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The helmet is great, Chris. She did some stuff on ancient Rome in school last year and really liked it. When we were out on one of our first days in Rome and saw one of those helmets, I think we both almost simultaneously looked at eachother and said, 'I want one of those.' Then I had to spend a...

Happy to give tips - it helps keep the trip alive. Amazing how quickly things like that fade.

With Italy and Barcelona done with, I felt I could give my language and mime skills a break and let Lisa take the reigns. Vienna is Lisa territory. Her dad is Austrian and she has been there more than me. And she did German at school. She even cooks the odd gugelhupf (an Austrian cake). I felt...

Adios Barcelona So it's 'adios, Barcelona.' I'll miss saying 'adios'. I never stretched it to 'adios, amigos,' because I'm pretty sure that's Mexican, and anyway it implies a level of familiarity I never quite got to with anybody in Barcelona - except perhaps the bloke who sold me 'sometimes...

With that pesky t-Rex to give it some scale:

One of the small bottles of olive oil from the hotel buffet in Bilbao...

We ticked off a big one the other day - the Guggenheim in Bilbao. We flew there from Barcelona for an overnight stay, sort of a holiday within a holiday. Lisa has always wanted to go there and will be able to use the photos she took of the place in her lectures (and the associated receipts in...

Goodness knows why those pics are upside down. Remember this scene from Jurassic Park?

I wonder if Mimi will notice one of the three wise men has had a change of mount.

I've found something else for our nativity scene.

Yes, I know. I've been reading about it. But the rest of the world sees Spain as one place. I was talking to a guy in the markets this morning about it. His English is very good, so he's my 'go to man' for smelly cheese and cured meats. He was a Catalan an said something that made me laugh. His...

My nativity scene contribution:

Hola! It's such a happy way to greet someone, 'hola'. And I love being able to say 'adios' for goodbye. I think I've got this European language thing sorted. In Italy, adding vowels to the end of every second or third word did the trick. Our first lesson in Spanish came from our cab driver on...

Last bits from Venice. Saw the funniest thing all trip in St Marks square a few days ago. But first, that church at one end of the square - St Mark's Basilica. It's fantastic. I had forgotten what the ceiling was like. The entire thing is done in tiny mosaics. And it's a big church, with wings...

I didn't know Elton had a house here. I might drop in on him in my taxi and tell him he really should have drawn a line under the 70s and stopped making new albums. And I'll ask him who on earth thought that duet with Kiki Dee was going to be a good idea.

Venice Ah, Venice. I remember clearly the first time I came here. I was 20, I think, and arrived from the north by train. It was only just light. I remember walking out of the station and seeing the Grand Canal right in front of me in the misty twilight. It was like a storybook coming to life...

Ta daaaaaa!

Here's the levitating Indian blokes in their 'cloak of secrecy'.

How do you like this couch I found? Made in the 1950s, the bloke reckoned. I reckon earlier. Beautiful, polished curved steel back. Around $10,000. I didn't buy it, but I'm fixating on it.

Leaving Rome. We're on the train now. It's a very nice train and we're travelling first class, so the next four hours are going to pass pretty pleasantly. It was a smooth exit from our flat. Mimi and I went out looking for a cab big enough to carry the four us and our four bags - bags that do...