View from my hostel in Manarola, Italy. This was my first of many Italian Riviera sunsets. I thought this church was such a treat to have right outside my window. That is until the next morning when I learned it rings 34, yes 34 times every morning at 7am.
My very own french speaking tour guide of the Riviera. He was such sweetheart and did all of my market negotiating, travel arranging and food ordering. And he can out dress me even on my best day.
Carnival in Monoco. I do have to hand it to them, they know how to put on a festival. I had a French Riviera treat of socca, churros dipped in nutella and a nutella crepe. All in about 10 mintues. I am already looking into medical treatment for my nutella withdrawls that will be happening upon my departure from Europe.
Princess Alberts Palace in Monoco. What a fruitcake.
The rough life of Monoco
Flower market in Nice. Bird of Paradise. One of my favs.
Just playin around. 25 second exposure makes the sea look like glass and starburst lights.
Post hike activity
Hiking the Cinque Terre. The total hike from the first to last town is 7 miles right along the coast. There was one segment closed due to a landslide but I did it all other then that.
Graffiti lovers paradise = Via dell'Amore (The walk of Love)
Siena, Italy
Daily activity
Vernazza, Italy
Looking down at the town from the hilltop cemetery in Monterosso, Italy
No explanation necessary. We did all have a strange, intense desire to watch Gladiator after.
Best meal of the trip. Maybe my life. I threw my moral and ethical convictions out the window and ordered the veal. You know, the "When in Rome" excuse. My Romies (Rome roomates) and I used and abused that phrase for 3 days. We decided to go big, real big and have a Roman dining experience. We went to the ultimate outdoor dining room, the Campo d Flora. Sat at a fancy outdoor table with linen and silverware and waiters with bowties. This is not a usual occurance for those on a backpacker budget. I had the best carbonara for the primo. This delicious baby cow for secondo. Rotana and I don't really enjoy coffee flavor but we decided on the restaurants specialty of Tiramisu because well, when in Rome. Right after we took the first bite our eyes got huge and we just stared at each other. It was so good we were simply speechless. It was fun hanging out with him because he is one of the few people I have met in my life that enjoy food as much as I do. While walking and waiting everywhere in Rome its pretty much all we talked about. My Romies and I talked about how much we missed big hardy breakfasts. So after the financial damage of dinner Jon woke up early and went to the grocery store and bought eggs, and meat and potatoes and surprised us with breakfast!! We each put in 5 euros. And then we bought pasta noodles and sauce and just made dinner at the hostel which was 2 euro each. So there is not even a drop of remorse from our Roman splurge.
View from my hostel in Roma
Sweet Siena
The David. One of the two fakies in Florence. Don't worry, I saw the real one too. But I followed the rules and didn't take peektures, unlike my father.
Good Morning Vietnam, I mean Venice
I am going to attempt to make my way to Paris tomorrow to fly home in a few days. There are currently transportation strikes in France. The government is raising the retirement age from 60 to 62. The youth are taking it to the streets. They have even cancelled university because so many students are rioting. Last week the metro in Paris wasn't running. There are demonstrations at the gates of the airports and they are not allowing fuel tanks in and flights are being cancelled due to lack of fuel. I guess strikes happen but never to this extent before. I am kind of hoping some chaos will still be going down while I am in Paris. They say everything is non violent so I'm not worried. In one of my favorite books the character walks around Prague during the Soviet invasion of 1968 taking dangerous and dissident pictures. I wanna feel like her for a day. Haha.
No comments:
Post a Comment