Milan

From Cinque Terre we got the busabout bus to Nice, France. We only stayed here one night so much to report. We got dinner at a Chinese restaurant (very authentic French food i know) and took advantage of finally having internet access after having been without it for about a week. We stayed in our first dorm room of the trip so far. Really not much else to tell you, we didn't arrive until about 6pm and then left again at 8am the following morning. Although on the drive into Nice we drove past Monaco and our guide told us a bit about the place, for instance you need one million dollars just to apply to live there! Madonna was turned down, apparently she doesn't have the right life style to live in Monaco. But Bonno has a house here (which we could just see from the highway) and Elton John has a place here too. The Monte Carlo Casino (of which we saw only the roof from the highway) has a 25 euro bet minimum to play roulette so i don't think we will be doing any gambling there!! The town has no taxes and all their money comes from tourism and the casino.
The following day we got on the bus headed for Milan, there was only about 12 or so of us which was a nice change from the usual 50 or so people we usually travel with. It mean everyone got a seat to themselves. The drive to Milan was relatively non eventful. we didn't stay at the pick up point so had to make our own way to our hostel. luckily one of the guides was traveling with us because he was flying to Greece so he showed us which train to catch and helped us work our where we needed to get off. it turned out to be really easy with one of the metro stops been right near our hostel.
We spent our first afternoon exploring the streets close to our hostel, Ewen got some new shorts and i discovered strawberry icey drinks, possibly the most delicious drink ever to be invented!
The first night we got pizzas for dinner at a restaurant, the pizzas turned out to be massive! the biggest ones we have had yet! The part that i couldn't eat because i was full was nearly as big as my head!!!


Our room in Milan was similar to a sauna, it was much hotter in there than it was outside so we tried to avoid staying in the too long at all times! when we did have to be in there i had cold showers about every 2 hours which helped. why they couldn't just put a fan in there i don't know!!!!
The following day we planned to get the metro into central Milan to check out the Duomo (the cathedral) but when we got to the metro station it was all caged up, after buying a map we started walking into the town which turned out to be only a 30 minute walk which was a good way to see a bit more of Milan anyway. We walked along the metro line and found out that all of the stops were caged up and there was a strike. Italians sure do love to strike about different things! the museums were all closed today as well due to the strike.
We got to the Duomo and unluckily for me it was the only church we have been to so far that didn't offer material to cover yourselves up so they wouldn't let me in (i was wearing shorts). Ewen went in to take some photos while i waited outside with all the other girls in shorts. after about 10 minutes i decided this was ridiculous and was about to approach one of the woman selling scarves when they all ran away. it seemed they had heard sirens and thought he police were coming. after a few minutes they came back and i got myself a scarf to tie around my waist and was let in yay! the cathedral was incredible, full of art work and gargoyles and statues.
The cathedral took 650 years to build and they certainly did a fantastic job, after exploring the inside we climbed to the top of the cathedral (well as high up as they allow you go to anyway, i think normally you would be able to climb higher but they were doing some maintenance to the top tower) and took in the views of Milan. Apparently on a clear day you can see right to Switzerland but it mus not have been cleat enough on the day we went up.
We spent the rest of the day exploring the side streets of Milan. We window shopped mostly due to the ridiculous prices!!

The next day we set off for Switzerland

Cinque Terre

On our way to Cinque Terre we had a bonus stop at Pisa to get the obligatory photo of holding up (or in Ewen's case pushing down) the tower. I was surprised that the tower was so obviously leaning over, especially because our guide told us it is only on a 4% lean (or something like that i cant remember exactly). that doesn't sound like much of a lean but apparently the top of the tower is 3.9m from where it would be if the tower was straight. We took our photos and had some brekkie at a cafe over looking the tower which was nice. Then it was back on the bus and a few hours later we arrived in La Spezia.
From here we caught a train to Riomaggiore which is the first town of the Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre means five towns and is famous for the walk you can do that connects each of the towns. Our hostel turned out to be a house where we had a room and ensuite to ourselves, the walk up was a bit difficult with lots of steps and steep roads but it was definitely worth it, our house was on top of the cliff over looking the ocean and all the olive groves. we spent our first afternoon having a look around the shops and checking out the beach.

this is the view from the house we stayed in

The town of Riomaggiore

A very creepy toy baby in a shop

The waterfront in Riomaggiore

The very crowded beach
Our "sandcastle" competetion

the next morning (well at about 12pm) we set off to do the first couple of walks. the first one was really easy, took about 20 minutes and was nice and flat the whole way. you walk through the lovers lane section that is decorated with graffiti and lots of padlocks which was interesting. at the first town we came to, Manarola, we had some lunch and did a bit of exploring before walking to the next town.
This walk was slightly more difficult with a few steep inclines. The entire walk was along the edge of a cliff overlooking the beach so the views were spectacular. we stopped for a little while to watch a boy trying to overcome his fear of jumping from a large rock into the ocean, his sister had already done it and was in the ocean yelling for him to jump in. i think once he realised he had a bit of an audience he just did it, it wasn't until we got around the corner and turned to look back that we realised how high the rock was, it was quite an impressive jump! as you got closer to the town of Corniglia you passed a long stretch of abandoned portable buildings. it was a bit weird and looked a little like an old prison camp (a prison camp with great views). once you get to the base of the town you have the option of catching a bus (we didn't know this at the time) or climbing the 382 steps to the top of the town. we took the steps and while it was hard work we got to reward ourselves with gelati once we made it to the town. we spent a bit of time exploring the shops and went up to a look out before having one final cone of gelati and then getting the train back to Riomaggiore.

A very rickety bridge

Ewen appreciating the view

Sunset on our walk back to our house

The next day we set out to do another walk, this time we got the train to Corniglia to start we left off yesterday, after climbing the 382 steps yet again we got some delicious lemon gelati (that is pretty much all we eat these days) and then set off on the walk to Vernazza. this walk was much more difficult than the two walks we did the previous day. it took us about two hours and it was pretty much two hours of uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill. the walk was very pretty but this was hard to appreciate when you had sweat pouring into your eye balls. when we finally arrived (we were starting to think we had somehow missed the town and had started the fourth walk without realising it) we got some much needed water (we forgot to take any with us on the walk) and sat down for a rest. we had a look around the town and then went and got some lunch at a restaurant on the waterfront.
After some more window shopping and some more gelati we got the train back to Riomaggiore deciding to leave the last town until the following day because i had more blisters and Ewen was having trouble with his knee. We got take away pizza and had our dinner back at our house over looking the ocean.
Our last day in Cinque Terre we got the train to Monterosso (yep we wussed out of the final walk) and spent a few hours looking around and having lunch. originally we were going to take our bathers but it was pretty overcast when we left so we changed our minds, but as soon as we got there the sun came out and it was hot! the water looked so inviting but we had to settle for gelati instead of a swim. I'm pretty sure i will turn into gelati one of these days after eating it every single day!!!!
Our final night in Cinque Terre we got take away pizza again (i know we are little fatties) and packed up ready to leave the next morning.

A lot of steps in Florence

we started our last day in Florence by sitting on the pavement and watching a protest. It was very peaceful but the police still had on full riot gear which they walzted around amongst the protestors. it was pretty casual, we even saw a policeman who was driving (a pretty serious looking truck with all the windows covered in cages) whilst doing a rubiks cube. ewen was pretry impressed.
we weren't (and still aren't) entirely sure what the protest was about but it had something to do with budget cuts (we figured this out because people had cardboard scissors around their necks).
We had heard about a pig statue that is famous here in Florence and after having no luck finding it the day before we set off to find it again. we had gotten directions off the internet but they turned out to be useless and we actually found it after we had given up and were looking for something different. It is a statue of a boar that locals believe is lucky, if you rub its nose, put a coin in its mouth and drop it into the grate below you will return to Florence within one year.
We went to the Duomo (this is what they call the biggest cathedral in each town) next, first for a look inside, we were surprised that the inside was quite simple compared with other cathedrals we have been to. although at the top of the dome their was some beautiful artwork. I really liked the tea candle trees they had, definitely need to get myself one of those when i get home!

We had some lunch and then it was time for the massive climb to the top of the dome, 430ish steps to the top! It was a long climb but definitely worth it because the views were incredible! we spent probably half an hour at the top looking at the view from the 360 degrees (and catching our breath) before climbing back down and rewarding ourselves with gelato!
We spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry, how boring!
Then went out for our last dinner in Florence, they had moscato on the menu and i got a bit excited but it turned out to be desert wine (no wonder the waiter looked at me so strangely when i ordered it before my meal) but it was pretty good anyway, just very very small considering what it cost.

2nd day in Florence

We had a pretty busy day today although not many photos to show for it. Most of the places we went to don't allow you to take photos.

Nope this isn't Ewen, just a guy on a segway (we were pretty jealous) with a statue person in the background

we walked around Florence for a few hours this morning, exploring markets and little side alleyways.
We decided to go and see the real David statue in the Accademia Gallery but when we got there the line was ridiculously long so we walked around a bit more. we then went to the Uffisi Gallery and lined up for about 10 minutes before finding out that if you pre book your ticket you don't have to line up at all. so we went and got our tickets for 1.30pm meaning we had one hour to explore the riverside and the Ponte Vecchio (the bridge lined with jewelers shops).
We spent about 2 hours exploring the Uffisi Gallery before heading over to the Accademia Gallery. We lined up here for a while and by chance a couple of guys told us that if you pre book your tickets from a different museum around the corner you could get in straight away so while Ewen stayed in the line i set off to find this museum, as soon as i left the line a gypsy started following me. when i turned around to look at her she got such a fright she dropped her cup of coins and they spilled out everywhere, i felt sorry for her but at the same time was kind of glad, she was following me pretty quickly and im not too sure what happens if a gypsy catches up to you!!!
after a couple of minutes i realised i had no idea where i was going so i went back to the line and after looking at the map this time Ewen went off to get the tickets while i held our place in the line in case the other plan fell through.
We ended up getting straight in with the magic pre-purchase tickets Ewen got.
After looking at a few rooms of paintings we came across the David room, it was so much bigger than i expected it to be, i thought that it might be hard to find in amongst all the other statues but as soon as you walked into the room you noticed it, it towered above everyone. there was a lot of people there but as the statue was so tall (over 5m i think) you could still see it no problems.
The next room was full of statues just like we have seen in every other gallery/museum we have been to in Italy and Turkey with one difference. they had a statue of a wooden foot roughly painted and very roughly cut. it looked ridiculous in amongst all of the sculptures, this modern piece of 'art' that even i could have created.
We walked around a bit more after the gallery and after getting some dinner went back to the hostel.

Firenze

We are now in Florence (just in case you didn't read the title) the city that houses David and one of the biggest churches in Europe. So far i like it!

Our very first view of Florence

we got the busabout bus from Siena and as we were not staying at the pick up point this time set off to find our own hostel. i had looked it up on google and it was supposed to be a 15 minute walk from the pick up point (the 'pick up point' is the hostel that busabout recommends and where they drop you off not a place to pick up for any of you who were confused) which we thought was fine that gave us an hour to get there and back (we were doing a walking tour and dinner with the busabout people). of course we got lost. we asked directions from about 5 different Italians (and one tourist) and while they all knew the way to go we still managed to keep getting off track. we finally made it to our hostel at 4.25 (we were meant to meet everyone at 4.20) and after a very quick change of clothes legged it back to the hostel (this time consulting a map first and finding a quicker way to get back). we made it just in time as the group was leaving we walked up.
the walking tour was good, although as there was about 30 of us it was a bit hard to hear the guide but we enjoyed seeing bits of Florence and the quick preview was good so we could work out where we wanted to go over the next two days.

This is the fake David we saw on the walking tour

after the walking tour they took us to a leather factory to find out how leather items are made. the guy giving the talk was a bit of a character with about a million tattoos, including one of a zip on his neck.
after the talk we had a look in their leather shop and this is where i fell in love with a very expensive (although one of the cheapest they had) leather bag. poor Ewen then had to listen to me talk about whether or not i should buy it. after a lot of contemplation i decided to shop around tomorrow and maybe come back to get it. i mean how many times does a person come to Florence!!!
After the look around the shop we went to dinner at a place called House of Sizzle... not very Italian sounding is it. The group dinner turned out to be more of an intimate dinner with tables for 4 people everywhere. we ended up sitting with a new zealand couple who now live in London. They have been traveling on busabout for a little while now so it was good to get some tips and do and don't from them.
after dinner some of the people went to the club next door, The Red Garter which is supposed to be the easiest pick up bar in Europe.

We snapped a photo and then set off to explore a bit more of Florence.

Trying to find our way home