta and pizza can we eat!) and we had 2 opera singers entertaining us. They tried to sell us their CD after but nobody was interested as we had all bought CD's from our very first dinner at the start of the tour...

Then back to the motel to say our goodbyes. Every night on the tour Ernesta stuck one of these posters in the foyer of the motels with all our instructions for the next day on, this is our last one...

The tour was fantastic and we learnt so much about Italy with a great bunch of people and a great director Ernesta and bus driver Gino.

Capri and Positano

We were back on the mini buses early to get down to the area where we catch a ferry over to Capri.

It took just over 20 minutes to get there and the view of Capri from the ferry was great...

We opted not to do the additional boat ride around the island and went with Ernesta to catch the funicular train up to the main village (Capri Town).

First we walked through the lovely quiet streets (it was still early in the morning) to the Gardens of Augustus, which were very pretty. There was also a lookout there and we spent some time sitting and watching...

Sorrento and Capri are huge Lemon growing areas of Italy so there are all sorts of lemon products to buy. This litle stall had delicious fresh drinks and lollies...

We spent some time wandering the streets and taking photos...

But it was another very hot day and we were a bit shopped out so we decided to find a nice restaurant and just sit and absorb the atmosphere and people watch...

It was then time to get back on the ferry and back to our motel in Sorrento for a swim in the pool...

Next we were off to Positano in the mini buses. This was a pretty hairy ride along the Amalfi Coast... And we made it safely to this lovely town...

Shopping was very expensive here so we just looked and walked down to the beach area...

We had a scare when walking back to the bus with sounds like explosives going off. It turned out to be a ceremony that only happens once every 100 years and they were fire crackers going off as part of the celebrations. Poor Janelle's legs were actually shaking!

We had dinner in the motel then did some packing while listening to a band play around the pool area. Janelle met a fellow medical student and spent a few hours chatting.