Adele Marina di Bibbona

... at the kitchen table and we struck up a conversation. I told her about my trip and we discussed our love of Ireland. This topic kept us occupied almost right up until Vilmo picked us up for dinner. Before he arrived Mira warned me about the situation between her and the other woman from Austria, saying that she isn't easy to get along with. I immediately pictured some throwdown like International Realworld 2009. I guess if you put a bunch of strangers ...

Another place Kim went with her Granny last year and wanted to take me to.

As you crest the hill on approach to this hilltop village you see a mini Manhattan skyline... the village has 14 towers (which once numbered 72) erected as a symbol of a family's wealth and power. Most were built in the 13th Century but much on the wealth and towers came tumbling down when the plague got hold of the place.

As usual there are lots of churches and big piazzas and narrow cobbled ...

... for our walk through the walled village. There is a 14th century fort with make up part of the walls. Today it is used as a prison - your not supposed to take photos of it, but I snapped a couple off before I knew... luckily I was not spotted by the local polizi. The town was cute for sure but I'm not sure it deservered all the accolades given to it by other travellers we had met in Lucca. Having said that we did take more photos than usual.

... for the night. The city has several large hills topped with churches and abbeys. We saw a van of nuns pile out at one abbey and another abbey looked just like where the von Trapps hid from the Nazis. They even had an old gate where we saw a nun usher a man (Rolf) out for the evening. The valleys between these Christian buildings are filled with tiny cobblestone streets and they provide a true labyrinth to visitors. Even GPS struggled in this area--it's ...

... for packing into bike bags.

Waiting for the gangway to slowly open, it finally clashed against the shore and spit us out. I felt like Jonah being vomited out of a whale. It’s as if someone said: ‘here you are, now deal!’

The ferry arrived at 5:30pm - right when the sun was setting. So there was no time to find camping out of town. We would need accommodations almost ...

... for a few weeks whilst i went back to work
Belgium to pick up batteries from my dad as the originals were shagged
Luxembourg
Swizterland
Italy
Lake Maggiore (most expensive)
Cremona
Cecina Tuscany where we parked up again whilst i worked

Buon Giorno! This morning we arrived in Italy! Livorno to be exact! Italy's third largest seaport. The port city for Pisa, Florence and the Tuscan region! Our tour of choice - Pisa! Gotta see "The Field of Miracles"!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa or simply The Tower of Pisa (La Torre di Pisa) is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the cathedral ...

... guidebook says it's got a 13 foot foundation, and it's got 200 feet above the ground, all leaning at a 5 degree angle so that the top is 15 feet off the vertical axis. And that thing is heavy. I can't imagine what the stress of all those years of leaning have done to the foundation. And since the engineers working on the tower probably haven't been able to see that either, on the ground I stay. With my luck, it would be me falling down all those crooked ...

Hi there - I have not been to vigilant in writing this up, mainly as noone is reading it as I keep forgetting to tell people about it! I have spent a great week in France, between Toulouse and Carcassone near the Canal du Midi, with a bunch of 6 painting friends, testing out locations for a painting holiday next year - it was great , a superb location, and one that is going to fill up ...

... to the trainstation to grab our packs and off we headed yet again. The train ride was cool, but happened to stopp in this really really smelly town on the way - was quite hillarious though as we all quickly had to grab our shirts and stick em over our face... That wasn't the best smell - however was the better option. haha! Dont really like to finish diary entries off on something like that - but definatly something that we all cacked up laughing about and sticks in my mind.