In the town of Oswencim (Auschwitz as named by the Nazi regime), is the 'one way' train line into Auschwitz camp 2. A haunting display of inhumanity 

Krakow, the former capital of Poland, practically untouched by WW2. A truly beautiful city

A unique cathedral in Krakow built in the 11th century, the entire alter piece is carved of wood

The city of Krakow

Zakopane, a city in the south of Poland. Beautiful snow capped mountains and amazing scenary

Tossa de Mar, Spain.

George and Darcie on a small boat ride we took along the Costa Brava coast to a small beach where we spent the day swimming and relaxing,

Having a bit of a break whilst on one of our many walks.

We stopped and said hello or should I say 'Ola' to this old dear whilst strolling through the streets of  Tossa d Mar, only later to see her picture on a postcard a few days later surrounded by fresh fruit and vegetables.  Didn't buy the postcard. Don't know why. Only 30 Cents.            Oh well!!!

All the street signs in Tossa are made of tiles. 

An amazing fortress/castle up high on a hill at one end of the beach at Tossa which also includes many canons trained at the shoreline.  Don't know anything about the area historically as we were here to relax. We will have to google it when we get home.

 

Illa Fantasia. Water Park in Barcelona

The wave pool.  When we were there they had Dire Straits, Money for Nothing belting out from the sound shell as a band was setting up. Bonus.

A few of the slides at the Park. We were there on a Friday and it was unusually quiet so we had the run of the place.  Fantastico.

In the wave pool. 'Waving' of course!!!

A great way to spend the day in Barcelona.  The kids had a absolute ball.  We were just there to supervise of course!!!

Barcelona Spain

George with one of the La Rambla's street performers. 

La Rambla's is the busiest and most interesting street in Barcelona.  People mainly tourists stroll through constantly night and day. There is an abundance of street performers, buskers, markets, stall holders selling everything from flowers and plants to birds, lizards and pets of all kinds.  We were staying in an apartment only half a block in from La Ramblas so we wandered along there a fair bit and always found something quite amazing each time. Had an great atmosphere about it.

One of Gaudi's most famous buildings is in Barcelona.  It is called Segrada Familia.  Gaudi was killed after being struck by a tram when walking backwards admiring one of his works??? Is that correct Bob???

The bullfighting arena in Barcelona.  Many a nice porterhouse, T bone or rump has passed through this building.  Go the bull!!!!!

Having a small break on one of the many statues and monuments dotted throughout Barcelona.

We spent the day with Pauline's extended family and met her Babcia (Nanna) who is 87 years young and has a magnificent well kept vegetable garden. They gave us a traditional polish feed which was delicious and we were made to feel very welcome. It was a wonderful day!!!

                           The old town of Warsaw was truly breathtaking and we were very interested in the history from the perspective of Michael and Sabina who gave us a wonderful insight.                  

Reunited with Pauline's mum Sabina and dad Michael in Warsaw.

What we were able to see looks absolutely amazing.

This is as close as we got to the actual town of Fossa, there are

still big wire barrier's preventing entry and lots of obvious devastation following the earthquake.

Hi Elena,  Here are some photo's for you!!

Hi to all from Sunny Spain!!!!

Sorry we haven´t updated our blog recently as Stuart and Pauline (who have the laptop with them) are travelling through Poland with Paulines´ parents who have travelled over from Australia and her relatives who are all from Warsaw. We however have just spent 4 days in Barcelona Spain and are currently in Tossa De Mar - Costa Brava which is about one and a half hours out of Barcelona. The weather here has been amazing and we have been spending most of our time here on the beach swimming and soaking up the sunshine. Anyway we are due to meet up with Stuart and Pauline back in London tomorrow-18th June. Hopefully we´ll be able to update our blog soon afterwards, when we get a chance. I am using a computer in the foyer of the hotel we´re staying in just to post this notice. Anyway bye for now and will be updating everything soon hopefully. John.

Some photo's of our day in Venice.

We caught a train from Bologna to Venice where we spent the day walking through a maze of small streets and across bridges and canals.

Some awesome masks that adourned many a shop in this city. Obviously the Venetians have a very theatrical past!!

Gondolas meandar up and down every canal ferrying tourists around the waterways

Anyone for Prosciutto !! ...... or maybe some Parmesan !!

A few more pictures of our favourite spot... enjoy!

Riamagorre. One of the five villages that make up Cinque Terre. We spent the day walking and catching the train between them. Beautiful colorful and unique part of the coastline of Italy. A real highlight of our trip!!

We tried very hard to straighten the leaning tower of Pisa but had no luck. We are pretty sure many others have also tried to do this in the past.

                                 George couldn,t believe the size of this mortadello. Thought he would be able to make                   sandwiches for the entire Portarlington Primary School. Yummy.

           

We visited Vatican City the richest city in the world. We saw many amazing things on our tour and met some interesting characters from the past and learned about the Roman empire. 

Having some refreshments before starting off on our tour of the Vatican.  

We saw the Sistene Chapel ceiling but we were not allowed to take any photo's.

St Peter's basilica is part of Vatican city. It is the largest church in the world and there will never be another one built bigger. 

George and Darcie met up with a Sphynx.

Having fun at the vatican with the tour guide playing with one of the gifts given to the pope. 

"The Colesseum" What an amazing relic of days gone by.  Damaged by an earthquake in the 1300's not to mention  theft of all its marble, gold and brass during the Dark Ages in history amazingly it is still standing. Its real name is Flavian's Ampitheatre.

The Trevi Fountain in Rome. What a great place to have a rest and cool down.

George has got a great book of Ancient Rome for 'Show and Tell' when he gets back to school.