Roma

At last we reached the last stop of the Kamuka tour Anni and I found ourselves on. The tour actually didn't include any time in Rome, it just dropped us off on the side of the road and continued on it's merry way. Brilliant.

Anni hadn't downloaded the instructions on how to get to the hostel we were staying at (because the last hotel we were staying at didn't have any...?! See, if we were staying in backpackers then there definitely would've been internet! Stupid tour. Seriously!), and so it took us three and a half hours to get to the amazing Hotel Lodi.

Absolute rave here: Hotel Lodi is fantastic. Yes, it's a little out of the way, but the service and friendliness and cleanliness totally make up for it. And they are so accomodating. Anni hadn't booked a second night (stuff up with the airflight booking which could've been rectified had we had the internet...), and so although they didn't have any official rooms left, there was one that was half renovated, and so at a reduced rate they let Anni and two other girls stay there. And they carried Anni's bags up the three flights of stairs, which was incredible, seeings as Anni had four bottles of wine in there! They served you breakfast and there was unlimited internet and it was a nice end to the tour.

Rome was as brilliant as it was last time we visited. This time Anni and I went around with what Anni claims as a very gorgeous trainee blonde Italian firefighter (everyone has different tastes), and so we threw a coin in the Trevi fountain again, so hopefully we will be back there, climbed the Spainish steps, went around the Vatican, saw the incredible Vatican museum including the Sistine Chapel. Now, just on the Sistine Chapel, may I say do not go just to see where David touches God, but instead spend some Euro's and go with a tour guide who will explain the whole Chapel to you, because it is AMAZING! You learn so much more and it makes the whole experience so worth while. But make sure it's a registered tour company also.

So that was the end of the Kamuka tour. I don't know whether I would recommend it, but it fulfilled the purposes of going to Paris and Florence, but we missed out on Pisa, and the tour leader wasn't that nice.

Unfortunately you remember that Anni broke her camera in Florence, so any photos were taken on her blackberry, and they are awful (another reason why we should go back there). So that's why there are no photos attached to this post. Sorry. After this we fly back to London for our last week there before returning to Australia!

San Gimignano

Our next stop on the Kamuka tour was Roma, the capital city of Italia. But before that we stopped at a little Tuscan town called San Gimignano, where Anni and the gang had the most amazing wine tasting session, which included a huge plate of cheese and salami, a big bowl of bread and bean stew and some beautiful biscotti, along with four huge glasses of wine (the bus from there to Rome was very quiet...). The views from the small walled town were incredible, you could see all across the Siena countryside. Unfortunately Anni's camera was broken, so she borrowed the token kiwi girls camera and downloaded the pictures.

This place was amazing. The town was peaceful and quiet, full of tiny little art galleries. Highly recommend you visiting there.

Firenze

Firenze, known to the English-speaking world as Florence, is the city of flowers, and most famous for the leather markets and the David statue.

It is also imfamous for where Anni's camera broke.

Yes, it is true. For some reason her amazing Cybershot no longer takes photos. You can see the picture on the LCD screen, but then when you play back the photo all you see is white. There is an issue with capturing the photo data and transferring it to the memory card. So until Anni buys a new camera (possibly a new Cybershot seeing it did so well previously), most of the photos are taken with her Blackberry. Sadness overcomes us.

But although there was brokenness in our hearts over the loss of our trusty camera, it didn't stop Anni shopping. The leather markets are fantastic. They were a lot smaller than we imagined, but seeings as we were there at the start of February it was probably off-season. Anni managed to grab a fantastic pair of black leather high heels, and a wallet for her little brother.

Again, the Kumuka tour let us down, this time in the choice of walking tour guide. Lovely lady, don't get me wrong, but I think she leads a lot of ESL (english as a second language) tourists, because she spoke really slowly and made silly jokes that don't really make much sense in correct English (because Australians totally use correct language...). However the lady didn't detract from the amazing beauty of the Ponte Vecchio, Uffizi gallery, the locks on the bridge, and the fantastic statues everywhere.

I loved Florence, and hopefully Anni takes me back there again!

Varese

Varese is a region north of Milano and south of the Swiss border, near Lago di Lugano (Lake Lugano). This is where Anni, Cam and I went off the Busabout track and spent a week with Anni's relatives. Anni's Grandfather came from Varese to Australia and that's where he met Anni's Oma, who migrated to Australia from Holland.

So during our time in Varese we went up Sacre Monte, across to Lugano, to Lago di Como, into actual Milano where we did a tour of the San Siro (for Cam's benefit), around Varese itself and up to Venegono Superiore.

We had a great time! So much FOOD! Zia Carla spoilt us rotten, and Zio Luigi was a great tour guide. Anni's Biz Nonna (Great-Grandma) is still as mucha crazy Italian grandma as always.

Every day we had fresh panne, and each meal was at least two courses. Zia Carla's cooking is simple, only a few ingredients in each dish, but incredibly indescribable.

The San Siro was amazing. I got to sit in the chair in the changing rooms of AC Milan where David Beckham sat when he was playing for them. The stadium was pretty big too. Milan itself was pretty, but not somewhere I would plan on staying for too long. We spent a day there and that was enough.

It was mine and Cam's birthdays whilst we were in Varese! Zia Carla made Cam this really yummy apricot tart, and I got to have some delicious dark chocolate gelato, which managed to go through my shirt and stain my tummy.

OH! The nasty Sydney boys I told you about from Cseky Krumlov? Well they managed to split my bum open, and so in Varese Anni got to stitch my back up. That was not cool. What was cool is that Anni stole Cam's signed football guernsey...

So from Milano we got back on the Busabout track to Lauterbrunnen. Will tell you all about it later!

Train to Milan

So I don't know if you heard about Cam, Anni's friend that she went travelling with this summer... He is this funny Aussie guy who likes to drink beer and doesn't really like me, but hey, you can't be friends with everyone, can you?

Anyways, Anni and Cam caught the overnight train from Salzburg to Milan. You would think being a chivalrous gentlemen Cam would over to sleep on the top bunk, but alas no, Anni had to risk falling out of bed everytime the train stopped.

At least I had a sweet ride in the backpack. Or so you would think... CAM TRIED TO ATTACK ME! But don't worry, later on Anni gets him back! Stay tuned for more adventures, next stop, Varese!