But just seeing these people arrive on the Eurostar, when only two hours earlier they would have been in Paris or Brussels etc.. really made me feel like jumping on the next train to Pah-ree! It just felt very.. international… and that much closer to mainland europe. I can’t wait for my next holiday to the continent (coincidentally in only 1 months time).

So here I am at home, ready to post my photos on my new blog. And what do I discover but that the folder where my photos are normally saved on my sony memory stick in my phone was, for some unknown reason, set to read-only. Spewin! Oh well.. guess I’ll just have to steal someone else’s.

Ok work aside, I’ve also been away on holidays. I spent a wonderful 2 weeks with Kwai and my bro driving through Italy and Germany (as well as passing through Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and France). We started by flying to Cologne, hiring our car there and driving through Germany and Austria to arrive at Venice VERY late in the night. After 2 nights there, we drove to Florence (me and Kwai’s 3rd visit here!), and also took advantage of the Barberino Designer Outlet shopping village for some discount designer clothes, before driving into some proper tuscan countryside. We spent most of the holiday in Tuscany (oh how I LOVE that place) exploring the Chianti and Siena regions (stopping for lunch at the BEST restaurant of the trip in a tiny town called Lamole which is on top of a huge hill with amazing views over the whole chianti region as far as San Gimignano), then stayed overnight in a farmhouse overlooking the beautiful San Gimignano. After a brief visit there we drove down to the southern tuscan town of Saturnia (my favourite destination of the whole trip) for some absolutely amazing food (what is it about Saturnia and great food – incidentally they also produce my favourite olive oil) and much needed relaxation at the local thermal springs (at the Terme di Saturnia. Then we headed to the meditterranean coastal town of San Vincenzo and explored the nearby Baratti gulf (simply indescribably gorgeous – the clearest, bluest waters to swim in) and natural park of Rimigliano, and stopped off at a small town called Suvereto to pick up a WHOLE proscuitto at the local market (yes a whole one, bone and all, yes it was heavy – I think 5 kgs?).

Finally we drove up to our last destination in Italy to spend a few days in the Sestri Levante and Cinque Terre region, staying in a small town called Riva Trigoso. The first day in Cinque Terre, me and Kwai did almost the whole hike across the 5 towns (skipped only Vernazza to Corniglia but we did the hardest bit by far which was Monterosso to Vernazza – lots of steps and narrow dirt paths along the cliffside with AMAZING views!). We then spent the next day on hired scooters exploring the Sestri Levante to Portofino stretch… unforunately we only got as far as lunch in Zoagli before my bro had a scary accident where his scooter met a wall on a blind hair-pin turn along the windy, hilly coastal roads.. fortunately it wasn’t too serious as no cars were around and so no bones were broken – we did however get a ride in the ambulance to the local hospital in Lavagna where we spent the next 5 hours waiting before he was released with some painful looking scrapes) – it was dinner time by then so we decided to stay in Lavagna where me and Kwai took the opportunity to have one last swim in the mediterranean sea as the sun set behind the distant mountains, and then got some yummy takeaway pizza from the local piazza where there happened to be a music festival on and an awesome band played some really nice contemporary jazz mixed with tango/classical featuring a violin and piano accordion. Finally we bade a sad farewell to Italy and with heavy hearts drove that loooong journey up to Frankfurt, Germany (via some SPECTACULAR scenery in Switzerland – in fact we stopped in Switzerland for lunch in a town by a huge lake) where me and Kwai stayed 4 nights spending lots of time at the wonderful saunas and thermal pools of the Taunus Therme and also catching up with old friends of Kwai’s. Finally our wonderful holiday almsot over, we drove off towards London, our car loaded with olive oils from various regions throughout Tuscany and Liguria, some pasta, and that proscuitto ham.. only stopping one night in Brussels on the way.

And that was our wonderful summer holiday, planned 3 months in advanced, over. *sigh* It was wonderful and amazing and we had gorgeous HOT weather the whole time. And I can’t wait to do it again!!! I’ve noted places I wanna revisit, and learned things to do and not do the next time round. In fact I just wish I could move to Italy! I love the culture and life and land and food and everything there. I loved how we were able to avoid a lot of the main touristy things and go a bit “off the beaten track” into places visited only by local Italians, where we were the often the only foreigners (we got a few stares lol), where we were able to get a glimpse into the local culture and life… towns where families were born, raised, worked and lived for generations. What an experience it was.

(Lots of photos and videos to come).