Had a lovely flight to Tokyo, watched 5 movies and thoroughly enjoyed Victoria and Abdul despite the mixed reviews.
Upon arrival, we had to walk through a heat sensor to see if we had a fever or not, then walked over a disinfectant pad, then on to have both our index fingers scanned and facial photos taken!! Apart from that customs was very orderly and quick. Met a few of the women on the tour and headed to our hotel. Narita Airport is in the country about an hour or more from Tokyo city, it was so lovely viewing the city at night with all the lights and reflections on the water.

Today we went to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. Our Guide, Toshi, said that there was an ambassador arriving today and they choose to be escorted to the Palace by horse and carriage, the men were practising while we were there, the horses were beautifully groomed and they kept going around in a circuit.

There were several ‘Poo sweepers’!

They have moles here!

I love how the stone walls around the gardens were irregular but still quite controlled, they trees and plants were groomed within an inch of their lives as well. The gardens would be absolutely spectacular in spring, there were heaps of azalea.

Next we went to a Boro museum, Boro is Japanese textiles that have been worn and mended over and over, they were works of art.

We then went on to the Senso-Ji Temple.

Apparently these girls aren’t Japanese they are from other Asian cultures and they come to the market area around the Temple and hire these outfits – our guide said quite disdainfully that the kimono they hire are polyester!

This area was inside the temple. You shake that silver box while making a wish, then you tip it upside down and through a very small hole a chop-stick like stick comes out with a symbol on it, you then match the symbol to one of the drawers and in the drawer is the answer to your wish or your fortune! The English translation is hilarious and we compared some of them, they say something very similar but in different ways

We had a lovely lunch and then headed of to the Nippori area of town which is the sewing district.

That is a live owl!! I have no idea what she is doing with it!

Saw some amazing sights in the sewing district, this girl was going to a shop called Tomato, it has several floors of fabrics etc (a wee bit like our spotlight, but way better).

The leather shops here was incredible, it went to make a purchase and the zip on my purse got stuck – bloody Trevor must be controlling the purse strings from home!! Rest assured I got it open and have sorted it so it doesn’t happen again.

We headed back to our hotel around 4pm it had started raining, everyone here has umbrellas and they are everywhere to buy. I had a wander around the lovely shops near the hotel like Tiffany, Salvatore Feragamo, Harry Winston etc. Went to an amazing stationery shop, they have such a selection and beautiful taste here.

We then went to an authentic Japanese restaurant down the road from our hotel, it was interesting getting into our seats, your legs and feet went into a ‘well’ under the table, hilarious but quite comfortable, the steamers were sitting on induction plates that heated while you sat there.

We planned this last day well before we got to Milan. We spent the day at the QC Termemilan Spa, it was AMAZING, what a fabulous place and a beautiful way to spend the day. We started with a relaxing massage, then had a delicious buffet lunch, then had a. Turkish bath (Hamam) then we tried all the different rooms, the salt room, the water room, the earth room, headed outside and relaxed by the many pools and had a wee sleep in the sun. Fabulous we didn’t want to leave. Finished off the day with a hair wash and a glass of Prosecco sensational.

So sad to be leaving Italy, as always it was my favourite, could live here! We survived very well without the boys and had a blast. Now home to the frosty cold!

This was the ceiling in the water room, you lie on water beds and look at the ceiling there is a projector playing lots of different moving scenes, so cool.

Yesterday we decided to get out of the city and caught the train to Verona. What a beautiful town. Had a fabulous lunch and wandered around for the day. Saw Juliette’s balcony, all the writing on the wall near her house, went up the Lamberti tower and went to the Arena. Fantastic day. Although I have to say if you are planning on visiting Verona, don’t waste 10 Euro on going inside the Arena, the best views of it are on the outside!

We saw the boys off home and Jenny and I stayed another night. So loved Venice and we were sad to leave it.

Took the train to Milan.

Had a look around and went to the fabulous Duomo, a bit of a ride on the hop on hop off bus. Looked at the expensive shops, very eye opening! Our hotel is in the middle of the affordable shopping district which is perfect.

Our hotel has a great restaurant and bar – ate and drank a bit much on the second night – celebrating the Americas cup and a successful shopping day, so yesterday was a bit quiet and lethargic. We were in bed asleep by 9.30 last night and slept 10 hours feel excellent today and we are off to Verona today to get out of the city should be great.

Lots of people bike in Milan its lovely to see.

I bought a leather jacket and an outfit for the Master Builders House of the Year so very happy, I have a new favourite shop.

Went to a Kandinsky exhibition yesterday, was great, so gutted the Klimt exhibition starts here on Saturday – we leave Friday.

Yesterday morning Jenny and Kelvin hired a car to explore the island. It was a Nissan Micra, a large car by Santorini standards!

So off we went, Trev opted to do some walking and didn’t come with us. We set out to head to the Monastry on the highest point of the island but ended up at Red Beach.

After that we tried to find a shortcut road to the Monastry, the maps here are pathetic. Anyway we started driving up a reasonable sort of road that quickly narrowed considerably, we kept going, Jenny was starting to get a bit concerned that it was too narrow.

We kept driving on and on, at times cars had to reverse out of our way into alleys etc. By this time we were in the country so thought we were on the right track to get to the Monastry. Jenny was very grumpy that we kept going and kept saying she wasn’t coming with us again, meanwhile Kelvin and I were laughing and enjoying the adventure. The road was very narrow at this point and we were climbing up higher, narrower and narrower. Then we came to a point where we couldn’t go any further. So had to turn around and come all the way back. A fun adventure.

In the afternoon Trevor and I went on a Sunset cruise, on a beautiful new boat with all food and drink included. Went to the hot springs near the volcano had a swim there, then sailed to Red beach, had a swim there, then off to White beach and swam, fed the fish and snorkelled there, having a BBQ dinner before setting off to sail back to Oia to watch the fantastic sunset. Met some lovely people from Australia, UK and Malaysia. Was lots of fun and a highlight of our time in Santorini. A beautiful day.

Arrived in Santorini on a classic beautiful bluebird day.

There was a bit of an issue with our rooms, and after a lot of toing and froing over a day, we have to stay put, essentially because there is no room anywhere. We feel a bit stuck without a car. Yesterday we caught the bus to the beach, we waited for 45 minutes for a 15 minute ride, then caught another bus to the beach. It was a black stone beach, lovely to be beside the water and get the cool breeze, was 32 degrees here.

We came back to the hotel, watched a wedding from our balcony, then caught another bus to Oia to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful little town with a festive atmosphere.

This afternoon we are heading off on a boat trip to a couple of islands, it also takes in dinner and sunset tonight. Jenny and Kelvin are hiring a car to have a look around.

Observation: Greek plumbers must be 7 foot tall. All of the showers so far in Greece are hand-held with a hook about 8 feet up the wall, I can only reach it to hang the shower up!

Having a lovely relaxing time in Mykonos, beautiful weather, lovely beach and pool

Yesterday morning we caught the bus from outside our hotel and went into the main town of Mykonos. It was chaos with people and traffic. The roads here are only the width of one lane and there is two way traffic including great big buses!

The town of Mykonos is beautiful with its white buildings against the unreal blue sky.

We walked up to the windmills and then along to Little Venice for morning tea. Had a great spot right on the ocean, the waves were crashing into the building. There was a Pelican there, inside near the toilets, he seemed quite happy, how weird, lol.

THere are a lot of lovely shops here, I think we were in the label area, didn’t do any shopping, ha.

Came back to the peace and quiet of our hotel pool and beach, lovely spot to spend the afternoon, had lunch at a cafe which featured in the movie Shirley Valentine, that is just at the bottom of our hotel on the beach.

Went out for dinner to a local restaurant which had a fantastic waitress, she was totally great, gave her a tip at the end of the night and she hugged us.

spending a couple of hours at the pool then catching the ferry to Santorini.

They have the same drivers here that are just as bad as they are in Queenstown!!

We left Chania and on our way out visited the Allied Forces War Cemetary. A beautiful spot and very very neat and well kept. Visited Pops’ brother’s grave. 446 New Zealand soldiers buried there with soldiers from UK, Australia and a couple of other places, majority were from UK and NZ.

Then off we went to Heraklion (pronounced Irakleeon) in our pathetic car

Nothing of any event happened on the drive, thanks to Kelvin’s great driving, the motorway speed limit was very low and we arrived without incident at our hotel.

The hotel was lovely and we had a delicious lunch at the hotel restaurant, probably the best food we have had so far. I have to say that we are very spoilt with the quality of food we have in NZ.

The next morning we caught the Ferry to Mykonos, it was an overcast and reasonably cold day (20 degrees) so a good day for travelling but not for traditionally beautiful Greek Island photos.

Today is a lovely sunny day about 23 degrees, which is the coldest we have had so far in terms of heat, but great for mooching around the pool/beach and having a lazy day.