Albergo Rondo Acqui Terme

... them like that any more (thank f**k!). I can't even remember how to ask for 2 beers (which is my current minimum requirement. It's 3 when Jamie's around). The lack of lingistic skills I have would be acceptable in most circumstances, but travelling with a Yank who is fluent in 2 languages that most Americans are even aware exist?!? Now that just doesn't seem right.

so left avignon today with thoughts to head to cinque terre, but due to traffic jam only made it as far as arenzano. found a cute pensione and jason was getting sick of driving so seemed like a good place to stop. tried a few others but was like walking through a sad run down old people town so didn't make it more than 5 mins there. well, happy hour time now, so will write more later....

... place was closed and then got lost for 3 hours searching for somewhere to eat. A local bar told me to climb down the layers of roads to a pizza place which i could never find. I found the dog from Turner & Hooch standing up with his head and front legs over a tiny fence staring at me. Scared the s((t out of me! I eventually found the bus to take me back up the mountain and am now full on chocolate croissants and chips from ...

... more about the trip! We got the camper on Tuesday and left immediately! Our friend Justin (From Australia) was going to Genoa also so we told him to jump in the back and come for a road trip! The trip from Barcelona to Genoa was a long one but it was fun and we both took a nap in the back while Justin kept the driver company! The rainy weather in Barcelona followed us on our 12 hour drive all the way to Genoa! It was a continous downpour and not the easiest to see but we ...

... the bull's balls in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

Varenna, Bellagio and Lecco are all situated on various parts of Lake Como/it has other names in different areas i.e Lake Lecco. These towns are wonderful!! Especially Bellagio and it is quite famous, many tourists and celebrities go there, and I think sometimes a few things get filmed there? I am unsure.

Bergamo is a city not far from Merate, I caught the train and met some friends who took me around ...

... hier noch ein paar Bilder vom Schiff und vom Mitternachtsbuffet.

Sicher kann man in den wenigen Stunden die man in den einzelnen Städten ist eine Stadt nicht richtig kennen lernen. Man kann nicht jedes berühmte Gebäude anschauen oder alle Museen besuchen. Aber man bekommt doch einen Eindruck von der Stimmung, den Leuten, deren Mentalität. Und es macht Lust auf mehr :) Mehr Städte mit mehr Zeit und vielleicht ein bisschen mehr Sonnenschein, in den nächsten Ferien vielleicht...

... there meant an extra 10-hour trip. So I decided not to go. After sometime, we decided to go to Genova then to Paris the next day. I cancelled the previous booking of my hotel in Paris and booked one on Orbitz. I got a much better deal... our original hotel was over 200 euros per night. The new one in a 4-star Best Western is about 100.

Clara took us to the station while Ricca stayed asleep. We made ...

Written in my notebook

Clara had an appointment and left quite early. Ricca and us went to his papa's apartment for lunch. The food was great. We had beef steak, risotto with porcini mushroom, white wine, etc. I was already stuffed by the steak. Ricca's brother is very good in pool. It was three or 4 something when we set out for ...

... decided to stay back and play cards. Micki & I had a great time by ourselves in Volterra. It was about 30 km from where were were staying and a wonderful drive through the rolling hills of Tuscany. It truly reminded me of the Napa valley and the foothills of northern California, except that there was way less housing density, few fences and hilltop medieval villages everywhere you looked. Okay, maybe not all that similar! Volterrra itself was a very neat town. It specialized in ...

... fight through the same contradiction, especially the travelers that write the travel books. As Alli said, the Cinque Terre has changed and become more crowded even since she was here eight years ago. But people like to share, and what do we do when we find that one pristine beach or village that has gone undiscovered up until now? We tell someone else. So now everyone knows about the Cinque Terre, but in my opinion, I still don't think it matters. It's a corner of the world worth seeing.