The end is Nigh!

Had a lovely evening siting on the veranda, eating, drinking and playing cards just as the night before and night before. We are now sufficiently wound down and almost set for normal life.

On the last day we thought it best to do nothing………

Other than tend to the ‘ Masion Flay’ French estate and reward ourselves with a spot of pool volleyball.

We will be back on home soil tomorrow having had the time of our lives.

Will be stopping at Le Mans (hopefully for a lap or two) on route to the ferry so an early start.

Luckily there’s the small matter of the home GP to look forward to, almost as if it was planned!!

p.s.

The Bride & her Bridemaid were no match for the boys 

Honeymoon day 46 (Cormac, Limousin, France)

Arrived in Cormac later than planned after staying most the day in Tignes. It was around 11pm and Kate & Francis had been waiting with a chilled bottle of Champagne.

It was a lovely moment to arrive at a house knowing we had the run of it for a few days made even better when we realised they had a pool.

In our short time here we have done little else but sit on the veranda eating and drinking various delights from the local shops. Its been perfect.......

We learnt a new card game in Austria and played it everywhere since so promptly taught K&F and have been playing for hours. With varying attitudes toward the competitiveness.............

Francis parents own an old mini and so have been bombing around Cormac in it.

They let me have the keys, it's great fun so swapped it for the Porsche!!!!! 

Meet up with the neighbors and went over for a small Soirée last night and socialised with the local community.

Got up nice and late this morning and went for a mooch about and find more French delights to indulge in.

And went looking for a bit of added sun

This evenings wine is opened and so another evening of food, drink & hands of wetton awaits. (Kate & Chris miles ahead of Sarah & Francis, might have to extend our time a week give them a chance)

More wedding photos

Whilst in Tigne we managed to get wedding photos from JoJo & Alex and from Neil so currently posting them to 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58792688@N06/sets/
as the flavors.me link is still not updating, (will try and fix today)


Here is one of our favourites (sorry Mum) x

Honeymoon Day 43 (Tignes)

Last day in Sardinia was one of those days; 


First we rented a boat and headed down the coast and find our own beach, it was quite choppy and the ride a little uncomfortable. We found a secluded beach and an anchored the boat.

There was a lot of rocks so we parked quite far from the beach and decided the swim to shore was too much like hard work and tried to sunbath on the boat. 
Spent an hour being bashed around by the waves and thoroughly unrelaxed decided we should set sail for the hour long trip back. Unfortunately we had thrown our anchor into a load of rocks and we were stuck. 
Having told the boat owner how experienced we are with boats, going back without the anchor was too embarrassing so we struggled for 30mins and finally got free, anchor still attached.
Then we packed up to leave Sardinia and stopped to get the car cleaned, the Esso garage snapped the rear wind screen wiper clean off and denied responsibility, after an argument they didn't even finish cleaning the car or offer our 8 Euro back. 

Needing cheering up we stopped on route the the Ferry port at Porto Cervo and had supper overlooking the billionaires on their yachts, one of them had a helicopter on board and so we chose it as the one we want.

Whilst parked someone opened a door into the front wing of our car, dented it and did a runner!!! The day was not going well.


Got on the ferry and looking forward to getting in our cabin to sleep the journey away. 40 mins from port the boat turned around and headed back to port as a pregnant lady went into labour. 
By this time we were numb to problems and took it in our stride. The rule of threes hopefully meant that was it and we got to sleep.


We where heading to Tignes and couldn't wait to arrive but it wasn't going to be that simple. Got through Italy no problem and into the mountains.

With only a hour of mountain drive to go we headed up the suggested sat nav route and thought, this is odd, not much of a road!!!! It got worse and having been driving for at least a mile with the wheels spinning over the dirt track and steep incline we realised this was not a road and we were essentially off roading in a classic Porsche! but couldn't turn around with cliffs on one side. 
Finally we got turned around and edged the car down at about 1mph, never off the brakes. 


Finding a new route we set back up the mountain to cross into the valley of Val Disere about 1hr at the top of a new mountain the second route was blocked off....... we sat there 10 minutes knowing the only thing was an hour back down the mountain and still with no route.
Deja vu from the stag trip!!!!


Eventually we found a road and called ahead to warn our waiting friends to order lunch without us. The route we found in the end was amazing (if a bit scary in moments) and parts of it was the ski runs we do in the winter, driving down a black run is not as much fun a skiing it!!!!

We had turned a 3 hr drive in to a 6 hr one but the eventual route was well worth it.

Arriving in Tignes we pulled up outside our friends restaurant and sat on the terrace was Neil (my brother) and some of his friends. Totally unbeknown to either of us he had gone there on a last minute whim for a spot of mountain biking and Neil only found out we were turning up when JoJo told him and they kept it as a surprise for our arrival and a celebratory glass of Champagne.

This was a lovely surprise and we all ate a great mountain dinner that night of fondue and raclette with meats. Having Neil out there meant a chance to do some downhill riding with ski lifts to do the uphill. 

Our time in Tignes came to an end and after a mornings riding and walking we set off down the mountain (the main 'normal' way this time) and on a 6hr drive across France to the Limousin region and to stay with Kate & Francis (sleeping in our first house of the trip) 

Time to relax and take it easy for a few days wind down.

 

Honeymoon day 42 (Sardinia)

We were looking for a few lazy days. The guide books say being a beach bum is the best thing in Sardinia and we have certainly been living it. 

The intentions were full of activities but just like in Croatia something has got in the way. This time it was the wind. Any chances of us sailing where literally blown out of the window, same for diving.

So the only thing to do was go with the weather and learn to kite surf! Not hit the water yet as learning to control the kite but tomorrow morning is wave time (if no wind then it's diving, either way the wetsuits come off the useless kit list, wooohoooo) 

The other thing the guide books say is to drive the coastal roads of Sardinia. This we did and found loads of hidden gems to while away the wind swept days.

Funniest Sardinian moment was Sarah's face as she came running out of the toilet in a state of half undress with a silent scream expression having realised she was sharing her cubical with a frog on the wall!!!!! Never a camera when most needed.

Catching an overnight ferry tomorrow night to Genoa and then driving back into the alps to Tignes to see Alex & Jojo.

Honeymoon Day 40 (Sardinia)

We said we would have a lazy day once arriving in Sardinia, Sarah assured this upon waking her Husband! at 4am to inform me that she hadn't got to sleep yet!
So we set about a lazy day and have little to report after having arrived late last night. We did get lucky to get into the campsite at 10pm and get a pizza before bed (the people here are lovely and had waited for us following a phone call to say we would be late) 

Despite a lazy day of great interest was that 'one' of the tool kits came off the useless items list...... thankfully not for the car, but a small power issue (all fixed).
Also the corkscrew got officially ranked as the hardest item to find all trip, but interestingly enough is right at the top of the most useful items list (only for it's normal purpose) second only to the previously empty credit card!

The most exciting moment of the day came when sarah set fire to a bin! Disposing of the burning insect repellent thing (we think we've camped on an ants nest!!). Someone else noticed before we did and we bravely sat back and watched them deal with it....they did a good job and all's well that ends well.

We popped to the beach on a very gusty afternoon and during a swim got dragged along the coast line 200meters by the rip tide, providing the second most exciting part of the day. Much more tiring than dealing with the fire though!

On what little we've seen of it, Sardinia is gorgeous. It's dramatic landscapes meets a beautiful coast for miles. Looking forward to a few days here planning to rent a boat, do some diving and top up Sarah's tan. If we achieve one of those things we'll be doing well.

   

Photos

For some reason the photos we upload are not updating on the flavors page and haven't since Croatia. The second link underneath the photos 'our photo' in small will direct you to the flickr site where all the photos are or go to 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58792688@N06/sets/ 
There are tons of great ones from the last week in Italy.


On the ferry to Sardinia currently and they have wifi, its slow but means we can keep up to date with the Murray match. Hoping he dispenses Lopez before we dock "come on Murray you've got 1.5hrs"

Honeymoon Day 37 & 38 (Roma parts 2 & 3)

Struggling to fit in Rome's sights and having missed the Sistine Chapel because it closes at 4pm (we arrived at 16:20) we decided to spend an extra night.


It's been baking hot which makes it hard work wondering the streets.

The main sights of the day included the Pantheon and the Vatican

Both were amazing to see and much larger than expected. We picked a good day as the queues were very small, can't imagine how it must be on a busy day though as it was still packed and full of load American tour groups being 'shhhhhh'd' by guards and the public.

Having missed the Sistine Chapel we decided to head back to the hotel and get ready for our Michelin stared dinner.

All dressed up we arrived to realise we must have made a mistake, this was not a michelin stared place, it was however a highly recommended place (i had called the 2nd choice by accident) Luckily Sarah was feeling overdressed and before we left the hotel changed into a slightly less formal outfit, this was a 'phew' moment.

The place we went to though was brilliant and the staff awesome, the owner assumed we were something to do with Baileys Irish Cream (this is not the first time this has happened on this trip) and we where fussed over hugely.

The food was good too and the bill certainly seemed like a Michelin stared price. Beyond tipsy we headed off for a limonchello before getting a taxi home.

On arrival back and past sensible thought process we could hear live music and decided to find it. It turned out to be a cool looking festival and so all sure of myself, said to Sarah "I'll get us in" and approached the backstage security. 20 Euros later and we where in! all happy and bragging of my abilities we found out that if we'd gone to the front entrance it would have only been 5 euros each. Still, we had fun and got loads of free drinks as we talked to the crew.

Woke up worst for ware and needed to lay in. We only had the sistine chapel to achieve and wrote off any other plans in favour of recovery.

The chapel is an amazing thing to see but you can't take it all in. It is filled with about 500 people and no seats, what you really want is no people and a bed in the middle to help you stare up. Like everyone else we stayed until our necks got sore. You are not allowed photos in the chapel so had to do the best sneaky ones possible.

 Totally shattered 

we headed off to return to recovery mode. The plan was a snack and them a film in the hotel but we didn't even manage to order the film.

Off to Sardina today and back to the tent and outdoor life. 

Honeymoon Day 36 (Roma part1)

Arrived at our hotel in Roma booked through lastminute for a great price. We are a drive from the centre but just like the campsite marketing they have a 'free' shuttle into the centre (this costs only 3euro each way). Anyway it is great to stay in a nice place for two nights in a row.


Excited we headed straight into the centre upon arrival. 

We walked the city for hours and are now knackered. The 'free' shuttle back was full so we got a taxi after an argument with a huge guy who was pushing to get on and crushing small children (English.....of course, I told him i was going to knock him into next week, which if he wasn't so concerned about making it on the bus may have back fired badly). 
Happily he didn't get on and we didn't offer to share our taxi and arrived back before everyone, in plenty of time to enjoy a couple of Aperol Spritz by the pool and download the photos from the day.
We where amazed at the sheer volume of roman sights and ruins, everywhere you turn theres another amazing building or archaeological site.

We slept for hours in air-conditioned double bed heaven and haven't left the hotel yet at midday. 

We are now sat by the pool again planning Sardinia and have also managed to get a booking at a Michelin stared restaurant tonight, so at least a chance to wear the wedding suit and Sarah's special dress/jimmy choos, that so far has remained on the list of useless items we brought. Not as bad as the snow boats but up there with 5 jumpers and the 20ltr water carrier (we gave this away as it was either enough water for a week or Sarah in the passenger seat).

Off to spend another afternoon in Rome with the Vatican among todays delights. It's very hot and so old churches will offer perfect comfort.


 

Honeymoon Day 35

Having spent the night at Marina d Pisa we decided to move on, campsite was a bit shit and full of huge man eating ants, we where sure of a better one further down the coast. 
However we couldn't leave without visiting Pisa centre:

and taking the obligatory silly photos........
Proved to be a great people watching spot as people pose for a variety of leaning photos. 

After a spot of lunch we headed south to break up the journey to Roma and choose a great looking campsite on the beach, newly refurbished and packed with amenities. Based in Piombino. It looked idilic but as we are coming to expected with Italian campsites the marketing is rarely in sync with the reality. The standard line on enquiring about certain advertised amenities is, "we are getting it soon" (at one place this included a swimming pool!!!!!).
Anyway last nights campsite was possibly the oddest yet, paranoia probably got the better of us and we were convinced everyone hated us, this was not a site for a foreigner. We had to take a camper spot to get the car in and we were right next to the bar "great we remarked' suits us down to the ground. Little did we know they where going to put live band on "even better, we remarked"......Then it started, the best way to describe it is 'karaoke without seeing the words'. We were speechless as the signer butchered song after song with a keyboard that played the tunes already installed in its memory. 
The campers though were going nuts for it, young or old it didn't matter the dance floor was packed and if we could only have heard the cheers of applause we could have imaged being at Glastonbury. 
All along this trip we have complained that campsites can get very quite early and we sit a whisper (four nights ago we had a sssssshhhhhh come from a tent at only 11pm). However this night couldn't end soon enough for us but the crowd kept calling for encore after encore and annoyingly the band (or singer and keyboard) obliged even allowing kids to take the mic and although this improved the signing quality it was not great pillow music.
We got up super early (a 7am record for us) and packing down was another record. 


We had Roma awaiting and so got straight on the road on another scorching Italian day. We have arrived in Rome now and are sat by the pool of our 4star hotel while we plan what delights we can indulge in tonight.

Honeymoon day 33 (Chianti) & 34 (Luca)

After Massa we were due to head to Pisa and stay in a campsite in Marina de Pisa but found a last minute deal on a spot of Agritourism in the Greve area of Chianti, which included staying at a farmhouse who produce; Wine, olive oil, saffron as well as many condiments and a wine tour completed by a tasting. This was great news as we probably hadn't drunk enough wine.......

After a spot of lunch in Greve we arrived at the vineyard and were very happy with the views and another chance for a private shower and toilet. They also had a swimming pool, there was just time for a dip before preparing for the tasting.

We found a wine that we loved and they provided a meal using all their produce with some cheeses and meats, Sarah was in heaven as it was numero uno on her list of to do's.

We (Sarah) took some amazing photos of the views from the farmhouse which are uploading now.

After tasting we brought our favourite bottle and sat and watched the sun set over a game of backgammon. We (Sarah) had been complaining about our travel backgammon board (kindly donated by best man Ben) as it is small and we knock the pieces out of place easily, so this was definitely a welcomed board.

The lure of a real bed was too much and so we only had one bottle and hit the hay 

Then it was off to Luca (not before stocking up the food bag with wine and olive oil). Luca whose favourite son is Puccini is a beautiful town built within the old walls with architecture to match our expectations of the great cities in Italy. The greatest thing about it was how quite it was, we parked outside the city walls and hired bikes.

Staying in a room in Chianti gave us a chance to get all the bags out and work out a better system of packing (which is constantly evolving) during this we decided to make a pile of all the items we brought which have proved useless or unnecessary. Top of the list was my Snow boats (there are many silly items with us but what went through my mind when packing those god only knows).

Stayed in Marina de Pisa last night but this campsite is not for us so need to move on. So Pisa centre today once we've worked out where to stay tonight as we head south toward Roma. 

Honeymoon day 31 (Firenze)

Had a hideous journey from Ancona to Florence our first night drive consisting of 3.5hrs in constant road works, we lost count of the lorrys after about 1million and the crazy driving got a  bit stressful when someone flipped their car right in front of us (no one hurt amazingly).
Very ready for bed we found the hotel booked on lastminute.com at the ferry port t it was a gorgeous old building and a smile returned to our faces. After much needed sleep we woke to great delight as we realise that our hotel was smack in the middle of Florence just off the Piazza del Duomo and we set about a whistle stop tour of the main sights.

We ran around all morning trying our best to take in all the sights of the city centre and headed over the river to find a spot for lunch with a great view and to see Michelangelo's David. The place we found did not disappoint as both things were achieved in one. You can just see David in the background.

Not willing to compromise we disregarded the budget (again) and ordered the lobster 

Views of Florence from here were breathtaking and trekking up there means you save queuing for 4 hours to go up the tower for the same view, so you can take in a long lunch.

Florence was a crazy camera day and must have been a record for the amount of photos taken in a day so far.

Having blasted through the sights of Florence it was back in the car as we headed passed Pisa & Luca to a beach area called Massa where we meet up with Armin (our friend from Innsbruck), who was there with Nina.

We cooked up some great fish meals together and spent the day on a pedlo boat and working on Sarah 5 snoozes a day regime. 

We have just said goodbye to them as they head off on a 4 hour journey to Lago di Como and we on a 40minute drive to Pisa, stopping in Luca for lunch. Safe travels Armin & Nina, see you soon.