If you are only interested in Mining then don’t bother reading this as the only real mining we have seen in Europe was the Marble mining in Tuscany (Italy) and we couldn’t bring any home so I am not going to discuss it. Except I will say they have made a monumental (note the pun) mess of a very large area. I have been so taken by the widespread use of marble in Europe I did some research on Marble mining in Queensland. I found out that Queensland is a net importer of marble (mostly from Italy) but does export a small amount to China. I was also informed by Judy that we are definitely not buying a marble mine when we get home. Oh well. But she didn’t say anything about granite or other stone. Hmmmmm. Actually we passes through an area in Spain today where there is a deal of silver mined and I would swear we passed a coal mine near Bilbao today.
We are currently in Spain travelling between Barcelona and Madrid. What an amazing contrast Spain is to the rest of Europe.
After the conference we flew to New York. The glitz and glamour of this place is staggering. It just goes on for miles. It is a very big city with Manhatten Island and the surrounding areas (Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, New Jersey and Statton Island) have over 8 Million people in them.
We did a tour of New York on a bus, a guided tour of the World Trade Centre site, two Broadway Musicals – Chicago and Mama Mia (I never realised that Broadway was the name of the street – and they aren’t all on the street Broadway), a dinner cruise, a trip to Niagara Falls and just walked and walked and walked. We were staying about five minutes walk from Times Square (which isn’t square) and we walked to Maddison Square Garden (which isn’t square nor a garden). Niagara Falls is beautiful but not as big as Iguazu. Niagara is very commercialised.
There are thousands of yellow taxis in New York and it can be scary to ride with some of them. They drive fast, beep often and one we were in the other day the driver stopped and abused another driver. That’s New York I suppose. There were many, many more people here than I expected to see. Partly because of the New York Marathon which was run on Sunday and partly because it is just New York.
On our last morning we walked up to Central Park and rode in a carriage behind a horse to get around it. Even then we didn’t see it all. It is an amazing place of surprising beauty and tranquillity in what must be one of the busiest cities in the world.
Our flight from New York to London was the worst we have had (of the 33 we have done). It was a big plane but it was very rough with turbulence all night. The seat belt signs stayed on permanently but they did let people up to go to the toilet. Only problem was that if you did manage to drop off we either hit some worse turbulence or the attendants would wake you up checking to make sure everyone’s seatbelts were done up. We had tail winds of 280km/hr which is probably why so we got their way early and of course being Heathrow we didn’t have a slot to land so did loops around southern England till we did. The landing was also difficult. Winds on the ground were up to 120 km/hr and the pilot had trouble getting it on the runway.
That day we had some spare time so we hopped on the subway into the centre of London. Unlike public transport in Brisbane we didn’t get lost. We did a boat trip on the Thames and saw Westminster, Big Ben, Tower of London, London Bridge, the London Eye, etc. We walked up to Covent Gardens and had a look at the shops and marketplace there. It rained pretty well the whole day. Then again, it was London.
We started our European tour the next day (Friday) with a bus trip to Dover. That was nice but the winds were still blowing 80km/hr so the crossing to France was a bit rough. The captain said the gale force winds had dropped so I suppose that was a bonus. We met the tour bus at Calais in France and headed north. It rained the whole way to Amsterdam so our views of France, Belguim and the Netherlands were limited. Actually the part of Belguim where we passed flooded in the days after we passed and a number of people were killed. That night was spent in Amsterdam.
Saturday morning we had a boat ride in the canals in Amsterdam and some time looking around the town (including the Red-light district) before the bus took us to Cologne. Sunday we had a morning boat ride on the Rhine River where we saw small towns and a number of castles. It was very beautiful. Apart from stopping in a few towns the bus went through Germany and crossed into Switzerland and we stayed in Lucerne, close to the lake. Like most days we leave early and arrive after dark so we don’t see the place we stay in until morning.
We had the whole of Monday in Lucerne. Morning boat ride on Lake Lucerne and afternoon gondola and cable car to the top of Mt Pilatus. Plenty of cloud at the top but we had some magnificent views of the Swiss Alps. It was cold.
Tuesday we drove from Lucerne in rain which soon turned to snow. About half an hour out of Lucerne it was quite heavy and the view of the freshly falling snow on the trees and Chalets was picture-postcard stuff. It was very pretty. We even saw a snow plough working on the road at one point. As we descended to Lugano the snow stopped. We continued to head south with a stop in Verona until we reached Venice. That night we went to the city by bus and then boat for a meal and had a look around at night. This was shortened a bit because of rain. Even at night St Mark’s Basilica is incredible. We did a gondola ride during the morning in the canals. It was beautiful as we had a guy playing a piano accordion & a guy singing on our gondola. Some of the canals are very narrow, & the buildings are just so interesting. We also went into St Mark’s Bascillica where they have all the art work, flooring, etc made out of mosaic tiles. It was so beautiful. We also went to a glass blowing demonstration to watch how they make Venetian glass. The shops where just amazing – full of the most incredible glass & jewellery.
That afternoon we were taken to another small island in Venice – Burano. This is where they make handmade Venetian lace. This was incredible & there were lace things everywhere to buy. Like so many of these arts it is dying as the younger generation won’t put the time into learning it (20+ years) and the returns are just not high enough. We did our bit to help by buying a table runner which we were told took 3 months to complete with four ladies with different skills contributing. That cost us about Aud$570 for 3 months work!!! There were also lots of little canals on this island & the houses & shops were brightly coloured. It was a very quaint little village.
Thursday we travelled from Venice to Rome with a stop in Assissi. Assissi is obviously known because of Francis but his impact on the whole Catholic Church in the early 1200’s is significant. We had a night out in Rome where we had a meal and a bus and walking tour by night. I won’t go into detail of the individual things we saw but the crowds were relatively low as it rained (in fact it poured for a while). Our wet weather gear has had a lot of use!!!
On Friday we had the day in Rome. We started with an 8am entry to the Vatican. Groups can prearrange to get an early entry (the normal opening is 9am). We really enjoyed this. We went through the Vatican museum. Amazing history, not just of the church. The guide kept emphasising that everything we saw has been found since the 1500’s because the French “stole” everything the Vatican owned when the Popes started residing in France (in Avignon). There were actually eight French Popes in a row who resided in Avignon and all the history went with them and was not returned. (I think our guide was Catholic). We then went through the Sistine Chapel. The paintings by Michelangelo on the roof and the end are simply breathtaking. We finished with a tour of St Peter’s Basilica. It is simply amazing (and we only saw a small part of it). Every Pope is buried there and we were only shown maybe half a dozen of the most elaborate mausoleums. The walls and roof are covered with mosaics and sculptures. The only complaint was that we needed much more time. After that we went to the ancient city and walked around various ruins and the Colosseum. Again, it was simply amazing. We stayed around the city for a while after this but we don’t feel like we saw everything despite taking over 200 photos in one day.
On Saturday we travelled to Florence with a stop in Pisa. Tuscany is a beautiful part of Italy and we enjoyed the travel. We went in to see the Square of Miracles and the Leaning Tower. You might be aware that the foundations of the tower were excavated and redone properly in the last 10 years. The lean had reached 12 deg and was accelerating. They straightened it to 5 deg because they need the tourists to keep coming.
We had Sunday in Florence. The weather was foul. It had rained and showered all week but rained pretty well all day on Sunday. Firstly, our local guide didn’t show up. Apparently he had a motorbike accident but was OK. We had a tour of the Uffizzi gallery which was formerly the private collection of the Medici family collected over hundreds of years. It is regarded as one of the best in Italy. It has works by all the big names, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael, etc, with works dating back to the 1100’s. There are over 1,700 “highlights”, each with a story to tell. We only had about 50 explained to us and that started getting a bit boring towards the end but it did give an insight into the way different artists painted. For me the most interesting was a painting by some bloke who was Michelangelo’s teacher. A great work of art by itself but the clear difference in style in parts of it shows that his teacher let the 16 year old Michelangelo do parts of it. It also showed that at 16 he was better than his teacher. We then had a walking tour (delayed from the morning). We saw churches and Palazzo’s, Piazza’s and Loggia’s. Most on the tour agreed that Florence should be seen before Rome as you start to get a little tired and ho hum about what you are seeing.
Monday we travelled from Florence to Cannes (in France). The weather improved and we had a fine afternoon after an appalling morning on the road. It is a beautiful area called Cote d’Azure. We went to a perfume factory during the day. The highlight was a visit to Monaco and Monte Carlo that night. This place smells of money. It is the only place I have seen where the taxi’s are Mercedes. We did a walking tour near the palace. Prince Albert II was in (we think) as the place was crawling with police and flags, etc. We then went to Monte Carlo. My goodness!!! The Grand Casino did not have many people inside but parked outside were two Ferrari’s, two Rolls Royces, BMW’s, Mercs, etc. We paid 10 Euros (about $14) each to go in just to look around. No expense has been spared.
Tuesday we travelled from Cannes to Carcassonne via Avignon. Avignon is another city with old buildings and plenty to see and take photos of. It is again steeped in history. The rain has stopped – hooray.
Wednesday we had the morning in the Medieval city which sits on the hill above the current city. An amazing fortress which has been returned to its original state. In a thousand years it was never taken by force. A really smart design and structure which demonstrates the value of intelligent thought. We travelled from Carcassonne to Barcelona in the afternoon. That night we attended a genuine Flamenco show including costumes, dance, singing and plenty of hand clapping and foot stomping on the floor.
Thursday we had a tour of Barcelona city including Sagrada Familia. This church was started in 1882 and is still 20 years from being completed. It was designed by Gaudi which explains its over-the-top style. As more money is raised from visitors and technology improves, the work towards completion accelerates. It is interesting that the Catholic Church has funded so many ornate Basilicas and churches in Europe but not this one. It is definitely not your everyday church and therein probably lies the answer. I never understood where the description of something being “gaudi” when a little too “out there”. Well now I know because there are Gaudi designs (a Spanish Architect) all through Barcelona and they are definitely all “different”. The Barcelona Cathedral was more “normal” and very ornate. In the afternoon we travelled a very scary road up to Montserrat. This is a Monastery perched on the side of a very rough and rocky mountain. The old church was fascinating and included a statue of a black Mary and black baby Jesus. Not the expected “middle east” black, but a genuine dark black. Nobody understands why it is black but it is one of two known black Madonnas and dates from the 5th century AD.
Friday (today) we have travelled from Barcelona to Madrid which is over 600km. The countryside has changed completely. Spain is hot in summer (the thermometer in the bus says it is 5 deg C outside at present but it gets into the 50’s during summer) and dries with little vegetation. We can see snow on the Pyrenees as we travel. The landscape is dessert and looks like Arizona or a brown Alice Springs. We stopped in Zaragoza (Sargossa) for lunch and again looked through the Basilica el Pilal. Many on the bus seem to be “churched out” but we aren’t. This one was more Baroque style (early 1700’s) and was again exceptionally beautiful.
The tour continues for another week. North Western Europe and Great Britain have frozen over and that is where we are heading. Paris is forecast to have a maximum of -2 deg C when we are there and snow is forecast. As Trevor would say, “Bring on the blizzard”. Looks like that is what might happen before we are finished.
We are currently in Spain travelling between Barcelona and Madrid. What an amazing contrast Spain is to the rest of Europe.
After the conference we flew to New York. The glitz and glamour of this place is staggering. It just goes on for miles. It is a very big city with Manhatten Island and the surrounding areas (Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, New Jersey and Statton Island) have over 8 Million people in them.
We did a tour of New York on a bus, a guided tour of the World Trade Centre site, two Broadway Musicals – Chicago and Mama Mia (I never realised that Broadway was the name of the street – and they aren’t all on the street Broadway), a dinner cruise, a trip to Niagara Falls and just walked and walked and walked. We were staying about five minutes walk from Times Square (which isn’t square) and we walked to Maddison Square Garden (which isn’t square nor a garden). Niagara Falls is beautiful but not as big as Iguazu. Niagara is very commercialised.
There are thousands of yellow taxis in New York and it can be scary to ride with some of them. They drive fast, beep often and one we were in the other day the driver stopped and abused another driver. That’s New York I suppose. There were many, many more people here than I expected to see. Partly because of the New York Marathon which was run on Sunday and partly because it is just New York.
On our last morning we walked up to Central Park and rode in a carriage behind a horse to get around it. Even then we didn’t see it all. It is an amazing place of surprising beauty and tranquillity in what must be one of the busiest cities in the world.
Our flight from New York to London was the worst we have had (of the 33 we have done). It was a big plane but it was very rough with turbulence all night. The seat belt signs stayed on permanently but they did let people up to go to the toilet. Only problem was that if you did manage to drop off we either hit some worse turbulence or the attendants would wake you up checking to make sure everyone’s seatbelts were done up. We had tail winds of 280km/hr which is probably why so we got their way early and of course being Heathrow we didn’t have a slot to land so did loops around southern England till we did. The landing was also difficult. Winds on the ground were up to 120 km/hr and the pilot had trouble getting it on the runway.
That day we had some spare time so we hopped on the subway into the centre of London. Unlike public transport in Brisbane we didn’t get lost. We did a boat trip on the Thames and saw Westminster, Big Ben, Tower of London, London Bridge, the London Eye, etc. We walked up to Covent Gardens and had a look at the shops and marketplace there. It rained pretty well the whole day. Then again, it was London.
We started our European tour the next day (Friday) with a bus trip to Dover. That was nice but the winds were still blowing 80km/hr so the crossing to France was a bit rough. The captain said the gale force winds had dropped so I suppose that was a bonus. We met the tour bus at Calais in France and headed north. It rained the whole way to Amsterdam so our views of France, Belguim and the Netherlands were limited. Actually the part of Belguim where we passed flooded in the days after we passed and a number of people were killed. That night was spent in Amsterdam.
Saturday morning we had a boat ride in the canals in Amsterdam and some time looking around the town (including the Red-light district) before the bus took us to Cologne. Sunday we had a morning boat ride on the Rhine River where we saw small towns and a number of castles. It was very beautiful. Apart from stopping in a few towns the bus went through Germany and crossed into Switzerland and we stayed in Lucerne, close to the lake. Like most days we leave early and arrive after dark so we don’t see the place we stay in until morning.
We had the whole of Monday in Lucerne. Morning boat ride on Lake Lucerne and afternoon gondola and cable car to the top of Mt Pilatus. Plenty of cloud at the top but we had some magnificent views of the Swiss Alps. It was cold.
Tuesday we drove from Lucerne in rain which soon turned to snow. About half an hour out of Lucerne it was quite heavy and the view of the freshly falling snow on the trees and Chalets was picture-postcard stuff. It was very pretty. We even saw a snow plough working on the road at one point. As we descended to Lugano the snow stopped. We continued to head south with a stop in Verona until we reached Venice. That night we went to the city by bus and then boat for a meal and had a look around at night. This was shortened a bit because of rain. Even at night St Mark’s Basilica is incredible. We did a gondola ride during the morning in the canals. It was beautiful as we had a guy playing a piano accordion & a guy singing on our gondola. Some of the canals are very narrow, & the buildings are just so interesting. We also went into St Mark’s Bascillica where they have all the art work, flooring, etc made out of mosaic tiles. It was so beautiful. We also went to a glass blowing demonstration to watch how they make Venetian glass. The shops where just amazing – full of the most incredible glass & jewellery.
That afternoon we were taken to another small island in Venice – Burano. This is where they make handmade Venetian lace. This was incredible & there were lace things everywhere to buy. Like so many of these arts it is dying as the younger generation won’t put the time into learning it (20+ years) and the returns are just not high enough. We did our bit to help by buying a table runner which we were told took 3 months to complete with four ladies with different skills contributing. That cost us about Aud$570 for 3 months work!!! There were also lots of little canals on this island & the houses & shops were brightly coloured. It was a very quaint little village.
Thursday we travelled from Venice to Rome with a stop in Assissi. Assissi is obviously known because of Francis but his impact on the whole Catholic Church in the early 1200’s is significant. We had a night out in Rome where we had a meal and a bus and walking tour by night. I won’t go into detail of the individual things we saw but the crowds were relatively low as it rained (in fact it poured for a while). Our wet weather gear has had a lot of use!!!
On Friday we had the day in Rome. We started with an 8am entry to the Vatican. Groups can prearrange to get an early entry (the normal opening is 9am). We really enjoyed this. We went through the Vatican museum. Amazing history, not just of the church. The guide kept emphasising that everything we saw has been found since the 1500’s because the French “stole” everything the Vatican owned when the Popes started residing in France (in Avignon). There were actually eight French Popes in a row who resided in Avignon and all the history went with them and was not returned. (I think our guide was Catholic). We then went through the Sistine Chapel. The paintings by Michelangelo on the roof and the end are simply breathtaking. We finished with a tour of St Peter’s Basilica. It is simply amazing (and we only saw a small part of it). Every Pope is buried there and we were only shown maybe half a dozen of the most elaborate mausoleums. The walls and roof are covered with mosaics and sculptures. The only complaint was that we needed much more time. After that we went to the ancient city and walked around various ruins and the Colosseum. Again, it was simply amazing. We stayed around the city for a while after this but we don’t feel like we saw everything despite taking over 200 photos in one day.
On Saturday we travelled to Florence with a stop in Pisa. Tuscany is a beautiful part of Italy and we enjoyed the travel. We went in to see the Square of Miracles and the Leaning Tower. You might be aware that the foundations of the tower were excavated and redone properly in the last 10 years. The lean had reached 12 deg and was accelerating. They straightened it to 5 deg because they need the tourists to keep coming.
We had Sunday in Florence. The weather was foul. It had rained and showered all week but rained pretty well all day on Sunday. Firstly, our local guide didn’t show up. Apparently he had a motorbike accident but was OK. We had a tour of the Uffizzi gallery which was formerly the private collection of the Medici family collected over hundreds of years. It is regarded as one of the best in Italy. It has works by all the big names, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael, etc, with works dating back to the 1100’s. There are over 1,700 “highlights”, each with a story to tell. We only had about 50 explained to us and that started getting a bit boring towards the end but it did give an insight into the way different artists painted. For me the most interesting was a painting by some bloke who was Michelangelo’s teacher. A great work of art by itself but the clear difference in style in parts of it shows that his teacher let the 16 year old Michelangelo do parts of it. It also showed that at 16 he was better than his teacher. We then had a walking tour (delayed from the morning). We saw churches and Palazzo’s, Piazza’s and Loggia’s. Most on the tour agreed that Florence should be seen before Rome as you start to get a little tired and ho hum about what you are seeing.
Monday we travelled from Florence to Cannes (in France). The weather improved and we had a fine afternoon after an appalling morning on the road. It is a beautiful area called Cote d’Azure. We went to a perfume factory during the day. The highlight was a visit to Monaco and Monte Carlo that night. This place smells of money. It is the only place I have seen where the taxi’s are Mercedes. We did a walking tour near the palace. Prince Albert II was in (we think) as the place was crawling with police and flags, etc. We then went to Monte Carlo. My goodness!!! The Grand Casino did not have many people inside but parked outside were two Ferrari’s, two Rolls Royces, BMW’s, Mercs, etc. We paid 10 Euros (about $14) each to go in just to look around. No expense has been spared.
Tuesday we travelled from Cannes to Carcassonne via Avignon. Avignon is another city with old buildings and plenty to see and take photos of. It is again steeped in history. The rain has stopped – hooray.
Wednesday we had the morning in the Medieval city which sits on the hill above the current city. An amazing fortress which has been returned to its original state. In a thousand years it was never taken by force. A really smart design and structure which demonstrates the value of intelligent thought. We travelled from Carcassonne to Barcelona in the afternoon. That night we attended a genuine Flamenco show including costumes, dance, singing and plenty of hand clapping and foot stomping on the floor.
Thursday we had a tour of Barcelona city including Sagrada Familia. This church was started in 1882 and is still 20 years from being completed. It was designed by Gaudi which explains its over-the-top style. As more money is raised from visitors and technology improves, the work towards completion accelerates. It is interesting that the Catholic Church has funded so many ornate Basilicas and churches in Europe but not this one. It is definitely not your everyday church and therein probably lies the answer. I never understood where the description of something being “gaudi” when a little too “out there”. Well now I know because there are Gaudi designs (a Spanish Architect) all through Barcelona and they are definitely all “different”. The Barcelona Cathedral was more “normal” and very ornate. In the afternoon we travelled a very scary road up to Montserrat. This is a Monastery perched on the side of a very rough and rocky mountain. The old church was fascinating and included a statue of a black Mary and black baby Jesus. Not the expected “middle east” black, but a genuine dark black. Nobody understands why it is black but it is one of two known black Madonnas and dates from the 5th century AD.
Friday (today) we have travelled from Barcelona to Madrid which is over 600km. The countryside has changed completely. Spain is hot in summer (the thermometer in the bus says it is 5 deg C outside at present but it gets into the 50’s during summer) and dries with little vegetation. We can see snow on the Pyrenees as we travel. The landscape is dessert and looks like Arizona or a brown Alice Springs. We stopped in Zaragoza (Sargossa) for lunch and again looked through the Basilica el Pilal. Many on the bus seem to be “churched out” but we aren’t. This one was more Baroque style (early 1700’s) and was again exceptionally beautiful.
The tour continues for another week. North Western Europe and Great Britain have frozen over and that is where we are heading. Paris is forecast to have a maximum of -2 deg C when we are there and snow is forecast. As Trevor would say, “Bring on the blizzard”. Looks like that is what might happen before we are finished.
