The Final Cut

First things first - our luggage turned up. Losing it all threatened to put a real dampener on our whole trip but thankfully, it all arrived safely this morning. Phew.

So, our journey is at an end. And so is this blog. Its been the best holiday that any of us have ever had and I have to say, we feel a little bit melancholy arriving back. Its not the fact that we have to work, after an absence of six weeks - ok, so maybe a bit. Its not the fact that we don't appreciate what we have here - our beautiful family, friends and our house - ok, so maybe more than a bit.

We have been away for a while before on more than one occasion, but returning this time feels different. We love France. No, we really love France. Its where Chris and I want to end up when we retire or sooner if possible. Not for a while, but eventually. This may sound corny, in fact it does sound corny, but I think this time Chris and I left a little piece of our respective hearts in the South West of France. Me miss it so much already.

The rest of this blog entry, the final entry, I am going to note in point form a list of our fondest memories - the things/events/moments/food etc that we will remember most about this trip. They are in no particular order, just listed as they come to mind.

So here goes, some of the many things that we will remember this trip for:

• Spending 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with your children is both unusual, wonderful and challenging. On that note, the maturity levels between a 13 year old girl and a 12 year old boy are VASTLY different, in my experience.
• The best time we had was when we stayed put and immersed ourselves in the French lifestyle in St Chinian, France. We'll be back.
• According to the Swiss, Swiss wines are the best in the world, and French wines are shit.
• According to the French, French wines are the best in the world and everyone else's wines are shit.
• According to the Austrians, Austrian wines are the best in the world and schnapps should be drunk with every meal.
• Asking for the bill in Italy (il conto) without sniggering is impossible.
• Jamie asking for a beer in Spain when she was meant to be asking for the bill.
• Endless driving. Daunting at first but not actually that bad.
• Endless driving with my 75 year old father driving like a psycho behind me with eitehr my son or my daughter in the car with him. Daunting at first and terrifying in reality.
• Getting the opportunity to meet up with our respective relatives in France, Switzerland and Austria is awesome
• The connections that our children have made with these relatives all over the world is fantastic. When it is their time to travel, they will be welcomed with open arms by all these wonderful people. So lucky and such a great opportunity for them.
• Paris is cool but Rome is cooler.
• My wife is an amazing person. When we spent time in Cannes, we stayed with my ex Krissy. Some would say that that is enough to entitle her to be labelled as amazing. Krissy has a 13 month old child and is heavily pregnant. She has a husband that is away for 6 months of the year so she has very little time on her own to do anything other than cope. My wonderful wife proceeded to do things like clean her kitchen, unload her dishwasher, make her dinner, clean up after dinner and demand that she has a long shower while we are here minding her daughter. All to give Krissy a break. Of course I helped, but it was Chris who instigated it all. She is awesome and a credit to her upbringing - well done Lesley.
• Europe is so, so cheap compared to New Zealand. This actually pisses us off, its so expensive to live here in comparison.
• My best entree - Beef tataki at Cote Mas, Pezanas, France
• My best main - Backhandl (crumbed chicken) in Austria.
• My best dessert - Vanilla ice cream & berry compote at Brigette's house in Austria
• Chris's best entree - Shaved raw ham at Cote Mas, Pezanas, France
• Chris's best main - Trout & almonds at Roquebrun, France
• Chris's best dessert - Cafe Gourmand in Cannes, France
• Spending time in Cannes with our friends, (who don't have tween or teenage children) has added a whole new list of bad words to my kids repertoire - not that they have one. I'm talking Vaginamite for vegemite and Penis Splutter for Peanut Butter... Thanks Krissy

We are the luckiest people in the world to have had the chance to be able to do this trip - to be able to spend 6 weeks away from our jobs and our own business is very fortunate. We couldn't afford to do it, but in our opinion, its a matter of priorities. And in retrospect, we are extremely glad we did. We could have spent the small fortune it cost us on any number of things. But the joy and experience that this journey gave us is immeasurable. Life is short, so do shit that you want to do now, and damn the consequences. Do stuff that makes you happy, you're dead a long time. That's what we believe anyway.

So that's it, its over. This blog has been a joy to write. It has not only informed our nearest and dearest of what we have been up to, but it will also serve as a written record of our trip. Something that we can all look at in years to come. To that end, I asked the kids to both write their thoughts on their holiday for Chris and I, so I could make them think about it and include it in this blog. I wonder what they will think when they read it sometime in the future.

Once again and for the last time, thanks for reading my blog. Its been a blast.

Au revoir 

Jason xxx

What my holiday meant to me - Ben

I would say that this was by far the best holiday yet. We did lots of amazing things, which at the time did not seem so amazing but ended up being fantastic. My favourite part was definitely Saint Chinian, it was so cool because we got to spend time, and enjoy the amazing village. Every Thursday and Sunday there was a market, it sold all of the local vegetables and meats. Every day we did some very cool things that only involved driving, walking, and definitely eating! But one of the most outstanding places we visited was Roquebrun, it had amazing views and an awesome lake were we saw an otter.

My favourite meals of the holiday

ENTRÉE- Escargot - Snails

MAIN- Cuisses de Grenouilles - Frogs legs

DESERT- thé vert creme brulee - Green tea crème brulee

We drove to many places, but what inspired us to do this was our poppa, we could not have done it without him. Most of the places we went to were amazing, we had to drive there from different countries, for an example Austria-Italy. All this let us do was bond, but it wasn’t that bad it was actually really cool. I loved meeting all of our relatives, they were all very nice

Thank you very much guys for taking us on the exciting and fantastic holiday, it will be remembered for a long time. We had our ups and downs but we ended up getting over them. I will say this again, but this was by far the best holiday yet. I got a lot of stuff out of this holiday, including patience – waiting in lines at different land marks, and I learned how to bond with not only my family but everyone around me.

By your loving son Benny Boy

 What our trip meant to me - Jamie

Firstly, this has been such an amazing trip with my amazing (and strange) family!  I have learned so much, met so many interesting people, and pretty much had the experiences of a lifetime. Ah, so lucky. I wish I could go back every year, but then again, that wouldn’t make it near as special as it has been! I really hope Mum and Dad go back every year over and over again, once they are rid of us that is. Next time me and Benny boy go travelling, we will be having our own independent adventures! Ben will most likely be travelling with a girlfriend, being the little ladies’ man he is.

Anyway, to ask me for highlights of the trip I an almost impossible task! But I will try. First of all, my favourite entrée of the trip would be the pumpkin soup we had in Austria, at my dad’s great aunts house. It was so good! My favourite main meal, from the whole trip, would have to be the meal I had in Rome, a light meal of two bruschetta, one cream of mushroom, and one pommodoro!  (Tomato) I have discovered a love for bruschetta, and those ones in particular were to die for! And favourite desert. That has to be the legendary chocolate fondant I had in Beziers, France! It was perfect.

It was really quite interesting to meet all the crazy amounts of European family we have! Some, I must say, are quite odd ha-ha! But all lovely. We met some Swiss fambam, Dutch fambam, and Austrian fambam! They sure spread themselves out well. Oh my gosh, so many cuuuuuute cuzzies! What a shame most of them spoke no English!

My favourite country we went to…has to be FRANCE! I just love everything about it, the people are so amazing, the food (yikes!), and the surroundings! Its beautifuuuuul. And I feel more at home there than the other countries we went to! I still can’t believe I have been there twice already...I’m young!

Another high light for me was Spain! It was pretty raaaddd, because none of my family spoke Spanish! So guess who became the voice of the Schwarzies? ME. I enjoyed it so much, being all independent and all and feeling so happy with myself that I could communicate with someone through another language! But, one time, I needed to ask for the bill, and let’s remember I felt a bit pressured. Anyway I asked “dos cervezas por favor?” I asked for two beers! Hahaha, whereas, what I was meant to say was, “la quenta por favour?” so that was quite a highlight. But the man understood me in the end, luckily.

The most annoying thing of the trip...Was having to kiss everyone two or three times on the cheek! It got frustrating. And also, Ben’s stupid tooth that he wouldn’t pull out. Caused a lot of drama for a lil thang!

Also it was super cool to have Pops meet us in Spain! It was really special spending a bit of time with him in such a special country! Thanks Pops! That was awesome. With him we did a lot of driving! Like a few 7 hour drives! And they went quick as, so Elliots will be nothing :) We basically circumnavigated Europaaa. (What I called Europe- don’t judge (;! )

THAAAAANKYOU Schwarzies, I never thought I would get to half those places, in my lifetime! Gosh me and my ginger bro are so lucky… THANKYOU MAMA AND DADDA! Maybe you (who are reading this) have no idea how hard it is to to put in to words, what this trip meant to me, I’m surprised I wrote anything. I’m quite star struck. Anyway, I am definitely going back to some of these awesome countries when I’m older!

To me, sadly, the 6 weeks we spent in Europe went a bit too fast. But, it was the perfect amount of time, I think! And it’s time to return to my mates. In good old New Zealand!

Right now I’m at the airport writing, because about an hour ago our flight got delayed three hours. Bump in the road, but I’m loving it. Don’t know when or how we are getting home, but I can tell it’s going to be interesting. Ha-ha! J

3 days later

In the end, our luggage didn’t follow us back to NZ, when all our flights got messed up! It was crazy! But luckily our bags (that could’ve been lost forever) are coming on the ferry today!

Again, this trip meant so so much. I swear it made me a better person J

Au revoir

Ciao

Adios!

Jamie Xx

Final 2 days in Rome and back to Austria

Hi all, sorry for the delay on this latest and my second to last post. We've had a bit of drama to finish our holiday. The drama, which I will talk you through shortly, also included me losing 2 days worth of this blog. So, I've actually written this all before but I am now writing it again. Please excuse me if  I get my timing wrong because I am writing about events that happened a couple of days ago and my head is ultra fuzzy. Anyway, here goes.

Our final 2 days in Rome were spent checking out the last of the sights that we thought we needed to see before we left. On the first day we saw the Colosseum, the Forum and stopped by the Trevi fountain on the way home. On the second day, our last in Rome, we checked out the Sistine Chapel. However, before I quickly tell you about these 2 days, I will talk you through the beginnings of our dramas which began at Fiumicino - the airport in Rome. 

The trip home was always going to be a long and hard one (we calculated that it would be 34 hours from when we left Rome until we arrived home and a massive 45 hours spent before we once again got the chance to be horizontal) but luckily, we got the chance to add stressful to the trip as well. Our trip was supposed to go Rome-Frankfurt-Bangkok-Auckland. However, the leg to Frankfurt was delayed by 2 hours. This had the cumulative effect of us missing our next two connecting flights. The Lufthansa desk was swarmed with people all looking for a free meal voucher based on this delay - we had bigger issues. We could not get home. After I waited 1 1/2 hours in the queue, we were initially told that we would have to fly to Frankfurt and stay the night then fly out the next day to Bangkok. Our flight to Auckland would then be who knows when. I told the lady that this didn't really work for us. After an agonizing 20 more minutes waiting, she told us that we could go to Vienna, then onto Bangkok and meet up with our original flight to Auckland. Great. Our luggage would apparently follow us to our final destination - or so we thought... The flight to Vienna was in 20 minutes so we sprinted to the gate and got on immediately. Unfortunately, as these were new tickets, we weren't sitting together. The connecting flight to Bangkok was then in 30 minutes, so we had to sprint for that also! And again, we weren't together, but this was a 12 hour flight. We had no choice so we went with it. We were just thankful that we would make it home on time. But the whole thing was very stressful. One of us said that it was amazing that nothing had gone wrong on the trip. Whoever it was jinxed us big time.

Anyway, back to Rome.

We spent the day (2 days ago) checking out the Forum and the Colosseum. Both Chris and I had studied Rome before so we were particularly interested.

The Forum wasn't much to see but knowing what we knew about this spot still meant that it was an awesome site to see. The Forum was for centuries the centre of Roman life. At one stage, a third of the planet was under the control of the Roman Empire, and most of the decisions and economic and judicial plans were discussed, debated and implemented from this spot. Awesome.

The Colosseum is the largest amphitheatre in the world - an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It could hold 80 thousand spectators and was used for gladiatorial contests, executions, mock battles, dramas based on Classic mythology and even a church in its later years when it lay in a semi ruined state. It took the Romans 4 years to build and lasted 3 centuries before earthquake damage took its toll. Its truly an awesome structure and yet another example of what the Romans could do, and the marvels they could build. We decided to actually join a tour for visiting the Colosseum and it was well worth it. We learned so much more this way.

On the way back home, we had some lunch (of course) and visited the Trevi fountain. Because it was Sunday, it was terrifyingly busy so we took a couple of snaps and went shopping instead :)

The Forum - quite old

On the way to the colossal Colosseum

In front of the Colosseum

Looking down on the Colosseum

Gnocchi al ragu - yumbo

Pork sarnie anyone?

Trevi fountain

On our last day in Rome, we visited the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is of course famous for its frescos but is also the site of the Papal Conclave, the process by which the new Pope was selected. This was always going to be a personal highlight for me. We had purchased tickets to skip the massive queues (no shit, about 3 kms long) which got us in the doors at 12pm, which was great. I had read stories of how a certain Mr Michelangelo was forced by the current Pope to paint the ceiling of the Chapel and that it took him 4 years, lying on his back and that it almost killed him. When you actually see this thing, you can see why. Michelangelo was up against the roof on scaffolding (that he designed and got built) and had to get food and water delivered up to him. One of the many things that hits you is how did he paint this thing on wet plaster and get the result that he did by not seeing what it looked like from 40m below? Its incredible. The atmosphere in the Chapel is unique. It smells like religion. the Vatican guards are constantly asking for silence (no one is supposed to speak as it is a Holy place) and for no one to take photos or videos. This was strictly forbidden. Once again, we followed the rules and chatted quietly and took a couple of snaps - as per below. We stayed there for about 40 minutes, dissecting the fresco on the ceiling panel by panel.

Last breakfast in Rome - fancy cheese & ham toastie

Last lunch in Rome

Last dinner in Rome - Due lasagne Rosso, Risotto di porcini, Swordfish

Sign leading to the Sistine Chapel

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and my nostrils

"The Last Judgement" by Michalangelo

Located in the Sistine Chapel on one of the end walls,

Michaelangelo painted this 23 years after the ceiling.

Heaven at top, Hell at the bottom

On the way home from the Chapel, we had lunch then all had showers and completed our final preparations for leaving. The beginning of our long and eventful journey home.

Rome has been a blast and we will return. Its a city that is steeped in such ancient and relevant history. Because of the Empire's vast extent and long endurance, the institutions and culture of Rome had a profound and lasting influence on the development of language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law, and forms of government. Its busy, dirty, loud, frenetic, filled with the most fabulous food and crazy drivers, the woman are aggressive (Chris had the most hilarious run in with an older Italian woman in the Sistine Chapel. She basically barged Chris in to the wall as we tried to slip past her) and its now of our most favourite places. Perhaps it was the daunting task of the trip ahead or perhaps it was having to leave this wonderful place but either way, we were not happy to be leaving.

I am now writing this with a very fuzzy head from my breakfast bench in our house on Waiheke. We have mixed feelings about being here but I guess that's to be expected when you have been swanning around Europe for 6 weeks. Or maybe we are feeling a bit pensive because OUR BAGGAGE IS FRIKKIN LOST!! We arrived in Auckland but our 4 bags didn't. Apparently they may be somewhere in Germany but to date, they have not been located. We cant even contemplate losing them as they are not only full of all our clothes that we actually wear, but also full of all the special things we bought on our trip. It sucks. A crappy end to a great trip.

I will be making one more entry to this blog. Our final thoughts in the form of a final summary of the trip and what it will be remembered for. I have asked the kids to write us a letter headed "What the trip to Europe meant to us" so will include some of their thoughts. I'm thinking "Having hot chocolates every day" might appear on Bens list. I'm also hoping to report the return of our worldly possessions. Cross your fingers please.

Thank you for following our trip and thanks for reading my blog. My final thoughts and comments will follow soon xxx

Roma!

Well, we are at the tail end of our journey and we have only one city left to Schwarzify, and she's a doozy. Im talking about Rome, Italy.

We left Cannes yesterday morning, fare-welling Krissy and baby Luana as we hopped into our trusty Renault for the last time. Final kilometre's on the clock were 5,232 - that's 3.27 times the length of New Zealand or 1,756 km's more than the diameter of the moon (the moon is 3,476 kilometres in diameter) or 41% of the distance from one side of planet Earth to the other (Earth has a diameter of 12,756 kilometres). I'm pretty sure you just thought that the earth must be bigger than that but Google it, and you will see I'm right. I was surprised. Anyway you look at it, we drove far. It wasn't that bad though, we really didn't find it that tough. Basically 90% of it was in the 10 days from when we hooked up with Rudolf in Spain.

It was with a hint of sadness that we left her with the rental company. We had become more than friends. The mutual trust that existed between us transcended any relationship that I had previously encountered with any other car. She was special. She talked to me and I listened. She spoke to me in many different accents, and I obeyed her every command. She never hassled me for anything and I fed her when I felt that it was necessary. She guided me and my family across Europe, and she did so willingly. She was incredible and will be sorely missed. We never even had the chance to say goodbye properly. I sincerely hope that she is appreciated just as much by her next companion. We left each other in Nice, but she will remain in my heart forever.

Anyway, back to the real world. The flight to Rome from Nice was quick - about an hour. We arrived in Rome in the afternoon to a grey, overcast day. But that didn't matter at all. We checked into our apartment which is in the Trastevere part of Rome. The Lonely Planet describes Trastevere as "one of central Romes vivacious neighbourhoods. Today, it is a trendy neighbourhood full of bars, trattorias and restaurants." Basically, its the perfect part of Rome. Central, close to everything that we want to see and full to brimming with food and wine places. Puuuuuurfect.

We then went for a wander to get our bearings and to find a place recommended to us for dinner. We felt like pizza - real Roman pizza, and we weren't disappointed.  

Its hard to describe Rome. You enter all these different cities in Europe as we have and somehow, although similar, they are different. They feel different. Rome is more like Paris in feel but I guess that is in relation to their size and population. I just told the family that I have compared Rome in "feel" to Paris, and asked them why do they think it feels different. Its hard to answer. Both are crazy busy. Both are dirty - especially when comparing with Hong Kong and Switzerland. Everyone smokes in both cities. Everyone drives like maniacs in both cities. The buildings are similar. Everyone is physically beautiful in both Paris and Rome. Its really hard to put into words but they just feel different. You know that you are in Italy when you walk around Rome.

Food...

Wine...

We had an amazing dinner at place called "I Marmi". Suppli (stuffed rice balls like arancini) and stuffed zucchini flowers to start, pizzas for main and a litre of vino rosso di casa for lubrication! The place was heaving. One waiter looking after tons of people, and setting up new tables as more people arrived. A massive queue soon developed and we were politely moved on so they could feed more hungry tourists and Romans. It was an amazing spectacle and the dinner was sensational - we've never had pizza like it.

"I Marmi" - makes great pizza

Pizza and vino rosso

After a good nights sleep, our plan (today) was to see the Vatican City. Chris has been there already but I have yet to. For me, this was always going to be a highlight of our entire journey. As it turned out, we spent the best part of the day checking out only St Peter's Square, and its Basilica. I use the word 'only' lightly here cause its one hell of a place. We purchased tickets to come and see the Sistine chapel on our last day in Italy, Monday at 12pm. We did not have the time to see both today plus the queue to get in to the Vatican Museum (the Sistine Chapel is in the Vatican Museum) was about 2 km's long or 3 hours wait (no exaggeration) and it was raining. So all worked out well.

The whole thing was mindbogglingly incredible. The dome that was designed by Michaelangelo and sits 120m above the alter, is stunning. We walked all 320 steps AFTER the elevator to the very top. A bit claustrophobia inducing but worth it. Yet again, and please excuse my French because swearing is not always necessary but, how the fuck did they build these things?? It beats me but the whole thing is just unbelievable.

Looking down from half way to top of dome

2 things in a small space - hundreds of things actually,
we queued for an hour

View from the top - quite nice :)

Me and the kids out the front

View to the alter from inside - quiet big

It was about 3.30pm when we managed to pry ourselves away from St Peter's and true to form, we were getting hungry plus we had some Euro's to blow before we leave in 2 days - bring on the shopping!

Lunch was wonderful, we found a little trattoria far enough away from St Peters to not be touristy. This time we had pasta. This time we also had a litre of red wine. This "hey, we are on holiday" excuse will come to a shuddering halt when we (a) get home and (b) pluck up the courage to step on the scales. We have promised ourselves to not return to NZ wishing that we had done or bought something and then didn't. The fact that "eating more than our own body weight" wasn't on that wish list doesn't matter at all.

We got home at about 5.30pm with sore feet, full bellies and a small haul of shopping. Yet another superb day - and I realise that I say that a lot. Its now 7.35pm and we are off to find somewhere for dinner soon. Cant wait to step back into the crazyness of an evening in Rome.

Tomorrow - hopefully the Colosseum and the Forum. Oh, and lunch :)

Cannes

Today was all about lunch in Cannes, pics below

 Lunch with John, Ruth, Graham, Krissy, Luana and my family

 Fois gras!! So good and yet, so bad

 Moules et frites

Steak tartare - raw meat

Banana split, French styles

Cafe gourmand - espresso with delicious treats

As I mention above, our last day in France was all about lunch. The parents of one of our hosts Graham, had arrived overnight from the UK so a lunch was in order. Ok, lets not kid ourselves, its always a good time for lunch. It was a beautiful day in Cannes today, the sun was shining and it was a balmy 27 degrees.  The Riviera Beach Club, a restaurant on the beachfront was the place to be apparently. We were in search of a good tartare au boeuf (raw beef) and a moules frites (mussels and fries). We had seen a lot of beef tartare's around and Chris had a hankering for one. I had not had mussels since St Chinian so was really keen on sampling the French moules again before we left France tomorrow. Who knows when we will get to return here.

As it turned out, the moules were exquisite and the tartare was a bit underwhelming. It was made differently to the tartares that we had tried before. No bite from the vinegar, capers and mustard and a strangely creamy texture, which was a bit odd. It wasn't nasty by all means, just not that good. However, the foie gras more than made up for the average tartare. It was served simply with some toast and a fig compote - a coronary inducing delight and a real treat for both Chris and I. 

Chris and Jamie on beach after lunch - 10m from our table

After lunch, we meandered up through the old part of Cannes towards home. On the way home we stopped off for a Guiness at Graham's favourite pub and also for some gelati to have post the evening meal. What a great day. Yet another one.

Dinner was a home cooked simple affair. The evening was spent talking and drinking and eating as usual. Its been so nice spending the time we have with Krissy and Graham. They have been such generous hosts. Tomorrow, we rise early and drive to Nice, about 45 minutes away. There, we drop off our trusty car and catch a plane to Rome, only an hour away. Its the last few days of our holiday and what a city to finish our trip of a lifetime at. True to our level of organsiation, we even have some euro's left so we wont starve!

I have the best little family in the world. They have been an absolute  pleasure to travel with and I have loved every single second of being with all of them in Europe. I cant wait to hang with them in Roma!

Cannes

Hi there everyone, today we are in Cannes, France. We are staying at a dear friends house which is only a 10 minute walk away from the hustle and bustle of the waterfront of this seaside French city.

Ben in Cannes

We left gorgeous Verona about 10am and headed for Cannes. The trip was only about 5 hours long although, it took us quite a bit longer. From Verona, we basically headed South until we hit Genoa then headed along the coast towards Cannes. This route to Cannes included driving along the famed Cote d'Azur, the playground of the worlds rich and famous. We drove in tandem with Dad and dropped him off on the way in Villefranche sur mer, a completely gorgeous little seaside town. It was sad to see Dad go as we had a wonderful last 10 days with him. What an amazing experience, being able to travel where we have with my father and the kids grandfather (or Gros vater as he is now called).

As it turned out, the one hours drive from Villefranche sur mer to Cannes was the most stressful of the trip. It involved a very near crash into the back of another car as I adjusted my course at the last minute, at high speed. It was one of those moments where everything went into slow motion and we waited for the crash to happen. Luckily I stopped about 5cm short. It also involved a very stressful drive into Monaco, followed by a U turn (because I was getting frustrated at waiting) just as a policeman came around the corner. I half completed the U turn which included jumping up and over the curb. Instant sphincter tightening as I waited for the blue flashing lights and siren but much to our surprise, the policeman smiled at us as he drove by! He was probably thinking "Bloody tourists (our tourist plates give it away), Ill cut them some slack".  I also had to drive through Nice to get to Cannes at full rush hour. There were cars everywhere and Kathy, our GPS friend (we had ditched Jane due to losing confidence in her decision making plus Kathy's Irish accent was somewhat calming) told me to do things like "Vear right" which I did as I turned to the right on the far right of the road with 4 packed lanes of traffic beside me to my left all going 100 kmph then instantly after that "Get into left lane" which involved getting across said 4 packed lanes of traffic before I missed my turn to the left! Hard to explain, its a kind of a "you had to be there" kind of thing. Anyway, I'm not sure if Kathy and I are going to work out. 

Somehow, we made it but there was more than a few very hairy moments.

We spent the evening with Krissy, Graham and their beautiful daughter Luana. Graham wasn't originally going to make it but ended up having to drive up from St Tropez so we ended up spending the night with him, which was awesome. When he arrived at about 7pm, I had to go with him on a mission to pick up a van from the port and bring it back home. So once again, I found myself in another bizarre place whereby this time I was driving someone else's car through Cannes, at night with a couple of glasses of wine under my belt. All went to plan though and we both got home safe and sound. I was terrified I was going to lose Graham (who I was following) as I would never had found my way back to their house. It was actually a lot of fun. After that, we all had a lovely dinner of bread, cheese, meats and wine and went off to bed nicely replete.

Me, Jamie and Luana

Monaco sign

The next day (today) we took a stroll around Cannes. The first thing we went to see was the daily market. As it turns out, it was the most impressive market that we have seen yet - and we have seen a few. Everything was incredible, all abundant and beautifully presented. There was this most amazing mushroom stand with piles of incredible mushrooms. It is mushroom season here at the moment so it is the perfect time to eat them. We left with a tonne of fruit as well as a kg of delicious fresh ceps which will be the hero of a mushroom risotto that we are planning to make later this evening - check out the pic. Those of you that know how big my hand is will appreciate the size of this shroom.

Cep - otherwise known as porcini

Amazing produce

Amazing tomatoes

The rest of the day, we wandered around Cannes, stopping for a coffee here, a baguette there and a beer here and there. Knackered, we have all arrived home whereby I have taken the opportunity to write this (with Ricard in hand) then will soon take the opportunity to go for a nap.

Only a week to go now before we head back home, via Rome. We are all really looking forward to that part of the journey. We are also all looking forward to heading home - well not the 'heading' bit, that bit will be horribly long and uncomfortable. More like looking forward to being home.

Europe is incredible, but there is nothing quite like home and your own bed.

Verona

“When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.” 
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, set in Verona, Italy

Today, we are in Verona. We left the gutteral speaking Austrian's in Graz and have arrived in the house of the beautiful speaking Italians in this ancient city of Verona. I do not jest when I say this as the clear and contrasting differences between the sound of these 2 languages is profoundly evident - first noticed when my Austrian radio station changed to an Italian one as we drove into Italy.

We left the cold of Graz (8 degrees when we left) for the warmth of Italy (18 degrees now at 11.12pm) at about 10am. As mentioned yesterday, the drive was a mere 550 odd km's or about 5 hours. Easy peasy. As we left Austria, we went higher in the mountains and the temp dropped to 4 degrees then as we went down towards Italy, it rose to about 12 degrees. Cool. We stopped once on the way for an espresso and a sandwich at a truck stop off the motorway, in Italy. Screeds of Italians get off the motorway, grab an espresso up at the bar (picture lots of Italians standing up at the coffee bar, no one sitting) and are gone in 10 mins flat. Pretty cool. Not a milky coffee in sight. We arrived at our hotel at about 3.30pm

Espresso

After faffing around for an hour or two (checking Facebook, doing washing, having a cheeky whiskey, checking Facebook and checking Facebook again) we followed the hotel managers instructions to find a great place for dinner in the centre of Verona. We were about 10 mins out of town, so the plan was to park outside town and walk in. 

We wandered in on a balmy Autumnal evening. Verona is a lovely ancient city with a Roman arena smack bang in the middle of town. Its full of typical Italian style and class. And typical yummy Italian food.

Roman arena in Verona - its quite old

Ben encountered some resistance along the way

but managed to kick his centurion arse

For dinner, we had pizza, pasta, tiramisu and pinot griggio. Yummy. Not a bad price either. On the way back to the car, we also managed to squeeze in a gelato :)

Tortellini with sage and butter 

Our kiddies takings a stroll together in Verona

All in all, an uncomplicated and groovy day. We only have one day here as we are using it as a stop over on our journey to Cannes, where we are staying for a few days with a friend of ours. Its a shame its only a day but we cant do everything we want and go everywhere we would like to on this trip. We will just have to come back!

Cant wait to be back in France tomorrow - love that place. Its our favourite :)

Fried chicken

Call it my weird sense of humour, but the German language is funny - particularly the road signs, as per my last photo.

Here's a few words on some other signs that we saw on the motorway on the way in to Graz. The spelling is exactly as it appeared. I reckon that if you don't find at least some of these hilarious, then there is something wrong with you. Chris and I pissed ourselves laughing. It does help if you read them out load in your best German accent. Here goes:

Ausfahrt - farts are always funny
Wankdorp - wanking is even funnier
Buhtmann - bottoms are funny too
Assholze - no comment
Munchwilen - definitely no comment, our parents are reading this
Manshetten - we all do
Fritz Rutz - lucky Fritz
Killwangen - unlucky wangen
Durck Fahrt - farts are still funny

Funny huh. So today, we drove up into the mountains to have lunch. Everyone was there - he four of us plus Rudolph, Tante Inge, 1st cousin Brigitte and her man Erich. We drove up and up and up. And then we drove up some more. It was a rainy and misty day and the further up we drove, the colder it got. It got to 5 degrees actually. We have gone from very hot to very cold and in a few days, we will be in very hot again.

Not trying to yodel, trying to show steam cause its frikkin cold

On a Sunday, all around this region of Austria, everyone dresses up to go out for lunch. Its not just about the food here though, drinking is always high up on the agenda. We had a reservation at a delightful old fashioned restaurant, surrounded by vineyards, high up in the hills. We were here to have 2 dishes in particular - a specialty of the region called Steirisches backhendl and a dessert which is an Austrian specialty, kaiserschmarrn. And schnapps of course.

Backhendl is deepfried, crumbed chicken. Anything deepfried and crumbed is delicious. Ok, not everything but nearly everything. Steirisches backhendl is specific to this region in Austria, Styria. It is incredible. After ordering drinks, 2 massive bowls of the backhendl were placed in the middle of the table and we all dived in.

Backhendl

Eating fried chicken - finger lickin good

The second dish, a dessert called kaiserschmarrn was delivered to the table when the pile of chicken bones had been cleared away. Two of our friends on Waiheke, one Austrian and one German, both separately emailed us and said this was the dish to not leave Austria without trying. Its hard to explain what it is. Its essentially a thick crepe with a light, almost custardy texture and a taste reminiscent of sugar dusted French toast. It is torn into bite sized pieces and served with a side of the most delicious plum compote. Unbelievable

Kaiserschmarrn

No kaiserschmarrn

After the meal we had coffee and schnapps, which is a wonderful way to finish. All these local dishes or dishes specific to a particular country or region started me thinking. What is OUR specialty dish? Do we even have one? If we were hosting a group of foreigners and we wanted to serve them a typically NZ dish, what would it be? Fush and chups? Mussels? Sauteed kiwi? Maybe we are too young as a nation to have one. Or maybe food does not play the same role in NZ as it does in the countries that we have visited...

It was yet another superb meal and as it turned out, our last meal in Austria. We were so full we skipped dinner. Skipped dinner?! That's very un 'the schwarzies in Europe' like. Im sure it will do us good to eat a little less for an evening. Anyway, we can catch up tomorrow morning. Our breakfast is all you can eat! Wahoo!

We farewelled my new found relatives, went back to our hotel to pack up and hit the sack early. Its been really special getting to know all the Austrians. Tomorrow we leave Austria and head for Verona, Italy, only a 5 hour drive away. Our time here has been great. Its been very different to all our other adventures, but that's one of the things that has made this trip so far, so great. We have done so many different and wonderful things. Our children now have all these new contacts all over Europe so when they eventually want to travel themselves, if they do, they will be welcomed back with open arms I am sure. How lucky are they. 

Bye Bye Graz