Cant say too many good things about Nice, I just didnt like the place. Was there quickly to drop off stuff before going to the Grand Prix in Monaco so didnt really see much except for the few hundred metres between the hostel and train station. There just doesnt seem to be anything to the place... the "old town" is nothing special really, the "beach" is an absolute joke with no surf and no sand, just a very small shorebreak onto pebbles. Hell, England has better beaches!! I had the "local specialty" called "socca" which is similar to a thin crispy [View Full Entry]

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aka Contributing to the reputation of Aussies drinking overseas Was up at 4:30 to make the 5:00 train for Nice, kept falling asleep all the time until Ventimiglia, when had to get off for another train continuing in France. It was packed, everyone going to the Grand Prix... by the time everyone took 5 mins to pile out at Monte Carlo it had about twice as many people as it should have. I continued on to Nice, found the hostel and checked in, then back to the station and in the express lines to get a Monaco train. Got there about [View Full Entry]

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By the time Lauren and I got to the Cinque Terre it was past lunchtime and due to trains not running through to Levanto until later, we stopped in Monterosso for lunch. Not a bad spot, if a little touristy, aimed at "older" American and Germans. By the time we got to Levanto, found the hostel (trees growing over signs didnt help) and checked in, then headed back south to Riomaggiore it was 18:00. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise... the crowds had mostly gone home or to the hotel already, and the sun was in a better [View Full Entry]

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Left Florence at 8:30 this morning with Lauren the American girl I met on the San Gimignano trip. She crashed out after her big night the night before until we got to Pisa, where we put our stuff into storage and jumped on the bus to the Piazza de Miricoli (Field of Miracles)... may have gone via the airport first but we still got there lol. Queue the tacky souvenir stalls. Seemingly millions of them... and a few more Pakis and Indians walking around. One lady made the mistake of stopping to talk to one and before she knew it she [View Full Entry]

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Got out of Florence that last two days. Yesterday I caught the bus out to San Gimignano, it was great. Aimed squarely at day tripping pensioners, it was still a great little town to wander around and check out. The countryside is exactly what you imagine when someone says "tuscany". The view from the largest remaining tower was well worth the climb, looking out not just over the town but surrounding hills for some distance. Today I went to Siena, pretty much a bigger version of San Gimignano minus the towers and the concentration of tourists... Siena has some locals there [View Full Entry]

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Sorry Mum and Dad but I must say Florence is overrated. Full of American tourists on tour groups, walking around going "on my god, look at that"... the traffic is well behaved... you dont feel like you could get mugged at any point... attractions close by 5pm (6pm if you are lucky) and cost more (paying to go into a church and then you cannot take pics?)... the local girls arent as attractive... and apart from going to art museums you can see it all in a day. Just doesnt have that feeling that southern Italy does. The only good thing [View Full Entry]

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In a fair bit of pain here... like I did to my right one a couple of years ago, Ive torn my left Achilles heel, running across the road to get out of the way of a crazy scooter on my way into the ruins of Pompei. I kept going around all day and it gradually got worse and the next day was doing the "crunchy" feeling when I moved my foot... ripping more of the little tendons that surround the main one. I have emailed my travel agent to see if my travel insurance covers this... if it does Im [View Full Entry]

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A few days since an update, so here is what has been happening... Thursday I did some more general wandering around Rome, a few more churches that I hadnt been to and found myself checking out the Pantheon again. Just so damn impressive :) I went to the Vittoria building again for a look around but couldnt bring myself to pay the 7 euro to go up to the very top. Looked like a pensioner fest anyway. Wandered around the Capitoline Hill, amazing how so much stuff is jam packed in there. The museum in the Campildoglia was pretty good, lots [View Full Entry]

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One thing that keeps me laughing as I have been walking around is all the scooters. At the front of the queue at the lights there will be a bunch of scooters, revving the engine waiting to go, then when the lights change its like a swarm of bees buzzing down the road as they weave around each other. I'm comfortable now with the 'showing eye contact shows you are weak' when it comes to crossing the road... just look forward and walk... you will know how close it was by the rushing of wind behind you as they go past. [View Full Entry]

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Arrived at the airport and jumped on the train into Rome (11 Euros thanks). Seems NSW doesn't have the monopoly on trains stopping for no reason, the train stopped several times in the middle of nowhere. There was a USAF Galaxy at the airport, damn thats a huuuge plane. I hadn't slept for over 40 hours but I was feeling all excited. Got the hostel around 8am and checked in, had a look to see when some walking tours were running and try to get a plan of attack to see the many attractions in Rome. Started chatting with Maira, a [View Full Entry]

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