So We Are Back

So we returned from our trip one month ago now and just about back into the swing of things here in Sydney, the weather is awesome.

See below for photos and descriptions of our trip which took us from Sydney to Beirut and the mountains of Northern Lebanon. Then London, on to Manchester, then on to Wexford & Dublin for a family wedding. From here we went to Rome for a few days before finally returning to glorious Sydney.

Obviously seeing the family back home was the highlight of the trip but Lebanon was fantastic and Beirut especially blew my mind.

Bear this in mind; you think Beirut is a hole right? What could there possibly be in Beirut worth seeing or doing? This is exactly what people asked me when I told them I was going and this was my reply;

"Whatever you think of Beirut and Lebanon in general forget it all, you have no idea. Unless you go yourself you will never know what it is like. On this trip I travelled to London, Dublin, Manchester and Rome as well as Beirut and the place I enjoyed the most was Beirut. If you have money in your pocket in Beirut you can get whatever you want at anytime of the day and this is not true of any of those other places. People have no hang-ups and the restaurants, bars, nightclubs I went to are better than anything I have seen the world over.
The Roman ruins in Baalbeck make those in Rome look like Lego-Land and the scenary throughout Lebanon would be hard to beat anywhere on the planet. Trust me and go, but be careful you may loose your mind, I very nearly did"

Enjoy the pics and text and please submit posts whenever and wherever you wish.

Duncan & Rebecca Brett November 2005

Spanish Steps (The Last)

Above is B and myself on the Spanish Steps in Rome. This is the last photo on the last day at the last destination of our World Trip.

The Colosseum

Here I am at the Colosseum with my parents (Kath & Sean). Yes it's still raining and it rained the whole time we were in Rome but it didn't stop us seeing what we went there to see. I have to admit I expected the Colosseum to be larger than it was but it was still pretty impressive and Sean couldn't resist getting his picture taken with the dodgy Italian guys outside dressed as Romans. He was a bit surprised when they asked for money and I think he gave them five Euro.
This is B inside the Colosseim. Behind her is the Arch of Constantine.

The Vatican

This was taken from St. Peter's Square facing the Basilica before we went in and although the weather was awful the picture came out really well.

Above is my parents (Sean & Kath) inside St. Peter's Basilica. Have to say that place is mind blowing. The History, the art, the sheer size of the place and the wealth inside is hard to understand. We had a great Canadian fella guide us around here and the Vatican Museums and despite the crowds and the weather it was awesome, all of it.

Rome (Trevi Fountain)

Here we are at the Trevi fountain in Rome. We arrived in the evening so this is just after we have dumped our bags and headed out for a feed. Piaza di Trevi was packed as always but was pretty impressive. Everyone threw coins apart from me as I was too busy chasing away those idiots trying to sell me roses.

Here is B with my parents (Sean & Kath) at the Trevi fountain. My Mum has wanted to go to Rome for as lond as I can rememebr and when she heard B and myself were going she took the opportunity to see it herself and booked flights for her and Sean to come along too.

We flew Business Class with BA which was a great laugh. My Dad and I did our best to get thrown out as we'd never flown Business before so we got rather excited and started throwing things around.

We had the Vatican planned for the next day so this was a pretty early night and I was still trying shake off the affects of heavy drinking sessions in both Dublin and Manchester over the last five days.

Old Trafford

On our last night in Manchester before leaving for Rome I took B to Old Trafford (Theatre of Dreams) to watch United play Lille in a Champion League Group match. Here she is with Kev & Cheryl drinking cans on Sir Matt Busby Way before the game.

Here we are just beofre kick-off. We had great seats and the atmosphere was fantastic. It was a pity about the game. I'd spent the last six years telling my wife how good this football team were and that one day I would take her to see a game at Old Trafford and that she would love it. Have to say United played the worst I'd seen them play in many years. The game was 0-0 and pretty boring. Wasn't that big a deal for me as 0-0 is better than loosing 0-1 but to an Aussie thats' the worst result possible as they are used to watching NRL and AFL and seeing lots of points on the scoreboard. Anyway the atmosphere was awesome and the stadium itself, well the best in Europe what more can I say.


Here we are after the game at the entrance to the stadium. Despite the result I still manged to get a smile out of B and I was just happy to be there after so long.