http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwijoe just mooching along Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:53:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en So this is the final entry of my ‘Filling the Gaps’ saga, and a rather sad occasion it is, to be sure. But before I attempt to put down some final thoughts, I had better finish with the account of the final leg of the journey. -which began in Bari – ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwijoe/home-againhome-again-jiggety-jog.html There is no doubt about it – the realisation that my Wanderings were soon to come to an end, put a damper on my spirits. So much so that I could not raise the enthusiasm to write my last blogs while still in Italy. So here I am, almost a ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwijoe/30809-last-days.html Today we left the golden sands and emerald sea of Paestum’s beach front van park.     and headed off to the other side of southern Italy. Across the ankle of Italy’s boot,  one might say. As usual, the day dawned bright, sunny and hot. Already as we prepared the vans for moving on, ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwijoe/coast-to-coast-well-almost.html Well, Rome, in all it’s glory, is behind us, and for the next few days we have continued our trek more-or-less down the western coastline of Italy. As usual we have shunned the Autostradas. They have the advantages of being (no doubt) smooth and quick for travelling, but since we are ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwijoe/southern-trek-continues.html I suppose to most non-Italians, Rome is the essence of Italy – you cannot have seen Italy if you have not seen Rome. Some Italians would no doubt disagree, but we have just spent two days exploring the centre of Rome – and it would have to be one of ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwijoe/rome-or-roma.html When in Italy P stands for Pizza – naturally, but it also  stands for Pisa and it’s leaning tower. And R stands for Rome, which is where we are presently situated. And the Q stands for just that – a few short queues here and there as we waited to ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwijoe/from-p-to-r-with-a-bit-of-queue-ing-here-and-there.html In the past few days we have left the mountains more-or-less behind and now are moving through undulating hills. Some of the hills still show their affinity to the Alps, (or the Dolomites), and suddenly start spiraling upwards in fairly spectacular fashion. The hills are dressed in a variety of garb ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwijoe/italian-observations.html When the Expedition Leaders were planning a rough outline of our second bite at Europe, they asked me if there was anywhere in particular that I would like to see. Well some of you will know that I have always been a bit of a cycling nut, and one event ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwijoe/the-alps.html Yesterday was a nightmare. Today has been refreshing. Yesterday we decided to leave the beach at Norbonne. We had had one super day there, then the next day completely spoiled by the arrival of the Mistral – that terrible almost-gale-force hot wind that blows down from the north. I read somewhere ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwijoe/from-beach-to-mountains.html This story spans a couple of days, and starts high on our ‘mountain top’ overnight picnic spot. Here we had spent a very peaceful and happy few hours: the kids found bushes to play in, granite-topped tables provided our dining table and a natural spring sent a constant (if somewhat ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwijoe/mountain-top-to-beach.html