Saturday 7 - places I have just been to - blogtoberfest 2013 day 5

I have just come back from a month away in northern Italy! Aren't I the lucky one?!

It was absolutely fabulous!
I feel to lucky and privileged to have seen some amazing places, met some wonderful people, eaten delicious (mostly) food and witnessed the glories of nature and man.

So without further ado I bring to you - in reverse order -

1. Rome.

There is so much more to Rome that the Colosseum and the Vatican although they are pretty splendid.
For example here is the Pantheon - it is a 2000 year old temple, remarkably well-preserved because it was made into a church. Bits of the outside were pilfered (recycled) for other building projects but not as badly as other places. And it has the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome!
Yes, the romans made concrete - who knew?!

2. Sardinia

Sardinia is an island. In the Mediterranean.
It has a spectacular limestone coast.
And unbelievably blue water.

3. Tuscany.

Tuscany looks like this.
No really!

4. Florence

Everyone raves about Florence - and it grew on me.
There is more to see - there always is.

5. Cinque Terre.

Five of the most beautiful little villages, perched above the sea, on and into the cliffs - connected by walking paths and a train.
Delightful.

6. The Dolomites.

Spectacular!

The Dolomites are series of mountains stretching from the eastern border to the Italian Alps. Lots of very sticky-uppy bits with the greenest of valleys in between and the sweetest alpine flower-bedecked villages dotted around.

7. Venice.

Venice - ah! Venice.
It did not disappoint at all.
I could ramble on all day about Venice and you can read why here and see why here.
....if you like.

And a bonus one today, because we didn't plan on going there but just needed to hop off a train to see  - Pisa.

There is a lot more to Pisa than the leaning tower, although it is much nice in real life...but you will have to wait for that!

If you would like to see more of my travels hop over to my other blog Adventures with G & T.

Saturday Seven - Countries you would like to go to

Are you a traveller? Or more of an armchair traveller?

I love to do both! For years while we were raising out family we couldn't travel over the water as it was too expensive (apart from relocating to the US for work one - but that is another story!)
But in the last couple of years we have been lucky enough to travel a bit...and as you may know - a bit is never enough - once you get bitten by the travel bug, you just have to scratch that itch!

So here are some countries I haven't been to, but would very much like to.

 1. Italy - yay! it's happening this year! in September!

2. The Stans - Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan - the heart of the Silk Road, featuring such exotic locations as Tashkent, Bukhara and Kashgar.

3. Chile - mainly to visit the far, far south Patagonia and Tierro del Fuego. I'm sure there is a lot more to Chile and indeed South America than that - but it's a start. ps daughter has just been there and I can't wait to see her photos.

4. New Zealand - it's close, it's next door, but I've never been. It looks fabulous and I know we would love it.....maybe next year....or the year after.

5. Mexico - I regret that when we lived in the US, in Arizona, when we were a stone's throw from Mexico that we never went. But there you are!

6. India - again. I've been trekking in the Indian Himalayas twice and been to the Taj Mahal and stuff, but India is huge and diverse and endlessly fascinating and I'd love to see more.

7. Burma - I'm in love with South-east Asia. We've been to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Bangkok (and would love to revisit all those places) but Burma is newly accessible and my not be too touristy yet could be very interesting.

How about you?
Where are the travels of your dreams?

images from the web apart from the third one which is by Freia Noss.

#reverb12 My dream destination - quite a story!

What was your dream destination in 2012? And why?

This is easy!

28 years ago I was nearly all set to go trekking in the Himalayas...but then I met Mr planet...and we went to England instead to meet my parents...and we bought a house and then we got married and then we had kids and we lived in the US for a while...and then we had no money...so I didn't go to the Himalayas then.

Fast forward to 2 years ago....we are now empty nesters...we inherit some money....we book a trek to Ladakh which is in the Indian Himalayas.
We are packed ready to go...and then - disaster!
You remember when there were really, really bad floods in Pakistan? Well the awful weather also affected Ladakh and there were floods and mudslides and we couldn't go - our trek was cancelled.

I was distraught - but I shouldn't be so selfish because it was so awful for all those poor people in Ladakh and Pakistan.

Anyway the trekking company offered us another trek in another part of the Himalayas - in Sikkim, in October.
So we went.
And it was great! But it was also very hard.
I said I couldn't do it again - you know - a bit like childbirth!
But as with childbirth, after a couple of years you forget the pain, you think "aw, it wasn't so bad".
You remember the beautiful mountains.....

So, this year we went to Ladakh and we trekked.
And it was tough and tiring and amazing.

I had dreamt of going to the high himalayan desert for nearly 30 years and this year I achieved my dream.

We head for the hills - Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - Mumbai monsoon

I'm joining in with My Little Drummer Boys wordless wednesday - have a look!

Mad about Tasmania

Last month we went to Tasmania.

As Tasmania is over the sea you have to get a ferry to get there (or fly, but that is not as much fun).



It rained a bit (haha! glorious understatement!).

But then it stopped.

We went east -

freycinet national park

South - in fact as far south as you can go -

south cape bay

We went high -

mount field national park

west -

pieman river

and then north -

the nut at stanley

Although we spent 2 1/2 weeks travelling around we only scratched the surface of Tassie.
So we have to go back - in fact I'd love to go for a few months. that way you could really get so see most of the state and do some amazing bushwalks.

My plan - do a house swap in a couple of year's time.

Anyone in Tassie interested?