Milan...

Hi Readers,

Well the trip is coming to an end, or should I say it has come to an end as we are now sitting in Milan airport waiting to board the first of our two flights home.

After a very short visit of less than 48 hours in Venice, we were off again to Milan, where we have stayed for just over 24 hours.

Our last full day in Venice was just about the best day of our entire holiday as it was spent with our eldest son who once again travelled over from London to spend a weekend with us.

We had arranged a water taxi for him from the airport to our hotel as they were getting in very late, but when they went to look for it everything was closed and they had no one to contact. They had to take a different taxi, going the long way, and didn't get to the hotel until after 2.00 am.

No wonder they were so tired the next day.

To their credit, they were up for a big day out and we walked miles, visited lots of places, ate well and stayed up late ( for us that is!!)

The day of work starts in Venice.

Dawn in Venice 

Another Canal, another boat.

A spectacular sunrise in Venice 

Murano Island which is famous for its glass.

A quick photo stop on a bridge in Murano.

Lost in the backstreets of Venice, the last thing they needed was my input!!

Heavy security in San Marco Square. This is common everywhere we have been.

The next morning was a quick breakfast together, then Jen and I were on our way as we had to catch a train to Milan, where we are to catch our plan home tonight.

I always dread the goodbyes when we leave Sam, or when he leaves us, and I probably let it build up too much inside me.

Thankfully yesterday, as we were outside our doors at the hotel, Jen just said "Sam, we'll just say goodbye here so that you don't have to come down to the water taxi", and with that it was over in a flash and we were on our way. If they had decided to walk us down to the taxi, about a 5 minute walk I would have started to get too emotional on the way and lost it when it came to say goodbye😭!!

Maybe I'm just getting softer as I get older!

We could not have had a better day with two fantastic people.

The train ride to Milan was uneventful, but still very relaxing, especially as we had flat farmland for most of the way, and snow covered peaks in the distance.

By the time we got to Milan it was the usual, and now well practiced action of finding some transport to our hotel, this time being a bus then a taxi.

A quick stop to chuck our bags in our room and we were out the door as we did not want to waste a moment, especially as we were only here for 24 hours.

Just around the corner from us is the Cathedral, an incredibly impressive building. The whole square was full of people wandering around just like us, taking photos and listening to some extremely talented buskers. 

One in particular really grabbed our attention, so we listened for a while and ended up buying his CD. We're hoping it sounds just as good as he did today.

The Cathedral 

The best busker we have heard.

The Square in front of the Cathedral 

The dearest shopping spot in Milan, all of the high end Italian shops are here, and we stayed out of them!!

Pick the one business that is out of place here!!

The Square is filled with thousands of pigeons that just fly from here to there as people throw food to them. This also encourages the scammers who walk up to people and offer them a small handful of bird food and get the pigeons to roost on their arms and head. The people of course take photos, and then the scammers demand money from them for the food. Many people walk away, but the scammers are very persistent and in their face in demanding some money, and if it isn't enough they don't give up until they cough up more. Also, they often work in small groups. While one does the scam with the food, the others hover nearby. 

There is no way that we would even try to feed the pigeons, or get them on us, as I just consider them to be flying rats, they are dirty and disease ridden as far as I'm concerned!!

These two blokes were actually both scammers, pretending to be helping each other. We watched them for ages.

Straight after this shot they split up and started hassling tourists for money.

At one point a girl was walking around tossing food on the ground and scores of pigeons were following her. She started to get near us, and at the same time we both just said "No" and waved her away. 

She must have thought we were the two meanest people in the entire Square.

As my regular readers would know by now, my wife has to eat GF food, so we just can't walk into any place for a feed.

Imagine our surprise last night when we walked past a restaurant, noticed it was really busy (always a good sign) and asked if the did GF food.

"Not a problem" they said ( in a very romantic Italian accent of course), and we proceeded to enjoy not just the perfect meal, but the most professional service we have ever experienced.

They knew their food, wine and beer, and most importantly, they really knew about GF food. So much did we love it, we hit them again for lunch today, and to their credit they remembered us and especially they remembered that Jen needed GF food.

Our online review of this restaurant was glowing to say the least.

The Cathedral at night, the square is bustling for a Sunday.

The Cathedral at night.

As we only had a short stay in Milan, we took off early this morning exploring the nearby streets, and visited a castle that is over 700 years old. This continues to amaze us as in Australia we just do not have buildings that come anywhere as close in age to some of the historic ones we have been in.

Wandering the streets today, just a wonderful experience.

This fort is over 700 years old.

Inside the fort.

Looking out from the fort.

The rest of the afternoon has been a bit of a rush as we head off to the airport. We have a few hours to kill here, so this could possibly be my last post for a while, as I'll have nothing nearly as interesting as this trip to write about once I get home.

I was amazed at this one person car parked among the scooters and motorcycles in the street.

Our selfies for the day....

Our last selfie in Venice, and we aren't getting any better at them!!

In front of the Cathedral in Milan last night.

Our absolute last one, at the airport in Milan tonight.

And my final sock photos, as once I'm back home the sock goes into the sock drawer with the rest of them!!!

In front of a furnace at a glass blowing demo on Murano Island.

In front of Milan Cathedral.

In front of the Cathedral at night.

A fountain in front of the 700 year old fort.

My last 'Socky', outside the fort. Thanks so much for the socks Sienna, I'll have to start wearing them now!!

Well Readers, it has been just great sharing this trip with you over the past few weeks. It has been a bit of pressure at times to do a post each night, so if you are a daily reader, you'll have to become accustomed to my posts becoming a little less frequent in the coming weeks.

Don't drop off however, I'll still be writing!!!

Until my next post, (from Australia 🇦🇺)

Cheers!!

Back to Venice after 3 years...

LHi Readers,

Yep, another day of travel, and this has been spectacular to say the least. Needless to say there will be lots of photos involving snow and mountains today!!

We are currently travelling between Salzburg and Villach in Austria, and the scenery is absolutely breathtaking. We could honestly take a photo every 10 seconds it is that good. The fact that there are so many mountains covered in snow is quite novel to us coming from Australia.

We must look like real tourists snapping away getting so many photos. Or at least I might.

It is also another cold day here, currently -16 degrees, but strangely, we feel colder on a 6 degree day back at home, as then the weather is squally crappy as well. Here it is cold, but bright and sunny, so if you dress appropriately you don't really have much to worry about, except slipping over!!

Seriously, I could have included more than a thousand photos here.

We were a bit worried leaving Salzburg as our train was delayed by about 6 minutes. This does not sound like much, but halfway through our trip we have to swap trains at a place called Villach, and we only have 7 minutes between when our train gets in and our next one leaves. So this means we only have 1 minute to swap platforms, so there is a slight bit of tension!!

We are now on our next train, and it was great watching the display on the screen in our last carriage that gave a continual feed about how far ahead or behind schedule we were. Over the 2 and a bit hours we managed to get back on time again, leaving us with around 10 minutes to transfer trains. There is just so much we can learn from the European train system, as ours looks so second rate in comparison. We keep reading about our politicians coming over for study tours, but nothing ever seems to eventuate!! There you go, today's rant over and done with!!

No matter what town or village we pass by, the church always stands out like a beacon.

I'm halfway through this post and you don't know where we are going yet - Sorry!!

We are actually heading to....... Venice!!

We did come here 3 years ago and just loved it to bits, and always wanted to come back. It will be different seeing it in Winter, but we are really enjoying doing this trip in Winter. Both of us have often said that although there are many places we'd love to visit again, it would always be at the expense of seeing somewhere new. This is our first exception, apart from some times we flew into London on other trips. (I just love London!!)

As well as hitting Venice later this afternoon, our eldest son Sam has decided to pay us another visit for our last two days over here by flying out tonight after he finishes work in London. He will be getting in really late, so it will be great seeing him for breakfast in the morning.

Our first train trip this morning was one that I'll never forget as the scenery was just so good. This train trip isn't as great as we are spending a lot of time going through tunnels, but we still get amazing glimpses in between them.

The biggest change we have noticed is that after hours of travelling through snow covered mountains, we quickly moved onto very flat plains that quickly became snow free. The only snow we can see now when we are an hour away from Venice are the tops of some distant mountains.

We finally got here, and our train was running more than 40 mins late! Unheard of in all of our travels.

We quickly unpacked then had a quick look around our area, and as we had been here 3 years ago, it was amazing how familiar some things looked again.

I really noticed this later on in the afternoon when we split up for a while.

Jen went roaming the streets and shops while I ducked out for a quick run.

I took my phone with me to get shots of the city, and how weird was it when after stopping at one bridge and taking a shot, I turned around and ran into Jen!! Keep in mind the thousands of people wandering the streets here, what are the chances of that!

As I pushed on further along the track I had ran on a few years ago, it all just came back to me as if it was only yesterday that I was last on it. The bridges, the trees, the paths, everything was just so familiar again, and the views I got if the sun going down were just perfect.

I'm already looking forward to getting out again in the morning to see the early sun in Venice.

Entering Venice by water taxi.

My running track, my Venice heaven!!

A shot that captures the real Venice.

From the Rialto Bridge tonight.

Also, when we last here we went to a particular restaurant two nights in a row as it was so good, and it turns out that it is a 1 minute walk from here. You guessed it, we went there! While Jen was disappointed in her meal, mine was just great.

Our whole trip is quickly coming to an end, only 3 nights left, but I think we are both looking forward to home again, but not the flights to get us there!!

We have often talked about what is the ideal time away for us, and we think 4 weeks just about does it. Three is just a bit too short, and five becomes tiring if you are on the go every day. When travelling, we need to be doing something each day otherwise it is pointless going there in the first place, but it also becomes tiring putting in that effort to be going somewhere or doing something every day of the week without having a day of just blobbing around the house.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about what we are doing, I just love it. It's just that I feel it remains special as long as we are not tiring ourselves out in the process.

So the next day and a bit will be spent wandering Venice and enjoying our son's company, as we don't get to see him often. 

And of course, I'll be having a final authentic Italian Pizza!!

Today's selfies...

Cruising up the Grand Canal.

And today's treat for 'Fans of the Sock'!!

We actually stayed in the orange coloure building 3 years ago. It's actually a school!!

In just one of the many meandering streets in Venice tonight.

That's it for today Readers, until my next post...

Cheers!!