Our final stop in Paris. We actually stayed in the outskirts of Paris, in St Germain-en-laye which is very nice. Friday night we had a walk around the local area and had dinner, snails again, drinks and ice cream. Saturday we did a tour of Paris. Sacré Coeur, Notre Dame, the Louvre and Eiffel Tower. In between games and lego by the Seine and a log flume in Jardin Tuileries. Commentary was Rome is better than Paris, fewer cigarette butts and puddles, the recent r...

We wanted to take the opportunity to see the Apline scenery as we left Italy and began to head North. We therefore booked two scenic tourist trains for our journey across Switzerland. The first was the Bernina Express which leaves Tirano and travels through the Swiss Alps along the Rhaetian Railway which is a World Heritage Site. The scenery is amazing and the engineering to get the train up through the mountains is very impressive. It was a really beautiful an...

A team decision to leave Milan first thing and head to the town of Colico on the northern shore of Lake Como. On arrival we did the usual. Looked for a hill and, after finding a hotel to leave our bags, we set off. We did a 7k round trip to Fort Fuentes a ruined military fort. Built by the Spanish in 1603 to protect Milan which they controlled - who knew. It was very hot and the kids were troopers on the hike and the climb to the top. We then set off back to Coli...

Not much to report as today was a travel day. After a lovely week in Umbria we dropped the hir car and caught the train from Perugia to Florence. A couple of hours, in the baking heat, lunch, a walk around the majestic Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and a gelato before we jumped on our train to Milan. In Milan we dropped our bags at the apartment in the Maciachini quarter and then headed into the centre. A bit of sight seeing at the equally majestic Duomo di ...

We love Italy. Arriving in Udine from Villach we found a restaurant. Opening that menu and seeing the variety of choices was bellissimo. After a lovely meal we got the night train to Rome. Arriving at 6am we headed to our hotel and hung around in the local coffee shop waiting for it to open. Then a visit to see the Coleseum and a mooch around the centre of Rome in the ever increasing heat. After a family nap we headed out to drink, eat and be entertained by the ...