June 11,2012 Monaco,Nice, Antibes

Since I haven't had internet I haven't been able to post for awhile so Now I can catch up.We left the Cinque Terre area and headed down the Italian Riveria.We ended up going through Genova by accident and boy were we sorry.A large city with crazy drivers and motorcycles. We arrived at a camper stop that was in Pietra Ligure and it was close to the beach and town but the stop was not very good. Next we moved on down to San Remo for a couple of days and took the train to Monaco.We visited the Prince's palace and walked along a beautiful garden down to the port with all the beautiful yachts.We also walked to Monte Carlo to the Casino and it was like nothing I've seen before.I even gambled my 20euros so I can say I played the slots there.You should of seen all the cars out front.Masseratis etc.Even got a few photos.We also went to the church were Prince Rainier and Princess Grace were married and buried.Monaco is a very nice place to visit although no camper places.Next we moved down to Antibes and stayed at Le Rossignol campground.We took the train into Nice and walked the old town and along the beah Promenade.Nice is a huge city but everyone just goes to the beach and shops in old town. We wern't to impressed by Nice.today we were heading to Aix en Provence and drove along the coast through Cannes.This area is beautiful and we would like to soend a week in this area.We are now in a campground close to Aix en Provence and will head to Avignon tomorrow.I'm liking France. 

I can't get the photos posted will try later.

June 5,2012 More photos of CT

Here are some more photos of C.T.

June 5, 2012 Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small villages on the side of the mountain.You can only get there by train and they are all unique in their on way.Last year 2 of the towns were hit by floods that swept away homes and a lot of the towns were covered in mud.They are still cleaning up in Vernazza and working hard to rebuild.They have trails that you can hike from one town to the other although in between 2 towns the trails were closed from the slides.We took the train to Riomaggiore and then hiked the trail to the next town which was Manarola.It is a flat trail that winds around the moutain and the view is spectacular.After we walked around this town we took the boat to Venazza and skipped Corniglia.We decided to take the trail to the next town not knowing it would take us about 3 hours.If we knew what is was like we would have never done it.You start at the sea and go high above to the top of the mountain and then come all the way back down to the town of Monerossa al Mare.This trail was very narrow in places and rock steps going all the way up the mountain.Up about halfway I didn't know if I could make it or not.It is the hardest climb we have ever done.The steps were very uneven and sometimes I would have to pull myself up as my legs were to short.Did I say this was the hike from Hell.The trail was very crowded and at times it was so narrow only one person could walk and wait till you could get by.After all was said and done the villages were beautiful but I would never take the trail again from Vernazza to Monterosso.I say take the train and get off at each village.

June 4,2012 Vareggio

We've spent the last few days at a campsite close to the beach.We were ready to just stay put and relax.We met a nice couple from Switzerland and did some socializing and we spent one day laying on the beach with lots of other people.Not to much to post.Next we'll be heading to Cinque Terre.

June 1 2012 Pisa

After leaving Florence we went to Pisa.The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of Europe's most recognizable images and it's free.You can pay 15 Euros to climb the tower but we decided not to do the climb.You can read all about the tower on the internet.The tower sits on a large field of grass called the Field of Miracles.On this field they have a enormous Cathedral and Baptistry as well as a museum.We enjoyed tthe area and then moved onto our next stop,Vareggio.

May 31,2012 Florence

We headed out to Florence this morning intending to see the real David.That is Michelangelo's David.You need to get your tickets to go to the Academia and or you'll be standing in a long line to see if you can get in.You are assigned a time and if you have your tickets you can by pass the long lines.We bought our tickets at the Orsanmichele church ticket window and no line at all.Oh yes we got to see David although Sam wasn't that excited I was as this is one of the things I wanted to see.The statue is huge and very real looking.What a sculpture.Wow. We stolled around the town and went to see the Duomo.Very large and intersting on the outside but very dull on the inside.We saw the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge with all its shops.Florence has many museums and we were museumed out so we pretty much walked around  and also went to the market were they sell lots of leather coats,purses,shoes and lots of other things.I guess we have been worn out when it comes to the big cities so we will move on tomorrow.

May30,2012 Florence

Today started out good but ended not so good.We are headed to Florence and looking for the campground we will be staying at.We were getting close to Florence and our Gps couldn't find where we were going.It ended up taking us into the main part of Florence where the streets were one lane and very narrow.Not only that but we were in a no zone area which we wern't suppose to be in. I told Sam to get us out of here but we kept going round and round and people were staring at us as to say what are you doing here.Heck we don't know.We finally got out of that situation and spent another hour looking for the campground.We had past the Michelangelo campgroud several times and almost went in there even if it was 40 euros a night.After awile we finally found what we were looking for and it was in a town called Bottai.We have a discount card we use at a lot of campgrounds and they wouldn't honor it as of this year. Oh well just 33 euros a night and to think we could of stayed  at Michaelangelo for 40e and wouldn't have spent all that diesel driving around.Anyway we got settled in and there's a bus stop close by to take us to Florence in the morning.