Chapter 11 - The Downhill Slide

On arrival to Long Beach, California we were met by Doug and Ashley Shoemaker (Kris met them in Arizona in 2003) who drove us along the Pacific Ocean coast past Newport and Laguna Beaches on our way to their home in San Diego. We were also able to visit the spectacular San Diego Temple.

Doug won tickets on a local radio station to the world famous San Diego Zoo which was fantastic, with more than 4000 animals including pandas, polar bears and gorillas. In the evening we all had dinner on the beach by the famous Hotel del Coronado.



The following day Doug and I drove up to Los Angeles and went to Six Flags Magic Mountain. Magic Mountain consists of extreme roller coasters that employ state-of-the-art technology. One tourist brochure described it as sadistic. There are no children, only “thrill seekers”. I was still dizzy the next day.

On Sunday we caught a train from San Diego to Los Angeles where we were able to stay in our first real hotel in the last 9 months next door to Disneyland in Anaheim. This was only possible thanks to Kris’ parents who were rewarded two free nights accommodation after a show of honesty when we all stayed there in July of 2004.

On our only full day in Los Angeles we headed to Hollywood and strolled along the walk of fame. We then took a tour up to the Hollywood sign and along Mulholland Drive to see the homes of stars like Jack Nicholson, Julia Roberts and Jennifer Lopez. It was the day of the Golden Globes so there were limousines in the area taking celebrities to the awards ceremony. We learnt that MC Hammer through too many rap parties in the 80’s went bankrupt, and the bank now rents his huge mansion to Tom Cruise. From Mulholland Drive we drove through Beverley Hills and Bel Air (which were significantly more classy areas than Hollywood) to see the homes of John Travolta and Nicholas Cage and the home where Will Smith starred in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

Rodeo Drive is where the stars spend their money in Beverley Hills and we were advised that if we were planning to spend more than US$200,000 in the strip we needed to make a “shopping reservation”. Nothing in the stores had price tags, meaning we could not afford anything.

Following Rodeo Drive we passed the famous Roxbury Club and House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard and then headed to Venice Beach. Apparently if aliens landed on Venice Beach they would fit right in. It was a fascinating place and unfortunately we only had limited time. We had to get back to Hollywood Boulevard to check out the famous Chinese Theatre and then finish our day with dinner at the classy restaurant called Hooters.


We flew to the island of Oahu in Hawaii the next day where we would spend the next 9 days. We stayed with a friend on the Us Navy Base right next door to Pearl Harbor. Our first day was spent climbing Diamond Head, one of the best known volcanic craters in the world. The hike had a twist. We were asked by a friend of a friend to be tour guides (as they needed someone to fill in) and to each take a group of Japanese students up the top with us. Apparently it did not matter that we knew nothing about the volcano or how to get there. We had a lot of fun, and we got paid for doing something we had planned on doing for free.

The 25 foot waves on the North Shore helped us to make an easy decision to spend our day of body boarding closer to the famous Waikiki Beach. It was strange to be body boarding on a few feet of water barely covering a reef. Not falling off or being dunked was important.

Our visit to Pearl Harbor (the USS Arizona Memorial) was moving. On December 7th, 1941, 2,390 people lost their lives in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an event that launched the United States into World War II. While many US battleships were sunk, 1,177 sailors and marines lost their lives on the USS Arizona (the remains of approximately 800 are still on the ship). The ship remains sunk in reasonably shallow waters in Pearl Harbor. A memorial straddles the ship. After watching a video of the events, we thought we might have to sit in the middle of the ferry to separate the Americans from the Japanese on our way out to the memorial. Parts of the USS Arizona can be seen protruding out of the water and you can still see oil leaking out of the fuels tanks after more than 60 years!

Oahu’s landscape differs greatly throughout the island. Honolulu and Waikiki are like any other city, mountain ranges with great hiking, waterfalls and Dole (pineapple) plantations are in the centre, and at the other end of the island lies true Hawaii; beautiful beaches, big surf and a country feel. It was here that we attended the fantastic Polynesian Cultural Centre, Hawaii’s number one paid attraction. The centre contains several areas representing the different cultures of the south pacific (Tonga, Tahiti, Marquesas, Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand and Samoa). The centre was established by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to preserve the cultural heritage of Polynesia and to give Polynesian students the opportunity to attend a university (the neighboring Brigham Young University). Students perform at the centre and their salaries go directly to paying for their tuition, food and accommodation. We cannot overemphasize how great our day was, topped off by a Luau (traditional Hawaiian cuisine) and night show.

On our final day in Hawaii we hit the surf on the famous north shore. A “big wave” surf competition was put on hold as the surf was too flat on Waimea Beach (the beach made famous by the Beach Boys song “Surfin’ USA”) so we caught a bus further along the coast to the famous break at Pipeline. The swell wasn’t big (“only” 10 feet) but the reef, rip and current made it dangerous for the inexperienced, so we just watched the surfers from the shore.

It was a strange feeling to be flying to Sydney, Australia. We stayed with our friend from Tasmania (Matty Williams) and visited Kings Cross in the evening which had its regular share of drug deals and prostitutes. While walking around the city in the evening it did not feel like we were back in our home country, it just felt like another city. That all changed the following morning when we were woken by the sound of Kookaburras and had Weet-Bix for breakfast. We visited Manly Beach, had lunch in Chinatown and wandered around Darling Harbor before flying home.

We had told our families an incorrect date that we were due home so we were excited to be able to surprise them on their doorsteps and in their workplaces.

So this is it. Kris and I had realized one of our dreams. It has been an amazing experience that has changes our lives. We hope you all enjoyed our travel journals and that maybe it inspired some of you to see the fantastic world that we live in.

Below are some interesting facts about our travels:

Time away from home: 271 days
Longest time spent in one country: 136 days (England)
Shortest time spent in one country: 3 hours (Lichtenstein)
Total airplane travel time: 96 hours
Total train travel time: 115 hours
Total bus and car travel time: 143 hours
Countries visited: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, India, England, Wales, Scotland, Holland, Egypt, Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, USA and Mexico (25).
Favourite/Most interesting Countries: Egypt and India
Hottest Day: 50 degrees Celsius (India)
Coldest Day: -4 degrees Celsius (Austria)

Chapter 10 - 21 days in Salt Lake City

After 8 months traveling, we were excited to arrive in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The centerpiece of Salt Lake City is beautiful historic Temple Square. A 35 acre block in the heart of the city that serves as a visitors centre and headquarters to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The state of Utah is synonymous with the church and its presence is very much felt.

Salt Lake City would have to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Snow-capped mountains run north to south on either side of the city, and when the sun is out and there is a blue sky, nothing has compared.

We stayed in Kaysville (20 minutes north of Salt Lake City) with Bernie and Sandy Rollins. Bernie was the missionary who baptized Cathy Reeve in Launceston, Tasmania around 40 years ago. The families have stayed in touch ever since.

We took a tour of Temple Square on our second day and made a surprise visit to a senior couple (the Zundel’s) that Kris served with who lived nearby. It was a great feeling to be able to walk around a city where the centre-piece is the beautiful Salt Lake Temple.

We were extremely lucky to get tickets (Kris knew the tricks) to the new Joseph Smith movie in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building the following night. The film is “sold-out” for weeks, and we saw why. It is fantastic and inspiring, we felt the spirit strongly and it strengthens your testimony of the prophet and the restoration.


Another senior couple that Kris served with (the Olsen’s) gave us tickets to Joseph Smith’s 200th birthday commemoration the following night at the Conference Center. While President Hinckley and Elder Ballard were in Sharon, Vermont, it was great to be in the same building and listen to the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. The choir was fantastic. Following the commemoration we strolled around Temple Square to see the amazing 700,000+ lights for Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, we walked around to the Olsen’s who had their grandchildren perform a nativity play. While Grandpa Olsen read the Christmas Story, the children came out dressed up to act out the scenes. There were two donkeys, two Joseph’s, two Mary’s and even two baby Jesus’ so that no-one was left out!

After spending Christmas Eve playing basketball against ex-high school players and golf in the sun, our highly anticipated white Christmas never eventuated. From what we’ve heard, it appears it was warmer in Salt Lake City on Christmas Day than it was in Tasmania.

Santa brought us some ice-hockey tickets to see Utah v Idaho (2 leagues below NHL). We knew ice-hockey was physical but we weren’t quite sure how physical. In the first 4 seconds two players from opposing teams dropped their sticks, threw off their gloves and literally started punching each other with their teammates surrounding them in a circle, just like you see in a school yard. The fight continues until one of the player’s falls over. The players then get sent to the penalty box covered in blood and bruises and the game continues. The game was fast and very entertaining.

Kris caught the Utah flu and was in bed for a few days, on one of those days I learnt how to snowboard with Travis and Melissa Haynes (Melissa is the daughter of Bernie and Sandy Rollins, whose home we stayed at in SLC) at Wolf Mountain. It was fantastic and great fun.

We attended a live session in the Salt Lake Temple which was fantastic. It’s so great to see such a big temple always so full of people.


The following night was a dream come true. We attended our first ever NBA basketball game to watch the Utah Jazz v the Philadelphia 76ers at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Seeing Allen Iverson play was amazing, he is so quick and a great finisher. Iverson scored 37 points but Utah won 106-102.

Following Christmas we visited Welfare Square and did service packing orange flavoured drink mix powder. We then drove to the “This is the Place” monument to learn more about the faith and courage of the pioneers.

We spent two nights with the Olsen’s and we were able to spend time with their big family. On New Years Day evening we were entertained with some unbelievable stories from their nephew who works undercover for the Drug Enforcement Administration for the US Government. He has been based on the Northern Thailand border for the last 6 years blowing up heroin traffickers in the jungle.

On our way home from the New Years Day party we drove past the Jordan River Temple which looked great lit-up at night. The following day we visited the Bountiful Temple with the Olsen’s.

After watching the Jazz beat the Los Angeles Lakers (who were unfortunately without Kobe Bryant who was serving a two-game suspension) we hired a car and drove to the potato capital of the world, Idaho.


We stayed with Kris’ parents long-time friends the Clegg’s (Kent, Mignon and their 5 children) on their farm in the small country town of Grace. Kent served a mission in Tasmania some time ago when Neville Reeve was Ward Mission Leader. Grace is about 2 ½ hours north of Salt Lake City. It is such a beautiful place and the Clegg’s have the greatest backyard we’ve seen. They have their own canyon behind their house with a narrow snow covered trail winding up the canyon to large open basins covered in a foot of untouched powder snow. We snow-mobiled up there and towed sleds as the return downhill trail (about 2 miles) was like a bobsled track which was so much fun sledding out of.

Kent (the bird man from Idaho) has a really interesting history with birds which has taken him all over the world. His latest expedition (with the government) was assisting endangered whooping cranes migrate to New Mexico. His driveway doubles up as a runway and he used his ultra-light plane (which acted as the mum bird) to lead them down to New Mexico. His work is fascinating and draws media attention from around the globe. Time Magazine had an article on him in December 2005 and the January 2006 edition of the Readers Digest also contains an article on his work.

One night we drove to Lava Hot Springs. It was quite surreal to be swimming outdoors with snow all around us. On return to the farm we saw about 30 large elk come down for their nightly feed on Kent’s hay stack. Our trip to Idaho would not have been complete without visiting one of the huge potato cellars in the area and being educated on the science of potato farming.

We didn’t want to leave the Clegg’s and their farm but we had to get back to Salt Lake City.

We spent Saturday shopping in downtown Salt Lake and had lunch with President Booth (Kris’ mission President in the Phoenix, Arizona Mission).


The Olsen’s son, Brian, is Ward Clerk in President Hinckley’s ward which meets in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. He mentioned to us that if we were ever downtown on a Sunday to come to the ward and we may get to see the prophet. We decided to do it. Kris was able to catch up with her mission friends (President and Sister Crouch, Asiata, Clements, Perry, Samaroo and Skea) at the Tabernacle Choir broadcast prior to sacrament meeting.

When we arrived at the chapel, Brian Olsen offered me the opportunity to pass the sacrament as there was a small percent chance that a member of the First Presidency may be there. I had never passed the sacrament before so it was going to be a big stage to learn on. Sure enough President Faust walks in and sits on the stand, shortly followed by President Hinckley. It was a great experience, although I nearly dropped the water on the prophet as I was shaking a little from nerves. It was also testimony meeting and Kris had the opportunity to share her testimony which drew a smile from the prophet. Kris mentioned in her testimony that she had a nephew serving a mission in Indonesia and following the meeting a senior couple who had just returned from the Indonesia Jakarta Mission came up to us and happened to know Elder Chad Honey!

We met a couple from Salt Lake in the Preston, England temple back in September and we had dinner with them and their family on Sunday afternoon and then drove to Hobble Creek Canyon to stay with Richard and Valerie White. Richard served a mission in Tasmania some time ago.

On our way back to Salt Lake the following day we visited the Provo Temple and took a tour of the 29,000 strong Brigham Young University campus. We then drove through glitzy Park City, home of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and we also visited Cabela’s, a huge hunting store which was amazing to see inside, particularly the hundreds of stuffed animals from porcupines to grizzly bears. In the evening we had dinner with Dana (Redding) and her husband Steve in Sandy. Kris was companions with Dana on Temple Square.

Our time in Salt Lake had come to an end, and we flew to Long Beach, California (en route to San Diego) on Jet Blue (USA’s budget airline owned by an LDS member). Our last glimpse of Salt Lake City in the air was of the Temple lit up as the sun rose over the snowy mountains.

Chapter 9 - New York City to Salt Lake City

New York City – the greatest city in the world – lived up to everything it is famous for. We spent the majority of day one in downtown Manhattan. The gaping hole at the World Trade Centre site had an eerie feeling. We passed through the narrow road of Wall Street on our way to see the USA’s most enduring landmark, The Statue of Liberty. Amazingly, it can be seen for free on the Staten Island Ferry, which sails right in front of it. From Manhattan we crossed the easy river to Brooklyn and wandered the streets before walking over the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset back to Manhattan.

Day two was spent uptown. Firstly we checked out the USA’s most famous African American neighbourhood of Harlem, and then moved onto Central Park. A perfectly rectangle 843 acre park right in the middle of Manhattan lined with high rises. We were lucky enough to pick up some tickets to a Broadway Show via a lottery system that evening. We had box seats to “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” starring John Lithgow (from 3rd Rock from the Sun). The show was fantastic and it allowed us to see Times Square at night, which rivaled the strip in Las Vegas for the bright lights. Our final day was spent visiting two of New York City’s most famous street basketball courts, Rucker Park and “The Cage”, and then the most famous arena in the world, Madison Square Garden. We saw the Empire State Building, had lunch in Chinatown, went ice-skating in Bryant Park and visited the famed Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre at night along with the Radio City Music Hall.

NYC was one place I most looked forward to seeing on this trip and it was everything and more that I hoped it would be. Its greatest glory is free to see on foot in the remarkably differentiated neighbourhoods.


We swapped our coats, scarves and beanies for sandals, shorts and beach towels as we headed for Miami, Florida. Two days on the beach were great and it helped us to thaw out from the last couple of months. The high rise buildings lining the beach reminded us of Surfers Paradise in Australia but with a lot more cosmetic surgery, fast cars and Spanish. Miami was all about image.


We flew from Miami to Mexico City to spend nine days sightseeing in Mexico. Mexico City is a seething megalopolis (population 18 million) set in the mountains 2200m above sea level. It’s a city of colonial palaces and peaceful plazas, and sprawling slums and brown air. Crime is apparently a problem; precautions with taxis can’t be overemphasised, as robbery assaults on passengers are frequent and violent. We were warned not to travel on second-class buses between cities, as they are known to be hijacked by bandits.


We spent our only full day in Mexico City walking around “Centro Historico” and in the evening we attended a free Latin American concert in the heart of the city “Zocalo”. The following day we made a day trip to Teotihuacan, once Mexico’s largest ancient city and the capital of what was perhaps Mexico’s largest pre-Hispanic empire. Two huge pyramids dominate the ruins. The Piramide del Sol (the world’s third largest pyramid) was dedicated to the sun god and the Piramide de la Luna to the moon.


Passenger trains are virtually extinct in Mexico, so we took a bus (which is surprisingly luxurious) four hours west of Mexico City to San Miguel de Allende where we spent the next two nights. It was a lovely colonial town, with brightly coloured buildings, cobbled streets and plazas with splashing fountains. In fact, the town is so lovely that the Mexican government declared it a national monument. We spent a day in the Botanical Gardens, (surprisingly full of cacti) in the plains on the outskirts of the city.


From San Miguel de Allende we went west to Guanajuato, where homes and cultural attractions are literally piled on top of each other on the steep slopes of a ravine, with narrow cobbled streets and alleys disappearing into a series of tunnels. It was a beautiful spot to spend our one-year wedding anniversary. While in Guanajuato we visited the “Museum of Mummies”. These are not your typical Egyptian mummies that were preserved and wrapped. In 1565, the first mummies were dug up when it was necessary to make room for more. What the authorities uncovered were not bones but preserved bodies of flesh (due to the mineral content of the soil and dry atmosphere). There are now more than 100 mummies on display, some still in their original clothes, with strange forms and facial expressions. Space is still tight in the cemetery, so bodies continue to be dug up if the relatives can’t pay the upkeep fees! However only 1 or 2% of the bodies dug up are “displaying quality” specimens. The museum turned Kris white and put her off lunch (especially meat) for a while.


We were subject to another strange movie (this one in Arabic with Spanish subtitles) on our bus trip to Queretaro, where we spent one night. It was a lively city with possibly the nicest plazas (at night) that we had seen in Mexico.

From Queretaro we headed to untouristed Pachuca to see Kris’ friend, Sonia Padilla and stay with a Mexican family for our last night. Pachuca’s history is based around silver. Miners from Cornwall, England came in the 19th century, introduced “futbol” (soccer) to Mexico, and also brought with them Cornish Pasties, which are now sold all over town. We were lucky enough to experience some real Mexico City traffic on our way to the airport the following morning, which nearly contributed to us being stuck in Mexico for another night. “Thankfully” our original plane had mechanical problems and the plane could still be boarded one and a half hours late.

We have now returned to the snow in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Chapter 8 - From Finland to Switzerland

On arrival in Helsinki, Finland we were greeted by a couchsurfer who happened to be a radio show host (on a station similar to Triple J in Australia) and a local celebrity in the capital. Our first step outside the airport was into freezing cold darkness at 3.30pm in the afternoon. With only 6 hours of daylight each day we'd need to pack our sightseeing in.

Our day in Helsinki was cold, windy and gloomy and we looked forward to boarding our ferry that would take us across the Baltic Sea overnight to Stockholm. Imagine picking up your main street and putting it on the sea, these ships are like floating hotels, nightclubs and shopping malls all rolled into one. The locals use them to buy tax free alcohol and party all night, and given that we were in the cheapest dorms at the bottom of the boat (under the cargo like Jack Dawson in Titanic) we were exposed to it all.

Although we encountered rain and our first taste of snow on this trip, Stockholm still presented as one of the world's most beautiful capitals. We stayed with Kris' friend, Angelica Stenberg, who she met in Utah, for 3 nights.


We had not planned on travelling to Denmark, but given that the capital Copenhagen was only a 4-hour train ride from Stockholm, we thought we should see as much of Scandinavia as possible while we're here. We organised last-minute accommodation on couchsurfing.com. This is when an unbelievable "coincidence" occurred.

Prior to this, Kris had been unsuccessful in getting in contact with her friend Maria Paulsen (Ostergaard) in Copenhagen to let her know of our decision to come to Copenhagen (Kris had not seen Maria since May 2004 and did not know her address in Copenhagen). We took a bus from the train station to our couchsurfer's street and proceeded to walk down it to find his house. As we were about to cross a street on the corner of an intersection we stopped to let a car pass by. After some confusion as to who had right of way, the driver and Kris began staring at each other and to our shock the driver was Maria! In a city of 1.5 million, it just so happened that Maria and her husband Andrew lived 6 doors up from where we were staying. Had either of us been 5 seconds earlier or later the incident would never have occurred.

Given their close proximity they were able to show us around Copenhagen in our limited time. We wandered the city streets and caught the changing of the guard at the palace, and drove out to the castle where Prince Frederik and Tasmania's Princess Mary live. At night we visited the LDS Temple.

We really enjoyed the Scandinavian countries, they are unique to the countires we've seen in Europe. Stockholm and Copenhagen are the first two cities we could see ourselves live in (if we survived the winter).

From Copenhagen we took a train to Berlin to see if the Germans lived up to their strict and humourless reputation. Probably no other country has contributed more (both positively and negatively) to the current state of the European continent than Germany. In freezing conditions we took a fantastic 4-hour "free" tour of Berlin. Starting at the Brandenburg Gate (once the boundary between East and West - the site where WWI and WWII began and ended), we visited the Reichstag (where in 1990 the reunification of Germany was enacted), Hitler's Bunker (where his body was burned), the Holocaust Memorial (to commemorate the 7 million Jews killed), the Berlin Wall (built around West Berlin for 28 years), Checkpoint Charlie (a major crossing between East and West during the Cold War), the Bebelplatz (site of the first Nazi book-burning in 1933) and many more interesting sites.

Walking around Berlin you can't help but think how did the Nazis come to power. Apparently one main reason is that after WWI the new government was severely hampered by impossible reparation payments. Hyperinflation and economic depression bolstered support for extreme groups, including Adolf Hitler's Nazis. I was wearing a "LONSDALE" sweater and a backpack, with the backpack straps covering the "LO" and the "LE", leaving "NSDA" across my front in big letters. Our guide was kind enough to point out that "NSDA" stood for Hitler's "National Socialist Deutsch Army" (the Nazis)....I fixed the straps quickly.

Berlin was great, and it was unfortunate we had a short time there, but we had to catch a budget flight to Budapest, Hungary. It was clear that Hungary was not as modernised as the Western European countries. Budapest is famous for its thermal baths, so while it was snowing outside, we sat in the hot baths with some old naked Hungarians. Finding the way to the swimming pool through small, dark, misty rooms with grown naked men massaging grown naked men was worrying.

We stayed with a couchsurfer and his family in Budapest and he was able to show us the sights in the afternoon and we checked out the citadel by night with his friends which gave great views over the city.

I delayed our train ride to Vienna, Austria by 3 hours by getting us on the train in the wrong direction. Our couchsurfer described Vienna as Budapest with make-up. It was a nice city, but not very interesting. Possibly due to the fact that there was "just another church, just another museum". We attended a university dormitory party in Vienna so our couchsurfer could launch his business venture, and the following morning we wlaked past a dead guy on our way to catch a train to Salzburg.

Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart and location for the Sound of Music film, was covered in snow and very picturesque, but the -4 degrees celsius high for the day was difficult to handle. After spending the day in Salzburg, we boarded an evening train for Innsbruck, which had a similar feel to Salzburg although being surrounded by snow-capped mountains made it more beautiful.

From Innsbruck we stopped by the tiny country of Liechtenstein on our way to Lucerne, Switzerland. Liechtenstein is just 6km wide and you can see the entire country in a day. We only visited the "capital city" Vaduz which you can jog end-to-end in 5 minutes. Although small, the country's royal family is worth UK£3.3 billion, and the nation is the world's largest exporter of false teeth!

After spending the afternoon cruising on Lake Lucerne we boarded a train headed for the backpackers mecca of Interlaken. Renowned as the adventure sport capital of Switzerland, we did not have the cash to jump out of a plane or base jump off a cliff, so we walked around in the snow instead. From Interlaken we made our way up the Swiss Alps to the small town of Lauterbrunnen. It is known for its 72 surrounding waterfalls and at this time of the year they were frozen still against the cliff faces creating amazing scenery.

Our next stop could only be reached by cable car. High up in the Jungfrau Region was the tiny village of Gimmelwald, which had to have had some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in Switzerland.



We had a couple of days spare before we needed to be in Geneva. Paris was one "must-see" city in Europe that we had not been to, and although we'd be back-tracking, the opportunity may never arise again. So from Gimmelwald we made the 7-hour train ride to the city of love. Thankfully the recent riots in Paris did not effect us visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame Cathedral and Montmarte Hill.

We head to Zurich tomorrow morning to catch a flight to my most eagerly aniticipated city of the trip, New York City. So I guess that's it for Europe, no more museums, no more statues and no more churches.

Chapter 7 - From London to Rome

After spending a couple of days catching the sights in the city of London, we flew to Madrid, Spain on 22 October. Given that we're on a budget we're unable to afford a hotel/backpackers hostel in each city that we visit. Therefore, we found a website (www.couchsurfing.com) that links past and present travellers around the world all offering free accommodation at their place for a night or two. We had our first Couchsurfing experience in Pinto (20km south of Madird) where we stayed with a 40 year old man called Max for 2 nights. Max showed us around Madrid and left us at the famous art museum "Mueso del Prado". Had we have been keen art lovers, Madrid would have been fantastic however we are not, and although it offered some nice historic buildings, the city disappointed us somewhat.

From Madrid we took a budget flight to Barcelona in the southeast of Spain. Sitting right on the Mediterranean, Barcelona did not disappoint. The city has fantastic historical architecture and a great pedestrian boulevard "Las Ramblas" which stretches from the city centre down to the waterfront and beaches. An interesting fact about the city is it once had a very eccentric, Catholic architect, Antoni Gaudi. His presence is very much felt there because his extremely bizarre "masterpieces" are scattered throughout the city. The only downside to the city was our coughing, groaning, snoring roommate in our backpackers hostel, we were honestly surprised he woke up alive each morning after the fits he had during the night.

We had planned to head straight to Nice and the French Riviera from Barcelona, however at the last minute a couchsurfer offered us a place to stay in Briancon, a small village right in the centre of the French Alps. Our 12 hour train ride along the south coast of France to Briancon turned into a 16 hour journey due to our lack of French and the French's lack of English assisting us to miss a train in Montpellier. However the journey was worth it. Briancon has a population of 13,000 and is situated in a valley surrounded by rugged snow-capped mountains, the scenery is great. The hospitality and trust of the couch surefers has amazed us. We stayed with a doctor (GuyRo) and his girlfriend (Celine) for four nights. GuyRo picked us up from the train station after middnight, gave us a key to his house and offered us everything he owned before he'd had a chance to even determine whether we were trustworthy people. We spent one day hiking in the alps to a summit 2000 metres above sea level, and another day with GuyRo and Celine where we drove through a section of a stage of the Tour de France to the nearby Italian city of Turino (host city of the 2006 winter olympics).

From Briancon we took a train to the Cote d Azur (also called the French Riviera) and based ourselves in Nice to explore the surrounding towns. We stayed in a great hostel which had been converted from an old former monastery and amazingly contained 8 other Tasmanians, two of which recognised me (Jim) from the university gym!

We took a bus ride along the mountain roads hugging the Mediterranean to visit the tiny, glamorous, exclusive sovereign state of Monaco (Monte Carlo), playground and tax haven to the rich and famous. The Prince is married to former Hollywood actress Grace Kelly. The streets are lined with Ferraris, Mercedes and Porsches (we couldn't spot a Datsun) and the ports are lined with million dollar luxury yachts. They let us into the world famous casino, but only as far as the toilets (which were impressive).

Our day in Nice will be remembered for being eye-witnesses (it happened right in front of us) to a lady running her motorbike scooter head on into a traffic light pole, fly over the front and end up unconscious in the gutter in a pool of blood with a big hole in her head. We were first on scene but coudnàt help a great deal as we didn't have a phone and didn't know the emergency number to call anyway. We are sure next time she will put her helmet on and not leave it strapped to the front of her bike.

From Nice we took an overnight train to the romantic, floating city of Venice. It is built on 117 islands with 150 odd canals. There are no cars. All public transport is via the canals (on water buses) or on your feet. Getting lost in the maze of alleyways is inevitable. Two days of walking the streets, checking out the Grand Canal and feeding the pigeons in San Marco Square was enough, so it was then on to Italy's Tuscany region, where we based ourselves in Florence.

Florence is a beautiful city with a huge artistic heritage (home of Michelangelo). Unfortunately it also overflows with tourists. If you were an art lover you'd be in heaven (all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are represented) however we weren't prepared to wait 2-4 hours in each queue. Instead, we visited the huge Duomo in the city center, and crossed the Ponte Vecchio (only bridge not destroyed by Nazi bombing in WWII) to overlook the city on top Piazzale Michelangelo at sunset.

We spent two days touring around smaller cities in the Tuscany region. The first day we went to Pisa and Siena by train and the second day we went to San Gimignano by bus. Without the leaning tower you'd struggle to find a reason to go to Pisa (apparently the tower started tilting when only 3 of the tower's 7 tiers were completed). Siena and San Gimignano were picturesque, medieval towns in the heart of Tuscany surrounded by olive groves interlocked with vineyards.

When it comes to seeing the sites in Rome, apparently a lifetime is not enough. We managed to see what we wanted in 3 days. From being left awestruck by St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City (the world's smallest country) to ancient ruin hopping through the likes of the Pantheon and Colosseum, Rome has been a fantastic finale to our favourite European country thus far, Italy.

After spending the last ten days eating pasta, pizza and gelati we may need to sit at opposite ends of the plane to keep it balanced. Our newly acquired insulation will hopefully help us in the cool climate of Scandinavia as that is our next destination.