Levanto -Cinque Terre-Mont Blanc

Levanto is a great little town just north of the Cinque Terre, in North-eastern Italy, about 80 km south of Genoa. Our main aim here was to walk the Cinque Terre (five pretty coastal villages generally unreachable by car). Unfortunately the first day it was raining so we stayed at home and relaxed at the campground- reading, writing in diaries, internet, washing etc. The campground is beautifully set among olive groves and vineyards on a terraced hillside close to town centre. It also has a café/restaurant with wifi access, perfect for us. The rain continued and the skies stayed dark and gloomy until about 3.00pm. A little later the same afternoon we strolled along Levanto’s beach boulevarde in brilliant sunshine along with the whole town’s population. Anika and I even paddled in the not–too-cold waters of the gravel and sand beach. There is even a dedicated group of surfers here in Levanto- lots of very short rides on 40cm waves though.

The next day the weather was overcast but not raining, so we caught a train to Riomaggiore and explored this steep little fishing village clinging to a narrow coastal gorge. The train from Levanto passes through a series of tunnels, revealing the coastline at each station along the way. These are very scenic stations, located right on the sea. Riomaggiore is a maze of cobbled streets, stone stairs, tiny lanes and secret short cuts. As well, there is a tiny harbour with typical bobbing fishing boats and an exciting pebble beach where the waves make an incredible sucking sound as they retreated back into the sea.

The main walk is part of the Cinque Terre National Park and requires an entry payment. Only one section – The Via d’Amore (Lovers Walk) was open due to poor weather. Apparently the rain makes some sections of the trail dangerous with rock falls and flooding. We decided to not do the short section as it was only 1 km- about 20mins walk and hardly warranted the park entry cost.

The next morning (a Saturday) we are blessed with clear blue skies and we need no further encouragement; The park trail is fully open so we tackle the hardest section first. Vernazza is perhaps the prettiest town with pastel pink and orange terraced houses surrounding a small protected harbour. The main street is buzzing this morning- probably the sunshine and promise of a warm day. Fishermen are showing off their overnight catch- a mixture of local fish –various sizes and names I can’t pronounce. Twenty minutes later all the fish have just about been sold. There are typical souvenir shops selling foods, wines, ceramics and prints, but the postcards actually match the views we are experiencing.

Soon we are climbing out of the town and with each set of stone steps and turn of a corner the town drops away into the sea. Vines and olive groves have been grown here for centuries, and it is the terraces that really sculpt the steep cliffs and define this landscape. The walking track traverses the cliffs but there are many smaller trails used to access other terraces further up the hills. The sea shimmers blue and silver in the morning light. Beyond each overhanging tree the sparkling waters provide a continuing panorama along the track. We meet only a few other walkers- it’s probably too much hard work for many of the tour group visitors we’ve seen. About 90 mins later we enter the next town, Corniglia, compact and set on a high headland, way above the sea. We wander through the narrow streets to a viewpoint out in the sun and can see up and down the coast to all five villages. Our lunch is the usual- bread rolls, cheese, tomatoes, ham, and salami. This time we sit in a tiny church square just above some diners at a restaurant. The sun is too hot to sit in so we are grateful for the shade provided by the old tree that dominates the square.

From Corniglia the set of steps zigzags endlessly straight down to sea level. On the way we meet travelers lugging their luggage up from the station. We’re glad we didn’t have to go up here and certainly wouldn’t choose to arrive here by train.

The coastal track straightens up along an uninteresting walled section that appears to be made up of abandoned toilets and dress sheds from a few decades ago. They are closed and look pretty untidy. The highlight is meeting a craftsman making stone jewellery from the local black/grey/pink stones. He shows us how he cuts the stones and threads them. We buy Jood a cute little heart-shaped stone pendant for her birthday.

Manarola is also very photogenic and the approach is perfect from a high viewpoint and descending through groves into the main square. Gelatos by the harbour cool us down and make the last km into Riomaggiore a breeze. It’s a level walk along the Via d’Amore which has seen many romantic couples declare their love and take scenic photos to prove it. They also hang locks of all sizes on the railings and gates to declare the bond between them is strong etc. I think this tradition developed after a scene from a movie – not such an ancient tradition then.

We decide to train back towards Levanto and get off at Monterosso, the only town we haven’t yet seen. It is warm and very busy with drinking and gelato-slurping tourists enjoying the unseasonable beach weather. There are even people swimming and paddling in the aqua shallows. A quick decision is made that we should tackle the walk between Monterosso south to Vernazza where we started this morning. This would finish the whole walk (10km in total) and make our life complete. The hot conditions and steep ascent out of town make us all sweaty and wondering if it was such a good idea to save this difficult section until the end of our day. The sights are incredible – vineyard terraces, vast blue seas below us and our poor shuffling shoes as we climb up endless stony steps. We meet a few other walkers who are descending and shaking their heads as we pass them. The trails are very narrow and can only allow single file traffic. At last the trail levels and eventually we descend into Vernazzo feeling very happy with our effort. The kids have actually run ahead of us down the stairs after 2 hours of climbing. Does this mean we’ve joined the Cinque Terre achievers club?

Aosta Valley leads up to Mont Blanc. It is full of spectacular mountains, dark outlines against hazy setting sunshine. In the distance white peaks keep us intrigued. We camp just outside a tiny village, Morgex, with views straight up to Mont Blanc and forests of autumn colours all around. The morning light on the mountains is inspiring and makes me want to take pictures and travel.

The Mont Blanc tunnel costs about $70 to drive through and about 12 mins of your life that are quite unremarkable. The exit into France and the views straight up into a massive glacier certainly spark up the day and from there the views down the valley continue. The freeways to Annecy are great- high bridges, smooth roads, scenic and expensive- 3 tolls, 80km – about $30. That’s nothing compared to the trip to Geneve the next day – 40km for about $18. I haven’t quite worked out how they bill you for the peage freeways- in Italy you got a ticket at the start and when you got off they calculated the distance which you paid for. Here the payments are haphazard, at illogical locations and probably a ripoff. The secondary roads are looking very attractive from now on.

Pisa

Pisa on a grey, rainy, late mid week afternoon should be quiet right? Let’s just say the Senegalese umbrella salesmen on every corner made a killing. Tour buses poured into Pisa literally spilling and splashing tour groups onto the shiny cobblestones of the main piazza. The Field of Miracles includes several ornate buildings but all eyes are on that one grey coloured tower which today matches that of the sky.

The best entertainment here is to watch people taking photos of the leaning tower and lining up endless same shots of the hands up stopping the tower from toppling. There is some creativity but the most popular shot is two hands to the side like a traffic cop experimenting with a new dance move. The other side show is the long row of souvenir stalls with leaning miniatures of all sizes, as well as a few other popular Italian iconic items (as seen in the big must-see cities) – the vespa keying/t-shirt/handbag –quite cool; also the pasta/olive oil aprons and chef hats, the statue of David underpants, plastic gladiator accessories, plastic colosseums and of course snow domes. Whoops… I’ve just given away all the presents we’ve bought for everybody.

The Tower of Pisa does lean and it’s hard not to take a decent photograph but the pix do all tend to look the same don’t they? Walks to the top have to be booked and are expensive. We didn’t go up – it looked pretty slippery too. The kids weren’t all that impressed by it, not sure why. After Rome’s crowds surely we can handle anything.

Roma

Happy Birthday Arkady. We took a lovely celebratory drive from Siena to Rome- about 2.5 hours,which was fine except for the last couple of turns trying to find the camping ground. This was quite frustrating as the signage in Italy is generally confusing. Not only are the directional signs often duplicated and pointing in opposing directions, they are also competing with up to 10 other advertising signs per street direction, in a myriad of colours and sizes. Try finding the one you need in 3 seconds, even with a trusty navigator by your side. Anyway... several roundabout turnabouts, u-turns, scenic stops and lucky guesses later we found the Camping Tiber in the northern suburbs of Rome.

We enjoyed a relaxing dinner and wine that night and discussed how nice Siena had been. Arkady had also spent a leisurely hour opening his presents in the morning, partly in denial that he was having a birthday and partly proud to be 14. The next day at a limoncello tasting in a deli the young and pretty sales girl confused Arkady as someone of legal age and offered him a drink. She was surprised to hear he was 14. She shrugged and laughed when I asked what the legal age was in Italy. Around 18 was probably the answer.

Rome was the busiest city we have visited. The queue at St Peters to have a look at the cuppola and basilica went around the square, and it's no small square. Similar queues at the Colosseum didn't stop us despite the offers of fast-tracking guides with special deals to jump the lines. Every turn of a corner in Rome offers up a surprise- usually in the form of extreme grandeur. Ornate churches are everywhere, as well as monuments and fountains. Fontana de Trevi was hidden by a wall of tourists tossing coins over their shoulder, but it was full of sparkling water and the sheer size of it is impressive. One hundred metres away we snacked on "fonzies" (Italian twisties) sitting on the empty stairs of the University. The contrast away from the main frenzy is amazing.

The Monument to Vittorio Emanuel dominates the centre of Rome where major streets meet leading to the Colosseum, St Peter's Piazza and the Vatican. It is a giant building which houses a museum but what is really impressive are the terraces of stairs and huge statues everywhere. Horses, chariots, Vittorio, horses, angels, horses, Italian flags, two Italian soldiers with guns, Vittorio on a horse, angels playing tennis... and little uniformed men with whistles blowing profusely each time a tourist attempted to sit down on the stairs. It must be a major OH & S issue here.

The Colosseum was novel - gladiators with shields and swords hawking outside the gates to have their photo taken with you. You even get to wear a funny helmet. In between photo shoots the gladiators could be seen having a cigarette or chatting on their mobile phones. The main stadium is excellent and doesn't really require a guide. There are endless arched ports, mazes of tunnels which are now exposed which held the animals and gladiators, the main stage, the green room, columns and exposed stone walls. It is very open and did not feel crowded despite the large numbers of people inside.

A tiny church in the Via Veneto near the Barberino district houses an amazing and unique crypt. It is non-descript on the outside but reveals a small series of rooms along a gallery of decorative rooms. Each room has been carefully embellished with skulls, femurs, clavicles, vertebrae and jaw bones to make beautiful patterns on the ceilings and walls. Some complete skeletons also adorn the walls. The more important monks (ie. their skeltons) of the community have been dressed in robes and recline in stone niches. The decorations could easily be mistaken for iron chandeliers and wallpaper friezes in the low light of the rooms. Thousands of bones have been stacked here to create this unusual burial area.

Unfortunately, the area around Rome ( the true suburbs) are very uninspiring. Endless rubbish, buildings in disrepair, graffitti on everything including complete trains, fountains, signs, houses etc. and some of the worst roads we've seen. Rome's old ruins and history are it's attraction but it's general environment is disappointing and well ruined already.

Still... a gelato a day keeps everybody happy.

Siena

Siena is Venice without water. Cobbled stone streets and tiny lanes all leading to the Il Campo, the main piazza. In the afternoon the golden rays of sun light up the walls of the old buildings and all eyes are on the central church tower which dominates the square. Of course this square has 9 sides and it is famous for a crazy horse race – the Pallio, a tradition which attracts thousands of people into the sloping clam-shaped piazza. It’s hard to imagine horses running around the sloped perimeter of the piazza and apparently often horses finish riderless. In fact it’s the first horse across the line that wins, with or without it’s jockey.

The piazza is a great place to just sit, whether you’ve paid a premium for a “café” on the terraces, or a “birra” on a tiny verandah above a bar, or just reclining on the ancient stones having a cheese “pannini”. We were lucky enough to taste the first cuts from a freshly roasted pig – “porchetta” from a deli. Delicious on fresh rolls. And we felt like locals because they were lining up to buy a giant carved slice as well. We watched the sun disappear behind the red-brown skyline and the thursday night shoppers flocked to the stores as the street lamps came on.

The images of the beautiful doorways with arches, carved wood and interesting knobs could make a coffee table book. The shop displays are also delightful and the delis entice you with arrangements of pasta, oils, vino, breads, cheeses, meats, etc.

The following day brought more sunshine and photo opportunities galore. A climb to the top of one of the churches through tiny spiral staircases took us to the top of an arched walkway with views all around the city and into the Tuscan countryside. The church was actually a museum with 13^th and 14^th century sculptures, religious paintings and heavy wooden books which probably have a better name. A great way to introduce children to history, art and religion is to have a great view at the end of a breath-taking adventure through narrow corridors and tiny ancient stairs. It was also a bit scary at the top.

After further aimless wandering we knew we were ready for the afternoon gelatos. We’ve all become more observant of details, and almost competitive to find hidden photo opportunities- usually a doorway, window, balcony, stuffed animal in a window display, etc. My personal preference has been for sunlight on cobblestones, washing on lines, dogs on leads walking everywhere with their owners and the cool pair of impossible designer footwear striding confidently across those sunlit cobblestones, underneath washing lines with dogs in tow.

We loved Siena. It has grown outwards and there are more suburbs around the perimeter but the centre has retained a lovely atmosphere. There were quite a few tourist groups but the feeling was generally warm not claustrophobic.

We continue to encounter school excursion groups from the Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy. Lucky kids. What a great way to experience history, art, culture etc. Plenty of ipods, laughing and the usual teen antics with hand-held camera shots ready for Facebook.

Oh and I watched Siena FC training for their weekend match in the beautifully set stadium surrounded by trees .

All roads lead to…

Venezia

We woke up on the first morning to glorious sunny weather, just perfect for sightseeing. From the campground the boat ride to Venice offers a fantastic view coming in.

Despite all the tourists, and yes there were still hordes of tour groups, Venice is still a magical city. The tiny canals, amazing architecture, gondolas bobbing up and down on the water, interesting little alleyways leading off in all directions and fantastic mask shops - it is a living museum piece.

We had fun exploring the backstreets and alleyways and wandering off the beaten tourist paths, discovering beautiful leafy parks, quaint antique shops tucked away in secluded corners and quiet campos (squares) dominated by huge statues and churches, even little squares in residential areas where washing lines were strung out high up from one side of the courtyard to the other. Getting lost in Venice is all part of the fun! And everywhere you looked there was the winged lion, the symbol of Venice - on top of columns, on big door knockers, wall friezes, banners and boats.

The gondoliers nonchalantly stood on the ends of the their boats and looked like they could steer them in their sleep! The gondolas themselves were just beautiful all lined up along the canals. Black sleek looking boats, with fancy gold or silver lions or sea horses (Roman style), brocaded seats etc.

We caught a trachetto (like a gondola but with 2 gondoliers and the boat fits up to 10 people who often stand up) across from one side of the canal to the other - a short trip of about 30 seconds all up but also cheap.

The shops in Venice are beautifully presented and offer modern styling in centuries-old buildings. There were the usual typical designer label shops and shoe shops with lots of big bling shoes with big bling prices. Then there were masks shops, Italian paper shops filled with beautiful marbled and leather bound books and calligraphy material - quills, individual seals and waxes, fancy letter openers, antique map shops and little curio shops with handcrafted wooden marionettes of Pinocchio and the fox, decorator shops with ornate brocades, silks and lush velvets. Not to mention all the glass shops that were a riot of colour, overflowing with jewellery in vibrant colours and all shapes and sizes, huge chandeliers and statues etc.

Anika and Jood loved the mask shops and some of the window displays were art works in themselves. We wandered in and out of dozens of mask shops admiring the fantastic range of designs from phantom style masks to classic theatre style, animals, masks with scenes of Venice painted on them, ones with feathers and glitter, and others so delicate and fragile. Some of the mask shops also sold or rented fancy dress costumes for Venice's Carnevale. The clothes and masks were really quite magical and could fire anyone's imagination with dreams of mystery and masked balls.

While we were in Venice we also went to the Venice Biennale a modern art expo with artists representing countries around the world. It was typically a hit and miss affair, just as modern art so often is. Some of the pavilions featured some really interesting and innovative art while other pavilions we were able to instantly dismiss, for eg. The German display of pine cabinets straight from an IKEA kitchen catalogue, the French black room with prison bars and industrial fans which smelled of rubber, the Korean room full of blinds. The highlight was the main exhibition hall showcasing Italian artists with some very clever ideas using lights, film projectors, books and old toys (better than it sounds). The Biennale had heaps of student groups there (mainly Dutch and Italian I think) and also a lot of quite arty, bohemian looking people - not your usual sort of Venice tourist.

Dinner in Venice gave us a chance to see the city at night time when a lot of the tour groups had left for the day. We found a small ristorante on a tiny canal that was quite nice. In the early evening we watched the various watercraft passing by as well as locals walking home for dinner.

We limited ourselves to single meals (not the 3-4 course full tourist menu which all the places were trying to push). Dinner was delicious but naturally portions were smaller than at home. Cappuccinos were on the menu for 4.50 euros, (about $10). A visit to the public toilet in Venice cost about $3! You pay for the ambience – not sure about inside the toilets though.

Classical concerts are held in various churches throughout the city, but we didn’t get a chance to catch a performance. Maybe next time. Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons" was on offer in a few of the ornate churches and we watched an ensemble practicing. The San Marco Piazza had competing ensembles playing classical pieces as well as classic hits (ie. "The Entertainer") into the evening which attracted appreciative crowds. Not many people were sitting down at the cafes and restaurants – probably because of the the premium surcharges just to have a seat.

Venice is a photographer’s dream with a masterpiece location at every turn. Gondaliers linger nonchalantly near the bridges, mostly happy to chat with each other, only occasionally touting for business. The many bridges and houses have so much character it’s impossible not to be impressed by bricks, iron and paint. We took about 1000 photos between the four of us. Should be a great powerpoint presentation. Book your tickets for the slide night.

Lugano -Garda -Verona

The trip from Switzerland through northern Italy had it’s highlights based around beautiful lakes and old town centres. Unfortunately the bits in between (i.e. the two thousand round-a-bouts and the dull characterless towns that seem to merge into one giant suburban mass) are pretty forgettable. Sounds a bit like some parts of Sydney.

Lugano (still in Switzerland) on a sunny Sunday attracted half of Italy taking a walk along the endless tree-lined pathways along the lake shores. The air was warm, the gelato was everywhere, the dogs came in all sizes and shapes, the prams were rolling, the kids were running and we had a delightful walk absorbing it all. Lugano has become a huge town and it sprawls over the hills and across the lake. Small boats continue to take tourists around the lake much as they probably did over 50 years ago when my parents first met in Lugano. We saw an olive tree that must have been standing there for well over a century and it was full of ripe olives. In fact we saw a local man enjoy helping himself to a small harvest.

Lake Garda has entertained tourists for years and we arrived at the end of the season as camping grounds close and the weather becomes unpredictable. The traffic on a late Sunday afternoon was never-the-less chaotic and slow, as everyone enjoyed the last rays of late summer weather. Our camping spot was right on the lake, with gravel beach and small jetties as far as you could see. The local tourists were all Germans and Anika quickly found a friend with a booming voice. German school holidays were still happening so we encountered families, dogs, socks and sandals. Some even spoke English. “Tag, danke, bitte” are our social limits although Arkady pulls out a few phrases he has learnt at school – unfortunately he practices on us not the Germans.

Verona was busy but once again we enjoyed the old city ambience and walked around the main sights in an afternoon. The main Arena (second place to the Colosseum) was packed. It’s golden glow on the outside highlighted it’s prominent position in town, right in front of the main square. It is still used for various concerts from rock to opera and has seats installed as well as lighting towers, so it loses a bit of it’s original feel. However the crowd crawling all over the place give it a buzz, as if something is about to happen. Nothing happened…. so it’s off to Venice.

Switzerland over the top and out

On a rain-soaked misty morning we decided to use the poor weather to our advantage and travel rather than sit around thinking about what we could have been doing. We had intended to do another cable and rail ride to Kleine Scheidegg (easy for me to say) but conditions were poor. The trip south towards Italy unavoidably crosses huge mountains. We used the Grimsel Pass, the Furka Pass and part of Gothard but couldn't find the long tunnel. We did find spectacular and breath-taking scenery. The highest points are barren, snow-capped, rocky and the narrow switchback (hairpin) bends are harrowing, especially for the person closest to the safety rail. That would be Jood. Often there was little between the passenger door and a long way down. The kids played on my ipod and told stories. We took pix and videos to prove how scary it was and made it over at a gentle and safe speed. The mists continually rolled in and revealed new and impossible views, punctuated by bursts of sunshine and then rain.

We took a walk near the Rhone Glacier and through a series of tunnels dug out inside it. A freezing but interesting experience underneath the thick walls of ice. The rocky environment, mainly hard shales and granite, inspired the many travellers who have come through this part of the world to erect mini rock sculptures all over the place. This added to the surreal landscape at this high altitude.

We are now camped in Bellinzona (southern Switzerland near Lugarno) and the feel is already very Italian. Tomorrow we'll be changing accents and practicing our "grazis", "ciaos" and "more gelatos"...

Black Forest and beyond to Switzerland

We've visited 3 very different waterfalls over the past 3 days. Triberg Falls cascading through the beautiful Black Forest with fairy-tale undergrowth, autumn leaves and hidden squirrels. The Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen are very broad and majestic and lure hoardes of tourists to catch a tiny boat up to the whitewash. The Trummelbach Falls are 10 spiralling thunderous falls inside a rocky cliff fed by glaciers. All very impressive. Trummelbach Falls probably won "most popular" with us for sheer excitement, danger and noise.

Today we took trains and cable cars to get to the top of Schilthorn, near Lauterbrunnen. The day was warm and sunny and we took in magnificent views of the Jungfrau, Eiger and Monch mountains along the way. At the top the lookout is named Piz Gloria after it was used in a James Bond movie "At Her Majesty's Secret Service". Yes, apparently the worst of all Bond films. Yes we saw some shorts and a scenic touristy video about the mountainous Oberland. Yes there was a total whiteout meaning "zero" visibility. Photos were interesting.

Off to Italy in the next few days. Camper is coping well. The driving is spectacular. The driver is coping well too.

Emails Shmemails!!!

Sorry everyone. We've been able to receive emails but had a lot of trouble sending them. I think it's a bigpond thing. Also there doesn't seem to have been many wifi hotspots in the Black Forest so we've tried grabbing internet time in Tourist Info Centres. The internet cafes have been unhelpful when we've been able to track them down. So we'll try to keep the blog up to date as often as possible, and find another solution for the email problems.

Germany

We arrived in Germany late friday night and took the first campsite we could find, right on the banks of the Mosel River. A delightful part of the world... and most of Germany agrees. Of course saturday was National Germany Day and every German with a camper was headed for the Mosel Valley. Across the river a huge marquee was set up with long tables and lots of beer, sausage and oompah! I snuck in and thought the atmosphere was great, unfortunately not necessarily a great family night out, so we enjoyed the sounds of the live band doing standards all night. Traditional accordian and bass tunes with massive sing-a-longs and hand-clapping. The crowd loved it. We listened until 2.00am. Among the great standards were ACDC's "jailbreak" and "highway to hell" done in cheesy- knees-up crowd pleasing fashion. You have to imagine "oi...oi...oi" done with a German accent and 300 drunk Germans singing along. I think Neil Young, Led Zeppelin and Bon Jovi all got that special treatment along with a host of true Euro tunes that translate into every cultural sing-a-long. Oh what a night... (actually that was another one they did).

The Mosel River is a beautiful winding river with steep vineyards and traditional villages on both sides. The road hugs the river and takes in all the scenery as barges glide along and tour boats loaded with German tourists, cameras clicking wildly, zig-zag between bridges and churches. The National German Day to celebrate unification of old East and West Germany meant there were lots of little festivals and celebrations. We enjoyed some "gemukkelijkheid" which is my Dutch interpretation of "enjoyable atmosphere" at a town market square with a beer and bratwurst on bread rolls. There was a live one man band - once again doing interpretive covers in that great traditional German style. It's quite fun playing "Guess that tune". And the crowd enjoyed the sunny afternoon drinking and eating.

We climbed up to a nearby castle ruin to get a bit of a physical fix and were rewarded with stunning views up and down the Mosel River. The walk up was also interesting as we crossed vineyards through tiny ancient walkways and stairs. The ruin- there wasn't much castle left had been invaded, conquered and renovated over 13 times by various lands including Dutch, Swedes and the French who finally blew most of it up. We loved it.

The Rhine river section around St Goar and the Lorelei rock was busily touristed but quite uninteresting compared with the Mosel so we didn't stay long.

The Black Forest took a few hours to reach but we've been rewarded with lovely campgrounds with outstanding shower facilities and panoramic scenery. We've walked a few trails and snapped a few thousand pics of waterfalls, typical houses with steep roof gables, alpine streams, cuckoo clocks, iron shop signs, floral window boxes, cuckoo clocks, forest fauna, cuckoo clocks, autumn leaves ... and cuckoo clocks. The forest floor is really springy as it is made up of fir tree needle leaves covered in a type of velvety moss. It is very magical and makes for great stories. No wonder the Brothers Grimm did so well.

Tomorrow we head to Switzerland.

One week in Holland

Windmills, clogs and bikes...it must be Holland.

We've had a fairly busy few days doing the tourist thing.

We had a great day visiting Kinderdyke, (near where Peet's dad was born) a UNESCO world heritage site with 19 windmills dotted across the landscape. We were driving along close to the river through a little town and all of a sudden looked out the window and there were all the windmills lined up along the canals. It's really quite impressive seeing so many windmills so close together (and hard to believe how many photos of windmills we could take!)

We were lucky that it wasn't a weekend as the place wasn't at all crowded (except for one school group which was just leaving when we got there). We took the bikes out of the van so the kids could ride along the pathway next to the windmills although I think Anika actually enjoys being dinked on the back of Arkady's bike more than actually riding herself! There was even one windmill you could go into and have a look around which was pretty interesting. The sails were working and when the breeze picked up the sails started turning so fast it was actually quite scary standing close by.

The next day we had a full on day in The Hague and packed the sightseeing in. We caught a tram out to Scheveningen, a popular beach side spot which looked quite uninviting in grey, blustery weather, but it was mainly to show the kids the area and the English Channel/North Sea. Then it was back on the tram to Madurodam a fantastic miniature model park of all of the Netherlands featuring highlights of all 11 provinces.

We spent a good few hours there with Arkady trying to break the record of taking the most photos in one day (something like 300 photos!). There were toy barges that went up and down lochs, trains that whizzed around the park, planes that taxied around Schipol airport, cars driving around the streets, even a garbage boat that went around the canals of the Amsterdam section.

The attention to detail in the street scenes was amazing with little processions outside churches, a person waterskiing on a lake, people sitting outside cafes in the squares, farmers in the fields. The model of the Rijksmuseum was huge and if you looked down into one of the windows you could even see a miniature copy of the 'Nightwatch' painting. There was even a model fun park with a working carousel, dodgems, ferris wheel and roller coaster. It was pretty funny watching it. We had a lot of fun there.

After that we went to see the Escher museum which was housed in an old palace. There were some amazing Escher's on display and at times it was headache inducing trying to follow some of the designs as they defied logic or the images got smaller and smaller and it was like looking into a spiral. It was all fascinating though. The other interesting thing about the museum was that each room featured a huge chandelier. Each one was a different shape - a violin, a spider, skull and cross bones, paint palette etc but there were all spectacular to look at.

To get to the top floor of the Escher museum (where it explained how Escher played with illusion) you had to go up a number of little wooden staircases and it felt like you were actually in one of Escher's artworks where you couldn't tell whether the staircases were going up or down.

Since then we've also been to Volendam, a little fishing village up north of Amsterdam which is probably most famous for being overcrowded with tourists during high season and also a popular spot where people dress up in traditional costume and have their photo taken, which we did as all Peet's family have had their photo taken there at some time so we had to too (to make Oma happy).

Anika was so excited about dressing up we could hardly shut her up. Of course Arkady was not keen to get his photo taken at all but eventually succumbed to family pressure (and I couldn't resist teasing him that by the time he got back to Fort St the photo would be all over school!) It was a very slick process with the photo - here are the clothes, sit here, hold this, smile for the camera and it was all over and done with in about 10 mins at most.

While we were up that way we also had a look around the village of Edam (as in the cheese) which was a beautiful quaint village with lovely trees lining the canals and old bridges (like the ones Vincent Van Gogh painted). We discovered a cheese shop with a fantastic display of cheeses and wine out the front so had to go in and admire the big wheels of cheese plus do a little bit of taste testing.

I must say I've been really taken with a lot of the window displays in people's houses. The Dutch like having the inside of their house on display with many places having no curtains or only little lace ones so you can look straight through into their living rooms and kitchens. Many of the houses have impressive displays of flowers in their windows or little collections of nature - pine cones, straw, wreaths, lots of pumpkins of all sizes, birds, chooks etc. Anika, being such a nature lover/collector loves them and has stopped to take lots of photos.

We've been in the van almost a week now and have settled into a routine - find a camping spot, set up the electricity, check out the bathroom facilities (good if it's a hot free shower, grumble if you have to pay for a quick 3 minute shower) then make coffee and relax. The first thing Anika does is go off and explore the campground which is great if it's on a farm, in the forest or beside a little stream.

That's about it for now.

Jood