Today we drove from Tarvision to Lake Fusine in the far north east of Italy. There were 2 lakes there that were very beautiful with the mountains and pine forest in the background. We walked around the lakes, saw some fish in one of them and enjoyed a walk in the much cooler climate. From here we drove and crossed the border into Slovenia for 10mins then another border crossing (both unmanned) into Austria. After my first German speaking experience obtaining our toll sticker for the car we ventured further into Austria. We then went to Worthersee, which had a very large lake, followed by a drive to Pyramidenkogel is an 851-metre (2,792 ft) high mountain in Carinthia. We climbed a 67.36m high tower with an amazing view of the Worthersee lake and surrounding area. After lunch DB had a nasty fall (kamikaze roll and all) down a gutter and has hurt his ankle. Amazing how he can walk forever in the bush and is as nimble as a goat, misjudged the gutter and hurt quite badly. Almost took me out as well as he rolled directly under my feet. We hope he will be ok to walk tomorrow. We then went to Maria Worth a little ghost town with an interesting church on the waterfront. Very pretty. We struggled with the internet and weren’t quite sure how we were going to book tonights accommodation without it when none of the hotels displayed vacancy signs. Luckily technology prevailed and we mad our booking at about 5.45pm. It was going to be a very cold night in the car otherwise as temperature dropping to 5° overnight with the chance of snow in the mountains. Our hotelier recommended a traditional Austrian restaurant and suggested meal which we enjoyed – Backhendl mit kartoffelsalat und Kernol (1/4 or ½ chicken snitzel with potato salad and black pumpkin oil) followed by crepe with chocolate sauce and ice cream (a traditional dessert).

Venice. What an amazing place. We spent the day walking the streets, looking in the amazing shop fronts, saying prayers in churches, looking at amazing facades of buildings, travelled on ferries and a gondola. It was a very enjoyable day. Our first outing was a gondola ride with a 7^th generation gondolier. He was quite young but had been doing it for 9 years. We travelled through many of the narrow inner city back street canals, under many low bridges which required balancing the gondola on an angle to get through. One bridge was little more than 1 metre above the water level. We kissed under the Bridge of Sighs (Apparently a tradition), saw the Rialto bridge, a prison and one of the oldest buildings. There are over 400 gondolas in Venice. Cost 80 Euro for 40mins during the day, 100 after 7pm. We then headed to San Marco Square and saw the Cathedral, Doges Palace. These were amazing and crowded. We then went from one side of Venice to the other and back around the perimeter looking at everything along the way. The smog/mist made the background of all the photos a bit dull, apparently the fog is always around this time of year. At the end of a long day of walking we hopped on the autostrade for a couple of hours, heading northeast towards Austria which is to be our next destination. The mountains were amazing as we got close to the Italy/Slovenia/Austria borders but were misted over so not very clear, but there all the same. We stopped for the last night in Italy at a town called Tarvisio.

The day arrived with beautiful sunshine in Levanto, Cinque Terre for our departure. We went for a quick trip to the beach but decided against a swim as the morning was a little fresh and time was getting away. In hindsight we should have had one as we got caught up in a fun run and sat stationary just outside the beach carpark for about 25mins. Oh well. We watched runners of all speeds and abilities head towards the finish line. Off to Venice we go. A long 450km, 4 hour drive along the autostrade ahead of us. The countryside was beautiful as we drove from the Cinque Terre. Unfortunately the ocean still not the colour we know it can be. DB is doing so well with the driving and it is amazing how quickly the km’s tick over when you travel at 130kmh. Sometimes cars still go past us like we are standing still. The trains also go past us like lightning. We arrive in Venice at about 3.30pm after a truckies lunch on the freeway. We get ourselves packed into two day backpacks and make our way to the ferry stop. We parked thecar at Tronchetto car park (4000 spaces for Venice tourists). Everything we do everyday takes time to learn, on your 2^nd trip to Europe things would be so much easier. DB embraces all these new things with excitement and I get nervous and a bit anxious, but excited all the same. We bought 24hr ferry ticket which you can use throughout Venice, hop on hop off style and boarded the ferry to our hotel which was right near the main San Marco Piazza. Venice is really cool. The trip on the ferry was great. Once we landed on Venice we had a very short walk to our hotel that was right in the centre of town. It was a very nice hotel. After a little rest for DB as the driving is very draining we headed out for dinner. We enjoyed another lovely meal thanks to tripadvisor, starting with a shared seafood tasting plate – calamari, fish, anchovies (which I didn’t think I liked, but was wrong), cuttlefish, octopus (which was the best). Then DB fish lasagne (nicest meal yet) and me spaghetti with crab (also very nice) plus dessert. Oh I am sure hard training and dieting is on the agenda on my return. We then headed out for a night walk/tour. We walked straight to San Marco Piazza to see the Doges Palace in San Marco Square, San Marco Cathedral and Baptistry. This looked fantastic under lights. There were a couple 5 piece orchestras playing in the plaza and we listened to a few songs from the Sound of Music. This was a good warm up for DB as we might take a Sound of Music Tour in Austria. We then took two ferry rides on the Grande Canal that were really enjoyable. Exhausted again we headed back to our hotel via the gelato shop. Thank goodness for small sizes otherwise I would have outgrown all my clothes.

Hi everyone. I have fixed the photos on Florence Day 2 for anyone that wants to go back and have a look. Just refresh the browser on that page.

Today we had a late start just resting in the morning. Main tourist destinations were to head south, recommendation from the B&B owner was the walks to the North were nicer and less crowded, so guess which way we headed. The Broadbent road less travelled option. We headed out at lunch time and started our first walk which was from Levanto to Framura via the tunnel to Bonassola. We had lunch at a café and watched the cocktail party of an Italian wedding. There would have been at least 14 children from babies to 12yrs amongst the guests, all in suits and very fancy frocks. They were quite gorgeous. The brides dress was very fancy but similar to the old fashioned tiered toilet roll holder of the 70s. They had a very fancy convertible for their wedding car and when they left everyone followed them and they did a loop of he town with everyone blasting their car horns for the whole lap. Very very noisy. We then walked a cliff top coastal bushwalk to Framura, which was very beautiful and then caught the train back to Levanto. It was now 5pm and we had walked for about 2 hours. Decision time – 1. swim and rest before dinner or 2. walk from Levanto to Monterosso and have dinner there. Walk time to Monterosso approx 2.5hrs. What will we do? After a gelato to help us decide we headed off to Monterosso. This was apparently the best walk in the area so DB read last night. It was a very beautiful walk along the coast, on the cliffs and in the bush again. One of our favourite past times. Once again a great walk but turned into a Broadbent sunset tour and then later a night tour as it had been dark for about 20mins by the time we reached Monterosso. Again the torch was required for the last stage of the 300m descent. By this stage it was after 7pm and we looked for a restaurant for dinner. After last night’s success we were hoping to manage it again. Dressed in our not so fancy hiking shorts again and sweaty from 6 hours walking today, we found a restaurant which turned out to be a bit too fancy for our attire. We only realised this after we were seated and the guests kept arriving. Oh well, our shorts and boots were hidden under the table, DB had put on his jacket and I had put on a scarf to help jazz up our not so glam outfits. The service, food and experience was lovely. Another successful seafood dinner in a lovely seaside town. A little more expensive than we would have liked but all good to me. We missed our train home by 10mins tonight so had to have another gelato to help fill in the 40min wait even though we had just had the most amazing dessert with our meal. We finally got home about 10.15pm in time to research our next destination tomorrow and book some accommodation. Venice here we come.

Woke to an overcast potentially rainy day, so we started out to try to find tourist bureau in Levanto. This took us about 1 hour walking around the small town. Virtually round in circles. You would be following the signs and they just stop and the Info centre was nowhere to be found. We did this a couple of times, even with google maps. Once we eventually found it, we were told the tracks we may have walked were closed due to a landslide and the recent weather. Hopefully they will be open for us tomorrow. So we decided to just have a quiet one, or so I thought. We did a walk in the morning from Levanto to Bonassola up the mountain and back down which took about 1hr 15 then back via an old train tunnel which was now walk/cycleway which took about 30mins. There was surf at Levanto today but because of the rain it was uite dirty and messy. At Bonassola it was a lot cleaner but there was a severe shore dump. We had a lovely pannini and focaccia for lunch at Bonerola. Sometimes the most unsuspecting places sell the best food. Simple but very nice and fresh. We then thought we would catch the train from Levanto to the end of the 5 terre walk at Riomaggiore and then maybe do a short walk there or catch the train back to the hotel and do one there. When we got there we had a walk around the town and our daily gelato, the best value for money since we have been in Italy. Rather than the short walk we decided on a hike up the mountain was to be about 2.5hrs up and then 2 hrs back down said the signs. Well we started out on this walk about 4pm and hiked up stairs, up rocky paths and slippery slopes and very steep slippery trails to about 740m. The view on the way up was amazing but by the time we made it to the top it was misty and visibility was very poor. We thought we were walking up to a town called Sella La Croce but it turned out to just be a crossroad, that we reached then walked across at that level for .5km and then headed down again. The hike down was very slippery and steep and very slow going. DB and I both had a couple of slides but luckily not in the spots of sheer cliffs. Overall the walk took us just under 3 hours. Not bad for an easy day. We arrived in the town of Manarola just in time for dinner. We were both sweaty and tired but decided on dinner here before catching the train back to Levanto. A fantastic decision. We had a meaal on par with our first night in Italy at Livorno. Amazing food. Being a seaside town we both went for seafood. Starting with a seafood antipasta plate we shared as an entrée, the DB has Seafood Spaghetti and I had Fettucini with Pistachio, squid and mussels. Then dessert was Chocolate soufflé and Red velvet cheesecake. We finished our dinner at 8.25 and the train was due at 8.32 so decided to make a run for it as the next one wasn’t until 9.30pm. So DB made his way to station to get tickets and Ipaid the bill. I ran all the way and we mad it by about 1 minute but was great to be on our way home at 8.30. We arrived home about 9pm. So much for an easy day, instead I think we wore our legs out for tomorrow’s big walk. Hopefully we survive the 5 terre walk tomorrow.

Time to head to the bush and coast again. We leave Florence and drive to Pisa. The drive was a little hectic to the freeway road and then quite easy. We were happy to jag a parking spot a 5 minute walk from the Leaning Tower of Pisa which was really good. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a freestanding bell tower and looks

is pretty amazing. The tower started to lean during construction at the 3^rd level because the foundation was built on soft ground that had difficulty supporting the weight. The lean became worse as construction continued for several decades 5.5° tilt. Between 1990 and 2001 it was stabilised and the lean was partially fixed. Now it only tilts 5°. We climbed over 200 stairs to the top (cost 18 euro each, too expensive for DB as we had climbed both the Bell Tower, the Duomo and had access to the Baptistry, the cathedral and the crypt for 11 euro yesterday). Today was 18 for Tower and Cathedral + 5 for Baptistry and 5 for Museum. So quite expensive compared to the Duomo. Anyway, when in Pisa you climb the leaning tower so we did. And lean you do, even though it is only 5° you definitely tilt to the centre around one side and to the outer the other as you climb the spiral staircase around the outside of the internal walls. The view at the top of the tower towards the cathedral was really good. We also went in the cathedral which again was quite awesome. The paintings were really big and very good. Maybe even better than a lot we saw yesterday. We then had a nice lunch in a small café and then drove to Cinque Terre to our B&B in the mountains overlooking the ocean.

The day arrived with rainy weather and the forecast for Cinque Terre over the next few days was 90% precipitation, so we revised plans again and decided to stay in Florence another day instead of only till lunch time then heading to Pisa then Cinque Terre. So after breakfast we headed off to the city again. We visited the crypt under the Duomo, which was quite interesting showing different levels of flooring, some crypts and a bit of information about the construction phases of The Duomo. After this we lined up for our tickets to The Uffizi Gallery. This was an exercise, we had an appointment time to pick up our tickets which was 11.15 you cannot pick up your tickets anymore than 10mins before your time slot, then after this queue we had to jpin another queue to go into the gallery. This was about a 20min wait there. The appointment times definitely help the waiting times but meant you were on a schedule that isn’t good for us. Anyway we did it, on time. Surprise surprise. We spent the next 3 or so hours in the gallery and saw paintings and sculptures by the likes of Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli and Michelangelo. There were some fantastic paintings there and some of the looked so real and the expressions were amazing. Even within the one painting you could see some parts that were more detailed than others. Some you could just feel the life in the person. The period of art was all based on religious themes and most of the artworks were very dark, but all in all an interesting morning. We then went to the Gallileo Museum which was really interesting especially for DB. I was a bit drained and unable to focus on anything that required too much thought so had a little rest outside whilst David explored the rest of the museum. After this we headed to Piazzale Michelangelo which was a park area above the city up many many stairs where we went to another cathedral, had dinner and waited for the sunset. The view of the city was amazing and once dark the city looked fantastic under lights. This was a fitting end to our time in Florence, which for a city was really good.

Last night we stayed up very late to try and organise tickets for Museum etc today without success. The first time our impromptu travel has caused a problem. All tickets for Uffizi Museum sold out for today. Plans were revised. Lucky the concrete doesn’t have time to set on them as they had only just been made. So today we walked in to Florence from our hotel, only 20 mins. Good location, nice feel to hotel. Florence also has a nice feel to it, we think it may be because the main part of the city has had all its streets closed to the city. We walked over the old bridge to the city which is lined with gold/jewellery shops on both sides and then towards Uffizi Museum to check what we had to do for tomorrow as the hotel were able to get us tickets for tomorrow and we had decided against a tour. We then went to the Piazza della Signora where we saw a replica of Michaelangelo’s statue of David. There were also many other sculptures there. We then walked to Duomo Cathedral (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore). The basilica is one of Italy’s largest churches, and until development of new structural materials in the modern era, the dome was the largest in the world. The building took 123 years to build and at this final stage they still didn’t know how they were going to construct the dome. In the end Brunelleschi came up with the idea to construct 2 domes. One inside the other which you walk between when climbing to the top. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed. For a church in Italy this was very large but the inside was nowhere near as ornate (No gold and vibrant paintings and adornments on the altar) as some we had been in but the outside was amazing, to start with all you see is a building painted very subtle tones of white, red and green, on closer inspection it is ornate and of amazing detail not just paint. It is very impressive. The paintings and sculptures inside were still large and amazing but it was more sombre inside the church, except for the painting that covered the entire dome. This was amazing, the perspective was also amazing. We then walked to the top of the Bell Tower (416 steps) which was a struggle for many. As usual our fitness made it an easy walk up. The views of the Duomo and across Florence were fantastic. We then climbed the stairs of the Duomo and saw the dome painting from just below it rather than from the ground. It was amazing and depicted a scene from hell on the base the normal people going up to the the angels then kings. When we reached the top the views were equally as good as from the bell tower but without the Duomo in the photos. After this DB headed home for a nap and I headed to the hairdresser for some essential pampering, deciding it was easier to just get my hair down properly than fight with it myself. A good decision although it was really weird sitting there not hearing all different conversations. I was lucky the lady next to me spoke English and was able to tell the guy how I wanted my hair dried. I had managed to make the appointment that morning by showing what needed to be done rather than by speaking and the guy having his hair cut translated for me to find out a cost. Only 40 euro for colour and blow dry. After this I went back to get David and we headed back out for dinner. After a really nice dinner Wild Boar & Ravioli for DB and prawn pasta for me, followed by Apple crumble and cheesecake we did a night tour of the city. Seeing some things we had seen during the day already (the Duomo, Piazza della Signora, Replica statue of David, Uffizi Gallery) and some new ones – an old prison, Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza Della Republicca, Basilica San Di Lorenza. We even managed a concert (Chiesa di San Firenze e San Fillipo Neri) in one of the churches. This was really amazing, the organ music was incredible and the singing (opera) was also fantastic. We had the worst and most expensive gelato yet. Then headed home.

Another huge day. We drove to Positano hoping to get parking to then catch a bus to Nocelle to start our walk. Unfortunately Monday was no better han Sunday for parking in Positano. Cars parked in impossible places for a few kilometres either side of the town. So we had to go with Plan 2. Drive to Nocelle and not walk to Positano. Oh well, so this is what we did. Road was very very narrow, almost like a one way street but was two way. A couple of tricky passes and we made it to the top. We were lucky to find parking in the car park at the start of the walk for only 3 euro for the day. We then headed on our way. Our walk today was along the Amalfi Coastline via a cliff path called “Pathway of the Gods”. This path went from Nocelle which is inland from Positano to Bomerano which is inland of Praiano. An amazingly scenic walk very high above the roads which are very high above the ocean. The drop in many instances was very sheer and not good for anyone afraid of heights. We walked there and back in about 4.5 hours. Stopping to chat and take many photos along the way. Spoke to a couple from Melbourne, German born Americans and another couple of Germans. We had interesting conversations with very good English. The German American lady was 70 years old and was doing amazing as there were a few bits on the track which were quite rocky and steep. We had a lovely day in the bush that finished at about 3.30pm with a snack of home made bruschetta with mozzarella and a diet coke which came in a pink can from the kiosk. The tomatoes and cheese on the bruschetta was so fresh and tasty. We got back to the car just as the bus was leaving the car park and raced to go behind it so it could pave the way down the narrow windy streets. A good idea as you will see in some of the photos. The buses turning circle in the car park was minimal and handled really well by the driver. We then drove from Positana to Florence on the motorway. It took 6 hours to travel 560km. The first bit travelling at about 30-50kmh, then the last 5 hours at very fast speeds. DB was fantastic, safe and well driven. Booked our hotel on the fly as we drove and arrived there at 10.30pm. A very long day. Now to plan tomorrow.