"Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen."
                        Benjamin Disraeli


Kieren was coming home from the States for Xmas and was actually arriving the same day as us, albeit several hours ahead of us . She was supposed to have been departing for Wellington about mid morning, so imagine our surprise to find her on the same flight as us. Apparently her flights had been delayed. The chap who had been sharing our row kindly offered to switch with Kieren so we got to have a great chat before reaching Wellington.

We arrived in Wellington to a rousing reception - Janine, David and the children were waiting for us and there were lots of squeals of delight and some damp eyes [not all coming from the grandchildren]. Needless to say, lots of offers to carry our bags. It was good to be home.

Numbers and Thoughts

So to wrap up our story, some numbers and thoughts:

• We drove 11,207 kms with Carla [and then bussed, trammed, trained, boated, flew and walked a whole bunch more]
  
  
• We took over 8500 photos - to quote Susan Sontag,  "Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs" [aren't you glad we didn't put all of them in the blogs?]
  
  
• We had 22 stopovers in Korea, Germany, Belgium and Italy
  
  
• We travelled on/in Metros, buses, trains, trams, shuttle buses, a lease car, taxis, ferries, planes, a city sightseeing bus, lifts and escalators
  
  
• We visited Neolithic sites, Ancient sites, Medieval sites, Renaissance sites, Baroque sites, old railway stations, modern glass buildings, ruins, earthquake red zones, museums, gardens and spas
  
  
• We stayed in major cities, large towns, medieval towns, beach towns, lakeside towns, hilltop towns and mountain villages
  
  
• We have been inspired by St Peter's, duomos, basilicas, chiesas, campaniles, castles, torres, watchtowers, wonderful mosaics and beautiful paintings
  
  
• We have slept in apartments, city homes, isolated country houses, a trulli, city palazzos, attic apartments and B&Bs, a converted watermill, transit hotels, planes and trains [that last one wasn't intentional]
  
  
• We have driven over extremely tall viaducts, very long viaducts, through long tunnels and over rivers [as well as riding the metro under rivers]
  
  
• We have viewed castles in Milan, Arco, on Lago Maggiore, Assisi, Perugia, Spoleto, Umbertide, Otranto, Ceglie Messapica, Oria, Mesagne, Portopalo, Syracuse, Erice, Cefalu, Naples, Castel Gandolfo, Ostia Antica and Rome
  
  
• We have shopped in shopping malls, outlet villages, high streets [and low streets], cities, villages and towns
  
  
• We have drunk coffee Americanos, espressos and cappuccinos in caffes, gelaterias, ristorantes, trattorias, osterias and Autogrills
  
  
• We ate some memorable [and sometimes surprising] food [and can totally understand why the Italians have influenced food throughout the world]
  
  
• We have imbibed in some excellent wines and been surprised at the number of grape varieties available in Italy and have been highly impressed by the high quality of most
  
  
• We have thoroughly enjoyed meeting the local people throughout Italy, and even though we did strike the occasional grumpy bugger, they were far outnumbered by the kind, warm, outgoing, garrulous, noisy, fun and incredibly generous majority.
  

Trip Highlights

Our trip highlights included:

• Watching the dancing in Antwerp
  
  
• Viewing "The Last Supper" in Milan
  
  
• Visiting Eataly and the Automotive Museum in Turin
  
  
• Riding the ferry from Italy to Switzerland and taking the train back through the mountains
  
  
• Climbing the Twin Towers of Bologna
  
  
• Visiting the gardens in Collidi
  
  
• Enjoying wonderful "significant birthday" lunches in Florence and Palermo
  
  
• Visiting Spoleto and walking the Roman bridge
  
  
• Visiting the hill towns of Bergamo Alta, Montefalco, Montegufoni, Torre di Palme, Erice and San Miniato
  
  
• Visiting Leonardo di Vinci's home town
  
  
• Driving over the mountain to the spa town of Bagna di Lucca
  
  
• Walking through the earthquake damaged L'Aquila
  
  
• "Discovering" the wonderful medieval city of Ascoli Piceno
  
  
• Viewing Baroque architecture at Lecce, Noto, Modica, Scicli, Ragusa, Monreale and Palermo
  
  
• Visiting the wonderful churches at Milan, Turin, Palermo, Monreale, Modica, Ragusa, Rome, Naples, Corpo di Cava, Syracuse, Noto and Lecce
  
  
• Visiting magnificent royal palaces at Caserta and Naples
  
  
• Walking through the ancient ruins in Rome, Ercolano, Paestum, Tivoli, Ostia Antica and Agrigento
  
  
• Viewing historic museums in Vinci, Turin, Naples, Caserta and the Vatican
  
  
• Scaling the heights of Milan's Duomo, the Norman castle above Cefalu, the Dome of Florence's Cathedral, the Twin Towers of Bologna and the Arco Castle
  
  
• Swimming in the Mediterranean in Sicily
  
  
• Plus many more which will return to the memory banks once we review our photos.
  

Scary Moments

We have had some "scary" moments such as:

• Stu trying to negotiate the narrow streets of Arco during our first days with Carla
  
  
• Being sent down goat tracks by Carla because that was her "fastest route" [not funny, Carla]
  
  
• Stu driving down a narrow one way street only to find that there was someone [who was travelling in the right direction] coming the other way [lots of hand gestures that time...we think we understood what he might have been saying]
  
  
• The electrical storm blowing all of the fuses in the apartment in Castro and the front panel falling off the fuse board exposing all of the wiring [before we found our torches]
  
  
• Lightning storm in Paestum catching us in the open

• Trisha's drive back into Palermo on a very dark, wet and windy night 

... but we managed to survive and generally had a bit of a laugh about them after the event, although that may just have been a release of nervous tension.

Travelling Companions

To quote Ernest Hemingway, "Never go on trips with anyone you do not love."   Throughout the five months we have had a great time, no arguments [we think we will survive retirement together], were amazed, surprised, enthralled, entertained, satisfied, wined and dined. And while there may have been the occasional "Oh, bugger..." moments, they were few and far between.   

Summary 

Summing up, we had a ball. But now, a little travel weary, we are happy to be home with family and friends. We hope you have enjoyed our blog [or at least not been too bored.... ...just think, we could have included all 8500 photos!!] . We have enjoyed sharing our adventures with you and doing the "field research" throughout Italy over the past five months .


So, Stuey and Trish got home, tired but safe after travelling a total of 42,060 kms and already working on the next trip - San Francisco in April - June 2014 And maybe....Spain and back to Italy in 2015. Who knows...