Italy repeats 59 times -aaaaaaaaah!

Ok, I knew that the laundromat was not the place to write a blog! I'm informed that my last blog was recorded 59 times, oh dear me, I've sent my blog details to CJ in the hope that she can fix it for me. So I hope people out there don't read my last entry 59 times!! It is sooooo hot here, perhaps it affected my computer entry! Anyway, it was another very hot day in Florence and I will backtrack again to 29 June when hopefully I left this last night!

Wednesday 29 June - Menton, France
We walked around Menton looking at the shops then went for another swim at lunchtime while waiting for my photos to be downloaded on to a CD. We forgot about the 3 hour siesta at lunchtime so had a few hours to fill in as when we returned to the photo shop it was closed. The water was of course heaven, gee the Mediterranean water is beautiful, so warm, not at all difficult to enter! What's more we could swim properly as there was very little surf. Later we drove on to Santa Margherita on the Italian Riviera. Aaah, here we are in Italy - wowee! We booked in to a hotel (pretty pricey here) and walked around in the evening to soak in the atmosphere. Later in the evening we drove to Portofino to "promenade". This is a very trendy very expensive resort, quaint, high prices but oh so lovely. All the little shops were open. We took lots of photos and just generally drooled! After this we drove back to San Margherita, parked the car and promenaded more there. One has to dress reasonably nicely to promenade. The men wear long pants or you are picked out as a tourist and ladies should wear high heels (I didn't). The atmosphere is amazing. We went to a gelateria and sat outside eating icecreams in bowls, not realising that you pay twice as much is you don't take them away! However, it was well worth it - yummy!

Thursday 30 June
Our hotel (and every one since in Italy) has a bidet. It also has a hand held shower. Every single place we've been to has a different sort of shower -makes for interesting experiences! The double bed again was actually 2 single beds pushed together.
This morning we woke at 7.30am and went for a run along the boardwalk by the ocean towards Portofino. It was approx 7km there and back. It was a magical morning and we really enjoyed the run although I made Dave run beside the steep incline to the sea. I preferred the security of the cliff side! After our run we showered and ate a wonderful brekkie including a great coffee - at last! It was served in a jug with crema and a separate jug of warm frothed milk. It was just like a cappuccino - beautiful flavour too. Next we packed the car, walked round the streets once more, sat and had another coffee and mineral water in a cafe facing the street (yes CJ just like Noosa) and while there we were serenaded by an Irishman on a guitar, singing. It was so very beautiful and romantic. In fact it made me want to cry. I was really moved by the music, must be getting old! The weather was stunning - really hot and beautiful - singlets and shorts required. I think I'm starting to tan!
One thing we noticed is the number of Vespa-like motor scooters in abundance. There are more scooters than cars and teenagers drive them everywhere. Although the required age is officially 16 I am reliably informed that they drive them as young as 14.
Next we drove on to Levanta which is a town very near Cinque Terra. It was a steep winding drive with sheer drops and amazing views - talk about scary! It was only about 70km but it felt a whole lot further. Don't forget, I'm married to a "wannabe" car racing driver! On the way we detoured to Camagli which used to be a fishing village and is the most photographed town on the coast. We took lots of photos, bought cold water and paddled in the ocean. It was a really pretty place. Then we continued on our hair raising drive to Levanta. We found a hotel to stay the night then walked into town to a pizzeria for dinner. It was a fabulous Italian pizza and nice wine. We bought a gelati and walked around. It was another hot day. We did find an internet cafe but there were a number of people waiting so the blog had to wait - again!

Friday 1 July
In this hotel we have towels like giant teatowels - not like our fluffy variety at all, quite strange and not very efficient for drying. We woke this morning to rain pounding down. I didn't have a particularly good sleep as the bed was hard (2 beds pushed together again) and the pillows thin and hard. By the time we had checked out of the hotel the rain haad stopped and the sun had come out. We bought train tickets for day trip and walks round Cinque Terra and parked at the station. First we caught the train all the way to Rio Maggiore and walked through a tunnel to and round the village (absolutely delightful). We bought foccaccias for brunch. It was a very pretty village with lots of cute shops. We bought postcards and took lots of photos. The houses aare built into the cliffs going down to the sea. We then walked to Manarola, the next village, along a steep path on the cliffside with rails in the cliffside (fortunately) along Lover's Lane. Lovers' Lane was a tunnel where lots of people had written messages and love letter to each other over the years. There was lots of interesting graffiti. The walk was about 30minutes. Manarola was another delightful village with narrow streets and coloured houses and shops. In Italy the washing hangs outside the high windows. We had an icecream (seems to be a daily event -oh yum) and then had a very long wait for the train. While waiting we walked down to the seaside and watched lots of teenagers jumping off very high rocks and cliffs into the ocean - it looked very scary! We had to walk through a long tunnel to reach Manarola and to return to the station. As we waited on the platform the rain returned and it bucketed down. We fortunately had brought our spray jackets and the temperature suddenly dropped. We caught the train to Corniglia (the next village) and it only took about 5minutes to reach it. By that time the sun was out again and it was piping hot so off with the jackets! Now in order to reach this village we had to negotiate hundreds of zig-zag steps. They went on forever to it was just as well they were zig-zag and not straight up! Corniglia is situated on top of a high mountain with the most amazing views. There is no sea front here. It was well worth the climb. The views were so good. This is another gorgeous village with cute shops - lots of walking! After our steep climb back down we had another long extremely hot wait for the train to the next village. It seemed that one train completely missed stopping! We finally arrived at Vernazza, the next village. Here there was a stony beach and we wantered round looking at everything. There were very narrow streets and a swimming spot with stone steps to sit and watch the big waves (yes, breakers at last) splashing against the steps. Our next stop was Monterrosso. By this time we were extremely tired. Monterosso was quite different from the other villages. It was much bigger and more traditional. Here we bought foccaccia and a few pastries of the region. We also bought a bottle of Cinque Terra wine which is purportedly excellent. I'll no doubt report on that in the future! We caught the train back to Levanta, collected the car from the station and drove along the motorway to Lucca. We were so lucky as Dave went to the place he rented an apartment from last year when he was here and as he was trying to make a phone call someone cycled past him and stopped to ask if we needed accommodation. He was an American and he managed the apartments. He lived in France for 9 years but has been living in Italy for several years too. It was about 10pm and we were very lucky as he rented us a large apartment in the centre of Lucca (in Tuscany) within the walled city. It is large with 2 bedrooms (in case of arguments), a lounge room, family room, kitchen and bathroom - a proper apartment - a pity we only have one night here. It was very comfortable. We walked around the town to have a look late a night. It was a pleasant, quiet, pretty township with cobbled streets adn stone terraced shops and houses with narrow steps leading to high-up apartments.

Saturday 2 July
We slept quite late (we were so tired) then went to the included brekkie in a different building. The lady who served us spoke no English at all, which is actually quite unusual but good practice for us! We had juice, pretty ordinary coffee, a whole hard-boiled egg in the shell, prosciutto, melon, sultana aniseed bread (of the region) and baguettes - plenty to eat. We next packed our bags then walked round Lucca until 1pm when all the shops close here for a 3hour siesta. All over Italy it's like this apart from market places and tourist shops. Everyone goes home for a big lunch and siesta in the middle of the day. Also the school holidays last for nearly 4 months - from mid-June until the end of September!
We found a few lovely shops in Lucca then we drove on to Florence in the afternoon. Here we are booked into a very nice apartment on the 'left' bank for a week. The receptionist is delightful and stunning to look at. What's more she can speak English. We spent some time sorting out our bags and finding a car park. Now this was so expensive. Nobody warned us that we just should not take a car into Florence. It cost us approx $90Aust to park for 48 hours. On Monday night we can move the car to a cheaper place but it's still pretty exe!
That evening we walked into the city and found a cute little pizzeria restaurant where we were served by an Aussi girl from Melbourne. Her co-worker was an American and the table next to us had an American dad and his two boys. The restaurant had a lovely ambience and it was a delicious meal. We had a yummy dessert which was a pastry filled with a cream chees and fruit on one end and cream cheese and chocolate chips in the other end. It tasted like real cream and was so yummy! It was a great night. We chatted to the Americans and his 2 teenage sons and they gave us lots of ideas on good markets and shops. It was such fun. It seems that a lot of Aussi girls meet Italian men and end up opening shops and managing them in Italy. In Cinque Terra we came across another shop owner from Melbourne who had done the same thing - met her Italian stallion and moved to Italy to live and work. (Sandra, you did it the other way round!!)
Later we walked round the city window shopping and listening to the singers on the walkways - so awesome. It was a beautiful evening. At 10.45pm we found an internet cafe and managed to answer a few emails but no time to blog! Another midnight lights off!