Day 76 Back to Spanish

It is one of our rules to try never to stay just one night in any one place but with our late change to attend the Bruce Springsteen concert in Milan we could only have one night in Avignon. This was poor planning as it would have been great to have had more time to explore this quiet French provincial town and a region known for, amongst other things, lavender.

So after only one night, Day 75 saw us back on two long train journeys, firstly from Avignon to Portbou on the French-Spanish border and then a local train from Portbou to Barcelona, arriving at about 8pm. It had now been three days in a row of travelling and our old backpack lifting muscles are starting to feel a little ragged. Nevertheless it is great to be back in a Spanish-speaking nation. (after all we had started this trip in Spanish speaking South America) After some difficulty we found our hotel right in the heart of Barcelona’s old town, not far from the famous La Rambles.

Our first priority was to try and find some food. We settled on a little ‘mum and dad’ type Spanish café not far from our hotel. Rarely have sausages, minute steak, chips and a green salad tasted better.

Barcelona is famous of course as being the host of the 1992 Olympics. It is a much larger, more diverse and more beautiful city than we had expected and we were excited about spending a couple of days exploring it.

Day 75 Two stars plus The Q Factor

After a huge night at the Bruce Springsteen concert the night before and an early start from Milan’s main station it was a real treat to arrive at Avignon in the French region of Provence. We had made rail changes at Chambrey (the place where the shirts come from), and Lyon which is France’s second largest city. We then caught a wonderful TGV train and sped along at about 300kms per hour to Avingon.

Avignon is a living historic town which was made famous as the place that wrenched control of the Holy Roman Empire from 900 – 1000 AD when the French provided the Popes for the church. A cathedral and papal palace dating back to this period adorn this quaint walled city.

Speaking of quaint the hotel we stayed in certainly had the Q (quaint) factor. Though rated as only 2 stars, it is a work in progress as it is currently being renovated by a charming French couple named Sylvie and Pascal (how French!) who are a little younger than us . They made us feel very welcome, and in a very French accent Sylvie kept interspersing her conversation with “Allo, Allo.”

We enjoyed a quiet afternoon looking around the town and then an early dinner in a restaurant recommended by Sylvie. This turned out to be an experience in itself. Firstly we sat in the outdoor area and considered the menu. After five minutes of perusing the menu the almost comic young French owner, came over, apologised profusely and removed our menu saying that there were dishes which were missing and that the prices were wrong. Ten minutes later the new menu arrived which included at least a 4 Euro price increase for every dish. After ordering our meals the waiter arrived with our dishes announcing a Mediterranean salad, but alas we had ordered the chicken salad. He apologised, rushed off and then returned two minutes later with the same dish saying sorry – “This is the chicken salad – I am new and I don’t know all the dishes yet”. The food was very provincial and delicious but the whole event continued to be amusing. When paying the bill they discovered that the maths was wrong and that we needed to pay more than at first stated. Had we been at home we would have been more prepared to argue the point and demand our rights – but the fact that we can’t speak the language means we need to be a little more generous and understanding.

All in all a quaint dinner, in a quaint town, near a quaint hotel; and thankfully a quaintly early night!

Day 74 Born to run and a long way home

After our frustration of the day before when we were desperately trying to confirm our hotel booking it was a delight to arrive at a very nice 4 star hotel in Milan. The 5 hour train trip had involved sharing a very full compartment with 5 other people and a cat (which had its own seat). We enjoyed a belated lunch at about 4pm and again we enjoyed the most perfect ravioli for Wendy and one of Richard’s favourites, risotto.

The purpose of this backtrack to Milan was to attend a Bruce Springsteen concert. We had seen and enjoyed Bruce in 1985 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Sadly we saw him again in 2003 at the SCG and we were very disappointed with the show mainly due to the poor sound quality at the venue. A little investigation before we left home led us to discover that Bruce would be touring Europe at the same time that we were in Europe and with some encouragement from a fellow Bruce fan (thanks Matt) we thought we could not pass up the opportunity to see him perform again, and bought the tickets online.

When we arrived at the huge Milan Soccer stadium the roof was open and the place was already packed. We were on the concourse, which was actually the pitch covered in hard plastic tiles. We sat and waited for about one and a half hours in the 30 degree heat until the show began at 8.50pm.

Unlike Sydney 2003 and much more like Sydney 1985 the old rocker and his wonderful E- Street Band were on fire. Really from the first song Bruce made it clear that the hot night would not ruin a great show. 29 songs later Bruce finally left the stage at about midnight. The show was a mixture of his new album, some classics and a number of requests from the crowd. For us and, and we think for the whole band, the night was made very special by the incredible Italian crowd. Their passion for the music, their singing (they knew every word to every song), their dancing, their shouting, their screaming and their energy were amazing. We have never been in such a large (about 80 000 people), animated and enthusiastic crowd.

The second last song of the night was the great hit from the 70’s about a boy who took a girl called Wendy on a long road trip – the song of course- Born to Run. While the crowd were mostly in their twenties there were a few of us (who are almost as old as Bruce) who remembered this hit with a great deal of nostalgia, but for us it was extra special as it has been the theme song of our whole adventure. (ie borntorun2008)

At the end of the concert we had a considerable walk back to the Metro (especially after we got a little lost) which we thought would take us back to our hotel. However when we arrived at the Metro station we found thousands of fans standing around looking lost and confused.The metro was closed! It seemed that the Metro system normally closes down at 11.30pm and inspite of the fact that about 50,000 fans were wanting to get home, the Italian transport system made no exemptions.

While most of the locals called friends or family to organise a lift, we had no other option but to consider ‘A Long Walk Home’ (coincidentally the name of one of the songs that had been performed earlier in the evening). As we struggled to read the very small print on the city map under a street light and try to plot a course back to the hotel we were approached by a fellow fan who asked if we would be so kind as to share our map and help him find the Central Station. It so happened that the station was close to our hotel so with our map and his slightly younger eyes we set off for an early morning walk ( it was now about 12.30am). We enjoyed the company of Keon from Belgium who was a much more dedicated fan than us… tonight’s concert had been the 47th Bruce concert that he had attended.
The walk involved winding our way through the backstreets of Milan and took about 2 hours. Finally we found a short cut that led us straight down a back street to our hotel , and, you will never believe it the street was – via Quadrio. We really had had a long walk home!

We got to bed about 2.30am to enjoy what was probably the best bed of our trip. However the pleasure was short lived because we needed to be up at 5.30am to catch the train back to France.

As they say you are only young once and a 58 year old rocker and a vibrant Italian crowd made us feel very young again (at least for a few hours anyway)!

PS For the first time, the photos are not ours. One comes with permission of Keon and the other is from a Bruce Springsteen website.

Day 72 Frustration, films and food

Most of the details of our long trip have gone incredibly well and apart from three or four small hick-ups we have had very little frustration. However we made a late decision two days before we left home to backtrack after leaving Nice (France) and attend a concert back in Milan (Italy). We booked and paid for the tickets and accommodation online through a company in the UK hoping that it would all work out okay.

On the morning of Day 72 we received an email from the hotel in Milan, answering our request to confirm our booking, in which they said that they had no record of our reservation. After repeated unsuccessful calls to the UK we began to wonder if the whole internet purchase was a scam. We were continually given the run around from one department to another- until finally we were assured that our booking was definitely secure in the Milan hotel. So we called the hotel again but once more they said there was no booking. More phone calls - threats of Scotland Yard - “the supervisor is not available” – promises – calls not returned – and a growing fear that in our haste, when purchasing the tickets, we had been conned. Then just before noon the UK company returned our calls and gave us a reference number for the booking in Milan. Once again we called the Milan hotel with the reference number, but yet again they said that they had nothing with our name or reference. Suddenly another lady came on the line speaking perfect English; “Yes Mr Quadrio, we have your booking and yes the tickets are waiting for you here”. We were delighted but not sure what had actually happened– did the UK company finally get its act together and make a last minute booking or is this just another example of Italian ‘organization’. We were not sure, but none the less we tried to rescue the rest of the day and belatedly headed out at about 1pm to explore some more of the French Riviera.

Lunch in a wonderful medieval village called Antibes was an omelette for Wendy and a duck salad for Richard…very French! After our frustrating morning the lunch at 3pm in a tiny backstreet restaurant seemed to help us overcome all of our woes.

Finally the day ended at the Grand Auditorium, which is the venue for the famous Cannes Film Festival and also the Carlton Hotel which features in another of our favourite Meg Ryan movies, French Kiss. We visited the sights and enjoyed a great swim at the beach, this time with sand, but alas, still no waves.

The French Riviera to be honest, is much more beautiful than we had imagined, but also more ordinary. There is evidence of the glitz and glamour but also evidence of many people living out their ordinary lives.

On the tram back to our hostel we saw a sign on a little shop advertising ‘Socca’. We immediately jumped off the tram and made our way to the shop and ordered two plates of this dish, which is a speciality of the city of Nice. We had tried it the day before and loved it. It is basically a big pancake made only with chickpeas, olive oil and water. It is cooked on a huge tray in a very hot oven and eaten with your fingers. It was a wonderfully unique way to end a day, which had begun with frustration, centred on films and ended with fabulous food.

Day 71 Nice beach shame about the rocks

After spending many a long day visiting historic ruins and art galleries it was exciting to be heading for the beach. The day began with breakfast at our hostel and a chat with a fellow middle-aged backpacker from Germany who was feeling a “bit out of it” in our pleasant but ‘young and hip’ hostel. We thought the mixed shared bathrooms were a challenge, but this lady was understandably struggling in a mixed dorm. We enjoyed a great breakfast with a choice of 10 varieties of cereals and warm home cooked bread. We then caught the tram down the hill and made our way to the beach.

By 10am in the morning it was already 30 degrees and we were ready for a swim before the crowds arrived. The water was a gorgeous Mediterranean blue colour because… (yes, we needed to pinch ourselves) we were swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. The water was cool but definitely refreshing. The water seemed to have a higher concentration of salt to our Pacific Ocean and we enjoyed floating, chatting and just enjoying a very memorable swim.

All that said there were a few things that were very different to our beaches at home:

1. There was no sand and the rocky walk from the “beach” to the water was rather painful, as was walking around in the water. No wonder everyone enjoys floating on their backs.
2. As in every other place in Europe many of the people on the beach (and quite a few in the water) were smoking. ‘Quit for Life’ needs to run a campaign or two in Europe!
3. For some unknown reason people (particularly the oldies) got changed on the beach. Some do an amazing modest shuffle with a towel but others don’t bother – it’s all out there!
4. Large areas of the beach are reserved for the hotels or are commercial areas where you can hire your deck chair, umbrella and towel and be provided with a strip of carpet to avoid the rocky walk to the beach. All the umbrellas are arranged in neat rows, which gives a very ordered appearance to the beach area.
5. And of course, the water is absolutely flat with no waves at all.

But all that said we really enjoyed our morning swim at Nice beach.

The rest of the day was filled up with the normal stuff of a lazy day at the beach. A stroll around the headland. A wander through a wonderful French antiques market where Wendy could not resist buying a little old milk jug that probably came out of a café somewhere. Then lunch at a local café in the old town, a look around the quaint little shops and then home about 4pm for a siesta.

All in all, a nice Nice day, which ended in a way we never would have imagined or contemplated before this trip. After we cooked our dinner at our hostel we made a late decision, which culminated in a tram ride to town and a 30-minute train ride to the Principality of Monaco. We walked from the station down to the port area and saw some of the largest private yachts in the world. We climbed the hill and found an outdoor café where we shared a huge berry ice cream sundae and watched the rich and glamorous arrive in their very fancy cars and make their way into the famous Monte Carlo Casino.

To be honest a playground for the rich is not really our scene but it was great fun to go to a different country for dessert.

Day 70 Italian Pizza on route to France

After a wonderful 6 days in Rome we departed on Day 70 for Nice, on the French Riviera. This was to involve two long train journeys. Our first leg, on yet another fairly ordinary Italian train, allowed us to view the beautiful Italian coast all the way to the port city of Genoa.

Genoa is of interest to us for several reasons one being that we had been told that one of the main streets carries the name via Quadrio Corso. Upon arrival, we placed our big packs in the luggage storage area at the train station and headed off to spend three hours exploring Genoa before we needed to catch another train to Nice. After exploring the harbour we stopped for some lunch at an attractive seaside restaurant as the temperature once again climbed to at least 35 degrees. It was very hot!

It is worth a comment here, about Italian pizza. We had expected that pizza in Italy might be better than at home but we were surprised at how much better and how different it was. There are a number of features that make Italian pizza better than any pizza we have ever eaten anywhere in the world:

1. All pizzas are the same size and designed for one person to eat.

2. All pizzas are cooked on the bricks in wood-fired ovens without the use of pizza trays. This means that they are less oily and they all have a wonderful smoky taste.

3. All pizzas have very little cheese and tomato paste compared to the ones we eat at home. Also they usually only have one or two toppings- sometimes with tomato but not always. The common ‘pizza topper’ type herb used in Australia is absent.

4. All bases are the same, neither ‘thin and crispy’ nor ‘thick and chewy’. In Italy they are all thin, crusty, chewy and delicious. In fact the base is really a meal in itself

5. All pizzas are served whole, they do not cut the pizza into slices but deliver it to the table with a knife and fork for you to cut yourself.

Genoa’s pizzas were as good as any that we had tasted anywhere else in Italy!

Once back on the very full train we hugged the coastline as we passed through, first the Italian Riviera before arriving at the French Riviera. We were amazed to see rocky outcrops on which people were relaxing and sunbaking just as we enjoy doing on our sandy Australian beaches. We continued along this stunning Mediterranean coastline before arriving at Nice at about 8pm. After about 14 hours of travelling our journey was not over yet. We then had a 15 minute tram ride and at the end of that we were picked up by a van from the hostel which is located on top of a very steep hill.

We chose this particular hostel because it sounded interesting … it was once a monastery, but also because it was described in the guidebooks as being ‘One of the best in Europe’. It is an interesting place but our room with double bunks really looks like a monk’s cell – it is tiny.

We have exchanged “grazie” for “merci” and we can now look forward to exploring the beautiful French Riviera.

Day 69 Roman Internet

After a busy five days in Rome our final one was planned to be a bit quieter. The highlight was spending a few hours with our niece Amy and her boyfriend Graham who were in the middle of a 30-day bus tour and just happened to be in the same city as us at the same time. With the temperature climbing to about 35 degrees they enjoyed a cold coke, home cooked pasta and rockmelon, which we had bought at the markets. After they returned to their hotel we turned our attention to sending some blogs before we departed Rome.

We thought we might share a little of the challenge that sending this blog has been. In many of the hostels where we have stayed Wi Fi has been a feature. In some of the budget hotels we have also had access. But in many places we have needed to be more creative. In Bolivia, Burger King helped us out. In Copenhagen we enjoyed free Wi Fi at the city library and at a local pub ( as long as we bought a drink). In Bellagio, Italy, Richard sat in the street and tapped into a pay-by-the-hour network. But Rome was more of a challenge.

We tried a considerable number of options, but nothing worked. Finally in desperation we put on our best clothes (clean jeans and a clean shirt) and caught the metro to the flash, international hotel district of Rome. It was a treat to see this district, but our aim was cyber-connection, not tourism.

Firstly we searched for wireless signal on the street with no success. Then we entered a couple of hotel lobbies sitting confidently in the foyer but we discovered the net was for guests only and required passwords, no pay-by-the-hour network here. We even tried outside the US embassy, but that failed too. Eventually we found a park with a sign – Wi Fi Zone…bingo! But after many repeated attempts it seemed that you could only use it if you had an Italian mobile phone number.

After a couple of hours of trying, two metro trips and an eight kilometre walk we gave up in despair and headed back to our apartment. On the way home we unexpectedly came across the exquisite 19th century Piazza della Repubbica. As we enjoyed this wonderful place we noticed a McDonald’s on the other side of the square.

Now we need to confess that we have not bought one meal at this American fast food giant since leaving home but we thought we would just check to see if they had Wi Fi. After about 20 minutes of trying, which included us registering and having them send us a text message with the password to our mobile ( via Australia) we were finally (after about 2 hours of trying) able to send our blogs.

Relieved we decided to head home only to find that the metro was closed for the night. So on foot we headed for home. Embarrassingly just around the corner from our apartment we walked past another McDonald’s which, had we tried there in the first place could have saved us a lot of time, trouble, embarrassment and foot leather.

We have laughed a lot on this trip and most often it has been at our own expense.