Travels

Samedi 29th Septembre: Paris

It was after 7pm when I took this photo, and it’s about 7:30am when I’m uploading it and the sky is just as clear now as it was last night.

Demanche 30th Septembre: Avignon

I wandered into the city … through the gate at Saint Roch (pron. rock) … and came across this laneway, which, as it turns out, is not at all unusual for this amazingly old city.

Lundi 1st Octobre: Avignon, Roussillon & Gordes

Wandering through Avignon early on lundi morning was a delight. The sky was blue, the air was warm, the streets were almost empty. After a tour of the Palace I went to Roussillon.

And then I went to Gordes

Mercredi, 2nd Octobre. Elke had a ‘continental’ breakfast when she was in Australia recently, and asked ‘which continent does this come from?’ Elke is German and the continental breakfast didn’t look like a German one. Well, the continental breakfast in Australia, I’m here to tell you, is quite like a French breakfast … imagine a table set with yoghurts and jams and nutella in little packets and butter and rectangles of cheese wrapped in plastic … and some cereal (coco pops in Paris) and jugs of juice and milk and luckily I knew that chaud lait means hot/warm milk because I almost used that instead of water for my thé (that’s tea in French). While you’re working out which is the hot water, and which cereal you want (when there aren’t any coco pops it’s a harder decision) a basket mysteriously appears on your table. Here’s what mine looked like from yesterday.

Ventimiglia, Italy. Here is the view from my room – two views: one looking south, the other looking west.

I took the next photo while I was on the beach (it was 6:45)  but it’s the same view I have from my balcony.

I can hear the waves lapping the shore as I write this – at 7am (it’s still dark outside).

Today I’m off to Pavia.

Giovedi 4th Ottobre. Pavia.

The University of Pavia is very old!

The Castello Visconteo – it seems to go for miles!

There’s a lot of restoration work going on here, but an amazing museum.

Inside the Castello

From Pavia to Verona. I got to the hotel quite late so only had time for dinner and left my exploration till the next morning.

Venerdi, 5th Ottobre. Verona (at the start of the day).

And just a bit more historic, the Ponte Scaligero, built in the 14th Century,  destroyed in WWII, and rebuilt by 1951.

 

Later that day I arrived in Venice.

And later still I went to Piazza San Marco

 

And I finished the day with a Vivaldi concert! Not a bad day at all!!!