Monday, 27 October 2003, 11:55 (5:55 pm in France)
Subject: In Italy, it's either 20 or 120

Hello to all,   I decided to make a small addition to help you understand what day it is. I believe that it will be less confusing and it will be easier for me too.   Thursday 23 October:   The last time, I left you in Antibes but it was really the village of Juan les Pins. As I told you, I was trying to marry convenience, parking, and price. So after a restless night where it rained very hard and the thunder woke me up, I retraced my steps to visit Cannes. Effectively, it was easier in the morning because there were much fewer people. Moreover, they were in the process of preparing for another festibal, and they were closing the roads as I left. So I strolled around a bit on the Boulevard de la Croisette, which I should tell you is quite long, and then I drove on to Nice to dine at the edge of the beach near the Promenade des Anglais.

After that I continued on, choosing the 3 corniches, the three cliff-roads -- the real ones, this time, because I made the mistake of thinking they were near Marseilles the last time. From the beautiful twisting, winding road there were superb views. I passed by Monaco to end my journay at Menton with the intention of visiting Monaco the following morning. In fact, Menton is so close to Italy that I had to make a U-turn in Italy to get back to my hotel in France when I passed right by it. In changing that night, I noticed that I had spent the entire day with a white spot of sea-gull droppings on my good dark blue sweater, which was rather annoying!

Friday the 24th of October:

I got up early to visit Monaco and saw among other things the Palace of the Price, the Casino, and the Paris Café. It was very beautiful but it cost a lot of money to stay there. Everything is on the side of the mountain and it breathes opulence. There was even an exposition of luxury gifts for corporations. I walked around and went to see the tunnel F1 pilots flew through after the Grand Prix. It's terrifying -- those pilots really had guts to fling themselves at top speed through that space.

I left again about noon and went into Italy for real. I chose route SP1 which went along the sea and admired the calm scenery -- NOT! This dratted road began by going through every little village along the sea and all that that implies, dangerous motorbikes, pedestrians, traffic snarls, and lots more. All that was okay until the coastline was too jagged and the road began to literally cling to the side of the mountains. [These are the foothills of the Alps.] No tunnel, no bridge, simply a succession of tight curves and you can't focus on any scenery. You have to pay close attention because behind each curve may be a care, and the view is obstructed by dense foliage on each side. Moreover, it is impossible to pass another car, because the sinous curves come closely one after the other, which means that it takes twice as much time as going on a straight road for 50 km. After covering 25 km in two hours, I decided to take the highway to get past Genoa because the SP1 crossed through the entire city and it was already after 4:00 in the evening.

As for the highway, the only way to construct a straight line was to build bridges and tunnels. In this part of the highway, there were a great many tunnels, each pretty long, and you spent quite a bit of time in the dark inside. You couldn't see much, but at least it was progress. It was either go 20 km/h (12 mph) through the villages or 120 (75 mph) on the highway, and I made the sacrifice for a little while. I stopped a little beyond Genoa in a little village called Lavagna.

One word aside, I am only relating my own experiences, you must not think that I am complaining about the situation or that I am unhappy. If I had wanted to do this trip the easy way, I would have taken an organized trip and come by bus like most people do. Or I would have taken the train and gotten to my destination in 2 or 3 days. What is wonderful about this way of traveling is that can truly experience every thing. I have the choice of taking the direction I choose, and that is what adds a special excitement. Close parenthesis.

Saturday the 25th of October:

When I got up, I decided to give the SP1 another chance and to take it all the way to see what was happening there. The same line of close hairpin curves and after 2 hours and 31 kilometers there was a sign for the highway. At least I made some progress, but it was interminable. I continued along to a town called La Spazia and I go off there to re-evaluate the situation. Good decision, because the terrain had begun to change and the hills had given way to a flatter terrain. So I returned to the SP1 headed for Pisa.

On arriving in Pisa, I realized that the town of Pisa is quite small. By luck, there was the Tower. One good things is that the site of the Tower is off to one side, and one can see it quite well. After a little tour and some photos, I set off again for Florence. I arrived rather early to leave me time to reserve a hotel. Happily so, because there too parking was a problem. I dumped the car in the first hole I found, noted the spot on my map, and ran off. I registered in a hotel close to the center of town, in order to be able to park. I was already dreading Rome, happy that the Pope held his party last weekend. I would have had a great time finding a hotel with hundreds of thousands of the faithful in town.

I finished my day lazying about Florence in order to orient myself and find the sites that I was going to visit the next day.

Sunday the 26th of October:

We changed back to Standard Time tonight, and in principal we gained an hour. I know exactly where that hour went, standing on line to visit the Gallery of the Uffizis. In effect, I waited in the freezing cold [literally cold enough for a duck] two and a half hours to get into the museum. Meanwhile, the wait was well worth it because I was able to see the original paintings of masters like Michelangelo, Botticelli, Urbino, Giotto, Raphael, etc. The paintings were marvelous but the marble gallery was truly impressive.

After my visit, I made a detour by the Pont Vecchio and the Palazzo Pitti. I climbed back up toward the Piazza Croce to go next to the Piazza della Signora. The loggia which is there exhibits beautiful original marble statues, and some copies. One of the copies a little to one side is the David of Michelangelo, of which the original is in the Uffizi Gallery. Next I want to see the Piazza del Duomo where the cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flowers and the Baptistry with its famous bronze doors. Next it was the Medici Chapel with the tomb of Michelangelo and the Gallery of the Academy. I visited it mostly to see the original David and the other great works that are there.

When I came out, it had begun to rain and anyway it was getting rather late. So I headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next time

Paul

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