Tim Ho

My excursions in Italy ended with risottos, gelatos and pizzas. Oh yeah, and churches and other what nots too but to be frank, after seeing those magnificent churches in Rome, the other churches just seemed crap in comparison. Unfortunately I have also been diagnosed with the Beaucaire-slacking-syndrome, starting with being a bit sick with churches and ending with uncontrollable laughing fits that lasted for a record of 40 minutes. (According to Charlie anyway) My favourite place in Italy was probably Venice. (Even though it was raining the whole time we were there and that we only stayed for an afternoon) I just loved how the city complemented the water surrounding its islands. I also spilt money on expensive pieces of glass (fingers crossed that they won’t break into a million pieces) and I had the best piece of pizza I’ve ever tasted. Ham, blue cheese and dirty rainwater were possibly the best combination ever. Speaking of rain in Italy, I have NO IDEA why the rain was so dirty. After the rain, the cars always look muddy. OKAY. Back to Venice. Honestly the only things that I disliked about Venice were the expensive public toilets (costing 1.50 euros each wee) and the vaporettos (taxi-boat thingies). The vaporettos were noisy, hot and cramped and riding on one just made me dizzy. (NOOOOOOOO forgot my sealegs L)

After Venice, we boarded an overnight train to France. It was the most atrocious train I’ve ever been in. There was no space (with 6 people in one cabin you could hardly expect any), the toilets were suspiciously wet and the ride was quite bumpy at times. (but OH WELL we did sign up for “travel experience”) Nevertheless I slept like a pig (with the aid of sealegs obviously) and when I got off the train in Dijon, I was hit by a wave of cold air that made my teeth rattle.

In Beaucaire, we were finally met with a decent hotel. (the “decent” hotel promised in Florence consisted of wonky shower doors and tons of mozzies) Hotel Robinson had cool swings that sounded like babies whining and a freezing pool in which my fearless comrades dived in and out even at night. The hotel also had blinds that made the room completely dark even in bright daylight. Along with alarm malfunctions and those super blinds, a few groups (including mine) have slept in and almost missed breakfast. To be honest, I wasn’t paying too much attention to what we did in Beaucaire and its surrounding cities because I was looking forward to return to the hotel and just C-H-I-L-L. So now I have got nothing more to write about.