Postcards From Venice

The day started early- at 6am we were out photographing the kids in San Marco Piazza. We had Dillon in White and Taylor in Red – the girls were great and put up with us even though all they wanted to do was sleep. The models got paid in Internet time so they could chat to their friends on MSN.

Venice Day and Day two

Day 1: Wow Venice is amazing!!! We flew in to Venice airport about 1pm today from Frankfurt. The site of the city from the plane as we flew in was incredible. It gave me the feeling that it was a minuture old world city created for a movie. We walked straight out of the airport no customs no checks and walked down to the pier and caught a ferry to the city. It is about 28 degrees and there are so many people here in fact I have never seen a place as busy as Venice. Dillon wants to live here when she is older and judging from the comments and whistles plenty of Italien men think Taylor is cute. We have a lovely two story apartment near the centre of town. It is very big much bigger than I expected. The kids love the Bidet but I have not tried it myself yet!! We spent the afternoon wandering around and got lost a few times. We walked over the famous Rialto Bridge and while Trudi and Taylor went window shopping Dillon and I had a pleasant time sitting on the bank of one of the canals with our hot tired feet in the water. It was great spending that time with her talking and laughing and trying to take it all in.
Tonight we will go out for Dinner and tomorrow we will try a Gondola ride. Trudi wants to get up early, like sunrise and take arty pics of the kids in ST Marco’s Square, I can’t wait to see the results.


Day 2: This morning Trudi and I got up early to take pictures while the kids slept. I think they are starting to feel the effects of the travelling. What a difference from yesterday, the streets were so much less crowded and it was easier to get around. The light in the morning was unbelievable. Trudi took some great shots and it was lovely to see her so excited. We had our first authentic Italian café latte this morning, we visited a place that the locals go to ( Bar Verde) and oh my god, what a fantastic coffee. We also had these amazing chocolate canelloli. I am starting to think I will be quite a bit larger when I get back.

Arrived in FrankFurt

We are now in Frankfurt Germany, it is quite cold and a little bit rainy. If this is their summer it is just like our Winter. We are having a great time and the flight to Germany was easy although we got lost going through the airport and when we finally found the baggage claim everyone was gone and our bags were just sitting there all by themselves.
Dillon wants to say Hello to everyone and the Nutella here is fantastic!!! She misses all her friends.
We saw some pretty funny things in Korea, it is a lovelly country and the people are so nice and welcoming. We stayed at a Hotel near the airport to minimise our travel and near that was a fishing villiage that we explored. Anyway we now going to explore Frankfurt if it does not snow and please enjoy some random pics from the journey so far.
Cheers Darren
Last night we ate in Sassen Hause area in a restaurant called Claudia’s- a schnitzel House. The restaurant was in a original area of Frankfurt like The Rocks but we were so jet lag we ate and left straight away. In the morning we woke very early and had breakfast at 6am, the hotel breakfast which was included in our tariff was really good, the kids loved it, great coffee, eggs and cakes, Dillon even found the Nutella.
We spent the day looking around Frankfurt. It started off at the central railway because we were told there was a post office there but it was closed. Next we went to a historical section of town called Romerberg. The buildings are all from a few hundred years ago and Trudi had a good time taking pictures. I had a good time eating the German hotdogs (wurst). We ate in a place that had 40 different varieties. The girls then found of course a shopping centre and Taylor ending up buying some new clothes and Dillon a hat, of course on the way Darren found something else to eat = Giant Pretzels, they are soooo good. The afternoon was spent walking to the other side of the city over a bridge and back into Sassen Hause to re-visit the old cobble stone streets and to have German Beer in a cosy little pub (kids allowed).
The city is situated on a river, the Rhine I guess, it was lovely to walk to Romaberg from our Hotel very calming and beautiful. Taylor is giving her German a good work out and she has helped us ask people lots of questions to help us get around. Thanks to Taylor’s German teacher she should get straight A’s there.

Incheon (Seoul) Sth Korea Arrival

Well we finially made our first destination. We flew with Asiana Airlines which is fantasic. Friendly staff and lots of things to eat and comfy chairs. Just for those that now me we - no panic attack. The shuttle bus took us to our hotel 'Grand Incheon Hotel'( looks nothing like the web site) - we are laughing because it is a hotel cross between Adam's Family and Vegas - we have noisey blue light vending machines in our room - hahah. But apart from that it is very peaceful in Korea. We are about 200 mtrs from the beach, which we went for walk late evening after we arrived to stretch our legs from the flight.
The first coincendence was meeting old school friend Craig Smith at the airport, he is a pilot for Cathay Pacific, we had a bit of a chat and it was good to see him again. We are going for a walk soon because there is a beach close by that we can see from our room and then we will take the flight to Germany. We can't upload any pics yet because we are using the hotels computer and it is all in Korean.

Itinery Outline

We we are well and truly excited - a few people will be overseas the same time and are trying to catch up while we are away. For you I have put the itinery outline. Thanks Michael Chetham for the photos again. Anyone want to see more visit his blog www.michaelchetham.blogspot.com
25th June we leave Sydney arrive Sth Korea about 6.30pm and stay overnight.
26th June we leave Sth Korea bound for Frankfurt Germany arrive 6.30pm.
27th June Frankfurt Germany.
28th June Frankfurt Germany and leave for Venice Italy and arrive about 1.30pm.
29th and 30th June Venice Italy
1st July we leave Venice Italy via train to Verona and stay overnight.
2nd July we leave Verona Italy via train to Milan Italy for the day and catch another train on to Genoa Italy (Italian Riverera).
3rd and 4th July we stay in Genoa Italy.
5th July we leave Genoa Italy via car to travel down coast through Tuscany- visiting on the way Camogli, Portofino, Cinque Terra, Viareggio, Pisa and arrive late afternoon in Florence.
6th and 7th July we stay in Florence Italy.On the 7th we do a day trip to Tuscan villages like Vinci and tatse wine.
8th July we leave by car to Siena Italy via Montecantini Val de Cecina and San Gimignano and Siena by lunch, where we stay overnight.
9th July we head by car towards Rome via Orvieto, Murlo, Bagno Vignoni and Casperia and arrive late into to Rome.
10th and 11th July Play in Rome - Spanish Steps, eating, Vatican, eating and Ancient Rome and more eating.
12th July we leave Rome via plane to see a much awaited family in Amsterdam Holland - we arrive about 7.30pm. Very excited to see everyone again.
13th, 14th, 15th and 16th July we stay with family in Amsterdam for the celebration of Darren's little cousin Ziba who will have her birthday party.
17th July we leave Amsterdam for Paris France via train arrive about 1pm to go shopping. Here we stay a few days.
18th and 19th July we stay in Paris visiting Louvre Museum, Notre Dame, Eiffle Tower and Montmarte.
20th July we leave Paris France for London UK via plane and arrive about 11am to meet our good friend Phoebe, who we cannot wait to see and we spend the next 3 days touring around with Phoebe.
21st July - London - Harry Potter book release day and go on a Harry Potter tour to see all the film locations and Stonehenge - Kids will go nuts.
22nd July London - touring with Phoebe day again - cannot wait.
23rd July - London - Darren having to meet clients for some portraits for their wedding, then we fly out back to family in Amstrerdam - arrive about 5.30pm.
24th July Den Helder in Holland for Darren's very special Aunty Tinni as she is having a party for her birthday. Here will will stay a few days or so. Probably tour Holland, Belguim and Luxenberg.
Here we stay now till 8th August when we leave for Germany again and connect flight to Hong Kong.
8th August we leave Holland via Germany for Hong Kong.
9th August we arrive in Hong Kong about 10.30am where we will meet some clients who kindly offered to show us around abit and we will probably have dinner with.
10th August - we have a Hong Kong 1/2 day tour and probably finish off shopping.
11th August and 12th - we are off to Hong Kong Disneyland and stay overnight in Disneyland. Kids to go Nuts for 2 days and sleep well on the palne back to Sydney.
12th August we leave Hong Kong 9pm.
13th August we arrive back in Sydney 8am and we will be looking to have a rest to get over our adventure.

Thanks for following along and I hope this helps the people we have to meet up with while we are away.

Welcome

With excitement and anticipation we will be heading overseas to Europe next week for a wonderful family holiday. For Trudi it is the European Honeymoon she has waited 20 years for. Trudi has planned every detail and I am sure we will have a great time with lots of family memories and moments to share.
The family photograph was taken by our good friend Michael Chetham at the end of last year which we absolutly love.- thanks again Michael.