Kuala Lumpur to Home 19th to 21st September

We woke at 8.15am – in the past 24 hours we have slept 18!!!  We now feel great.  Breakfast was amazing although very excessive therefore it was called an ‘American Breakfast’.  This is a great place to have a stopover to rest and relax. 

The 19^th September we just caught up on some reading and just doing nothing.  It was really needed as my back was giving me lots of trouble and pain, so we’ll be pleased to be home.

We left Kuala Lumpur 21.30 20^th and arrived Melbourne 07.05 on 21^st then flew to Hobart 11.45 and arrive back to our Island Home 13.00.

This has been a wonderful trip – one that we will never forget.

Kuala Lumpur 19th and 20th September 2010

views from our window

this is our room

view from the top floor - the pool

other buildings surrounding the park

Rome to Kuala Lumpur 17th & 18th September 2010

We were picked up and transferred to Rome airport as had been pre-arranged.  There were two other passengers – an Indian man and his Mum.  We nodded politely ‘Gday’ was his response with an Aussie accent.  He was from Canberra, so we had a lovely chat about our experiences in Rome and also about Canberra and Hobart.  We really enjoyed just speaking without having to worry about making ourselves understood or understanding what was being said to us – it was very enjoyable.

Once at the airport I had to join the queue up for ages to get my tax papers stamped for the bracelet I had bought.  We boarded the plane eventually and it took off at 1.15pm.  We watched a couple of movies, managed to sleep and the time seemed to pass ok.  We arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 1am Rome time but 7am Kuala Lumpur time.

We got through immigration and baggage collection quickly and met our transfer driver.  It took an hour from the airport to our accommodation – the Traders Hotel.

I crawled into bed at 9am – I was in bed before the porter could even deliver our bags to the room.  We both woke at 5pm, time to get showered and ready to go and investigate our surroundings and gets some dinner.

The Petronis Towers are just a five minute walk away and are part of our view from the 15^th floor.  The park is lovely with a lake and a water spout display.  Steps have the double use as seats as people watch the water display. It is nice but in a theatrical way rather than authentic.  We had fish and chips which we enjoyed immensely. 

We wandered about till dark when the lights come on in the Petronis Towers – quite a sight.  It is very humid and we are both ready to head back to our huge king size bed –first that size since we left home – and back to sleep. 

Photos Kuala Lumpur 18th September

Petronis Towers

Inside the Towers are very exclusive shops

Rome 16th September 2010

Yesterday’s tours had been so successful that we had booked with the same group to see Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s works, St.Peters Basilica and St Peters Square.  The queues were very long – it was good to be able to just queue for about 10 minutes instead of 1 to 2 or more hours.  The Vatican Museum was very interesting.  Many treasured artworks.  The Sistine Chapel was also very special.  Our guide Elaine explained, outside on boards, some of the hidden meanings Michelangelo had included into his painting and also what was involved with painting frescos – harder than watercolour.  It truly was amazing walking along under Michelangelo’s work.  No talking and no photos were the rules.  People would sneak of photo and the guards would yell, or someone would speak and the yell was louder – quite strange way of demanding silencio!!  It was a pointless endeavour as they were making far more noise than what they were trying to stop.  We then went to St. Peters Basilica – it was over the top beautiful.  Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’ is so beautiful tears just welled in my eyes.

The square was enormous – it would be incredible to see it filled with people like the scenes when a new Pope is elected.  We thanked our guide for a wonderfully memorable morning.  There were still endless queues waiting to go in – the guide said they would be in line for at least 3 hours at this time of day.

Back to the hop on/off bus and our next stop was a return trip to the Trevi fountain.  We both wanted to see it again in full sunshine – it was a beautiful sight.  Crowds of people, the water splashing over the edges at times but it was so hot it was refreshing.  Time for some lunch and then on to the Spanish steps – nothing special but it would take a lot to impress after our morning, but we were pleased to have seen this Rome landmark.

Back to the bus and home for a rest, getting our bags packed, before going out to dinner for our last night in Rome.

    

Photos Rome 16th September 2010

our guide explaining some of the finer details of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

the 'Pieta'

taking a rest in St Peters Basilica

the Swiss Guard - Michelangelo designed the uniform 

back to the Trevi Fountain

the Spanish Steps

back to our hotel  to pack

Rome 15th September 2010

So off we set bright and early to find the Hop on/off bus and bought a 2 day pass.  Our first stop was the Colosseum.  We decided it was a good idea to pay the extra 8 euro and join a tour group which made a total of 20 euro each.   The tour groups went straight in and missed the very long queues and also included with the guided tour was free guided tour through the remains of the Forum etc. of Palatine Hill.

The Colosseum was in very poor condition – no marble covering left.  Different Popes had stripped the marble from the Colosseum to build and decorate churches.  The missing side was also taken down and the material used to build other things, but they had made sure that any visiting officials or VIP’s were taken past so that they couldn’t see that the building wasn’t complete.  Inside there was no seating and no floor – you could see straight down to the underground passage ways and rooms.  We were glad we had seen the arena at Arles so that we could imagine jut what it must have looked like.  It was really good though and we did enjoy the tour.  The Palatine tour was also very interesting and informative, so we enjoyed both tours.

We re-joined the bus and our next stop was Piazza Venezia.  We had been just looking around on one side, thinking it was pretty great.  Pop went round the corner to take a look to see if we would go that way or back on the bus.  He came back and said ‘You’ve got to see this!’  It was stunningly beautiful.  It is huge and magnificent.  It is known as the ‘wedding cake’.

Back onto the bus and back home to rest before going out for dinner.  Some people we knew from home just happened to be staying in Rome at the same time and so we had arranged to meet up with them at the Trevi Fountain.  We travelled by taxi.  It was a lovely evening, so nice to see a familiar face and also to be able to talk and hear English being spoken.  We had pizza and enjoyed a lovely evening.  The fountain is beautiful but we were all surprised that it is in a small square – I had always imagined it out in an open area.  Ice-creams for sweets, then back home by taxi.