Easter break part V: France and home

I apologize again for the length of these posts, but anyway, I'll continue... 

16th April: Pisa and the French Riveria 

We left Florence for a scenic drive to Pisa to visit the leaning tower. As we came around the corner and the tower came into view, I could hear those around me saying 'Ohhhhh'. It really does lean! While I refused to take the typical touristy pushing-against-the-tower photo, everyone else did and I tried to get Mitch as he "kicked" against the tower which failed miserably. 

Mitch attempting to kick the tower

Fam bam

We then said arriverderci to Italia and bonjour to France for the final country on our tour. We stayed in the French Riveria and visited Monaco and Monte Carlo. Those places were just incredible... The wealth, beauty and extravagance there just blew my mind; we saw huge yachts, Lamborghinis (and many others), the royal palace, where Grace Kelly was married and went to a casino in Monte Carlo to play roulette (we didn't win). I also made eye contact with Russel Crowe which was exciting. 

17th April: Grenoble

A long drive through gorgeous countryside today - the same route Napoleon took at some point in his life and is therefore called Route Napoleon. We stopped for lunch in a cute little French town called Castellane where we bought baguettes, ham, cheese, salad and meringue for a picnic along the beautiful blue river. We witnessed a car crash (someone didn't put his handbrake on and rolled down the hill into another car), and the two owners of the cars starting yelling angrily at each other. We stayed in Grenoble that night but didn't get to see any of it unfortunately. 

The beautiful blue and freeing cold river we had lunch next to 

18th April: Paris 

We drove to Paris but stopped in another adorable French town, Beaune, for lunch. Later, in Paris, we had a casual dinner near our hotel and had an early night. 

19th April

Croissants, Notre Dame, bus tour to see the main sites, Versailles (for mum, dad, Mitch and nan - I walked around Paris for a bit before catching the Metro back to our hotel and looking at the cute puppies in the pet store nearby), Latin Quarter for dinner (I ate frogs legs! Just tasted like fish) and seeing the Eiffel Tower all sparkly at night. 

Notre Dame for the second time

Eiffel Tower

Olsens in Paris... 

20th April: Goodbyes

I got on the Cosmos coach alone that morning after saying a tearful goodbye to my beautiful family. It helped knowing I'd see mum and dad in one week when they visit Brighton for two days, but it would be 7 months before seeing nan or Mitch again. Anyway, I was really sad as we waved goodbye and I went back to Ardingly. 

Thank you for a wonderful holiday mum and dad. Love you so much. 

Love Maddi xoxo 

Easter break part IV: Italy

Italy - 9th April

We left Switzerland early to drive to Italy, the next country on our tour. We stopped at a gorgeous city called Lugano (an Italian speaking town of Switzerland) for a short break. The sun was shining and it was so lovely. 

Panorama of Lugano... Snow capped mountains on the left, beautiful lake and bright shining sun

Then we went to Italy! After a quick lunch stop, we had some time in Verona - the city of Romeo and Juliet ("two households both alike in dignity, In fair Verona where we lay our scene"). We went to Juliet's balcony and saw the statue of Juliet before hopping back on the bus to Venice. Apparently if you rub her right boob it gives you luck in love, and you can see from the photos at it's a very popular thing to do. 

Statue of Juliet, or Giulietta, in Verona

Bustling and cute shopping streets in Verona

We arrived in late afternoon and checked into our hotel before driving to the island to catch a boat to Venice. We were taken through the little backstreets to our restaurant - our meal consisted of 3 huge, but delicious courses. Seeing Venice by night was gorgeous, especially the canals and St Marks Square. 

Venice sunset. St. Mark's Basilica in the distance

Mitch and I in front of a statue in Venice

Nan and I in front of a canal in Venice

Venice - 10th April

We were taken into Venice again this morning for a full day to roam the streets and canals and try delicious food. One of the first this we did was hop in a gondola for 40 minutes, cruising through the tiny canals and onto the Canal Grande briefly - it was wonderful and peaceful, but unfortunately our gondolier didn't sing to us. 

On Canal Grande in the gonala. Rialto Bridge behind me 

Family shot on a bridge in Venice

We checked out the Rialto bridge and some markets before finding a place for lunch. We had gelato and got lost in the maze of streets and eventually found our way to St Mark's Square so we could go inside the basilica. And it was absolutely magnificent. My first reaction was "Wow" - huge dome, high ceilings, marble, with gold mosaic tiles, it was all just so beautiful. 

Picturesque canal

No photos are allowed to be taken inside the basilica, but this is the exit... the whole inside is covered in those tiny gold tiles. 

Assisi to Rome - 11th April

On our way to Rome, we stopped at Assisi, where St Francis was from and had a look around the massive church there. It was incredible and situated on a hill, so the views were just magnificent. Dad and Mitch tried a local delicacy, porchetta (just pork in a bread roll) and mum and I had pizza. 

Mum  and I resting in front of the gorgeous view

Family in front of the church where St Francis is buried

We drove on to Rome, a very busy city, and checked in to our hotel - we all had small apartments which was a nice change from the very small rooms we'd had previously. That night, we had a walking tour and saw the Trevi Fountain, where Nan threw her coins onto people instead of the fountain which was hilarious. We all made three wishes then moved on to the Pantheon ----- and this cool square with street buskers, artists and restaurants. We had a traditional Roman dinner which was lovely, and we realised we would never go hungry whilst in this country. 

Me at the Fontana di Trevi

Rome - 12th April 

We saw lots of cool stuff today - Ancient ruins, the Colosseum etc. which was all very interesting. Before all of that, though, we went to the Vatican and saw the incredible Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo which was just amazing. And then we saw the incredible St Peters Basilica - huge, intricate and beautiful are some adjectives to describe it. The picture below was taken in the basilica - I thought it was a painting but it's actually a mosaic. 

That afternoon, we went for a drive out of Rome to this adorable little village where the Pope has his summer residence. The views were beautiful and the whole place was adorable. I also had the most delicious gelato here so it's very memorable :P We kept driving after this to another little village where we had dinner - a huge dinner with so much food it could've ended world hunger. Very nice though (although the wine wasn't). 

Incredible dome at St Peters Basilica

Colosseum 

Gorgeous lake where the pope goes for the summer. I forget the name... But on the other side of the village, you can see Rome in the distance.

Pompeii and Sorrento - 13th April 

We left Rome and drove to the ancient city of Pompeii for a tour of the ruins. It was very interesting and sad, especially when we saw the casts of people and a dog who suffered during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. 

Poor puppy :( 

Roads in Pompeii

We drove on to Sorrento, a gorgeous city on the cliff, where we spent the afternoon shopping and then had a beautiful dinner overlooking the ocean

Capri - 14th April

We hopped on a boat in Sorrento to the Isle of Capri for the day. It was somewhat warm and absolutely gorgeous. We took a boat ride around the island and then took a completely terrifying bus ride to the top of the mountain - like fearing we'd tip over off the sheer cliff face and tumble to our death terrifying - where dad and I rode the chairlift to the very tip for incredible views of the whole bay. 

On the boat cruising around the beautiful island. 

Dad and I at the top of Capri, after a nice chairlift ride... the views here were incredible

We had lunch in Capri - a restaurant with beautiful views and over-priced beers but it was really lovely. And the ride back down to the marina wasn't so traumatic, thankfully. When we returned to Sorrento that afternoon, we went for a drive along the Amalfi Coast (just stunning) and had a couple if hours in Positano, an incredible town on the cliff with adorable little alleys and it's just overall really picture perfect. 

View over Positano

Family shot overlooking Positano

Gorgeous little streets

Mummy and I on the beach in Positano

Florence - 15th April

After a long drive in the coach to Florence, we had some free time to explore the Tuscan capital. There were lots of shops selling leather and we checked out the Duomo di Firenze, shopped, had bruschetta, and saw the replica of the statue of David (apparently the line to see the original is ridiculous and we only had a short time in Florence). 

Duomo di Firenze - "Cathedral of Florence"

Statue of David replica

Not my photo, but it's a gorgeous shot of Florence

Easter break part III: Germany and Switzerland

I'm sorry for any grammatical or spelling mistakes... 

Amsterdam to Cologne - 6th April

We began our day after breakfast, where we drove into Amsterdam for a diamond tour thing. Apparently the Netherlands are renowned for their diamonds so we were shown some and how they're cut and then encouraged to buy some. We didn't, although dad was quite the jokester and "offered" to buy mum the €30,000 ring. 

We then had free time, so nan, mum, dad, Mitch and I wandered around the beautiful city and had lunch at a tapas bar before getting back on the coach. It was such a short stay so we couldn't see everything we wanted, like Ann Frank's house and museum, but my TopDeck tour in the summer goes there so I will get to see that then. 

We drove to Germany, and stopped in Köln to see the huge, old Gothic cathedral there. It was quite magnificent. Then we went back on the coach to our hotel. Mum and dad were quite annoyed that Mitch  and I got the best room with a gorgeous view over the lake and park. We were quite happy about it however. Dinner was provided that night - unfortunately it wasn't schnitzel. 

 Dad, mum and I on the canal cruise in Amsterdam 

Koln Cathedral (there is scaffolding wherever I go)

Germany to Switzerland - 7th April

The next morning, we drove to the Rhine river, where most of the bus got on a boat and had a two hour float down the pretty river. We stayed on the coach, and saw the amazing countryside, and we were able to have free time in an old city called Oberwesel - it was absolutely adorable. We had coffee and cake, and checked out the quaint town before the bus took us all to Heidelberg for lunch. 

Cobblestone streets in Oberwesel

Oberwesel

Coffee and cake at a cute cafe in Oberwesel

Heidelberg is also gorgeous. All cobblestone, pedestrian streets with cafés and shops - lots of young people too as there is a famous university there. It's situated on the river, and up the mountain there is a large castle/palace that we walked up to. It was all just really lovely. For lunch, we had schnitzel and beer. That afternoon, we drove to Switzerland! As we drove to Lucerne, we could spot the snow-covered Alps in the distance which I was VERY excited about. Plus, it was just picturesque. For dinner, we ate at a restaurant on the lake in Lucerne.  

Mitch and I walking to the castle up the hill in Heidelberg

Dad and Mitch at lunch in Heidelberg

Panorama of Lucerne

The Swiss Alps - 8th April

I could barely contain my excitement. Today we went into the Swiss Alps, and up Mount Titlis. The beautiful sunny weather from the day before was gone, and it was raining and cold, meaning the top of the mountain was snowing! As you know I was dying to see snow since leaving Australia in January.  I was practically jumping out of my skin the whole way up (bus ride, train and 3 large cable cars)! 

When we got out at the top, it was snowing heavily, and it was just absolutely magical. We walked through a glacier, climbed up to a bridge overhanging the cliff and then played in the snow, making snow angels and attempting to make snowballs. We forgot gloves unfortunately, so that was short lived as the snow froze our hands. 

Dinner that night was a Swiss folklore evening, complete with cheese fondue, yodeling, flag throwing, etc - it was a very entertaining night, especially when Mitch nominated dad to go up on stage and yodel in front of everyone. 

Walking through the slippery glacier... love the photobomber

Family shot in the snow!

Playing in the snow... I'm a bit happy 

Nanny and I at the Swiss Folklore evening 

Easter break part II: London and Amsterdam

Dublin to London - 3rd April

On the way to the airport, the GPS got us lost and we seriously thought we would miss our flight (resulting in dad speeding and running a red light and everyone freaking out), but everything was fine, we made it with time to spare, and then our flight was delayed anyway. 

We arrived in London after lunch time, so we checked into our hotel at Hammersmith and I showed mum and dad some of the sights on London - Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, Oxford   Street, Piccadilly Circus, Shaftsbury Avenue and Leicester Square. We had dinner at Jamie Oliver's   Italian restaurant... His tagliatelle bolognese was delicious. After dinner, I took mum and dad to M&M world in Leicester Square... Four floors of M&Ms, toys, merchandise, etc. You can even get your own personal messages printed on them. 

London - 4th April (mum's birthday!)

Happy Birthday, Mum! Today we did the hop-on hop-off bus tour, which was a really good way to see London. It was really interesting, and although I'd been to London plenty of times, I hadn't learnt much about it, so that was really cool. We stopped at the Tower of London, because we were told that it was one of the best tourist attractions to do. We learnt a lot about the bloody history of England (lots and lots if people were beheaded... It's hard to believe that people would watch it for fun as well) and saw the Crown Jewels. One of the diamonds in there was the size of a baby's fist. 

Dad and I at the Tower of London

Then or was time for Wicked! We went back to our hotel to shower and change before going to a restaurant for our pre-show dinner before walking to the Apollo Theatre to watch Wicked. I love the theatre and musicals, so I naturally enjoyed it (plus it was amazing itself), although dad dozed off a few times. It's not really his thing. 

     
Mum and I in London

About to see Wicked!!!

England to France to Belgium to The Netherlands - 5th April

We commenced our Cosmos tour today, catching the Eurostar from London to Brussels, where we got on our coach with 36 others to Amsterdam. 

We arrived at our hotel, where Mitch met us in the lobby!!!! It was so good to see him after 3 months (even if he has stolen my room.............). We all then got ready for our 'Amsterdam by Night' tour, where we had dinner and walked around the city of Amsterdam, seeing the Red Light District, "Coffee Shops", magic mushroom shops and whatever else. It was interesting to say the least. 

Mitch and I (and a random man) in Amsterdam

Hemp cookies

One of the many beautiful canals in Amsterdam