Nice place, Nice

There was a slight change of plan to the travel plans I previously mentioned; We did take a train to Monte Carlo and then went onto Nice, however, there was a slight mistake on my part on the location of Cannes; with it being slightly further round the coast. Anyway, we arrived in Monte Carlo on a glorious day (is it always sunny there? can you buy good weather?) and our first stop was the tourist information centre located at the station where we sought information concerning where the nearest youth hostel in Monaco was located. The woman behind the counter looked at me with a pretty blank expression before letting us know that there was no such thing as a youth hostel in Monte Carlo and the cheapest room for the night would come to around 100 Euros... EACH!!! The next issue we quizzed her on was whether there was anywhere to dump rucksacks (quite common at most European train stations where you pay about €3 and can then just gander round the city unheeded) and to this she responded with a blunt "no" so we quickly raced on, backpacks and all, to tour around Monte Carlo asap.

And what a place! 1 in every 3 cars was a vehicle we could but only dream of owning, the police to person's ratio was just frightening, of the hundred or so boats in the harbour in any other harbour would attract a crowd; in essence the place just exuded money. To say we looked like a fish out of water with our rucksacks and cheap 2 euro a piece hats is the understatement of the century... But unfazed we continued to march around the place, taking in all the scenery as we went. After seeing many James Bond films and countless other films that use the Monte Carlo Casino we decided to pay a visit. We each took it turns leaving the rucksacks outside and go into the casino. The €10 euro entry fee was well worth it even if one didn't gamble anything as it was just stunning. Al fresco's and Chandlers, men in suits and ladies in fur throwing thousands of Euros on roulette tables sipping White Russians; all at about 2 o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon, ridiculous. We came out knowing whilst wealth may not buy you happiness; it certainly makes you look good! So we attempted to join that band of men and women by throwing our hat worth €5 (the minimum chip) into the ring otherwise known as a roulette table (the table that allowed the lowest bet)! I'm sad to report that we both lost our respective stakes, but hey we tried...

Onto Nice! We rolled into our hostel that night at about 7 ish, exhausted from the day's activities. However, the smell of the Thanksgiving dinner prepared at the hostel that night really woke us and our taste buds up!! The next day we embarked on a walking tour the city with the manager of the hostel, top bloke. He gave us a really good description of the city and its rich history, including the Societe Generale building where a famous bank robbery took place; apparently this bloke who got bored of his life in the mountains owning a photography shop decided to rob the bank. Apparently he and his men cleaned it dry of £15 million!!! He was later captured after some time due to an anonymous tip off... But not for long! He managed to escape from custody, after devising a devilish ploy to arrange a meeting with the judge, by jumping over roofs and onto the back of a waiting motorcycle, gave the V to the startled judge before setting off into the sunset, never to be seen again (Or something like that). Only half the money was ever recovered. Anyway the tour continued and took us round the old town, the fruit and flower market and old historical sites.

That night we went to Wayne's bar which was sold to us by the hostel as a must see. First impressions weren't great with huge angry bouncers and expensive drinks. However we were forewarned about this so stuck around till the live band came on. Again first impressions of a potbellied lead singer from York and a rusting old French backing band, left a lot to be desired. Then the music got going, people almost instinctively knew what to do and everyone in the place climbed onto the nearest long school canteen style bench or table, or to be honest anything more than a foot off the ground!!! They guys played a real eclectic mix and were often their own dj's mixing up the songs, truly unique!!!

The next day we sped off down the French coast to Cannes to see where the celebs of the film industry have graced their presence. However, the terrible weather meant we spent most of the time in the local pub playing pool with a load of French guys (god they can't play) and watching Aston Villa get hammered by Arsenal. Not a good day for George! However, we did take a stroll along the beach front and saw where all the premiers and awards are presented. We then hiked up to the castle and gazed over the fantastic view of the bay on both sides before returning on the train to Nice.

Where shalt thou hear from me next? Well we're currently on a train to Barcelona (I've always wanted to see La Famillia Sagrada, aka the Gaudi Cathedral) and then onto Madrid, Lisbon, who knows after that!!! Anyway we have just passed through some salt marshes with Pink Flamingos (we think), Herons, Starlings and well, loads of other birds and wildlife we just don't know the names of on the train which was kind of weird having on one side the Catalan Mountains in the distance and salt marshes and estuaries before that. Really stunningly beautiful!

Sorry havnt made this as exciting as the last one and will see if I can upload some pictures later-been really busy and tired.

Armed Robbery!

But anyway.....We finished last time saying we were going to visit our friend Sam in Sienna. Well surprise surprise and a few trains later we arrived in Sienna! So after meeting him he then promptly gave us a guided tour round the place with the sights and smells! In particular the main Piazza (god knows the name) where they run a biannual horse race with crazily tight corners on the cobbles (absolute madness as we saw in the videos and pictures in the tourist info). However me and George both looked at each other with the (this looks familiar, but where from?) look. Sam duly spotted our bemused faces and informed us we had see it in the latest James Bond film (Quantum of Solace) where he pops up in the square with the horse race and so begins a gun fight in the crowd!
(Below George with Sam (on the right) in front the Piazza de Horse race!)

Anyway we spent the evening looking out upon the city from the city walls admiring the Duomo (cathedral with a dome we think) and the surrounding Tuscan landscape sipping on dirty cheap €2 Tuscan wine from plastic cups, classy!!!! The next day we continued to explore the city before departing for an afternoon in Florence. Whilst we only spent 10 hours in Florence we did see most of it! From David to the Santa Maria Cathedral?(we have seen enough Churches now they are kind of merging into 1, but it was the main one anyway) with backpacks on, a feat in itself, before enjoying an ice-cream in front of the train station at dusk with a fantastic display of Starlings in flight!
(Below, thats right Duff beer straight from the Simpsons, we had to try it!!)

We then departed our train to Rome that evening arriving at the Hostel my dear mother had been so kind to book for us!! Indeed first impressions were more of a brothel than a Hostel with its red light n the window and as we entered, seedy flashing almost Christmas style LED lights and quite disgusting pink walls!! Anyway the eccentricity of the place was complemented by the other guests!! Indeed yesterday celebrating the birthday of a now 29 year old Aussie (they are everywhere in Europe, but great people nevertheless) over a few cold ones and a lovely meal out!

Anyway the day after arriving we decided to cram in as much as we could, planning to do the Vatican city in a few hours. Bad call, the queues were small as it was low season and it only cost us €16 in total (bonus!!) but the sights were huge!! St.Peter's Basilica was truly stunning, al frescos everywhere and sculptures as large as houses. The extravagance of the place is best summed up by Georges comment on the altar with its large structure covering it (please inform me what its proper name is),"put a mattress on that and it would be a sweet 4 Poster!!" But after that we visited the tomb of the Popes; glorified graveyard and a pretty morbid place but nevertheless a pretty interesting place with people praying at the graves especially to the last one, Pope John Paul II. We then proceeded onto the Vatican Museum, aka the Sistine Chapel and little crappy museum. What a place the chapel! We spent over an hour there just gazing up and around and both agreed it was just too much to take in that time; truly stunning. Later that day we visited the Coliseum, but even though it was insanely impressive that 2000 years ago the Romans managed to create a build something with a capacity equivalent to Old Trafford, it didn't match the beauty of the Sistine Chapel!!

Moving swiftly onto the title of this piece, the armed robbery. Walking along the street to go the Vatican I suggested to George that a takeaway slice of Pizza might be a good shout for lunch and we promptly entered into this tiny cafe. Anyway whilst we were choosing our slices we heard a massive crash behind us. We turned around and saw this woman on the floor. Thinking she had fallen off her chair we were about to help her when we realised it was a lot more serious than that; two guys had entered the shop and swiped the couples laptop bags. The boyfriend then protested to the two men and was about to have a scuffle when one of the robbers brought out a .44 Magnum which as Dirty Harry would say, "is the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head right off!" Well that day, with the gun about foot away, we weren't feeling lucky, punk! Anyway the guys then threatened the whole shop and then legged it down the street. Anyway the woman was in shock and so was treated in the ambulance and the guy also looked a bit shaken up. So we waited around for the police to show up. As they rocked up and started finding out information we tried to help as we were the only other people in the shop and between us had a fairly good description of what the guys looked like and the people who were robbed looked pretty shaken up. The police then told us that they didn't need us at all. We protested and at least tried to give them some sort of contact details. "Nono, donta worrie it's all okay, ci senor?" Basically they knew they were long gone and it was pointless. Anyway, don't tell me off about staying in rough cheapy areas etc. We were in a nice area, it was just ours and the robbers paths crossed! 1 in a hundred million!
(Below the birthday party and bottom the scene of the armed robbery( I cant seem to rotate it, apologies so just tilt your head))

Anyway were currently travelling to Nice from Rome and are currently on a train from Torino to Savone then onto Monaco, Cannes then Nice. As I look out the window I see the beginnings of the alps, snow capped and looking pretty formidable and rolling Italian countryside on this cold winters day, absolutely stunning!
Ps. I will try to keep this as updated as possible however free wifi spots (wireless internet to joe blogs) are generally few and far between!! Especially on overnight trains!! Oh and also if you are disgruntled at the lack of pictures (it's a complete ass to upload them onto the blog at the moment) Im thinking of setting up a Flicker account to post a "selection" of photos that you will all be able to see. Those who are technologically incapable, don't worry I will post instructions about the site and how to access when it eventually comes about (most likely not on this current European adventure but on the following 9/10 month tour round the globe) but for the moment, cope!!!

Big Change of Plan

Ok so not huge, but from the previous blogs plan of visiting the, "ruins of Pompeii and if the weather is ok(ish) head up Vesuvius then catch a train to Rome!!" it change substantially. Ill explain. Well that night we met a really nice Aussie girl called Izzy and we then visited the next day ruins with her. The ruins... Well didn't quite expect them to be as large as they were. It's like a city in its own right and apparently there is a significant proportion under the current city of Pompeii that surrounds the ruins yet to be excavated. I mean we got lost in the place and had to take directions from some Frenchies (very surreal asking directions around a deserted city). We then decided to spend another day in Naples to hopefully go up Vesuvius as the previous day it had been overcast and were advised by a PhD grade geologist from Bristol (me in a few years hehe) not to bother going if it was overcast as we probably wouldn't see a few metres in front (let alone the spectacular views of the bay).That was fine though as it meant another chance to enjoy Gino's (aka Mr. €3 Pizza). Come 24 hours later, probably worse conditions than the day before with overcast and misty conditions. Truly gutted, we found out from the bartender that another attraction in Naples was the Subterranean tour visiting the maize of underground aqueducts built by the Greeks, expanded by the Romans, used as a rubbish dump in the 18^th century and then as bomb shelters in WW2. We heeded his advice and promptly made our way to the small Street in the old part of the town with Gino's and several old and beautiful churches. Finding the small entrance amongst the maze we promptly joined a tour and were led initially into the tiny house which used to part of a roman theatre. Not seriously impressed by "her word" that there used to be a Roman theatre were we stood and also the "recreation" of an old style Napolian (have I spelt this right?) house, she then threw a bed against a wall and proudly announced the second half of the tour was beginning as she lifted a trap door and lead us into the cellar. Well what a treat, for the next hour and half our small group were led around the tunnels and caverns in the underground, at one point being given candles to guide out way through a claustrophobic tunnel which only caving could match. Well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in this city. After this obviously headed to Gino's with a Brazilian who was on the tunnel tour with us.

Anyway as I said there was "big change of plan". Well this is the second part of it, the night of the ruins we looked at the map and train times and spotted that a visit to Sicily, in particular its largest city of Palermo , was a) extremely tempting as neither of us had ever been to Sicily and b) do-able !!!! So that night after saying goodbye to everyone in the hostel we boarded a train to Palermo taking 13 hours. Also a major first for us both was that the train boards a train. Very strange experience waking up at 2am to a loud bang and shudder (due to the train being locked in position) then looking out the window and seeing a sort of metal capsule surrounding your train and working out we must be on a boat!!

Anyway we rocked into Palermo at about 10 this morning and immediately started stripping layers!! Much hotter than Naples. Anyway what a beautiful city. Much cleaner than both Milan and Naples but just as interesting!! Really nice old quarter with every era of Architecture you could imagine. Another big plus is that whilst crossing the road is still 50/50 skill and luck (drivers in Italy have a major issue with Pedestrians and just tend to speed up towards you) there seem to be less cars in general but also more traffic jams easing the problems! Anyhow, we are staying at a fairly large hostel with few people in it. Meaning a fairly dull and empty atmosphere. However there was this one particular Aussie bloke, about 50 years old but looked more like 40. I sat down upstairs with George and initiated the conversation with the indisputable ice breaker of, "Travelled far?" or something along those cheesy lines. Anyway, the conversation was pretty boring and he spoke soft and quiet so George quickly turned his attention to some Germans who had just sat down and were mad about Dortmund Fc. However we too moved on to sport with the again age old, "scarred about the Ashes?". He replied ,"didn't know they were on, what the score?" Shocked, turned out he was the first Aussie I had met who severely disliked sport (turned out not a fan of music, the arts or general any other cultural activities). In fact it turned out his life was pretty much as simple as you could get. He fruit picked for the growing seasons and would travel the rest of the year preferring the quieter, less touristy seasons often visiting his brother in Germany. He never craved riches or fame, often finding comfort in his home brewing!! But anyway, we're off back up the coast of Italy to Rome and then arriving and hopefully catching a train to Sienna to visit our friend Sam Hobbs whose teaching English there.
On a final note anyone know a good simple curry recipe? Whilst pizza and pasta here are something else, damn Id settle for an Indian right now.

Ps, sorry for the delay in posting and subsequent essay, will try to keep em short, sweet and not so rambling!!

Venice to the Bay of Naples

Just re-read the last one...bit of a crap read, hopefully will learn the lessons for this one. Well kicking off from last one we arrived in the centre of Venice on a fairly rubbish day however we were greeted by a stunning canal side picturesque view right outside the train station. Deciding that we shouldn't really spoil the magic of this city on such a terrible day with the forecast not looking so beautiful for the foreseeable future we dropped our bags off at the train station for a few hours and toured the city. We visited St. Marks cathedral and Piazza but also other much less well known but equally beautiful churches and in the process got hopelessly lost; having no map as tourist info charged a ridiculous fee for them. Another gripe about Italy is that all tourist infos I have visited in the past from Belgrade to Zermatt have offered free maps whereas here they have decided that the can provide info but all paper costs at least €2.50 a pop or as in Naples the tourist info had no maps what so ever. Anyway the canals in Venice were something else; I once heard the Birmingham tourist board boasting that they had more canals than Venice. Well maybe so but in terms of density Venice takes first place with me and George nearly falling in one at a dead end. I mean who finishes a street off with a sheer drop into a canal? Furthermore I didn't know it was first completely car free city centre, very enjoyable experience seeing everything from UPS deliveries to rubbish collections happening on canal boats. As I have said, whilst we thoroughly enjoyed our time there we felt that this was a place to savour rather than delve deeper so we took the night train to Naples (13 hours) however we were able to have an entire 6 person carriage compartment to ourselves, RESULT!! A full night's luxury sleeping before arriving at about 10 this morning. Arriving in Naples we quickly decided with our growing beards (more like horrendous bum fluff) and lack of a shower that a youth hostel would come in handy for that night. However upon exiting the train station the smell of rotting garbage was everywhere, worse than Milan. Huge piles of rubbish at the side of streets had developed, some about 40ft long and higher than me. Upon arriving at the hostel we were told that as the Mafia has primary control of rubbish collection and that they had taken large quantities of rubbish off other cities and quickly filled up the last remaining dump and now for the past few weeks rubbish has been piling up.

Undaunted we quickly set off to see the sights of Naples first visiting the nearby castle (name forgotten) then moving through Piazza after Piazza contain art galleries and a very impressive city hall before finally arriving at Aljgustec funicular train station. Here we caught a rather speedy train up to the top of a local hill with stunning panoramic views across the bay including Vesuvius. Descending again we then ventured into an older part of the town with a sort of Christmassy Market type feel at the moment eventually stumbling upon the hostel recommended restaurant. It opened at 7 and there was a queue outside at about 5 to. We were treated to some truly stunning pizza. We thought at €3 for a Margareta they would be fairly small so ordered 3 between the 2 of us as we had missed lunch. Bad call.....At about half 8 we waddled our way of Gino Sorbilo's.

The future. Tomorrow the plans to go to the ruins of Pompeii and if the weather is ok(ish) head up Vesuvius then catch a train to Rome!!




 

1st Blog

Well here I am, 6 days into my year(ish) long adventure around this place we call earth and I have decided that a blog is most likely the best way to inform all interested parties of my travels. Furthermore it should also serve to prevent worried/annoyed texts from my parents,”where are you, news? Email? Phone call?” Anyway, a bit of news of my current location: at 14:45 Italian time I am sitting on a train from Milan to Venice after being kicked off a previous one at Brescia for failing to have a seat reservation. No biggy but the ticket inspector was a bit of a dick and tried to charge me and George Bellshaw (my travelling companion for the month long European leg of my trip) €36 for the pleasure of his “rapido e cleano” train and after I protested I had no cash he offered to take us to an ATM at Venice and pay him there. We politely told him to “jog on” and quickly disembarked the train at the next station, and now we are on a free train (with our Interrail passes) on the way to Venice, albeit at a slightly more sedate pace. But that’s probably more desirable as the scenery, whilst largely obscured by cloud and mist on a fairly crappy Italian day is truly stunning. A place to bring the wife/girlfriend!

Where have you been though? Well we flew into Koln and met our friend Alistair Eggo, who is working for a gold company (buying precious gold family treasures, in times of economic hardship, off elderly widows then melting it down and selling it for double to China). Anyway luckily we arrived for Carnival. Little bit nervous though, we had it in our mind that it was some sort of Neo-Nazi festival as it was starting on Thursday 11^th November at 11 o clock (aka 2 minute silence on Armistice Day)! Anyway turned out it was a complete coincidence, and the idea was that it was meant to kick off at 11/11/10   11:11 and 11, phewwww!! Anyway it was a massive German folk music/fancy dress party (a pic is provided of our costumes)! So after spending 4 days with our friend living with him and his boss dining exclusively on pot noodles and local Bratwurst we departed on an overnight train to Milan. Anyway upon arriving in Milan we discovered that it was only one of the biggest derby games in the world, AC vs. Inter! Que George and I scrambling down to the San Siro. However again que disappointment of the fact it was a) a sell-out and b) €150 a ticket from touts! Wounded, we watched it in a pub (Italians really haven’t got the concept of a pub with coffee and antipasti featuring heavily). Anyway Milan is a really beautiful city in the centre, but only in the centre. A few hundred metres down from classy shopping malls near the cathedral with Pianists playing open air Chopin, you see almost abject poverty and filth. Another gripe about Milan is the transport system. Whilst cheap at the €3 for 24 hours, nobody seems to have a clue where they are going, for example we jumped on the tram from the San Siro heading back into the centre of town having been told by some local women to follow them as they were heading back that way. Well after about 10 minutes we arrived exactly back at the same point, anyway in typical Italian flare and dramatization a huge argument kicked off between the Italian passengers and driver. Eventually we made it back.    Anyway this morning we headed off to Venice and well that’s just about it. Will post next update when I get chance!

Hope you enjoy reading these blogs and hopefully they become better reads overtime. If not, cope!