Down in SOHO

Down in Lower Manhattan wedged between ChinaTown and Little Italy, I'm standing outside Starbucks using their wifi to write this amidst thousands of people walking past so this will necessarily be brief as it is also pretty cold. We've been asked 3 times for directions today so we must be starting to look like locals - at least we don't need to walk with a map in the hand anymore. Anyone need a genuine Rolex for $100? A Chinese gentleman has already asked me three times since I've been here - we must all look the same to him.
Walked over Brooklyn Bridge today and ferried over to the Liberty Statue yesterday so we are doing the tourist circuit as well as feeding well - great Mexican dinner last night in SOHO. My fingers are starting to freeze so I'll update again from a warmer spot. Tomorrow we go back up to Midtown for New Years and stay there till we head home on Monday.

Travelling 2

The boys checked through security and we won't see them now until we get home - very emotional saying goodbye to your children in a foreign country.
QF108 was due out to LA and Sydney at 6.30, then 7.30, then 8.30...finally Eam texted to say they had boarded at 10.35pm and only then did they get told that the connection in LA to Sydney was going to wait for them! This was after much stress for the past 5 hours with not knowing. Not sure how our young Russian girl hot on - we dropped her at Terminal 1 - hope she got home to Moscow ok.
Anyway - they're on the way across the Pacific now for home. Meanwhile...we were still at the airport till 5.30 and had to get back into Lower Manhattan to our next hotel. We weren't keen to trust to public transport after the 4.5 hour trip to get out to JFK and we were very lucky to walk outside and find a shuttle bus driver at a loose end (because there were no arriving planes) who was happy to take us downtown for $38 (I gave him $50).
Into hotel by 7.30...what a day!

Travelling in a snowbound NY

Well it was an education today about moving around in a snowbound city. Checked out of the Edison Hotel around 11.30. Paid $2.25 each for the subway from 50th St to Penn Station on 34th to try to catch the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) to Jamaica and then the Air Train to JFK. Well...the LIRR was completely closed. So, consulted the wifi MTA maps and found that the 'A' subway train line goes to Howard Beach from where we could still get the Air Train. So we jump on after waiting 20 mins (there are way fewer trains running). Why not just catch a cab? Because there are only 15% of normal services running so basically there are none to be had. Halfway out to Howard beach they announce they are not going to Howard Beach because of snow. Consult MTA wifi again and find if we get off at Broadway Junction and catch a 'J' train we can still get to Jamaica to catch an Air Train to JFK. Another young girl has joined our troupe and comes with us too with big bags. So...we exit the 'A' subway and go and stand in the freezing cold outside for 30 mins waiting for a 'J' train. Helped the young girl carry her bags - lots of steps transiting from 'A' subway to 'J' subway above ground.
Ok - still with me? It's now 2 hours since the hotel and we're about halfway to JFK! (usually a 30 minute trip).
The 'J' train was 13 stops to Jamaica except there was a 20 minute delay at the 9th stop because of a fire on the track! Finally got into Jamaica at 2.45pm to find that the Air Train to JFK had closed and not likely to reopen today. Went outside to look for a bus or taxi at what was a huge train station but there were none to be had. We waited out on the road in the snow and a guy pulls up in a pickup truck and says he'll take us to the airport for $40 each...I fight off the other waiting travellers and say yes. Our young girl comes too - at $40 a head the guy made a fortune from us but we made it! We only had to push another guys car off the road so we could get past the boys made it to the terminal 7 on time.

Snowing in NY

It has been bucketing down snow for most of today - an incredible sight considering we are at sea level. We are expecting up to 2 feet (60cm) of snow in this 24 hour storm - there has been lightning and thunder as well. When they do weather over here, they really do it big.
All JFK flights were cancelled from 2pm - hope it all clears for the boys to fly out tomorrow night.
It hasn't stopped people being out and about though. We subwayed down to South Ferry and there were hundreds of people queued for tickets to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty.
Had a great Christmas lunch at Scarlotto's on 47th with David Harrison yesterday - it was surreal to meet a familiar face after so long away in such a far away place - good time had by all.
Tania went and saw Alvin Ayley dancers this afternoon while we boys saw "True Grit" at AMC theatre.

Christmas in NY

In lots of ways it is almost just another day in NY at Christmas - people out and about everywhere, most shops are open at least for part of the day, tourists being tourists everywhere. What an amazing place. Pretty cold at -3 degrees. Hit Macy's yesterday for shirts, belts, ties. T is still looking for boots but pretty hard to find leather, stitched, made in USA or Italy (everything is made in China).
It is a bit like living in a movie seeing sites from so many films - Bourne, 16 blocks- Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Central Park etc.

Just arrived in NY

Quick update - sitting in Times Square using the free wifi. There were only 1 of 6 BA flights out of Geneva into Heathrow and the one that went happened to be ours and there were only 2 out of 8 BA flights from London to New York today and again, ours was one of them! We had a dream run today. NY is so different to anywhere we've been so far. Am looking forward to exploring over the next couple of weeks.

a Zurich

I wasn't really sure what to expect in Switzerland. The shuttle from Chamonix back to Geneva was great and on time into the airport by around 10.00. After some friendly help from the train ticket man, we got tickets direct from Geneva airport to Zurich Hauptbahnoff for CHF 85 each for the three hour trip. Geneva is French-speaking and Zurich is German-speaking. The train was very fast, smooth and quiet arriving in Zurich about 1.30.
Changed some Euros into Swiss Francs at about 1.30 for each Euro. Lunch at the HB then 2 stop train out to Oerlikon station where we are staying at the SwissOtel. All the Swiss trains run like clock-work funnily enough - even the suburban trains are quiet, smooth and run every few minutes. Return tickets are valid for 24 hours (not just the nominated trip) as well as valid for train, tram and bus.
Took the train into zentrum this morning for a wander through the old town - beautiful old alleys, shops and kirches.
Lots of TV news about problems at Heathrow with cancellations due to snow and ice. The website for British Airways say our flights tomorrow are still good to go (Zurich-Heathrow-New York) so check-in tomorrow will tell us. We can't control it so we'll just wait and see.
Free wifi everywhere in Zurich - fantastic.

Living a Chamonix

Interesting place for a tourist town with very few shopkeepers 'choosing' to speak any English but it sure forces you to trot out the old school French. Though I think I did ask the mademoiselle if I could be an espresso the other day which reduced her to giggles!
We have had good snow falls on 3 days with lots of powder for the boarders. E, B and T have been to Les Grandes Montets, Courmayeur (favorite so far), and today up to Les Brevents. Some high altitude stuff here - up to 3300m. Mont Blanc still towers over that however at over 5000m.
Out to Zurich on Monday and then onto New York - Snow at Heathrow permitting. There is no doubt that the poms really struggle in snowy conditions - mass panic buying, accidents, services shut down, etc - whereas the Europeans just carry on - incredibly obvious contrast to the outside observer.

a Chamonix

It's been a few days since Pompei. The boys arrived safely and we had a couple of days in Rome (Coliseum, Vaticano, Navona and others) - lots of introductions for them into Italian food and drink. Went with RyanAir up to Milano - you must use RyanAir people. I have never caught a flight, landed, collected baggage and walked out of the airport 10 minutes before the plane was due to land!
Hectic couple of days here with Romanian relatives - wonderful people and had a great time expostulating on my best Italian - truly it is 90% hand gestures and the right attitude in the voice - also possibly helped along by copious Limoncello with Gigel!
Wish we had flown RyanAir to Geneva where we caught our shuttle to here in Chamonix. Flew British Airways and it was not good to the least - late, missed connections, lost bookings, etc. Anyway - long story - we're here now and boarding and skiing and it's wonderful.
Mont Blanc view from apartment window! As a school kid and uni student reading so much about climbing here, especially winter ascents in the Grandes Jorasses, I am humbled to be here sitting and wondering how Chris Bonington and friends climbed here with so little technical winter equipment compared to what's available today. I am in further awe if that's possible of what those guys did. It's -19 degrees here after all.
Ben did really well in school results - 89.75 ATAR - which I'm informed is pretty good! Writing this using my iPhone at the local McDonalds sipping reasonable Espresso using free wifi for the Internet connection. What a connected world we live in - I can hear American, English, French, Russian, and Italian accents without even really trying. Can you guess what the majority are looking at on their various devices? Correct - FaceBook! Sitting in a beautiful place with magnificent views and other people to talk to and talking to people on the other side of the world!
Cheers all.

A Pompei

What an amazing run we had today on Italian trains. Fast, cheap, clean, on-time and easy to negotiate even when you have 3 platforms coming off the 1.
Got into Pompei about 12.30 and found a hotel (Hotel Diana) recommended by the Lonely Planet. It has been very good as a guide to Calabria over the past week. Tania just copied the relevant pages from the book we bought earlier this year and used them.
Pompei is a tourist town though being December it's not too bad. The cathedral and the ruins themselves are stunning. The Greeks built a coliseum for Pompers before the Romans had built a bleedin' viaduct (say this in a Monty Python accent and it makes sense I think!). Easily spent several hours in the ruins and didn't see it all.

Diamante - our last Calabrian coastal town

Trained on from Tropea to another little place on the coast using the little bus-trains - they are really cheap and go everywhere. Diamante was another town with a centro-storico where we found a little hotel right on the waterfront called Hotel Stella Maris for Euro60 per night for 2 nights. Got in about 4pm and the place was packed along the promenade with people out walking and taking in the port views etc.
The centro is covered with murales from over a period of years depicitng all sorts of things including people, boats, local scenes, poems and so on - all hidden away in narrow alleys with washing hanging overhead across the alleys.
Sunday we took a walk up through a national park following a river up into the hills along a thoroughly Italian tiled walkway that went for kilometres. Ended up on top with a view over the town and with snow-capped peaks further on up ahead of us. We wandered back down some windy tracks and roads to town - all up about 3 hours on a clear winter day.
Dinner of spaghetti and pesche risotto rounded off a great day.
Off to Pompei tomorrow for a sticky at the ruins.

Around Tropea

Tropea has turned out to be a great place to slow down to the rhythm of life in Calabria. We are staying in Il Barone Residenzes in the old town at an apartment (called a 'suite in Italy'). Beautiful old stone place with very friendly owners and staff.
This part of Italy certainly goes by the siesta rule with nearly all places open 0900-1300 and then again from 1600-2000. Sure makes you slow down and fit to the rhythm of the life here. Lots of school kids here with 2 elementare scuola e 1 compresivo e 1 instruzioni intelligentia for the bigger kids. Great to see that kids are kids the world over - playing tricks on each other and generally having fun.
The coastline here is high cliffs punctuated by small beaches and some deep gorges running to the sea. The old town is built on a cliff-top some 50 metres above the sea - a railing at the end of the main street separates you from toppling over the cliff!
Food - settled into the calazione of pastry, bread rolls and coffee with fruit and yoghurt. This pretty much does you for lunch as well and then cena at about 1930 of spaghetti and house rosso to cap off the day. Also maybe a gelati at some point as well to keep the wolf from the door. We are the only foreign tourists here and there is very little English spoken by the locals which is great. Tiny lanes and alleyways through the old town with still lots of scooter and Fiat traffic though - Italians are in love with the wheeled vehicle as well as talking and texting at the same time as dodging pedonale and other cars and scooters. Kristina Keneally's hair would be blown out of its fixed position if she saw the traffic here.
Spent 3 nights here it was so nice. Off to either Pizzo or Diamante a domani.
Another thing we really like are the nibblies you get when you order an alcoholic drink during the day. We had a wine around lunchtime, which came with an antipasto plate of chips, pickled veges, crackers, olives and bruschetta. So it makes for a very cheap lunch. Food in general is delicous. Dinners are made fresh to order. Pat had sardines last night and this morning we walked to the harbour, where fishermen were selling them straight from the boat, so that was probably his last night. I've been enjoying the local pasta with a variety of sauces, (red onion, eggplant, mozzarella) washed down with the local vino.So food miles aren't huge here. But the gelatis are just SENSATIONAL! I have to limit myself to only one a day!

Around Calabria

It is not a touristy area in winter down in this part of the world but such a beautiful coastline and the train lines hug it all the way through the constant use of tunnels and viaducts. We got ripped off by a taxi driver from Reggio airport to our hotel (covered up the meter and charged a rounded figure of Euro 40) only 15 minute drive away. But hey, it was dark, crowded and us with very little Italian - after such a long day we were just happy to get somewhere. The iPhone is working really well for internet access - most places have wireless internet access (some pay like at the airports, some free like at the hotels) so we can read Australian newspapers, email and book hotels and check train times all from the hotel.
Stayed only one night in Reggio and then caught the local train system up to Tropea where we are staying 2 nights in a beautiful apartment right in the old town. The trains are like buses on tracks - single carriage diesels that run more or less to time, but mostly less! When they docome along though, they fly.
Tuesday we were in Scilla - a little village about 30 mins north of Reggio - staying in a hotel again in the old town on the beach. Southerly wind blowing a gale - but of course being a southerly in the northern hemisphere it was a warm wind. There is the obligatory castle on a hill, church bells ringing at all hours, churches everywhere - religious lot these Italians! Dinner is much later than we are used to - our usual 'dinner at 6.30' has turned into 'dinner at minimum 8.00' - we are of course starving by then. Had a seafood spaghetti with mussels and lobster last night and the house Calabrian wine - all very passable, very passable indeed.

At the castle in Scilla - windswept and interesting...

Today's (Wednesday) travel has been train waiting for much of it - trains seem to get cancelled quite regularly but no one seems to bat an eyelid - must be just par for the course.

Arrived into Tropea about 1300 and wandered down to the old town to look for a place recommended by the Lonely Planet guide book. Asked a few people and finally found it but no one around. Pulled out the trusty iPhone and Tarn pulled out her Italian phrasebook and we texted to the mobile on the door in our best Italian if there was a room for the night. Immediate response and here we are in a beautiful apartment with a terrace upstairs which overlooks the sea and the old town.