Day 82 to 92

Day 82 to 92 (END)

Day 82: Saturday 10^th September

As a continuation from the last blog, I would like to remind everyone never, ever to do the overnight bus from Barcelona to Nice. We got to Nice at about 12:30pm and as the bus station was miles out from the centre, we had to get a taxi to our hostel. The actual location of the hostel was pretty amazing. It was only a block back from the beach!

After checking in and showering the two of us had a lovely nap (well needed!). We then went to the supermarket and bought enough food for the next couple of days. The hostel had a guest kitchen and living area which were combined so after shopping, we went and sat and socialized with many of the other travelers staying in the hostel. The majority of people were Australian but there were also people from England, Argentina, Russia and France.

We made a simple pasta for dinner and then had a really early night as we were absolutely exhausted.

Day 83: Sunday 11^th September

We slept in, and then had a really nice breakfast which was provided by the hostel. The two of us then headed down the road towards the beach! Nice’s beach is not a sandy beach but instead a rocky beach.

Nice Beach 

Both Katherine and I thought it was a beautiful beach. To be honest, the rocks were more than slightly uncomfortable at first to lie on but eventually you get used to it. We spent about five hours just lying in the sun, reading, listening to our iPods and swimming.

Generally, it was really relaxing day. There isn’t much else to say about the day. We finished it with home made pasta and a bottle of white wine whilst chatting to the other travelers. A good finish to a good day!

Day 84: Monday 12^th September

Today was slightly more eventful compared to the previous two days. After breakfast, Katherine and I caught the train to Cannes, which is another town along the French Rivera. It took about 45 minutes to get there and it was a really short walk to the beach. The beach was gorgeous.

Cannes Beach

Unlike the beach at Nice, it was a sandy beach. Although whilst I say that, it was almost like dirty sand as there were still small rocks scattered throughout the sand. We spent about 4 hours just lying in the sun and swimming which was very, very relaxing before then catching a train back to Nice.

Once at Nice, we showered and then headed to the common area to hang out with the other travelers. We made friends with an Australian guy who was traveling on his own, named Matt, a guy named Tony, a couple of Turkey and a guy from Russia. We had dinner and then continued to have a couple of drinks with everyone.

Then, we decided that we wanted to go out. So, after asking the receptionist, we found a place to go. I then made the choice to wear high shoes because I had to practice as I have to wear them in seven days at the Blue and White. Basically, this was a silly mistake. Walking to the venue…all was good. We went with a group from the hostel and when we got to Waynes (the bar/club), Katherine and I headed to the dance floor, whilst they all went and got drinks. Unfortunately, on the way to the dance floor, there was three steps… I only thought there was two…. You can imagine what happened next, I was on the ground. I had the notion that all was okay, I only thought my foot was hurting because I was in high shoes, but apparently not. When we went outside, some guy asked if I was okay, I said “yes..” but he then pointed to my foot, it was covered in blood.

Essentially, when I had fallen over I must have cut my foot and it was a really deep cut because it wouldn’t stop bleeding. Katherine was off chatting to the locals to find somewhere to go dancing that week and so had no idea what was occurring. When she turned around to find me, she found me surrounded by the guys from the hostel, helping me with my foot. Katherine went and got a first aid kit from the bouncer and once we had tried to fix it up, we headed back to the hostel… mind you, we did stop by Maccas on the way J

Day 85: Tuesday 13^th September

After waking up and discovering that firstly, my foot was still bleeding and secondly, that I couldn’t actually walk on it – I realised that I seriously needed to go to get it checked out.

We ate breakfast relatively fast and after quickly speaking to Mum we headed off to the pharmacy which was luckily just a block away.

The pharmacist seemed rather bemused with my foot and gave me some spray to stop the bleeding and covered it with a large water proof band aid thing. After, the pharmacy, Katherine and I decided that I should rest my foot and so we just hung around the hostel for the remainder of the afternoon.

That night, the hostel was holding beach party to say goodbye to one of the guests who had been there for nearly two weeks. We started off in the hostel in the common area having drinks and dinner and then at about 10ish we headed off to the beach. The hostel was lovely enough to provide towels to sit on, free French goon (cask wine) and chips! The party was good fun. We met basically everyone who was staying at the hostel at the time and had a good chat.

Eventually, we then decided it was time to go to bed, so we wondered back to the hostel at about 2.

Day 86: Wednesday 14^th September

After breakfast, Katherine and I headed back to the pharmacy and there was little to no improvement on my foot. The pharmacist decided that I should go to the doctor about my foot, so, after trying one doctor (which was closed), we found one who stuck my foot together and dressed it. He informed me that I was not to touch it for six days.

After the doctor ordeal, Katherine and I had sandwiches for lunch. We then headed off to the beach where we lay around for a good three hours.

Photos of the Beach

That night after dinner, we just hung around the hostel and watched movies. 

Day 87: Thursday 15^th September

We checked out after breakfast and then chatted to family until about lunch time. At about twelve we eventually walked (well I hobbled) to the station where we caught a train to Ventimiglia in Italy. Ventimiglia is a town on the Italian Riviera. It is almost untouched by tourists, so not many people… well hardly anyone spoke English. It was very, very lucky that I spoke some Italian – so we could at least communicate in some way.

The train took about an hour and once there we walked from the station to our accommodation. We were staying in these guest rooms which we described as a hostel but for an older crowd. The place was right down the road from the beach which was lucky.

So, we checked in and then went and wondered around the area. It was a truly beautiful area. It was surrounded by mountains and the mountains were almost constantly in either fog or clouds whilst the beach was always sunny.

For dinner, we wondered along the beach and found a local restaurant which was delicious. After dinner, we hung around in a room for a bit before then going to sleep.

Day 88: Friday 16^th September

Today, we slept in (which was divine) and then after a quick breakfast, we wondered down to the beach. We spent probably three hours lying in the sun, listening to music before we went and got some lunch. We got a basic pizza for lunch at a beach bar place. As I said before, I don’t think they get many tourists because once all the school kids started arriving at the beach bar and realizing that we spoke English.. they were not very subtle about staring and clearly trying to understand our conversation! We got an ice cream and then headed back to the beach for the afternoon, where we spent about another two hours chilling in the sun. We eventually headed home as we were both baking in the heat and unfortunately due to my foot, I couldn’t go swimming in the water which was actually rather warm. I was really disappointed about it. 

We showered and chilled a bit in the room before then going out for dinner at the same little restaurant as the night before. The waiter recognized us, because as we were leaving, they gave us free shots of lemoncello!

Once back in the room, we attempted to watch some drama in Italian… but we eventually gave up and went to bed.

Day 89: Saturday 17^th September

We slept in a little this morning too, and once we got dressed and packed, we decided that we probably should have a look at the train timetable so that we could get a train to Milan, and then change to go to Florence. Once looking at the timetable… we realized that the train to only Milano would take nearly four hours and that we could either get once at 10:58 or one at 2:58. We quickly decided that the 2:58 one was much too late as we would get to Florence at nearly 9:30 whereas the 10:58 train meant that we would get to Florence at about 6:30. So…. At 10:30, we quickly jumped into a taxi and got to the station at about 10:50, booked our tickets and luckily the train was delayed slightly (as most Italian trains are). The rest of the trip, was pretty simple. We got the next train from Milan to Florence and once in Florence we walked from the station to our hostel.

Florence is a really gorgeous city and those who haven’t already been there… I would definitely recommend that you go. We wondered around the city just getting a feel for where we were and then eventually, we went and had dinner at a restaurant, which was lovely and then continued our walk before heading off to bed.

Day 90: Sunday 18^th September

We had a free hot breakfast provided by the hostel which was lovely before heading off to do a free walking tour of Florence. The tour guide…. Holy moly she was hilarious.

She clearly was not very interested in giving a tour which resulted in half of the group leaving in the first ten minutes. To make matters worse, there was some sort of parade going through the city with at least ten marching bands and baton twirlers to accompany them. Basically… neither Katherine nor I could hear the tour guide so we just wondered along with the group whilst looking at the city.

After the walking tour we went and got lunch and then we wondered back to an area where we had noticed there were markets. Unfortunately, when we got there, the markets were food markets rather than clothes markets which is what we wanted. So, we then wondered back to the hostel to rest my foot for a bit where we spoke a bit to people at home. After about an hour we headed in a different direction to where the walking tour took us and we found markets!!!

They were huge and both of us were probably waaaay too overexcited for what they were. I did a large amount of shopping whilst Katherine just came along for the most part and checked out what was about. Whilst walking through the markets, Katherine got proposed to and I got asked on a date by a married guy with kids – you gotta love Italians.

We had dinner out and then eventually wondered back to the hostel and to bed!

Day 91: Monday 19^th September and Day 92: Tuesday 20^th September

So, after breakfast we checked out and then headed to the station. We caught a train to Rome which took only about an hour and a half where we then met Alfredo. Alfredo picked us up and then we had lunch at his place. Katherine and I spent the afternoon relaxing and packing so that we wouldn’t have to pack on the Tuesday. At about 6ish Ivano came and picked me up and I went back to his house. Please note that this was the longest period of time we spent apart which was a strange thing for both of us.

At Ivano’s we just hung around and caught up on our summers. After dinner, we picked up Ale (his brother) from water polo and then watched Jersey Shore before heading off to bed.

The next morning was pretty slow… we got up, ate breakfast and then headed off to the airport to fly home!