Rome                               8/9/2009

The medieval buttresses supporting the church of Saint Giovanni and Saint Paul. 

Saint Giovanni and Saint Paul. 

San Gregorio Magno al Celio

A corner of the Coliseum.

Our holiday is coming to an end and this is our very last blog. We finally arrived in lovely Rome and set up in our apartment near the Coliseum. After last January’s Rome apartment fiasco we were relieved to see the Apartment Mecenate 35 was as described on the website and we‘re very happy with it.


The weather is the warmest we have encountered on our trip. Bill is in meetings at FAO and Joy is enjoying wandering the streets. It is good to catch up with some old friends and eat our favourite Italian dishes, not to mention regular doses of gelato. The photos are some Joy took on the way to FAO to meet Bill this evening.


Friday we overnight in London, lashing out and staying at the Chesterfield, Mayfair.  We leave late on Saturday and arrive Monday morning in Australia.
So. sadly it’s is ciao from us.
                                                                Joy and Bill

A day trip to Giverny                      30/9/2009

On Tuesday we caught the train out to Vernon, then hired bikes to ride the 7 km to Giverny to visit Claude Monet’s home and garden. This was an ambition of Joy’s for years and she wasn’t disappointed. The house was interesting and the garden was magnificent and it was so thrilling to stand on the bridge that crosses the water lily pond. It was great to be on bikes again too. 

Claude Monet's House.

The Water lily Pond

On the bridge!!

When we got back to Paris we went to the Eiffel Tour to see the lights.

Right now we are on the overnight train to Rome - the trip from hell - 4 hours late.  We started in a rundown first class compartment but then the lights failed in the whole carriage and we ended in a 2nd class couchette.  There are a lot of unhappy travellers around!  We finished our (way overpriced) dinner about 11.30. We are now well south of Florence so it looks like we will make it into Rome sometime! Needless to say it’s an Italian train!  Hopefully we will be able to laugh about it in a couple of years time.

                         Paris         29/9/2009


Paris is fantastic. Our hotel, in St Germain, for four night turned out to be all we had hope for. We are on the top floor and have two small balconies, one of which has a table and chairs. The location on the Left Bank is working out well with many of the blockbuster sites with in a  walkable distance.
Our time has mainly been spend wandering and viewing art.

Water Lilies at the Marmottan Monet Museum.

View from the Musee d'Orsay. 

Cupid and Psyche at the Louvre

Van Gogh's The Siesta  at the Musee d'Orsay.    

We bought a museum pass and went to Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, the Concierge, Musee D’Orsa, the Lourve, the Orangery and up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. 
By the end of each day we were exhausted.

             Last days in Beynac     26/9/2009


Everyday starts with fog over the river which clears around 10 to become perfect weather. It’s wonderful to see.

The home of Francine and Michel

Francine and Michel, the owners of the little house we rent, are really nice people. They live next door and run an antique shop further down the hill. They have about as much English as we have French, but we manage to communicate quite well. 

One of Monpazier's alleyways.

They suggested we should visit Monpazier, south of the Dordogne. This turned out to be a classic fortified town with the medieval streets and alleyways virtually unchanged since it was founded in 1281. Its picturesque town square still has its medieval covered market intact, complete with grain measures.

La Roque St Christophe.

After a picnic lunch we back to the Vezere River to visit La Roque St Christophe. This is a huge rock, with 5 terraces carved out by the river, has provided shelter and protection for people for 50,000 years. It is now set up as it would have been when it was a medieval village.


The following day we left Beynac and drove to Limoges to catch the train to Paris. After all the raving we’ve done about the area, it will not be a surprise to hear that we were sad to leave.