Cinque Terre Tuesday 31 May

Did someone tell us that you're supposed to allow a day to walk between each village? Was it you, Cath? Well, we've sprung you, and found out on that, on that basis, you'd have a LOT of drinking time left over. Sue said that my relaxed attitude wasn't good enough, so we set out this morning from Levanto with our €10 train/park access ticket (good value) and headed to Riomaggiore via the “scenic” rail route (NOT – it's mostly in tunnels). After checking out Riomaggiore, we did the first part of the coastal walk (on the via Dell Amore = “Lover's walk”) to Manarola. This is a relatively flat walk (after an initial set of steps), hugging the cliffs, and quite spectacular. I think it was Paul who told me that it was originally built to access an explosives magazine, but it's now crowded with tourists. Then by train to Corniglia (would have done this anyway, but for the record the walking path is closed due to collapses - EDIT - this refers to the coastal path.  You can still walk between the towns, but via the longer inland route). Catch – Corniglia is 382 steps UP from the station. Yes, there is a bus that saves you the effort of walking up the hill (as we had been told), and what's more the cost is included in your park access ticket BUT this is Italy and the bus only runs once an hour and of course we missed it by 10 minutes. So we earned the lunch we had there. Then down the steps again, train to Vernazza, had a look around, and then again to Monterossa, and finally back to Levanto. So, you can see we did all 5 villages in a day, and checked out each one. Each village is different in its own way, and the whole coast is indeed picturesque. As a comment, we were less impressed by Monterosso than by the other villages, as Monterosso is more of a resort town (but that's not to say it doesn't have it's own appeal).

Just a couple of practical points: first, check out the train schedules as you go, to save waiting around (the service is OK, but there can be quite long gaps). Secondly, there are free and reasonably adequate WCs at each station. Thirdly, there are ticket checks at both ends on the via Dell Amore, and if you don't have a ticket (for example, because you've only got a ferry pass), you'll have to pay €10 anyway (although the ticket you then get presumably covers the train as well).
A few other, more general comments,  for the record.   Breakfasts - I had read that Italians regarded a coffee and roll as adequate.   Well, in the hotels where we've had breakfasts included (Venice, Lucca and Levanto, they've all been great buffets.    In Lucca, it included chocolate cake, and both there and here in Levanto, there have been Tuscan baked apples (these are in addition to scrambles and boiled eggs, prosciutto and other cold cuts, cheeses, muesli etc etc).    Freight trains - in an earlier post, I commented on these, but at least on the Cinque Terre line, I've seen a couple, and with bogie wagons.    Church bells - everywhere we've stayed, there have been bells at about 7 am (but only once or twice later in the day) - just enough to wake you up.    Foreign cars - when walking around, I do have moments to occupy (hint - Sue keeps an eye on the shops!), but in the inner urban areas where we've been, I've seen hardly any non-Italian number plates.  In fact, even the Italian plates are very often local.   Given the fact that almost every Italian town that we've walked around has extensive "ZTLs" (no-go areas except for local cars), it's not hard to understand why non-local cars give a miss to the inner urban areas. 

Lucca to Levanto Monday 30 May

We arrived by train at Levanto and within 45 minutes we'd checked in at the hotel (glass of Ligurian wine on arrival coz our room wasn't ready) and were having a sandwich and (in my case) a beer in the beachside cafe. Relaxed? Yes! This is the territory of relaxed-ville and string bikinis (never mind the body shape and worry about the melanomas later). The hotel issued us with the ferry and train timetables, so I suppose I'll have to make the effort to do the sight-seeing that one is supposed to do at Cinque Terre, but given Paul's warning about the height of some of the hiking paths, it remains to be seen whether we manage to tackle many of them. In fact, we've been told that one is closed because there have been collapses along it. On the other hand, apparently there's a bus that takes you up the steepest climb (at Corniglia). Nevertheless, there's an impressive line up of ambulances here at Levanto, and I wonder if that ought top be taken as a warning to old guys not to over-exert themselves?

There's supposed to be internet access here, but I had problems making it work.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to fluke it again, so if there's silence after this, then that's the issue!

Anyway, time now for my siesta....

Lucca Sunday 29 May

Today is Sunday, and we decided to take it quietly around Lucca and “recharge our batteries” a little. When originally planning our itinerary, I considered the possibility of staying in Florence a couple of days longer and doing Lucca as a day-trip, but in fact because the hotel here is comfortable and Lucca is a pretty relaxed town, the way we are doing things appears to be working out quite well (EDIT - Sue points out that it was she who said we had to stay at Lucca!). Anyway, the hotel provided a lovely buffet breakfast with all the usual things but also including organic options, Tuscan chocolate cake and baked apple. Of course, we couldn't pass by the chocolate cake, but Sue has decided to give up on the great pizzas and pasta and to revert to healthy salads at other meals. She is even thinking of moderating her intake of red wine!

In relation to the bikes that are everywhere, I decided that if you can't beat them, you may as well join them. I was pleased to find that my ability to ride a bike (not having ridden one for so many years) was still there, and since everyone in Lucca seems to ride, including many gentlemen of “mature” years, I was in good company. I circumnavigated the ramparts, explored a number of the narrow streets and then did sections of the ramparts in the other direction.

The above was written late morning. We then decided to have a bite of lunch and check out some of the churches, which we did (including San Michele in Foro and San Pieto Somaldi – both quite plain churches but with quite stunning art works). We also had a look at the so-called ampitheatre (Antifeatro Romano – a bit disappointing). But our attention was caught by a garden that we passed, and we discovered that today was open gardens day in Lucca. Six historic and quite different private gardens were open for inspection. A couple of these were close by, so we visited them. Both of these were amazing oasis's of green and order in private courtyards, with histories extending over centuries. One of them was said to have some unusual plants, which I think was intended to refer to the callistomon and grevilleas! One thing led to another, and before the afternoon was over we had visited all six gardens, in the course of which we walked for kilometres around town. We felt privileged to have had the opportunity to see a side of Lucca that we hadn't appreciated existed, even though it meant our “recharge” day didn't turn out quite as we planned.

For dinner, we again sought out a restaurant with some local dishes and had another nice meal.

Tomorrow we head to Cinque Terre, staying at Levanto. We considered various options to get there, but rejected the bus then train option in favour of the all-train option. I'm not certain about the availability of internet at Levanto, so if there is silence for a few days, I'll resume posting when we get to Berlin.

Saturday 28 May Florence to Lucca

Farewell to our apartment “home” in Florence, and by bus mostly on the autostrada to Lucca. We quickly found our comfortable hotel, and soon settled in.

Lucca is a pleasant town, notable for its massive tree-lined ramparts outside of which is mostly a further ring of grassed area, resulting from a decree in medieval times that the area had to be cleared so that any any approaching enemies could be seen! The civic fathers have thoughtfully retained the grass but on the far side there is in parts a dense row of trees. Thus, from the ramparts, you are often shielded of the view of suburbia beyond – guess the risk of pesky Florentines creeping through the suburbs isn't too great these days. Inside the walls are narrow streets (often straight, a legacy from the Romans), a number of plazas and the inevitable shops largely catering to the tourists (both at the souvenir level and the designer labels, and most things in between!). Lucca claims Puccini as one of its sons (he was born here, and his funeral was here), so there are regular concerts featuring his works. Cycling is also encouraged, particularly as the ramparts are very suitable for it, but it means that you really have to be careful when walking the narrow streets. No wonder they don't allow bikes in Venice. We're here for two nights, in a pleasant but quite upmarket hotel. At least we get a large comfortable room for our euros.

We had dinner tonight at a restaurant that offered traditional Tuscan fare – farmer's cabbage soup, chicken with beans, tuna and brown bean salad and veal stew with zucchini. Needless to say, Sue hasn't had any MSG issues so far. She regards the food in Lucca as the best she has had so far in Italy!

Siena Friday 27 May

The Uffizi beckoned, but so did Siena! The (reputed) queues for the Uffizi didn't really come into it (actually, we didn't even check how long these were). By the by, the only queues we've stood in at all so far were for just a few minutes for the free entry into St Mark's in Venice and the Duomo here in Florence. There hasn't been a queue at any other museum.

Anyway, our education in Renaissance art will have to wait. We opted for Siena, and headed to the bus station where the next bus was departing in 5 minutes time. €7.10 each for the fare and 1 hour 20 minutes later we were in Sienna, a few minutes walk from the quite amazing Il Campo, the scallop shaped “square” at the heart of the town, surrounded by a number of palaces and dominated by the Torre del Mangio. We read that there were 503 steps to the top of this tower, so we passed on that and contented ourselves with the Museo Civico museum, housed in the Pallazzo Publico. This housed the ruling councils of Siena for centuries, and the museum is housed in a number of the rooms of the palace, as well as the chapel. It contains numerous frescoes and other works of art. In addition to the “usual” religious works, it has Lorenezetti's “Allegories of Good and Bad Government”, a fesco commissioned by the ruling council in 1338 to illustrate in dramatic terms the consequences of each! We then headed for the Duomo, which is quite magnificent. The facade contains numerous statues etc, and inside contains heaps of marble, much of it black and white. There is also quite an amazing marble pulpit, the Piccolomini Library (with fantastically vivid ceiling frescoes as well as beautifully illustrated choirbooks) and numerous notable artworks. The bus trip back to Florence took a little longer, as we didn't wait for the express bus, but I was glad it was the bus driver coping with the early evening Florence traffic, not me.

Florence Thursday 26 May

There's so much to see and do in Florence, so where to start? Well, we started with the Palazzo Vecchio (yes, we're into palaces), and were not disappointed with the lavishness of the residence of various governors of Florence, including the massive ceilings covered in gilt, the numerous rooms (what did they do in them all?) and their artworks, the chapels and so on. We then checked out the famous Duomo, perhaps more awe-inspiring from the outside than inside, but still pretty impressive just the same. We passed up on the tours to climb the hundreds of stairs to the top of the bell tower (Campanile) and to the dome of the Duomo, but I did visit the Museo dell-Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore (that is, the Cathedral works museum), in which numerous pieces removed from the Duomo over the years have been placed. This includes numerous statues and marbles from the facade, art works, models of the different cathedral designs, re-created scaffolding and haulage implements from the construction era and much more. We then visited the baptistry, the oldest building in the complex and having wonderful mosaics in the inside of its dome.

 

We then settled for a meal at a casual restaurant overlooking the River Arno, followed by a walk around town. The teeny boppers were dancing to the busker's music on the Ponte Vecchio and the crowds filled the piazzas and laneways of the city with musicians at some of the restaurants. True, they were probably mostly tourits, but this didn't detract from the evening atmosphere.

I reflected on the cost of the meal tonight. It seemed to me to be good value by Australian standards (for what we got). The total of €33 (equals perhaps a little over $A45) included a shared appetizer, a couple of mains (one of which was a salad), bread (€1 each tonight, but other times it is included) and half a litre of red wine (quite drinkable, I might add). We've sometimes eaten for less, and sometimes paid more. I suppose we're benefiting from a relatively good exchange rate, but our impression is that Italy is certainly not “expensive” compared to Australia. The supermarket prices are pretty comparable. Some things are cheaper. This includes fresh fruit and vegetables, and the quality of these is often better than what we accept in Australia. Other things are possibly a little more expensive, athough of course we depend on neighbourhood supermarkets and haven't had the need or opportunity to check the larger stores that presumably exist out of the city centres. In the case of accommodation, it seems to me that you get what you pay for, and the locations we've chosen tend to be the more expensive places! Fuel hasn't been an issue for us, but my understanding is that it is definitely more expensive. It will be interesting to see how prices in Berlin compare.

Arrival in Florence (Wed 25 May)

Very happy indeed with our apartment here (privately owned, booked through an agency). Only catch is, our landlady couldn't get her USB key so as to provide internet access to work on my netbook (very odd, everything seemed OK), so I'll have to find an internet cafe. Our first choice of apartment was closer to the station, but the owner asked us to take this one instead because she was having plumbing problems. This meant a slightly longer trip with our wheelie baggage, but I suppose that's what wheels are for. It's well fitted out (we can live without the toaster!). There's a washing machine, which we need. The weather has been consistently warm, so we keep wearing our lighter clothes. We exchanged text messages with “Sabine and Sam” (see http://sabineandsam.blogspot.com/), and it wasn't long before they were at our door! Amazing crossing of paths and it was great to catch up and to hear of all the things they've been doing (and are yet to do). Later we had dinner with them down the street. We also did a preliminary your of Florence, which is very compact, and quickly checked off the Ponte Vecchio (didn't buy any gold!), the location of the Uffizi, Piazza della Signoria and Palazza Vecchio, Duomo/Battistero/Campanile (amazing!), but of course only from the outside. Looks like there's going to be a lot to keep us going here.

I've now found an internet cafe, actully just around the corner from where we're staying.   Unfortunately, it was the last corner that I looked around!    And they don't provide wi-fi, so posting is a bit cumbersome.   Maybe I'll find a Maccas and use their free wi fi next time.....????   That way, I won't have to battle the Italian spell-checker!

Train Venice to Florence (Wed 25 May)

The Italian trains are reasonably efficient (but not perfect!), and most certainly well patronised! We're at present on our way from Venice to Florence, on a train that goes on to Rome. The Canadian a couple of rows away has finally quietened down, after providing a detailed description to some other North American travellers on his experiences in Rome, Sorrento and a number of other places. Why he imagines that he has to speak loudly enough to inform most of the carriage, I don't know. (PS – he later started up again!)

The train takes 2 hours 3 minutes to travel the distance to Florence, but its speed varies. Sometimes it travels at what is obviously a high speed (maybe 180 kmh?), but it slows in parts where the track presumably isn't rated for very high speed. Our internet bookings are accepted without question, there's a refreshment car further down the train (which we haven't bothered with), whereas on the Milan to Venice train, there was a trolley. The catches are that the Trenitalia seat allocation system doesn't work too well, and gives priority to getting you in a window seat rather than seating two people are travelling together next to each other! Hence, there's a lot a seat-swapping, and a certain amount of confusion at times. Also, there's baggage piled everywhere as the racks at the end of the carriage are insufficient. So far I've only seen one freight train, and the wagons weren't even bogies. Like the Milan to Venice trip, the geography so far as Bologna has been flat and looks pretty fertile (corn ands other crops, as well as some grapevines). But after Bolgna, the landscape was hilly and the line was in a series of tunnels for almost the entire way.

Tuesday 24 May mainly Murano

Last night just as we were going to bed, a strong smell of what I now know was ammonia filled the room. Thinking that it came from the air-conditioner, we switched it off and opened the windows ands eventually the smell cleared sufficiently to allow us to sleep without our eyes watering. After twice reporting to reception this morning that we had a problem, a helpful technician turned up and explained that since the air conditioner in the room operates on chilled water, that couldn't be the problem. But, yes, there was a smell of ammonia – coming from the mini-bar fridge (obviously the refrigerant was leaking). Fridge removed, and problem solved!

So, after a fairly slow start to the day. We headed off to Murano, home of the Venetian glass industry. Yes, there were some touristy aspects, but all very worthwhile. Modern Venetian glass is really a form of art, and so there are many studios of individual artists who each have there own style, including a lot of contemporary work. Murano is quite pleasant, and we had a relaxed lunch in a small plaza, and walked around some of the quieter parts of the town. We were fascinated to see how the speed limits on the water around Venice are enforced – by speed camera! Two police officers were manning a radar device and a camera with a telephoto lens! Not sure how they collect the fines, but no doubt the Italians have their ways!

 

For dinner, we headed down to St Marks Square, and had a meal in one of the side streets. After dinner we were entertained by the various orchestras provided by the restaurants on the square itself, then headed for the waterbus to take us back to our hotel. Opur last Grand Canal trip was slightly marred by the crowded waterbus – like us, other tourists find the idea of an evening trip down the Grand Canal in the evening to be enticing!

Monday 23 May Venice

After a generous buffet breakfast (included in the room rate) we headed off to St Marks Square. Sue got quite sentimental on the waterbus down the Grand Canal, as it brought back memories of her previous visit to Venice on our honeymoon. But the sentimentality passed and we joined the short queue to look at St Marks Basilica. It's built on a Greek cross plan with 5 domes, with lots of Byzantium frescos and mosaics. The floor is also marble, with lots of animals and floral motifs. All very impressive.

We then toured the Doge's Palace. Room after room of lavish Venetian art and murals, including the Doge's private apartments, council chambers and committee rooms (the Venetian structure of government seems to have been very contorted). There are detailed descriptions in English in most rooms. After the lavish art of the palace, you go across the Bridge of Sighs into the “New Prison” - a very depressing place. The ticket for the Doge's Palace also covers the other museums in St Mark's square, so naturally we took advantage of it! Hence, we headed to the Museum Correr, which is dedicated to the art and history of Venice. Lots of items from Venetian history – artworks depicting important people, pottery, coins, weapons, models of ships, books and numerous other items,and again almost overwhelming in richness. Then there are two rooms from the old Venetian library, with very ornate decor. Just when we felt “cultured out”, we noticed that one floor further up was the art gallery with works from Venetian painters over the ages, as well as other painters who had been influenced by the Venetian style. All in all, an amazing group of collections, very well presented in a logical and clear way. You could spend days absorbing it all, but I guess that as a tourist you can't hope to take it all in.

Tomorrow we'll try and be a little more relaxed.

 

 

Sunday 22 May Milan to Venice

The trip to Venice was uneventful – no problems getting a taxi to Milan Centrale station, then pre-booked train to Venice. Nothing in Venice is cheap, and the hotel at Venice is no exception, but it's quite nice. We don't have a Grand Canal view, but we do look out across the rooftops which is quite nice.

I'll set out here our overall impressions of Venice (although these were gained over our 3 days). Of course, there are a lot of tourists (at all hours of the day and night) and things are geared up to their needs. There are, of course, lots of places in Venice where there are few tourists (perhaps the ease with which you can get lost encourages people to stick to the main routes). Importantly , there are lots of points of interest that are well worth seeing. The waterbuses are really efficient, good information, on time performance (but sometimes crowded) - if only Melbourne's Metro could could be as good! We stayed near the railway station, and have no regrets about this decision. Of course, it's tourist-central, but we found the tourist menus good value and the availability of tourist-oriented stalls makes for interesting window shopping (but we didn't buy a mask). As elsewhere in Italy, always go to the toilet when you buy a meal or visit a museum. At least there are public WCs in Venice – but admission is €1.50!

 

 

A day in Milan (Sat 21 May).

We started slowly this morning. I went for a walk around the local Brera neighbourhood, and discovered the Saturday morning street market, numerous restaurants, the new media library and the other activities that we all have in our local areas. Then we headed back to the Duomo. Just in front of us a girl was refused admission for wearing shorts but we and nearly everyone else had no difficulties (being just slightly more respectable). Inside, the place is impressive because it is immense, with 4 rows of massive columns. The stained glass is very good (even better than Armadale Uniting!), and the marble floor is pretty impressive, too. We had been told by Sophie C to go to the top of the next door Rinascente department store, to get an up-close view of the flying buttresses and higher features. This we did, which meant that we felt we could pass on the climb within the Duomo to the walk around the buttresses. We would have had a coffee at the Rinascente restaurant, but it was just too crowded, and so we had something to eat at ground level.

 

 

Sophie also told us to check out via Montenapoleone for shopping. Every designer name you can think off seems to be represented in this street – we felt we couldn't even afford to go into any of the shops. The one “designer” not represented in via Montenapoleone is Ferrari – its fan shop is close by, and I checked that out, too. Again following Sophie's advice, we visited the Triennale design museum. Only the Italians could have something like this. The current exhibit probes the "why, when and what" of design, as well having some great examples of (mostly modern) design on display, showcasing numerous local designers. I can't say that I personally absorbed all the issues, let alone the implications, but it certainly made us appreciate that there is more to modern design than mere functionality.

We had dinner in one of the many restaurants in via Berera, along with the Saturday night crowds of locals, students and a few (but not too many) tourists. We resisted the temptation to have our fortunes told by any of the numerous fortune tellers, found that we didn't have to buy a bag from the street vendors with their (nearly identical) wares set out and certainly passed up the opportunity to buy a bubble gun!

On Sunday we're off to Venice by train. We doubt if we'll have internet there, so there may be silence for a few days until we hit Florence.

Lake Como and Milan's Navigli district (Fri 20 May)

We headed off today to Como, by regional train to the Lake Como station. This train route is operated by the private Ferro Nord company (from Cadorna station in Milan). Trenitalia's station at Como isn't as close to the lake (although if you go by Trenitalia you have the option of a fast train at certain times). We had lunch at a restaurant on the side of the main piazza, and then did the mandatory lake cruise! 

 

 

 

There are a variety of trips you can do by ferry, but we opted for the trip that covered a number of villages in the lower lake as far as Torno (rather than a longer ferry trip to Bellagio or another destination). We had our hearts set on the funicular, but it's closed for repair until the end of July. There is an alternative service to the top by bus, but it didn't seem quite the same, so we declined this, particularly as we had missed a departure by only a couple of minutes and it was nearly half an hour before the next.

 

Lake Como is a pretty area, but at least in the area we were, there is a lot of development (and, judging by the cranes, this is continuing). Comparisons are perhaps inappropriate, but we couldn't help thinking that we preferred Lake Bled.

We returned to Milan had dinner in the apartment and then set out to find Milan's Navigli district. Our initial encounter was with a backwater (presumably all that's left of an old canal) that had been converted into a duck pond (a good idea but quite smelly in parts!), but then we turned the corner and found a whole street full of riverside restaurants and bars. Being Friday night, the place was very busy and obviously the "place to be". We walked the whole street but didn't eat as we had already done so. We then attempted to find our way home by tram (instead of the subway which we've become very familiar with), and finally managed it although it would have been easier with a map of the tram network (memo to self - have a look at the subway route map on the internet, coz handouts of it don't appear to be readily available).  By the time we got "home" we were definitely ready for bed.

During our travels, we saw (and took a photo of) Milan's restaurant tram. I wonder where they got that idea from? Or was it the other way around? 

 

 

Exploring Milan (Thurs 19 May)

After settling in to the apartment, we headed off the central Milan, to take in the impressive Duomo. This is the world's 3^rd largest Catholic church (after St Peter's in Rome and the cathedral in Seville), and  the world's largest Gothic cathedral. We missed the last admission to see the interior by just a couple of minutes, but certainly took in the detailed Gothic/Baroque external architecture. The main marble front wall faces west, and in the late afternoon sun on the facade really is impressive. There are a lot of upmarket shops in the area, as well as the opera house, so we'll return before we leave to check things out here in more detail!

We had a meal at a nearby restaurant, sitting at an outside table taking in the world and then walked all the way back to the apartment.   We appreciated the exercise and are proud that although we followed only a basic map, we didn't get lost despite the lack (at times) of obvious landmarks.  Our initial impression of Milan is that it is not by any means an outwardly pretty city. True, there are some very interesting churches and other buildings, but these are frequently hemmed in and there seem to be few vistas or grand boulevards. However, it seems to have many pleasant areas and there is lots of "style"!

Arrival in Milan (Thursday 19 May)

We're now established in our self-catering apartment in Milan.. It's worth pausing a moment to describe the apartment. It's one of a number of apartments around Milan apparently managed by a small group (I located them on the internet, but I can't recall how!). It's in the Brera district (which seems to be nice) and has been renovated and so is modern and bright (and we like it).  However, it has some features that may perhaps be described as Italian “flair”. For example, it took us quite some time to find the cutlery drawer, hidden inconspicuously in the saucepan cupboard. A couple of the light fittings embody loads of “style”. It has the obligatory coffee machine but no toaster (that's Italy we suppose, so we'll survive!). The shower head looks good, but is almost incapable of providing a good wash! However it has unlimited internet included in the rent.

Of course, the first thing to do was to visit the local supermarket to stock up on essentials such as muesli, wine etc etc.  We then set out to explore, so more on that later.

Overnight (Wed) to Zurich

After our day in Bangkok, we got back to the Novatel, had a shower and were ready to go. Checkout and the transfer to the airport all occurred within minutes, so we had plenty of time in the airport lounge (adequate but not great – some wine would have been nice!). Checked out the duty free prices and found the cigarettes which we've promised to bring back are a fraction of the price in Bangkok compared to the Melbourne duty free price. And the spirits are cheaper, too.

The overnight flight to Zurich went without a hitch. I ate the whole meal, so on a full stomach and several glasses of Bordeaux red, I slept solidly for nearly 5 hours (I sometimes don't even manage this at home). I composed this post at the Swiss lounge at Zurich, waiting for our connecting flight to Milan. There was supposed to be wi-fi in the lounge, but seems the Swiss are frugal on giving access and I needed to get a voucher or something to make the connection work (so I didn't bother).

A day in Bangkok

When we originally booked our flights, the connection in Bangkok was very tight. Although the flight schedules subsequently changed, we couldn't take advantage of the better connection without paying a lot more, with the result that we had a day in Bangkok on our way over. Although we stayed at the airport, naturally we went into town (after a big buffet breakfast). There are 2 trains, the Airport Express and the cheaper City Express (which stops at about 5 stations).   As things worked out, we used the City Express both ways, at 45 baht (about $1.50) each way - pretty good value, we thought!  The Airport Express is more expensive (150 baht, I think), but although it's presumably less crowded, it stops 2 stations short of the end of the line at the city end. So, in one day, we checked out the shopping scene (what an amazing array of clothing – who buys it all?), did a river cruise, visited a temple and had afternoon tea at the Shangri-La, overlooking the river. We've also got 2 days in Bangkok on our return, but we're sure there are still a few temples to look at and shops to do! The only omission was that we didn't find any reasonably priced internet, so we accumulated our postings. We eventually found internet in the departure lounge at the airport, but it was very slow, so we didn't catch up with all the emails and blog postings.

Arrival In Bangkok

The rest of the flight went smoothly and we arrived at Bangkok on time. I hadn't previously been to the new Bangkok airport – it's big! We got sent to the back of the immigration queue for not filling out the departure details on the back of the arrival card. It took a few minutes to locate the shuttle to the airport hotel, but in hindsight it was exactly where I had been told it was. Once we found it, everything went well. The Novatel is very comfortable and is geared to transit passengers. If you check in at 10 pm, you don't have to check out until 10 pm next day!  It's expensive by Thai standards, but what the heck!

En route to Bangkok

I'd forgotten just how long flights are. At the time of composing this, we've only just left Australia – the map says we're over the Timor Sea and have 4 hours 42 minutes to go before we arrive at Bangkok. So we're not even half way there! We've had our main meal (served very quickly after take off), I've watched “The King's Speech” and had a snooze and it's only 7.30 pm Melbourne time. I really don't want to sleep too much, otherwise I won't sleep tonight (we're staying overnight at Bangkok).

The Thai lounge at Melbourne was really good. Denis and Donna very kindly gave us a lift to the airport and we were checked in within minutes. It took a few minutes getting through security and immigration, but we still had lots of time for drinkies and nibbles. Just as well we went gently on the nibbles, because they served us a multi course meal as soon as we took off.

We've hit a bit of turbulence now which is making it challenging to hit the right keys on the netbook's small keyboard, so I'll save the rest for a later post!

The evening before departure

Well, the bags are packed – with some room left so as to fit in some purchases! I've checked off my to-take list, and think that I've got everything covered. But, very annoyingly, the spyware has turned up again on my netbook. This time, I take no chances and don't even attempt any of my own remedies. I've paid to download a commercial program (recommended by a computer magazine). It cost a few dollars, and I suspect that it's slowed the computer down, but it seems to have got rid of the problem. Lesson learned – I'll be very, very careful before I click on “helpful” pop-ups again.