Dec 06

Before I start I have to warn you that there may be lots of mistakes in this one as all the letters are the wrong way round. q=a etc. Also we have started to do a map of our travels but it keeps on changing the dates so the dates are all wrong.

Our first stop in France was a place just outside of Cannes. The campsite was the most expensive so far 20 pound a night! Unfortunatley we had to stay there for 4 nights as there weren't any others around. We took day trips out to Cannes & Antibes where we did nothing more than walk around. The weather was really warm 1 Matt wanted to swim in the sea but didn't have his trunks with him. There were some nutty old lqdies doing some kind of aerobics in the sea. We walked along by where they have stqr handprints by where they hold the film festival & saw David Lynch's one. We also had a day out to Monaco which was nice but very posh. Again the weather was really nice & we visited an aquarium which was fun.

From there we moved onto another campsite near Marseilles which was a lot cheaper. We spent a few days in Marseilles & went to the cinema twice to see The Departed & Borat which were both good. We walked up to the Basillica for nice views of the city & we had trouble finding veggie food as we have done in all of France.

Next we went to Avignon which is a really nice town with an old wall, bridge & palace plus nice shops & it had a xmas market. Next we went to Lyon & spent a couple of days there where we went on a Ferris wheel at night & had a nice cheqp pasta meal. We went to see some Roman ruins & to the Lumiere museuem on the history of cinema.

From Lyon we took a long (450k) & expensive drive to Paris. we have probably paid about 100 euros in tolls so far (about 66 pounds) which is too much. The drive took about 5 hours or so & involved a free breakfast for Matt as the lady didn't seem to want to take his money!

We spent too long in Paris as it is one of our favourite places so far. We walked up the Eiffel tower but only to the second floor as the top was closed due to wind. It cost 2 pound instead of 8 to walk up rather than queue for an hour qnd take the lift. We visited the D'orsay Museum & The Louvre. We also spent a day in Disneyland which was really fun with lots of good rides. I got my photo taken with Goofy which I will put on here soon. All the rides were shut for most of the afternoon though which was a bit of a shame due to wind! you couldn't even go on the carousel or walk through the main street.

Now we are in Strasbourg, near the German border for the xmas markets & we are going to spend some time relaxing in the country in Belgium & Luxembourg.

By Chloe

From Bologna we travelled to a campsite fairly near Florence. The campsite was set high up in the Tuscan countryside & was permenantly foggy the whole of the 2 days we were there. We caught the train to Florence & it poured down the whole day & for the nextfew days after that aswell! However it was very warm especially at night & we have waterproof jackets & trousers so we were ok. In Florence we wandered around a bit as usual & went to two galleries - Uffizi to see several paintings to see photos by Leonardo De Vinci, Botticeli & Rembrandt & to the Academy to see Michaelangelo's David which was amazing - really big & extremely detailed. For dinner we went to a bar that had been recommended as having a monster free buffet. We went & we were not dissapointed. Just for buying drinks we got to each potatos, pasta, couscous, bread, dips & many other things which was nice.

After leaving that campsite we spent a night in the car park near the train station & Matt had a look at the van as it had trouble starting. He discovered that we needed a new rotar arm & our 1986 Volkswagon service guide said that there was a service centre in the next town, Borgo San Lorenzo. It was still there but had a different name & was very big. We managed to order the part but had to wait 2 days. We spent 2 days in an area de sosta in this town which is the equivilant of an aires de service in France but not as good. There was water & waste & the residents there were also using electric from somewhere. They had obviously been living there for some time & had lots of junk around & received several visits from the transport Police, but they left us alone.

From this town we took the train to Sienna which was a really nice place with lots of small streets & a cathedral. We enjoyed looking around & used the internet. It was a lot quieter than some of the other places we have been to.

We were glad to more on after being stuck in Borgo San Lorenzo & were looking forward to our next campsite in the Tuscan countryside & a few days of relaxing & walking. Unfortunatley when we got there it was closed - another campsite that the Rogers guide said was open all year. We stayed in a car park by some sort of tap that locals kept on coming to fill up water bottles from! There was also some kind of small alter that people were visiting.
In the morning we went for a lovely walk & the weather was beautiful. We would have liked to have stayed longer but we had already spent 6 nights in car parks & wanted a shower etc. Also it is very hard to relax when you hear noises outside & we cannot drink!

We drove to Pisa & spent a nice afternoon there. There wasn't much there other than the Leaning Tower & lots of souvenirs & touts trying to sell them to you. That is something that we have noticed all over Italy, in every town there are men with fake Louis Vuitton bags, belts & sunglasses & they hassle you to buy them. We got chased round the car park by one with belts! We had a look around some shops & had an ice cream. We had intended to stay at an area de sosta in Pisa but when we got there they wanted 12 euros to spend the night in a car park.

We decided to move on to our next stop, Le Spezia situated near to the Cinque Terre. When we got there it was horrible. A dirty busy port town & the area de sosta appeared to be closed as they were building on it! We spent another night in a layby with lots of people parking near to us & driving off so it wasn't a good nights sleep. The only good thing about this is that it is legal to sleep for one night in Italy anywhere where you are allowed to park to restore your driving ability so we know we won't have any trouble from the Police.

In the morning we drove to a campsite listed in our ACSI camping book, but again that was closed. Luckily there was another campsite over the road which was open & was really nice. It had hot showers (most are just about warm) & the staff took you & picked you up from the train station in a minibus. We spent a nice day with no rain in the Cinque Terre. This is 5 small villages which are very pretty all on the coast. You can get the train or walk between each one of them. Only a couple of then can be accessed by car. We did two walks between towns & got the train for the others. Some of the walks were closed due to all the rain & landslides! We had dinner in the last town of pasta in a small cafe.