TRAFALGAR TRAVEL So it came as a pleasant surprise that we could eat breakfast near the station without it costing an arm and a leg. Italian food hasn't changed in 30 years, it's still as wonderful ! Grabbed a taxi (which are very costly) to the hotel Ergife Palace in Via Aurelia. The interesting thing was all the nuns staying at the hotel while they attended a church convention in the next street. One night Tim (a maori bloke from Gove) got drunk and made untoward advances to one of the nuns. Next day he broke his leg after only five minutes on the field; who says God doesn't look after the nuns ? Saw all the usual stuff, the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Forum, the Spanish Steps, threw coins in the Trevi Fountain, walked the old district and couldn't get a cab to the hotel, paid too much for a meal in an ordinary restaurant, normal touristy antics. Then on the bus to Pisa and Florence. How does one describe Florence? You really have to go there ! I remember the big rats? in the river, the wonderful restaurant near the Hotel Galileo, chatting with an American tourist who didn't know who the Medici were, and the wonderful buildings, street after street of glorious history. Along the Italian coast, past the Cinque Terra (must go back there) to Rapallo. Magic hotel Cavour, cadences of splendour past, only reason we can stay at first class hotels like this is because Trafalgar can benefit from the huge numbers it brings on it's busses. On through the Riviera, spent the day in Genoa (must go back there) exploring the old city, and spent the night at an unremarkable hotel in Nice. Two things I remember about Nice, catching a bug from the pizza we bought near the hotel and the wonderful night at the clubhouse of the host team. Walked around Monaco, visited the Aquarium, Rosemary went on the tour to a perfume factory (and saw the Australian office in Cannes, for the film festival), and we ended up near Aix en Provence, a beautiful city. We stayed for two nights in Sete near the Carmargue, wasted time, there wasn't much to see but it did allow us to relax. Indeed the whole trip was good in that respect, Claudio (the bus driver) was a real professional and it was a pleasure not to have to struggle with the driving along the coastal roads. The last night was spent at the Mercure hotel 'Porte de la Cite' right at the base of the Medieval city. The last night was supposed to be a celebration of 'specialte de la region', cassualet, but it was really just second rate bean stew. All in all the tour was splendid, very relaxing and with some interesting parts. We didn't go on (m)any of the organised outings because we wanted to save our money for after the festival. In any case the feedback from those who did was less than favourable, in most cases they were very expensive and not good value for money. Caught a bus out to the camping ground and reunited with our van. We went to the opening ceremony but didn't march as the speeches went on and on, first in French then English, very boring. The next week was enjoyable, the first game against a team from Cape Town started badly with their backs giving us a hiding. Several players got hurt, their own fault really, they were never fit enough. At half time Hockey went off and got some young Kiwi backs to play for us and the second half was much more equal. The second game against a French team was full on too, the opposition quickly realised that we were not much competition so they divided their team to help us and everyone had a good time. The French certainly play with passion, at one time twin brothers were belting each other while the ball was well down the field. After games celebrations were noisy, boozy affairs where everybody drank beer, swapped shirts and laughed a lot. The final game was against the Alaskan oosiks, all huge men well over 1.85m and 100kg, but played in the best spirit. Finished the festival uninjured and with many pleasant memories. We packed up the van and headed off toward AUSTRIA. |