Rose at 4AM in order to be at the airport at least 3 hours before take off. Trip to airport uneventful. Checked in to off site parking without much trouble. I noticed that the long term carpark appears to be chockers. Are they full up with no other customers possible? Has the increase in travellers meant that there are more cars to be catered for. Hence the myriad of off airport parking that now ring the airport. When Jenny did the census over 10 years ago one elderly couple we came across described themselves as Travellers. And I am sure that they really were Travellers. I looked at their ute and it didnt look like it would last much longer. They had a minimum amount of luggage stored in the back of the ute in brown paper packs ready for a quick getaway. Their clothes were old looking and had been much repaired. I wanted to ask if they were what used to be called Gypsies. But as I was driving for Jenny I didnt. They were the first Gypsies I had seen since I was a child. We often confronted them on the roads when I was a child. We left Tullamarine about 12.30 for Singapore. Flew with Qantas. Staff are OK. Give the appearance of trying to help. Disguise their annoyance if they have it. Its a long trip. I had a middle seat. The space for people to sit is much smaller that it used to be. In 1972 the trip from London to Australia was not much trouble. I found it easy. Not so now. No leg room. Seats are hard. Buttocks are bruised. Hips are injured. Not much sleep is possible. Very difficult to even get out of the seat to go to the toilet. Television and Movie selection offered nothing. There was not one movie I was interested in. They seem to have stopped showing European films. Music is pretty awful. Aircraft is loud and hard to hear if you found something interesting. Cannot remember what I watched or heard. But I survived. Singapore is now a large airport. We saw out the window of the airport train the artificial waterfall. I wonder just where my father worked when he was labouring on building the airport. Which part. Its an extremely well run place. Efficient looking. Queues not too long. Toilets are clean. You know the name of the person responsible for its upkeep because his photo is on the door into the toilet. Had to wait 5 hours between flights. The trip from Singapore to Zurich was a bit of a nightmare. Flew with Swiss Air. Very cramped. And hot. All other airlines have a policy of keeping people cold. Swiss appear to be the opposite. Like a sauna. I think I did a lot of sweating. Seats even closer together. Not possible to even move. I was in pain the whole trip. Cannot remember sleeping much. I took particular interest in our route. We skirted several points of interest. Tehran. Mosul. Ukraine. Istanbul. Some interest in the entertainment. Watched a typical documentary on Maria Callas. Various documentaries on many subjects. I did not watch any of them all the way through. I watched a bit of Annie Hall. I think Woody Allen made a good picture. It was better than I anticipated. A film about nothing really. Hollywood. Moral standards in the movie industry. Paul Simon playing an overnice do gooder verging on slimy. With an extra tall girlfriend constantly in attendance holding his hand. So I have been on the move for approx 36 hours without sleep. We arrived in Zurich approx 7AM confronted with large crowd wanting to get quickly through the airport. Connecting flights needed to be caught. Some people were told that the queue was way behind where they were. They pointed out the emergency of their plight. We finally got on our Prague connection only to find that our bags were not in Prague when we arrived. Well - some of our bags did arrive. Jenny’s did. Mine didnt. We took the underground train to the city centre. We are staying in a big hotel. And I mean big. As big as Las Vegas it seems. A train station is attached to the hotel. Virtually in its basement. Prague is larger than I thought. Spread over several hills. The city centre is interesting. Lots of small cobblestones. Walked to St Wenceslas Square. There was no signage so I asked a person who was trying to drum up business for the hop on hop off bus if this was indeed where the Soviet Tanks rolled into town to stop the Socialism with human face rebellion during the Prague Spring. It was obvious that he probably had never heard of the conflict. I thought maybe I should mention the name Alexander Dubcek but I decided against. He was the second person I had asked about the Soviet Tanks. Both expressed non plussed expressions. Maybe its like Vietnam. Who knows where the Australian Troops were. They were there but no one knows where. I also asked where Hitler had his parade when he took over Czechoslovakia but again no one seemed to have heard of it. Time passes quickly. We had no trouble getting train tickets or using the underground. The ticket machine worked easily. We purchased half hour tickets. You can go anywhere in the half hour. Later on someone told us people over 65 don’t have to pay. I had a shower and went to bed at 9PM. Virtually slept through. Very tired. 36 hours without any real sleep. Watched a bit of TV. Deutsche Welle TV in English. Some CNN in English. Woke up at 5AM. I always suffer from hard core core constipation when I go on Hollidays. My bag turned up in the middle of the night. Delivered to my room without waking me. We spent the day on an organised tour. We are some distance from the city centre. Went through tunnels to get there. Toured the Castle and Old Town. Very well built. Been an established county since before the middle ages. Lots of impressive structures built at various times. Some quite a long time ago. Most in the 17th and 18th centuries. The country must have been quite wealthy at the time. Because they haven’t had many wars not many buildings got smashed. Cars are restricted in the city. Some very new ones slowly and silently gliding along the one lane roads. All parking areas full up. Pedestrians have the right of way. Cars do stop at Pedestrian crossings of which there are many. Lots of Trams and Buses. Had fried sausage for lunch from a take away stall. Saw two beggars with dogs. How do they make any money in a cashless society. They did have some coin in their begging hats. We are travelling cashless so I have no coin or notes. Lots of statues and plaques commemorating the various kings etc. An obelisk commemorating WW1 where apparently half the Army changed sides and helped in the breakup of the Hapsburg Empire and in the establishment of the country Czechoslovakia. Nothing indicating the Socialist Period. On the way into the airport we passed some evidence of Stalinist style apartment buildings. No statues in sight portraying the victory of the working class over the capitalism. We made a pilgrimage to the Theatre where Don Giovanni was premiered. There is a statue outside with a plaque in English. A larger Plaque in Czech also. Large theatre. Looked in the booking office. Both Don Giovanni and Clemency of Titus are on this month.There are 4 Opera Houses in Prague but they don’t always show Operas. They do Plays and Concerts as well. Ate at the food hall in the shopping complex connected to the Clarion Hotel. Had an egg and avocado sandwich followed by a fruit crepe. I had previously eaten at a place that offered lots of overcooked food but it suited me. I pointed and asked for some rice and borsch with mashed potatoes on the side. This was not on the advertised menu on the billboard. But they were happy to accommodate me. We went to an exhibition of Warhol, Dali and Mocha. They all have a connection with Czeckoslavikia. Warhol was born here. Dali’s image was created by a Czeck photographer and Mucha was Czeck but his work was not accepted as being Art until after he had died. Andy Warhols mother never spoke English. Presumably he communicated with her in Czech. Wednesday 15th Nov
We left Prague supposedly at 8AM. On the bus virtually all day. Drove through suburbs of Prague. Some places look like inner city Melbourne. South Yarra, Toorak, East Melbourne. Went through countryside that looked fairly fertile. They are getting ready for winter. All grass has been cut. Only one crop of what looked like corn left in the paddock. We got to Bratislava approx 2.30 in the afternoon. Had a good look at the old town. Distinct difference between the old town and the new town. Fairly large tourist area. New town is the other side of the Danube - which is running fast. A lot of Stalinist Architecture across the river. Doesn’t look all that bad. I tried to withdraw 50 Euros from an ATM. The transaction went normally until it came time to release the note and the note did not come out. The dispenser flashed as if to say here it comes but it didnt. Suddenly a sign came up saying machine was out of order. I took a photo of the relevant details but no email or phone number shown. We then drove to Vienna. We are staying several kilometres out of town. Some Australians behaved badly on the bus. Some complained rudely that the bus was too hot. - It wasn’t. Then they complained that the PA was too laud.- it wasn’t. I squirmed in my seat. There are some Australians who I find hard to get on with. I know the history of one bloke - his work successes - his triumph's in life - etc - because he told everyone and it was impossible not to overhear. There were no tea making facilities in the hotel room. When I queried this I was told that no Hotel in Austria offered these facilities. The suggested we walk 20 minutes in the dark to the nearest McDonalds. Very quickly coming to the conclusion that in Eastern Europe the concept that user pays is King. You have to pay to go to the toilet. There are no tea making facilities in motel rooms. Pay for a cup tea at the bar is the advice given by hotel management. Thy claim that nowhere in Austria is this service offered. We did go for a cup of tea at McDonalds. Had to walk in the dark through a park. I stood in mud which covered my shoes. I had to hand clean them back in the room. Thursday 16th. Up at precisely 6AM. Not a great deal of variety in breakfast. We were taken into Vienna City Centre. The tour guide gave us a bit of a tour. Kept promoting St Stevens and the Viennese Spanish Horses. I wanted to go to Mozarts House and the Kunstler Museum so we went our own way. Unfortunately Jennys phone was configured incorrectly and it could only take us to a destination as if we were driving a car. Cars are pretty well verboten in Vienna. Consequently we did a big circle to get to Mozarts House. Found this out when we left the house and it was actually about 100 metres from where we started out from. Even worse with the Art Gallery. Did a lot of walking up and down streets trying to figure out which direction to head. Finally finished up asking people handing out pamphlets in the street just where the Gallery was. But we saw the Bruegel's. They are fantastic. Very easy to look at. Took photos. Did not have time to look at anything else. We owe the fact that Mozarts House exists to the efforts of the German Nazi Party who wanted to make Mozart into a German Hero after Anschluss. They requonishened the house where Mozart spent the most extended period of time in Vienna and where he wrote The Marriage of Figaro. It became known as the Marriage of Figaro House or the Figaro House. It was the best house that he lived in during his life. It was a good apartment in a fashionable area within the city walls. He moved a lot in his life depending on his economic circumstances. And as we know they varied a lot. They have tried to set up the rooms as they were then but they admit they don’t really know what the layout was when the Mozarts lived there. We know that Mozarts father visited them and stayed there for a period of time. We know that informal concerts were held in one of the rooms and that on one night Mozart and his father played a violin duet and that Hayden was present and afterwards Hayden wrote several violin duets himself that resembled Mozarts style. Mozart often had pupils and it in not known whether any or all of them stayed with the Mozarts. We know that for a time Mozart had a child prodigy as a pupil and this child stayed in the house with them. Mozart used him in his public concerts when he needed another piano player to play duet parts. The apartment is nothing flash really. A number of people had to fit in the 8 rooms. Mozart and Constanza and their 2 children. A Maid and a Cook. A manservant. There weren’t 4 bedrooms. They believe the Cook and the Maid slept in the Kitchen. The Manservant apparently assembled his bed every night in a corridor and took it down every morning. From Mozarts letters they did a lot of entertaining. There was only one stove in the apartment. The house was believed to be exceptionally cold in winter.There was one weird room that showed off ornate plaster on the walls that a previous owner had put up to advertise his product. Mozart did not have enormous success when he was here. Still Mozart kept at it. Working every day. Its hard to write a complete foolscap page of music every day but he mostly did. When you see facsimile copies of his original work you realise just how hard it is to compose original music. And at such length. Had trouble with a self service machine trying to buy tickets to the Gallery. I felt the machine accepted my 32 Euros but did not spit out any ticket. Had to go to Reception and pay there. I could end up having several wrong charges on my travel card. Had some take away noodles for tea on the way back to the bus. Could have done with more Soya Sauce. Dark at 4.30. Walked to the Westfield Shopping Centre to have a look.The pathway there was better lit this time. Shopping Centre fairly large but fairly normal. Always interesting looking at things overseas that are exactly the same in Australia. Playing spot the difference. Bought an energy drink. It doesn’t taste like it has hydrolytes. Maybe it had hydrolytes in abundance because I later had trouble sleeping. Advice : Do not stay at the Pyramid Hotel on the outskirts of Vienna. It has no tea making facilities in the rooms. What’s more the management claim that no hotel in Austria offers these services. And the scrambled egg for breakfast was cold both mornings. And not a great deal of variety on offer. Just egg and bacon really. 3 types of serial only. No muesli. TV was OK though. BBC, CNN, MSBN, English French. Etc. Friday 19th. Picked up at 9am. Drove to Ljubljana in the country of Slovenia. Two stops at very modest service centres on the way. But mostly though the countryside. It looks prosperous. Well kept. Cattle are obviously under cover for the winter. Houses all painted white. Picture postcard really. The country is supposed to only have 2.1 Million people but I would say there must be more than that. The countryside is well inhabited and there are some large towns. It was part of Yugoslavia. It does not look poor. Yugoslavia was poor and became even poorer when it split up. The people look prosperous. According to Wikipedia Slovenia has quite impressive qualifications. It has the lowest income inequality in the world. It was the first country to take up the Euro. It is in the EU and the Schengen zone. It is a devout member of the EU. It is described as a developed country with a high income economy . Slovenia suffered greatly during WW2. Suffice to say that 8% of its population and all of its Jews were killed. There was virtually a civil war between marxists and fascists during the war and lots of people were killed. A large proportion collaborated with the nazis and the Partisans lived in the hills and resisted. At the end of the war lots more were killed. Revenge was extracted on 30,000 people. This is all new to me. Jenny got ill on the bus and we were not able to go on the supervised tour of Ljubljana. The hotel allowed us to check in early. We walked around town for a bit later on at night. Lots of young people in attendance. We saw a wok street trader and had prawns and mushroom vegetables. It wasn’t very good. Not much taste at all. Its best if you leave it to Asians to cook Asian food. No Asians were used in the cooking of our food and we suffered for it. To bed at 9PM. Nothing much on TV. Channels are pretty well the same as Australia. Game shows. Quiz shoes. Pop shows. An overseas Chinese Channel. Reports on Xi Ji Pings visit to California. Not his first time apparently. A photo has emerged of him being in San Francisco 40 years earlier. The Chinese TV gives an indication of how the Chinese government thinks. They are a large country with a large population. It is not a simple matter having a close relationship with another country. Saturday 20th Nov. Breakfast better than the last hotel. This hotel is much friendlier. Rooms are larger. We are lucky we have a free day. We declined to go and look at Lake Broz. We spent the morning and into the afternoon walking around the market area and visiting the Ljubliana Castle. It goes back a long way. They have found a bone flute that dates back more than 30000 years. As usual Castle is on highest hill. Funicular takes you to the top. Lots of small galleries etc. dotted around. We covered all. The most interesting was the Puppet Museum. Puppetry must be big with Eastern Europe. Even the Partisans had a Puppetry squad to entertain the troops. Remember that East Germany also was big on Puppetry. Lots of people at the market. Many similarities with Queen Vic. Crafts. Clothes. Lots of specialist food. Some outdoors. Some under cover. Queue to buy cabbages. Must be good. People look sophisticated enough. Many have bikes. Some have designer dogs. Women’s clothes are a higher quality than in Australia. And women dress fashionably. Much more taste than Australian women. Its nice to see women wearing stockings. Its definitely more attractive than the uncovered legs with three layers scraped off you see in Australia. A Jazz Band in the City Square and 3 couples dancing the Tango. There are more smokers in Eastern Europe than Australia. Also more vapers. Both men and women smoke. We are both exhausted and have come back to the Hotel to recuperate. Bought bread rolls and croissants etc in a supermarket. Similar range to the UK. Quite good food and not expensive. Looked over both the Main Art Gallery and the Modern Art Gallery. Not an awful lot to write home about. After the 19th century a lot of paintings had a pastel look about them. Soft focus. None really stood out. Some family portraits. Portraits of important men and women. Most art in the Gallery was religious. Endless Madonna and child. Mary and Jesus. Jesus on the cross. The modern art was derivative of just about everyone. Dali. Rothko. Attempts at feminism. Some modern paintings had attempts at humour. Not one good painting. One interesting thing was that there were maybe 5 paintings that were painted during the war. Even with all the chaos of war they still were inclined to paint. I ate fake Tibetan Soup and Jenny had samosas. She said they were authentic. Tasted good. Lots of people out walking about. Eating and drinking at street cafes. Lots of socialising. People talking. This must be a pleasant place to live. Back to the Hotel at 6PM. Suffering from Jet Lag. Have an overwhelming desire to go to sleep at 7PM. Woke up at 1AM and really did not sleep again. Feel better after a shower. Sunday 21st Nov Once again I mismanaged the shower and put lots of water on the floor. Yesterday I directed a lot of water into my toilet bag. Why don’t they have proper shower heads. Who uses these hand held showers. We drove to Venice through Italian looking countryside. Took a ferry from the bus station to near St Marks. Jenny and I walked around a bit. Tried to find where we stayed in 2018. Got close but didnt get to the alleyway. Every house in Venice has a different number. Some shops still in the same place. I think Venice might have lifted itself somewhat economically since 2018. More money changing hands. Certainly more people here now. We were here 1st week of 2018 so it was in the off season. There seem to be more shops open now though.. Its still a wonderful place. Completely self contained. I like it. Gallilao came from here. He used the telescope to look at the moons of Venus. He confirmed that planets revolved around the sun. And that the sun does not resolve around the earth. For this he was put under house arrest and shown torture instruments and told - mate - if you say anything further this is what will happen to you. He stayed silent from then on. Why isn’t the church criticised for this. Telescopes were developed in Venice because they wanted to be the first to look out to sea and see which ship was coming in. They could then go to the stock exchange and buy shares in that ships produce. We went inside St Marks and the Doges Palace which we didnt do in 2018. They always seemed to have long queues in 2018. They were long today to get into St Marks but the queue moved quickly. No queue to get into the Doges Palace. Maybe it was the cost that distracted me in 2018. The history of the Doges is quite interesting. And long. From 5th Century to the big power politics of Napoleon. Quite a history. Venice has been here a long time but the fact remains Venice existed to make money. Two men came back to the ship wearing what they had purchased. One had an apron with male genetalia stencilled on it. The other had much the same thing printed on his shorts. Everyone in the crowd laughed when they showed their purchases. Especially the women. No why don’t I find this type of thing funny? Monday 22nd. Took the bus from Venice to Rome. Passed through several Italian districts. Including Tuscany. It lives up to expectations. But as we were always with one small exception on the motorway (autostrada) we could only see it in the distance. It looks very Italian. In fact the whole place looks Italian. I kept seeing what I considered could only be Eucalypt Trees. They certainly looked like gums of some type. Wikipedia confirms they are eucalypts. We got to Rome in the afternoon and went to the Port Area. Had to go through security, customs etc. Then on to the boat. Which is enormous. Must have several thousand people on it. They held a drill soon after we got on. Confusion bordering on chaos. We had to go to a distant area to swipe our cards and the go back to our cabin and dial a number. This was quite a distance. Had tea with Reggie and Floor. Two people who came from the Philippines to Australia 30 years ago. We have an allocated table. Found out later that we do not have to go to the Dining Room but can go to the buffet on the 18th and 19th floor. The woman we spoke to said that the buffet is better. Very tired. Slept quite well. Tuesday 23rd Nov. Had a largish breakfast in the Dining Room. After breakfast we checked out the buffet. It is better. Left the boat at 9.30. Walked past lots of spruikers trying to sell tours on buses, horse drawn gigs, tuck tucks, buses etc. Finally came to a young girl who offered us exactly what we wanted. A tour of Palermo on a train that goes on the road. We had seen the trains from the ship. This tour just went around all the main spots and cost 10E each. It was good value. Palermo does have some interest. It is old. It looks knocked about. The parks look neglected. Prickly pear might be Sicilies national plant. The town is inhabited by cars rather than humans. Cars are everywhere. Double parked. Triple parked. Every nook and cranny is taken up by a car. If there is a spot on a pedestrian crossing a car will be on it. Admittedly all the cars are small. Some are really small. Lots of street markets selling mostly junk. Old clothes. Knick Knacks that nobody would want. There was a man busking outside the concert hall and he really could sing. He had an electronic helper that played background music. He sang live with an orchestral accompanyment. He should have been inside the concert hall rather than outside on the street. Palermo is unkempt. Litter on the streets.There is graffiti everywhere. And its nasty graffiti. No art is attempted. Roads are potholed. Badly kept. Sidewalks can suddenly disappear. Some buildings are really old. But they are not well kept. Police sirens are more or less constant with Police cars and Emergency Vehicles trying to get through the traffic. All have their sirens on full bore. Rushing here and there. I would not want to live here. The very opposite to Prague and Vienna where cars are not encouraged and the place is clean and well kept. Palermo is extremely noisy. But to be fair not a lot of horns and no road rage that I could see. We had tea in the Dining Room. Jenny has become friendly with Floor - another passenger from the Philippines who has been in Australia of 30 years.. The menu was not the same as last night Wednesday 22nd We again tried the Dining Room and whilst we had a better experience overall as far as food goes the waiters do not understand the concept of English Tea. They do not appear to have heard of it. Jenny had to have two goes at getting tea. Even then they put hot milk in it. This was after they had poured hot milk on a tea bag thinking that was English Tea. They did not appear to have heard of hot water on a teabag. We did the organised tour of Valetta. With a bit of a drive around Malta. Went to a coastal village where they do scuba diving. We next went to a fishing village. The fishing village set up for tourists. Boats were in. Quite colourful. There were seats to sit on. Came back to Valetta and had a good look. Mainly seems to have been built by the Knights of St John in the Middle Ages. Cars go down the tiniest of streets. We saw the Palace of the Inquisition. It did resemble the Stasi building in East Berlin. Malta was ceded to Britain in 1798 and was a British Colony for approx 200 years. I know that Malta was the most bombed place except for Tokyo in WW2. All the citizens of Malta were awarded a special medal - maybe the equivalent of the George Cross - for their bravery in enduring the constant bombing. They drive on the left hand side. Had a good look at Malta. Buildings made of sandstone. Its rocky. Its dusty. Its gravelly. It doesn’t look too productive. Not a lot of things growing. Prickly Pear is the main native plant. Some Cyprus trees. At night we went to a entertainment show called Amelia. Supposedly about Amelia Erhardt. It was a singing dancing variety show. Acrobats. Dancers. Illusionists and motorbikes. I saw an identical act to what I saw at the Wangaratta Carnival in 1958 except the motorbikes then had petrol engines and were so loud the noise went through you. The actors in this show are amazing. They have total control of what emotion they show on their faces. They are able to portray any feeling they want to. They are so precise in what look they have on their faces. Why are they working in a cruise ship and not in Hollywood. Thursday 23rd Nov A free day. At sea all day. I finally had a light breakfast in the Buffet. Muesli. Fish. Tomato. Croissant. Coffee. Back to the cabin to do nothing. Watching Japanese TV. Jenny has ben ill all day. Moaning with pain. I have been passing copies amounts of urine. What did I eat that has made my kidneys work overtime. The disturbing thing is I am losing control of my sphincter nerve. Friday 24th Nov. We both slept in a bit.Took the shuttles to the Hop Off and Hop On bust stop.We took 2 tours of Barcelona. Stopped at the Sagre Famille. It is big. Couldn’t get in because we had not booked in advance. Nevertheless I have now seen it. It looks more impressive than in photos. It is indeed a work of Art. They are getting close to completion. Only another few years. What will they do then. Took the bus to The Picasso Museum. Picasso was in exile for most of his adult life so consequently not a lot of his pictures are in Spain. The exhibition shows just how prolific he was though. He could virtually turn his hand to anything. There are a lot of early drawings which show he could be exceedingly realistic. Picasso was exceptionally talented. A genuine genius. No doubt about it. Saturday 25th Nov Jenny was ill yesterday and I am ill today. I have an overwhelming urge to cough at length. I cough so much I have taken skin off my throat and cough up blood. We did take the shuttle tour around Toulon. We missed Marseilles because of weather. Toulon is a Port Town. I have been here before but remember nothing of it. We had a street toasted sandwich. It was the best food we have had for a week. Came back to the boat and spent the day in bed. Slept most of the day. Did not feel like eating. The food on this boat is nothing to write home about. It all tastes the same. Watched a bit of TV. The Gaza War is on 24/7. There is a European Chinese channel in Chinese. The Chinese seem to be saying we don’t want to get involved. All the European Channels are firmly on the side of the Gazans. Italian TV has not improved since were last here. Lots of Talent Shows. Lots of stand up comedians. Lots of talk shows. Dutch are more civic minded. Germans concentrate on sport. French try and give a wide coverage. Turks definitely on the side of the side of the Gazans. Friends and Big Bang Theory are dubbed into various languages. They aren’t as funny. Even fleetingly saw Bluey dubbed into some language. There has been a change in the ethnic mix of Europe since I was here in the 70,s. The people on the boat reflect this. Definitely more people of colour. Very much integrated. Asian People also. Must be Chinese. Hardly any Indians though. The Staff are all Asian or African. Its rumoured that boat is owned by Indonesians. It appears all of the cabin maids are Indonesian. The Italian women seem to have moved on and are not so concerned that their body shape does not resemble Sophia Loren. They seem to be saying that its possible to get satisfaction out of children. At least on this boat. They are on this boat for the journey not the arrival. Sunday 26th November. This is the illest I have ever been for quite a while. I have been in bed for the past two days. Still I think I am recovering. We did not get off the boat in Genoa. Slept for most of the day. Monday 27th November We took the Vatican Tour. It was a lot of walking . Most of it in the rain. I got wet through. The traffic in Rome is horrendous. It took us two hours to get to our Hotel by bus. It took us an hours walk in the rain to get to the bus. The tour guide reminded us that the traffic situation is part of the Rome experience. Embrace it. She smiled when she said it. Two people pulled out of the Vatican Tour so we took their place. The Vatican has collected a lot of Greek statues and Renaissance paintings. Not much in recent times I would say. It is interesting to note that most of the Greek and Roman Statues have fig leaves covering the male penis. Either that or the penis has been knocked off with a hammer. Sometimes both penis and testicles have been smashed off. Who ordered this I wonder. In the 60’s Myers hosted a visiting exhibition of the statue of David and other sculptures. The exhibition was raided by the Vice Squad on the orders of Mr Bolte and Mr Rylah because there were naked men on display. On television that night Graeme Kennedy prominently displayed the Statue of David on his desk but had it wearing a jock strap. People have always voted for idiots. And Idiots have always been keen to see evil. Times don’t really change unfortunately. Saw the Sistine Chapel. Overall its disappointing. Its smaller than its portrayed. The Art isn’t terribly significant. Michaelangelo was a sculptor and an Architect. He was a competent painter. The scenes he painted are all predictable. He wasn’t half the painter than Leonardo was. And many others who were better than him. Its time we started criticising art where it doesn’t come up to scratch. So much of the painting in the Sistine Chapel is not significant. In fact so much of the churches renaissance Art is second rate. And why did they stop commissioning paintings at the end of the renaissance? Why didn’t they keep on with Religious Art. Something trying to convert humans to a higher moral plane. The Church was trying to portray a period when the Church was all powerful. I was disappointed with Rome. We only saw the Colosseum. We didn’t see the Forum. Or The Pantheon. The Colosseum is impressive. Its pretty well the size of the MCG. Here we were feeling self congratulatory that we had constructed this magnificent stadium in Melbourne but wait a minute a previous one was constructed 2000 years ago. How did that happen. Maybe Sir Kenneth Clarke was right. The disappointing thing is that most or all of the marble used in the finish of the Coliseum was pilfered and used in building churches. They also stole as many bricks as they could lay their hands on. They called it recycling materials. The walk back to the bus was a nightmare. Walking for an hour in the rain is not enjoyable. We had a two hour drive to our Hotel. Its on the outskirts of Rome. We stayed in and had two cups of tea. There was no restaurant attached to the hotel. This was the total of our evenings meal. Tuesday 28th Nov. I had a light breakfast. I do not feel that I have the energy to eat. We walked to the Shopping Mall close to our Hotel. Difficult to spot any differences. We had lunch which was not bad. We ate with John and Moon. Just waiting for our bus to the airport. Finally the bus came and we were on our way. We flew Swiss Air from Rome to Zurich. I think all Swissair planes are old. They appear to be. The seats are old looking and very hard. Very rigid. The material looks at least 30 years old. It leads to very painful buttocks. If its possible I will not fly Swissair again. We had to change from domestic to international at Zurich Airport. Large airport. I was very tired at the end. Finally took off. I had several coughing fits. The German in the seat beside me put his facemask on. I didn’t say a word. I felt sorry for the poor bloke next to me. I nearly ran out of hankies. In queuing up to go to the toilet I waited 5 minutes and knocked on the door. A flight attendant came out angry that I had disturbed her. Later on another girl and I waited 15 minutes outside an occupied toilet before I knocked on the door. Nothing happened so I knocked again. I insisted to a flight attendant that she check inside the toilet as someone cold be dead. It turns out they have a little spy hole. There was no one inside. The occupied sign was malfunctioning. The Swissair Flight attendant did not even apologise. From Singapore we were on Qantas. I never thought I would say that I was grateful I was on Qantas. To be fair there was more legroom and the seats were much more comfortable. But also there were less people on the plane. The food was better than Swissair. I wasn’t aware of experiencing any sleep on either leg of the flight. I arrived home exhausted. I immediately went to sleep in front of the TV. Unfortunately I was still exhausted when I woke up. I don’t think I will ever travel overseas again. If we do we will go to a place - say Berlin - and stay for a fortnight. Maybe Paris. Maybe Hanoi. Definitely no more cruises anywhere.
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