Ness gives the French the what for!

In what is becoming a trend for this blog, we must again apologise for the large delay in posting, but we've had no access to the net for a week or so. Good news is we arrived safely back in London after a great tour of Europe. Since we last posted we've both been sick pretty much the whole time, but hey, we're in New York now, so time to harden up.

So what did we get up to while gallavanting around the home stretch in Europe?


We arrived in Florence and had a pretty nice dinner at a restaurant with naked pictures on the wall. We've come to the conclusion they're far more liberated in Europe than most other places, and eating with that sort of thing in your face is certainly an experience, but when in Rome... (or Florence). Ness got offered a nice meat sauce - pork, chicken and beef - despite playing the vegetarian card, they just don't seem to get it.

Next day we did the sites of Florence, which was our favourite city in Italy. We started with a look at a leather factory which was a bit dull. Ness also bought a 'puzzle ring' and then we did a walking tour of the main sites. We checked out the main city square, which is beautiful, and the gallery that has the Statue of David, which puts all other statues and sculptures we've ever seen to shame. We also saw the Duomo Church, Santa Croce Square, and a few other bits and pieces.

In the evening we had a great dinner on the top of one of the highest points in Florence, and went to some dodgy nightclub.


Next up was Lucerne, which was nice but a bit of a speed hump on the trip. In two days there we checked out the Lion Monument, the Chapel Bridge, had chocolate and cheese fondue (YUM) and generally chilled, because everything was closed on the Sunday. Not before we both bought ourselves the obligatory Swiss knives and chocolate. Highlight here was the trip to the top of Mt Pilatus by cable car. The view from 7,000 feet is pretty breathtaking, though the rickety wooden barriers were interesting.


Spent nearly a whole day driving to Paris, arriving at around 4pm. Paris in one word is stunning. On the night we arrived we did the express Lourve tour, because it was closed on our next day. We had about 2 hours in the place, and it's nowhere near enough, you could easily spend a month. Saw Mona, Venus, Winged Victory, the Code of Hammurabi and Napoleon's Apartments among other things, and Ness saw her two fave paintings. We then checked out the Eiffel Tower by night, and did a bus tour of the city, including a couple of laps of the very interesting 8 lane roundabout near the Champs - seeing 2 accidents in the process.

On arrival at the hotel for a late dinner, Ness proceeded to decorate the floor of the reception with the product of a bumpy bus ride. The hotel staff took it like troopers though, and disproved the theory that French people are rude. The hotel we stayed at was actually damn nice.

Next day we checked out the Eiffel Tower from level 2, since the top was closed for maintanance. While the Tower is more impressive at night, the view is amazing. Also visited Hotel des Invalides, which holds Napoleon's Tomb and a major French military museum - though Steve was disappointed he couldn't find the surrender flag wing. Checked out the Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame and did some shopping down the Champs de Elysees. Overall, Paris rocked. A special shout out to the drivers, who are rivalled only by Italians for their craziness. The creativity of their parking is something to see.

Arrived in London the next day, after spending 3 hours on the Chanel Ferry due to fog. Re-packed and went to bed. Got up at 6 the next day for a way too early flight to JFK in New York. British Airways food (and in general) kicks the crap out of Qantas. On arrival, we heard to our horror that a plane had crashed into the Hudson River... thankfully not ours, but not so good to know it's the airline we're flying on in a few days to Washington. Hopefully there's no geese in the area... Drive to the hotel in the shuttle was also pretty amusing, and driving in New York is definately an art, liberal use of horn required. Pretty much unpacked and went to bed knackered.

Today was our first full day in NYC, and we got our mileage out of it. In a quick summary, we checked out Trump Tower, the Public Library, Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Plaza, the Chrysler Building, the UN Building, Times Square, ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, St Patrick's Cathedral and the Radio City Music Hall. We also squeezed in a couple of hours of shopping down 5th Avenue, which even Steve enjoyed. The Abercrombie and Fitch store is very nice, and Steve was talked into buying a very nice hoodie by Ness. While Vanessa raided Elizabeth Arden for some goodies. All in all though, a bit out of our price range.

Looking ahead, we've got another 5 nights or so here, including the NHL, NBA and the Chicago theatre show. We've also got similarly punishing days planned, trying to fit in as much as we can while still finding some time to relax. We walked about 7 kilometres today, and I doubt we'll notch up any less in the days to come.

That's it for now, we'll try to post more, but its net dependent.