ITALY

The last thing we ever expected on this trip was to wind up living in a small Italian village working as gardeners. It's the kind of experience usually reserved for "people trying to find themselves" in the movies. But I guess after a year away from Adelaide, nothing should surprise us anymore. So here we are living the quiet life in San Giustino - a small village in the Tiber Valley on the Umbria/Tuscany border. It is about as opposite from our life in London as possible. We've traded in the stainless steel appliances, central heating, trendy shops, traffic jams, packed clubs and office jobs, for rolling hills, a wood fire, stack of books, piles of prosciutto, cheese and wine, and of course the sound of church bells ringing through the town every 15 minutes. There are two other people in San Giustino who speak English - both are our employers. The rest of the time communication here depends on us trying to combine the handful of Italian words we know with our charade skills, which we luckily mastered last year when travelling through Asia.
When we were on the plane from London, I guess you could say we were feeling a little anxious. Considering we had obtained our new jobs simply by responding to an online ad, and we never even spoke to our new employers, we didn't really know what to expect. The ad had called for a couple who could help with landscaping and labouring jobs. It said accommodation would be provided, but for all we knew, it could have been in a dirty caravan (not that all caravans are dirty of course, but this one could have been). So we were really going in blind. Such is the nature of travel. So after a stop-off in Pisa to quickly see the tower and join all the other tourists getting photos taken while pretending to hold the tower up, we jumped on a train and then a bus to our new home, right in the centre of Italy.

The main street (above) and laneways of San Giustino (below)

San Giustino is surrounded by hills and is probably the only town in the region without a tourist base. It is really just a residential village, which has allowed us to quickly settle in and become accepted as part of the local community. Our three biggest concerns (What will our employers be like? Will our accommodation be hideous? Will our jobs be hellish?) quickly subsided on arrival. We discovered our new employers, Jim and Caroline, were an English couple who had lived in Italy for 18 years and operated a business looking after holiday homes in the region. Their clients are mostly foreigners - Americans, Brits, Germans - who are extremely wealthy lawyers, investment bankers etc etc. They explained that Bol's job would be going to the properties each day with Jim to carry out a variety of heavy labouring and garden maintenance jobs. My job would be to accompany Caroline's dad, Bill, to do the softer gardening - mainly mowing lawns. So far so good! Next they invited us to meet them for beers in the evening. Even better! And finally they led us to our new residence. "Please don't be a dirty caravan, please don't be an abandoned building ......" Hallelujah! Our new home is an old one-bedroom split level cottage, very Italian in style, with a terrace on the upper level with views over our village and up to the mountains. By this point, Bol and I were both grinning, knowing we made the right decision and had come to the right place.

The side view of our house

Sitting right in the centre of our house

Above and below: The views from our terrace (the perfect spot for an after work wine)

Our neighbour pottering in her garden.

She's always up for an animated chat even though we do not understand a word.

We have almost been here a month now and time is flying. We've slipped into a relaxed, holiday feeling lifestyle where we sip wine on our balcony, take trips to various villages and cities each weekend, and have a Friday night routine of meeting our employers at the local for beer and tapas. We are trying to take advantage of living in such gorgeous surroundings by actually making the effort to get fit. That's right - after a year of eating, drinking and talking about going for walks, we are finally going for a walk every evening through the mountains behind our house. And it is surprisingly enjoyable. Maybe it's because we walk through this .....

..... with views like this

Despite always thinking that I would never enjoy gardening, I have surprised myself and am absolutely loving working in the outdoors. There's something about working in the Italian countryside, starting the day with an overgrown garden and ending it with a smooth lawn stretching out before you. All of the properties we work on are large estates spread across various parts of Umbria and Tuscany and so each day we get to see a new piece of the Italian countryside. The weather extremes during our time here have been quite amazing. Most of the time I have been gardening while the sun beats down on my back, but one day I actually ended up working in the snow. Bill kept calling me back inside out of the cold but I continued to work away. Being able to lawnmow while snowflakes were falling on my face and the Hilltop Hoods were blasting through my MP3 Player was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities that I didn't want to cut short.

Proof that we actually do work here

One of the properties we maintain

Me and my trusty mower

The view across San Giustino when the temperatures dropped below zero in the mountains


My view from the lawnmower

OUR FIRST VISITORS .....
Last week we had our first visitors come to see us in San Giustino. Our friends Anna and Ilke came from London to stay with us on Friday night and the four of us went to Florence, which is just 70km away, for the weekend. It was great to be able to show some friends our lifestyle here and to take them on our walk through the mountains. And Florence has to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The market squares, ornate buildings, galleries, museums, river, colours ... we absolutely loved it and plan to return in a few weeks. Here are some photos from our time with the girls. We'll fill you in more on Italy in a few weeks. We are planning a four day weekend in Rome next week, so will try to write more after that. Until then ...

Above: Now we just need the band to go with our CD cover!

Below: Around Florence ... aaah.

BERLIN TO KRAKOW

The view over Berlin

Finally I was out of the pub in the middle of nowhere - well actually in between Oxford and Whitney, but pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It was a real relief to leave and get back together with Em. She had done a wicked thing and booked us a trip away to Berlin and Krakow. Just what I needed, what a girl.
We flew into Berlin, worked out how to to get a train into town and then walked around til dark looking for a backpackers. We finally found a great place, dropped off our bags and went for a walk.

Em in our great backpackers.

Berlin was nothing like I had remembered from my last visit. It isn't the prettiest city in the world. Mostly I think that is due to 70% of the city being lost to the bombings of World War II.

Me in a Berlin courtyard.

Glimpse at the Jewish Gallery

However it is a very vibrant and creative city with a wealth of history. Em and I did alot of walking in and around the city. There is quite a lot to explore. There is also alot of graffiti, more than most cities. There is one piece of graffiti that is quite cool though. There is an old hippie guy who rides around on his bike with a bucket of paint and his brush. He only paints the number 6. His idea is that the number 6 represents the word sex (because of its German translation). Being an old hippie he is into free love and it is his subtle way of spreading the word. It also has a second function because he only paints it on broken or temporary surfaces that either need repairing or removing. If you go there and look around you will see the number 6 everywhere.

The work of the hippie 6 man.

We visited some of the local bars and restaurants that the city has to offer and were impressed. One of our favourites was this Italian place that is huge and packed but the atmosphere was great. The walls are covered with graffiti by famous people and bands that have visited the place. Really cool place to eat.
At the pizza place

We also went to the top of the TV Tower which is Europe's second highest tower. The views were amazing.

Yeah you guessed right, the TV Tower.

Berlin also offers free walking tours. We went along on one that was led by a Welsh ex-pat named Barnaby. Great guy and great tour. We walked for about 4 hours and took in so many sights and so much information. We got to see where Hitler's bunker once was which is now a carpark for the housing block behind it. The same site is also where he and his wife killed themselves and also where they were cremated. Many people do a little jig and alot of men will do a "wee" on or near the tree just to say they did it on Hitler's grave. Another historical site that we saw was one of the few remaining pieces of the Berlin Wall. Also we saw checkpoint charlie - one of the many former passport checkpoints between west and east Berlin.

(Photos below of Barnaby our tour guide and tour shots)

Em on the site of Hitlers bunker and death site


The original sign at Checkpoint Charlie

The next night saw us off from Berlin and onto the overnight train to Krakow.

Bye Berlin - hi Krakow


Krakow has got to be one of the prettiest cities in Europe - the old town especially. We stayed in a great little backpackers right in the heart of the town, just off the main square.

Main square and below the main market building.


The old town is amazing. It has over 600 bars and cafes just around the main square itself. There is a beautiful cathedral where on the hour every hour a bugle player will play. The story goes that some time in the 1200s a bugle player was playing at the top of the cathedral tower to warn of invading troops. During his tune he was shot in the throat by an archer's arrow and died. So now every hour one of 7 town firemen volounteer to play the tune from the tower. They play it four times one from each of the tower's windows, and to really commemorate the old bugle player they stop on the very last note that he was killed on. It's kind of kooky but I think it's really a unique thing to have as part of your town's heritage. While in Krakow we did a lot of walking and touring. We visited the famous salt mines about half an hour out of the city. We walk down 68m underground on a wooden stairwell. Then through dozens of tunnels, chambers and even cathedrals and chapels to finally get to 135m underground. Everything in the mines is made from salt - the floors, the walls, the roof, the statues - even the carving in most of the chapels. What an amazing place. To get back up we got to go in a three level miners' lift. It was great and only took about 45 seconds to get back up to the top.

The main cathedral where EVERY THING is made from salt.


The next day we went to Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz 2 Birkenau. Auschwitz 1, which was the first camp, was not like we see in the movies with the long wooden huts built in an open field. Instead it was big three story buildings on a smaller property built just near the town. It was a very sombre place. 75% of the people who were taken there never even made it to the gate - they were sent off to Birkenau to be sent to the gas chamber. Mainly the strong men and some women were allowed to stay because they could work, but the old, weak and most of the children were sent to the chambers. Crazy. We spent alot of time there being led by a tour guide which in a way made it less personal - though there were so many people visiting that I can see why it was in guided groups. We were led into some of the old barracks where there was a room that had 2 tonnes of women's hair, which mind you was only a small portion of what was originally cut and stored for further sale. We saw rooms piled to the roof of shoes, or suitcases, piles of wire rimmed glasses or kitchen utensils. Huge piles of hair and tooth brushes and peoples clothes. It was very surreal, and again these were just very small percentages of what was actually taken from these poor people. Many thousands of people were killed here and we were taken into one of the gas chambers and crematoriums. Such a crazy experience.
After Auschwitz 1 we went onto Auschwitz 2 Birkenau. This is where the main killings took place. The Germans had destroyed a lot of the camp including the chambers and crematoriums as a way of destroying the evidence after the war, but still a lot of the camp exists. It is the site of Birkenau that is usually used for the movies. The long wooden huts and the watch towers. It's hard to put into words what it is like to be in these places, but it is well worth the time to go there to at least get a small idea of what it would have been like for those who were killed or just spent time in the concentration camps.

Auschwitz 1 main gate, the captions reads, "Work will set you free".


Birkenau main gate and photos of the remaining camp.

The main platform where the living and the soon to die were chosen.

The next day we slept in and then went for a big walk to the Old Jewish Quarter. It was a beautiful place. There is an old market square where you can get fruit and veg and many old buildings, synagogues and laneways. After a bite of lunch we walked up to Wawel Castle to take in the views across Krakow.

Some local delicacies

Meat Head.

Beatuiful Architecture.

Wawel Castle

From the castle

Em in one of the castle's courtyards