We had a fantastic day with them experiencing some local cuisine (black sausage amongst others), wandering through the woods picking wild berries and our highlight - experiencing a local public sauna. The sauna experience was fantastic and we were glad to have a Finn with us to talk us through the routine. Basically, you sit in the sauna for as long as you can stand the heat and then go outside and swim in the cool lake water (thankfully for us it is summer, so the water was only 18 degrees. The Finns do this year round by preventing one section of the lake freezing over in winter and walking on heated carpets from sauna to lake to swim in the icey cold water whilst people are ice-skating or skiing on the frozen lake). You re-enter the sauna to heat up again and repeat this cycle for as long as you please.

From Tampere we went to Turku to meet up with Elise´s sisters´ friend, also a Finn. Our timing was pretty good as we were there during Turku´s biggest summer festival where the Finns take their partying to extremes to take advantage of the 3 months of the year where there is evening sunlight.

So as they say in the classics ´all good things must come to an end´and as we sit here in the Helsinki airport lounge, our end has finally arrived. It has been an adventure of a lifetime for both of us. We have seen so many unbelievable sights and met some great people along the way. But after 4 months we are looking forward to coming home and seeing all our family and friends. Until then .....

A Finnish finish remains copyright of the author ScottBorg, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Travelling to Tallinn and then St Petersburg was like being the adjudicator where the big brother and little brother are having a fight and we have to decide who is in the wrong. When Estonia entered into the EU in 2004 I think they celebrated most out of all of the former eastern-bloc countries - finally they were part of a wider European community and would have support to retain their independance from their big brother neighbour, Russia.

Soviet monuments
Earlier this year after 15 years of independence, Estonia decided it was time to move a Soviet monument from the centre of the city. Soviet rule was not something the Estonians liked or wanted (and since having independence they are now experiencing a booming economy) so listening to their side of the story, moving the monument and the reminder of Soviet rule seemed like the logical thing to do. Russia on the otherhand took great offence to the monuments relocation and retaliated by attacking key Estonian government websites, in the worlds first cyber war.

Fascinating stuff!! We thought the Estonians were just super paranoid claiming without doubt that the attacks came from Russian government IP addresses and figured that upon getting to Russia we'd find that this would surely be denied by the Russians. In the first of many major cultural suprises (differences) we've experienced in Russia we learnt that the cyber attack on Estonian government sites was not at all denied, but a source of pride for the Russians.

The bribing system
We've been lucky enough to avoid having to pay any "fines" (bribes) during our visit in St Petersburg, but they are an accepted part of every day life over here. From anything like avoiding having to do national service, to getting your desired mark at university (regardless of how smart you are) to selling produce on the streets, a bribe works.

Paranoia
It would seem fair to us that a small country like Estonia would have good reason to be paranoid and super meticulous at their border controls, but we found that the Russians take paranoia to a new level. Crossing the border from Estonia to Russia was like a scene out of a WWII movie. As everyone gets off the bus to have their bags x-rayed, the border guards make the bus driver open up the engine to inspect inside, along with inspecting all the way under the bus with mirrors. This paranoia is not just at borders, but at the metro stations also, where it is illegal to take photos of the metro. (and yes, this is a rule that is enforced!). Not taking photos of key milatery sites and embassies I can understand, but the metro?

All of these cultural 'suprises' have contributed to us having a fantastic time in St Petersburg. It is a very beautiful city that buzzes to the early hours of the morning as the summer "white nights" continue. Everywhere you turn there is a beautifully elaborate palace, church or building and we have loved learning about the history and very different way of life of this colourful place.

Next stop (and our last!) is Finland.

Tallinn and St Petersburg remains copyright of the author EliseJones, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Heading to Scandinavia we really didn't know what to expect as not being a popular destination for Aussies we didn't know anyone who has ever been here before. Along the way we had heard that Norway was the most expensive country in Europe and after paying $14 for 2 cokes when we arrived in Oslo we quickly realised that it would not be a cheap stop, but one we're definately glad we made.

Arriving in Copenhagen we soon found out that we needed to buy some warmer clothes as the Scandi summer is the equivalent of our winter, around 15 degrees and wet. So we hit the shopping strip (Stroget) and bought some hoodies which are all the rave over here. The hoods come in very handy to keep the rain off your head (it rains about 270 days a year). We took a stroll though the city and checked out the Royal Palace and Elise got really excited when she saw Queen Magarethe being chauffered out of the palace. After coming all this way we were kind of hoping to chew the fat with Princess Mary about life in Denmark but she gave us the royal brush. Oh well her loss!!!

I managed to score a free city bike and rode around the city while Elise checked out a Danish war museum. My ride came to an abrupt halt when the chain snapped. I had to walk the bike back to the stand, luckily I hadn't gone too far. I knew there was a catch! Nothing is cheap, let alone free in Scandinavia.

Next stop was Norway where we had read about the scenic railway from Oslo to Bergen so we hopped on the train from the airport for the 7 hour journey. What a spectacular journey it was as we were both glued to the windows for the entire trip. Magical mountains, glaciers, snow and greenery cutting through lots of water...like nothing we'd ever seen before. Seven hours has never seemed to go so quickly. A bonus for Elise was she she did not have to sit next to a wet smelly dog this trip.

Arriving late into Bergen we prebooked our accomodation, a youth hostel run by a church charity. It was my first taste of dormontory sleeping since school camp days down in Bowral and after spending 102 nights in private rooms I thought it was time to mix it up a bit. Little did I know that this hostel had one large dorm with 20 triple decker beds (yes...that's 60 people!) and not lots of smaller dorms as is usually the norm. Our timing was perfect as Thursday nights were waffle night and we got there just in time and scored the last batch of waffles... yum just what the doctor ordered after the long train ride.

We soon got chatting to some other travellers at the hostel and before we knew it the time was 2am and time to head for bed. The challenge then was to try and make our beds. One problem - a pitch black dorm full of people trying to sleep! Thankfully I eventually dug out a torch Mum insisted I buy (good tip Mum..thanks!). It came in very handy and we managed to make our beds and get to sleep although a few snorners initially stood in my way.

Next day we headed to the tourist office to try and figure out the best way to plan our trip around Norway. Lady luck was definately on our side. After talking to one of the ladies at the office she invited us on a road trip with her and a friend which she was leaving for in a few hours. She was taking us to the Hardanger fjord region... and then we could continue our trip around Norway from there after some good tips on where to go. We stayed in a hut on a campsite in Sundal at the base of a massive glacier mountain....beautiful spot.

Hiking is really big here, given the amazing mountainous setting we were not surprised. From Sundal we hiked up to the lake at the base of the glacier which was an awesome experience. The air is so fresh here and the scenery so breathtaking you kind of forget about the physical challenge involved with the climb. Unfortunately we didn't have the right gear and not enough time (we had to get back down to get a connecting bus) so we could not reach the top...but I hope one day we might be able to come back and do it..would be a great experience.

We kept on loosing track of the time as it did not get dark until midnight. It was great to go for late night walks around the mountains. One night we were admiring the views when all of a sudden Elise screamed at the top of her voice. She had been zapped by an electric fence.... ouch!! A couple of meters down the road we spotted the smallest sign warning about the fence. We wondered what the fence was protecting, it didn't seem to fit with the beautiful natural setting. Then we saw a lonesome bull about 50 meters away. Cattle are prized possesions over here, unlike bears, deers, whales and anything else that moves which are all fair game in Norways national passion for hunting.

Norway definately has been a surprise packet for us. It is postcard views everywhere (though you do have to pay for the privelage). We've met some very friedly locals (thanks Yolande and Jurenn!!) They went out of their way to show us their fantastic country. We loved it so much we extended our stay here for an extra couple of days so we have to squeeze Sweden in maybe at the end as we need to get to St Petersburg ina couple of days.

Scandinavian summer remains copyright of the author ScottBorg, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The last 10 days has seen a big change in our travels. We´ve left the sun and sea of Croatia behind and have been to 3 of central Europe´s amazing cities. Thoughts and experiences on each below;

Krakow
Krakow is a beautiful and quaint town and its not suprising that the number of tourists visiting this place has exploded in recent years. It also has a very sombre past.

We did a day trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau about 60km away, which was as depressing as you would imagine it to be. When we first arrived I was able to slightly remove myself from the place when were just looking at lots of buildings in the camp, however when we entered into the building that is now part of the museum that displays the personal items of the victims it really did highlight the reality of the situation and I was left with a sick feeling in my stomach for the remainder of the tour.

We also did a bike tour of the town of Krakow itself. This included about 13km of riding on flat ground, so was pretty easy and was a great way to see everything including all the main sites of the town, the jewish ghetto and cemetary and Oskar Schindlers factory (that the movie Schindler´s List was based on).

Prague
Prague is beautiful and has a great vibrant feeling to it. Unless your into museum´s (which we aren´t) there is not too much touristy stuff to do, so it was good to spend a few days wandering about and taking in the buzz of the city.

We had a very interesting train journey from Krakow to Prague. We had settled into the cabin that we had all to ourselves for the first 2hrs of the journey, until finally the luxury was over and we had to share with others. We couldn´t believe our luck on public transport could get any funnier than kicking a nun out of our seats.....but this one does compete. We were joined by a family who looked like they were going on a Griswalds holiday, complete with the family dog and rat. I´m sure you will all have a little chuckle of this pic that Scott slyly took of me with the dog seated comfortably next to me on the train. (I wouldn´t have mind so much if it didn´t smell like wet dog.....yuk).

Berlin
The constantly evolving city. I was in Berlin 5 years ago and can´t believe how much it has changed since then. I´m sure if I came back in just 2 years it would have changed again still. Berlin has such a massive history I´m sure you could spend years here and still be trying to understand it all. In our attempt to learn and take in as much as we could we did an 8 hour walking tour of the city, which was extremely interesting, though probably would have been slightly more pleasant if it hadn´t of rained for the majority of the day. (That umbrella we bought in Barcelona on our first stop is still getting a work-out. By far the best €6 we´ve spent on our trip).

Tonight we fly to Copenhagen to start the last leg of this tour - Scandinavia and Russia (we are loving the cheap flights on offer over here, makes getting a train seem stupid).

Krakow-Prague-Berlin remains copyright of the author EliseJones, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We decided to get an overnight bus from Sicily to Amalfi which was full mainly of Italians, and few tourists. We settled into our journey and after 3hrs arrived at the ferry crossing back to the mainland. At this point you can either get off the bus and go up onto the deck of the ferry - or you can stay on the hot bus which had the air off. So, the choice seemed obvious for us and we headed up onto deck for the 45min journey. We did think it was a strange choice for many who did stay on the bus, until it was time to get back on and our seats had been taken by a nun. She had obviously decided that she wanted a little more space to spread out and had settled into our 2 seats. Now we were in a bit of a bind, as technically they weren't the seat numbers on our tickets as to our horror, at the start of our journey our allocated seats were taken by the drunk we had seen hanging with the gypsies at the bus-stop, filling his water bottle with cask wine for the journey.

Now Scotty being a good catholic boy didnt want to kick the nun out of her new seats, however we now had to decide who would be easier to kick out of our seats - the nun or the drunk!

In the end, we copped out and told the bus driver that our seats had been taken. It was quite funny to watch Scott try to communicate that a nun was in our seat to someone who didnt speak a word of English. He was making the sign of the cross and putting his hands together in prayer to try to get the message across, whilst I was trying to hold back my laughter. It must have worked as the bus driver got on the bus and blurted a few words in Italian to the nun, who with a huff and a puff begrudingly moved out of our 2 seats and back alongside someone else.

Luckily that has been our only transport hiccup, aside from our frustrating bus trip from Catania to Mt Etna where the bus driver and his side kick decided that within a 45min journey they had earned a half hour break to have coffee, buy cakes and smoke a few cigarettes before resuming the journey. (see picture of them in action below)

So far, Sicily definately wins the award for the craziest drivers in Europe. Mopeds and scooters rule the streets and pedestrians have to step out in front of cars in order to make them stop. This doesnt seem to phase the locals one bit who walk out with their baby in a pram hoping the cars will stop. I cringed everytime I saw this.

We did our fair share of hiking in Sicily. We visited Taormina which is a beautiful town perched on a clifftop. The train station however is by the sea, so it was a good 30min stair climb to the top. We were rewarded in the afternoon when we stumbled across a beautiful beach called Isola Bella - Beautiful Island (see picture below). The rocks did hurt getting into the water, but the swim was worth it.

We also did a day trip to Mt Etna, which we were a little unprepared for. ie: we wore shorts, singlets, took hats and suncream and didnt realise that it is a ski mountain during winter, so in the summer was still a chilly 12 degs. We did warm up though when we opted against the overpriced jeep bus to the active crater at the top and walked up instead. We had no idea what was at the top, or how long it was going to take, but about 2hrs later, with slightly stiff legs we made it to the top. We were 'rewarded' with seeing the steam coming out of the crater and feeling the heat coming out of the ground. I'm not sure its something we'd visit again, but the walk up their at high altitude was good to get the heart rate up.

After Sicily we had 3 much more relaxing days in the beautiful Amalfi Coast. We stayed in a very cute little bed'n'breakfast in the town of Amalfi and did a day trip to both Positano and Ravello, along with some good hours chilling out on the beach and swimming in the nice warm water.

In total, we've had 3 weeks in Italy and loved pretty much most places we've been to. It definately is a country spoit with lots of beautiful places.

Today we arrived in Croatia and tomorrow we board our 7 day cruise around Central and South Dalmatia.

The nun or the drunk? remains copyright of the author EliseJones, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We've enjoyed many fun bus rides in Malta whilst steering clear of the "dodgy bastard taxi drivers". My parents were only very young when they emigrated to Australia but one thing they warned me about was to avoid the taxis. After only taking a couple of steps outside customs we were approached by taxi drivers who proceeded to tell us that the only way to get to our destination was of course by taxi....and it would only cost us 25 euros. We refused their kind offer and started the walk up the hill to Valletta city centre which was 'apparently' only a 15-20min walk from the ferry terminal. Some 45 minutes, and many stairs later we arrived at the bus terminal 2 hot and weary travellers given the combination of backpacks and 30 degree heat. A 30 minute bus ride costing a mere 0.30 euros we arrived at my uncles empty flat. The 2 bedroom flat just 2 min walk from the water at St Paul's Bay seemed more like a palace to us after 2 months of hostels, pensions and dodgy hotel rooms with noisy motorway views.

One thing I haven't been suprised by is the friendliness of the locals, especially the old folk, which I encountered in my search for my mum's family cave. The beauty of Malta is that pretty much everyone knows everyone. Even though my Mum's family left over 50 years ago, I only had to ask a few locals in the town where they lived who somehow could still recall my Mum's family and point me in the direction of where they lived. On many occasions I can recall my Mum saying "Son, if I told you I was born in a cave you wouldn't believe me!" and to be honest I probably didn't. But having tracked down the site where there are about 10 caves built into the side of a rock face where my Mum's family lived amongst others and wandering through them, I now believe her. The caves have long since been vacated but there were still signs that these were well lived in caves. Some were sectioned off into numerous rooms, the hessian sacks used as curtains were still hanging, along with rusted old buckets we're told were used to carry water, and old cooking pots. Visiting these caves was quite a surreal experience to think that people actually lived here, let alone my Mum's family.

When visiting a country you always gain a much bigger appreciation of the history because you get to see it with your own eyes. In Malta I have been blown away by the amount of attacks and attempted invasions this little island has had to endure, mainly due to its strategic location smack bang in the middle of the meditteranean. We visited some WW2 air-raid shelters when Malta became one of the most bombed places on earth.

We also visited the Mosta Dome - a massive church, which during WW2 a bomb was dropped, piercing the roof during a service and did not explode or injure anyone. This is considered a miracle by the Maltese. It's after visiting these places that the locals are so proud of their history and these little islands.

We've had 2 wonderful weeks here and even though you can drive from one side of the island in less than an hour there is plenty to see and do here. We have swum in some of the most crystal clear bright blue water at the Blue Lagoon, had a day snorkelling, did a Jeep Safari around the island of Gozo and experienced a religious festival quite unlike anything I've seen before. We sampled the islands night-life hotspot at Paceville where some of the female fashions really do leave nothing to the imagination. Throw in the hot weather and we can see why this is such a pommie tourist haven.

Next stop is to Sicily and then the Amalfi Coast.

PS: The pastizzi and Kinnie taste better here!

Malta buses remains copyright of the author ScottBorg, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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With some spare time up our sleeves we decided to take the car to Slovenia. This was my 3rd visit to Slovenia and my love for the country grows each time. We based ourselves in beautiful Bled and stayed there for 4 days. Firstly because it is such a beautiful, quiet and peaceful place and secondly because we were staying in a great apartment with our own kitchen so very much enjoyed being able to cook our own meals for the first time since being on the road.

Slovenia is great for those who love adventure and beautiful outdoors. We did kayaking, walked through gorges, around lakes, up mountains, to waterfalls and natural springs. Personally, I could do this for days as I love just watching the power and constant flow of the waterfalls. Scotty however liked Slovenia but had seen enough waterfalls to keep him going for a while. He is a bit more of a hustle and bustle, city (shopping) kind of guy.

So, of course he felt much more at home when we had 4 days in Venice!

My last visit to Venice was 6 years ago on a Contiki tour, and I think I saw St Marks Square, did a overpriced Gondola ride and saw little else of the city. So my memory of it is not that great and I wouldnt be lying if I said I wasnt really that interested in going back to Venice. Scotty, however had memories of good shopping in Venice.....so was keen to go back!

We had 4 days to explore with no schedules. A little different from my last experience. We walked all the different islands of Venice, did a little shopping (Scotty was restrained) and enjoyed being in this very vibrant city.

They arent lying though when they say Venice is Italys most expensive city. We enjoy trying to find local places for eating and drinking that arent massive tourist spots. This is harder than you would think to do. On the second day we did find a great little coffee shop (that the Lonely Planet recommended) that served the best coffee weve ever tasted....for the mere cost of €0.70 ea. This was however a day after we paid €8.00 for 2 very average tasting coffees. Needless to say, we started each day with a great little macchiato. Nothing makes us more frustrated than places that effectively take the piss out of unsuspecting tourists. You would think we learn, but on our last day in Venice we sat down for a drink in a square before dinner and had 1 glass of beer and 1 glass of wine for €14.50!! The day before we had 2 glasses of beer and 2 glasses of wine for only €11. So, as I said, it is harder than you think not to get ripped off and it does frustrate you, but we do get a very good sense of satisfaction when we find somewhere great that the locals probably enjoy.

We departed Venice today enroute for Siena in Tuscany. Upon arriving we parked the car (outside of the town, as you cant drive into the centre) and did the hunt for accomodation. Being Saturday night, we werent having much luck as most places were booked out. So we decided to get back in the car and continue onto Rome, where we found accomodation in a hotel on the outskirts of Rome where the receptionist looks like Mr Bean, the hotel is run like Fawlty Towers and the shuttle bus driver doubles as the waiter. Its good entertainment for a Saturday night!!

2 nights in Rome and then we head South to Sicily.

Slovenia and Venice remains copyright of the author EliseJones, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After enjoying the touristic side of Paris we met up with one of Elise's friends Lisa, who has just moved to Paris with her French husband and has just had a baby. They say the best way to get to know a culture is from the locals and for French cuisine/culture Jean Philippe certainly did a great job at that.

Elise and I had only been on the road for 5 weeks but we certainly did enjoy the comforts of their wonderful hospitality and some delicious home cooked meals. Jean Phillippe cooked up a storm each night giving us some authentic French cuisine including boudin (specially prepared pig sausages), potatoes (specially cooked in Fois Gras fat) and lots of other food which the names I cannot pronounce nor remember except that they were yummy.

After spending some relaxing days in Paris which included pushing little one month baby Oscar around the parks of Saint Mande in Paris, we headed through the French-Italian-Swiss alps via a stopover in Dijon. For anyone planning a trip to Dijon can I suggest a quick stop rather than an extended stay as although it is quite famous for mustard there was not a huge amount going on there.

Next stop was Lake Como a really picture postcard place. Elise thought it would be nice to walk around the lake but after checking out the map and seeing it was over 50km long I thought it would be best to take the boat trip, which was amazing with some of the most beautiful lake views we've ever seen.

The drive to Como was fantastic as we saw some amazing scenery with the snow capped Alps and amazing mountain views, however we did pay for the privalege. On one day it cost us over 80 euro in tolls!!

From Como we did a day trip to Milano which was only 1 hour by train. This is the fashionista capitol of Italy. Every second person has a Louis Vuitton handbag (even the boys) and it is luxury brand paradise. We bought a few things, but had to be restricted by the fact we have to carry everything we buy and of course would be home next week if we bought a few LV handbags!!

Arriving in the Cinque Terre was an interesting experience as those of you whom have been there will know that having a car in this place can be a little difficult as it such a small and isolated place. We both did not know what to expect as we normally dump the car somewhere when we get to a city and go and hunt for some accomodation. After driving along the very windey Italian coast we arrived at Monterosso which is the last of the 5 towns and we hit a dead end in the road with a boom gate to the Town. Anyway a little old Italian lady tapped on our car window and starting speaking to us. We did not really understand her at all but we assumed she wanted us to come and stay at her place which has a private room. With nothing to lose she jumped in the back of the car and we went back up the hill about 100 metres and dodgy parked the car... I'm getting good at that and went down about 10 flights of stairs and got to the place which was a really nice little flat, and only a 3 minute walk to the town centre. Lady luck was smiling on us and we did not have to do any leg work that day.

Next day we planned to do the walk through the 5 towns. This is one of the most remarkable and beautiful walks I have ever done. The track is constructed on the side of the mountain with stones that have been laid over thousands of years by generations of Italians. The path is no more that 3/4 of a metre wide for the most part and there are thousands of stairs along the way. The trek is about 9 km from the start to finish and we really did earn our drinkies at the end of that day. We completed the walk in 3.5hrs and it takes the oldies with hiking apparatus/walking sticks 4.5hrs. My heart rate hit over 160 beats per minute heading up some of the stairs. ( I wore my heart rate monitor).

I will let the photos do the talking about this place......

After a marathon 10 hour drive we are now in Lake Bled in Slovenia, an equally beautiful place where we have booked a Kayak trip for tomorrow.

So, as you can see we've had an action-packed couple of weeks, hence no update for a while!

We have loaded lots of pictures but haven't added them all to this blog, so click on our names under Author, and from there you can click on more images to see them all (i think! I'm sure you'll find it)

Paris to Como to Cinque Terre to Lake Bled remains copyright of the author ScottBorg, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We feel like luck has been shining on us every step of the way in France. First of all we turn up in Bordeaux (without taking 1 single wrong turn!!) on a Friday. We hadn't factored in that Bordeaux is a weekend holiday destination, so we were very happy when we got good accomodation right in the centre of Bordeaux.

We had planned to visit some wineries, or Chateuax's as they're called in France (as one has to do in Bordeaux!) and thought this process would be much the same as it is in Australia. ie: rock up to the cellar door, go inside...sometimes hear a bit about the winery and then taste some of their wine. After enquiring at the Bordeaux tourist office we are told in France, you can't just 'turn up' for a tasting - you must have a reservation. It was now all sounding a bit too hard and we were told we could visit some wineries on a guided tour booked through the tourist office. Of alternatively if we had a car (this is the lucky part!) there was a special festival on in the little town of Saint Emilion that we wanted to go to, where for this weekend only the wineries had 'Portes Ouvertes en Saint Emilion'....'Open door in Saint Emilion', meaning we could turn up without a booking.

Most of the time on this trip we are doing sightseeing and day trips ourselves, rather than on guided tours where a lot of the time you're hearded in and hearded out on a big bus. But in this instance we were edging towards taking the easy/lazy option of the guided tour and not having to worry about finding our way there etc. So having made the decision to go on the guided tour, we return to the tourist office to buy tickets and find out that they have now been sold out (within the 2 hrs of our return).

So fate intervened and we found our way to Saint Emilion with no dramas, explored the medieval town and then started visiting wineries. One particular winery called La Rochebelle Chateaux was our favourite that used old style vats and equipment and had these amazing underground tunnels carved out of limestone, as a cellar storing all the barrels and bottles of wine. Doing the visit on our own enabled us to visit 4 chateauxs (instead of the 1 on the tour) and the money we saved on the tour we spent on wine instead. A much better investment I think!

We made good use of the car in Bordeaux and took another day trip to L'bassin Arcachon where we climbed the biggest sand dune in Europe. That was good for the buttocks and to burn off some of the yummy french sweets we've been enjoying.

Our initial plan from Bordeaux was to head to the Sth of France and the Riveria, however we looked up the weather forecast first and the weather in the Sth was ordinary. Having had our fair share of ordinary weather and the idea of being in the French Riveria when it was raining didn't appeal, so we decided to come to Paris instead.

Paris is a beautiful city that is impossible not to love. We left Bordeaux early yesterday morning for the 5 1/2 hr drive here. Scott did very well driving for the first 1 1/2 hr through very thick fog that you could only see about 15-20 metres in front of you. We arrived about lunch and had pre-booked accomodation that miraculously we found within 25 mins (remember, we have no map and are taking the directions from Michelin to the tee). Yesterday was probably our biggest day so far, as after getting up at 6am, we eventually went to bed at 12.30am after the adrenalin of being in Paris saw us walk the streets for hours. We did the Notre Dame, the Lourve, the Champs Elysees, climbed the Arc de Triomphe, stopped for a couple of drinks before heading to the Eiffel Tower when the sun was going down. We sat on the grass with the hordes of others to take in the beautiful sight of the sunset and the lights of the tower being turned on.

We had a much less busier day today and had a picnic on the grass in front of the Sacre Couer overlooking the city. Tomorrow we are going to stay with my friend Lisa for a few days who I worked with in London and now lives in Paris with her french husband.

Beautiful France remains copyright of the author EliseJones, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The city certainly turned on some great weather and we got the swimmers out for the first time and basked in the sunshine on the beach for a couple of days to thaw out and start the groundwork on our office tans.

We have enjoyed the local food with yummy tapas (which San Sebastian is renowned for) and baguettes. I particularly like our do it yourself baguettes where we buy the local produce and can enjoy them wherever we like. This seems to be the norm over here where packed lunch type baguettes are unwrapped from foil pretty much everywhere you go. It is always fun going in to the local market and trying to order slices of jamon (ham) and queso (cheese) when not a word of english is understood.

Before leaving Seville we took a day trip to Cordoba and visited the Mezquita which was a very nice old Muslim turned Catholic church. As far as churces go this was one of the more interesting we had seen given its moorish Islamic influence.

Having arrived in France via a quick bus from San Sebastian to Biarritz. Biarritz is regarded as the surfing capital of Europe but as the weather was pretty ordinary ie. blowing a fierce wind and overcast we decided to go to nearby Bayonne about fifteen minutes away.

In Bayonne yesterday we found a quaint little bar where everyone in the joint seemed to know each other and we were the only tourists there. Elise was luving the red wine and I the bier and we started to get a little pekkish so I tried to ask the owner where he recommends we go for dinner as we had a wander earlier in the day and no restaurant really grabbed us. As he did not speak any English I decided to use sign language motioning with my hand against my mouth and he nodded very quickly. I thought gee that is unusual and I wondered if he really understood what I was asking. He quickly brought us some peanuts so obviously he did not!!

It did not take us long to discover why the French cuisine is so highly regarded the world over. Last night we dined out on the most exquisite creperie restaurant accompanied with the best house red wine we have ever had. We are not sure if the wine tasted sooo good as we are quite close to the Bordeaux region or if it is just France but we didnt really care.

We pick up our car tomorrow and drive to Bordeaux for hopefully some more fantastic vino!!

San Sebastian remains copyright of the author ScottBorg, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Cadiz

Cadiz

Tarifa
Tarifa

Seville is a busy town which rivals Barcelona with the number of tourists. Everywhere you turn seems to be tourismo central.

We decided we wanted to experience a little bit of Spanish culture by seeing a bullfight. We are in Seville the week before their annual Feria festival so there is a fight on everyday at the moment so tickets were easy to get.

It definately was a very interesting cultural experience. We weren´t really sure what to expect....but effectively it a show of bravado by the matadors and his team of men. The bull doesn´t really stand a chance. We knew the bull gets killed in the end, but we didn´t realise that was what the whole show was about...the eventual killing of the bull to the claps and cheers of the crowd.

We took a few video shots of the bullfight which we´ve attempted to load to this blog...so hopefully you can view the file below.

We thought Aussies were harsh judges of their elite sports people, but the Spanish I think are worse. For one young matador (only 23), he didn´t do very well and dropped his red cloth thing a few times, and when trying to kill the bull in the end by stabbing it, it took him 3 attempts. The crowd don´t like this as apparently it is more pain for the bull (what the??), and didn´t give this guy one clap or cheer. It was like he was shamed and walked out with his head hung.

We decided it was time to go out to experience some Spanish nightlife last night, and so headed down some crowded streets where the bars were filling up. We stumbled across one bar that had a band setting up at midnight. It was a 4 piece band that included a rocking celloist and lapguarist who I named Migual (cause of his very spanish looking moustache). We were expecting some Spanish music that we wouldn´t understand a word of, but to our suprise when they started singing it was Rock´n´Roll sung in English. Gailo would have been proud of us up dancing to Blue Suede Shoes and Rock around the clock. Before we knew it the band was packing up and the time had somehow got to 4am when we had to navigate to maze-like streets back to our pension! No easy feat....we´ve been lost about 6 times trying to get back to our place....and we´ve had a map.

We were planning to do a day trip to Cordoba today, but didn´t fancy doing it on 3 hours sleep, so we´re going to go tomorrow.

On Sunday we fly up to San Sebastian....our last stop on the Spanish leg of this tour.

Bullfights in Seville remains copyright of the author EliseJones, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We picked up a rental car in Alicante and ths surely raised my stress levels for the first time on our adventure. It took us over 1 hour to get from the rental car spot to our pension which were only about 500 metres apart as the crow flies but with no map on hand, ne way streets everywhere so of which I couldn´t say for certain I drove down the right way as they were only just wide enough to fit one car at a time.

After this it was time to navigate our way to Grenada .. a relatively easy task we thought as we had our bulletproof directions off the web (via Michelin great website !!). The only problem was the navigator got a bit premature with a turnoff and we ended up on the right freeway but heading on the wrong direction (Valencia) & straight back in Alicante we we started from about 45 minutes previous. All was not lost atleast we now knew the right way out of Alicante and young Elise learnt the error of her ways and paid a little more attention to the map and signs.

We were now feeling pretty good and commending ourselves about successfully heading in the right direction being on the road for over two hours when l suddenly realised that I had left my passport at the pension reception .... BACK IN ALICANTE!!!!!! So I had to take a few deep breaths to get myself together. To say I was unhappy would be an understatement, and I was tempted to call them and ask in my best spanish to post it to our next destination but this seemed all too risky as I obviously am not quite fluent in Spanish and really did need the passport. So Elise convinced me to turn around and go back to collect it.

Arriving back in Alicante it seemed like a bad Chevy Chase movie where the humble little roundabout turned into Big Ben. Eventually 3 hours after picking up the car we were on the road and arrived in Grenada after 6 and a half hours of driving a journey that should have taken us 3 hours.

You will be happy to know that we have since driven from Grenada to Ronda and from Ronda down to Marbella without any of the forementioned dramas so the mood in the car has been alot cheerier!!!! I must say I am even attempting the dodgy European car parking in the streets after taking the easy but expensive car park option at first attempt.

We finally got some sun today in the south of Spain at a place called Marbella which is the Monaco of Spain which as the pix show there is certainly no shortage of money around.

It is quite a beautiful place but we were just so happy to see the sun shining. Hopefully we'll be able to get our shorts out of the backpack soon as we are really over wearing the same pair of warm clothes.

We leave the little town of Ronda tomorrow for Tarifa the most southern tip of Europe hoping for more warm weather.

Maps Motorways and Mental breakdowns!! remains copyright of the author ScottBorg, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We left Australia 1 week ago and have loved every bit of Barcelona.....minus the cold weather! Someone forgot to tell Barcelona that its nearly summer...one day it got down to 11 degrees plus windchill. As you can tell by the name of this blog (4 months of summer!) we weren´t prepared for it and have been freezing our arses off! Our first purchase in Barcelona was an umbrella.

We got off the airport bus in the city and it rained for 3 days, but were not detered and did most of the tourist sights in the first 2 days. We think this was smart as it seems half of Europe came to Barcelona for the Easter long weekend and the queues to everything was v.long.

After doing the main tourist sights we spent a few days exploring the alleyways of the gothic quarter, the port and the shops. The best way to experience a city is definately to just walk around.

Highlights so far:
- Barcelona Futbol Club. We did a tour of the stadium and the dressing rooms. The stadium seats 100,000 and there are 140,000 members of which 90,000 are season ticket holders, so even if there was a match on, we don´t think we would have got tickets. Instead we watched them play in a pub, but they lost, so we don´t think we brought them much luck. It definately is a religion over here...there is even a chapel inside the stadium.

- Sitting in squares having a drink or two at the end of the day watching all the activity.

- Standing on the balcony of our pension and watching the buzz and activity of La Ramblas.

- Getting lost in alleyways.

- The shopping (for Scott who has already taken a liking to Zara)

- Having a good Cafe con Leche in the morning (coffee)

Lowlight so far:
Dropping our camera about 1.5m on our very first day at our very first stop. The zoom was stuffed and the focus wasn´t too crash hot. Cheers travel insurance! We have since bought a new whizbang one that is much better. So I have told Scott that it has turned out to be a GOOD thing that I dropped the camera!

Cold weather. We´re about to fly to Alicante, so are hoping its a bit warmer.

We´ve figured out how to load the pics!

Barcelona remains copyright of the author EliseJones, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So there is no holding us back now. 2 more days of work, and just 5 days til we fly out.

We can't wait.

Visa's arrived. remains copyright of the author EliseJones, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So, they have a passports and will be issueing our visa's....but only 1 week before we leave. Let's hope they stick to their word. I guess I'm a little nervous because we've completed the paperwork ourselves and haven't got a travel agent holding our hand telling us that we've got all our paperwork correct. You know what government embassy's are like....they could just as easily send you back your papers and say 'you were missing xxxx'.

Anyway, fingers crossed they return our passports and we depart as scheduled on April 2!

Leaving Australia remains copyright of the author EliseJones, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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