Day 25 - Finally Found Some Good Cooking!!

The problem with "backpacking" is food. Me and Mel always seem to struggle to agree or even find something worth the price we would like to eat. But in Florence on our first night we found the perfect place! A family run business that seemed to have been passed down through the generations. We started with a small pasta dish and moved on to a meat dish. Both dishes were amazing and it was clear that we had tried some of Italy's finest cooking, we even got bread!

Day 24 - Pisa, Tourist Trap or Home of an Amazing Italian

Before coming away I talked to my friend Jonny about travelling around Italy, and one thing I remember him saying was that you do not need more then a day in Pisa. I think he was right but I still think you can pack the day full of stuff to do. Once pretending to push over the tower, we went to look at how much it would cost to climb it. I knew it would be a lot but I was not about to pay 15 euros each to walk up a crooked tower to see an average view. Instead we paid 10 euros and got into 5 different buildings including the Cathedral, graveyard, 2 museums and a Baptistery. It turned out to be well worth the money seeing some amazing pieces of sculpture and art, learning details about the area and seeing the art of echo singing!

After doing all this we decided to buy a nice bottle of cheap wine and enjoy the comforts of the hostel, we did not realise we were about to have a history lesson and meet one of the most interesting people I have ever met. Guido, the 93 year old man we had been made to guess the age of the day before had not seemed to move in 24 hours, he just sat on the sofa watching TV. While Mel was updating facebook I decided to go and sit next to Guido and watch some TV, that is when he decided to start talking to me, in Italian! I had no idea what he was saying so I asked the guy on the desk if he would mind translating for me. At first he did not seem to want to and now I understand why as hours later it was 2am in the morning and Guido had filled me and Mel in on most of his life story, from joining the army in the second world war, hiding from the Nazis, his way with the women and his life as a tailor. It was amazing and Guido just reminded me of my Grandad, who had died 4 days earlier. I thanked the translator and Guido for that surprising but brilliant evening and the translator told me that he was happy that they had been able to cheer me up.

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Day 22/23 - From France to a Coen Brothers Movie to a Wonder of the World

It was sad to say goodbye to our mini summer break to the south of France, but it was time to return to the country we were meant to be in, Italy. And our first stop back in Italy was Genova, a city which seemed to be pretty empty but we used this chance to relax a bit and rented a pretty cheap secret hotel for around £50 and enjoyed every moment in what we called the posh Barton Fink, the room even had its own door bell!!

The next day we explored Genova and did not find much more then a founatin and part of an old wall. So onwards to Pisa and after getting lost and having to ask in a posh hotel for directions to our hostel we finally made it and was greeted by one of the nicest and friendist group of hostel staff we have had so far. Getting us settled with a glass of wine and a chance to guess the age of the owners friend who seemed to never move from the lounge (I gussed 75, turned out he was 93!), we popped out to a local restaurant for some mussel pasta, which was very yummy. We then took in the sight of the leaning tower at night which was dissappointing as they had not lit it up, so it seemed to be lost in the night. We then walked for a while and returned to the hostel hoping the tower would be better the next day.

Day 21 - Tom's Magical Mystery Tour Through the South of France

So as I have said France and Nice was a side track to conquer our problem over staying in Italy, but I decided to take Mel on one of my Magical Mystery Tours and visit two well known French towns. The first was the home of one of the biggest film festivals in the world, Cannes. It was another beautifully hot day, and again not like the flat boring cities of England, we had to climb hills to see many of the worth while sights, these included the 4 murals dedicated to the world of film painted on the sides of houses. The main area near the port that is normally used for the festival was mainly covered in red tape, builders and lorries putting something up for an event. We did though get to see most of the star's hand prints on the walkways. After posing in the corny cardboard cutout stands and a yummy ice cream we travelled onto the second stop and a totally different country!

Stepping off the train into Monaco was like walking into a aeroplane hanger, it was massive. And for some reason after that moment I hated it. Not sure why, I was in a weird mood anyway because of the last couple of days events but also I just felt so strange and totally out of place, I was wearing my new Venice T-shirt (a slant on the video game Vice City) and a pair of shorts with dirty trainers, while everyone else (including Mel) were wearing either dresses or suits. I just did not like it and that came across in my mood and once again I judged the book by the cover, because after a walk around the city, I could see it was a beautiful place. I have got to learn to give everywhere a chance!!

Day 20 - Our Holiday Away From Our Holiday

The whole time we have been away I have found it hard to call what we are doing something; backpacking, a life experience, inspiration? Who knows, but our few days in Nice, France can truly be called a holiday. Despite some bad news that I received the night before my family told me to continue having a good time. So after a lazy morning we dragged ourselves to the stony foot breaking beach and had a dip in the med, followed up with a walk along the pricey shops and a burger for a bite to eat. The afternoon was spent in the pretty old town, looking in the postcard and tourist shops. Then with a smoothie each, we walked the hill to the old castle taking in a pretty amazing graveyard and the sights from the top of the hill. But the day did not end there, we relaxed reading our books not watching the sea or the people walking the sea front, but our washing turning in the washer! A subway meat ball 6" was the real ending to the day and what a day it was!

Day 18 - Turin, the Hollywood of Italy?

So what do two massive film nerds do when they find out that the city they are in has a film museum? They go to maybe the best museum in the world!! Turin has the best example of a film museum I have ever come across. The museum started with an intro into the invention of moving images with a great range of brilliant examples of projectors, film equipment and early films. This section ended with a show reel of the first films and the last clip was of a steam train coming towards the camera and as it neared the screen the screen tore away and was replaced by a life-sized train coming into the audience. It was quite shocking and made sense once Mel told me that in the 1900s people literally ran from the cinema in fear of this clip and I think I know how they felt!

After this it was onto the main hall which was simply just amazing! The huge hollow inside of the dome was divided in to many areas which showed clips from different genres of film, each area dressed to match the genre, so for example the love room had a massive heart bed which you laid on and looked up at the screen to watch clips. Other parts included a display of behind the scenes photos of Marilyn Monroe, Orson Wells and Billy Wilder films, exhibits on the making of a film from script to the edit, costume department, directing, script writing and a collection of movie posters including a huge computer database of other classic posters.

The cherry on the cake was in the centre of the room, about 50 bed/seats dotted around the massive dome space, facing one of two big screens showing clips of Italian cinema and going from a space in the middle of the floor to the very top of the dome was a lift hung in the air by a few cables, which took you up to a panoramic view of the city which we didn't bother to queue for.

Day 17 - Watching the Italians

Today I learnt two things about the Italians, the first happened in Milan Station the second in the city of Turin (Torino to the Italians). As we got off the train in Milan station we had some time to kill so Mel decided to use the local rest room. As i waited outside the loos I watched two men fixing the device that stands in the way of the paying customer, till you give it a euro and its glass doors separate and allow you to enter. As I watched a mum, with 2 small children, rushed towards the gates to enter the loo and as they went to enter one of the glass doors simply exploded showering glass all over the loo entrance and one of the poor children. Furious at what had happened, and after checking the child was OK, the mother made the child drop his pants on the side of the platform and piss up the side of the wall, while a cleaner looked on completely confused by what he was seeing. She turned and yelled at the cleaner who just put his hands up in a way to say "hey I got nothing to do with this" and walked off, in which the woman grabbed her children and followed the cleaner down the platform continuing to shout at him.

The second thing happened in the centre of Turin. We had appeared to have arrived in Turin on an evening where everything seemed to be happening. In one of the squares stools had been set-up featuring themes along the lines of science, what it looked like was a massive science fair which I thought was a random but also pretty cool thing to have in a main square at 9 o clock at night. What really impressed me was the amount of people in family groups and even small groups of teenagers taking part and having fun! A bit further on in a different square a kind of food and drink event was being held, ramped full of Italians laughing, chatting and being pretty merry. From this day I learnt a lot about this race of people, they are proud, good people, who connect and get on well with each other but take no shit from anyone!