Time to say goodbye to Germany and Hello to Netherlands. We have about a 400km drive to Maastricht on those fabulous German Autobahns.  We head around to Erica and Rudi’s to say our farewells, another sad moment as we have had a lot of fun together and they have been so good to us  and of course Rudi had prepared a picnic basket for us.  We are going to miss his cooking but it may give me a chance to start getting my weight back in order.  The drive goes well but we do lose about 40 minutes in a traffic hold up.  You can be traveling along at 130 plus and cars are going past you like you are standing still.  The border is just a welcome sign and suddenly we are in Maastricht with our fuel light flashing at us.  I had mistakenly thought diesel would be cheaper in Holland as it is a huge oil producer but I was wrong.  We were staying at Mark Browne’s daughter’s appartment, unfortunately Katarina & Pascal were away on holiday in Spain so we had the place to ourselves.  It was a beautiful appartment on the 6th floor (with 2 lifts).  There were no adjacent buildings and they had no curtains, the sun was just streaming in, it was hot.  We settled in and went out for a pizza at a local spot, it was yummy.  We then headed into town for a quick recon. Town was stinking hot but full of life.  We walked one street before calling it a night.

 Thursday – With nobody around we had no reason at all to get up early so we didn’t even though the sun was streaming into the bedroom.  I think it was after ten before we surfaced.  Margaret put a load of washing into the machine and we sat around,  didn’t even write my blog, this is what retirement is supposed to be like.  I could get to enjoy this very quickly. 

It must have been well after 12 before we decided to walk into town, an interesting hour as there was no direct route in but our compass was pretty good and we decided we had picked the quickest route, coming home took 35minutes. We had a relaxed long lunch at a cafe beside the river Maas watching the cyclists and the boats on the river.  

Watching the cyclists is so interesting, they come in all shapes and sizes and on all sorts of bikes, most of which look really old but in reality many are reasonably new and just old style. You see relatively few Mountain Bikes as we know them. Lots of girls on bikes and dubbing as we used to when we were kids. As we sit there a section of the bridge raises about six feet to let a barge through. We stroll around the old city stopping often, wander into a wine and food festival that is on at the moment. We get the feeling we are a little under dressed. There doesn’t appear to be much going on but a lot of corporate type people standing around drinking in big groups giving us the stare. We don’t stay long and wander off to find some tea. We pick a pub on a main corner where we find a table outside where we can people watch. There was so much activity going on I could have stayed there hours. There were lots of groups of young people moving around (mostly on bikes), each group had matching shirts like it was some university capping event or similar. Walked back to the apartment picking up some cold drinks on the way. 

Saturday and as we don’t need to catch the bus until 1 o’clock in Helibonn there is no rush.  Erica is coming with us.  It’s about 300k to Munich and takes close to 5 hours in the bus as we had a few stops along the way including Stuggart airport.  We arrive at the bus station about 6pm and head over to the rail system to catch the underground into the city centre and then on to another line out to our hotel which is a five minute walk from the station.  It is a bit on the cooler side and out comes the brolly for the bit of rain that is around.  We had left a lovely warm day behind in Lauffen.  We check in, dump our bags and head back into the city centre to meet Sabrina and head for a 6th floor restaurant called the Glockenspiel. Same as the Glockenspiel in Stratford.  The restaurant is named after the Glockenspiel on the Town Hall which we will come across a few times while we are in the city.  Margaret has a Risoto and me a schnitzel which we both enjoyed before heading back to the hotel.

Sunday – A nice big breakfast at the hotel and we are back on the underground to the central station where we purchase a 24 hour ticket for the hip on hop off bus.  Not the big red one this time but their opposition.  We had a live voice talking in German and English but not always the easiest to hear or understand.  We are on the extended loop and head out to the Olympic park. Low and behold just across the road is the BMW museum which we head over to explore.  I learn that BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke, or for you non German speakers Bavarian Motor Works.  Begining life making aircraft engines before some of the staff got interested in Motorbikes in around 1917.  They now own brands such as Mini, Rolls Royce and Rover.  Another very interesting journey through the last century.

Back on the bus and back into the city to catch a train out to the airport.  Sabrina was finishing work at the Hilton Hotel at 4:30 and was going to show us around her kitchen.  A huge operation it was over two floors.  There was a section we couldn’t go into because of security where they made meals for special clients on private aircraft.  Hush hush.  Back into the city where it was starting to get dark.  We headed to an old traditional Barverian Restaurant which had been going since the 1700’s called Augustine,  Huge place, fantastic architecture, great beer, good meal.  I had a steak something or other.

Monday – Up a bit earlier as we wanted to get on the bus before our 24 hours had expired.  Sabrina had Monday off and was spending the day with us.  She met us for breakfast at the hotel.  We did the City tour this time.  It was a much better trip, you could actually hear and understand the tour guide.  Also got a much better appreciation of the city.  We did the full loop then headed to the market for a look around and a beer before heading back out to the English Garden and the Chineese Tower.  The park is apparently bigger then Central Park in New York.  The park was quite impressive really and as it was a hot day there were hundreds of people out and about.  We had lunch by the tower and a litre handle of beer.  We then hailed a couple of bike rickshaw thingies to take us to see some surfers we had seen from our bus tour.  It was a small river which went through the park and somehow it was producing this wave across it.  People were surfing backwards and forwards across it.  One at a time as soon as that person fell off the next would jump in.  Very impressive and fun to watch.  We spent a bit of time there before hopping on a bus back into the city and then strolling the city till we ended up at Sabrina’s flat.  A nice compact little place up six flights of stairs.  Interesting, apparently in Germany the norm is to bring your own kitchen when you move into a flat.  Good old Ikea.  We had dinner at a local Barverian Restaurant and said all our goodbyes to Sabrina.  It was really sad as she had been a wonderful host(wth her mum & dad)  to us for the two weeks plus we have been in Germany.

Tuesday is back to Luffen day.  Bus goes at 1:50 so we spent the morning again wandering around the city, watching the Glockenspiel operate, relaxing in the market before making our way to the Bus station.  Munich had been another wonderful experience.  The bus ride was interesting as well.  We had been going for about an hour and a quarter when the bus pulls into a service area and says everybody out, half hour rest here.  We had the front seats right up behind the driver and at one spot on the Autobahn this car in front was travelling along at just below the 100 in the middle of three lanes.  The bus was not allowed in the fast lane or to undertake the car who just refused to pull over.  He sat right on his bumper blasting his horn but the driver refused to budge so he went into the fast lane.  The car then sped up.  Thing were a bit tichy for a bit.  We got into Helibonn at 7pm and Rudi was waiting to take us home to another of his home cooked meals.  It was like the last supper.

Wednesday, another lazy day.  It is Sabina’s last day with us as she is heading back to Munich tonight, back to work tomorrow although she is encouraging us to head over to Munich for a couple of days before we head up to Holland. We spend the day relaxing around Lauffen.  Had this fantastic icecream at the local parlour, just the sort of place we need for Wellington’s hot days.

Sabrina decided she was going to leave in the morning (3am) and go straight to work.

Thursday I needed to go to the bank so we headed into Heilbronn after another big lunch from Rudi, yummy pork cutlets, that guy just keeps cooking and cooking and not little meals either.  Last night we had these really nice steaks. We went and had a look at the shop where Erica used to work and where Jens still works, a super shop of outdoor camping and caravans and stuff, Hetzog in kirchheim. We then drove to Ludwigsburg  to look at an Ikea shop.  Well this was something else again, the size of it was unbelievable, we are talking acres and an even bigger car park which in the weekend is totally packed apparently.

Friday and we are off to Stuggart to visit the Porsche and Mercedes museums.  They were both pretty fantastic places with so much to see.  Porsche was all about the cars where as so was Mercedes but they interwove the story with what was happening around them,  Obviously Stuggart and the surrounding area played a very important part in the development of the petrol (and diesel for that matter) engine and the automotive industry.  It was all very interesting and took the whole day.  We ate dinner at the Stuttgart Football Club where according to Margaret they had decent sized wine glasses.

A big day, home about 9:30, tomorrow we are off to Munich.
Ferdinardo Porsche’s first car design.  Interesting that his early interest was about electric motors.

I must apologise about the lack of photos.  I spent hours trying but have not been able to upload them.  I am blaming the Internet connections I have.  Being over here really makes you appreciate what we have at home.

Monday is a relaxing day and we don’t go too far from home.  A wander around the outside of the Lauffen Castle and then some time at the park with Luis, climbing on things, kicking a football and lazing on the comfortable lounge seats reading filled out the afternoon.  Rudi was working today as it was the last night for the Restaurant which was closing for a two week break but he had still managed to prepare us a big meal.  It seems quite common for things to close down here at this time of year for company holidays.  We had planned to tour the Audi factory which is just down the road but found it was closed.

Tuesday and we are off to the Black Forrest. Rudi, Sabrina, Jens, Margaret and I in the VW Tiguan. It is a long drive as we keep away from the Autobahn taking the scenic route.  A bit of fun as the GPS kept wanting us to go on the Autobahn.  We stopped at Freudenstadt for refreshments.  Half the kids in the town were playing in this fountain which was the size of a small football field with jets of water all over it.  The water played to its own tune but kids and some adults had a lot of fun redirecting or stopping the jets.  Great substitute for a town swimming pool.

We carry on driving down the valley on narrow windy roads heading for Vogtsbauernhof, a Black Forrest open air museum.  We have a picnic that Rudi had prepared under the trees before heading in.  It gave a real feel for the Forrest people and the hardships they endured.  I wonder if in a coule of hundred years time people will wonder about the hardships we endure.  It had real examples of their life with houses they shared with their animals, the saw mills, the wheat and hemp grinding,  the store rooms and much more. Resin extraction, glass and tile making, the floating of logs down the rivers, cuckoo clocks.  It was a very interesting several hours and nearly 6 o’clock before we came out.

Our trip home was via mountain roads  over a couple of ranges.  We stopped for dinner in Mummelsee on top of one of the ranges which was a very scenic spot with its own lake.  After dinner we coasted down to Baden Baden as we drove out in the dark we could see Strasbourg across the border in France.  At Baden Baden we hopped on the Autobahn and headed home arriving around 11:30, a very enjoyable day and a big day of driving for Sabrina.

Friday morning is a sleep in but we have to be down for breakfast by nine if we want any.  We decide we do.  The breakfast here dosen’t do bacon and eggs but it is very nice and a large selection of cold foods.  After breakfast we do a little tidying before heading off to Sabrina’s.  Not a lot planned, Margaret wants a haircut and Sabrina’s Oma comes home from hospital after a broken leg.  She is now in a new home where 8 older people have their own room and help each other.  They have a person to help them and a nurse on call. It looks a really sensible set-up.  Rudi had prepared a Vesper for lunch, a selection of cold foods.  As usual it is exceptionally good.  Sabrina, Margaret & I head into Heilbronn to check out where Sabrina began her career as a Pastry Cook.  Back home to where Rudi has cooked a huge pasta meal.  He makes the pasta from scratch, which he also makes for Kristian’s  restaurant  every day.  You can’t get this guy out of the kitchen, but that’s not a bad thing.

Saturday we wake up to a beautiful warm summers day which had been missing since we set off for Hamburg.   Another relaxed morning and we head over to Sabrina’s about eleven.  Sabrina is making a cake for one of her friends birthday and she makes one for us as well.  It looks fantastic and it tastes nearly as good as a Fruit Cake -:).  It is made mostly of cream and chocolate.  We head out to look at some Roman Ruins dating from 2AD.  Not too much left but impressed that they had pipes, hot water and baths.  It was in a beautiful setting above the Neckar River amongst the rows of grape vines.  You could see for miles, villages, rows of grapes toiled paddocks, boats on the river, and a nuclear power plant just up the river.  It was so peaceful.  It was back to the house where Rudi had cooked chicken breasts and steamed rice and chilli sauce, magnificent, and I know I am putting on the weight.

Sunday another beautiful day.  We are off to Heidelberg.  We travel mostly along the route of the river Neckar with Erica, Sabrina & Luis, Kristian’s nearly four year old son.  Probably took us an hour and a half with beautiful scenery and mayby 12 – 15 castles along the route.  There are heaps of cyclists out enjoying the weather, you could easily get lost on just the cycle paths as there are so many.  Heidelberg itself was just overflowing with tourists, aren’t they a pain.  We were going to take the funicular to the castle but the queue for it was long and then a big tourist group went straight to the front so we gave it a miss and went and got an icecream and walked over the fabulous old bridge.  The river was a hive of activity with commercial tours, kayakers, rowers and fiz boats.  Being Sunday almost all the shops were shut, we walked along the pedestrian mall which seemed like at least a couple of Kilometers long, spotted a statue of some guy Bunsen whom I am assuming invented the burner.  It was after 4 before we started heading home with a detour into Bad Wimpfen to look at a tower we had spotted on the way up.  It was in the middle of a very quaint medieval village.  We climbed the tower, met the lady who lived in it and had a magnificent view of the whole area before strolling through the village.  It was then time to head to Sonne, Kristian’s resturant for a Thai Beef salad and vanilla icecream with pumpkin seed oil.  A very nice evening before heading home to our hotel.

Monday morning and we have the alarm set for 7am.  Today we are going with Sabrina and her Mum & Dad by train to Hamburg.  We have to catch a train from Lauffen back to Stuttgutt and then catch the ICE (inter City Express) train to Hamburg.  Around about a 6 hour trip.  Rudi has managed to secure us first class seats by booking early and through a Hamburg tourist promotion.  

We have our own compartment with a table between us.  It’s another great day and the scenery is beautiful.  We start off passing through grape growing areas moving on to fields of I don’t know what but with lots of colours and people working their farms.  I even saw a paddock of sheep which are not that plentiful in Germany.  The only lamb they have would come from New Zealand and that is very rare.  I did note that all the girls had a little nap along the way.  

We arrive in Hamburg around 5:30pm.  Hamburg is the largest port in Germany way up on the North Sea which is noticeable by the drop in temperature.  It is a lot colder than the weather we have been used to at 12 degrees.  We grab two taxis and head the short distance to our hotel, Arcotel Rubin.  We give ourselves 30 minutes and head out to find a nice resturant to eat at, down beside the canals.  This is harder than expected, maybe because it is a Monday night and is quite cool.  We settle for a brewery pub with craft beer and food.  We then head out to Saint Michaelis Church which is to be a common landmark for us in Hamburg.  It is the 10th highest steeple in Germany and we went up to a viewing platform at 109 metres.  We had a magnificent view of the city as we watched it light up.  We headed back to the hotel for a nightcap and suddenly it was after midnight.

Tuesday we met for breakfast at 8:30 and ate a big breakfast which included bacon and eggs, yummy I must be putting on weight, it’s a good job there are no scales around.  We headed out to the waterfront and found a harbour tour.  The weather wasn’t too flash but we were inside.  This was an enormous port with lots of islands, channels and locks and on the river Elbe.  We cruised along beside/under container ships, cruise ships, saw all the different markets, fish, fruit. Went past the theatres where The Lion King and the Das Wunder von Bern were playing.  We had intended to go to the Lion King but we found that tickets were 150 Euro each so decided to give it a miss.  Went down some narrow canals that ran into the city.  A very enjoyable look at the city.  We had  a late lunch before heading back into the central city.  It was Rudi’s birthday to day which we had already celebrated with a glass of champagne on the boat and we were looking for a good resturant on the side of the canals to celebrate further.  Again this was a challenge but we did find one called Ponton.  We did a bit of window shopping where my most exciting shop was one selling the Telsa Car, nearly brought one, Yeah Right.  Back to Ponton for an enjoyable evening on the water.  A nightcap at the hotel and off to bed

Wednesdays started the same way but this time we were off to the Hamburg Museum.  On the way we had a bit of a delay as we managed to leave Rudi on the Underground, when Erika made us hop off the train a couple of stations too early. He had it right and we had to chase him to the right station where we changed trains to St Pauli. The museum was a very intriguing and informative 4 or so hours showing the history of the area.  The beginings as a trading port, the big fire of 1842, the shipping influence and the time of war and the flooding of 1962.  They also had a very large scale model railway (1/32) showing some of the main tracks around Hamburg.  We walked out of there and there was a fairground next door we decided to explore on our way back to the station.  It was the “Dom”, a fun fair that takes place in Hamburg every summer and it ended up taking us another three hours.  We rode the Ferris wheel and saw many people riding crazy scary rides.  There was probably more food stalls than rides and there were hundreds of rides and lots of yummy interesting food.  A tradition of German fairgrounds was Gebrannte Mandeln, almonds coated with caramelised sugar, cinnamon and maybe a few other spices. Very yummy and then we found some chilli ones, even more yummy.  I managed to win a Minion with my sharp eye and a cork gun.  It was back to the hotel for dinner tonight where we were introduced to vanilla ice cream and pumpkin seed oil, an Austrian speciality. 

Thursday morning saw us heading back to Lauffen.  It took us four trains before we arrived in Lauffen shortly before 7pm.  It was home delivered Pizza for tea and an early night.  Holidaying  is very tiring even though we had spent most of the day sitting on trains.

We say goodbye to Genoa and our hosts Mirko and Irina and and are back at our car which we haven’t seen for 5 days.  We are heading to Fiado, a mountain town in Switzerland at about 260 km away.  It is another beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky and everyone one in NZ seems to be wrapped up warmly and hopefully watching the Hurricanes final.  What an awesome result, our first championship win.  I pick up the txts as we are sitting in a service stop over the motorway somewhere near Milan.  Thanks to those keeping me posted.  It was supposed to be another black day on the roads but everything moves along fine except for a couple of the toll payment booths which each cost us 10 minutes or so of time.  We weren’t good at picking the best queue.  We do run unto a jam at or near lake Como and the traffic slows to a crawl to what turns out to be the Swiss border.  We pass through that with hardly a glance from the guard and purchase our sticker to go on the front window allowing us to drive on the motorways.  It is a year pass for 40 Euros even although we are only in Switzerland over two days.

Fiado is in a mountain valley through which the motorway runs.  We are staying at an Airbnb home, a very nice family with 3 young boys (Gianugo & Lilian Altieri and Pietzo, Alessandro & Costantino). Gianugo is Italian, Lilian is Romainian.  We settle in there before heading off to explore.  The town is ultra quiet, we find somewhere to have a drink before wandering down to a lovely waterfall across the river.  The motorway is up above us hardly noticeable as it passes through the valley via tunnels and bridges.  We head back into town looking for a meal, it is about 5.30 only to discover kitchens don’t open until 6.30.  While siting there we notice a gondola which we thought wasn’t working heading up the side of the hill.  We go down to have another look and find it is a self start one.  They have directions in three languages but none of them are English.  Margaret is a beauty and able to decipher enough for us to get it going and we are heading up the side of the mountain.  We end up in a Plateau with big green meadows and a swimming pool and something that looks like a horse training area. We  head back to the resturant for dinner.  Margaret has a risotto and I a beaf schnitzel  .

Sunday morning and we are up bright and early.  We have over 400km to travel.  Gianugo suggest we should go over the mountain road via Saint Gotthard pass.  Even although he had never been on it himself he said every one thought it had the most wonderful views.   We had to forgo a 16km tunnel for the privilege   He was right it was a great road to drive over some cobbled roads.  Watching all the bikes pushing their way up or cruising down.  I thought of Carl and Sandy as I guess they must have climbed up to Saint Gotthard on their journeys on the tandem.  Awesome experience then back on the motorway.  It really was a nice drive through the mountain valleys beside beautiful lakes and people out sailing and quaint villages.  We skirted Lucerne, Zurich and Stuttgart before doing the last section on country roads into Lauffen.  The boarder crossing was a non avent with nobody on duty and no hold ups.  Driving on the Autobahn was an interesting experience.  The GPS gave us no speed limits.  I managed to slip it up to nearly 170km/h before getting told off.  There were people flying past us.  Apparently 130 is considered the maximum, you are allowed to go faster but if anything happens then it is on you and could have drastic implications.

We arrive at Sabrina’s home around 4.30.  Today was the first time we had met Tomtom’s time estimates.  It is good to see Rudi, Erica, Sabrina and Jens again it was 2011 since they had been in New Zealand and we had a lot to catch up on.  We were staying in the Gashenhau Hotel around  the corner from Sabrina’s Mum & Dads house.  After booking in there we had a quick drive around before heading off to Neckarsulm where the Audi’s are made as Erica had to drop something off there.

That night we ate at Sonne, Sabrina’s brother, Kristian’s resturant.  We ate our best meal since leaving home, maybe since along time before leaving home.  It was salad starter and South American Beef and German Pork steaklets main cooked to perfection by Sabrina’s Dad, Rudi (who was the chef) and complemented by the restaurants own Red Curvee. It was a beautiful meal and much reminiscing about times in New Zealand.  Kristian showed us his cellar and says there is a rumour of a tunnel under the river to the castle from there.  He is yet to find it.

A very late night.

.

Really getting into this relaxed village life.  We don’t have anything planned for today and I am reading a Wilber Smith novel, Birds of Prey.  A bit of sitting around on the Poop deck reading.  It is after noon before we head out.  I need to find a ATM machine.   I had spotted a Barclays Bank which was on our list of friendlies but it was not to be.  It refused and said the service I wanted, “Cash” was not available.  We ended up going to our French Bank which happily took care of our needs.

We stopped at a cafe for a Pesto Pasta and a coffee and then a beer.  Sat there reading our books for awhile before walking on through some of the poorer quiet areas of the city before heading back to the waterfront.  Sat under a tree for some more reading near a salt water swimming pool.  It looked like a pool for the better off.  Walked on and had a look at that sleak black yacht we had spotted from the water the day before, what a life for some.

More walking and a Roast Beef salad before returning to our lodgings with a bottle of wine.

Friday –  Our last day in Genoa, again not much planned and a storm promised.  Stephen had sent us pictures and video of the boys sledging and having fun in the snow on the Tataka hills.  There was a lot of it so a good storm must have passed through there.

Well the promised storm came to nought just a few drops of rain that almost dried as they hit the ground.  Went out and strolled around today as well.  Looked at a couple of palaces and a Peggy Guggenheim photo exhibition.  

Went up ascension (funicular) up to a high point and sat in a cool breeze with a couple of beers (Margaret was into the wines)

Without even trying tea cost us 50 Euros tonight.  We shared a Anchovey antipasti, I had a pasta and Margaret had fish & Chips and a caramel cream (like a brûlée).  I had a Beer, Margaret a wine.

Tomorrow we head for Switzerland.

Monday 1 August.  We have been away four weeks.  We hope things are good back home and the things I planted are growing well.  Another nice day in Cannes but we are off to Genoa, 260 odd kilometres away. We chose toll roads again which was probably a good choice when you look at the country we had to cross.  Fantastically beautiful along the side of the Mediterranean  and all the villages blending into the countryside.  We go through thirty or so tunnels,  A really enjoyable drive.  We were meeting our host in Genoa at 3pm at the Piazza de Ferrari and with tolls it wasn’t easy to drop off.  Possibly we could have spent a couple of days driving the local roads, I don’t know? It was not too be.  There was an accident on the motorway heading into Genoa and that wasted an hour for us..  Also had a bit of fun with toll booths, the first one wanted money, up to now they had been giving us tickets and we paid when we came off.  It took coins which we didn’t have or credit card, no notes.  We had brunch at a Service Centre on the motorway across the border in Italy.  Driving into Genoa was really interesting we were running along the shoreline on an overpass and then we are in an interesting underground structure that appeared to be under the old town, then a tunnel before surfacing not far away from our destination.  Suddenly I was needing to change languages griiii now I was doing French Italian and English and not doing a good job of any. But the coffee was the best since leaving home.

We did get to Genoa a little early and found a park and a little cafe near the Piazza where we had another great coffee.  Things are looking good for Italy.

Mirko our Airbnb host arrives on a motor scooter, we have already discovered there are thousands of them in Genoa.  I tell him where I have parked the car and he is immediately concerned.  Apparently we are in a residents only area and I say no problem I have been warching it and no cops have come near it even though there is a police station down the road.  Mirko says no no and points at some cameras.  In actual fact we could be up for tens of camera offences.  It was always difficult to work out what was the legal speed in both England and France so who knows.  It will be what it will be.

So we follow Mirko and drop the car off at a park where it will stay till Saturday.  He is not very happy with our two big suitcases.  He asks if we can make one.  Too difficult we say.  We squeeze it all into his little Fiat and off we go into the pedestrian only zone and drag our cases to Vico della Rosa 4 where there are not so young ladies plying their trade along the street.  We have to carry our cases up 6 levels.  As much as I say I will come back down for the second case Mirko insists he carries one and really struggles.  We do get there though and into our room which is really nice.  I am getting the evil eye from my loved one saying what the hell have you brought me too, no sense of adventure. I must admit there were some very interesting smells along the streets some of which you could never fit even a small car down.

After settling in we head out to get our bearings and a bite to eat. 

Not too late too bed.Tuesday morning and time to relax. A late breakfast and a catch up with the boys and friends on FaceTime while sitting on our little deck on the rooftop.  It is mid day before we depart the house.  We wander aimlessly through the streets of old town, some good smells some horrible, grab some lunch and good coffee at a little pastry place before waiting well over an hour for an open top tourist bus.  After the hour we gave up and headed down to the waterfront where we had more confidence we would find one.  We did, it turns out they knock off for lunch.  We did one loop and decided to get off at The Natural History museum which was the furthest point away from town.  However when they stopped at the Piazza de Farrari and the girl went and got Icecreams we decided to.get out there and walk, stopping along the way for a drink.  We went to a shop in the same chain we had been to the night before.  What had cost us 5 Euros then now cost us 8 Euros.  Flasher street.  By the time we got to the museum it was a bit late to go in and the last bus would be passing shortly so we headed down to the bus stop to catch that back into the centre.  Found a place that had Happy Hour with free Pizza and Chips.  That was tea sorted,  we headed back to our apartment.

Wednesday, another no rush day.  We were enjoying ourselves.  We headed out intending to go to a Science Museum but when we got there it was a Maritime Museum and the entry was more than we wanted to pay.  We gave that a miss and wandered around a Movie Museum which we got into free from our hop on hop off bus ticket.  

It had a small bit of Weta stuff there but really quite disappointing, glad we didn’t have to pay.  We headed to the Aquarium, we got in on the over 65 price of 21 Euros each.  Gee I am starting to sound like a Scrooge but it is not hard to spend money.  It pays not to convert to NZ. The Aquarium is fantastic, pretty special and well worth the money.  They had huge variety of fish from all over the globe.  It was really well laid out.  I hope the photos do it justice.

Coming out of there we came across a queue of people lining up for a boat.  I asked if anyone spoke English and this little old lady said she did.  When I asked where the boat was going (that she was lining up for) she said she didn’t know.  We  found it was a round trip to the next town up the coast so climbed aboard.  The Genoa Port is one fantastically large port.  It has this Kilometers long sea wall protecting it and the airport.  It runs the whole distance between the two towns. Must have been a challenge to build.

It is well after six when we arrive back in Genoa.  We find a place on the wharf and sit down for a beer and a beautiful fish and Chip dinner.  Yummy.

Saturday Morning and it’s time to say goodbye to our Gite and the Slavin’s.  It has been an awesome week and we have enjoyed it very much.  It was fun being with the relies so really sad goodbyes.  Blair is off to Lyon & UK, Sheryn & Callum are off to Grenoble, And Ray is being picked up by cousin Keith and has an eight hour car ride across France to Keith & Kay’s place.  We are off to Cannes. A bit of a hiccup with the Gite as it sounds like there was a misunderstanding about the cost and them wanting 336 Euros more.  136 of that for cleaning linen which sounded a bit steep.

We tell Tomtom Cannes and we have a 300km drive.  We chose tolls this time and shell out 26.70 euros for the pleasure of driving at 130km/h which we did mange to do for a lot of it.  So much for the scare mongering, maybe it did scare all the travelers to change their day.  

Our hotel was the Cannes Garden Hotel which was not overly flash but clean and right in the centre of town, really convenient. We settled in then went for a stroll.  The weather was hot and fine, well into the thirties again.  The place just stunk of money, flash cars and even flasher boats.  You just could not believe the number and the quality.  We walked ocean boulevard out one way to all the flash boats.  The beach was just covered in deck chairs.  All the flash hotels also had a section of the beach.  These were “flash” hotels. From the other side of the road.  

Lots of bikinis some without the bi.  Very hard on the eyes.  We walked back on the other side of the road and it was just bumper to bumper flash cars, especially near the casino.

Huge number of eating places along the road but too rich for us.  We ended up back in town and ate pasta before turning in.  No trouble sleeping as we had air conditioning in our room.

Sunday and we were out of bed late.  It was 11 o’clock before we were out looking for brunch.  We went looking for a place we had seen the night before that was advertising Bacon & eggs but when we found it, it was closed. We ended up back where we had dinner the previous night and they made us ham & cheese Omlete, yummy and not bad coffee.  Haven’t had a decent coffee since I left home.

Did some more strolling, looking into some of the shops, walking to the top of a hill where there was a commanding view in all directions and a big church.  Came back to the room and made an effort to catch up on the blog before heading out for dinner.  We then walked back down the water front for an Icecream and watched life pass us by in all shapes and forms.