So where is Romeo?

Verona was a day stop on our adventure north through Italy.  This was a mistake it was a charming City and we would have liked a few more days to explore.


Made famous by Shakespeare with Romeo and Juliette (a mythical tale), a lot of money is made from guessing which balcony Juliette stood on.  Mind you there are some very nice balconies.

Stephen's favourite part of Verona was the specialist gelati shop in the main square.  Bellisimo!

Gelati proved to be his Achilles heal.  In the end he had to limit himself to 1 a day he had only brought one belt.

Brindisi 1998

Jo-Ann
20.7.98 - Another long day of travelling, Stephen drove all day.  Travelled along the highway glad to get out of southern Italy.  Got to Brindisi and found out the ferry left at 7 pm.  We booked a cabin and sat in the park all day.  The boys played handball, a bitch of a day. When we got to the port it was filthy, the toilets were filthy - shit all over the walls. We arrived at about 4 pm and sat in the car, too unsafe to do anything else.  We boarded at about 6 pm.  Cabin was small, old shower bath and toilet.  Food was good and before we knew they were waking us up to get off.


Christian
Day 25 - Today we got on a ferry to go from Brindisi to Greece.  It took 10 hrs to get to Greece so we slept on the ferry over night.  On the ferry we took our car so it was sort of like a ship.  We ate a meal on the ship and it was really nice food because the Greeks are really good cooks.  Joshua had spaghetti and he said it was better than the Italian spaghetti, which is pretty good I think.  In the afternoon we sat and had bagels and coke because we were one of the first people on the ship.


Joshua
Day 25 - We got up early and did a long drive down the coast of southern Italy. We bought some tickets for our ferry trip to Greece.  Because the ferry didn't leave until late we played handball in a square of the city.  We played some other games as well until 4.30pm.  Then we drove to the docking area and got on our ferry.  We had a cabin on our ferry, it was pretty small and had a shower and two lots of double bunks.  I am sleeping of one of the top bunks and mum is sleeping under me.  There is a nice dinning area and a lot of cars are coming in.  There is a room where there are some video games and a lot of poker machines.

Giovinazzo 1998

Jo-Ann
19.7.98 - Another long drive towards the south of Italy. They are mad drivers over here, you have to drive very carefully.  Drove through some lovely country but decided to push on towards Brindisi.  What a bad move came to some terrible areas, real slums.  Finally stumbled across resort style accommodation.  Took a punt and got the last room, clean and comfortable.  The boys had a swim in the pool and the sea.  No sand, lots of rocks and cement, Christian cut his foot on some rocks.  The boys need to wear their surf shoes.


Christian
Day 24 - Today we drove to Giovinazzo and stayed in a hotel called Club Lafayette.  It was right on the beach and had a big pool because the beach was all rocky and polluted.  In the pool you had to wear a little cap because head lice is really bad in Europe.  They had soccer tables that josh and I played for a little before going to the sea water.  The beaches in Europe have white stones and washed up seaweed on the shore.  At night we had a party, it had fireworks, food music dancing and a lot of waiters serving about ten meals at a time.

Pool at Hotel Lafayette

Joshua
Day 24 - We got up early and we started to drive to Brindisi.  On the way we stopped a food place and the toilets were awful.  We went a bit further and we ate there.  I had a pizza and Christian and mum had a toasted sandwich and we bought things to play with in the car.  We didn't make it to Brindisi so we stayed at a beach resort and it had two plastic soccer tables.  When we got down to the pool we had top buy a cap and they wouldn't let you wear a swim shirt.  After the pool closed we went down to the beach and had a swim there.  When we got back to the room we got dressed again to got to a party at the pool. When we got to the party the food was nice and the fireworks were good.

Venice 1998

Jo-Ann

St Marks Square - Venice

18.7.98 - Caught train to Venice, took about 30 mins - Good Trip.  Venice was very busy, lots of sellers.  Caught a water taxi to St Marks Square looking through beautiful church.  Lots of small gold tiles on the roof a beautiful marble floor.  Bought mum some rosary beads.  I wanted a glass photo frame but couldn't find one.  Open market bought some fruit.  Walked a lot today and paid for toilets 500 lire - 50 cents.  Toilets were very dirty. We saw a huge P&O liner.  Lots of street sellers, I bought a handbag for $40 - good bargaining os Stephen's part.

Christian
Day 23 - Today we went to Venice, to get there you catch a train.  When we got there we caught a boat to the other side of Venice so we could walk back to the train station on the way we saw lots of glass and jewellery.  We went to a church called St Marco and the whole roof was covered with little tiles about 1cm by 1cm wide.  It was a big church as well.  We also saw a big American cruise ship 296m long on the docks.  In Venice they have water taxi called gondolas but we didn't go on one.


Joshua
 Day 23 - Today we got up early and went out for breakfast at McDonalds but that was closed, so we went to a place called Autogrill where we had a croissant. There was a Sega Planet right next to it.  When we finished we caught a train to Venice, when we came out of the train station we got on a boat.  On the boat we saw a big American cruise boat it was nearly as big as the Titanic, it was called the Grand Princess.  When we walked around Venice we saw lots of glass and jewellery.  We went to a church and the whole roof was made of tiles.  We walked over to the big ship and the crew told us it was 296 metres long.  When we got back we went to Sega Planet and we nearly finished a game.  We went to McDonalds and the food was as good as Australian McDonalds. 

Sea Princess 296 m long

Padua 1998

Jo-Ann
17.7.98 - Drove all day and got into a little town called Padova.  Very old and depressing town.  Found it difficult to find a motel as they all looked run down.  Found a 2 star, fairly old, but the shower dripped - just like camping.  Booked in for 2 nights at Padova.  We walked for a long time before we found a restaurant. Got there just in time before the crowd arrived at 7.30.  In Italy they all start to come out at around this time.  Got to bed about 10.30 - Venice tomorrow.


Christian
Day 22 - Today we drove to Padua which is a town in Italy near Venice.  On the way we stopped at this big eating place where we ate breakfast.  Then we went to a bank and exchanged our money into Italian Lire.  One Australian dollar equals 1000 Lire.  Then we got our room and walked around for a while and had tea at an outdoor restaurant.  I had and Italian pasta and Josh had a pizza it was really nice. Then we looked at some more shops and saw some street bums cleaning and washing feet and teeth in a water fountain.


Joshua

Service station on Italian Border

Day 22 - Today we left really early and started to drive across the border of Italy.  We stopped a a little service station and we had something to eat and drink.  Then we while we were driving again we drew some pictures in our sketch books.  When we got to a bank on the way we exchanged our money and I got 149000 Lire because here you take three zeros off and it will be 149 dollars, so it is easy to work out your money.  When we crossed the border of Italy we saw lots of army trucks.  We found a hotel next to a road and the railway but it wasn't very noisy.