First up, Deb and Ian head to Paris, where we’ll stay in an appartement in Bastille.  Armed with a map (what else) and Metro tickets, we’ll take a week to explore our surroundings, indulge ourselves at the patisseries and try and live a little like the locals.  Deb knows how to say “un croissant s’il vous plait”, so she figures she’ll survive (Ian can’t eat croissants, unless they’ve invented a gluten free variety).  We visited Paris for about 24 hours many years ago on one of those blink-and-you’ve-missed-it bus tours, so this will be a chance to revisit some favourites – the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Champs – and some must-do’s – the Musee D’Orsay, Versailles.  But really we just want to wander at will and discover things as we go.

Next it’s a 3 day tour of the Western Front battlefields, which should be a moving and memorable experience.

Then we fly to exciting Istanbul, in Turkey.  Originally we chose Istanbul because it has a 5 day orienteering carnival at a convenient time – most other European countries will have finished their season.  The more we learned about Istanbul, the more intrigued we’ve become.  We have a couple of days to explore Sultanahmet (the old town) with its mosques and markets, before joining an overnight tour to Gallipoli and Troy.  On return, we meet up with Pete and Ilze, who arrive in Istanbul via a stop in Dubai.

Then we launch into the orienteering – a long distance, 3 middle distance and a sprint distance race, plus opening and closing ceremonies, and a party.  So far we make up the entire Aussie contingent!  There are competitors from many other countries, although all the others are European, with Sweden and Russia the biggest countries (besides Turkey of course).  This will be our first experience of orienteering in the northern hemisphere – we’ve been all over Australia and across to New Zealand a few times, but no further afield to date.

We finish our time in Turkey with a trip down to Ephesus, to see the ancient Roman ruins, and to nearby Pamukkale, famous for its hot springs and limestone terraces.  Then it’s on to Venice.  Pete and Ilze will be there already, soaking up the sights and sounds.  We’ll arrive just in time for a warmup race, then it’s the big one – the Venice StreetO! With over 4000 competitors, it’s a huge event, and should be on any self-respecting orienteer’s “to-do” list.

Ilze and Pete will spend more time in Italy, exploring the legendary cities of Florence and Rome, while Deb and Ian head for home. Sigh …