Italia - Part I

In a decision made on the train on the way there, our first stop in Italy was Milan. We had a a great afternoon wandering the streets in the winter sunshine and had lunch at the front of the Castello Sforzesco.

After Milan we headed to Venice - along with thousands of other people who were there for Carnivale - and got some more beautiful sunshine for strolling around the lanes and piazzas.

And finally we watched the sun set from the breezy deck of a vaporetto on the Grand Canal.

Switzerland

Thanks to the school holiday crowds we almost got stuck in Paris but managed to get on a train eventually and head to Switzerland to visit some of Deb's rellies. We had some time to kill waiting for our train so popped in to the Lourve to say g'day to Lisa.


We had a lovely and relaxing stay in Geneva with a wonderful family and then travelled all the way over to the other side of the country to visit another wonderful family near Winterthur.

After a spot of shopping in Austria and a beautiful winter wonderland stroll we got ready to head out on our own (zug zug!).

France

We said goodbye to the country that has been our home for the past 4 and a half years, jumped on the Eurostar from St Pancras to the real Europe and arrived in Paris only 2 hours later (after a little nap).

The next morning, we were pleasantly surprised that Paris is 20% warmer than London (by Simon's calculations)!! After some deliciously fresh croissants we stormed (past) the Bastille (well, where it used to be, anyway) and continued on to Chateau de Versailles.

Apparently Louis was a bit more cashed up than Henry and wasn't shy about flaunting it!

Farewell England

We haven't even finished packing and cleaning the flat yet and already we are in tourist mode!

As a farewell to the Old Country we visited Hampton Court Palace, or as Simo thinks it's called 'Tottenham Court Palace'! The maze race was of course won by Simo. Deb puts it down to the clear height advantage he has. Afterwards he sat down to a winner's feast (pictured below)...


...and in due course followed it up with a trip to the royal dunny!!!