Rome Day 2

What a day!

We managed to visit the Vatican, St Peter's Basilica (and Square), The Trevi Fountain and last but not least the
Colosseum. All wonderful places.

We had a fantastic room in an ancient hotel that had Roman ruins in the basement. The Hotel was BRILLIANT, all upgraded in the best of taste and it made you feel just great.

I'm not going to waffle on too much as I have a bunch of pictures to add and this Blog is a real pain when uploading stuff like that.

Joe in the Vatican

Inside the Vatican (No pics allowed in the Sisten Chapel)

Inside St Peters

Caroline & Chris inside St Peters

It's me!

Caroline & Joe in St Paters Square

Part of St Paters Square (It's massive)

Our Hotel Room in Rome

TREVI FOUNTAIN

Colosseum

 

 

Taken from the other side using zoom (They didn't know it was being taken)

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We are currently in Sorrento, but that's another wonderful story!

Rome

Flew to Rome this morning (Thursday) and I'm gobsmacked. The city is just awe inspiring, history wherever you look.

We have a great hotel and Chris & I got an upgrade to an executive suite (Thanks Caroline & Joe for letting us have the upgrade.)

The hotel is just an 8 minute walk to the Coliseum, (Which we saw tonight but will take a tour around tomorrow afternoon.)

We are booked for the Vatican tomorrow morning at 10.30am.

Tried a few Italian restaurants and grub was good.

Forgot to take camera with us today but plenty of pictures coming up soon.

Just LOVE Rome!

A Tale Of Two Halves

Sunday in Bognor was much the same as Saturday (Although no fights today thank goodness.)

 The day started with breakfast at my sister Carole's, who had put me up whilst in Bognor (Thanks Caz!)

We then started yet another pub crawl, visiting about 4 pubs (but I don't really remember,) catching up with my niece Lisa & her husband Mark and their kids (as we had done the day before.) I also managed to catch up with my old traveling companion 'Barnsey'

That night we hit an Indian place and for once I actually enjoyed the food.

Monday, after another great breakfast at Carole's, my nephew Robert picked us up and dropped my nephew John & myself to the station where we headed back to London.

Here's a few pics.

Barnsey, Myself & Mark

Callum, Adam, Stephen, Mark & Lisa (My niece & hasband & kids)

Callum, Lola, Adam, Mark, Stephen, my sister Carole, Lisa & my nephew John

In the meantime Chris was having a good spend up in London and got to Oxford, Regent & Carnaby Streets.

Regent Street

Regent & Oxford Street

On Monday we went out with Caroline & Joe & their friend to an Vietnamese place. Here;s the only pic that came out.

Tuesday was a day of rest, as we are off to Italy & Switzerland on Thursday......

Bognor Regis

On Saturday (Our 39th wedding anniversary) Chris & I went separate ways, with Chris staying in London and me going to Bognor to catch up with relatives & friends.

The day started with me meeting my nephew John at Clapham Junction station and catching the train to Bognor. We were sat on the train for less than 10 with minutes when John asked me if I would like a drink. I thought he was going to offer me a coke or something, but no, suddenly 2 bottles of cider were placed on the trays in front of us and we proceeding drinking them at about 10.45am!

That was only the start of the day. Mark & Lisa (My niece & her husband) met us at Bognor station and we went straight to the pub for a couple of rounds. We then moved on to yet another pub for a few more drinks (and an English breakfast!)

It was then off to the footbal to see the local team playing the Met Police. (Bognor won 2-0). More drinks in the bar!

After the game we headed back to Mark's house to change and then off to an engagement party (and more drinks). The party went well with Karaoke (and more drinks) and all was well until about midnight when a brawl broke out. It was a couple of nasty bastards from the pub next to venue where the party was. The guy who was getting engage got knocked out (and ended up in hospital)  and one of the trouble makers tried to stomp on my nephews head. Mark dived in and the landlord was also helping out. It was a pretty horrible scene but thankfully, apart from the guy who got knocked out, none of our party was injured.

The night ended with more drinks.....

Stayed the night with my sister Carole.

Today (Sunday) we are going to the pub............

Amsterdam Day 3

We took a canal cruise to the Rijks Museum on Thursday and spent a couple of hours checking out some amazing paintings. Don't ask me what they were as there were thousands on display. Perhaps you might recognise some of them....

Amsterdam Day 2

Went out for breakfast Wednesday morning and had a bit of a stroll around. We had visited the red light district the night before, which was ahem 'interesting!

Went back to the hotel where we had managed to get another room that wasn't too bad (but barely rates 1 star). Had a lay down and here we go again, blooody room started to spin!

Cutting a long story short, after a 2 hour walk to find a doctor and another 30 minute walk to find a pharmacy, it was 6.55pm and I had arranged to meet my old mate Eric Ward (at 7pm) whom I had met previously a couple of times in the USA. (He just happened to be in Amsterdam at the same time as us).

Grabbed a pedicab back to the hotel, quick change of clothes and grabbed a cab to try to find Eric. You wouldn't believe it, his hotel was just around the corner from the pharmacy we had left 35 minutes (and about 50 euros) ago!

Finally caught up with Eric and had a great night hanging out with him at his hotel and visiting afew coffee shops.

Below are a couple of pics from that night...

Amsterdam, first night.

We flew into Amsterdam late Tuesday night and headed for our 4 star hotel. Boy, were we in for a shock! The place needs to be pulled down, check out these pics.....

The Air Conditioning unit!

The view from our window

Our luxury hotel (NOT!)

We decided to grin & bear it for the night with a 'promise' we would get another room the next day. (To be continued).

Prague Continued

On Tuesday we weren't due to fly out of Prague until late afternoon so decided to spend the morning re-visiting the Old Town Square. It was still raining but that didn't spoil our enjoyment.

There were lots of street performers around and some of them were really great. I have included a couple of clips below of the best of them.......

Limited Access

Probably won't be any updates for a few days due to limited internet access in Amsterdam. Lots of photos been taken and will update when I can.

Stay tuned..........

Prague

Chris & I flew to Prague on Monday morning. About 10 minutes out from landing in Prague there was a loud bag (and Chris said she saw sparks coming off the wing,) we can only surmise it was a lightning strike. We landed safely though and later settled in to our hotel. Tried some of the local lager and it ain't bad!

Then we grabbed a cab and went to the Old Town Square. It was raining but not too hard and it certainly didn't stop us from enjoying this beautiful old city.

We made the mistake of visiting a chocolate shop and spent up big buying all sorts of goodies!

The video below is of the medieval clock in the town square.

Standing in the rain

This pic is for Caroline, check out the bees hovering around the doughnut maker

Speaking of doughnuts!

Amsterdam tomorrow!

Tetbury & Bath

We continued our exploration of the Cotswolds, on Saturday, in the morning visiting an antiques fair but the prices were outrageous. (I liked a silver cutlery set priced at a mere 12,500 quid!)

Saturday afternoon we went to the historic village of Tetbury where Caroline & Chris wanted to visit EVERY shop!

Saturday night we found a great pub called The Old Badger Inn. The food was simply to die for and we all had a great feed.

A few pictures of Tetbury follow.....

Caroline looking grave in Tetbury

The Main Street

Afternoon tea

I had to sneak this one in here. It's the front of the hotel where we stayed.

On the way back to London on Sunday we stopped off in the beautiful City of Bath and did some exploring. This is one place anybody in the UK should visit. It's an old Roman town and just sublime. Here's some pics and a video. The video shows the thermal springs that supply the Roman baths, even to this day......

Caroline & Chris walk across the main square

The main bath

Chris strikes a pose

Guess who?

Say Cheese

 

 

Cotswolds

Well Thursday turned into a bit of a non event (Although we did hit an Italian restaurant for a great pizza.) Chris did manage to get one photo from the day and here it is...

That's not Chris hiding behind the balloon but it does sum her up nicely!

 Friday was a different story. We hired a car and Caroline, Chris & myself set off for the Cotswolds, arriving early afternoon. We are here for 3 days and the scenery is breathtaking and we are staying in a delightful (Very upper class) hotel that dates back to the 17th century. It's a really beautiful old place, full of character and of course it's supposed to be haunted!

Here's a few pics.

This would make a great album cover! (These critters have right of way and just stroll out into the road.)

 

An outside shot of the The Bear Of Rodborough where we are staying. Our bedroom is the one of the first floor with the windows open.

The view from our bedroom overlooking the croquet green. (Caroline has her own room that's not pictured)

Caroline & Chris just before we had afternoon tea (and a wasp tried to attack Caroline who is allergic to them)

Caroline & Chris at dinner.

Our bed