Water, water, water everywhere!

It's now been almost three weeks since we left Brussels on that rainy May day, three weeks in which we've crossed two major mountain ranges, spent time in three different countries, watched the car's odometer go over the 2000 km mark and seen much more rain than sun.

To say that we were all pleased to leave Dijon last Monday would be an understatement. We definitely didn't see it at its best given that it was a religious long weekend and the weather pretty awful so we've decided we'll give it the benefit of the doubt and stop over on another trip another time. One thing we won't be doing though is staying at Hotel Wilson which so far gets the prize for the worst beds on the trip. The best part of the weekend was finding a small village craft fair somewhere in the wine-growing hills in the Bourgogne where we were the only non-french which made a welcome change. The kids loved the obligatory 'circus' stand where they tried out all the circus equipment. Lunch was french fries with baguettes from one of the stalls.

So after week three, here are the rankings:

Sean's Top 3 so far
1. The taxi boat ride from Murano to the Rialto Bridge in Venice
2. Feeding the pigeons on St Mark's Square in Venice
3. The daily excursions to the pattiserie for pain-au-chocolats whilst on our french course at Coeur deFrance

Kyle's Top 3 -
1. Feeding the pigeons on St Mark's Square in Venice
2. The taxi boat ride from Murano to the Rialto Bridge in Venice
3. Parc Asterix

Sean's Worst 3 so far
1. Visiting Verona in the pouring rain en route to Venice
2. Hotel Wilson in Dijon (also gets mom's worst vote)
3. Parc Asterix ride with all those "scary things"

Kyle's Worst 3 so far
1 - 3. Same as Sean

Best Gelato So Far
1. Mint gelato in Venice (unanimous agreement)

Best Pain-au-chocolat so far
1. The new bakery on the Grand Place in Sancerre

Best Tiramasu so far (translated as "Pick me up")
1. Little tratoria in the village in Gardonia Riviera on Lake Garda (Kyle, Neill and Marion)

Worst Tiramasu so far
1. All of them - "I hate Tiramisu" (Sean)

Best meals so far
1. Grilled fish at the little restaurant in Baume et Messiers (Sean)
2. Pizza at a little take away joint on the road down the Italian Alps (Sean)

3. Bruschetta at restaurant close to the apartment in Venice, Fish risotto in Venice, roast duck in Balsamic Vinegar in Lake Garda, chicken in prunes in Lake Garda, gelato in Italy (anywhere) etc etc et (Marion and Neill). Actually difficult to decide really as the food has been fantastic (although Marion says her thighs do not have the same opinion and have formally requested her to stop feeding them at such a rate).

Worst of the rest
1. Dragging the luggage from the parking lot in Piazzale Roma to our apartment "3 minutes" away - more like 20 mins!

Now, back to what we've been up to since we left Dijon....................

The drive to Lake Geneva and Lausanne was very pleasant with a stop at the very picturesque village of Baume et Messiers proving to be a worthwhile detour - another find from our Undiscovered France book.

Hotel du Port in Ouchy Lausanne proved to be quite a find and despite the rain we quite enjoyed our two days here which included a visit to the Olympic Museum which was only dampened at the end of the visit by Sean proclaiming that "he didn't get it - what are the Olympics".

After Lausanne, we headed to Lake Garda and found a hotel called the Grand Hotel which looked as though nothing had changed in the last 60 years. The whole place looked like a set for a movie (like Truman Capote) - there was even a wedding where all the guests were dressed up in 1920s costumes. The rooms were really spacious and comfortable and the kids loved the pool for the one sunny day we had. Most of the guests in the hotel however were older than 70 - the sight of our two boys and the dog sent them all into states of 'tut-tut -aren't they sweet?' over and over again. The lake is really pretty but quite big and the general consensus was that Lake Como is more beautiful. The rain interfered again and one night it actually thundered and the lightning was pretty impressive. We had a relatively relaxed three days, one of the highlights being a meal at one of the restaurants in the village where Kyle asked an old lady of about 80 if she was an American spy, much to her amusement.

The drive to Venice took us across the Alps and through snow covered passes that didn't look any different to those that we had seen when we visited Switzerland in February earlier this year. I must say, I for one didn't expect to see so much snow so late in the year but then I am Zimbabwean so what do I know about these sorts of things.

Having heard so many good things about Verona, we decided to stop off on the way to Venice but alas the rain insured that the brief stop we made was as miserable as hell, particularly for Bert who got soaked proving that having your undercarriage just 10 cm off the ground is not a benefit in such conditions. The little that we did see of Verona was really impressive and it looks like a lovely city so we've decided that we are going to stop off again on the way to Tuscany this Saturday. That will be Neill's birthday so we'll spend it in Romeo and Juliet's home city....who knows, maybe I'll get a kiss (Neill).

Venice has been a hit. The boys love it and we're all really enjoying being here despite the walking that this entails. Every little road offers something new and interesting and we've already managed to use three forms of water transport - gondola, vaporetto (water bus) and water taxi. Things are VERY expensive but what can you do....... The apartment we are in is really comfortable and well located. St Mark's Square was a real hit with a visit to the top of the Campanile to coincide with the 10am ringing of the bells an added bonus. The boys went crazy feeding the pigeons and as you've already read have ranked this as the highlight of the trip so far. There just seems to be no end to the delights everywhere - from mask shops with Venetian period costumes, cute glass ornaments (including a dinsaur for Kyle, a pig for Sean and cherries for Marion) , leather handbags and shoes, gondolas with singing gondoliers, gelato everywhere, super food so far, lights glinting off the water in the evening etc - I really could go on for ages - and it isnt even spoilt by loads of tourists. The kids are even making the entire city out of lego at the moment including rubbish boats, police boats, gondolas and vaporetto (called Vaporators by the kids).

The trip to the glass-making island of Murano today was a bit of a let-down although there was fierce competition for the 'gross-est' thing on the island - eventually Sean and Marion settled for the orange lamp made into the shape of a plant with leaves in a ugly orange colour hanging over the sides - difficult to describe but equally difficult to forget. That just beat out the closest competitor being two glass boobs (yes I said boobs) the size of small footballs seated on a black chair - again difficult to imagine I know!

Enough from us for now - things to do! Until next time....ciao!