From France to Italia and due cappoocheeeeeeeeni! Yeah baby, yeah! Or should I say, Ciao, Baby? Anyway, we followed the coast roads along the French Riviera through Cannes and Nice. While going through Nice, I do believe we caught a glimpse of the late Sadaam's (that's right, THAT Sadaam) yacht. At least the one remaining yacht.
It has been parked in Nice since January when the French authorities seized it. Iraq won the subsequent court battle and it is now up for sale. Last I heard, they were asking a cool $32m for it but had no takers. I believe it was his yacht since it dwarfed every OTHER yacht in the marina. At a mere 250 feet, it comes complete with more than one swimming pool and the ever important rocket laucher. The traffic was such that we could not get close enough for a picture and I didn't want to risk my neck. Sadaam risked his, and that didn't end very well for him.
After Nice, we worked our way around the coastline mountains and through an even more spectacular town called Villefranche sur Mer. A couple of pics from the side of the cliff/road just don't do the view justice. But Jackie's cute.
After Nice, we worked our way around the coastline mountains and through an even more spectacular town called Villefranche sur Mer. A couple of pics from the side of the cliff/road just don't do the view justice. But Jackie's cute.
I decided that we would do a bit of gambling so we headed along the coast to Monte Carlo, in the Principality of Monaco. They have a tremendous casino there featured in a James Bond movie. Again, traffic prevented the pictures, but my gambling payed off. I had originally wagered Jackie and a half a bottle of Coke on Baccarat and had gone up on the house by about $20. I won Sadaam's yacht in a wager of 1,600,000 or nothing bet on who would win the U.S. Presidency in 2008. Apparently, they don't have TV or newspapers in Monaco. Silly Monacoans. I almost went with Bush, just for fun, but I really wanted the boat. The boat is great...hard to steer, though. I might get rid of it.
From Monaco we switched from the tiny coastal almost fall off the cliff doing 90km/hour with screaming and gesturing drivers and scooter riders coming at us and from behind us roads, and went for the Autoroute which turned into the Autostrade once we hit Italia. I didn't count, but I estimate that we went through about 100 tunnels through the mountains. I S#*T you not.
On our approach to 
Carrera (where Carrera marble comes from...duh!) I took a couple of pics through the
car window. That is not snow in the mountains...it's white marble. Cool.
Carrera (where Carrera marble comes from...duh!) I took a couple of pics through the
car window. That is not snow in the mountains...it's white marble. Cool. On to Lucca. Lucca is an ancient city completely surrounded by three layers of walls. Roman walls are closest in and the flimsiest. Then come the Medieval walls built to withstand the more hearty attacks and then the Renaissance wall which was sturdy enough to withstand cannon barrages. Inside the walls is a veritable rabbit warren, a rat's maze, a mess o'tiny little streets that one can barely walk down, let alone drive down. Street (Via) signs are missing from at least half of the corners, and many Via change names a lot...kind of like home! Finding our hotel at night in this mess was a bit of a challenge.
Tuesday is cloudy about 54 degrees. Jimmy V. now has the miserable cold that Jackie is (hopefully) done with.
Pharmacies here and in France are really very helpful about helping with translations of the glamorous vocabulary of mucus and mucus related topics (antihistamines vs. expectorants vs decongestants). Jimmy is currently napping after a dose of I'm not sure what AND a 1/2 bottle of wine at lunch (pappardelle al cianghiale, insalata mista and acqua frissante).
Walked on top of the city walls this morning and will no doubt go again several 
times. Since we entered the city yesterday afternoon in the dark, we needed to get up above for a bird's eye view; 'cuz DAMN we were so lost last night!!!!!!!!!! It took us an hour (I am not exaggerating --1 hour) to find our hotel. I walked the (correct) path this morning and it is just about 500 meters. It took us 1 hour to find the place. At one point I started to turn down a very very tiny "via" only to notice that the sign that looks like this. No bicycles allowed!! and here we were tooling around in our breezy little Ford Fiesta/Focus/I can't remember what it's called. No wonder the old italian women were gesturing at us. Good news was I did not drive the wrong way down the entrance to the rental car return -- this time.
times. Since we entered the city yesterday afternoon in the dark, we needed to get up above for a bird's eye view; 'cuz DAMN we were so lost last night!!!!!!!!!! It took us an hour (I am not exaggerating --1 hour) to find our hotel. I walked the (correct) path this morning and it is just about 500 meters. It took us 1 hour to find the place. At one point I started to turn down a very very tiny "via" only to notice that the sign that looks like this. No bicycles allowed!! and here we were tooling around in our breezy little Ford Fiesta/Focus/I can't remember what it's called. No wonder the old italian women were gesturing at us. Good news was I did not drive the wrong way down the entrance to the rental car return -- this time.Fun times.
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