Next stop -- DUBLIN !!!

I'm going back to Manchester for the holidays in two weeks and I just booked a flight for the two of us to Dublin! If you can believe it, the flight only costs 10 pounds on the way over and 99 pence coming back. So we'll be in Dublin from December 18th to the 21st.

Neither one of us have been there before so we're really excited. Does anyone have any suggestions for things to see or do?

Once you get the travel bug.....

-Andy - 11.29.05

Couple quick shots from Paris

Tour Eiffel at night



























Oh great, another statue...














Someone excited by the Musee d'Orsay














Manet's Olympia













Couple of gargoyles atop Notre Dame













Good night, Paris

Cinque Terre photografia

Yippee!!!

What a view.




(and we escaped Rome)














Pesto, glorious pesto...















Rustico Picolo, 250 steps up the side of a hill, with a view to match












Anchovies, anyone?















Rockclimbing in Monterosso

Roma photos

Vaticano daytime






Vaticano sunset



Brave soul drinking from one of Rome's many fountains





Pooped at the Forum




















The fabulous Forum











This guy walked us through the intricacies of Italian food. The olives, cheese, bread, meat, and wine were gorgeous.










This was our view from the cafe where we drank vino della casa.










The Vatican's Swiss Guard. The fact that they are armed keeps the laughing to a minimum.

It's horrible to be back

Forget about the jet lag, I'm talking about having to do some real work again. I think I like life on the road better! I'm slowly organizing the 1500 photos we took on the trip and should be posting a few more in the next few days.

For now, I hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Yes, we're back :(

Andy is flying back to LA as I write this and I am in Urmston. We'll post some final photos from the trip in the next couple of days when he gets back and uploads them etc.

The Cinque Terre was magical and a wonderful break from city sight-seeing. We hiked between Riomaggiore and Manarola and from Corniglia to Vernazza, dipped our feet in the Mediterranean and ate lots of very good food. I never knew that I would like octopus salad so much! Our "Rustico Piccolo" cottage was tiny, tucked away high above Vernazza on the road to Corniglia, and I stand by our "Best Room in the Whole World" claim. The grandeur of the view at the top of the 250 steps did not wear off. After that we caught the train to Genoa then to Nice and then the night train to Paris. Afer adding extra days here and there in Austria and Italy we ended up with a truncated visit to France. Just an afternoon in Nice and 3 nights in Paris was not enough at all! So, we'll have to go back.

Paris!

Paris was fabulous, we loved it. So much so we might go back at Christmas! :)
We went to the Louvre (of course), were underwhelmed by the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. We spent an entire day in the Musee D'Orsay where Andy was particularly overwhelmed by the number of paintings that he wanted to see that were elsewhere :(
We climbed the Arc de Triomphe and the Towers of Notre Dame, but didn't manage to get up the Eiffel Tower - next time!

More later, ta ra! for now...

Cinque Terre

We finally escaped from Roma, and now we're wondering why we haven't spent 4 weeks in the Cinque Terre. Even with a bit of drizzle this place is fantastic!

We have the Best Room in the Universe, and it's not actually a room, it's a whole building, up 7 million steps to the top of the world and we can see the entire Mediterranean - We're not kidding - you should all be extremely jealous :)

We're here for another two nights, so more soon. Have to go and consume more pesto, bye!

More Florence

How could we not?
















Polite pigeons in Siena

Florence, da da!

Firenze from the top of the Duomo








Pizza south of the Arno







The Agony and the Ecstasy

Venezia part two

What is the deal with all the pigeons??? Other than them, Piazza San Marco is great.







It got a little cold... and foggy:











Il traghetto on the Grand Canal

Ah, Venice, Venezia!!!

Just like you thought it would be, eh?






Wonderful, hospitable, lively Zio Toni - the man makes his own brooms!





The two of us at the Guggenheim (beardage still full on)

Photos: Salzburg

This is what we did in Salzburg...











Helen was sick











But it is beautiful by the way, Mozart's birthplace and all that.

Photos: Buda and Pest

Remember how bad the Opera was?








Local delicacy in Pest, deep fried donut thing with cheese and sour cream, washed down with grande birre -- yum!






In Buda, near the castle...

Il Papa says "Ciao!" (and Guten Tag)

Saw the Pope this morning, yes, that new guy, as he blessed the faithful (and us) in St. Peter's Square. He's a great guy. But the Vatican was crazy busy so we bagged our planned day there and headed over to the Colosseum. We'll go back and check out Il Papa's pad when there are fewer people there (not the day after All Saint's Day, duh!).

The Colosseum was pretty fantastico, awesome, 2,000 years old and all that. Apparently they DIDN'T feed Christians to the lions there; that's a legend... We also saw the ruins on Palatine Hill and looked down on the Forum, the Circus Maximus and (supposedly) Romulus's house. Then we came back here, did some laundry got some vino and some cheap pizza and now we're sitting in our shared apartment updating the blog. It's pretty sweet. We needed a break from the crowds; Rome takes it out of you with no apologies.

Some more pictures will have to come later... hopefully in the next couple of days.

Ciao!