Ciào peepz!
Greetings from Venice. We drove in today, so tomorrow will be a busy sightseeing day. We're staying at Camping Fusina, which is the bee's knees of campgrounds. Venice is only 20minute ferry ride away. This place has internet, nicer cabins, a nice bar, and a supermarket. Yes, I am now high-roller trailer trash!
Let's do a recap of the last 24 hours.
Anyhow, Nice and Cannes are in an area called Cote d'Azur, aka the blue coast. They didn't lie. The water was super blue! I was so amazed by its vibrance.
After dinner, we got decked out to go to Monaco. After a 2hr drive through the picturesque French Riviera, we got to Monaco for a short visit. Monaco was CHA-CHING MONEY! Went to the Grand Casino of Monte Carlo. It had a 10 Euro cover. A bit steep, I admit, but I figured there's a very low chance of me ever seeing it again. What's 10 euros when it's freaking Monte Carlo. Anyhow, there were some 5 euro roulette tables, but the blackjacktables were 500 euro minimum bet! I put in 10 euro for slots! Lost it all...Oh wells.
Anyhow, the Grand Casino was small, but definitely grand! Most impressive was its toilet. Here's the thing. When you flush, it flushes the toilet bowl. Then a little brush extends from the toilet seat to clean the seat as the seat spins through it. So yes, that's what 20 Euros got me, to see how a toilet seat can be cleaned automatically.
Anyhow, today had been pretty cruddy. I got sick two nights ago and I'm really feeling it today. Sniffles galore. It totally didn't help the little stop in a French perfumery when your nose is stuffed. I slept through most of the driving and had this terrible headache. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better now.
For our second service stop, we stayed at a little Autogrill along the way in Italy! I was definitely looking forward to something other than stuffed baguettes and when I saw that pasta line, I was totally delighted. Anyhow, I got too excited and ordered the wrong thing and was totally ripped off. I was pretty upset at that because I had been looking forward to a good meal. To ease blow, I decided that I'll buy some ice-cream. Then I came upon a little candy thingy called a Happy Hippo, which was hippo-shaped wafer with chocolate fudge inside. Ice-cream and hippo = Yummy!
For our last stop, we visited Verona, the famous home of the star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. You can actually climb up to Juliet's balcony. Let me tell you, there were many people who looked more like Juliet's ugly aunt than Juliet herself at that balcony. Below the balcony is a statue of Juliet. Legend has it that if you grab her right breast, you'll be lucky in love. Many guys went for that. Later, one of the boys on the tour offered himself for the same purpose to the girls. I'm sure you can figure out which part of his body he offered.
Must say that I've met more rude Italians in Verona than Frenchmen in France. What's up with that!
Our tour guide also told the girls to be careful of Italian men. They won't leave you alone if you make eye contact with them. Apparently, that's enough to be love. Funny thing is, to stop a car from running you over as you cross the street, you also need to make eye contact. So here's the choice: Love or Death. You decide.
Oh yeah, I also had my first real Italian gelato. Decided that I will do a running list of flavors. Here are today's: Tiramisu, Straccitelli, and Niccolia.
Soon, we got to the campsite in Venice. Within 30 minutes of arriving, I've already been attacked by the mosquitos, or Mozzies as the Aussies call it. Boo to that! Total bites count on this trip so far: 8!
Oh a more real note, I'm getting a bit tired of the tour. I don't feel like I'm seeing each city sufficiently. So far, every city that I've been in is just a day tour. One more day per city would be wonderful. Since every other day is driving, I feel like I know the service stops way better. Everything feels very rushed because there's so much to see and so little time. It's often difficult to decide between a nice meal versus another sightseeing stop. The campsites are also far from city center, making it difficult to stay out later. This is a great sampler, but for me, I really want to see the cities in a more relaxed pace and be able to enjoy the smaller things at each place. Next time I see Europe, it's going to be 3-4 days per city.
Anyhowzers, for tomorrow, I look forward to seeing all of Venice. It'll be rushed. In the afternoon, I'll be going on a gondola ride. Can't wait to see St. Mark's Square and the Grand Canal, since Casanova (the movie with Heath Ledger and Sienna Miller) made it look so wonderful.
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