Hi folks

Statzione Centrale, Milano

Well, here we are now at the end of May safely set up in London at our daughter and son-in-law's place. Three weeks of travelling from Italy to Spain via Greece, Turkey and France has taken us from one side of the Mediterranean to the other. 
By the time we got back to the UK we were in a state of "cultural overload" having been through six countries and nearly a dozen cities in three weeks. Cruising was an easy and enjoyable way to cover huge distances, leaving one port in the evening and arriving in another the next morning, however it did put us under pressure to see things and return to the ship before it sailed...yes some people got left behind at a couple of ports! 

Shopping centre near the  Piazza Duomo

Internet and e-mail communications were slow and expensive so we took hundreds of photos and video clips and decided to wait until we got to London to process them.
Today I have pulled some of the material from our first day in Milan (at the bottom of the page) which will give you a You-tube link to view a 4 minute video compilation if you are interested.  It took over thirty hours flying to get to Milan but that included an 8-hour stopover in London where we were able to enjoy a break with John and Carolyn.

Milan was our  introduction to Italy and our few basic phrases of Italian proved useful. They all understand "Ciao" and "Grazie." "Mi deplore, non parlo Italiano" came in handy as well. From Milan we had  to catch the train to Venice around midday so we did not have a lot of time to view the sights bit we had our first lesson in navigating metro and bus systems which, as it turned out, were pretty standard throughout Europe. Our video compilation of Milan is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LbWikQdyYo&feature=youtu.be

In the next blog we will describe our impressions of Venice.

London Arrival

After some 30 hours travelling Betty and I arrived in London @ 6:30am local time. It is almost impossible to keep up with the time zone shifts but the longest leg was 13 hours from Singapore to Heathrow. We travelled in the new two-decker A380 with 10 seats across. Auckland to Sydney was a special treat since we were upgraded to business class courtesy of the Qantas' London Office. Apart from the interminably of the long haul flights the trip passed uneventfully. I spend many hours working through the vast list of on-board movies and caught up on many I had not seen before...seven in all!
It has been great to have a few hours visiting John and Carolyn in their London home before we head on to Milan, Italy, this afternoon and thence to Venice on tomorrow. From that point we are "on our own" for the next three weeks and it will be a test of the thoroughness of our planning.
I went to the supermarket for Carolyn this morning which is placed in the High Street of the suburb where they live. It all seemed comfortable and familiar just as if the past thirty years had not passed by...
Finally, a huge big thanks to those of you who came to farewell us on Saturday afternoon. We will miss you (but not too much) over the next few months