Pisa & Lucca

Today we visited Pisa, looked at the leaning tower and church.  We then walked around the old city and learnt more of the history of the Medici family.  We had lunch in the old city.   There were lots of black africans selling fake stuff and junk.  The Italians are trying to stop the fakes by making it illegal to purchase from street sellers.  Fine of 500euro.

On to Lucca a wonderful walled city with a complete wall 40 feet thick.  The birthplace of Puccini.  They have a concert every night of his works. 

Florence

Today we went to Florence.  This was the birth place of the Renaissance.  First we visited Santa Croce, inside were the tombs of lots of famous people such as Dante, Galilaeo and Michelangelo.

Then to the Duomo the 3rd largest cathedral in the world.   Not as ornately decorated as the large churches in German, but very impressive.  This is the one with the famous domeseen all over Florence.    The building in front is the Bapistry.  I didn't realise that people who were not baptised were not allowed in the church (even to be baptised). 

Now they have a door that says tourists only.








Also the many statues such as David.  We only saw the copy out in the square.

And of course the famous Ponti Vecchio bridge.


 



Later there was a festival with a parade of people dressed in medival costume.     Seemed to be for the grape harvest.

Perugia to Volterra

Crossed into Tuscany first stop Siena with the famous square
 where the il Palio takes place which is a horse race around the square between districts of Italy. 



Lunch and afternoon spent in San Gimignano another walled town with numerous tall towers famous for its Tuscan ceramics.

Overnight at Volterra another ancient walled town really high up.

Rome to Perugia

We left Rome and drove north up into the hills. 

The first stop was Rieti the "Umbilicus Italia" the geographic centre of Italy. 

Lunch stop was at Spoleto where we took 8 escalators & a lift up to the Albornazian Castle where we ate our fresh pork panini looking across Umbria and a tall roman aquaduct. 



Afternoon stop was in Assisi the see the 13th century Brasilica built in three level with St Francis'  tomb in the lowest level.  Overnight in Perugia a medieval walled town famous for it's chocolates & a university with 35,000 students.

Rome - Vatican

Today we started of by visiting the Catacombes.  Very interesting to see where the christians were buried about 1800 years ago. The catacombes were excavated about 600AD then forgotten about until about 1600AD.  The stories about persecuted christians living in the catacombes are false, they were just burial places.
Then we went to the Vatican Museums.  Interesting and lots of people, although the guide said that today was not very crowded.   Would not be very nice in peak season.
We enjoyed the art works, paintings, Sistine Chapel and St Peters Brasilica.  By the end we had a bit of information overload and people overload   As non-catholics it does not mean as much to us.
Then we went home via the Circus Maximus which was used for about 1000 years between 500BC & 500AD.
It is now a park used for walking and public events.

Tomorrow we leave  Rome which although very interesting is very crowded and busy.

Rome 2

Last night we met the others of the tour group, did some paperwork then walked a little around in the dusk of Rome.  Then a welcome dinner at a fish restuarant.

Today we started a 9 am and walked with a local guide to some of the main attrations
The forum ruins, Colosseum, the Trevi fountain, Spanish steps and the Pantheon.
The guide who was an entusiastic archeology professor was great and gave a lot of history.  She brought the ancient buildings to life


There are a lot of people going around dressed like Roman Centurians so that you can get your photo taken with them.

Rome

After a good night's sleep we set out to walk around some of Rome.  There was a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition which displays his machines built by people in the present from his drawings. 
Then we walked back along the Tiber via the Colosseum

'A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum'

Today we travelled from Zurich to Rome.  From Swiss efficience to well..the Italian way.

It took 5 hours from when we landed to when we arrived at our hotel.  We had booked a transfer to the hotel.  It was a minibus for about 12 people, first the driver and Cathy rushed off and lost the rest of the group, after they found us again,  they dropped us off last so at least we saw a lot of Rome, mostly traffic and suburbs.  We are staying next to the Nerva Forum.  Had a lovely Pizza dinner.

The Forum Hotel is actually next door

Zurich

We spent 2 days in Zurich with our friends, son of a school friends of Cathy's.
The wife picked us up at the Central station, first took Bruce, Gareth & Robyn to their hotel then took us all home on public transport.  As the public transport is so good they don't own a car.   It meant lugging our suitcases on the trams & buses.  We had a great baked dinner then Bruce, Gareth & Robyn went home to their hotel.
 Both husband and wife work for the Montessori school here in Zurich.  They have been here for about 4 years and are glad to see some aussies.

The next day we went on an afternoon tour arround Zurich and surounding area.  We actually went right past our friends house on the tour as they live near a cable car station that goes up to a lookour "Felsenegg".  It was very overcast so we didn't see anything from the lookout but it was fun anyway.  We had dinner in a Bahnhof cafe and said goodbye to Bruce as he will flying home tomorrow when we head for Rome.

Lucerne day 4

Today is our last full day in Lucerne.  Tomorrow we head off to Zurich by train to stay with friends for 2 days.  The day started of foggy but then cleared to a lovely fine day.

We just had a relaxing day walking around the town and doing some shopping.  A great change from rushing around on the tour.  Actually the tour didn't seem rushed, just a good pace.  But we were organised all day.
 We had a family from Singapore on the tour (mother & 2 daughters) who didn't like all the scenery.  I think they realised they had misunderstood the intinerary.

Tourist shops have great displays out the front.






We also saw an "M&M"  in an upstairs room but we couldn't get up to liberate him.

Lucerne day 3

The tour is now finished and some of the people have gone straight home.  Okay for the USA people as it is only a short plane journey.
The weather has turned cooler and slight rain. We spent the day walking around the city.  The Pilatus mountain we went up yesterday is now enveloped in cloud so we were very lucky yesterday.
We walk around the old city wall & tower & then just enjoyed walking around

Also visited the Glacier Garden - "a journey through time from sub-tropical palm-fringed beaches of millions of years ago to the glacier world of the last ice age"

Lucerne day 2

Just when we thought we couldn't see anything better than before, we went up Mt Pilatus overlooking Lucerne.
We travelled up the world's steepest cogwheel railway, from ground level to 2000 metres.

Some people hike up or down, seemed to be mostly up.  The view at the top was spectacular.  Great fine weather.  Tomorrow they have forcast cooler weather and maybe even snow on the mountain.



How would you like to go to church up here, you would have to start very early.   Maybe this is the real "High" church.   Actually there are a lot of churches here in Switzerland and Austria in very high locations.  Gives a whole new meaning to high church.






In the afternoon we had free time so we walked around the old area of Lucerne and did some shopping.
Then we had a lake Lucerne cruise and then a farewell dinner, and said goodbye to most of the people.  Some people fly in just for a short trip like this. 

Glacier Express

Today we traveled on another train over the Alps - The Glacier Express.  This time with glass roof sections and a 5 hour trip
  Similar to yesterday but a different direction.  This time the train used a cog system to go up and down the very step grades.  We were given a picnic lunch to have on the train. On the photo below you may be able to see the train high up on the hill.  Shows the steep grades on this trip.

 Then we went by bus to Lucerne, the tour ends here on wednesday but we have a few extra days to spend here.

St Moritz 2

Today we traveled on the Benina Valley Express which is the highest train in the world with standard wheels ie not toothed wheels.  It goes over a very high pass and then down to a Swiss/Italian village Poschiavo.

We had lunch there. As it was sunday the village was holding an open air church service in the town square.

Some of the hymn tunes sounded familiar.
Back to St Moritz in the afternoon and free time so we went up a finicular railway & cable car to one of the high peaks(3057m), we saw some marmots from the railway down the mountain.  Then a walk around the lake.  We met an Australian guy who has lived  here in St Moritz for about 22 years.  Works as a guide in summer and a ski instructor in winter.  I think he was glad to meet some fellow aussies

St Moritz

Trip around Innsbruck city centre, some shopping including Swarovski and then out to the country for a ride in a horse drawn wagon around some traditional villages.


  Then we left Austria and entered Switzerland travelling up the Engadin valley to St Moritz.  Beautiful sunny weather again.

Innsbruck

We left Klagefurt and drove through the top of Italy to the Dolomite area and the ski resorts around Cortina.  Hard to describe the scenery, all day we see fantastic mountain scenery.  The Dolomites are different to the other areas of the Alps.



Then back into Austria and down the Brenner pass into Innsbruck.  Tonight we had a Tyrolean evening with traditional entertainment featuring dancers in national costumes & yodelling.