well - that seemed to work - so will continue.

so after 4 weeks in Ireland, caught the (huge) ferry from Belfast across to Stranraer in Scotland - and picked up another rental. Hertz in Scotland had been warned and it has excellent rear vision - but diesel, 5 door - and off I went.

Now driving without a navigator has its moments. Especially when often there is no space to stop and consult a map. So there were many moments when I would think I'll have to have a cigarette tonight to recover from this ... but I haven't!! and other times when I've had to stop and park the car, walk to where I wanted to go and then work out how to get there.. .

Anyway, stayed in Portpatrick the first night and the next day wandered up the coast, visited another Castle and gardens, and arrived in Glasgow that night.

Ended up staying in Glasgow for three nights, another city tour, cathedral, art gallery, museum, photo exhibition, Mackintosh trail, Burrell collection, grand houses. All of that industry in the past has paid off - some gorgeous collections.

Left Glasgow and found my way (finally) to Loch Lomond and stayed at Fort William; gondola up the Nevis Range, past Loch Ness and the Urquhart Castle to Inverness. Visited Fort George and Brodie Castle the next day - and a huge thunderstorm struck. Have never seen rain like it (not even on the West Coast). Headed back through the Highlands to Perth - with no diesel in the tank so lots of praying that I would find a station that actually had diesel for sale (some had run out!).

Onto Stirling and another Castle, and then onto Edinburgh where I stayed for 4 nights. Caught up with Anne and Margaret. Anne had been my manager back in Wilkinson Wilberfoss days and had taught me about journal entries. Margaret probably helped her as I remember I was a bit of a slow learner.
So another Castle, photo exhibition, art gallery, walked the hop on/off route as it was all quite contained, Holyrood Palace, Royal Mile, Queensferry, Royal Yacht Britannia. kd lang concert.

then across to the east coast, Berrick-on-Tweed, back to Kelso and down to Durham - and another cathedral; down to York - where the cathedral is actually a minster - and then down to Coventry.

caught the train to London, walked and walked, saw "Wicked" which I was disappointed with, stayed with Anne & Angus and talked and talked. I had to make up for the previous four weeks when I hadn't been able to get the required number of words out every day.

Then the train adventure started. Eurostar to Brussels, three nights there - walked and walked, took train out to Bruges. more cathedrals and churches..

and then the first real hiccup - handle on suitcase broke as I was walking to station (too much lifting with the wrong handle!) so had to buy another suitcase at the station and repack. Luckily a train every hour to Amsterdam so didn't have to worry about missing it. Remembered Dennis's good advice and bought one with 4 wheels (not just 2) but more on that later. so was all at 6s and 7s when I got on the train and concentration lapsed for 5 seconds as I was checking my suitcase (didn't realise that everyone just takes all bags to seat and everyone else just has to climb over/around/whatever). Some young chap asking me dumb questions re the train - turned around to see another chap standing over my seat - which was very strange as the whole carriage was empty - thought uh oh - looked in my handbag - no wallet. Meanwhile he who had been standing over my seat had sat down in the next row so I asked him for the wallet. He gave me my sunglasses so I asked again for my wallet - and he gave it back. By that time I was seriously exhausted and sat quietly in my seat clutching my bag (with wallet safely inside). Still hadn't worked out first/second class on the trains at that stage. Anyway .... very lucky!! Barbara says I must have been scary!

So - three nights in Amsterdam - apparently my hotel was right on the red light district but wasn't game to wander it by myself. Could have done a tour but as it was in broad daylight - thought that would be a bit tame. But loved the jump on/off canal tour - went round a couple of times just looking at houses. Perhaps I should have been the architect in the family as I can certainly spend a lot of time looking at houses/churches etc. Highlight was the van Gogh museum. Can't understand why there aren't more accidents involving bikes and pedestrians - a constant ting-a-ling of bicycle bells! Watched NZ vs Sth Africa in an Irish pub, which was probably one of the few times when I felt a tinsy bit homesick.

Train to Berlin for another three nights. Walked and walked. Hop on/off tour. (Sorry if this is repetitive but the days have taken on a certain routine!) Bradenburg Gate, Holocaust Museum, Checkpoint Charlie, Reichstag. After all the Roman/Gothic castles found the history in Berlin much more thought provoking. Memorials with fresh flowers to young boys shot whilst crossing the wall and the Memorial to Murdered Jews. A wonder there is not more undercurrents of hostility than there appears to be.

Train to Prague - three nights - and surprise - walked and walked. City tour (but not the pink bus hop on/off variety) This tour involved walking and a boat as well as a bus! Castle, cathedral, Charles Bridge, Mozart & Strauss concert. Dinner cruise - met up with some Aussies.

Train to Salzburg (via Munchen). Very worried at one stage as the train started to go backwards - but I managed to stay in my seat and try and look unperturbed since no-one else seemed to worry. They do that a lot but that was the first time!

City tour of Salzburg and then another highlight! Sound of Music tour. Bus full, Trudie dressed up in her Austrian gear - went to the lake in front of the mansion, the gazebo, avenue of trees to skip down, gardens where the gnomes are and the Pegasus fountain and then way out to Mondsee to the church where Maria and the Captain got married. Luckily Abagail (8 year old from Leeds) adopted me and sat with me so I could sing along to my hearts content!) Fabulous. Of course the Austrians and Germans don't know the movie so there are no worthwhile souvenirs. Note to me: business opportunity!

It was the Salzburg festival so gorgeous women wearing gorgeous clothes walking down the street - off to the ballet or opera or.. and did I mention another gorgeous Castle/Fortress/Cathedral etc?

So three nights there and then on to Vienna for another 3. Expected to be met at station by Sarah - but she had taken advantage of the bed/room and was tucked up. So another Palace, gardens, cathedral, outdoor opera with fantastic food stalls, tapas, pancakes and plums, Belverdere museum, Holocaust memorial, Museums and Mozart and Strauss concert in the grand hall of the Palace.

Train to Budapest to stay with Anne & Kelvin. They performed hop on/off/in/out tour duties with great accomplishment (lots of practice I think). Their apartment is very close to the castle and could walk from theirs (in Buda) across to Pest. Out to the country for a lovely lunch overlooking the countryside, swimming in pool, Statue Park, shoe memorial to Jews, walked and walked. Sarah off to Stockholm, so then put the tourist hat aside for a few days; played none holes of golf with Kelvin and even although he wasn't impressed - I was not unhappy. After all, even got a par! but putting was terrible (well on 7 holes out of nine was terrible); had the role of kitchen hand for Anne's dinner party which included shopping! the sour cream caused the most problem - I still think it was more like junket.

Caught up with things like hair colour, posting parcels, reading some novels rather then Lonely Planet guides and generally had a bit of a blob out time.

Anne took a weeks holiday so off we set - through Slovakia, Austria to Czech Republic to Telc, Chesky Kumlov. UNESCO sites, town squares, cathedrals, back through Austria to Slovenia and stayed at Bled and then into Croatia and down to Trogir to Anne & Kelvin's apartment where we stayed for four nights.

Walked round Trogir, Split, and the local fishing villages including churches and cathedrals! Had first swim of the European summer at Trogir. Drove back to Budapest - weather changed dramatically - down to 7° on the motorway.

so - now up to 15 September and I start the train travel again - on the train to Belgrade. The Eastern European trains not quite up to the western European - very slow. Only two nights in Belgrade - walked and walked: fortress, cathedral etc.

next day - train to Montenegro (hopefully Bar). But Serbian trains....... the whole idea of this bit of the trip was to see the beauty of the Montenegrian mountains - but the trouble was by the time we reached there - it was dark! Did get a tiny glimpse tho - and yes amazing landscapes.

so this was the day that I think I graduated into a fearless traveller. First class on the train from Belgrade is ..... so there was me, and 5 guys. 4 were serbs (I think) and 1 was Montenegrian (very cute and very young). so for 9 hours they talked in whatever language they were talking in, offering food around, offering me help with my Diabolically Difficult Sudoku (the first time I had succumbed).

The train was very late (have I mentioned that) but my problem was that I didn't have any accommodation booked in Bar. I had looked a couple of times on the internet - but nothing seemed close - so I decided that I would just find something when I got there - not expecting it to be as late as it was going to be. Usually my nervous stomach syndrome would kick in in a big way - but no - I thought well I'll just have to get a taxi to drive me around until I find somewhere. in the meantime, the vyvc (very young, very cute) chap had asked me in limited English where I was staying. He realised that I didn't have anywhere so insisted that I get off in Podrica (?)where his sister was picking him up and that he would drive me to a hotel. So off I went. Not only his sister was there to meet him, but also his mother and they then drove me around until they found me a hotel. I couldn't understand what he was saying to the receptionists - but I assume it was something along the lines of "found this mad New Zealander on the train with no accommodation - please lock her up for the night!". Anyway, restored my faith in that sometimes it is OK to believe what someone says even if it does seem slightly not OK.

Next day caught the bus to Budva, and walked .... castle/old town etc.

next day , bus to Dubrovnik and the following day met up with the Astle tour group. So yes - walked the walls of Dubronvik and the next day boarded the Wind Surf. So for the next week lived the life of Riley - big (as compared to some of the single rooms I've had) cabin all to me - five course dinners etc. First we went down to Kotor, then to Togir where I could almost pretend I was a local, then Hvar, Sibenik, couldn't get ashore at Rab as was too rough, Trieste and finally landed at Venice. so yes - in each of those ports explored the towns, visited churches, cathedrals, town halls, ruins, basicilicas etc. Also read, played cards, talked, danced, and surprise, surprise! had one or two drinks! Great week, great company!

Arrived in Venice and found my way to my hotel just off San Marco Square. Double bed in a single room - no room for suitcase! but great location. so - yes walked and walked - Duges Palace, St Marks Basilica, Rialto Bridge, round canals, took ferry out to the Lido and round the canals, Galleries. Three nights there.

Train to Genoa (via Milano). walked Genoa - city in the process of cleaning up but some of the UNESCO sites look like they will be rather gorgeous. I think I misunderstood the hotel owner - he was talking about running - naming all the NZers from Peter Snell to Walker, Quax etc, and I thought he asked me if my feet were size 8 (don't ask me why) but I think he asked me if my feet ached - at which point I received a foot massage.

next day, caught train down to Monterosso (the first of the Cinque Terra villages) and found a room. Stairs up to it were so steep - but the landlady said her son would carry my suitcase up. Then I realised I would have to give him a big tip so that he would carry it down again.

Walked the walk the next day, they say that it takes five hours to walk from Monterosso to Riomaggiore (the southern most) and yes - took me five hours. Fantastic walk - but not easy! Caught train back to Monterosso. Was a wild day (windy) and the sea was very rough. It had calmed down the next day so boats were running so caught the boat down to Portovenere - and walked round including the churches etc there.

Next day caught train back to Genoa and put bags into left luggage while I took a train back to Santa Marguerita and the bus to Portofino (decided I had to get there since I was so close). Was all a bit optimistic tho - as then couldn't get on fast train back to Milan, track between Milan and Trevagilo was closed for the weekend - so caught a cab to Bevan's apartment. Meanwhile a satellite was out of alignment so no phone service so couldn't communicate with Joy who was expecting me much earlier. so another hiccup on the pathway of travel - but all OK in the end.

So a lovely week based in Bevan's very fab apartment. Joy (NZer who has lived in Trevagilo for 30 years) was fabulous company and met with various family members and much socialising. Irish and Italians have much in common!
After catching up on washing etc, trained to Milan,(hop on/off tour) Como including boat to Bellagio, and train to Bergamo. any yes, more walking, cathedrals, churches, walled towns, forts etc. and Lake Como! (but didn't see George)

so, now up to date - yesterday, the very fast train from Milan to Naples. Taxi got lost so saw lots of Naples at night without intending to and tomorrow start the Amalfi walking tour. Met with the group tonight - all Aussies except for one American and me. A good bunch so should be a fun week. walked today... cathedrals and churches!

It might sound as if I've seen enough cathedrals etc - but no - definitely can do more. Still walking around a corner and the mouth falling open and "wow", and opening doors and marvelling at what is behind them.

I feel as if I've spent this time walking on a film set and I suppose that is what Europe is - a huge film set.

I deliberately haven't used many adjectives in describing some of the places I've seen - as you'd just get tired of "gorgeous, fantastic, amazing," etc etc.

and I have 3000 photos to date to prove it!

Am I tired of living out of a suitcase? No! have such a good filing system working that I might adopt it at home. Do I miss my own bed? No - still sleeping very well. On the rare occasion when I have thought I should be home - I realise that I'm just a bit tired and need a good nights sleep and the next day all is well again. The feet scream out each morning as they hit the floor but after two minutes are ready to take on the world again.

I must be fitter than when I left after all this walking. Certainly lost weight early on (even with all the Irish and Scottish breakfasts) but fear that the cruise and Italy - it has gone back on again. Oh well.....