Day 13 - Want to bet?
Our short stop in the French Riviera ticked all the boxes - snooty, skinny women with small dogs (check), swimming on a pebbled beach (check - with some difficulty), gambling in a Monte Carlo Casino (check - well I went inside but the stakes were too high for my student budget!), driving along a section of the Monaco grand prix track (check).
Day 14 - Romance and Romeo
Cruised the Amalfi coast to Venice today, via Verona, the home of Romoe's Juliet. A visit to her balcony involved rubbing the right boob of a bronze statue of the lady herself in the courtyard (it's a very shiny boob - lots of pervy tourists) and writing on the love wall (a wall people are allowed to grafitti with "julie hearts johnny 4 eva" and other such gems, which is painted over every now and again). I did write something, but that's between me and the millions of other tourists who will pass it till the paintbrush comes out next...
Day 15 - Finding myself in Venice
It's true, it's easy to get lost in Venice - and it's true that it's fun. So much so I purposely ditched the group I was walking with and just started wandering down alleways. I passed a "wall to wall biscuits" bakery, backdoors to restaurant kitchens, gondola dudes on cigarette breaks and plenty of roads to now where which abruptly stop at te edge of a canal. In the afternoon we went on a gondola ride. Our guy was called Pedro - naturally. He didn't sing Pizza Pie for us but he did admit to regularly bumping into things and dropping the occasional tourist overboard ... hrm.
Day 16 - Leaning towards Florence
ANOTHER driving day (a short 7 hours this time!) from Venice to Florence, via the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Apparently it leans over a scary 4m! Of course there were the obligatory chesey photos holding it up, leaning against it ... one creative Asian tourist Dad even did a handstand "against" it.
Observations: There are Westies (like Nellie and Noodles) everywhere on the French Riviera! The sun in Europe is actually as hot as home but you don't seem to burn as much (have managed to avoid embarassing tourist sunburn so far...)
Mini victories: grabbing lunch from the market instead of a cafe in Nice - cheaper, fresher and even involved macaroons! Also picked up a delicious hot dog French style (think crusty baguette and awesome cheese) on the drive to the Riviera.
Mistakes: not getting on top of my cold sooner ... have now been stuck with it for a week!!!
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