It's a New Year and a whole new adventure. Our last few days in Sydney weren't all that exciting. We spent one day on the beach and that's about it. New Years Eve we went down to the harbour and got to see the fireworks display from the Sydney Harbour Bridge - supposed to be the biggest new years fireworks display in the world! We had a great view of the bridge and a great New Years Eve - though almost too great. We almost didn't get up in the morning for our 8am flight to Singapore. Somehow we made it to the airport and on the plane.

We had a 12 hour layover in Singapore, so we did this free tour that the airport provides. We got a 2 hour tour of Singapore including a boat ride up and down the river. It wasn't a full picture of the place, but made me want to go back someday and really explore the city - but that's for another trip. We spent the rest of our time in Singapore in the airport, mostly sleeping.

We got into Rome, (Italy!) early in the morning, but didn't get our room until early afternoon. We just hung out in the restaurant at the hostel we were staying at and tried to decide where to go and what to do now that we are in Europe.

We got our room at about 2:30 and went straight to bed. We slept right through to 8:00 the next morning. We were ready to head into the city and explore. It was overwhelming! The buildings were so big and full of history. The churches are so detailed and impressive. I just couldn't get over the fact I was in Italy!

Our first day in Rome we saw a couple of churches, threw some good luck coins into the Trevi Fountain, and climbed the Spanish steps. The next day we went to the Colosseum! We had to pay 10 Euros each - that's like $40 Canadian just to get in and walk around - but it was so worth it. That night at the hostel they played 'Galdiator' the movie - how appropriate.

We also walked through the underground ruins, saw the Emmanuelle monument and the Pantheon. The Pantheon is a church, but not built in the cross shape like most other churches. It is built in a circle shape, with the top of the dome left open, so it actually rains inside the church.

The last place on our list of things we wanted to see in Rome was the Vatican. It's actually it's own little city, the Vatican City. It has it's own postal code and everything. Anyway, we went to St Peters Catherdral, and got to climb a ridiculous amount of steps to the top of the dome where we got to see the inside of the church from the highest vantage point. We climbed a little bit further, and got to the outside of the dome where we had a spectacular view of all of Rome. We could even see the Colosseum in the distance.

We finally made some plans for Europe. We need to work, and we figured where better than in the Alps of Switzerland where we can also do some skiing. So, after one night in Milan, we are now in Switzerland. We took the train from Rome to Milan, then Milan to Interlaken. Milan was incredible. We read that it was all about money and fashion, but we were not prepared for what we saw. There were boutique shops everywhere, and nothing was cheap. Ladies were strutting around in their fur jackets and leather boots. In the span of about 2 hours, we saw 2 Porches, 1 Ferrari and 1 Lambourgini (Trev's dream car)! We took photos of the Lambourgini, they should be posted soon.

Interlaken is a small little ski village. There are a number of hotels and such, so we hope there will be some work. We have been told that it is really hard to find work in Switzerland, especially without a work visa, so we may have to change our plans - but not without doing some skiing first.

Anyway, wish us luck and we'll keep you posted.