Final Days - LONDON

Heading home today. The journey has been terrific and I feel myself being fortunate to have had these experiences, visit special places, and see things that I have only ever wondered about. Matt and I are both looking forward to coming home to our familiar surroundings, familiar spaces and places and family and friends.

Last few days in London have been quite warm and it certainly brings all of the Londoner's out and about into the parks and along the banks of the River Thames. All of Great Britain becomes very excited when the weather turns warm.

Matt and I have been doing our own thing the last couple of days, Matt has been searching high and low for vinyl records for his collection, and I have been visiting more museums and galleries. Went to the National Portrait Gallery, The National Gallery and the Tate Britain Gallery. Jodie, this is where the Lady of Shalott hangs.

Matt and I both visited the Imperial War Museum, it was a chronology of Great Britain's war efforts since WW1. The museum had a large focus on life in England during WW2 and a significant memorial exhibit on the holocaust and the millions that were murdered by Hitler and his Dogs of War, Death and Destruction. The holocaust memorial exhibition and its images are deeply and profoundly moving, and it is difficult for me to think that those atrocities occurred, on a daily basis, for years, and on an industrial scale!

On Friday night I went to the Royal Festival Hall to see the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The works that were performed where by Debussy, Lalo, Strauss, and the closing piece was Ravel's Bolero which is one of my favorite pieces of classical music that Peirson and I have listened to many times over the years. It was an incredible experience to be there, and to watch and listen those each one of those gifted individuals create something so beautiful.

See you all soon and thanks for following our blog.

Photos are of Londoner's enjoying the balmy weather at Trafalgar Square and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Matt and I managed to have a really good run in London from Earls Court to the Thames, finishing at Westminster. 1 hour and 7 minutes. I think both Matt and I are in better shape now than when we began the trip.

Last images of Rome

These are some more images from the Vatican Museum. We managed to get a run in at Rome, we ran along the banks of the Tiber river, in which we didnt get very far becuase we became stuck in mud. The Tiber runs through the centre of Rome and some parts of it are edged with cobblestones, it looked ok to us at the beginning but eventually the cobblestones became mud, most likely due to a recent flood. Had to walk around in wet shoes all day.

We are in London now for the last few days of our trip.

Vatican City, St Peters and The Vatican Museum

There are no words I can find to describe the grandness of the paintings in the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. The artists who created such wonderful visions were surely geniuses and you cannot comprehend how difficult it would of been to create the works that they did. Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli etc. To appreciate the genius of their work you can only comprehend it by experiencing the creations by being there, no photo or book can provide you any perspective of the beauty, and grandness of scale of these works.

We happened to be in St Peter's square on a day that Pope Benedict gives his weekly sermons to his flock. We observed him from about 200 metres away.

More Rome sights.

Various streets, the entrance to St. Peters and a restaurant to take someone oneday...

ROME sights

More sights of Rome. Colloseum, Spanish Steps, Terme di Caracalla and Pantheon.

Various sights - ROME

Some random sights of Rome. The Piazza Navona, ancient ruins near the Roman Forum, the Spanish Steps, and the Fontana di Trevi.

ROME - Pantheon

Another amazing example of ancient architecture and achievement. The Pantheon is a 2000 year old temple which is now a church that is used for regular services.