The Sights

Yesterday we went to the Colusseum, you may have heard of it. A lot of other tourists seem to have. We lined up for hours and... Actually, it wasn't that long. There seemed to be a squillion people there, but we probably only lined up for 10 or 15 minutes. It just seemed like a lot longer at the time.

And it's big. And old. Standing in a building that is about 2000 years old is pretty amazing. We took heaps of photos, we hid from the rain, we took some more photos. We took some photos for other people and they took some photos of (for) us.

After that we went to Palatine Hill. It's right next to the Colusseum - a whole mess of ruins covering a few acres. There's churches that are nearly complete. There are columns standing on their own in the middle of some rubble. There's a really cool multi level pool thing incorporated into buildings built into the side of the hill. There was a woman walking around in high heel shoes-- which is exactly the kind of foot wear I prefer while exploring ruins.

After lunch we bought some souvenirs (sp?) and made our way down to the river. We saw the Ponte Fabricio, oldest bridge still standing in Rome which lead across to Isola Tiberina. And just down stream we saw the remains of the first bridge built in the city. From there it was back to the hotel on the Metro and an afternoon nap. We needed it, after all the walking today and all the walking from the day before.

We started Wednesday at the National Museum. The first funery (sp?) stone and urn were pretty cool. As was the first pot and headless and/or armless statue. The 100th of each was starting to wear a bit thin, by the 1000th...

Next was to a huge park-- via various statues and fountains-- that contained various museums and villas. We saw the zoo and the dome of St Peter's Basilica from a lookout called the Pinico. We made our way back via the Spanish Stairs. (We didn't know what they were at the time so we didn't go down them.)

Our final stop was justa couple of hundred metres from the hotel. There's a bit of an unimpressive (by Roman standards) stone wall that doesn't really appear to be attached to anything much at all. There's a sign on it saying 'Basilica St Marina (and some foreign stuff)'.

But then you step through the door...

The whole place is cross shaped, probably about a hundred metres along the longest arm. The domed, painted, ceiling would be at least 30 metres high. It was cool and quiet and almost (well, not really) made you believe in God. Not sure what St Peter's will be like after that.

We will find out tomorrow.

Today, though, is a rest day with some reading and sketching (I'm terrible) and maybe a bit of a walk to something close this afternoon.

So, we are off to rest...

Ciao

O.K. We know we've been a bit slack of late and there's lots of gaps to be filled in. (Like a little thing called a wedding.) We have, however, made the executive decision to leave the filling of said gaps until we get back from our honeymoon.

Scene Break

WEDNESDAY 29TH AUGUST 2007,
ROME, ITALY

We finally made it to Rome and the hotel at 4.30 pm (Rome time - 12.30 am Australian time) on Tuesday 28th Aug. This meant that from the time the plane left Brisbane at 8pm on the 27/8 to the time we reached the hotel we had been travelling for 28 & 1/2 hrs. (Insert exhaustion here.)

The hotel is only a couple of minutes walk from the train station. We were slightly worried as we walked down the street the hotel is on. It looks a bit grungy (but is actually quite normal for Rome). The hotel is very nice though. The room is small but the furniture is quite good quality and the amenities are well appointed.

Despite being completely shattered we didn't go straight to sleep. We unpacked so we don't have to live out of a suitcase for this first week. Scott also experimented with local TV and we were slightly horrified when the first show that came on was a dubbed episode of McLeod's Daughter's.

In attempt to re-establish that Italian feeling so cruelly crushed by a terrible Aussie TV show we then went to find a pizzaria for dinner. There are about 15 of them within two minutes walk but in the end we settled on a little place called Dominoes. Just kidding.

Actually, we don't know what it was called but it was very Italian and the pizza was fabulous. Kelly was in heaven with pizza topped only in sauce and three kinds of capsicum. Scott's tomato and herb pizza was also great, although a little firey.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a little Aldi type supermarket to get some supplies in case jetlag visited us with an attack of the munchies in the middle of the night.

Now, earlier at the hotel we had examined the minibar price list and decided that we could afford to splurge 1 Euro on a bottle of water (approx. $1.70 Aust didn't seem too bad). You can imagine our surprise when we saw bottled water selling at the supermarket for 16 Euro cents each. We bought six.

Back at the hotel we finally gave into our exhaustion and fell asleep at about 8pm. (we had made a point of trying to operate according to Rome time since boarding the plane in Brisbane in an attempt to limit the effects of jetlag. It seems to have worked as we slept through to 6am and feel pretty good.)

That about brings us up to date. Stay tuned and we'll try to keep you posted.

Ciao

Rest of the Weekend, Finally, And More

So, where were we?

On Saturday Kel had the first of her Hens' gatherings. It was a lingerie party. We want you all to stop worrying-- she did buy some appropriate attire for the honeymoon. (Scott hopes she did anyway.)

Scott and his father were obviously kicked out of the house for the duration and went and saw a movie. A suitably manly movie-- Transformers. Well, okay, suitable if you were growing up in the eighties and like cheesy action movies.

After that there was a BBQ.

Two weekends ago...

That was the Mediaeval Festival up near Caboolture. We spent several hours wandering around looking at, but not buying, swords, armour, jewelry and various handcrafts. We watched some half naked, oiled-up men wrestling for a while. And some other men hit each other with swords. We watched gypsies and middle eastern dancers. (Women this time.) The food was pretty good and reasonably cheap. We also saw Lee, Kelly's brother, who was an official photographer at the event. And before we went home, we went and saw the stained glass collection in the Abbey Church

Then last weekend (I wish people would update their blog more regularly) Kel's parents came over for lunch and to work out a bit of an itinerary for the wedding day. After many hours and surprisingly little fisticuffs we came up with a plan of sorts that has already changed slightly.

Which brings us to this week...

Firstly, we own a house. As of 3pm on Thursday, we own a house in Nanango. Woo hoo. Now we owe... lots. D'oh. Everything went through. We have tenants for six months. And we can't wait to move up there ourselves after that.

But there is a wedding to get thorough first. Yesterday, Kel took (Junior Bridesmaid) Sheridan for her first dress fitting. Apparently that went great. Kel loves the dress (Sheridan's opinion doesn't really matter at this stage-- though she did like it too, which is nice). Then she went to see the woman about the flowers. There have been some last minute (okay, last month) changes to the bouquet configurations but on the whole they are looking fabulous.

And finally, half an hour ago, we got back from the latest, and final, hair trial. The kinks have been sorted out and Kelly is very happy with the changes.

We have also worked out the seating plan for the reception. Almost. There will be a few surprises there, but we want to keep that a secret until the night. Let's just say it will keep everyone on their toes. Don't you love surprises?

That wraps it up for this episode. We will try to be less tardy with our posting in the future.

Weekend Updates

The weekend was crazy-busy for us. It was all systems go from Friday night, with Scott's parents heading down to come and look at the hall with us. Scott went to the hall straight from work, while Kelly met both sets of parents at the flat and they all made their way to the hall together.

Once at the hall, we started by setting up a couple of tables in the general way we wanted them. Just to get an idea. This didn't work so well for Kelly, who insisted on setting up all of them. Just to be sure. It turns out that this wasn't such a bad idea as we had to try three layouts before we agreed on the final one. But rest assured, it's all under control now. No, really.

After this, talk turned to decorations and the setting up of cake tables and other such issues. All in all, we identified exactly how unorganised we are. Excellent.

Hunger pangs eventually got us moving again and we headed out to the Point to get fish and chips to eat under the lighthouse. This was almost a disaster. There was no light anywhere near the lighthouse (or any tables for that matter) and it was rather cold, not to mention the wind. We ended up eating in the car, and as we didn't all fit in one car, this left conversation a little difficult. But the fish and chips were great.

At this point we're going to leave you in suspense (oh, how will you sleep?), wondering what happened during the rest of the weekend. Which is code for: "We're tired and can't be bothered writing anymore tonight".

Wedding Stuff

Where to start? Our lives are just a hive of activity at the moment. Well, not really, but it makes us feel important to say so.

Okay, Number One:

Kel's wedding shoes have been bought. She was out with Syl on Saturday and saw a shoe sale. Low and behold, there they were. The perfect pair of shoes - the last ones left in that style, and even more amazing, they were the right size! AND, they were marked down to $15. Bargain.

Number Two:

We have written our vows. I know that you're all dying for a preview so here are a few short excerpts... "in you and" "you all I" "you and to". Not necessarily in that order you understand, we don't want to give away to much. But now we've piqued your interest, right?

And we emailed them to the celebrant and she said "They're wonderful".

Number Three:

We're going for another look at the hall this Friday night. Not the ideal time for us to do it, but it is the only time that we can get into it in the near future, so it will have to do. Parents (from both sides) will also be joining us for the expedition, measuring tapes in hand (Hey, Mum and Dad, can you bring that big blue measuring tape that's on the reel? You know, the big rolly-up one? Thanks, Kel).

This will be followed by a tour of the ceremony site - by torchlight, very romantic - and fish and chips at the lighthouse. Mmm, fish and chips.

Number Four:

Deborah got a job!! Yay for Deborah. If only she had the internet, she could read this.

Number Five:

It has been decided (credit for the idea goes to Scott's parents) that on the day after the wedding we will be meeting in a park for a BBQ. All wedding attendees welcome, BYO everything. Not sure of further details at this stage, but it will probably be late morning/lunchtime. Stay tuned for updates.

Number Six:

Deborah got a job!! Yay for Deborah. Still no internet though.

And that's all for now.

Postcards from Europe

Well, we're not actually there yet. We feel much closer though after paying out another small fortune last night. How come these things never end up costing what you were initially quoted?

We now have all our flight times (and yes, out travel agent has finally got it right and omitted the overnight stops in Dubai that we never actually asked for), our Eurail passes booked, our Eurostar tickets booked and our hire car for the UK is on standby. We are ready to go...we just have to wait another 2 months before we can go. That's a little disappointing.

The wait could be just as well though as we don't actually know where we are stopping in Switzerland on the way to Paris yet. Current possibilities are Bern, Geneva, Zürich or Lausanne. The one website we looked at showed better pictures of Bern than the others, so we are leaning that way at the moment. It also seems to be one of the 2 most direct routes from Rome to Paris.

O.K. Time to re-focus. Before our European escapades we've got a wedding to get through.

Tomorrow sees Kelly and Sylvia heading off to the party supply shop looking for balloons, tablecloths, car ribbon and various other items that we probably don't really need.

We also need to head out to the hall again soon for another look around. This will involve Mothers, DJ (possibly), decorators and measuring tapes. All of which will play a vital role in making the wedding the high class event that everyone is expecting.

Sylvia and Deborah have finished their evil scheming and finalised the details for Kel's hen's party. Much is still a mystery, we have heard rumors of Sizzler's and a massage a couple of days before the wedding though. Sure hope that doesn't end in disappointment.

Extensions - The Final Chapter

Yay for us!! (Insert manic, crazy happy dance here)

They have agreed to a adjustment in the purchase price for the house. The adjustment is to the tune of $2500 on the condition that we address the repairs ourselves. Of course, we would have preferred them to keep the money and fix it themselves, so we don't have to do the work, but we're not going to argue the point. At this stage we don't think we'll have to fix it up before we move out there, fingers crossed this doesn't change.

So now the contract has officially gone unconditional, there's no backing out now! On the 19th of July we will be the proud owners of a 4 bedroom house in Nanango. Wahoo! Now we get to pay it off for the next 30 years. D'oh!

In other news...

Kel had her hair and make-up trial on Sunday. The make-up was fabulous! The hair style will probably need some tweaking. This was a very long and involved process, so hopefully it won't be necessary for too much tweaking. Plenty of time yet though.

Kel is in possession of most of her wedding jewelry now. Sharon has done a beautiful job. (A thousand thank-yous Sharon.) We can't wait to see the rest.

Scott has also spoken to Josh (Best [this is definitely questionable] Man). Laser Skirmish (or possibly real skirmish if it's far enough ahead of the wedding) is on the cards for his Buck's adventure. Kel's Dad will probably be going so she doesn't have to worry too much about strippers, padlocks, train trips or similar shenanigans. This is very important because Josh isn't at all what you'd call an "Upstanding Citizen". :P

Kel's Hen's Party is also in the pipeline. Deborah and Sylvia have complete control over this (as long as they stick to some very strict guidelines) and Kel doesn't actually know what's happening. She's only slightly concerned. Reassuringly, Josh has nothing to do with this side of things.