Who let the dogs out?

During our trip we were amazed at how many people brought their dogs camping with them ( approx €5 per night seems to be the going rate). Over the course of our holiday we have discovered that in Europe dogs can go nearly everywhere were people even in hotels.

Here are a few pictures of dogs in strange places...




Man's best friend attending the Last Post at the Menin Gates.



Dog cruising the canals of Venice



Drinking coffee at cafes



Catching the Metro



Buying groceries at the shops




Surf life saving dogs in Sorrento










Lego dogs and real dogs at Legoland... no they couldn't go on the rides!


On the Bus





Checking out the view in Santorini in its personal pouch (we've also seen them in baby bike carriers)

And for the cat lovers...


Mustache cat





On ancient ruins




A feeding box at Santorini for the town animals

Some other places we've seen dogs are the London underground, on the ferry to Greece, in heaps of restaurants, bars, in handbags and even overall pockets.

Whenever we see a dog/animal in a funny place we always think there'd be no way you could get away with that in Australia.

Jake

Location:Europe

Our Holy day in the Vatican

Today we caught the bus/train into Rome and walked to the Vatican. The Vatican is the smallest sovereign state in the world covering 0.44km2. We walked into St.Peters square expecting the Pope to come out and address everyone on his balcony at 11am. We sat there and had morning tea as Mum read about the things to see in the Vatican. Mum then found that the Pope doesn't come out to his balcony but addressed via big TV screens in the square. Oh!








We got in line to see St. Peters Basilica (not basilisk). Don't believe the people outside telling you it's a 1.5 hour wait, the line was long but took about about ten minutes when we got there. You have to go through a security check and then a dress code check. The scarf sellers made a killing out of those who had not read about covering their shoulders and knees.
Mum and Dad decided to take a guided tour around the Basilica and Sistine Chapel. The tour was good and even though we aren't the world's biggest Catholics/Christians we payed attention. There are three bodies of Popes in the Basilica, two are covered in bronze and one in wax. You also had the option to go into the grotto and look at the other bodies. We decided to give this a miss.




In the centre of the Basilica is a bronze pulpit that only the Pope can stand on and use. The bronze came first from the dome of the Basilica but it still wasn't enough so the Pope at that time decided to take all the bronze from the ancient roman ruins. From this drives the saying what the barbarians didn't take, Barberini did.




We weren't very proud when we found out that an Australian mad man came in and defaced the only statue that Michelangelo signed. It is now restored and behind bullet proof glass.




We got to the end of the tour to find that it didn't go into the Sistine Chapel. So we walked to the Vatican museum where the original paintings from the Basilica are held and weaved and turned as fast as we could through the masses of people to get to the Sistine Chapel. We finally got there to be blown away by the amazingness of the chapel. The whole roof is covered in amazing paintings which took Michelangelo over 4 years to complete. We picked out the well known "Creation of Adam" and Dad felt very knowledgeable when he recognized the "Desperate Housewives" painting.
All in all it was a good day. We saw the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel and we all came out unsigned.
Jake

Location:The Vatican

When in Rome

Today we took the courtesy bus and train into Rome to have a look around. The first thing we saw was the Spanish steps. Interestingly, The Spanish steps were made with French money, lead to a French church and they are in Italy. It was named after the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See. The fountain at the bottom is a sinking ship, it was made by Pietro Bernini. See if you can find Dad, Mum and I in a game of "Where's the Wests".




We then made our way to the Trevi fountain, which was absolutely packed, and squeezed our way to the bottom. The legend is if you through a coin into the fountain it will reassure your return to Rome. Did you know that €3000 on average is thrown into the fountain a day.







Our next stop was the Colosseum. It was built in the times of Emperor Nero. It contained a statue of Nero but once he died the features were changed to be a statue of a God. We didn't go inside because the line was massive (1and 1/2 hours) so we did a loop and kept going.




Next we made our way to the Circus Maximus and read the information boards and had a look at the ruins. The Circus Maximus was a race course for chariots. The races usually consisted of seven laps. Although there are not very many physical remains of the structure left the area that it covered was huge.




Our last stop of the day was visiting the Pantheon but we have no idea what it was used for as we didn't go inside the it because it was packed like the Colosseum.




We had some lunch, went home and went for a swim. Tomorrow we are visiting the Vatican.

Jake.

"Where's the Wests" answers.

Location:Rome

Two quiet days

The last two days have been very quiet but enjoyable.
In Split we packed up our tents for the last time. Although we had to be off our pitch by midday the campground staff were happy for us to hang around and use the facilities until it was time to leave to catch the ferry. We spent the afternoon on the adjacent beach enjoying our last Adriatic Sea swim. That night we caught the ferry back to Italy. I was so disappointed when they didn't have the breaded fish on the ferry.
When we woke up the next day in Italy we drove from Ancona to our campsite near Rome. Mum and Dad had decided to get us a Bungalow so we could start cleaning camping gear and packing bags.
Jake
Paint Ball P.S......(from Gayle)
Don't believe Jake when he says paint ball shots only hurt for a little while. Ok, so the impact of the first shot (to my eye) was cushioned by the face mask. The next hit, a glancing blow just above my ankle, also didn't hurt either. However this hit, just above my well padded hip, was very ouchy. I decided that repeatedly returning to the arena to get shot at required either a special level of bravery or stupidity. I think it is the latter!

Location:Split and Rome

Do ya' give?

Today we drove to Trogir to play paintball. As we drove through Trogir the traffic going the other way was stacked and it made it hard to take a photo of the harbor but we got one.




When we got there we were earlier then the organizer so we plodded around and got changed into running/sports gear. When the organizer arrived he got the guns ready. Luke and I were watching him test the guns on some near by rocks and it certainly didn't look soft. We suited up and split into teams for the first game, Mum and Dad VS Luke and I.



Before we started we made two rules:
1. Don't aim for unprotected areas and
2. If you can fire at somebody at point blank, give them a chance to surrender.




Luke and I eliminated Mum and Dad so it was all for one. I yelped when Luke hit me in the leg as I was running from a barrier. I can tell you that it definitely doesn't tickle when you get shot.




The other highlights of our two hours were when Luke and I had eliminated Mum and Dad in a skirmish. Luke had got into a tree hut and couldn't get a shot on target when I came up behind him and hid behind a tree. While Luke was shooting at the tree like there was no tomorrow I quickly turned and took a shot which hit Luke on the leg... !Yes!



The second, and my personal favorite, was when Dad, Luke and I were in a skirmish and Dad had Luke at point blank. Dad called "Do ya' give?" and Luke heard "Are ya' hit?" Luke replied "I don't think so?" so Dad let Luke have it with two pellets straight in the back. Luke instantly yelped and screamed "Why did you do that!". Ahhh... good times , good times.



In war there are always casualties. Ours weren't as bad but they look fairly good don't they. Mum had a bruise on her lower back, Luke had three on his back and one on his leg, Dad had one on his shoulder and I had one on my arm.



Paint ball is definitely one of the most fun things you can do and once you've been hit the pain only stays for a few seconds then you're ready to go again.



Jake

Location:Trogir

Sand, Sun and Sea

Today was a day to spend relaxing and enjoying life. As our campsite was next to the beach that's where we spent the day. Dad hired some sun beds so we lay on them when we weren't in the water.






When the temperature started to cool down we called it a day and got ready for dinner. The day before Dad had asked the tourist information lady where was the best place in Stobrec to eat Croatian. She told us across the road and to the left. We asked the waiter there what to eat and he showed us two meat platters that he would usually eat at home. So we ordered two of each and a side of chips each.


Tomorrow Dad has organized us to go paint balling... !Yay!

Jake

Location:Stobrec

Split

Today we woke up from a wonderful sleep on light, fluffy mattresses and warm donnas on our ferry to Split. We were off the boat and in our campsite set up and ready to go by 8:30am only to be congratulated with a thunder storm. When it rains in Europe, it rains! No little drizzles or showers it has to have big, hard drops of water followed by thunder and lighting. So we hid in the car and listen to our Les Norton audio book (Ruby and Charlie, do not read this!).

After the rain stopped we headed into town to see one of the main reasons why we are in Croatia... Uncle Murray's hotel. Dad's best friend Cooky (Uncle Murray to us) came to Croatia with Cathrine (who's now his wife) to renovate and look after a hotel owned by Uncle Murray's parents. Uncle Murray and Cathrine have moved back to Australia now.



We walked through the streets with our tourist map to find a the little sign with the name of the hotel on it in front of the building. We buzzed the door bell after thinking what they were going to say. When someone said hello through the buzzer Dad said "Hi, we're friends of Murray and Cathrine." The voice said "Oh! Okay, I'll be down straight away!" We were welcomed kindly by Antonia and she invited us inside for a good chat about how life was in Croatia and what Uncle Murray did to the place.



After saying farewell we followed Antonia's suggestion of walking up to the lookout and then following the stairs down to the waterfront before we made our way through the narrow twisting streets of the palace.



After our time in the small villages of Gargano we are blown away by the size of Split. We had imagined it to be a small seaside town but instead it is a city larger than Hobart. We have two more days in Split before catching the ferry back to Italy and the weather reports are for warm, sunny weather for the remainder of our stay.

Jake

Location:Split