Jan and I got up at a nicely civilised hour and made our way down to the bus station. We already had our bus tickets and arrived in plenty of time to catch the bus. The bus, however, had completely different ideas! It arrived just 5 minutes before it was due to leave, and then found that they couldn’t fit all the luggage of the passengers on the bus. We, of course, were the last ones in the line (inexplicably… we were near the front originally) so were kicked off the bus, in spite of having reserved seats! Fortunately we were able to exchange the tickets for a bus that was leaving just half an hour later. It turned out to be a much nicer, quicker bus, so that worked out nicely.

The trip was a long, hot one, but the views were lovely. The bus followed the coast for much of the trip, and the mountains here are pretty specatular. There seems to be little soil on the mountains. They are all slivery-grey stone with green shrubs clinging to the slopes. We stopped at two police checks where the police came on board to check our passports (all without incident) and we arrived in Dubrovnick after 3 pm.

Christian had agreed to meet us and help us to find somewhere to stay, and bless his cotton socks, he came through with the goods! He secured a room with the same people he and the girls were staying with. Unfortunately he didn’t make it clear in his limited Croatian that we needed two beds, so Jan and I had to share the very, very large double bed - all good - we had plenty of room! In addition, the son of our hosts came with his car to pick us up, which saved us a long hot walk up a hill. Our accomodation was about a half hour’s walk from the Old Town, which was a bit of a pity. However it is tricky and expensive to find anything closer, and we could have been alot further away, so we were very pleased with Christian’s efforts.

Christian gave us time to clean up, then we walked with him to spend the evening with him and the girls at the Old Town. Its a lovely town. One can see why Lord Byron called it ‘the pearl of the Adriatic’! Apparently Agatha Christie spent her second honeymoon here, and we drank cocktails at a bar called Hemingway’s bar…

We met the girls at a fountain outside the main gate to the city, then made our way to Hemingways, which became a favourite late-afternoon haunt! After a drink we had dinner at a lovely seafood restaurant (Jan and I had shrimp grilled in garlic, which was lovely) then back to Hemingways for another drink - I can recommend the Strawberry Caipiroska (sp?). We enjoyed wandering the streets, and returned to our rooms at about 10.30 pm.

We decided to get up early the next morning to walk the walls of the Old Town before it got too hot! The walk was well worth it, with lovely views from every corner of the town. The walk took a couple of hours and we were glad we had started so early. After lunch, we spent some time on the internet trying to work out the next leg of the journey, then had a quick tour of the palace. Jan and I finished the afternoon with a refreshing swim in a little rocky cove. I can highly recommend the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic!

I dined on seafood again, this time ‘Fried Little Fish’ which I think were like whitebait. We sat after dinner on a bench overlooking the sea as the sun set, then headed home for an early night.

This morning Jan and I let ourselves sleep in a little, then walked down the hill to the bus station to catch a bus back to Split (which is where I am now, typing this entry!). We are catching the 10.30pm overnight ferry to Ancona, then trains to Bologna, Venice and Vienna, where we will stay overnight. Won’t be able to see anything unfortunately as we need to catch another train to Prague the next morning. We will spend a day and a half in Prague, so that is when you will be most likely to hear from me again!

A thousand apologies for any spelling mistakes etc. Just don’t have time for much proofreading! That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

On Thursday morning we caught an early morning train from Bologna to Ancona, where we planned to catch the 11 am ferry to Split in Croatia. We arrived, and managed to get tickest - the ferry really wasnt that full which was nice.

On the ferry we met Michael, an American who was studying for a Doctorate of Philosophy and Law degree at the University of Texas. We enjoyed talking with Micheal, and he joined us for much of our time in Split.

Christian, Jans friend, met us at the ferry and took us to an Internet cafe owned by an Australian. Apparently they are reliable at assisting people to find accomodation, and our experience can confirm that! We were able to secure a two bedroom apartment for to nights for about AUD$40 a night. It had airconditioning and was situated inside the walls of the old town which made it an ideal location. After washing and changing, visiting a supermarket to organise tea and breakfast for the following morning, and washing some clothes, we met Michael, Christian, Christians girlfriend Rebecca and Rebeccas friend Lydia for a drink at a wonderful bar up in the hills overlooking the town. It was a lovely spot and we really enjoyed the evening.

Christian and the girls headed for Dubrovnik the next day, and we spent the day wandering the town with Michael. The Old Town is based on a 1700 year old Roman palace built by a retiring emporer who liked the spot) he had good taste). That evening we decided to spemd the money on a restaurant meal, which was civilized, then wandered the streets, as this is very much a part of the world where everone comes out at night. We saw two live bands playing in the streets who were fantastic. We felt really safe in the streets; it seemed very much a family atmosphere, even after midnight.

We said goodbye to Michael which was sad, as we had enjoyed his company, and went home to pack. We were due to catch the 10 am bus to Dubrovnik the next morning. We really enjoyed Split and will return there briefly on our return to Italy.

(Apologies for the complete lack of apostrophes - cant find them on the keyboard!)

We left Siena in the early hours of Wednesday morning and took a train to Florence, where we intended to spend the day before heading for Bologna, and on to our ferry to Croatia. One day, of course, is a pitiful amount of time to spend in Florence…

We began with a visit to the Duomo and I found the paintings in the dome beautiful. Spent a bit of time sitting on the floor, leaning against a pillar, contemplating them! You can climb up into the dome to see them closer, but after having done that at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, we were a little bit over stairs… next time perhaps!

Jan really wanted to see the original statue of David, so we duely lined up at the Accademia Belle Arti… for an hour and a half… hoping desperately he was worth it! He was, of course! Lovely legs, gorgeous curls, beautiful face, an all round nice package! And useful too, for slaying Goliaths and lions! Very nice!

I really wanted to see Santa Croce and the Arno, having read A Room with a View and seen the film adaptation many times! Santa Croce was lovely. The paintings were fascinating, and there was a small chapel off to the side which I particularly liked. Above the alter was a lovely sculpture in creamy stone with a blue (enamel?) background - it looked a little like a giant cameo!

We wandered along the Arno until we got to Ponte Vecchio. We had lunch at a cafe near the Uffizi then gazing with longing at the jewellery stores on the Ponte Vecchio! By this time we needed to head back to the train station to catch our train to Bologna. Not nearly enough time… I really want to return to this lovely city!

Siena is just lovely. The only thing I don’t like is the fact we have to leave tomorrow! Am finding more and more reasons to come back for an extended visit to Italy!

This morning we visited the Battistero, the Cripta and Museo Dell Opera. The panoramic views from the tower above the Museo were stunning (Jan says I am allowed to use the word “Stunning” for the first week only!). From there we wandered through the Duomo, then after lunch we saw some paintings at the Oratorio Di S.Bernardino.

However one of the greatest pleasures has been simply wandering through the streets. Narrow winding lanes up hill and down dale, fascinating little shops, colours of terracotta, brown and pink. I am loving finding interesting door knockers to photograph!

The only down side is our pokey stuffy room… A bit hard to bear in such hot weather, but never mind!

We leave early tomorrow morning for a day trip to Florence - I had wanted much more time here, but Ill be back! We stay over night in Bologna then are catching an early train to Ancona to get the 11 am ferry to Split in Croatia. We are meeting up with friends of Jan there and in Dubrovnic, which will be lovely!

Must finish off now and see about this ferry!

I’m in Rome! And I am updateing my blog. Will wonders never cease? The journey began yesterday with a train trip from Basildon to St Albans, where my friends Beth and Vish live, as does my travel companion for the next five and a half weeks, Jan. After a sleepless night (why is it impossible to get a good night’s sleep when one is anxious about sleeping through the alarm?) I arose at 4 am. Beth (bless her cotton socks) drove us to Luton for our 7.10am flight to Rome.

After an uneventful flight (the best kind, as my brother recently pointed out on his blog…) we arrived in Rome at about 10.15 local time. We took a bus into the city, found our hotel (the very pleasant Hotel Des Artistes), and decided to brave the Metro, taking the train to the Vatican. Having been warned about bag snatchers, it was lovely to see so much security around the trains, although methinks they had their eyes open for terrorists rather than petty thieves…

We really enjoyed St Peter’s Basilica. We did the mandatory wander past the tomb of John Paul II and then walked to the top of the dome (well, alright, we cheated and took the lift part of the way, but that still left over 200 steps to the top - Jan counted!). The views from the top were well worth the puffing, sweating bodies we arrived it- just stunning! We were there when a service was in process so we were able to hear the choir singing, something I always enjoy! The sun was shining in through the windows above the alter, creating ‘fingers of God’ (sun beams!) which was lovely.

From there we walked to the river, where we enjoyed a sit down and drink. It was a lovely mild evening after a really hot day! On our return to our hotel we found a cafe for tea, where I had my first Italian Pixxa (sorry for spelling, but ‘that’ key isn’t working on my keyboard) which was absolutely scrummy - so glad it wasn’t a disappointment.

So now it is 10.40 pm and time for beddy byes - having had negligible sleep in the last 48 hours! Will try to update next time I am near a computer! Tomorrow we are checking out the Colleseum etc, and will catch a train to Siena in the afternoon.

So much for keeping the blog up to date! It’s so far behind it’s not funny. Ah, well. Will try to get you up to speed now! This entry will let you know what’s been happening lately and what’s happening next, and then a few updates from the last few months will follow.

Today was the last day of the academic year. We start 6 weeks holiday for the summer. Don’t tell any teachers from England this, but frankly the last 7 weeks of term have been the easiest of my entire career! The Year 10s were on work experience for three weeks, and had exams for one. That left barely three weeks for teaching. I had plenty of time for preparation, and was actually up to date with marking (those who work with me will be astonished…). I am tired today, but that may be due to a late night at the end of year staff do last night (hearts were broken, reputations shattered, a fun time had by all…).

I really enjoyed some of my classes this past 6 months. My Year 7s were a delight, and I am growing to really love my Year 10 Voc boys (students with literacy and/or behaviour issues). I will follow the Year 10 boys into Year 11 and will be really sorry to say goodbye to them at the end of this year. My Year 9s, with the exception of a handful of kids (thank you Matt, Abby, Daryl, Lee, and Laura), I hope I never have to teach again as long as I live!

In September I will teach a Year 7 lower ability class, Year 8 lower ability class, Year 9 Literacy class (students with major literacy issues), Year 10 D-G class (those are the grades they are expected to achieve – in other words none are expected to pass!) and my Year 11 Voc boys, all for English. No top sets unfortunately, but that is mainly because I am leaving and they don’t want a top set to be interrupted part way through the year (or at least, that’s what they told me…). It’s all about results here, and the top sets get first priority with staffing. Not quite how it works where I come from – generally I try to give the most difficult classes the most suitable and experienced teachers. Ah well…

So, now for the summer holiday. I am off backpacking through Europe, with a new acquaintance, Jan. I met Jan nearly 7 weeks ago in the dining room of a B and B in Haworth, Yorkshire. Jan was there with a friend, and happened to be an English teacher from Brisbane! She has been working on contract at a school in St Albans, although she hasn’t particularly enjoyed it (she refers to the school as the ‘Pig Pen’). We were there to do the Bronte thing. Jan is a huge Bronte fan. I’m not so much (too much yelling and shouting), although I like them better now for having been there. After 15 minute’s conversation we decided to join forces, as we were both a little concerned about travelling on our own. It shocks us both a little that we are travelling with someone we know so little, but we both think we will muddle along quite nicely.

The plan, and I use the term loosely, is to fly to Rome on Sunday, then work our way to Siena, Florence (where I have a date with George Emerson – wonder if he will show up?) and Venice. We will then work our way around to Croatia, then up to Prague. From there to Krakow, Warsaw and Poznan in Poland (I will visit Trzciel, the home of my Hampel ancestors who lived there when it was called Tirschtiegel and was part of Prussia). After that Berlin and Hamburg, and maybe somewhere else in Germany, followed by Switzerland. Very much a whistle stop tour, but it is intended to be a taster only. One day I would like to see much more of parts of Europe.

So, I hope I can keep up the blog and let you know where I am and what I am doing. I am really looking forward to spending so much time travelling, reading, meeting new people, blah, blah, blah! This will be the longest holiday I have had in a long time when I haven’t had to do school preparation or move house!

Today I took myself into London to the Old Vic to see another performance by Kevin Spacey, this time in The Philadelphia Story. It was a very popular performance this time, and I was lucky to secure a seat. The best I could get was a seat in the Guthrie Box. While the right hand side of the stage was a little obscured, it was fabulous to be so close and on the same level as the stage! This performance starred Jennifer Ehle (Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice) as Tracy Lord and Kevin Spacey as CK Dexter Haven. It was a hilarious performance; Jennifer Ehle was wonderful and she and Kevin Spacey certainly know how to deliver a line for comic effect!

It’s such a treat to see such amazing actors on the stage. Australian theatre is fantastic, but here there seems to be a new play to see every week rather than every two months, and if Kevin Spacey were to come to Australia to do a play, likely it would only be in Sydney or Melbourne and it would be impossible to get tickets. It has been absurdly easy to get really good seats for the performances I have been to! I am thinking I will go to see Someone to Watch Over Me starring Jonny Lee Miller next, and I have tickets to Guys and Dolls, starring Ewan McGregor in June, and Billy Elliot in September! Yay!

As I had so much GCSE Coursework to mark over the Easter break, I decided I wouldn’t go away for the whole weekend, but would do some daytrips. On Friday I packed my little picnic lunch (being the budget conscious traveller I am…) and drove to Blenheim Palace, near Oxford.

To be honest, while the house is nice enough, it was the grounds I really loved. The most interesting thing about the house were the rooms set aside to tell something of Winston Churchill’s life. He was born at Blenhiem Palace, spent much of his childhood visiting it and proposed to his wife Clementine here (the old romantic – he picked a lovely spot, the small Temple of Diana overlooking the lake). The collection includes letters written by Churchill to his father while he was at school, including a detailed account of lengths to which he went to recover a watch he had lost in a small lake; very entertaining reading.

The grounds were lovely. I saw my first pheasants here (does it count as ‘in the wild’ when it is in the pampered grounds of a grand palace?) and enjoyed the walk to the Grand Cascade (man-made of course!).

On Saturday, my friend Helen joined me for a daytrip to Dover. We wanted to visit Dover Castle and see the White Cliffs as well. We had a lovely day for the visit. Although it was a little misty in the morning, it had cleared up by the afternoon.

The castle itself was quite interesting. The displays set up in the actual castle were based on Henry VIII’s one and only visit in 1593 (more evidence to confirm my opinion of him as a deeply unpleasant, arrogant man…). There was also information about the 1216 siege of the castle by Prince Louis of France (later Louis VII). From the rooftop, with the help of some artist’s impressions, we tried to visualise the movements of the troops (difficult, with neat roads, homes and traffic…). The grounds of the castle also contain a restored Saxon church and a Roman lighthouse believed to possibly be the oldest standing building in Britain (it dates from AD 50).

Of more interest for me were the secret war tunnels used to manage the evacuation, known as Operation Dunkirk, of over 300 000 British, French and Belgian troops from Dunkirk during World War II. There have pretty much always been tunnels here since the construction of the castle, but a number of significant tunnels were built during the Napoleonic Wars when Dover was particularly vulnerable to a French attack. The tunnels remained an official secret until the 1980s (it was set aside after the war as a potential shelter for the government in the case of a nuclear attack). The tour was fascinating and I can recommend it.

Helen and I finished our day with a stroll over the top of the famous ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ – apparently much better seen from the ocean! Nevertheless it was a pleasant day and a nice way to finish the visit.

I spent the day with a new friend Jessica. She was one of the first people I met as she made a point of introducing herself to me. She is the head cook at the canteen at my school and her older two boys attend the school. Jessica was particularly keen to get to know me as she lived in South Australia for some time, being the child of some ‘Ten Pound Poms’! I now tutor her youngest son on Monday nights, and usually stay for one of Jessica’s excellent meals. She and her boys are becoming wonderful friends.

Jessica and I decided to visit the Tower of London – one of those places that just has to be done! It was an interested day, not least of which because I got to see a side of Henry VIII that hadn’t really occurred to me before. One of the biggest features of the Tower is the display of armour and weaponry, much of it from Henry VIII’s collection. It got to the point where you could pick what had belonged to his army because it was clearly the biggest or the most powerful. I began to get quite a picture of his power as a ruler, and along with it, his arrogance. His armour confirmed this, rather hilariously. I believe he was in his forties when it was made for him, and lets face it, he was not a delicate fragile man! He was rather generously proportioned. The funniest thing was… how can I put this delicately? He had a somewhat optimistic view of the protection required for his manhood! Jessica and I took one look and burst into a fit of giggles (embarrassingly, no one else was laughing…). We had just been talking quite seriously about what an arrogant self-important man he was, and this seemed to top our verdict off admirably!

From there we did the girly thing and had a peek at the crown jewels. Frankly they were a little gaudy for my taste… Okay, I admit I’m just jealous I will never have rocks like that!

One of the most interesting spots was the tower where prisoners were kept. They have preserved the graffiti carved into the walls by prisoners with clearly too much time on their hands and not a lot of entertainment options. Some of it was exquisite and well worth spending time examining closely.

All in all the Tower of London is expensive, but well worth taking a look at. We really did enjoy our day.

In the interests of having as many ‘cultural’ experiences as possible, I decided, with my friend Paula and her daughter Bethany, to spend Saturday at Crufts! These things have to be done, you know, and being a dog lover (specifically a Nancy-dog lover – I miss my poochy!) I thought it would be fun!

Crufts is held at the NEC at Birmingham, which is about a 2-hour drive from Basildon. We left early Saturday morning, and arrived at about 10am. The NEC is huge! There’s just nothing like it in Australia – it seems to go on forever! The dog show and all its accompanying paraphernalia fills two large exhibition halls. Heats for each class are carried out at various locations throughout the hall, and the main ring is reserved for things like finals and working dog trials that require a quieter space. We spent some time watching the working dogs; sheepdog trials at the Lucindale Field Days have nothing on this! In the spaces not filled with dog showing, there is stall upon stall of every possible dog-related merchandise imaginable. If you can’t buy it at Crufts, I don’t think they sell it! I admit I succumbed and bought some new ruggies and a little coat for Nancy…

My favourite part of the show was the display of all the different breeds. Every breed on show had a stall with breeding and temperament information, and you got the chance to meet the doggies and give them a cuddle. I went on a search for the Irish Wolf Hounds and found I loved them as much as I had hoped. Unfortunately I don’t think I will ever own a house and yard big enough to accommodate them – they are the size of a small pony! I also went looking for the various breeds that make up my little mongrel darling, and found the Lancashire Terrier to be the closest in many ways. Heaven knows where she got that from!

We stayed to watch the finals of one of the sections – a very interesting process. All in all it was a genuinely entertaining day!