Wednesday 16 April 2008
Tip of the Day
Despite what the lonely planet phrase book says "Vas-y Molo" does not mean Easy Tiger and should not be used in a flirty voice, it is considered fairly harsh and insulting, may result in facial injury.
Tuesday 15 April 2008
The Two Week Road Trip - A Summary of Italy
I have skipped ahead a little bit here, but I think this is a story worth telling, and a half!
So we had set off into the Alps and had gone for some of the more daring mountain passes that snaked the sides or mountains and passed hidden valleys, each with its own stream glistening and clear, a purity or water you just don't see that often in England. Since we were taking quite a long trip darkness soon enveloped us before we reached the Great Dolomite Road, a stretch of road that is meant to have some of the most stunning scenery in the alps. We decided to stop the night and head into Italy the next morning.
So after a (Pretty damn cold!) night of sleeping in the mountains we started up the car and headed down one of the Alps most beautiful, and still relatively unknown, scenic routes. I was not disappointed by the view, the breathtaking mountains still capped with snow at the end of summer. A valley sprawled out before us, lush greenery shimmered in the sunlight, despite the wind chilled temperature.
It was therefore with regret that we passed through the alps with a fair speed and headed into Venice. Now as you may or may not know Venice is a city of romance, therefore two guys, both slightly travel worn after two days without a shower, were slightly wary of entering this city. However the sights must be seen and Venice is, if not anything else, somewhere you must say you have been.
I have to admit in St Paul's square the architecture is stunning, the buildings laden with adornment and towering above the city with both majesty and a hidden grace. But Dear god... the tourists... EVERYWHERE, for any Americans reading this blog, you were the worst, parties of schoolchildren blocking the narrow streets, handled by frazzled teachers lost by the street signs that had sometimes quite artistically been drawn over to point the wrong way. The family groups bellowing above the crowds with words like quaint and pretty.
I think I would have really liked Venice if I had more time and less tourists. May I point out I did not notice the smell of Venice, but as previously mentioned I had not showered for two days at this point.
From Venice we headed towards Milan. Now Milan is remembered for a lot of reasons by a lot of people, for us however it consisted of arriving at 10, getting lost in a horrific one way system, Kieth running out of cigs around 1am, Kieth losing his rag at lack of nicotine at 2am, the both of us finally giving up any hope of finding our hostel at 4 am and decided that Italy could quite simply Fuck itself we were going to France.
So we began driving to France at about 5 am we pass through a town and we decide to head up through the town to the otherside where there was a Forrest, assuming we could find somewhere to kip for the night. As we progressed through the town the streets got narrower, the houses leaned more but eventually we entered the woods, i pointed out signs that said something along the lines of 'privee' but Kieth was determined.
Eventually the road turned to gravel and started to go down hill, then quite steeply downhill. Kieth finally agreed that perhaps we had gone the wrong way and pt the car into reverse. We didn't move, however the car did begin to fill with a rather sharp acidic carbon smell. So at half five in the morning I found myself getting out to push, and let me point this out a rather hefty 17 year old BMW up a gravel hill. Then the dogs started barking.
My thoughts for that specific moment in time can be summed up quite simply as 'Shit'
Fortunately with reverse and my pushing we managed to move the car into a layby, turn it around and get on our way, though we did give the car engine just a few seconds to cool down!
As we headed back through the town a police van headed past us at speed, since neither of us spoke any decent Italian we counted blessings on that one.
Fuck Italy we said and got back on the road to France.
Now After navigating Kieth onto the motorway I dropped off to sleep here, I know, poor wingmanship and all, but there you go. Kieth still will not tell me how many times we nearly died that night.
Needless to say eventually he pulled into a car park, I vaguely remember waking up at this point but the car was warm the radio was lulling me and I soon dropped off again.
The next morning I awoke and had a little food to eat, Kieth got up a little later and after we refreshed ourselves we decided to head on. So with the fuel of finally getting out of this country in our hearts we went to set off, Kieth stuck they keys in the ignition turned them and... nothing...
Ahh.
The radio was on
The heating was on
I'm pretty sure we left a light on.
Fuck.
Fortunately after a half hour of relaxing in the sun I spied someone who looked fairly mechanicish, I finally got hm to understand and me, him and his mate helped us push the car around the car park. Again, this is a very old, very heavy BMW. Despite our best efforts, and nearly catching a couple of times we got nothing. Fortunately for us the guy offered to go and ring a mechanic, nice chap we thought.
Bastard, we thought, over two hours later. as we decided to wait until twelve before seeking further assistance. Fortunately though with a shining sun, we didn't mind relaxing a little bit after the previous days antics.
Eventually Kieth decided to try his luck in a local restaurant with pidgin Italian (Uno Telephono Gratzi) All Kieth got was no no no form the restaurant and pointed to the door. As Kieth walked out the restaurant owner pointed him to the right of the restaurant, and there, around five hundred yards away was, you guessed it, a bloody big garage. within five minutes we had a new battery installed and we were on our way.
So we had set off into the Alps and had gone for some of the more daring mountain passes that snaked the sides or mountains and passed hidden valleys, each with its own stream glistening and clear, a purity or water you just don't see that often in England. Since we were taking quite a long trip darkness soon enveloped us before we reached the Great Dolomite Road, a stretch of road that is meant to have some of the most stunning scenery in the alps. We decided to stop the night and head into Italy the next morning.
So after a (Pretty damn cold!) night of sleeping in the mountains we started up the car and headed down one of the Alps most beautiful, and still relatively unknown, scenic routes. I was not disappointed by the view, the breathtaking mountains still capped with snow at the end of summer. A valley sprawled out before us, lush greenery shimmered in the sunlight, despite the wind chilled temperature.
It was therefore with regret that we passed through the alps with a fair speed and headed into Venice. Now as you may or may not know Venice is a city of romance, therefore two guys, both slightly travel worn after two days without a shower, were slightly wary of entering this city. However the sights must be seen and Venice is, if not anything else, somewhere you must say you have been.
I have to admit in St Paul's square the architecture is stunning, the buildings laden with adornment and towering above the city with both majesty and a hidden grace. But Dear god... the tourists... EVERYWHERE, for any Americans reading this blog, you were the worst, parties of schoolchildren blocking the narrow streets, handled by frazzled teachers lost by the street signs that had sometimes quite artistically been drawn over to point the wrong way. The family groups bellowing above the crowds with words like quaint and pretty.
I think I would have really liked Venice if I had more time and less tourists. May I point out I did not notice the smell of Venice, but as previously mentioned I had not showered for two days at this point.
From Venice we headed towards Milan. Now Milan is remembered for a lot of reasons by a lot of people, for us however it consisted of arriving at 10, getting lost in a horrific one way system, Kieth running out of cigs around 1am, Kieth losing his rag at lack of nicotine at 2am, the both of us finally giving up any hope of finding our hostel at 4 am and decided that Italy could quite simply Fuck itself we were going to France.
So we began driving to France at about 5 am we pass through a town and we decide to head up through the town to the otherside where there was a Forrest, assuming we could find somewhere to kip for the night. As we progressed through the town the streets got narrower, the houses leaned more but eventually we entered the woods, i pointed out signs that said something along the lines of 'privee' but Kieth was determined.
Eventually the road turned to gravel and started to go down hill, then quite steeply downhill. Kieth finally agreed that perhaps we had gone the wrong way and pt the car into reverse. We didn't move, however the car did begin to fill with a rather sharp acidic carbon smell. So at half five in the morning I found myself getting out to push, and let me point this out a rather hefty 17 year old BMW up a gravel hill. Then the dogs started barking.
My thoughts for that specific moment in time can be summed up quite simply as 'Shit'
Fortunately with reverse and my pushing we managed to move the car into a layby, turn it around and get on our way, though we did give the car engine just a few seconds to cool down!
As we headed back through the town a police van headed past us at speed, since neither of us spoke any decent Italian we counted blessings on that one.
Fuck Italy we said and got back on the road to France.
Now After navigating Kieth onto the motorway I dropped off to sleep here, I know, poor wingmanship and all, but there you go. Kieth still will not tell me how many times we nearly died that night.
Needless to say eventually he pulled into a car park, I vaguely remember waking up at this point but the car was warm the radio was lulling me and I soon dropped off again.
The next morning I awoke and had a little food to eat, Kieth got up a little later and after we refreshed ourselves we decided to head on. So with the fuel of finally getting out of this country in our hearts we went to set off, Kieth stuck they keys in the ignition turned them and... nothing...
Ahh.
The radio was on
The heating was on
I'm pretty sure we left a light on.
Fuck.
Fortunately after a half hour of relaxing in the sun I spied someone who looked fairly mechanicish, I finally got hm to understand and me, him and his mate helped us push the car around the car park. Again, this is a very old, very heavy BMW. Despite our best efforts, and nearly catching a couple of times we got nothing. Fortunately for us the guy offered to go and ring a mechanic, nice chap we thought.
Bastard, we thought, over two hours later. as we decided to wait until twelve before seeking further assistance. Fortunately though with a shining sun, we didn't mind relaxing a little bit after the previous days antics.
Eventually Kieth decided to try his luck in a local restaurant with pidgin Italian (Uno Telephono Gratzi) All Kieth got was no no no form the restaurant and pointed to the door. As Kieth walked out the restaurant owner pointed him to the right of the restaurant, and there, around five hundred yards away was, you guessed it, a bloody big garage. within five minutes we had a new battery installed and we were on our way.
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