Venice 19-20 Sep

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Wed 19 Sep
Found my way to Venice and my campsite in Maghera (its really hard to find accommodation actually on the islands) but it was great to just dump my bag and go for a swim as soon as I arrived. Made the most out of the afternoon and headed into venice - what a lovely city to get lost in. The Grand Canal was cool but the tiny ones were much nicer and I felt like I was crossing a bridge every 5 minutes. Walked across Accademia Bridge (one fo only three that crosses the Grand Canal) and arrived at Piazza San Marco - an amazing square (crazy that tourists pay to buy pidgeon food to have them climb all over them). Went up to the top viewing platform of the 99m capinale (bell tower). The sea between the islands was a gorgeous blue and I watched the most amaying orange sunset from the top - so romantic

Thurs 20 Sep
Into town early and on the traghetto (water taxi) out to Murano Island by 9:30. Its the home of Venetian glassblowing so checked out a couple of demonstrations (reminded me of my summer in Nelson) and looked at all the amazing glasswares in the shops (luckily only buying one necklace). At the Glass Museum I got to see all the tools (cant believe I used to know all the names for them) and some awesome centerpieces of Italian gardens made for the doges - amazing. Back to Piazza San Marco to see Palazzo Ducale (official residence of the doges and the seat of the republic government) the cabinet meeting rooms, prisons and bridge of sighs were highlights as well as the worlds longest canvas painting in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio. Basilica di San Marco was nice inside but a little dark so glad I checked out Pala D'Ora (the gold alterpiece behind St Marks Tomb decorated with countless priceless jewels). Took the boat out to Lido Island which seemed deserted out of season but loved taking my shoes off and walking along thebeach. Caught the sunset as I went down the Grand Canal towards home - loved venice

Pisa and Florence 17-18 Sep

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Mon 17 Sep
Spent the afternoon (5hrs) in Pisa. Stoked I could still climb up the Leaning Tower. It was a 2hr wait (as they only let a few people in at a time) but thtat gave me the chance to try and get the perfect shot of me holding the tower up and check out the baptistry which had an awesome echo. Climb up the ltower was disorientating (as all the steps are on a lean - duh) but very much worth it to see the view out over Camp del Miracoli and everyone sitting in the shade of the tower or the cathedral. Took the train to Florence and randomly ran into Arne as I was leaving the station (He knew I was going to be there from my status on facebook but I had no idea) such a wixked surprise so I dumped my crap at the hostel and and caught up with him later that night for a beer on the steps of the church at Santo Spirinto

Tues 18 Sep
Big day in Florence starting with the Uffizi Gallerz - Im sure it would have been amaying if you have a real interest in Renaissance Art but I didnt recognise a lot of the pieces or understand the themes (although I could appreciate that they were beautifully painted) Doesnt help that museums in taly dont seem to give out guides or brochures at all. Found my way to Duomo (worlds fourth largest cathedral) and climbed the 400 gruelling steps up to the cupola (some were as steep as ladders and most in slanted hallways) but well worth it to see the views out over Florence and the 82m capinale and battistery (oldest building in Florence). Wandered throught the open market and the fruit and vege market and was in line to see David at 3pm. He was woth the 2.5hr wait as hes absolutely gorgeous "in person". Caught the sunset from Ponte Vecchip which was lovely but the best things in Florence were moste definitely seeing David and Arne : )

Latina 13-16 Sep

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Thursday 13 September
Stoked up on food from the local markets, stopping the car and chatting in the middle of the road to various friends and relatives along the way. There are only 120,000 people in Latina and Claudia's mum is one of ten so there was a big chence that we knew a lot of the people around - awesome atmosphere! Went back to the doctor to check on my pneumonia and got another course of antibiotics. Had a big lunch and dinner at home of spaghetti with clams and in between walked around a lake that reminded me of Rotorua (with the sulfar smell), saw buffalos and had a nap on the beach. That night I tagged along on a hens night, not as crazy as the London ones (although they do go a bit mental) but fun none the less!

Friday 14 September
Today we were supposed to head out to the Island Ponza but when we got to the docks it seemed there were no boats which was probably a good thing as I managed to catch an evil stomahc bug, that combined with the phuemonia meant that I had as very lazy day

Saturday 15 September
Awoke feeling way better (thank god!) we headed up to check out a beautiful medieval town on the hill (Sermoneta) but unfortunately the castle seemed to be closed. Caught the end of a wedding at Abbey Valviscolo (just as they threw rice at the bride and groom coming out) and checked out pretty Lake Ninfa. at 6ish we headed into Rome as there was a free MTV live concert happening in Piazza San Giovanni which was amazing we saw Irene Grandi, Tiromancino and Elisa perform. Elisa was amazing Ive listened to her heaps with Sara in our bedroom back in London but she was just awesome live and I knew all of her songs!!! Turned out the subway in Rome stopped at 11 so we had to run to catch the bus back to the station and only just made the last train!

Sunday 16 September
My last day in Latina was great. We went out with a couple of cousins, a nephew, an uncle, a girlfriend and a friend to a beautiful home-style cooking place called Roccagorgo, went ot watch another cousin play in a football match at Pivernio, called in on Grandma & Grandpa and a friend on the way home. Thanks so much to everyone in Latina for welcoming me into your life!

Rome 10-12 Sep

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Monday 10 September
Took and early flight from Barcelona (had to get up at 4:30am) so was all checked into the hostel by midday and ready to start exploring Rome. Saw San Carlo Quattro Fontane, Fonte del Tritone, Fontane de Trevi, Spanish Steps (Piazza di Spagna), Tomb of the Unkown Solider and Piazza del Popolo before arriving in the Vatican city that afternoon. Piazza San Pietro was beautidul with a semi circular collonade with four rows of Doric columns and a obelisk in teh centre. Took the life up to the base of the dome of St Peters Basilica and walred the 349 steps up a stanted staircase to the top of the Cupola but it was worth it for the view! Checked out the inside of St Peters Basilica iwth amazing mosiacs that looked like paintings and spent the afternoon eating pizza and spaghetti and drinking wine with some Japanese friends from the hostel

Tuesday 11 September
Started off the day with the Colessuem, spent about 2 hours wandering around and got a bit of a history lesson too. Walked through the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Open air music for Sep 11 Rememberence. At the Pantheon there was a free "German Young Brass" Orchestra concert. Walked up Gianicolo Hill for a beautiful view out over Rome in the sunset and wandered St Maria in Trastevere and back across the river (and magical Isola Tibernia) to get back to the hostel

Wednesday 12 September
Claudia came up from Latina to meet me and we went to the Vatican Museum together. The queue was long but fast moving and we spent three houes wandering aroudn inside. Saw Museo Pio-Clemintino, Tapestry and Map Galleries, Stanxe di Raffaello, Apartment Borgi and of course the amazing Sistene Chapel. Italian Gellato for lunch (three huge scoops and cream foronly 2 euros!) and then went back to Latina for a walk along the beach and a BBQ dinner at Claudia?s cousins place

Barcelona 6-9 Sep

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Thursday 6th September
Arrived by overnight train from Pairs with beautiful coastal views. Met Gosia (old Polish flatmate) at the hostel and had patatas bravas for lunch (yum!) spent the afternoon at Barceloneta beach relaxing and watching the sun set before enjoying tortialla by the beach and drinking wine out of a carton and catching up - pure class!

Friday 7th September
Temple La Sagrada Familia, beautiful outside and inside (even though its not finished yet) and amazing views from the top. Picnic lunch in Placa Catalunya before going back to Barceloneta to swim in the afternoon. Hit a "rock'n'roll" club called Magis that night and danced until 5am

Saturday 8th September
On little sleep we just gtot up in the morning to head down to the beach to sunbathe - such gorgeous weather! Tortilla and salad for lunch at the hostel. Wandered into town past Casa Battla and Casa Amatler down Las Ramblas with an awesome fruit and vege (Mercat de la Boqueira) as well as open-air market. Checked out a short Flamenco Show at Placa Reial and then a fountain, light and music show at Montjuic

Sunday 9th September
Spent the morning exploring La Pedrera (apartments, attic and amazing rooftop). Wandered around the Barri Gothis area and the Cathedral before taking the bus up to Tibidabo to check out amazing views of Barcelona from the church on the hill we had seen from town our whole visit. Watched the sunset as we wandered around Park Guell with some awesome Gaudi "Dr Seuss" style buildings and a mosiac lizard. Spent my last evening in Spain and with Gosia enjoying a beautiful paella down Las Ramblas.

Paris 2-5 Sep

After a pretty hectic last day packing my boxes and rucksack I took a night bus (and ferry) across to Paris to catch up with Christina and Juliette one last time (for now!) Was nice to go back and do some of the things that I didnt get a chance to when I was only here for the day in July

Sunday 2nd September

Arriving at 7am-ish I had enough time to find my way to Juliette´s and drop my pack off before heading back into town to meet up with Christina and Michelle for a coffee. We wandered through the markets (La Marche aux puces de la porte de Clignancourt) and up to La basilique du Sacre-Coeur to eat baguettes for lunch looking out at the view of the city from the top of this hill. We even had the chance to wander around inside the church - now Im not religious but this was a pretty amazing church inside! Really humbling and inspirational with every candle I walked past reminding me that everyone is wishing for something - a great start to my trip

Walking through Monmarte and on the Metro to Centre Pompidou

Being the first Sunday of the month all the museums in Paris were free, so we decided to go and check out Centre Pompidou - the modern art gallery. It was a piece of artwork outside (with exposed pipes on one side and a huge outdoor staircase on the other) even before we got inside!

Spent a few hours wandering around this place, pretty cool art inside (and nice views out over Paris from the top too!) A pretty interactive gallery with a great vibe, definitely worth checking out if you´re in the area and keen on modern art : )

Juliette headed off to meet some friends so Christina, Michelle and I went and did the touristy thing, bought wine (had to scrounge a bottle opener off someone), plastic cups, baguettes, cheese and tomoatoes and sat in Champ De Mars looking up at the Eiffel Tower getting more and more beautiful by the minute as it got darker all around us and we enjoyed a picnic dinner

It even sparkled for us for about ten minutes at 9pm- how romantic!

Monday 3rd September

Today, after my first lie-in in a while (so nice to sleep in a bed!) Juliette and I headed to the Lourve to check it all out, for the 9 euros entry we paid and the five hours we spent there it was most definitely worth it.

There was no way we were going to cover all the pieces in just one afternoon so instead we chose a couple that we really wanted to see and found amazing stuff along the way, here are a few of the most famous pieces, great that you can take photos (although I think its technically not allowed with the Mona Lisa... very sneaky...)

¨Mona Lisa¨ and ¨Psyche and Cupid¨ (my favourite piece)

¨The Winged Victory of Samothrance¨ and ¨Borghese Gladiator¨

¨Aphrodite¨(known as Venus de Milo) and ¨Seated Scribe¨

¨St Mary Magdalene¨(G.Erhart) and ¨Joan of Arc¨

There was even a section with art from the Americas, Africa and the Pacific (although none from Australia or NZ) these were a couple of my favourite pieces

The great thing about the Louvre was that there was so many different types of people all enjoying the amazing art together, great way to spend an afternoon!

After the Lourve it was time for some more classic french culture so we met up with a couple of Juliette´s friends for coffee and crepes - yum Baileys and Banana crepes for afternoon tea!

That night we caught up with some more friends for a birthday party. It was a great night actually hanging out with French people speaking French - I know that sounds weird after being in France for a couple of days now but with Juliette and Christina we either speak in English or Japanese, so it was just great to hang at her friends place; listen, eat, drink and chill with friends, great way to end a busy day!

Tuesday 4th September

For something completely different we headed to Disneyland Resort Paris on the Tuesday, it was perfect weather fot it (not too hot, not too cold) and we had a blast hanging out with Juliette´s brother Raphael and being little kids for the day! Yay for expired student cards that got us a 20 euro discount!!

We rode Space Mountain 4 times, saw 3D ¨Honey I shrunk the Audience¨, Star Trek Motion Master, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril and Big Thunder Mountain

And all this in the morning before checking out a 30 minute stage show of the Lion King , it was nothing compared to what I saw on the West End but pretty cool for Disneyland and something I hadn´t seen at the Tokyo one (otherwise all the rides were pretty much the same)

Because its celebrating its 15th anniversary this year we also were lucky enough to catch an amazing ¨Once upon a dream parade¨in the afternoon with the most amazing floats and costumes!

Because we had student cards we managed to get into both parks (there´s an additional small one called Disney Studio Parl) for 10 euros cheaper than just the one park pass, there weren´t a lot of rides there but we did get to do two cool ones ¨Crush´s Coaster¨based on Nemo and ¨Rock´n´Roll Coaster starring Aerosmith¨both indoor coasters and a lot of fun as bonus rides! All in all a pretty fun day out!

Wednesday 5th September

Leaving Juliette at home to study (for i-kyuu!) today I headed back into town to hit the last couple of touristy things on my list, I had seen Notre Dame before when I came for the day with Michaela to visit Adeline but this time I had a chance to go inside and up to the top!

Views out over Paris from the Chimera gallery (46m above ground) with the gargoyles. On this level we also got to climb through a small doorway like quasimodo into the South Tower Belfry with the cathedrals largest bell ¨Emmanuel¨(they´ve all been baptised) weighing 13 tons with a 500 kilo clapper!

View from the top to the West (Eiffel Tower and the Siene) and the North (Monmarte in the distance)

Views from the East (looking down the sparkling Siene - so beautiful!) and to the South (to Pantheon)

The courtyard of Hotel Dieu (the oldest hospital in Paris) If I ever get sick enough I definitely want to stay here!

From there I got a savoury crepe for lunch (chicken and cheese - yummy!) from one of the random caravan vendors and checked out the Catacombes - pretty freaky stuff! In 1785 huge hygiene problems posed by Paris´ overflowing cemeteries was solved by exuming the bones and storing them in three disused quarries. One, created in 1810 is called the Catacombes, descending 130 steps from street level I was able to walk through 1.6km of corridors stacked with the bones of millions of Parisians - very creppy but interesting!

Coming above ground again and back to life I checked out Jardin Du Luxemborg, 23 hectares of beautiful gardens was a great place to chill in the afternoon!

That afternoon I just chilled at Juliette´s place, watched part of a Japanese movie and packed getting ready to take by night train to Barcelona. I had a great time in Paris and loved staying with Juliette´s family, I saw a lot of awesome things in this four days in Paris but the best thing was just chilling at their house having dinner - merci!!