What a night. Gastro hit me at 2 am. So sick, always a worry when you are a solo traveller. I had relevant meds but unable to keep anything down till around 6 am so after a bit of rest got up and got on my way to Verona. Taxi to train, train to Verona then taxi to Palazzo Camozzini. Beautiful former palazzo in the back streets of Verona not far from Piazza Erbe. So after checking in straight to bed for a rest. I ventured out at around 7 pm to have a look around, ...

Rome - the eternal city, beautiful, ancient, welcoming and so interesting. I started the day early with a coffee - espresso of course - I am in Rome. Then metro to meet group for Vatican museum, Sistine chapel and St Peters tour. It was more than I remembered from last time - my memory of my last visit was I came out incredibly angry at the riches and wealth when outside the walls beggars were pleading for money. Maybe my ideology has changed in 30 years, or mayb...

Left the hotel and taxi to Paris Orly airport, flight slight delay but boarded once again up front and first on. We flew over the Alps to Milan. I then got a taxi to Napoli train station to board the Frecciarossa to Rome. I had to get my eurail pass validated but there were lots of people waiting and a very rude ticket seller told me I had to wait at the end. I explained I would miss my train but she insisted. I asked if I could just get on the train and she yell...

Off to cooking school again, this time to shop at the market then cook lunch. We met Lise at the market, it was a rainy morning but we set off and selected produce for lunch. We then went back to the school and cooked our lunch. We started with a tomato salad, this was colourful, delicious and easy to make. We then filleted some fish ( looked like bream but called Dorade) and covered them with vegetables and baked them. Lots of capsicums, eggplant and fennel with...

Catch up time - on 19th I started the day with breakfast Parisian style, coffee and bread. I then travelled by metro to La Cuisine cooking school for my first class. We met Lise our chef who took us through the basics first then we got stuck into chopping vegetables for stock for French onion soup. We then chopped up lots of onions for the soup. We then broke down a chicken into various pieces and even though I've done this many times I learnt some useful tips. W...