Troy’s Random Ramblings

Nice to Florence via Pisa today. Fairly short day on the road today, thankfully. Stopped off at a roadside rest stop and had some genuine Italian pizza for lunch then hit the road for Pisa.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was started around 1100AD and finally finished in the 1300’s. It was built in three stages with the tower already leaning when the second stage was started. Over the years since completion most of the columns made from local stone have been replaced by ones made from stronger stone sourced from other parts of Italy. Recently work was done to pump concrete into the foundations of the tower to prevent it leaning any further and help reduce damage to the building.

Started the day with a trip to a French perfumery, unfortunately my head was so stuffed up that I couldn’t smell anything, so I guess I’ll have to get those pressies in Singapore.

After the perfumery we were dropped in Nice to mix it with the rich and famous and buy ourselves some flash clothes for our night at the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco. Since I didn’t pack any dress pants or shoes I had a bit of shopping to do. Managed to pick up a nice pair of strides and some shoes. Since I was on a roll I got a shirt, belt and socks too.

On the way to the Monte Carlo we did a hot lap of the Monaco grand prix track, not as quick as Schumaker though.

Well the Monte Carlo casino wasn’t really what I was expecting. Unlike Australian or American casinos the Monte Carlo isn’t all loud and flashing lights. Its actually very quiet and subdued but the rooms are all immaculate with enormous chandaliers and ornate frescoes on the ceilings. In general it really does give you the feeling of wealth, the Bentley’s, Masserati’s, Aston Martin’s, Ferrari’s and other European cars parked out th front help. I had a bit of a punt on the roulette table. Didn’t do too bad put €50 on the table and ended up walking away with about €175

Barcelona to Nice today, second longest drive of the trip. Stopped at an old fortified town, Aigues Mortes. Pretty neat little place with people still living in the houses within its walls. The walls surrounding the town are up to 11m thick and they had been unbreached for well over 70 years at one stage.

Eventually we made it to Nice had a few (ok, lots) beers and shots then hit the rack.

A long day on the road today travelling from France to Spain. On the way we stopped at the Punt du Gard for lunch. The Pont du Gard is a truely impressive structure, especially considering that it was built using only block and tackle and is held together with iron clamps rather than mortar.

Eventually we made it to Barcelona and had some sangria and tapas before the sick bodies crawled into bed while those more adventurous went to the bar to continue the festivities.

These couple of days were spend at the french Château de Cruix in the Beaujolais vineyards near Lyon. We had a wine tasting, sampling the local wines. After dinner it was off to the bar where far too much Beaujolais was consumed.

Day 4 was a bit of rest and recuperation. Had a long walk to the top of a hill so we could take in the views. Unfortunately the weather hasn’t been too kind to us and it was really, really cold. As a result about half of us on the bus have a bit of a cold, ranging from a runny nose to an extremely uncomfortable chest cold and cough.