Natural History Museum soapbox

One of the things I'm really interested in is how does research make a difference in the 'real world' - how does it get out there, and get communicated to the public (who are the ones who most often pay for it in the first place!).

So, while it's one of the themes in my research (although mine is more about interactions between research and policy, rather than the general public), I'm also trying to practice what I preach.  I recently had the opportunity to speak at the Natural History Museum's most recent late night as part of their Universities Week programme. 

The late night saw a whole heap of different universities turn up to the museum to talk about their research, and I was involved in the 'soapbox' event, where individual researchers stood on a platform for 45-60 minutes, talking to people as they went by.  We each had a question in front of us to draw people in (mine was, do climate sceptics matter?), and it was surprisingly enjoyable!  It was great interacting with different people and finding out what they thought.

There's photos and more info on the LSE website here.

Next weekend I'm also going to something called LSE Shout, which is a weekend away where we're learning to about creating research impact.  We're going to be looking at posters, web design, stand up comedy and films - should be interesting!

Melting Malaysia

Just a quick update to say hello from swelteringly hot Kuala Lumpur (you know it is legitimately hot when even locals tell you they're finding it tough to deal with)!

It was 35ºC yesterday and today with only the occasional breath of wind to help cool things down.  Fortunately the hostel is air conditioned which makes it a good respite when it all gets a bit much. 

I had this delicious beef ball soup (which comes with noodles with a soy, mince and vege combo on top) for dinner last night and have also had the best freshly squeezed watermelon juice, which I ordered not knowing what it was, just pointing to something that looked good on another table - the hunch paid off! 

I'm either off to Melaka tomorrow or up north to do some walking/rafting - we'll see how the budget's looking before I decide... Travelling alone makes you very efficient with your time - I've already seen Chinatown, Little India, Petronas Towers, the base of KL Tower, the National Museum, the Islamic Arts Museum, the Central Market, lots of temples and mosques, as well as the Batu Caves! And I'm only on day 2! 

So stay tuned for more adventures...

What a holiday!

We had the most incredible holiday in Egypt and Jordan, with too many highlights to count including the Dead Sea, Petra, swimming in the Nile (and sailing up it in a felucca), the Egyptian museum in Cairo, the Valley of the Kings, Abu Simbel, snorkelling in the Red Sea... 

And of course, walking up Mt Sinai and seeing the sunrise - and getting engaged!  Very exciting indeed. 

We've got literally hundreds and hundreds of photos, so we're ploughing our way through them to make sure we only pick out the absolute highlights to bore you all with!  As a teaser, here are two from Petra:

Me in Petra, looking at the mosaic floor

Overlooking the Treasury in Petra - an amazing hike up to this stunning view

 It was just so great to finally be in the sunshine again and to be able to do lots of swimming.  Incredibly as well I didn't get sick which was so great and meant that we could enjoy everything to the full.  We took these biobalance pills which have lots of probiotics in them and I would highly recommend them!

So stay tuned for the photos and more stories.  There's a low of 3 degrees today in London and the wind is biting, so it's a bit of a change being back, but more incentive to stay inside and do my reading!

Out of the cold came Russia: St Petersburg and Novgorod

It's been about a fortnight since we got back from Russia and I'm still absolutely raving about it to everyone we talk to.  And now I get the chance to do it all over again here!

So we flew in on Christmas Eve, got to our enormous hotel (Hotel Moscow, but in St Petersburg...confusing!), and had our group meeting.  I was apprehensive about travelling on a tour group, but our guide, Vladimir, and the other people, were all really great.  Vlad especially was so knowledgeable about everything - I was in awe of his demeanour and random facts, especially when we found out he was only 24!

We spent our first few days in St Petersburg and covered a fair amount of ground.  My favourite thing was The Hermitage, which was absolutely spectacular.  I had no idea at all about it really, and to see such beautiful art (especially the stuff I'd learnt about at school) was such a wonderful surprise.  The building itself (it's the Winter Palace of the Tsars) is stunning as well.  We also went to one of the summer palaces, the palace of Catherine I on Christmas Day (although the 25th of December means nothing there - Christmas is actually on the 7th of January in Russia).  It was ridiculously opulent and lovely to prance around in the snow for a bit.

Other highlights in St Petersburg was a folk dancing show which was quite hilarious and ice-skating afterwards in the middle of town on a rink nearly all to ourselves.  That's not to mention the food!  We had pancakes with caviar, delicious pies at a place called Stolle (cabbage and rabbit were the best flavours), dill flavoured everything (Adrian will tell you it was dill-icious...bada boom...), and obviously, vodka!

After St Petersburg we travelled down to Novgorod, which is about a four hour drive south towards Moscow.  It's one of the most historic towns in Russia, founded in about the 9th or 10th century.  We saw their kremlin (fortress), a very cool massive brass sculpture which shows the history of Russia, ran around a church (more on that next post!) and went ice-skating again.  I still can't stop very well, but Adrian managed to skate backwards pretty well which were all very impressed by!

From Novgorod we got on the night train down to Moscow...stay tuned for more adventures on that front!

But I will tell you about when we got back to St Petersburg so you can understand the rest of the photos.  We had a huge dump of snow which was great fun to play around in and we stayed at a very friendly hostel called Mir Hostel right on the main street (Nevsky Prospect) which was great (the link actually shows the room we stayed in - it was so cute).  We climbed up to the colonnade of St Isaac's Cathedral and looked out over the whole city, went to the Kunstkamera aka the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (which was a bit odd - not so keen on pickled babies - don't click through to the link if you're feeling a bit fragile!), saw the haunting monument to the Siege of Leningrad, and finally had a delicious meal at Chekov, a very traditional Russian restaurant, which included a crayfish salad and a magret of duck...mmmm!

Click below to see the photos.  Let me know if you can't see them!

Out of the cold came Russia vol 1

Prancing about in Prague

Back in July we spent four days in the Czech Republic with our friends Bas and Pip.  It was originally supposed to be the weekend he proposed but we crashed the party - whoops!  Fortunately he found another time to do it!

We spent two days in a very wet Prague, then another two days in Cesky Krumlov which is further south and near the Austrian and German borders.  I had huge expectations of Prague - everyone had said how amazing it was, and I'm sure if it was the first city of its type you had visited it would be incredible, but I think having already been to other European capitals (especially Budapest) it wasn't that special to me.  I'm such a world weary traveller!  But I think that's the thing - the first cathedral you see is amazing; the 10th, not so much.

But it was very interesting to see it finally and lots of fun to travel with our friends.  We saw all the big sights, like St Vitus' Cathedral, the castle, Jewish quarter and the astronomical clock.  We spent a fair bit of time stopping for food and drinks as well - got to fuel all this touristing somehow!  One slightly different thing we did do was go to the Museum of Decorative Arts which had so much stuff, ranging from suits of armour and a room full of clocks, to all these old posters and fantastic clothes.  I would definitely recommend including it on an itinerary for Prague.

After Prague, Adrian and I continued down to Cesky Krumlov which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and famous for its pretty setting and river rafting.  Unfortunately it wasn't so hot while we were there, and we were a little rushed for time (we got the kayak back with minutes to spare!), but overall I really enjoyed it there. Here's a quick video of some other people rafting taken from up by the castle:

They had the same basic highlights (castle, old town etc.), but other neat things included extremely cheap ice-creams, a fantastic tower and a very cool mirror maze which amused us no end.  Garnets are hugely popular in the Czech Republic and in Cesky Krumlov, after much looking around at the incredible variety of pretty things on offer, Adrian very generously bought me a beautiful little pair of earrings - how spoiled am I...

Click here to look at the rest of the photos.

Wien!

May weekend mini-break #2 was organised courtesy of the lovely Katy and her new husband Dave, who are currently living the life of luxury in Vienna (those diplomats have it good I tell you - sure, they might have to work hard, but look at the amazing places they get to live!).

We got el cheapo airfares courtesy of Aer Lingus (flying an Irish airline from England to Austria, globalisation in action) and arrived in Vienna on Saturday afternoon. We started with an orientation walk around the city – Vienna is gorgeous! So many parks (apparently the most for any European capital??) and incredible buildings, it was all a bit overwhelming. So after that (admittedly moderate) piece of exercise it was time for dinner, and what a dinner we had... If I didn’t know it yet, the lesson was quickly learned: Vienna is all about the food. Adrian stuck with the traditional Wien Schnitzel (I found it difficult to remember to say ‘v’ for ‘w’ the whole time, even though ‘ween schnitzel’ doesn’t really have the best ring to it really does it), and I got the käsekreiner (sausages stuffed with cheese...mmm...). Dave beat us all though by getting the half metre of ribs and polishing them off in a flash – they did look so delicious I can’t blame him! But we weren’t done there; next it was off to have the biggest icecream sundaes I’ve ever seen in the middle of town sitting out under the stars. Absolute gluttony!

Sunday was another gorgeous day and we made the most of it by visiting the Belvedere Palace near Katy and Dave’s apartment and seeing the gardens and an Alfons Mucha exhibition, and then heading out to Schönbrunn which is Vienna’s version of Versailles. It is massive! We took in a strudel making demonstration (they soak the dough in oil for 30 minutes...no wonder it tastes so delicious!), ran around the maze, checked out the interior, and walked up the hill to the Gloriette and a beautiful view over the city.

Adrian reckoned that he could top my floor piano performances from Malmo and New York with his own rendition. Check it out and see what you think!

Sunday night was topped off by a visit to the Wiener (Vienna) Prater, a giant fairground with fantastic rides. We went on one called the ‘Admiral’ which pulled you up so fast you left your heart on the ground and then once at the top, suspended you there for a couple of seconds (which felt like an eternity!) and then plummeted you down leaving your stomach at the top – and after this happening three times in a row you had no idea where you were or how you were ever going to put your insides back together again! In a word: brilliant.

Monday was our last day and after heading back for another look at some of the buildings (the town hall, parliament etc.) we headed out to Kunst Haus Wien (Vienna Art House) which was built by Hundertwasser – better known to NZers as the designer of the green koru flag and the Kawakawa public loos! It was fascinating, his art is all about organic forms, and there was so much information explaining his intentions, it was great. Watching a 1990 TVNZ ‘Living Treasures’ video there was hilarious too, almost as if NZ didn’t really know what to make of this internationally renowned artist living in its midst.

There was so much we didn’t see – the opera house, or anything to do with music at all really which was a bit of a sacrilege, the main art galleries, or any of the city outside the very centre. It is definitely on the re-visit list. Thanks again so much to Katy and Dave for having us, we had a brilliant time! The rest of the photos are here.

Noo Yawk

'Would it all be worth it?' I wondered as we dutifully offered up our fingers and irises to be scanned at the customs desk (do not under any circumstances annoy a US federal officerrrr). Thankfully, the Gattaca-esque interlude didn't last long and there we were: New York! (The Big Apple, City of Dreams...etc. etc.).

We were in town to visit Adrian's brother and his family, as well as other parts of the family who had trekked from the UK and NZ to attend baby Katerina's christening. Thanks to a whole lot of free airpoints this was remarkably less painful than it may otherwise have seemed! The only painful thing was my sickness (cough, general flu-like blah) which hung around like a bad smell for the first half of the holiday but fortunately died down enough for me to spend a good few days enjoying the sights and sounds of the city.

The first trek into the city was to eat some pretty good burgers and it was magical to see the snow on the ground and feel like we were in a completely different world! The best bit though was to see all three Mazur men asleep on the train on the way home - I bet their dreams were in sync...

The next few days were filled up with christening related events and we also had a great day up on the coast at Lookout Point (on Long Island) where the snow was still all over the sand! It was fantastic to be able to see a part of New York that most tourists who just see Manhatten would never have the chance to experience.

The majority of the second half of the trip was spent in the city however, ticking off all those 'must see' things like the Statue of Liberty (sneakily glimpsed on the free Staten Island ferry), the bull at Wall Street, Time Square, Grand Central Station, Brooklyn Bridge etc. etc. We managed to score cheap tickets to Avenue Q, a musical on Broadway, and even though it's well known that I'm not the biggest musical fan, this was actually really hilarious and well worth a look.

But then the big day arrived: BIRTHDAY! Everyone knows that I am a huge fan of birthdays (not only my own) and to have this one in NYC was fantastic! We started the day going up the Empire State Building and because it was early and the middle of winter there were no queues at all and hardly any people at the top. It was FREEZING though - the scarves wrapped around our faces like balaclavas should give some indication of the temperature (about -12C that day I think). But, again, because of the cold it was clear for absolute miles. I reckon we could see Connecticut even! After the Empire State we wandered uptown, getting a hot dog from a street vendor (mmmm....delicious...) and a fantastic deli lunch. Although it was one of the those places where you get salad and other food by weight and we got a bit carried away! In the grand scheme of things it wasn't too bad really, probably even cheaper than London.

After stuffing our faces it was time for some exercise so we headed to FAO Schwarz, the massive toy shop where they have a copy of the 'big piano' that was in the movie Big with Tom Hanks. We couldn't quite manage to play chopsticks in time, but I think our more eclectic creations would have gone down a treat with some alternative jazz musicians! I picked myself up a birthday treat in the form of an Ugly Doll who has been christened ‘Monster’ and who guards our house from marauding invaders whenever we’re out.

FAO Schwarz is at one end of Central Park so we wandered up through there (well, walked at a brisk pace because it was so cold!), marvelled at the amount of squirrels just hanging out, chewing the fat (and bark, and acorns or whatever it is they do), and arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Being such art snobs from all the fantastic museums we were lucky enough to see in Italy, we were a bit down our noses at some of the stuff (I mean really, why are these statues missing arms!), but on the whole it was a lovely museum and I particularly enjoyed all the shiny stuff and the fantastic Asian carvings.

That night we met up with everyone and went to Tortilla Flats, a Mexican restaurant in Greenwich Village and had absolutely yum food, lots of frozen margueritas, and even a beer drinking challenge which I spectacularly lost against three other people from different tables who hadn’t eaten yet and had nice empty stomachs... Ah well, a lesson learnt for next time!

Our final day in the city we spent looking around at shops in the East Village and then to MOMA (the modern art museum). That was AMAZING! I absolutely loved it, there was so much fantastic stuff and we could have wandered round for hours. We managed to coincide our visit for when it was free which was good in some ways (as in, it was free!) but it was absolutely packed out with other people making the most of it.

Being on Long Island meant we could spend some time checking out the malls which was great as well, even though the £ was a lot weaker than we would have liked (although at least it wasn’t the NZ$ eh...). I managed to continue my bargain streak and get jeans for US$18 down from $80 which I was pretty pleased with, among other excellent purchases. Although, Adrian did most of the shopping, getting kitted out for his big trip, as well as a new ‘pulling shirt’ just in case he gets tired of me at some point!

All in all NYC was great. MOMA and the Empire State Building were my two absolute favourites and I would love to go back in warmer weather to get a different experience of the city (rather than rushing from one indoor place to another because it was so cold!). Qudos to Hannah for the great food and things to see recommendations and thanks so much to the Mazurs for hosting us too, it was such a wonderful birthday treat! There are more photos on this link.

Blenheim Palace

In early November, Adrian's brother Dominik and his fiancee Nikki came up and visited us in Oxford for the weekend. One of the things they had on their list to do was Blenheim Palace, which is about 30 minutes on the bus north of here. Unfortunately we visited on one of the worst days we'd had in a while so most of our outdoor exploring was limited! I also realised the negatives of my extremely cheap Primarni padded coat - rather than repel water it literally sucks it in through the seams, great.



But enough about my coat! Blenheim Palace is pretty incredible. It's a World Heritage Site and unlike most of the UK's stately homes, is not managed by the National Trust which makes it pretty different inside. Rather than preserve all the rooms as they would have been previously, they've created this incredibly high-tech and interactive tour that leads you through the house and gives you a brief history of its previous inhabitants. It's most recent (and probably most famous) was Sir Winston Churchill and there was another exhibition in another part of the house detailing his life.


The gardens were absolutely stunning as well and we will definitely be heading back there during summer for some picnics and exploring. We caught the last of the Autumn colours (through the rain)
although I know that all the North American students in my class would definitely look down their noses at it compared to what they get back home!


The link above (and again here) gives a hugely detailed run-down of the history, construction etc. of the palace and is well worth a look. The rest of our photos are here, so enjoy!

Wisiting Welly

It was like I had never left...

While Adrian was making the big bucks in London, I decided to make a short sojourn down to our nation's capital to see how everyone was doing. And I had a great time! Big ups to Kate and the (current and ex) Hataitai massive for welcoming me back; I would move back into that flat in a second if there's ever a room going and I'm in Wellington!

Kate and I went on an 'urban safari' to Cape Palliser to check out the seals (and the lambs, hawks, black cows, fat sausage dogs etc.). It was a gorgeous day and the fush and chups at the Lake Ferry pub rounded off the adventure nicely.

I also went back into work to say hi which was rather random - it was so similar that it felt as if I should be sitting down at a desk rather than just sitting in the kitchen drinking wine, but there were definitely lots of new faces that made me realise just how long I'd been gone. It also made me appreciative of my current job title, 'Lady of Leisure', and all the fun that having no plans on a Thursday entails...

The rest of the week was filled with wining and dining at various locations around town (including an absolutely delicious cassoulet, and tips on what the best thing is to order at yum cha, courtesy of Andrew). My bank balance is looking a bit poorly compared to my stomach!

Other highlights were the Rita Angus exhibition on at Te Papa at the moment and the swing on Mt Victoria that I had never known about! It was about time it was discovered though - it was absolutely HEAPS of fun (as Mark, Tom and Kate are showing).

Here are the rest of the photos.

Eastern and Northern France (and don't forget Luxembourg!)

It's the final countdown...da da da dum...dum de dum de dum...

That's right, it was the last week of our trip. As I'd said, we had some more days left on our Eurail pass and so it was off to a region of France that neither of us had properly visited - the East. We based ourselves in Metz, which is the capital of the Lorraine region, and had a hostel with a kitchen - it's the simple things I tell you. Metz is home to the best stained glass in Europe - the cathedral St Etienne is literally filled with incredible glass art, from the Gothic and Renaissance periods, right up to some fantastic windows done in the 1960s by Marc Chagall. They also had a lot of pieces in museums in the region where you could look at them really up close and see all sorts of detail that you wouldn't otherwise know was there (like the expression on this guy's face).

We also spent a day in Strasbourg making use of the wonderful French institution whereby most museums are free on the 1st Sunday in every month. I for one was well over museum hopping by this stage, but our last two in Strasbourg - the Museum of Notre Dame with lots of sculptures and other pieces from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, didn't let the side down and were a good way to finish. Strasbourg felt really different from the rest of France, the German influence was everywhere, and we made the most of being so close by tucking into some delicious gingerbread...mmm...

Day trip #2 out of Metz was to a whole other country - Luxembourg. We succumbed to the lures of the city card yet again and went on a three hour walking tour with Henriette who was the town gossip and, as well as showing us the main sights like the Golden Lady (below) and the cathedral, told us all sorts of stuff that I'm sure wasn't on the official programme! Luxembourg used to be one of the most fortified cities in Europe until they dismantled nearly 90% of the fortifications to ensure peace. The remaining 10% that remain are mostly open to the public so we had all sorts of fun wandering around underground trying not to take a wrong turn! The city also had the most incredible patisseries that I have ever seen - must be something about the melting pot of European influences, but I wanted to eat everything in sight - pity the budget wasn't in harmony with the stomach...

Last day trip, #3, was out to Verdun to visit some of the WWI battlefields and memorials. We hired mountain bikes in Metz and braved near vertical hills to look around at everything (ok, they weren't vertical, but they felt like it!). It was really nice to get out in the countryside and see something a bit different.

Our final stop was in Lille for two days so I could show Adrian my other home town. It did as it always does and rained nearly non-stop, but we still managed to see the citadel, go to the zoo, look at some markets and, as no trip to the north would be complete without a trip to Flunch, eat so much food that we were nearly ill. I never thought there would be a limit to how many frites Adrian could eat. Turns out I was wrong...

The rest of the photos are here.

The French Riviera

Continuing our grand tour of the Mediterranean Coast, we arrived in Nice, which unfortunately, turned out to be not so nice after all... It is a subject that we are not to speak of, but I think I am allowed to share that it involved the new tram system and a 20€ fine each. After that, we pretty much avoided Nice centrale...

Our ferry had arrived a bit later than anticipated, and the bus to our campsite at Cagnes-sur-Mer took forever, so we arrived closer to midnight than one would have liked, but it would have been much later than it would have been apart from the exceptional kindness of a couple of locals who saw us looking in bewilderment at the map and who drove us up to our campsite. And who said the French are unfriendly?!

Day one back on the mainland saw us heading to Grasse, the undisputed French capital of perfumery (obviously this day trip was Amelia´s idea). It´s up in the hills behind the coast and surrounded by fields of flowers, although we stuck to the centre of town. They have a lot of perfume factories offering free tours (aka, pre-shopping propoganda) such as Fragonard where we were so kind as to exchange some of our hard earned euros for some smelly water. It was only after we left the shop that we remembered the 10% off voucher in our pocket...

After Grasse we hopped back on the bus to Cannes to mix with the beautiful people. With our new fragrances we fitted right in...

The following day Amelia went to Monaco to get a stamp in her passport, watch the changing of the guards and admire the flash cars outside the casino. The afternoon was spent at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary chapel created by Matisse in Vence and at the Maeght Foundation which is a private art museum and garden in the hills of Provence. Adrian had already spent time in Monaco so went to the Nice modern art museum, for a swim at Cap-d´Ail, and strolled along the Promenade des Anglais. We are clearly becoming very cultured and interesting people...

Florence, Italy

After a couple of days relaxing in Umbria, we were recharged and keen as mustard (or should that be pizza) to get back into things, having the worst behind us - or so we thought. Florence had more tourists than Rome, and there was little escaping them, or the inflated prices that inevitably followed. Those tour guides must have some pretty strong arm muscles as they stride through the city at a pace of knots, holding up whatever umbrella, bread stick, or flag they happened to find, trailing sweaty, crazed looking tourists in their wake...


We arrived on their Saint's Day, which was effectively a statutory holiday. We didn't manage to get tickets to the medieval football in the town square, disappointing at the time, but less so as we realised how much money we would have handed over in the heat of the moment. We did however catch the half hour fireworks display, which went off with a bang!


Florence hooked us quickly back onto the museum trail - discovering all sorts of queues. One tour that had no queue though was for the secret passages tour of Palazzo Vecchio, the city hall. It was surprisingly fascinating as we walked up stairwells inside walls and through doors that looked liked walls and cupboards. It was then up to the Duomo to look at the ceiling frescos up close and then onto the dome to get a view of the city, spectacular!!!


After another night at our brilliant campsite right in the middle of town (ok, not so brilliant after walking up all the steps to get to it at night, wonderful in the morning on the way down), we got up at the crack of dawn to get a glimpse at da Vinci's 'David', which is actually worth the hype. They also show about half a dozen half finished creations that lead up to the finished product, so you really see what geniuses these masters were to get such creations out of a block of stone. David is also surrounded by many other fine pieces of work which don't get given the justice that perhaps they deserve (seasoned art critics that we are).


From here it was off to the Uffizi Gallery, to see room after room (that was not closed for the restoration), of famous and amazing artwork - more works by Botticelli, da Vinci, Titian, and Tintoretto (to name a few) than you could shake a stick at. Even trying to pace ourselves it was impossible to retain much enthusiasm towards the end, but as it was our last classical art gallery until Paris we did our best! Commenting on the styles of the various tour guides was an interesting diversion (there was one Australian girl who spoke at her group like a strangled duck and was so agressive in her questioning (was it perhaps an oral exam for these poor, unwitting tourists?) she had spit flying in every direction...).

After another night of overpriced pasta, and a luxury sleep in the tent now that we had found a second thermarest to sleep on, we bade farewell to Florence and headed off to Pisa.

No photos yet, we'll all hang out together in anticipation of disposable camera #2!

Rome, Italy

"A life time is not enough" is what they say about Rome; I (Adrian) would say about four and a bit days and you are not doing too bad. Rome was a great city and easily the best so far with so much to see and do, and boy did we see and do it.

Trevi Fountain, just pops put of nowhere, the Spanish Steps surrounded by bling shops, the Pantheon standing for 2000 odd years and looking strong, and that was just in the afternoon we arrived.

Our first full day was spent at the Papal audience, the Vatican Museum and St Peter's Basilica and Square. The heat was monsterous, but we hung in there to see Pope Benedict, and what a reception he received - it was like being at a rock concert as the Pope mobile did its circuit. He then proceeds to give his speech in no less than five languages. The pilgrim groups were all thanked, our favourite was the the Catholic Mothers' League from Wellington, New Zealand, and an hour and a half later you are all blessed and on your way again.

The Vatican Museum is awesome and surprisingly empty so long as you stay out of the main trunk route, which if you wish to go to the heaving Sistine Chapel you can't avoid. They were all on display here, Michelagelo, Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael and Carravagio (also known as the fifth turtle), and they all impressed.

But just in case you missed them there, the crowds are all waiting for you at the entrance to St Peter's Basilica (including surprisingly sneaky Asian tour groups). What is amazing is that once you are in, you wonder where everyone has gone, the place is massive and just swallows everyone (capacity 60,000 people!). The Pieta by Michelangelo was just amazing, as was pretty much everything in here.

Day 3 (aka the 'day of ruins') was all about the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Palatine. An underwhelming audioguide later, we were left standing in the middle of a whole pile of (admittedly very well decorated) rocks. These ruins just suffered a bit in comparison to those we had seen in Turkey, Ephesus particularly. The Colosseum was another story though. The sheer size of it and the fact that it's still standing is pretty impressive. Amelia really liked the diagrams of the pulley systems that lifted the animals up to the main ground - the plastic lions and tigers just made it.

A bit of a change of plans late in the afternoon meant we visited Rome's cathedral and the 'Scala Santa' - the holy steps that Jesus walked up in Jerusalem. You are only allowed to walk up them on your knees.

Day 4 was a bit of a mishmash. We went to a church which has a big round wall relief sculpture of a face. If you put your hand in its mouth and it chomps down on you it means you are a liar. Luckily both of us escaped unscathed. On the way back from that we walked past the Circo Massimo. Most people think the Colosseum was Rome's biggest stadium, but it was actually this other place (literally translated, 'big circle'). Each competition consisted of seven laps, and at each end there was a structure that dropped a big wooden egg and wooden dolphin respectively after each half lap. Not quite the same as the flag system in Formula One!

Later that day we went to the Borghese Museum, a bit of a strict affair where you have to book the day in advance and are only allowed two hours visit. Amelia loved seeing some famous paintings she had studied at school and uni, and some of the other sculptures (such as this amazing one of Apollo and Daphne). While we were wandering around that night after dinner we saw a big modern art/dance/performance installation thing in town, complete with a boxer, swimmer, and guy rowing strung up and moved across the square above our heads (10m or so). There must have been at least a hundred people involved in creating it, with only another hundred or so watching.

All in all, Rome was great. Staying at a campsite out of town with a pool was a stroke of genius, and we haven't blown the budget too badly (a few expensive dinners out didn't help though). So, if the coin I threw in the Trevi Fountain means anything, I'll definitely be back.

Bodrum to Fethiye (Turkey)

Turkey eh. Can't really believe that that part of our trip is over - Turkey is fantastic and we would definitely go back in a flash.

Our triumphant return to Turkey started with a boat trip over to Bodrum and a tour of the Underwater Archaeology Museum - which has signs everywhere saying that despite the fact that most of the exhibits came from underwater, the museum itself is not actually under the sea. You don't say...

We saw more amphoras (terracotta pots) than you could shake a stick at, as well as a quite stupid peacock which had got stuck on a roof and couldn't get down. Maybe he thought the rest of the museum was under the sea so he didn't want to get wet...The museum was housed in an old castle, complete with lion heads on the wall, suits of armour, and a dungeon down a million steps. The lurid lights and figurines in the dungeon didn't really serve their intended purpose of freaking us out unfortunately. Spent the rest of the time before our night bus down to Fethiye checking out the tacky tourist area, replete with loads of pubs and very determined salesmen (no I don't need a 'genuine fake watch' thank you very much).

Arriving in Fethiye at 1am with no accommodation organised tested a few politeness and tolerance muscles, but thank goodness for Olsun pension where we woke the guy up to give us a room. After our previous night's accommodation in the abandoned washhouse, an actual bed and running water was a godsend.The next morning we headed into Fethiye proper which is a really pretty town on the Mediterranean coast. Yet another breakfast of ekmek (white Turkish bread) later, we found a hostel and commenced searching for our blue cruise. A few hours of negotiation, shopping around, and (occasionally heated) discussion later we booked ourselves in for one leaving a few days later. Which left us with a whole day on our hands - bring on a '12 Islands Cruise' - a whole day of lazing around on a boat cruising the Fethiye harbour, swimming, and tucking into a great lunch. All for only 20 lira! (About NZ$20) Brilliant.

That night we went to the Fish Market for dinner. The deal is that you buy whatever you want and take it to one of the restaurants surrounding the market where they'll cook it up for you, as well as salad, garlic bread, and fish sauces for only 5 lira! (Well, 5 lira plus however much your fish costs...). Amelia got a tuna steak the size of her head (500g, of which a third ended up on Adrian's plate, and another few mouthfuls went to the stray kittens roaming the courtyard) and Adrian got a delicious red snapper - the meal was great.

Next stop: Blue Cruise from Fethiye to Olympus!