Sorry for the short post but the day was very long and it is quite late. Today we travelled south over two hundred kilometres to visit the city of Pompeii and to travel along the coastal road along the Amalfi Coast. Pompeii was amazing, the level of detail preserved in the city is quite breathtaking. We only explored a small section of the total town but we got a good understanding of the basic history of the city and how they lived. Following our visit we dro...

Today is the last full day of our holiday. We arrived into Hong Kong very early this morning, fatigued and jet lagged. We also had a bit of a wait in getting one of our bags as it had gone missing. After about thirty minutes it was located so off we set for Hong Kong Island on the train from the airport. Thankfully the hotel could offer us a room straight away, for an additional fee so we took the opportunity to get a few hours welcome sleep. After our little n...

Rome - Day Three Another slow start this morning with a bit of a lie in, followed by a late breakfast. After breakfast John ventured out to experience the subway and to walk around a few of the sights we had missed which included St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican and the Pantheon. It was also Republic Day, equivalent to our Australia Day which included a military parade and airforce flyby. This afternoon we went on an Imperial Rome tour. We approached this ...

We had a lazy start to the day with a late breakfast. We also managed to get some washing done and a little shopping. This was all a precursor to our main activity today which was a small group tour of the Vatican Museum and special access to the Sistine Chapel. We weren't quite sure what to expect from the tour. Well I would have to say it was well worth it. The access we got to areas usually not accessible such as the Bramante Staircase, the Gallery of Statue...

After the early morning walk I returned to the hotel to get ready for the day. We had breakfast at the hotel on the roof terrace that over looks the city. After breakfast we set off on foot to explore the city. Our first stop was the colosseum. Such a difference at this time in the morning with the site crawling with tourists. We didn't go inside today but walked past and around Palatine Hill and the Forum. Along the way we came across a local food market and st...