Firstly, Italy. You should be my new home! In my first few hours i saw 4 men carrying roses, and they didn't look guilty. Romance is something i believe in and it's great to see it elsewhere!! Rarely have a seen a guy on the gold coast buy flowers. Push bikes everywhere, being ridden by young and old alike. It feels right and it looks great this place.
Lake Garda! What's will i remember you for? Unfortunately rain. A lot of rain. And when you sell a rain protector for a bag, it better keep the rain out, stupid kathmandu! You sold me a piece of shit! Walking the streets with my camera and tripod last night. It got me invigorated for the next few weeks ahead. I'm far from ready to go home. I have more to do and more to see. A lot more!
Let's go through today, woke up mice and early, ready to check out and go to Venice. Got to reception at 6:50 giving myself time to slowly walk to the station to catch the 7:37 am train. But when i get to reception no one is there!? Ok breakfast is being served at 7:30, so someone will be here at 7am. Hmm lady walks in, staff member, not too good at English, i soon find out she's here to set up breakfast. So i go down to ask her what time is check out, on the website it says anytime before 11am. She replies sette medza. Right, seven something, check my phrasebook, half past seven. Ok, pull out the phrasebook out again. They have my passport, so i find, posso avere il mio passporto, per favore. And i added sette medza, train!! I will call receptionist. Ahh, goodo, he'll be 2 mins. At first he couldn't find my passport, and i manage to check out at 7:15, google maps says it takes 22mins to walk to the station. And it's raining. These kinds of things can get you down, i love the rain, i love being in the rain, but i don't like my bag with my cameras, iPad, iPhone, train tickets and passport getting wet, that's why i purchased a waterproof bag cover but it failed miserably. I could have used my ninja powers and speed to swat away all the rain drops, and there was a lot of rain. I managed to beat google maps by 7 minutes, and while walking I did notice that I'm very sore from all of the alpine walking I did in Zermatt. The pain got worse as the day wore on. And also as the day wore on, i was getting wetter and wetter. I did take a poncho (thanks mum) but i used it to cover my bag with all of the important stuff inside. I fed the bag straps through the arm hole! Very Macgyver of me!
Not the best day but you can't have perfect weather for your whole trip!
That afternoon i headed to Florence. I don't know if I've mentioned the trains and how good they are. I would hate to be doing the airport thing, it's a lot of screwing around, checking in, going through security waiting to board, and then waiting for your bags at your destination. But also most airports are not close to the city centre. Trains you hop on, hop off, you manage your own bags and border security check your passports while your seated on the train. You can do the overnight thing to get to where you want go or travel short distances during the day to see some of the country side. In Florence i stayed in a B&B and it was right in the heart of the city. I could have walked but my google maps wasn't 100% clear and i had to get there on time ,so i took a cab, €7 and we drove past the Duomo and a few piazzas, and i soon realized why Frankie loved this place so much! From the accommodation it was 5 mins to Duomo, 5 mins to the river/canal (ARNO) and 20 mins to Piazzale Michelangelo, with churches and massive beautiful buildings scattered everywhere! The guy who runs the B&B, Roberto is very welcoming and very happy that I'm there on time. You have to nominate what time you get there someone turns up, let's you in etc. Really lovely guy, very accommodating and helpful. The shower was a bit pathetic, and i really wanted a good one after being in wet clothes since the morning. I managed to walk around most of the town during the night, missed out on the amazing view of Piazzale Michelangelo at night, but i gave it about an hour today. I think i did ok with the photos, i could have been walking around all day taking photos of alleys, buildings, incredibly meticulous artwork and detail on some of the buildings. And for fun i took a great shot of the green David and the ultimate T-Bag! Hilarious!
I did get an interesting text from 3 mobile, this international roaming stuff is a bit ridiculous. I went to check on the website the prices for evereything while i was in Malaysia, that page that has the prices requires flag to read it, with my ipad and iphone they cannot read flash media so i couldn't actually find out the exact prices. It's been great to be in contact but, eeeep it's been a bit pricey! So please email me unless it's urgent or if you don't want a response. I check my emails in the morning and at night which is about 6pm and 8am Qld time. Most places I'm staying at have WI-FI so i will get back to you pretty soon.
Right now i'm on my way to Roma, and four nights in what I've been told an amazing city. I'll try an organize a last minute tour, just to jump the queues and get some good information on some of these ancient sites. An easy night tonight, a good sleep, book some more accommodation for La Spezia and Paris, then off to the land of nod!
Still sober but no longer a virgin traveller. But it's my first time, so be gentle!
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