April 7, 2009
Our trip is going to begin on April 7, 2009 where will fly from Christchurch, New Zealand (10:50am) to Singapore - a flight of just a bit more than 10 hours. We get into Singapore about 5:40pm local time and have to get ourselves to our hotel (no transfers arranged - but Singapore is a good city to travel in).
We say the night in Singapore at the Parkroyal on Kitchener Road - the normal price is apparently $350 NZD per night but we were able to get it for $56 NZD because of booking through Flight Centre in New Zealand.
Peeking Duck is on the menu - we both love Peeking Duck.
April 8, 2009Our flight to Milan does not leave Singapore until 11:45pm local time so a long day in Singapore before we leave but we have a late checkout until 4pm from the hotel which means that we can have a bit of a shop and a rest before going to the airport. Maybe this time we can see a movie at the airport, never done that before, they are free.
It is a direct flight from Singapore to Milan and will about 12 hours and 45 minutes, our arrival time is about 6:30am (local time) on Wednesday the 9th of April.
April 9, 2009 - April 11, 2009 (MILAN)We will be spending two nights in Milan at the Hotel Monopole which is near the central rail way station.
April 10, 2009 (Easter Friday)
We have managed to book tickets to see the original "The Last Supper" by "Leonardo da Vinci" - We paid € 8 each for entry which we paid for online, for more details and to book tickets online see - http://www.cenacolovinciano.org/sito/home.html
We are leaving Milan on the morning of Saturday, April 11, 2009 by Train to Genova - see http://www.trenitalia.it/en/index.html for details on trains in Italy.
Once we get to Genova we will be picking up a Rental Car from
NATIONAL (MAGGIORE) CAR RENTAL
Phone +390108392153
We booked this through an online car rental agency called http://www.economycarrentals.com/ and it cost us € 560 for 16 days.
Once we pick up the Rental Car we will work our way to Triora which is where we will base ourselves for 7 nights. It is only about 90 KM but we are going to give ourselves about 2 hours or so to get there.
In New Zealand we drive on the Left hand side of the road, Italy they drive on the right.
We are planning on driving into France some time during the 7 days we in Triora, maybe have some Oysters and visit Monaco.
April 18, 2009 - April 20, 2009 (VERNAZZA)We leave Troria on Saturday 18th of April 2009 after 7 nights and will travel back via Genova to Vernazza, we estimate it will take us about 4 hours.
In Vernazza we are going to stay in a little place called "Maria Capellini charming room" - see http://www.mariacapellini.com/charming%20room.htm for more details.
April 20, 2009 - April 21, 2009 ( UNKNOWN ) We do not have any thing booked for this night yet, we wanted to stay a third night in Vernazza but "Maria Capellini charming room" is full on that night.
April 21, 2009 - April 27, 2009 ( MODENA )
We are not actually staying in Modena but about 19KM from it in a B&B called "Cà Penelope Agriturismo B&B" - see http://www.capenelope.it/
The B&B is located on a working farm 3KM from Maranello, 4KM from Ferrari, and 19KM from Modena.
While here we will be visiting Parma, the home of Parmesan Cheese and Prosciutto.
You also can not forget that this is the home of Balsamic Vinegar, or to be precise the home of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena the only real Balsamic Vinegar which you can easily pay € 200 for 100ml.
I would really love to try some of the 25 year old Tradizionale or even older if I can.
April 30, 2009 (Bologna)We leave Cà Penelope and drop our rental car off in Bologna, and then travel via train to Venice about a 3 hour journey.
April 27, 2009 - April 30, 2009 ( VENICE )
We are staying in Venice for 3 nights at a hotel called "Residenza Ae Ostreghe" - see http://www.booking.com/hotel/it/residenza-ae-ostreghe.en.html
The hotel is (from what I can work out) about 150-200 meters from San Marco square.
Pam & I have been to Venice before, about 6 years ago in 2000 and it will be great to visit it again.
April 30, 2009 - May 1, 2009 ( UNKNOWN )
We do not have any thing booked for this night yet but we are thinking of staying in Verona.
May 1, 2009 - May 2, 2009 ( MILAN )
The last night in Milan, and also Italy has us staying at a hotel called "Milan Hotel San Carlo" - see http://www.sancarlohotelmilan.com/
May 2, 2009
We leave Italy on the 2nd of May 2009 - Pam is going to fly out to Greece to catch up with her daughter and grandchildren and I fly home to New Zealand.
I arrive back in New Zealand on May 4th, 2009, just in time to pick up the cats (Toot & Kahmen) and dogs (Otto & Ruby) and back to work on the 5th of May. Pam has a bit more time before returning to New Zealand and I will miss her.