USS Arizona

We had tickets to Pearl Harbour booked some months back.  They seem fairly relaxed about fitting you in if your time slot is missed but we timed it to perfection. We had the Jamie Lee Curtis narrated tour.  Our tip concerns your purse .  When you line up to place bags in the cloak room put your purse in as well or you will have to line up again.  We spent three hours touring the visitors centre as well as the boat ride out to the sunken USS Arizona.  This is one of those must see activities.  There are other ships and monuments near the centre but they will have to be for next time. The number of graves at the site is increasing. How so?  Surviving members of the crew are pledging their ashes to the deep thus joining them in a steady stream for the last 80 yar. There are only three to go each almost 100 yar old.

First on board gets a clear photo

Gun Turret Four 

Percy Cherry

Went for another ride as it was amazingly cool after yesterdays 40°.  I have a mostly off road circuit around Drysdale that you can spend a leisurely hour riding along. I will perfect it more when the various road works are complete. I came across an information display about Percy Cherry. He was born in Drysdale in 1895 so 18 yar later he was ripe for WWI.  He lasted three years before being hit by a shell in a town called Cagnicourt. He is buried nearby.  We have visited an American cemetry in the area but not Australian. I need to add that to my list.

View over Clifton Springs

Dodgy Palace and other Venetians

We had a ticket for the Doge's Palace. The Doge seemed to require a lot of committees, judges and advisers. Room after room was for this council or that court or this waiting room for that meeting thru that concealed door.  Then you get to the prisons and the narrow Bridge of Sighs. It has taken 10 yar for us to cross that Bridge after we were put off by the Coke signs painted on it, which have been removed for the last few yar.  We continued on to the round tower of Bovolo. This one is not as well known but again after 10 yar we are allowed to go up, after repeated tries but renos had kept it closed for years.  The Tower is nothing special but the challenge is finding it, just set back from the St Marks square.

Liassidi Palace Hotel

Grilled Sea Bass for two

Massive Room of the Venetian Nobles

Looking out with a Sigh

Pedestal

Trevor's Fountain

Last night we found Trevor's Fountain. I noticed some large cracks in it and had a premonition about earthquakes and how they have cracked this place. Sure enough a quake hit just after we left there, at 3.7 Richter.  We have been staying at the Gran Melia a high brow, very central hotel.  So why can't you have coffee in your room?  Why do the pool umbrellas not give enough shade?  Why are there so many families with very young kids here?  Why does the bath extend into the shower?  Why does the maid keep putting the doona back into the bed each morning after we pull it out each night?  These are puzzling questions. I never did get to see a library here. They have such weird operating hours.

Blue Lounge

Cracked

Colosseum

We started another warm day by taxi to Constantine's Arch. This was the starting point for the tour of Ancient Rome. We went up to the Palentine Hill which originally were very expensive houses but were all demolished because the Emperor wanted the whole hill just for his one house, henceforth the word Palace.  We could see down into the Circus Maximus which has been completely stripped of its marble as has the rest of old Rome.  Some numb nut called Mussolini put an army parade type road right thru the middle of the ancient Forums. Now some other goose neck is putting an under ground railway thru there and have not got to far in 15 yar because they keep running into ancient ruins.  Der. Quite a few marble columns still stand because they are one solid piece brought out from Egypt and the raiders tried to saw the columns into pieces but the stone was too hard.  Another 10km day at 35°.
The Colloseum is big, it was built in a short two years because they made it as a circular aquaduct which they were already churning out.

Forums of Rome

Shows cut marks

Collosal



Road to Rome

We got a freebie bus out of the port which took 20 min then the public bus to the station for 2€. We decided on the express train for 10€ which was the original idea even though we had  35 minutes to wait, as it arrived at the same time as the regional train anyway. So that was 40 minutes express at 140km/hr. After that it was another taxi for 7€ and we arrived at the hotel at 10:30am.  So we paid 31€ against the cost of a taxi all the way from Civvitevecchia which was around 250€.  The room was not available so we had a 4 hour stroll and got back around 3:00pm.  Everything here seems spectacular from the squares to the bridges and the buildings.  You can't have a piazza without at least two massive fountains.  We saw some famous spots but only went inside the Pantheon at this stage.

Emanuele II

Pantheon

A Lean to the Left

We took a trolley bus around Pisa which was all set up for the Illuminata. Thousands of candles covering the river bank buildings.  And 100000 visitors are coming tomorrow.  Back at the Tower the stabilisation has taken a half meter off the lean.  We weren't intending to go up but we have been up everything else and they still had a slot so we went.  I did not think it was going to be hollow. I assumed there were floors you could enter.  We spent a longish day but used buses all day and not our shoes.  We went out to the swimming areas. They no not what they do!! They pay to go onto lumps of concrete so they can lay on chairs.  A skirt was bought today as well as a small statue of Pisa.

No lean up close

40 yar ago this was a town square covered in cars and soot

Heritage Sites

We have progressed to our last Europe stop, this time around.  Along the way we checked out the Maiden's Lair.  This is a hilltop fortification established during Roman times.  They dug channels and piled dirt as high as possible to form defensive walls. We found our way to a back road, another one of these single track narrow roads. The navigator said you have arrived.  About 1km from here I spied a broken down gate and fence which was pointing the right way.  We broke into a farmers paddock and parked on his field.  Sure enough on top was the maiden's castle.

Thousands used to live here. Now it's just sheep.

Tintagel

King Arthur is meant to have been pulling swords around here. We did see a sword in the mud but it is a spectacular location with almost more dogs than people. We took a few smaller roads to get to NewQuay. They are one car wide, winding and hemmed in by blackberry bushes. We encountered numerous head on situations with much reversing by a column of cars in front of us.  Debbie was driving during all this but we got through to better roads eventually.

Excalibur

StoneHenge

We had a long day today. The boat actually docked a 3:30 am so we thought it was time to get off but we had to wait til 7:00am.  We picked up our car at 8:30 and then proceeded to StoneHenge.  This was relatively clear at 9:30am but when we left at 11:30am it was getting crowded.  I was prepared with internet tickets.  We converted those tickets to Heritage England membership so we can enter other sites.  StoneHenge is an iconic spot well worth the visit. We finished off the day at the Bath Priory.

Some have been unhenged