NoNames European Vacation (Paris, Italy, Zurich)

[NoName]

Rome – Day 3


First port of call today was the Colosseum which was only a few blocks from our apartment. As mentioned we had bought the Roma Pass and this allowed us to skip the line here. As with the Vatican, the regular line was HUGE! Skipping the line saved us at least an hour I would estimate.



In we went for a look around. Again, this was great to visit and imagine what went on here a couple of thousand years ago.





The Arch Of Constantine was right next to the Colosseum.






Next we jumped on the train towards the Piazza Navona:





From here we made our way through the streets to the Pantheon. Again despite not being religious at all, this was quite impressive inside. Well worth the stop.




Next on the walk was the Spanish Steps followed by the Trevi Fountain just down the road. As is the custom we had to throw a coin into the fountain, well NoName Jnr did anyway. We gave him coin to thrown and lets just say the first attempt didn’t go so well. He went to throw it and ended up releasing it far too late and it ended up flying back into the crowd and I think probably hitting someone. I raced over and grabbed it to give him another go. Success! Good luck coming the way of NoName Jnr!







Seeing all these famous sites was fantastic. They are so well known and actually being right there was a real treat. Somewhat related to this is that when I was a child I was given a book by children’s author Richard Scarry called Busy Busy World. I now read this to NoName Jnr quite regularly. One of the stories in that back is called Good Luck In Rome where a tourists car handbreak fails and it flies through the streets of Rome passing many famous landmarks. It brought a smile to my face when I played a youtube video of the story to him that night and his response throughout was “we went there today”.

With that the day was done. We took the train back to our apartment, grabbed a quick dinner at a nearby restaurant and called it a day. The next day was one I had been looking forward to for months. I’m not sure if the other two NoName’s were quite as keen but in any event, it was going to be another exciting day in Italy!

 

[NoName]

Rome – Day 4



Day 4 in Rome was the one I had been waiting for all trip. I am a big tennis fan and some may remember Mrs NoName & I attending a couple of days of the US Open during our United States Of Eating trip in 2016. We have also been to the Australian Open and Brisbane International a couple of times and I am returning to the US Open in a few weeks’ time. Well, the timing of this holiday had managed to coincide perfectly with the Italian Open which is the main leadup event to the French Open held two weeks later. All the top players play this event barring injury.

However, before the fun begun we had to change accommodation. We had chosen to do this as the 2nd place was able to hold our luggage all day the next day until our evening flight. As it turned out the 1st place would have done the same so it was an unnecessary inconvenience. We dragged our bags down the stairs and then about 800m up the road to Dem Guesthouse. This place was very basic but provided excellent service. It was kind of like a serviced apartment in that they had a front desk on the ground level, however the room was in a building shared by regular residential tenants. Being around 8am we were not able to enter our room however the front desk was more than happy to hold our bags and also to take them up to the room for us when it was ready. Great service as I said.



Once we were sorted it was time to go watch tennis! Over to Roma Termini and on to the train. Off the train a few stops later and quickly into a bus a block away. Then, before we knew it we were off the bus and making our way across the road with thousands of others to the Foro Italico. This venue is a tourist attraction in its own right having held several events during the 1960 Olympics as well as other major sporting events such as the 1987 World Athletics Championships and the 1994 World Swimming Championships. As well as the different sporting venues the complex is littered with roman statues throughout.


We walked up to the closest entrance and went to scan the tickets I had printed out prior to the trip. Red light – computer says no! Hmm, weird. I definitely paid for then months ago on the official website. Try again? No go! The guy on the gate took the tickets into the office and returned about 10 minutes later. He couldn’t do anything and asked us to go up to one of the other entrances and seek assistance at the office there. No luck at the office there as the person on the desk seemed unable to do anything. We then decided to try again at another ticketed gate. Once again, a red light. The man on the gate this time jumped onto his phone in an attempt to sort things out. While he was doing this I was scanning my emails to see if anything had come through. I had received two emails from the tournament a week prior – one with what appeared to be the same tickets we had already received and another in Italian which I had assumed was some kind of promotional material. I asked the man what it said and bingo – there was an error with the tickets and they would be reissued, as it turned out, in the other email. We opened up the email with the new tickets and tried to scan them. Success! After an unexpected delay of an hour we were in! Just in time for the start of the first matches of the day!

I won’t bore everyone with details of the matches but the day was spent wandering around the complex, taking in the scenery, some of the food stalls, and of course watching the tennis. We had centre court tickets and were lucky enough to see Novak Djokovic play in the afternoon. As I mentioned, we love our tennis so it was a great day out for everyone.





Centre Court:






The Djoker!:






Following the final match of the day session on centre court we made our way out and over to the nearby bus stop for the return journey to our hotel. Short bus ride and then an even shorter train ride and we were back at Roma Termini and wandering through the streets back to where we started. On the way we found a nice enough looking restaurant and ducked in for an earlyish dinner. Pasta for Mrs NoName (and NoName Jnr), chicken for me and we were done and back to the room.






As they had promised, the front desk had taken our bags up to the room which was a nice touch and much appreciated after a long day in the sun. We took out minimal items as we were leaving the next day, bathed and soon enough had all crashed in bed. We had another full day in Rome before the flight to Zurich the next evening and were keen to check out a couple of things we had missed.

 

[NoName]

Rome – Last Day


Up for our final day in Rome and had a couple of things we wanted to see before we flew to Zurich that night. We checked out and the place was nice enough to let us leave our luggage with them all day and also to book a car to the airport for us. As I mentioned, this accommodation was quite basic but they had an excellent customer service focus and I would definitely stay here again if looking for a similar budget priced room.

Out we went and into the train a couple of streets away. Jumped off a couple of stops later at the Colosseum. No, we weren’t visiting again, we were going to check out the Roman Forum & Palatine Hill which is right next door. This place was incredible and well worth the time we made to see it. For those who haven’t been it is sprawling complex of ruins which was once the centre of ancient Rome. Despite being rained on for quite a period, we loved it and it was really amazing to see all the history.



















This took us right up to lunch time as we spent a lot of time wandering around the extensive site. Eventually though it was time to go and we made our way out and back up the street towards the accommodation while looking for something to eat. After a while we just decided to go to the same restaurant we went to on night 1 as it was worth a return visit. Didn’t disappoint.

By now it was afternoon and given the poor weather and physical tiredness we decided to call it quits. As it wasn’t quite time for our ride to the airport we ended up grabbing a coffee at a café in the Termini train station and once done there went back to the accommodation to say our final goodbyes. Grabbed our bags, into the car soon after and that was it for our Italian adventure.





FCO-ZRH


We arrived at the airport about half an hour or so later and were checked in and through airside relaxing at the gate pretty quickly. No lounge access for us and we didn’t do much other than eat a couple of snacks. Boarding rolled around and on we went, somewhere down the back but this would be fine for the short flight to Zurich. The Swiss Air flight was pretty much uneventful – we took off, we were in the air for a while and we landed. No that was basically it. The only piece of excitement occurred when one of the FA’s dropped a soft drink on the ground which resulted in a PAX and her handbag getting reasonably well covered. Quick action from the FA’s who brought her some cloths to clean up and also gave her a bottle of red to apologise. Pretty good recovery here so have to give them kudos.

Anyway, we landed, collected our bags and jumped into a taxi to the Holiday Inn Express about 5km away. The hotel did offer complimentary airport shuttle but given the time and our desire to simply get to the room and sleep, we went for the taxi option. Bad move. As plenty on this forum probably know taxis in Zurich are exorbitantly expensive. I think I saw on the side a figure in the order of €4/km. Cost came to something like €28 which the driver was kind enough to round up to €30 without even asking. I would have probably told him to keep it anyway but this kind of presumptuousness irritates me so I told him to give me the change.

Into the hotel to check in. Cost was approx. A$400 for 2 nights which was pretty good. Hotel was spotless. Really clean and the staff were very helpful and efficient. A couple of minutes later we were up in our room ready for bed. The room itself was perfect. Pretty standard size but had everything we needed – a couple of beds, nice clean bathroom. Would definitely recommend this hotel for anyone looking for something near ZRH.

 

[NoName]

Zurich – Day 1


We awoke to more grey skys and rainy weather. Unfortunately it looked like this is what we were going to get. I guess after nearly 4 weeks of almost entirely perfect weather, we were due for a rainy day. Still, it wasn’t going to keep us inside.

After popping downstairs for a quick breakfast at the small buffet (unknown to us this was included in the price – win!) we headed out and down the road for the short walk to the train station. Train tickets were around $20 per person for the return trip to Zurich HB station. Outrageously expensive but after the taxi ride the previous night we had quickly come to expect this. On the plus side the train was immaculate! Fast, efficient and a very comfortable ride.

We found our way out of the station and into the streets of Zurich. We had no real plan at all so just walked around, across the river then back again having a look at what we could see.












My brother had suggested we have lunch at Zeughauskeller which was basically a beer hall type restaurant serving your typical German type food. We ducked in to fill our stomachs.








After lunch we continued to wander around the streets. Stopped at a couple of tourist shops to grab an item or two but we were pretty nomadic, just wandering aimlessly a lot of the time.






Eventually we had had enough of the wet, cold weather and jumped on the train again back to the hotel. Popped into Subway next door to enjoy a $20+ sandwich just to cement in our minds that you really do pay through the nose for everything here. Back to the room and it was time for bed. Well for Mrs NoName & NoName Jnr anyway. I had a bunch of Euros & Francs that I wanted to get rid of so I popped down to the bar for a few beers. It was good to relax by myself for a while. Eventually I got to the point where I only had enough coins for about half a beer but the bartender was nice enough to give me a full one anyway. Great service at the Holiday Inn!

 

[NoName]

ZRH-HKG


Our final morning in Europe was a non-event really. Despite the 1pm-ish departure, a combination of exhaustion and miserable weather outside meant that we were happy to simply relax in our room for as long as possible. We did interrupt this with another breakfast downstairs (which was again pretty decent) but basically we did nothing at all until about 10:30 when we jumped on the free shuttle bus to the airport.

We were at the terminal in about 5 minutes and quickly had the bags deposited and ready to head through security. Well not quite ready as it turned out. Apparently the pram is required to be checked and given a tag prior to being allowed through security so back we went to get the relevant documentation. A 10 minute delay so only a minor inconvenience.

Soon enough we were through and making ourselves at home in the Aspire lounge. This lounge was a bit of a disappointment to be honest. Food and drink was just ok, probably a similar standard to a QF domestic J lounge. There wasn’t a whole lot of room so not sure what they do when it gets crowded. One good feature though was the outdoor terrace looking over the tarmac. Had it not been pouring rain, I would have been happy to sit out there. The lounge did have a separate F section on the other side of the entrance (turn right for J, turn left for F). Not sure what it was like but it would not have had the outdoor terrace. As I said, a bit of a disappointment but I suppose CX can’t have their own lounge in every port.



CX384
16A, D & G

Boarding commenced on time and on we went, ready for the J experience home. As mentioned before, we were all very tired so to be able to settle in to row 16 was great. We again went for all 3 of us in the same row taking up the left hand window and two middle seats. Soon enough boarding was done and it was ready to go. Up in the air and away we go. Menus distributed soon after take off followed by the lunch service around 45 minutes later.









Smoked eel - this was unexpectedly good! My first time having eel and I would definitely have it again. Great!


MrsNoName's stir fried beef:


I had the chicken. Also decent.





I particularly enjoyed a few glasses of the French red which ended up getting a bit of an odd response from one of the FA’s. When I requested my 3rd glass she told me not to get drunk. Sure it was sent in a bit of a playful way rather than a school-teacher way but there was a hint of seriousness in it. Given that this was only glass #3 and that I was exhibiting absolutely no signs of being intoxicated I thought this was weird. Has anyone else experienced a comment like this?

Once service was finished we all relaxed for a couple of hours watching movies/tv/playing games until it came time for a bit of sleep. NoName Jnr was by now seasoned enough that he went to sleep pretty quickly despite the slightly early time and he managed to get several hours of sleep which was a relief for everyone. We both also managed to get a few hours.

A couple of hours out from HKG and it was time for breakfast. This was pretty standard fare but tasted quite good. The yogurt and fruit were a good way to start the day and my (and Mrs NoName’s) choice of stir fry noodles was also pretty good. Although as noted on the previous flights, I find these Asian dishes can never be reproduced as well in the air as you can get on the ground. All in all though I was happy enough.

Mrs NoName's congee:


Stir fried noodles for me:


With breakfast done we were on the decent into HKG and what would be our final day before getting back to reality the next morning. We landed pretty quickly and made the hike to immigration followed by another hike to the CX arrivals lounge. While it was great to be able to have a shower before heading in to the city, we found the place crowded and as a result it took a good 45 min before we were able to get a bathroom.

 

[NoName]

HKG – One Day Only!


We only had a day in HKG and given our state of exhaustion we did not intend to spend it running around packing in as much as possible. Refreshed from the shower we made our way to the train and half an hour later we were at Hong Kong Central. One thing on Mrs NoName’s list was to have Dim Sum and conveniently one of the places she had found was right in the station complex itself. We made our way up to Tim Ho Wan, grabbed a table and settled in for some food.









From there we were off to The Peak, well once we worked out how to get there anyway. Don’t laugh because yes, I’m sure this wasn’t exactly rocket science but somehow we couldn’t find out where to go. In the end we just jumped in a cab and we were at the tram stop at the base in no time.

Up we went and wow, this was a steep tram ride! Made me wonder what would happen in the unlikely event of something going wrong. I guess it wouldn’t be pretty. Up up up it went until finally we were at the top. We made our way up the final few flights of escalators to the absolute top and hopped out into the blazing sun for look. It was a fantastic view! Worth coming for.








We walked around up there for a while, grabbed a cold drink, endured a NoName Jnr meltdown and bumped into a former Masterchef Winner before heading back down to the bottom.


Cab back to the train station or walk? Well we chose to walk which wasn’t a bad idea as there were signs pointing the way and also gave us a chance to see a little of HK. Not much though. We ended up popping into a couple of the shopping centres along the way for Mrs NoName to have a look (as if she hadn’t done enough this trip) and for the rest of us to get some relief from the heat. Eventually she had had enough and we found somewhere to have a late lunch. Nothing fancy, just some Asian food.

Then it was back to the station on to the train for the trip back to the airport. We were quite early, around 4hrs before our 9.20 departure but by this stage in proceedings we just wanted to sit down and do nothing. After 4 weeks we were spent! We got through security in about 20 min (not sure if this is a typical timeframe) and noticed that the QF lounge was conveniently right next to where we came out. Perfect! This will do, especially considering it was also close to our gate.

QF Lounge:






We settled in to the lounge and I have to say, we liked it. Very spacious, a nice bar and decent enough food. Our opinion was that it seems a step up from what was build in SIN. We were more than happy to bunker down here for a couple of hours and just relax. Eat, drink and relax. Time seemed to fly though and as people gradually began to filter out, the lounge was close to empty and then, before we knew it, it was time for boarding.

 

[NoName]

CX147

HKG-BNE (via CNS)

Seat: About the 2nd or 3rd row of J (A, D & G)



And so the time had come for the final part of the journey, the flight back to BNE from HKG. Of course we were going via CNS. This point would probably bother most people but we didn’t really care. Infact, I think I recall Mrs NoName preferring this flight to the QF flight that left a little earlier. Not sure why. In any event, it was fine.


We climbed on board and settled into our seats ready to go. Took off without event and next thing you know the meal service began.












We were pretty much ready to crash so as soon as the meal service was over we got NoName Jnr down and then followed suit ourselves. Out like a light.


Next thing we knew breakfast was being served. No photos sorry as by this time we were done! Well and truly!

We landed in CNS shortly after and made a beeline for the Reef Lounge. It wasn’t much to write home about but being in CNS that was to be expected and really, for the approx. 1hr layover it was more than adequate. Had a cup of juice and a couple of pastries which were perfectly fine.


Pretty much as soon as we had sat down we were up again and making our way to the boarding gate. Straight on and into the same seats as previously. Up and away for the final 2hr flight home. This flight was really a non-event. We all just relaxed and to be honest I can’t even recall if we ate anything that was served. From memory it was something like a fruit plate and/or toast. Pretty basic but really, nothing additional was required.


Down we came to BNE, off the plane, through immigration, out the door, into a family member’s car and that was it! The NoNames European Vacation was over! Four weeks of excitement was at an end!

 

[ellen10]

Great trip report ....... thanks for sharing your experiences.
What a wonderful trip you all had!

 

[rock86]

Great trip report!

 

[VPS]

Excellent TR - well done with NoName Jr

 

[Jacques Vert]

Thanks; I've enjoyed tagging along.

 

[Kangarucci]

Thanks for the TR. Very much enjoyed it.

 

[RB]

Great that you took the time to share. I have never travelled with a Jnr in tow so I respect the comments of how tired you were at the finish

 

[OZDUCK]

Really good TR with some great photos.

 

[NoName]

Thanks for the kind words guys. It took a bit longer than what I wanted but eventually we got it all posted. The thing I love most about doing these trip reports is they act as a repository for travel memories. I can’t count the number of times I have reread my first trip report and I’m sure this will be the same. I will post some final summary words in the next couple of days as well. Cheers.