London

Had a nice time wandering around London with Arran, stopping at the Lions in trafalgar square, wonder how many people have fallen from there. Passed houses of Parliament, Westminster and spent time at Foyles bookshop.

Found the comic book versions of Shakespere classics, which are fun.

Got picked for a busking show and jumped on lots of buses.

It was fantastic catching up with Robert, though I am sorry I didn't get to see his artwork.

Joanne

Hamleys, London dungeon

Two top spots for kids in London.

Of course, this is the toy shop which would have to be classified as the most famous in London, if not the UK. It is manic, so leave plenty of time to make your way through the crowds. However, we would recommend it as a must see if you have kids.

As one would expect, it is not the cheapest toy shop in the world, but when you take your child there the first impression is "magical". However, if you are budget conscious, do shop around.

Hamleys
188 - 196 Regent Street
LONDON
W1B 5BT
0871 704 1977

London Dungeon

This was at the request of our 9 year old and all the guide books including Time Out classified it as a great place to go. (someone needs to do a reality check and visit this tired old place again!) Well maybe it is great if you are under 10 and find any of it at all believable. Our daughter did enjoy it, but the three adults found it tedious and boring.

You are on your feet for the better part of 90 minutes, walking around recreated scenes of London, with some acting. I felt really sorry for the people who had queued for hours outside.

Tip is that you can buy tickets on line and go to the priority queue. It is also potentially cheaper to do it this way.

Tip the queues get really long in the holidays and during the morning.

London Dungeon
28-34 Tooley St
London, SE1 2SZ

Joanne

www.placesandspaces.com.au

Fountains in rome

On the brighter side, cooling down in the fountain.

Andrew at the colosseum.

At the Pantheon.

Plus trevi fountain at night.

Rome travel tips

Watch out for the taxi rip off from the station, we so got ripped off but were expecting it as part of the Italian experience. Make sure the taxi driver actually puts on the metre when you leave the stataion.

At the airport, go to terminal C, much nicer than the terminal you walk into on entry, which is really tacky. Much more pleasant in the C lounge.

the fountains around Rome are fantastic for cooling down on a hot day.

Joanne

Florence

Tips for Florence

Fab gelato, delicate flavours, ingredients sourced from around the world
GROM
V. d. Campanile Ang. v d Oche
Just moments from the Duomo

recommend Peach, apricot and blueberry

Nice restaurant, tuscan food
Trattoria da guido
via faenza 34r
Firenze
055 289746
Near the Central markets

Our other tip, is that it is worth pre-booking for the accademia to see David, it saves heaps of queuing time, you practically walk straight in. If not sure get your hotel to do it the day before.

tips for venice

great restaurant, fine dining, meal for 18 euro, good value.
An oasis amongst the tourist madness

Il ridotto
castello 4509 - 30122 Venezia
Campo ss Filippo e giacomo
041 520 8280
Just moments from San Marcos square.

Also tip for some nice jewellery in the same area
Saluti e Baci
Castello, 4362/A - 30122 Venezia
347 0509944

Florence

Arrived into florence, very steamy.

More later

Joanne
www.placesandspaces.com.au

venice

what a tourist rip off of a city.

Tips buy your ticket for the ferry into town from the actual pier. I paid a whacking 25 euros per ticket and even after asking the staff we ended up on the cheaper 13 euro ferry.

Easier to buy what you see.

Public transport is also a rip off, 16 euros for a day ticket, the girl was obviously not telling us the truth, I don't believe that individual ferry trips in venice cost the locals 6 euros each!

Gondoler was 120 euros, yes expensive too.



www.placesandspaces.com.au

glasgow edinurgh

Another Edinburgh fringe queue!

Joanne

Castle Kirk

View from the window of our B&B, Castle Kirk in Lochranza. They say that the Castle is the inspiration for Tin Tin and the Black Islands.

Definitely recommend the B&B, fantstic hospitality.

Joanne

Lamlash - swinging

Park at Lamlash on Arran

Euro Disney - 10 tips

Great buskers on the way to Eurodisney.

Tips,
1)Easy to catch the RER from central Paris, we got a zone 5/6 orange card
2)we went later in the day ie arrived at midday to avoid morning queues
3)Go to the far left hand side to buy tickets away from the queues, there is a series of shared booths there and quicker to access entry.
4)It seemed pricey, but the character meals were good value. An extra 10 Euro per adult on the normal buffet price. No queuing and lots of photo ops.
5) A good place to get your bearings is the Lucky Nugget while having lunch, you can plot your course.
6) The express tix are really good, they do save on queuing time.
7) You can only get one express ticket at a time, so choose wisely
8) There are definitely peak times ie after shows etc, if you do activities while the shows are on the queues are shorter.
9) the shops get really manically busy later in the evening
10) Whilst queues are shorter later in the day some rides start closing around 9.00, ie we couldn't get onto Autopia

Louvre tips

Best times to visit without queuing is later on the late night openings ie Wednesday and Friday when the Louvre is open to 10pm.

We walked straight to the ticket purchasing desk, after we had our dinner then walked right on in. Of course the Louvre is massive, so you can either just target a few places you want to visit or wander randomly.

Personally I find museums of this size overwhelming and like to reduce my visit to bite sized chunks, especially when travelling with a 9 year old.

Museum Opening Hours
The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (rooms begin closing at 5:30) every day except Tuesday and the following holidays: January 1st, May 1st and December 25, 2009. The permanent collection and temporary exhibitions will close at 5 p.m. on December 24 and 31, 2009 (Wednesday).

The museum is open until 10 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday evenings (rooms begin closing at 9:30 p.m.).

Admission to the Louvre is free on the first Sunday of every month.

The Pyramid and Galerie du Carrousel entrances are open daily from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., except Tuesday.
The Passage Richelieu is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., except Tuesday.
The Porte des Lions entrance is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except Tuesday and Friday.

Address for the Louvre is a map on the website. So visit official site for more info.