The French Riviera, Avignon and Barcelona Round 2!

Bonjour/Ola/Ciao/Grazias it's getting too hard to change languages so I'll just stick with the one I know!

Lots to tell, but should let you know that I'm going to Ibiza tomorrow so who knows this may be my last post. Kidding. I have watched Kevin and Perry Go Large in preparation, and if you haven't seen that film you should.

Anyway, have been to lots of different places in a short amount of time so I'll get on with it:

THE FRENCH RIVIERA
The bus that takes us from city to city plays films during the journey, and the film that was played as we drove to Nice, which is in the south of France and on the Cote d'Azur, was Casino Royale. This was good because of a) Daniel Craig, and b) it got everyone pretty excited for some a bit of Monaco action (I know that movie isn't set in Monaco but pretty much every other Bond movie is so we can just pretend). So, as I said in my last post, we drove high up on the hill overlooking Monaco, saw the Grace Kelly accident sight, learnt some pretty interesting facts about Monaco (example: the reason the government can afford to not charge taxes is because of how much profit the casino/s make!), and generally got very excited. We were staying in Nice however (back in France my favourite), which was very multicultural, relaxed, beautiful scenery and had a nice long beach- even though the sand was very large pebbles. We went to the MAMAC, which is the modern and contemporary art gallery and saw some wacky stuff. The reason we were so keen to go there is we were told Andy Warhol's soup can painting was on display. It wasn't. Still had plenty to look at though. We wandered through the old town which, as all good old towns are, was a jumble of little streets filled with cafes and quirky shops and beggars. Also fun fact, all the beggars in Europe have amazing dogs. We took the public bus to Monaco on the second day (which bizarrely only cost one euro) and although it's a different country you do not need a passport or any ID to get in. (Another fact: actual citizens of Monaco cannot gamble in their own casinos!). So we went there, saw some serious gold diggers with their boyfriends (man friends. grandpa friends?), swam at the beach, slightly smaller pebbles this time, skulked past the famous Montecarlo Casino (skulked because it costs money to get in and you have to be dressed nicely and we were in our togs), and all decided that marrying a Monaco-nise billionaire is a great idea. Also, did you know you have to pay the King of Monaco a million euros just to apply to live there? And can you tell I Wikipedia-ed Monaco? Just trying to make the blog educational. So a big thumbs up for Nice and Monaco, also I found the best supermarket yet in Nice so, yeah. Obviously the others didn't share my passion or want to discuss it as much as me but I thought it had an excellent range. Oh also Joni and I saw the Dark Knight Rises (finally), and let's just say seeing Michael Caine cry could tug the heart strings of even the most hardened criminal.
Anyway, in the words of Jay-Z, onto the next one

AVIGNON
I've done an acrostic poem for Avignon, which does not rhyme.

A: Avignon you were 40+ degrees and very very hot
V: Very disappointing to find out that most if not all of Avignon's museums are closed Mondays. Our only full day there was a Monday. But it's okay because we are Europe and nothing gets us down!
I: I got a crepe! Buckwheat. With ham and tomato. But accidentally asked for cheese. Then said 'oh sorry no cheese'. Then the French Monsieur said in the greatest French accent 'JUST HAM?!?' like it was the most ridiculous suggestion ever. Contender for highlight of Avignon.
G: Got up early one morning for a run (crepe guilt) and got some cool pictures of the Pont St-Bénezet amongst the morning fog. Was a bit spooky.
N: No fan and no air-conditioner in the room makes everyone grumpy.
O: OK I had two crepes. Different days though.
N: No bikes for us! Tried to hire bikes from these automatic bike stations to ride along the Rhone river but, alas, not speaking French makes that hard.

So Avignon you were great, lovely and quaint, but we were pretty stoked to be getting on the bus to, my second favourite European city, Barcelona!

BARCELONA
Ah. Back to the city of, I don't really know. Everything? We are only here for 3 nights (don't know what our past selves were thinking) so we've had to make the most of it. Very thankful I'd already spent a week here. I don't know if you remember what my hostel was like when I went to Barcelona with Claire, but the one we're in now is the exact opposite. Private room, private bathroom, no strange housekeeper skyping loudly, but it's slightly further away from La Rambla so, you win some you lose some. The first night we had Paella and Tapas for dinner, bought some alcohol to drink before going out, Sophie accidentally knocked it over and it smashed, so I bowed out of the nights proceedings and went to sleep instead. I know I know, calm down, but it is week 10! Next day we went to La Boqueria! Aka Disneyland! Aka the food market! I got my fruit juice breakfast and admired all the amazing cheeses, meats, fruits, breads, tapas, and all the other treasures under this magical roof. I may have picked up a gift for someone here! Hint: they are related to me. They are male. They are not my brother. We then went to marvel at the Sagrada Familia, a huge church by the famous Gaudi. I explain it all in this video:

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Joni and I then spent the afternoon at the beach, real sand this time, but it made me a bit sad to be honest. About every 2 minutes we were interrupted with 'massage?' 'cold water?' 'fresh coconut?' 'beautiful henna tattoo?' And I know what you're thinking, why is that sad? Sounds like heaven really. But there are hundreds of obviously very poor people going up and down the beach trying to make money anyway they possibly can, and also when you're dressed appropriately for a Spanish beach it's a bit awkward having to fend off someone trying to sell you a Sprite. I ended up getting the beautiful henna tattoo by the way. A Southern Cross on my back. Girls gotta fit in.
Out on the town Wednesday night and got chatting to a guy who lives up the road from me, and when he's home goes into my old work everyday! If there is one thing this trip has taught me it's that the world is a very small place. Our last day, today, was spent wandering aimlessly, and those days are often my favourite.

Some of the trips big highlights are still to come, Ibiza this weekend, La Tomatina on Wednesday, then Portugal, another week or so of Spain, then a leisurely few days in Bordeaux and Switzerland before the grand finale of Oktoberfest! Then you can stop reading this infernal blog which you only do because you feel obliged too, or read for a giggle. With me, not at me. Of course.
Anyway, will post again soon. Hopefully.

p.s: in case you're interested, am reading One Day by David Nicholls at the moment. It's very funny and I'm enjoying it a lot, especially when I can forget Anne Hathaway plays Emma in the movie. Stupid Anne Hathaway.

Like we hadn't noticed Monaco

Monaco

                                                                  Monte Carlo Casino

                                                                   MAMAC artwork

MAMAC artwork

View from the roof of MAMAC

Nice.

Avignon

7am fog on the Rhone River- Avignon

 

Bar-the-lona

Turtles! On La Ramblas! I don't know how we missed this last time. Maybe he was on holiday.

Ducks! Too big for the cage really, felt bad for them.

Me and Paella

Close up of Paella

Sagranda Familia!

ITALY: Part 2

SIENA

Ah Siena. A lot of our time was spent relaxing in Siena, as there really isn't all that much to do. We spent 2 nights there, probably only needed 1 but I guess you don't know these things until you get there! We arrived on the bus at lunchtime Saturday, found our hostel, and went for a wander. The streets are small and windy and we walked through a lot of them in that afternoon. It was quite busy in terms of people, but the shops were mainly cafes and gelato places. There is a Sienese delicacy called Riciarelli, which are little biscuits made from almond meal, sugar and egg whites. Gluten and dairy free! I had a few. That night my buddies very kindly trekked it with me to a restaurant that served gluten free food, so I got a bread entree (see photo!) and a pasta main (see photo!). It was deeeelicious. The next day we saw all the sights Siena has to offer (a church and a square) and watched a drumming, flag waving parade with lots of Italian men wearing tights (see the video), which was to do with the horse race they hold twice a year called Palio, we left about 4 days before the 2nd race! It's a huge deal in Siena and we found out from talking to a tour guide in Florence (who was born in Siena) the parade was to do with the Palio race and the colours relate to that district of Siena.

FLORENCE

After the peaceful and calm 2 nights in Siena was got exactly what we wanted in Florence, excitement, sights, alcohol and an amazing hostel.
We stayed at a place that was once a monestary, then a school and is now a hostel. The walls in the corridors are covered in drawings and words from floor to ceiling, which I thought was a little bit spooky, but it gives a great effect. It was right in the middle of the action, had free breakfast and free waking tours! We did 2 of the walking tours, one that was 'off the beaten track' and one of the main attractions. We saw the Ponte Vecchio, a famous bridge that has jeweller after jeweller on it, we learnt about the powerful Medici family who ruled Florence up until the 18th century, and how they had a corridor built to connect two of there palaces running through the city (and through some people's houses). We climbed the Torre san Niccolo (tower of St Nicholas) which had amazing views of what is a really beautiful city. Our guide for the tower (the one from Siena) told us a lot of the history of Florence; it was the capital of Italy in the 1870's when Italy first united, it was once a walled city and was once one of the most populated cities in the world, it had 100,000 inhabitants when at the same time London only had 50-60,000. Anyway, I could go on for a while as we did learn a lot of stuff. One of the coolest things we did was see was Michelangelo's famous statue of David! There are plenty of copies around Florence and we made fools of ourselves thinking one in a courtyard was the real one. When really its in a museum. Obviously. It was very large, and really detailed; the veins on the hands and arms looked so real. You're not allowed to take photos so I've put one up of the pink and yellow David that was in the museum courtyard.
Anyway, food: gelato was, according to legend, invented in Florence and I did have some pretty delicious mango sorbet during our waking tour. We went out to some fun bars and learnt the following:
• Lots of the locals don't speak English, which is a change from lots of other cities we've been to.
• Lots of the local males don't understand the word 'no'!
• I am a complete dork as evidenced in this video I made waking home. I wasn't going to put it up but it really sums up the night / how lame I am so I did. EDIT: YouTube doesn't like me, so I'll add it to this post when I can get it to work.

Florence is in contention for favourite city for all of us, and ignoring the awkward part when we saw a naked man in a park, we had a ball.

PISA
We stopped here on the way to Nice for an hour or so. Took some
pretty original photos I think you'll agree.

We got the bus to Nice today, which took 9 hours all up! It was pretty amazing though as we drove through Monaco and the view was incredible. We drove past the spot where Grace Kelly died, and saw the church that Bono and The Edge were married, to there respective wives. We're going to visit Monaco tomorrow and have a swim! We're all very very tired so will be asleep in but a moment. Sorry the photos aren't in any kind of order, it's very hard and I'm very tired. And thanks to Sophie for letting me use her computer in exchange for a sip of my soy milk tomorrow morning. Laters X

Florence: a small door just large enough for a bottle of wine to fit through, they used it during Plague times so customer and merchant didn't have to touch!

Fake David number 1. We named him Craig David

Easily the worst part of the trip so far

Siena drumming parade. Actual men in tights.

Lots of famous people were born in Florence, Dante Alighieri included

That's Banana and Strawberry sorbet right there.

The view from the top of the Torre san Niccolo

Me and pasta

Another San Niccolo view.

The corridor running through Florence, during one of the walking tours

The corridor walls of the hostel

Joni eating lunch

Ponte Vecchio bridge

Our waiter in Siena

No hait.

We managed to find a bar in the heart of Florence that was full of Australians and had people singing a karaoke of 'Land Down Under' by Men at Work

Homemade candles in Siena

Joni and I

Florence's Duomo

Hehe

Pisa! And my comfy travelling pants.

Honestly.

Fake David number 2

Dogs in Europe are so cool

Me and bread

Geppetto's workshop! Florence

The only self supporting Dome in the world! Florence

ITALY: Part 1.5

A quick re-cap of our first two Italian cities, Venice and Rome (again)

VENICE

Venice was a bit surreal, there are almost no cars around, just footpaths and boats/ferries/gondolas. Our hotel was in the heart of the tourist area, so as soon as we stepped onto the street and walked past a restaurant we got called out to with promises of delicious Venetian food, which we got sucked into, of course. The first night we spent 17 euros on a really average dinner, so we now go to the supermarket and get corn crackers and toppings, which ends up being 4 euros a meal and you cant say that isn't good value! (Nor could we deny we are being very cheap). We went to the Guggenheim museum and put a wish on the Yoko Ono wishing tree which was a bit random. I wished for cowboy boots. We managed to walk around the whole island of Venice on the first day, its not that big but I've included a map of our walk because we thought it was impressive. Plus it was 40 degrees that day. On a side note, Gondola rides are very expensive...

ROME

Venice to Rome was our first time on the Busabout bus, which we had to be on nice and early at 8am. We thought we'd be in Rome by 11am. Wrong. We got there at 6pm! Although because we had plenty of breaks and movies were shown it went pretty fast. Couldn't find my student card so was going to have to pay 60 euros to get on the bus. Found my student card. Did not have to pay the 60 euros. As it was my second time to Rome I'd seen most of the sights already, so the others did that while I wandered about, did some washing, shopping and eating of gelato. We did do a night time tour, where we had a guide walk us to several piazzas, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain and some other beautiful areas of the city. The guide was young and American and a comedian in his spare time (he's the man with the beer in the photos). He was quite funny though, and we learnt a lot about the different areas of Rome and some Roman history so I really enjoyed it! A man proposed to his girlfriend while we were at the Trevi, she said yes so everyone clapped and whistled and took photos of them! I have attached one, which is creepy I know but it was very sweet. The tour guide cut us down though when he said it happens about 20 times a day. We visited the Pantheon, which I saw already but I loved it and it doesn't cost anything so I was more than happy to hang out there for a while.
In case your interested, it's really hot here. 40 degrees during the day, and 30 at night. Bit of a killer, and a sweaty upper lip doesn't photograph well.

Next to Siena then Florence, then the south of France! Bonjour wine.