Lyon, we are here

Hello again, two days in a row, you are being spoilt.

We have arrived safely in Lyon and collected at the station by Ian and Margaret and taken to their home where we were given a fantastic bar-b-que and ate and drank well into the night (5am to be precise). We can honestly say that we had the most enjoyable evening of the whole trip, their hospitality has been fabulous and we really hope that we zill be able to return the favour some day soon. There is something so comforting about being with people you know especially when you have spent the last three weeks living amongst complete strangers.

We said that we would post some photos and that is really our intention today. I don't know how many we can upload but we will try and see what happens.

Here is a photo of a sculpture called Nomad because it has no face just an empty space. It sits on the walls of the old town in Antibes, is made up of letters of the alphabet and is very impressive. If you are reading this Patrick, it's similar to the sculpture outside the MOMA at Middlesburgh. I don't know if you can make it out but there are people inside it so you get an idea of the size of it.

This is a photo of the Cathedral at Monte Carlo. We are sure that it is not squint but every photo that we tried to take of it came out the same way so now we are not so sure. Could it be doing an impression of the leaning tower?

Here we are outside the Hotel Paris in Monte Carlo which is beside the Casino Royale. We lingered about for a while in the hope that we might see someone famous but alas not but we did see some very nice cars.

This is back in Rome when we climbed the dome at St Peters to get the view from the top (over 300 stairs) on one of the sunnier days.

After a beautiful sunny day in Grasse, just as we head back for the train, another thunderstorm. Fortunately we managed to get to shelter just in ti,me. We are becoming professional rain dodgers.

We will see you all back home on Wednesday.

Love Jean and Sheila

Farewell to Antibes - hello Lyon

Hi Everyone

We were just walking through Antibes looking for a nice bottle of wine to take to Ian`s when we noticed this cybercafe so we have taken the opportunity to update you a little before we depart on the train. Unfortunately the keyboard is all mixed up and it takes a bit of finding some of our more popular keys and don`t ask me where the proper apostrophe is so forgive me for the bad punctuation.

We dumped our wee tent in the bin today because all the connecting strings had rotted away while it was folded away damp and we have been precariously living in the hope that it would stay up for the duration of our visit to Antibes and it has served us well. We would never have been able to errect it again so rather than carry dead weight, it is in the bin.

We have had such a great time in Antibes and a lot of this has to do with the owners of the campsite where we stayed. Jeanne and Mark were the friendliest of people who were always ready to help, made us laugh a lot and gave us the odd french lesson, so, a big thank you to them.

Yesterday we went to Grasse and managed to spend eight hours there going from one museum to another and from one view point to another. Rather than take the bus from the station to the old town centre, we decided to walk up the 200 steps to get there (we must have been having withdrawal symptoms) and it was quite a hike but well worth it because the view was magnificent and again we have the photos to bore you with when we get home. You won't believe it but just as we were waiting for the train home from Grasse the heavens opened again and we encountered our third thunderstorm of our trip and we thought it would be sunny all the way.

We are hoping that Ian will be able to let us use his laptop so that we can post some of our photos but in the meantime we need to head back to the train station and catch our train to Lyon.

We miss you all but will soon be home. Wednesday will be here before we know it.

Love
Jean and Sheila

Bet Monaco is brilliant

Oh dear there is just too much to tell you in the short space of time that we have, and using a foreign keyboard.

Since we last spoke to you we have done some pretty amazing things. We never did get to Slovenia but we did make it to Verona. What a wonderful place it was, and also a pretty good train journey as the scenery was fantastic. Our accomodation in the city was really close to the centre and everything was within walking distance. Our first stop was Juliettes balcony and that was one of our highlights. Although we know she is not real, the number of people who were there, you would think that she was. The visitors write love pledges on the wall and Jean pledged her love to Tommy while we were there. So sweet. In the evening we stood outside the open air arena and listened to the opera which was so moving we were transfixed for at least an hour, and were moved to tears by the whole thing.

Would love to tell you more but we are really time short, and we would love to mention Florence. All you that have visited it do not need to be told how beautiful it is, but for those who have never been, start saving now and make a plege to go, you will not be disappointed. Again our accommodation was very central and we were able to cover all of the sites on foot. We started with the Musee Acadamia to see Michalangelos David, which was a stunning sight and really takes your breath away. We were told that there are four immitation Davids around Florence and we did see a couple of others but did not manage to find them all. After that we walked around the city to the old entrance and then down to catch a number 12 bus to Piazza de Michalangelo to watch the sunset over Florence. The crowd that had gathered was huge and as the sun set everyone started to clap. Cameras were flashing all over the place and we have taken our fair share to bore you with when we get home.

To bring you up to date, we are sitting in an internet cafe in Monaco after having arrived in the Cote d Azur on Sunday night, hoping to stay at Logies campsite, but he would not let us in as we rrived too late so we are staying at a much friendlier site just along the road. The owners are great fun and are really looking after us.

We went to the Picasso museum yesterday and have spent an exhausting day on the beach today, you have no idea how tiring it is lying sleeping in the sun. Tomorrow we are going to Grasse the sweetest smelling town in France.

Sorry there are no pics but we will try to upload some for you on Friday of the places we have been.

Love from
Jean and Sheila

Two wet in Trieste!

Having made our way to the very beautiful city of Trieste and finding a campsite at the top of a very high hill (maybe even qualifies as a mini mountain), we managed to get set up and settled in within ten minutes. The campsite is set in what we would call a National Trust Park and is full of creatures that we have never seen before. they have bugs, probably some kind of Locust that ar 5cm long, we have seen grass hoppers, heard Wood Peckers and many other bird songs that we are unable to identify, we should have brough Patrick with us. It really is a place of outstanding beauty and very unspoilt. We were picking plums from a tree last night that were the sweetest we had ever tasted. Later that evening we had a lovely stroll along the road to the next village called Opicina and stayed long enough to get a bit tipsy in a very lively pub. It was absolutely full of people and the village could not have been as big as East Ord. We walked back and fell into bed and off to sleep immediately after making our plans to get the bus to Slovenia in the morning because it is just 4 kilometres along the road and then the rest of the day exploring Trieste, day sorted.

About 8.00am we woke up and thought we heard a spot of rain on the roof of the tent. Oh boy were we in for a shock. The rain turned into a full blown thunder and lightning storm that lasted 6 hours It crashed, banged and flashed all around us. Jean was very brave and Sheila was under the covers with her iPod turned up full blast so that she couldn't hear it.

As it eased off we ventured out for a cup of coffee and a croissant and as it seemed to be drying up a bit we headed off into Trieste in the hope that we could get a little bit of sight seeing done. We managed about 2hours before the heavens opened again and we thought we were going to have another Naples soaking. This time though we found a doorway to shelter in and then found this internet cafe and thought we would just update you on our comings and goings. Here is a picture of Trieste at its driest today, you can see the storm clouds brewing.

This Piazza del'Unita d'Italia which is one of the biggest and most spectacular squares opening onto the sea. we also came across James Joyce who was very prominent at the railway station but there is also a bronze statue of him by the Grand Canal which is really a puddle in comparison with the Grand Canal in Venice. Can anyone tell us what his connection is with Trieste. We have also attached a photo of the Roman Theatre which dates back to 1AD and the photograph doesn't really do it justice. As well as some amazing architecture there are some fabulous shops and if you are reading this Anne, you definitely need to accompany Simon on one of his trips here and make sure he brings his credit card. It is very affluent and more chic than any of the cities we have visited so far. There seems to be quite a Jewish influence and they are so posh that there are no knock off bags and belts here, they probably just wouldn't want fakes.

The thunder seems to be easing off although the rain continues to come down in sheets. We have checked the weather forecast and apparently the worst is to come through the night so when you wake up in the morning, think of us packing our very wet tent away in the pouring rain to catch an early morning train to Verona, let's hope the sun is shining and we can get dried off on the train.

We are going to head off now up our little mountain. Thank goodness we don't actually have to climb the dam thing, we have a lovely tram to do that for us and even in weather like this the views are to die for. The tram was built in 1902 and I am sure the people at the top of the hill were very grateful for it, I know we are.

We will try to tell you about Verona and Juliet's balcony tomorrow or Saturday.

Love to read some comments from you guys, especially if anyone knows about James Joyce.

Loads of love

Jean & Sheila