Another great day on a great trip. Headed out this morning to the grand canal where we hopped on a gondola for a tour of the canals. Was quite and experience. So many other boats! Really cool to see everything from the water.

We then cruised the streets some more looking at all the local shops and street stalls and had our fair share of gelato.

Went for a wander after dinner through the streets to see some of Venice at night. We weren’t disappointed. Was pretty awesome. Even got to enjoy a lightening storm in the distance.

Off to Florence tomorrow morning and will hopefully visit Pisa tomorrow afternoon.

We have arrived in Venice! What a place. We are staying right in town which is really good. Just wandered the streets this afternoon, ended up walking around most of the city. Very different than Milan. So many ripoff designer brands!

We have 2 nights in Venice then heading to Florence.

Well its been a very busy couple of days. We caught a 9 hour train from Barcelona to Marseille on Monday which was a huge trip but wasn’t too bad. We arrived in at about 8pm then had a great dinner on the waterfront.

We got up the next day and headed to Aix en Provence to see Claire and her family. Was an amazing time because Claire took us to an old little town called Lourmarin. It was a 45min drive so is something we could never have done otherwise.

We then went back to Claire’s apartment and met her family. Got back to Marseille late and then left first thing this morning so didn’t see much of the city which is a bit of a shame but we are in Nice now which is a choice place and hot!

Have got 2 nights in Nice and heading to Monaco tomorrow for the afternoon. Then onto Milan on Friday.

Another cracker of a day in Barcelona. Not as hot as yesterday but still 25 degrees.

We checked out Goudi’s park this morning. It is a park designed by the same guy who started building the Sagrada Família. It was pretty cool to see as everything is all mosaic.

We then headed down to La Ramblas which is the main street of Barca. So many souvenir shops! We went to check out the huge market that everyone talks about but it was closed for an unknown reason which was annoying.

We worked our way down the street to the port which was busy and very hot!

On our way back to the hostel we ran into masses of football fans singing and with vuvuzelas and all the metro stations were packed.

Last night tonight before we go to Marseille tomorrow (9 hour train ride) and meet up with Claire and her family in Aix en Provence.

Hola! This is more like it!! We woke up this morning to a brilliant day. 30 degrees in the scorching sun.

Decided to head to Sagrada Família which is a large Roman Catholic church which started to be built in 1882 and construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with a completion date of 2026. So a very long time in the making and is so easy to see the differences in the eras.

The inside was pretty breathtaking but seemed really modern compared to some of the other churches we have been to. It didn’t quite have the same sacred atmosphere.

We were way too hot by now so heading back to our hostel (one block from the beach) to cool off.

Danielle is disgusted by some of the local cuisine because almost every shop has loads of stinky fish and legs of meat hanging EVERYWHERE! Hooves and all…

Our hostel is overrun by middle age Germans with huge beards and long hair all wearing heavy metal t shirts because Iron Maiden are playing tonight just down the road. So will have a pretty noisy night ahead.

So yesterday’s update didn’t put any of the pics up cause the internet cut out so have put them up now.

We decided to skip Perpingnon and head straight to Barca. We got had a look round Avignon this morning. The pattern continues. It rained yesterday but was an amazing day today.

We then jumped on the train at 11:30 and have just arrived in Barca at 7:30pm. A long ride but alot of it along the coast which was awesome. Danielle is speaking Italian grazie instead of gracious.

A pretty laid back couple of days. Ventured into old Lyon yesterday and got caught in yet another downpour that lasted the rest of the day. We managed to visit St Jean’s Cathedral though which wasn’t too bad.

Today was the complete opposite it was a stunning day. There seems to be a pattern here that on our last day in a city the weather is amazing! We hiked up a whole heap of stairs to Our Lady Fourvière Basilica. The stairs were definitely worth it when we got to the top….

The Basilica was stunning. The best interior of a church we have seen yet. So much detail!

The outside wasn’t too bad either…

On the way back to the hotel we walked through more of the old Lyon.

We then jumped on a train to Avignon which is a choice city surrounded by a wall. Staying here tonight then moving on to Perpignan tomorrow.