Hope and Vanessa's European Adventure

Vanessa says: Greetings or should I say Bonjour! We made it off the ship this morning with only mild annoyances (for some reason their records showed we were to get off the ship yesterday morning so there were a few explanations we had to make throughout yesterday when our sea pass cards made funny sounds in their card readers). This morning we got our rental car and booted it to Aix en Provence. We arrived here earlier than we expected…and we needed it since it turns out yours truly here (Vanitzia for those following along) is not so swell of a navigator down these medieval goat trails. And Mom you will sympathize with Hope because I hadn’t quite eaten enough this morning so I was getting the shakes and turning a bit (okay a lot) snarly about the whole thing. But Spiranza took it all in stride. We seem to have a good balance that way. She just fed me one of her yummy pumpkin granola bars and in short time I was back and good to go.

So we finally found our B&B…it’s…interesting. A teeny room with a loft for our beds. But we do have our own bathroom and it’s quite modern. Right now Hope is napping and I am in the hosts living room using the free wifi (yay!!). We wandered around the old town, of which we’re in a very good location for walking. It’s colder here. We left Toulon and it was beautiful and sunny and got to Aix en Provence, an hour northwest, and it was overcast and chilly. Not sure what the weather will be like tomorrow but we will definately dress warmer for it. We picked up w baguette, some wonderful cheeses and fruit and some local red wine…I’m looking forward to this treat tonite.

Well, I shall sign off as Hope may want to blog next. Au revoir!

I know there is no mistaking my posts from Hope’s, so it’s probably not necessary to say “Vanessa (or Venetzia as I guess I’m now going by) here”!

Florence. What can one say about Florence. A lovely town, as our guide Trudy said today. And what an understatement that was. The copy of the statue of David in one of the piazza’s (there are so many, I forget which one now) was a highlight today. Oh, and of course the jewellery shop, the leather shops (I think it’s really just one continuous leather shop that snakes through the whole town) and if you can believe it, we sniffed out the department store!!! Yes mom, I did drop a little cash in the department store! haha

Score one for the suckeritas today – neither of us spent any money buying painting or knicknacks from the folks in the middle of the piazzas – however I regret not buying a little wooden pinochio (sp?) as this is where he originated!

The countryside here is incredibly beautiful and lush. If you haven’t seen “Under the Tuscan Sun”, you must. It’s exactly like that. This is a place I would definately return to, time and again! On our way out of the core of Florence, our coach took us on a drive overlooking the town, and along the way we passed Andrea Bocelli’s place, and numerous other famous folks I forget at the moment. Really, if you want to travel to Italy, Florence is the place you want to be!

I am sleeping so soundly here. I wonder if it’s the hum/movement of the boat, or the amount of walking we are doing – whatever it is, I’m loving it. The early mornings are not fun and tomorrow is the earliest yet – we leave the boat at 7:45 am. Some of you will just be going to bed.

I’m running out of wifi time, so will sign off. We’re having the time of our lives, thanks for letting us get this down on our blog to help us preserve our memories.

Ciao everyone.

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