feeling the burn

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Sorry to leave you hanging for a week but i just havent had the time. Our place of rest and at the moment is a cool little hostel in Nice. Free Internet, breakfast included (really good) and a shuttle to the tram every 15 minutes.
The reason i titled this piece 'feeling the burn' is because unlike my fellow travellers yesterday i got a little bit burnt and when i say a little bit.. justa little lobster on my arms forehead and chest. THe others didnt get a spot of pink but i guess i have pale skin so i must suffer!! Also feeling the burn in my legs.
Apart from the sun in Nice it is a very beautiful place. Yesterday we ventured in and sat on the pebblestione beach for a little bit. The water is absoloutley blue as blue. We then took a stroll along the Promenade. In other words strolled along the French Riviera. We preety much didnt stop walking from then. Walked to Old Town nice. I had this massive baguette thing. We walked a little more. Sat down for a bit. Then we went into the modern art gallery and looked around. The Artist on display was Robert Longo and his sketches were amazing!
Umm what else what else. at the point of my exhaustion we decided to walk to the top of this massive hill. thanks guys. but my leg muscles will be massive when i return to the homeland.
So saw the views. Walked on back down. then had dinner at this 'expensive' restaurant. i had a huge bowl of carbonara and it was 13.5 euro. most ive spent on a meal.. oh no i lie. Today we headed on over to Monaco. Did you know its a country? The second smallest in the world behind vatican city! Our tour dude told us that when you apply for residency in Monaco alongside the papers is a required $1 000 000. and if you are not accepted you forfeit your million. say what?! but you dont pay taxes. the casinos do. hence if youre a resident you are not allowed to gamble in the Monaco casinos. just a small fact for you. Michael Jackson and Elton John got knocked back twice. whats a few mill right! It was raining though so we juist took some photos in front of Monte Carlo Casino saw the ferarri shop. And got right back on the train to return back to rainy nice. not so NICE anymore 😊

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Back track

Now that you know about France i will fill you in on our past week in Italy. So after Rome our next destination was Siena. A quaint little medieval town about an hour out of Florence. There isnt much tourist stuff to do here so we just walked around a lot. Had some Gelati. We had Macccas this night for dinner and it was CRAP shittest maccas ive had! anyway we just forget about that one.. Another day in Siena but i cant remember what we did. probably more walking and looking at stuff. Our second night in Siena we thought there was this concert thing on so we went back into town around 9 but it turned out to be this guy preaching with a few songs in between. so we left after 20 minutes. Siena was just a relaxing little stop over.

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Florence
Now Florence is a beautiful city. We were stayimg right in the thick of it. So we didnt have to catch buses or anything. We arrived sunday night and had planned to see David on Monday. So we rose got ready had our included breakfast and headed out. Today was a bit over cast. But we walked none the less. It was closing in on 11am and not much was open. When we got to Gallery Academia it said closed. we realised monday was like our sundays. most things are tuesday through sunday so we didnt have much to do. apart from go to the markets. 😊 All three of the girls bought their italian leather jackets today. Oh and it poured while we were walking back from the gallery that was closed so we ducked into a book shop. I bough the cathcer in the rye. which i have since read... and could someone explain to me why it is such a 'classic'? i did not really enjoy it.. it wasnt really anything.! Anyway the others bought moby dick little women and wuthering heights so i am going to be well read when i get home. We also went into the Duomo in the afternoon. Because churches are always open! Oh about the expensive dinner thing.. it was our first night in Florence and we went out with the group.. it was 16 euros a piece for the four course dinner + drink. First course: Brushchetta. Second course: two pastas. a tomato sauce and a pesto sauce. very yummy. Third course. Beef and Chips Fourth course chocolate icecream.
Our second and last day in Florence was spent catching up on the galleries that were closed on monday. First The art gallery. We lined up for.. no joke,.. over 2 hours. And inside was just a lot of religious paintings. I saw the birth of venus though which was cool. So after this gallery we sat down and had pizza for lunch 😊 Then over to Gallery Academia. Which is where i met my boyfriend 😊 I was looking at one of those market stalls on the road and the guy said "oh buy a leather wallet for your boyfriend" when i said i didnt have a boyfriend he told me he was looking for a girlfriend. I told him it wasnt possible as we had just met. I think this was reasonable. We saw David (i took my illegal photo) and in the gallery was a cool photography exhibition. After this we walked around a few more markets and i bought my leather bag. I have never spent as much on an accessery before. I have to admit (embarrassingly) that i am finding myself looking at shoes and bags and actually wanting to invest or at least look into them. why?! but my money saving side still has a stronger hold over my mind! 😊 HAH! take that wanting side of brain!
Another thing.. when i walked out of the gallery where David is.. wed been in there over an hour. We were walking down the street and i hear "oh hello my girlfriend" hehe he had remembered me!
Our third night in Florence we had dinner at our hostel. It was free. The owner was rather nice. It was a delicious beed and vegie stew mmmm. So thats Florence and Siena. Where does that leave us. The bus day to Nice..
We had our bonus stop at Pisa. Pity it was Pouring down with rain. but we got our photos! screw the weather when you have the leaning tower of pisa! Todays bus day was from 8 am to 5:30pm. Had another few service stops. It is compulsory by law in Europe if you are a bus driver to stop every 2 and a half hours. Annoying in the way that you have to stop every whenever but good that you can stop and get off!

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Added Note
In our Florence hostel i was chatting with a belgium mother and daughter and i asked them for the usual weather up in Copenhagen around November time and they said it can get below zero! AHH i did not pack very wisely! its because mum didnt help me! 😊 hehe joking! but seriously i am going to have to go and buy a big wintery jacket and another pair of jeans or pants or something. Maybe some boots as well.
We are off to Milan tomorrow. And considering we have had a few very lousy days with weather we are all hoping it clears up and hasnt set in for the coming months. fingers crossed.. That is all i believe. If i think of anything else ill let you know.
Have i told you how cool this hostel is?

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Photos

Old Bridge
Florence

its blurry
cos there are uniformed people saying NO PHOTO to anyone with a camera. Thats all my bus detective work :)

little car
for the little streets of Flornece

rubbing the boars nose
for good luck. The computers being STupid.. so more photos next time or get on my facebook and have a geeza!

Comments

[Fiona Smale]

stop ze car!
Is that a 'did u say.... stop ze car' car? Nifty. Sending hugs and kisses. Mum xoxox

[Cobbe]

WOW, sounds like you are having an amazing time. We are also having an amazing time in America, plane flight wasn't heaps of fun, but we got here in the end, as we walked out of the airport there was no mistaking we were in America. The weather is beutiful arond 30-32 degrees each day, hopefully getting a bit of a tan :)(Nathan deffinitly is) First night was at Redondo beach. We took a stroll down the beach, I was boiling hot as I couldnt get changed from my trackies becasue my luggage hadnt arrived, so picked that up when we got Nathan the next day. Spent one more night at Redondo beach with Nathan and went driving around Santa Monice and Venice beach both beutiful places. Walked down Santa Monica pier which is shown in many movies. Walked the Venice beach broadwalk and picked up some bargains. (continued by Nathan) Visited Malibu but fell asleep along the way, jetlag I'm led to believe, grabbed a milkshake, tried to see Leonardo Di Caprio's house but weren't allowed up the road. Visited Hollywood on Friday, strolled back and forth looking for toilets down Hollywood Blvd, lots of adult shops??? and went on a open roof bus tour to all movie stars and famous peoples houses in Beverly Hills. That was amazing. Tad jealous. They all drive the same car though??? Past two days have been spent at Disneyland, California Adventure Park and iHop! worked out what the 'fastpass' was and it makes the day twice as good. The attention to detail at Disneyland is unbelieveable, doubt I'll see anything like it anywhere else, just loved it ayy.

[Aunty Deb]

Ciao Bonjour G'daye x
Your blog is a wonderful read - naughty girl for getting too much French sun. Have to comment on the coincidence that we took Stefano to the airport last Friday and he was flying into Milan and then Sunday we spoke to you on the phone in Milan! How was the game? School hols here: - lots of rain and yesterday we had an earthquake Pearcedale reported to be the Epicentre! Melbourne Show tomorrow $$ Lots of love and happy adventures xx

[ElizaSmale]

In Response
To Debgra: the game was pretty amazing! When Milan scored the cheer squad set off like a flare of some sort and the whole crowd went absoloutly crazy. does beckham still play for ac milan? anywho. my french sunburn has turned into a rather pathetic f5rench tshirt tan. the earthquake soudns fascinating! back in france from switzerland today which was beautiful. to cobbes: wow to you too! it soudns like so much fun. i am definately going to do a bus tour of the stars homes when i hit up america. i know what you mean about not having anything to change into when you arrive as i landed in india with trackies! how stupid. but i was only 14. hope the rest of your travels have been as fun as the first bit sounds. cant wait to see some photos on either facebook or myspace :) lots of love to all xxx.

[Lynne Preston-Dale]

Catching Up
Hi Eliza, time to turn off the "saving' side of your brain and GO SHOPPING I say Love Aunty Lynne xoxox