Florence and Venice 

Florence was a really cool city. It was sort of like Rome, but felt a lot smaller and a newer. All the buildings are in the same medieval style which looked amazing from the viewpoint we went to in fiesole. One of the highlights of Florence is definitely il duomo because it is such an impressive building and Brunelleschi's dome is absolutely incredible. I also really liked seeing the leaning tower of Pisa, and doing that silly pose in front of it. The gelato in Pisa was probably the best I've had so far, so a few of us ended up getting a second cone.

There were a lot of stalls selling things made out of leather along some of the streets where we could exercise our amazing bartering skills. I got €3 off a wallet, but the best deal was when four of us bought bags and the guy eventually gave up and went down to our price. Another fantastic bartering win was in Venice were Tim and I both bought something for €2.99 and I was really stubborn about getting my 1 cent change. The lady at the stall gave us 5 cents change, and told us she hated New Zealanders. The problem on how to split the 5 cents between the two of us.

Venice was definitely one of my favourite places on the trip so far. I really liked that there were no cars at all and all the canals looked so cool. The best part was probably the view from the Rialto bridge down the main canal or the "bus" ride through the main canal back to the ferrovia. Venice was just as I expected it to be, lots of canals everywhere with buildings right on the water's edge.

Beaucaire as been like a holiday in a holiday. We've had late starts to the day and are always back at the hotel by 5 for a swim (or run). We hardly have to do any walking at all anymore because we drive everywhere in the vans. By the way, Mr Skeen is the most responsible driver I've ever seen.  The dinners have been really cool so far. We've had snails on two occasions: the first in garlic butter and the second in a stew. 

-Andy