Florence

What an amazing difference there is between Florence and Venice. Florence in in the Tuscany region of Italy and is considered the "birthplace" of the Renaissance. It was refreshing to be in a city with wide streets (compared to Vencice)! Our first visit was to the Duomo, a huge domed cathedral (aka Santa Maria Fiore). Pictures do not do the cathedral justice as it is made from both white and green marble with intricate details all over its exterior.

The River Arno runs through Florence with multiple bridge crossings. The most famous of which is the Ponte Vecchio with a multitude of jewlery shops built along its edges. Supposidly there used to be other more "undesirable" shops along the bridge but a long time ago those merchents were kicked off and replaced by jewlers. Fun fact: the Ponte Vecchio is also the only bridge along the Arno that survived the Second World War.

We were staying at probably the weirdest hostel I have been to yet. It was chosen due to its inexpensive nature and the fact that they offered a "free sangria" night on the weekends. This should have tipped us off before we booked as good hostels shouldnt have to offer free booze to get business. There really was nothing wrong with it but the people staying there were a very odd crowd. Quirky is almost the right word...

Our second day in Florence was very productive: laundry, David, stamps, dinner. That is a lot for us backpackers to do in one day! Laundry is usually an all day activity (though it only takes an hour or so) with the rest of the day spent lounging in the sun or something like that. Anyways, clean clothes then off to find David! The museum he is in was built specifically to display him and it is quite obvious. The rest of the museum is a bunch of small rooms with the walls crammed full of religious paintings and busts from the 17-1800s, all of which are of no interest to me. The busts are all of semi-rich people who loved themselves too much.

Turning the corner from one such room, you enter a long corridor with four of Michelangelo's unfinished carvings ('Prisoners'). At the end stands David in all his glory atop his pedestal. It was the first statue of David in which he is not holding a weapon or any indication of the giant. To put it quite bluntly, David is the most amazing statue I have ever seen (so far). He is incredably anatomically correct except for some minor details like him being much to thin back to front in relation to his height, huge hands, creepily large head, and his weird heart shaped pupils. The David had already been started by another sculptor before Michelangelo got to him. The piece of marble had been started then stopped and sat outside for 25 years before Micky started on it. He is a must see for anyone that travels through Italy, as far as I am concerned.

Lunch was interesting: pizza by weight. You tell the person which pizza you want then how much you want in grams.  

Stamps: pretty straight forward... we bought stamps.

Dinner: fresh pasta (the real stuff) with pesto sauce. I died, it was so amazing. So amazing in fact, we made another batch the next night, the pasta waas a different shape though. Best meal of the trip so far without a doubt. Simple yet amazing.

Day 3 in Florence was Pisa! To sum up our day in Pisa... long walk to a leaning bell tower then gelato. Not much else there. The best part was laughing at all the tourists "holding up" or "pushing over" the bell tower!  See the picture below: classic!

Photos: These are of Venice

 Tourists at Pisa:

 These are of Florence (including the one above):

 I call this one "fake David" because, well, its not the real one. It is a copy and is standing where the real David stood for over 200 years before moving inside.

 Pisa again:

 Back in Florence, this time at night:

Venice

They say even the locals get lost in Venice. This was not a good thought for us as we rode the train past Milan on our way to a city of multiple mini islands with a total population of 60 thousand. Venice is of course the city of cannals and the story (according to wikipedia) goes that in the summer when Venice is crowded with tourists, many of the little alley ways and side streets become flooded because of all the extra weight on the "islands". Wikipedia also said not to talk to the locals about Venice eventually sinking, bit of a soft spot for them.

Speaking of getting lost, the first time we got lost we weren't really lost. More like got off the train one stop too early. We exited the train to a beautiful view of a old Italian city but it was clearly not Venice. No gondolas, glassware, theatre masks, or WATER for that matter. Our Aussie friend made that last point quite clear to the rest of us. Back on the train. This time we knew we were in Venice because all of the above clichés where right out the front entrance of the train station.

The second time we got lost was about 10mins after leaving the train station. Well, thats not entirely true as at the time (and for about another 45mins) we thought we knew where we were going. The directions to the hostel seemed simple enough: "take the water bus to _____ stop". Pffft the water bus would have cost us €6.50 each so we choose to walk to the specified bus stop instead. Lovely walk, beautiful stores, and tastey looking food... Well we walked and walked amnd walked then asked 5 different shop owners for directions, each one telling us to head in a different direction. They also all said they weren't entirely sure where the address for the hostel was.

We were getting hangry so stopped for pizza ("when in Italy...."). The plan was to borrow the restaurant's phone to call the hostel but the waiter wasn't allowed to lend the phone, but he came back with his cell phone! What a guy! We tipped well.

Turns out the hostel was around the corner from where we ate dinner! Of course. Gelato time! Amazing!

The next day we left the map at the hostel and decided to wander the "streets" without one. Turns out it wasnt very difficult to find our way around in the day time, as long as you knew where the Grande Canal was most of the time, you were fine. The streets are only as wide as 2 people walking side by side, 3 people down some streets. I can't imagine what its like in the crowded summer months!

We came across an interesting flea market selling neat old stuff. It literally was just "stuff" but unlike our garage sales, all of it was neat stuff: old glass perfume bottles with the little 'poof' handle, old skeleton keys, black and white family photos from the 1920s, gaudy jewlery... sorry if I cant spell (not like I can normally), seems my brain is stuck in 'French mode' from a week of learning. It actually took me a few tries to spell perfume correctly in english.

Anyways, back to Venice... We ate more pizza and pasta that day as well as sampled some cannoli (singular- cannolo) although we were not entirely satisfied with the ones we had. It may have had something to do with the fact that we were attacked by pigeons while trying to enjoy the cannoli. Oh, fun fact about cannoli, they originated in Sicily and are more popular in the USA than they are in Italy... ie TLC's Cake Boss, which is where I first heard of them.

The following day, two of us headed for the train station while the others stayed behind in Venice for another day. Florence time! I wasn't extremely excited for Florence, more excited to be done with Venice. It was boring, great for people over 50 or couples looking for a 'romantique' holiday (French coming out again...). Dont get me wrong, I am glad I went but probably wont go back (well maybe for my 55th birthday if the city hasnt sunk yet!).

Oh the pictures of Venice are amazing! I cant wait to post them!

Is it sad that I screamed (inside my head) when I saw a Starbucks while on my way home from class yesterday? Maybe. Today is Friday to I treated myself to the most expensive coffee I have ever bought. Picture the menus at your local Canadian Starbucks now replace the dollar sign with the euro sign. Yup, I paid the equivalent of $6.25 Canadian dollars for a Tall Mocha Blanc (so €4.50). Yicks. Unlikely that will happen again.

Kylie

Monaco

Monte Carlo in Monaco is quite the city! Picture old ladies wrapped in fur coats (+25 degrees that day too) walking mini dogs while slathered in layers of makeup (the old ladies, not the dogs) as very expensive cars drive by the clear blue sea on their way to the casino to gamble away money they have clearly no other use for. The harbour was packed full of yachts inside bigger yachts tied beside even bigger yachts. Did that make sense? It was quite the day. As we sat having lunch at the harbour we played "which yacht will I buy when I grow up?". There were maybe 6 sail boats total in the harbour and of course they were massive like all the other boats.

We got our passports stamped at the tourist office which was pretty neat as Monaco is the second smallest country in the world (rivaled by Vatican City), then went into the casino. There are hardly words to describe how ornate the interior is. No pictures allowed of course. One surprising observation was the contrast between the interior of the mens and womens washrooms. The womens was 2 stalls, painted wooden doors, one sink, and an air hand drier. The mens on the other hand had 10+ stalls with marble doors and walls, 6 marble sinks, and a man in a suit handing out towels. Dont ask me how I know this. The guys I went to the casino with took home a couple chips for souvenirs. They were the fanciest casino chips I have ever seen.

Pictures: The first is a line up of yachts in the harbour. You can see the size of them compared to the little cars parked behind them. I think the people are too small to see.

Second picture: Monte Carlo Casino

Third: My new cars.

4th: The famous hairpin turn in the Monaco Grande Prix.

5th: More yachts!!

Sorry if the formatting is a little different than usual. I am on a French keyboard and its very different than I am used to. Anyways, lots more posts to come as I am on a 2 week stop over in Lyon to learn some French!! I spent 2 amazing weeks in Italy just recently and will be able to catch up on posting due to my classes ending at about 2. Basically I have signed myself up for the most intense French course imaginable. About 30 hours per week for 2 weeks plus after school studying for 2 hours on average so far. Yicks!

But Italy was amazing... I can see myself going back in the next 4 months as there is so much more I want to see. So many desserts in Italy! I need to pull out those running shoes these next few weeks. My favorite dessert was an amazing key lime pie. Not cake, I know, but I also had bowls and bowls of gelato... but more on that later :) You may be happy to know I am no longer in +25 degree weather anymore. Lyon is sunny and +8 today...bit of a shock for me!

love and miss you all,

K

ps. if anyone can fed-x me a Tims coffee (large, 2milk 1sugar) I would be forever in debt to you. As much as I love espresso, I am sick of it!! Its impossible to find "american" coffee and if you do, it tastes like dog barf.

France!!

Ok so a lot has happened since my last post. I will say sorry in advance for spelling errors as I am typing on a French keyboard but someone changed the format so its in english format... so the letters on the keys dont match what somes out when I type. Very strange.

Went to Paris to meet Tanya and Cam and spent 3 days touring the city seeing all the typical Paris sites. Beautiful city!! I was glad to have gone back (last time was in 2004... or was is 05?). We then said good-bye to Cam and headed south to Lyon to meet up with some extended family. Dad's cousin's husband's brother and his family. So connected through the NZ side of the family. To sum up Lyon: best food I have ever eaten. All home cooked meals, all French cuisine, all into my belly. One night they served 7 different types of desserts! Yes, I tried them all. We went on a wine tour and had some "samples"... more like full glasses of which we of course spared no drop. That same afternoon we toured small French villages in the area. All the little houses and buildings are made with stones from the local mountains so they are all bright yellow with orange roofs! So beautiful! 

The French Alps were next! Our Lyon family suggested we stay in Annecy which has a huge lake, lots of good shopping, and lovely walking paths around the lake. Tanya and I checked off each one of those on our list of things to do in Annecy :) We took long walks around the lake, had picnic lunches, and shopped in the afternoon... big spenders (NOT). It was a romantic little vacation. 

I said good-bye to Tanya as it was her turn to head back home. I had planned to head to Italy but the wee little town I was going to had floods and landslides the morning I was going to head out so plans changed and I am now in Nice! What an amazing French city! I can see why celebs like this part of France although this is a good time for me to be here as all the prices have dropped (off season now) but its still sunny and hot hot hot! I have been running almost every morning while I have been here followed by a swim in the sea then sitting on the beach all day long! So far this is the best part of my trip mostly because of the beach and hot weather. My tropical kiwi blood is happy again! 

Plan for tomorrow is Monaco! Its a short bus ride away. Dont worry Mom, I wont gamble ALL my money away in Monte Carlo :) The pictures are me in Nice, Annecy France, and Nice without me in the picture.

K