Day Ten: Nice to Florence

Surprise, surprise, but it was another early morning start today, and some of last nights partiers were feeling a little worse for wear. The weather was almost sunny as we drove out of Nice, a change from yesterday, making it very disappointing that we missed Nice at its peak. I slept most of the first drive, being woken only an hour in to be told we had crossed the border into Italy! 

 

Being very mountainous, we went through a lot of tunnels. It’s amazing how they just cut through the mountains rather than winding all the way up them. We stopped at a ‘Ristop’, the smallest services we’ve seen so far, seeing as it was hidden on the side of a mountain. Back into the bus we piled, for another few hours before arriving in Pisa.

Of all the countries we’ve been in so far, Italy is the worst for street vendors. There was a man waiting at the door of the bus trying to sell us watches. Just walking through the town towards the leaning tower we were flocked by half a dozen street vendors and that was before we’d even gotten into the square. Oddly enough, they saw white people and tried their luck at calling us Lady Gaga. I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a lot more slanted than we realized. Situated in a rather pretty square, it’s the bell tower of the church beside it. Unfortunately, being only a services stop, we weren’t able to climb up it so we amused ourselves with posing for the typical leaning photos instead. We then headed to McDonalds to sample some Italian fast food and have lunch. Pisa is quite a dingy little town, so once away from the square with the tower; it wasn’t all that beautiful to look at.

 

Next stop was Florence and our accommodation for the evening. There we had to part with Steve, who was going straight down to Rome as he had to have some non-driving days, and we picked Jorge up from, literally, the side of the road. After freshening up in the hotel room we went to a traditional Tuscan dinner complete with Italian entertainment. Another four course meal, it consisted of antipasto, pasta for entrée, beef strips for main and chocolate cake for dessert. Add a 3 litre bottle of wine between four girls, champagne, cocktails and imperial shots (Justine had 2, myself 3) and we were ready to head off to Space, a nightclub and karaoke bar. It was a fantastic night, with most of the tour just letting their hair down to have a bit of fun. 

I wonder how fun it will seem tomorrow morning.