Jolly Plaza Genoa

... trucks, yet the trucks are prohibited from traveling in the fast lane except for passing other trucks. For the most part the trucks are restricted from traveling faster than 80 kilos per hour on the highway (about 50 mph). This creates the threshold speed that the slow lane progresses at. Less trucks on the road can mean that this lane picks up a little. Entering the highway takes a bit of courage. The onramps are short and there is no time ...

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 ...

... like a little rollercoaster ride! The cabin however was comfortable with the sea rocking you to sleep!Genova So, Genova is really nothing special, you can see why they don't generally bring cruise liners here! There is really nothing much to do ...

18/8/07 Day 20 We get up at 0700 for a change and its all systems go, shower and change, pack up the caravan and we are out the gates before 0900. it's a pretty easy straight drive to Genoa and the tolls are considerably cheaper than France. We have to drive the caravan through the city which was fun, I got my first real taste of scary Italian drivers surrounding you with the caravan and car and you trying not to hit anyone. ROB - I defy anyone to improve on Italian drivers, they ...

... or as Tara likes to call it "Satan's Staircase!" to the tiny town of Vernazza. The brightly painted buildings, hustle of the fisherman and crazy number of tourists did make it seem a bit Disneyland-ish, but we loved every second of it! Now the hike is supposed to last 4.5 hours with the hardest stretch at the beginning... so how much worse could it get 2 hours in and surviving the strenuous trail? Much worse! The trail did not let up, at least not for a while ...

... heat! And of course I am happy as a clam here as it is a seaside town... love it! We arrived yesterday, found a place to stay (expensive!!) and headed out to do the walk to the 5 towns. The first hike is an hour and a half - straight up and stairs.. um, nobody mentioned that before! So we died going up - I had the bright idea that we should only bring one bottle of water instead of constantly carrying to half full bottles that are warm - might ...