Helvetia Hotel Genoa

... hesitation. You must pick a gap in between the trucks and/or traffic in the slow lane to weave in with. This is not that difficult, as I have said the truck traffic in this lane is moving around 50mph.

Stepping Out: As we all have heard you must be cautious when you step out into the fast lane. Most of the time this is not a problem. But here’s the catch. The cruise speed of the fast lane is between 95 – 105 mph. At this ...

so after getting through the Genova traffic because of the yearly boat show.....we arrived in the nice italian riviera.....had a really nice lunch and decided to stay here the night before heading to florence tomorrow. found a hotel and with a bit of negotiating, got quite a good rate. Jason made me do it because he thought it would help in speaking italian. i guess it did, on, he was right, but only this once lest it go to his head ...

Embarrassing isn't it? The bird (Jamie) speaks the lingo, FLUENTLY, in the 2 countries we've been to so far. And how do I get by? By attempting to communicate with the locals like Terry Scott in an episode of "Terry and June", where they holidayed in France for the week!! Communication menthods being, speak slowly and shout. My word, that was a funny episode! They don't ...

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....

... I sleep.

I'm just kidding, Mom! It's going to be fine. I will be safe. It will be fine. ;)

After Nice and Monte Carlo and Cannes I think I'm going to head north in France to Paris and then continue on to Milan and Lake Como, etc. I have been staying put for shorter stints than I expected.But I think that may also mean I ...

... earlier in the day, so had my suit on. And had just decided to throw on a dress over it and head into town for lunch. I got to the beach and stood calf-deep. Then I sat on the beach. Then I said, "Who needs a towel, I'll air dry! This chick is going swimming."

Then I took the bus home, thank goodness, because the hill to get home is a killer. And last night, because I'm an idiot, not only did I not check the last bus departure time and so missed it ...

... we weaved in and out of tunnels on the way, however there wasn’t much time for sightseeing while travelling at 140kph and being passed by crazy Italian drivers doing 200kph. One thing for sure, the Italians are anything but pokey. I would have loved to give them a run for their money, but the bags would probably have blown off and sent our clothes flying all over the Italian Riviera. The long tour on the Autoroute ended up costing us a whopping 31 Euros, but ...

... lost but managed to find the main road to the harbor; however on the way we found several open doors that lead to an amazing fountain and beautiful courtyards (so obviously we had to take some pictures of those). Once we got down to the harbor you could immediately tell that Renzo Piano had designed it. As I mentioned in the last blog (but for those who I just added to the mailing list), the City of Genova commissioned Renzo Piano (very famous architect) to redesign ...

... highly prized and the technique of night fishing with lamps has remained unchanged. Salting used to be the responsibility of local women, who would wait for the boats to come in, clean the anchovies and salt them in terracotta pots. Salting is a complex operation, since the fish are extremely delicate. The process of aging thus needs to be followed with considerable care. The terraces are about 10 feet wide, and the retaining walls are 3-6 ...

... to some pizza at a place popular with the locals and a big bottle of ice cold Italian beer. On the second day, Anchit and I did our own thing. I took it easy and went to chill by the docks at Manarola, had a drink, had lunch, watched Children play in the water and even went for a swim. Basically what normal people do. Anchit on the other hand decided to go to the Genovi nudist beach to be in one with nature. I was told later that he was disappointed because the place consisted of mainly ...