We woke to a surprisingly lovely view of the surrounding mountains and slowly got ready for a day of driving. We had Macca’s for breakfast which was a little challenging because the cashier couldn’t speak much English and we can't speak French, but pointing seemed to work. She helped us work out the currency as well.
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| Cluses, France |
Today’s scenic route today was spectacular through huge mountains among clouds. We needed the windscreen wipers a lit through the fog and rather than fighting our put-put car we estimated to reach Pisa later than we intended. Still, the driving was stressful and there were tolls along the highway everywhere. We’ve been unable to withdraw any cash so we’ve had to swipe our card to pay tolls and buy fuel. We thought ATM’s would be available at most petrol stations.
Speaking of petrol stations, we discovered yesterday that our tank is very, very, very small and we almost ran out of fuel. Forgot to mention that trauma in yesterday’s entry. The gauge was close to ‘Empty’, but not quite empty, and by the time we had reached the next stop, the E was flashing very fast. We were seriously tensing our legs hoping that we would make it in time and not have to walk to get help on the highway. At least we have a better understanding of how this crappy car works. Anyway, the scenery was nice today.
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| France / Italy Border |
When we arrived in Pisa, we were very keen to have some greasy Italian pizza so we went down to the restaurant to look at their menu. They only had gourmet pastas. Looks like we’ll need to find a takeaway place we can use credit with, cause we have less than 1000 euro cash, but first a quick look to the Leaning Tower of Piza. We were given directions from Reception and he also told us of some close pizza places we could look for. We drove through the streets of Piza in the light rain and noticed the traffic wasn’t very busy for 5:30pm. It doesn’t seem to be a very big city, but their traffic is still pretty crazy, more so because Ev still hasn’t mastered driving on the other side of the road. We drove a little too far past the Tower so U-turned and parked in a small area at the entrance of the Tower, literally. Unsure if we were able to park there, we very quickly got of out the car in the spitting rain and walked quickly for a photo. The Tower is in a complex with another chapel and of course vendors were out making money.
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| Leaning Tower of Pisa |
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| No time to line it up properly - that'll do, we have to run. |
A small pizzeria was on the side of the road on the way back to the hotel so we pulled in and got out of the car. Looking at the menu, we realised they didn’t take credit. It seems that nowhere in Italy takes credit. We decided that gourmet Italian is going to have to do tonight. Seriously, we just wanted a pizza. We procrastinated and went back to the room. We couldn’t get the TV to work so Ev had a shower and Dan fell asleep until Ev woke him up at 8pm. Dinner was expensive and really not worth it. Dan had ravioli that was dripping in oil. Ev had grilled chicken breast in a white wine sauce with nuts. Sounded nice, but the balance just wasn’t there. Neither of our meals came with sides and we were very hungry when we left. All of our food was still in the car and it was pouring rain and we were exhausted. Both very disappointed with our expensive meals and still stressed from our drive we compounded our anxiety and anger by talking about our money worries. We really need our tax return to come in now! We listened to each other properly and came up with a plan for budgeting our holiday and how we should deal with it when we get back home. This soothed us, along with some much needed makeup sex. What? We’re on our Honeymoon! We went to sleep more relaxed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/collections/72157624677997272
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