We all enjoyed the exhibition and during which, I learned what cubism is.

As well as that we were able to appreciate some great impressionist paintings as well as some works of Adolf vonMenzel.

We are on day two of trip to see EQ and enjoy a few sites.

Es ist kalt.

On a chilly morning she ran the line distance in the beautiful surroundings of Florence.

Mum and dad went from one part of the course to another in order to offer cheer and encouragement. Shaz almost lost her voice from all the encouragement of the runners, while both of us had sore hands from clapping!

The atmosphere was great and the city is a fine backdrop to an event.

There is so much to see and appreciate but in reality it is so difficult to absorb so much.

Medieval art with clearly religious themes-recurrent. So good and so easy to admire. The nature of the art does change through the centuries. Plus the Roman sculptures. A selection:

Friday evening was one of those classic(cheesy?) boat trips on the Seine. But good fun and added entertainment of disagreements amongst the staff!

But we were in Lyon for the groups stages, seeing Namibia v Uruguay and NZ v Italy.

The game between the two lesser teams was good entertainment- particularly for the first 60 minutes- until a spate of yellow/ red cards ruined the balance and momentum of the match.

The big game lacked surprise and competition. It was an All Black walkover. However, the atmosphere was good with lots of Kiwis and many Italians. Being close to Italy, Lyon has a strong Italian community related to previous migration. Also, the French locals sang their anthem powerfully.

Thanks to Raphael for picking us up after the the ABs game.

A rip to the busy city. It was packed as you would expect, but in places not as much as you might fear.

A place to walk and take the vaporetto and enjoy the scenes from the water. We did not take a gondola at 80 euros for 30 minutes!

There is the beauty of the place; including the churches and art within.

Last week we were there to enjoy the scenery and the walking. Which we did- but with plenty of other people. There were so many people in the villages and on the trains in between- ir was mad. It brought back memories of Amalfi.

The walking of the coast line was hard to very hard. Part of the usual track was closed for repairs after a landslip. A big job in progress.

The train trip after, our few days, back to Milan was not a great experience. Not a great advert for Italian railways.

As ever I am late.

The following entries will not be in chronological orfer but will give some impression of recent events and activities.

We were in Italy for a week and the final night we went to the opera at La Scala- again- 5 years on. It was the night before our long train ride from Milan to Zurich, then Paris and finally Brittany.

I wanted to see The Marriage of Figaro. Shaz tells me we saw it in Wellington- i can just remember- and apparently we were not impressed then.

Certainly not impressed this time. The production seemed bland in its setting, very traditional – not attempt to modernise and give something different. The performance was too long and not helped by the fact the surtitles did not work in our box for the first act. I think for a place like the La Scala it either wants/ or is under pressure to do it the usual way- do not rock the boat. My memories of innovation are much stronger for NZ Opera.

Oh well- just remember- no more Marriage of Figaro.