EUROPE 2025

Four days in Rome. Probably not long enough to see all the sights but we did fairly well. We visited the Collosseum early in the day to avoid the crowds. There was still a stack of people there at 9.00am. Very astounding building with lots of works going on to stabilise and improve what is left. Hard to believe it able to be built in just under 10 years in 72 AD. We wondered around Vatican City & St Peter's Basilica the crowds were amazing we did not line up but just acted li

This is the place of Sues 60th birthday and as such we booked a boutique hotel room for two nights next to the famous Rialto Bridge. Our most expensive accomodation so far. However you only turn 60 once. We took the water ferry to the hotel and on the walk to the hotel Mark was pick pocketed. They managed to get two bank cards and about €40. Luckily we figured out within minutes what had happened and locked both cards without them being used. So all good. The Hotel.. Well!

Still trying to slow the pace, so booked 4 days in Milan, however our time here did not begin well. The apartment we’d rented had a strong odour, a washing machine we desperately needed that wouldn't start, a terrible bed, and an unhelpful host. After returning on the first day to the same smell, a still-broken washer, and then a power outage to the whole apartment, and with no response from the owner, we’d had enough. We packed up in the cold and dark and found a new apartme