Katherine and I are well having just survived a 9 hour train journey into Budapest (Hungary) from Ljubljana (Slovenia). It was an early start for us both but it’s nice to arrive mid-afternoon with the sun still shining rather than at night where anything can happen!
Our trip so far has taken us from Vernazza (Italy) which is one of the five towns (Cinque Terre) on the north-western coast of Italy. We were really lucky with the weather here as it’s very much an outdoor activity setup. Lots of beautiful trails along the coast and into the hills. I really fallen back in love with my Nikon D40X now that I’ve fitted the 18mm – 200mm lens which as well as the awesome telephoto zoom has vibration reduction tech in it which is making my night photographs so much better! I really enjoy taking night shots without a flash!
From the Cinque Terre we caught a train to Milan. What a contrast – the coastal town for the inland city and (unfortunately) sun for rain. We nevertheless enjoyed our time here – I wish I had taken a photo of the Prada storefront window in such a way I could capture in the same frame, the coolest knee-high women’s boots you have ever seen, the price tag (€18,000 – no typo), and Katherine’s face.
From Milan we caught a pretty sweet modern train (it turns out it was owned by SBB not TrenItalia) to Venice. Coming out of the train station in the late afternoon sun, the scene took my breath away – what an amazing sight of canals and boats “wizzing” by – it was so beautiful. Then it started to rain…
To cut it short , Venice did redeem itself though and we had some great times and great food. We had good recommendations from the owner of the guesthouse we stayed in, which made it a lot cheaper than it could have otherwise have been. We spent one of the days travelling the smaller islands of Murano and Burano, where we came up against “Acqua alta” (high water). We didn’t have to wait long though a nice sit-down lunch and the footpaths were passable.
From Venice we got a bus (well it was a minibus) across the border to Slovenia. It was a pretty quick trip (3 hours) then again our driver was doing an average speed of 130km/h on the autostrade – not too shabby. Caught another bus from Ljubljana to Bled, which brings you pretty much upto date. I won’t say a lot about Bled except that it’s beautiful, stunning, amazing, <insert another synonym for beautiful> and if you get a chance, go and see the place and the surrounding country side. Great for families, great for singles, great for couples… go in the summer months but we weren’t disappointed by the off-season.
So now we have another four days in Budapest before heading down to Cairo to start our Middle Eastern tour of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. I plan to update you once we arrive in Turkey and I get a chance to sit down with an Efes (beer) and a good wi-fi connection.
For now – keep well and keep in touch either via e-mail or Facebook (or feel free to leave a comment).
Chris
