Friday 8th October Nice-Monaco-Ventimiglia-Genoa-Milan This was a long travel day! After leaving Nice I took the short train trip to Monaco. Unfortunately, I couldn't leave my backpack anywhere at the station so my stop wasn't as long as I had planned. I had a quick look around the marina and had a bit of a sit down to admire the boats and the scenery then I took the train to a scruffy seaside town over the italian border called Ventimiglia where I had to change trains. As I was ahead of schedule I took the earlier train to Genoa rather than waiting for the direct train to Milan as planned. I was sure I had seen that changing here would get me to Milan quicker but that turned out to be a misjudgement! Anyway, I had an hour or so to kill once I got to Genoa so I picked up a pizza and had a very quick look round. I eventually turned up in Milan just before 9, nearly two hours later than the direct train would have and i made my way over to the hostel via the metro. I watched italy v n. Ireland in the hostel with yet more aussies then I took an early night. For various reasons I got an awful nights sleep and got up covered in insect bites. I wasn't the only one, the rumour was that the place had bed bugs. I was so fed up with my bed that I asked to be moved dorms in the morning which, fortunately, they let me do. Saturday 9th October Milan I had particularly planned to be in Milan on a weekend so that I could catch either an AC or inter match in the san siro but the international break had scuppered that and I had to satisfy myself with some sightseeing in the city then doing the over priced stadium tour in the afternoon! I was also keen to try and find somewhere to watch the televised Bournemouth game at lunchtime but, surprisingly, nowhere had it on. Even the self proclaimed 'english football pub' drew a blank, and I thought milan was a football town! Milan has the feel of a bustling, modern, stylish, clean and efficient working city and it was very pleasant to stroll around but I was surprised at how little of particular note there was to see. That said, the famous gothic cathedral and much of its surrounds were particularly beautiful. I saw all of the major sights by around 3 and I took the metro over to the san siro. I paid to visit the museum and do the stadium tour including the changing rooms of both home sides, which, interestingly, were quite different. Although the sheer scale of the stadium is impressive from inside and out I was quite surprised at how basic and dowdy the facilities were for fans, players and VIPs alike. Similarly, although the museum was interesting and full of memoriblia from the finest clubs and players from around the world, it all felt quite amateurish. I was expecting it to be as swish as everything else in milan. They were also relaying the pitch while we were there, evidently wembley is not the only large ground with problems, last season they replaced the turf 7 times! When the tour had finished I headed back to the hostel feeling pretty knackered. I cooked myself some dinner then got chatting to a few people in the communal area. Despite my desperation to get some sleep one thing led to another and at 4 in the morning we were still drunkenly dancing in this strange sort of private night club in the basement of the hostel! Finally I went to bed in the small hours and slept much better in my new bunk! Sunday 10th October Milan-Pisa I had originally planned to stay in Florence but I was getting a little fed up with big cities and I couldn't find a decent hostel there anyway. I therefore decided to base myself in Pisa instead, and use that as a base for 3 days to see Tuscany. I also managed to find a very cheap hostel there that had got some good reviews. So I left Milan in the morning and changed at Florence for the Pisa train. I got there in pretty good time but didn't have the energy to do much once I had arrived. After I had got myself some food, cooked dinner and checked my emails it was pretty much time for bed. Monday 11th October Pisa-Lucca-Pisa Got up and did some extremely overdue washing and some food shopping then called Amy to wish her a happy birthday! I hung my washing out on the line then headed out to get the train to a nearby medieval town called Lucca. It started raining. Went back to the hostel and took my washing off the line and hung it indoors! Finally got to the station about 2 and boarded the train to Lucca. Like Pisa, Lucca is a formerly independent city state which became part of the Florentine republic in the early rennaissance era. Unlike Pisa, it hasn't grown much since and the medieval centre is remarkably well maintained. The city wall is preserved in its entirety and clearly separates the original city from the new town. There a very few cars inside the city walls and it was extremely conducive to seeing on foot. I wandered around for a few hours and went up one of the many old towers in the city which gave a great view of the surroundings. I got back to the hostel around 6 and had another quiet evening in. Whilst I was on the computer trying to plan my activities for the following day I bumped into a kiwi called yi who we had met in vienna. He was the guy who had to stay in the stinky blokes bed the night after! Anyway, it turned out that yi was heading to florence and we agreed to meet up there on the wednesday. Tuesday 12th October Pisa-Cinqueterre-Pisa The hostel organises a free guided tour of Pisa each day which I joined in the morning. This was actually really interesting and I found out quite a lot about the city and the region. We saw the leaning tower, the cathedral and the other major sites as well as a few less famous landmarks. The weather was beautiful and in the afternoon I headed north to a collection of small seaside villages known as cinqueterre. I hadn't heard of this before my trip but evidently it is quite a famous tourist attraction and lots of people I met had been there at one point or another. There are 5 villages linked by quite strenuous walks of about an hour, the villages are not accessible by car only by train and boat. I got the train to the most northerly village called montelivo (I think) and walked south to vernazza. Montelivo was pretty with a lovely little cove beach and I sunbathed there for a while at first. Vernazza doesn't have a beach but is absolutely beautiful, the cliffs and the terracces which the villages have created on them are idyllic. Suitably exhausted by the days activities I decided to get the train home from vernazza rather than walk any further and I got back to the hostel about 7. I made myself dinner, sorted out arrangements for the following day and went to bed. Wednesday 13th October Pisa-Florence-Rome I checked out, left pisa early and headed for florence where I was meeting yi. We met up about 11 and went for a look round. I'm afraid florence didn't quite live up to the hype! It certainly had some interesting bits and some great sculpture but I didn't really have time to queue for the uffizi or any of the other museums or galleries and it didn't have the volume of renaissance architecture that I was expecting. Parts of the city were also quite run down and scruffy in the same way that Pisa was. We had enough time to see all the sites in one day, from the outside at least, and to pick up some dinner then I left yi, arranged to meet him when I visited his town, auckland, and headed off to Rome. I got a super quick train to rome and the hostel was close to the station so I was in my room by 8. There I bumped into a few people who had done the tour with me in pisa. I don't remember doing much else in the evening so I think I must have gone to bed early again! Thursday 14th October Rome I'd heard a lot of good things about rome but then I'd also heard a lot of good things about Florence. Fortunately, Rome didn't disappoint! I don't think I can remember visiting anywhere where there is just so much to see. I spent pretty much the whole day sightseeing and there was still plenty I didn't get to, although I did waste an hour or so when I went off the guide map by accident! I saw the colisseum and the roman forum, the trevi fountain (amongst others), the spanish steps, the pantheon (the highlight for me), numerous other roman ruins, numerous spectacular squares and the monuments/civic buildings on capitoline hill. Once back at the hostel they put on free pizza for dinner and we watched a dvd of gladiator! Friday 15th October Rome Unfortunately I had to change hostels due to bed availibility so I checked out after breakfast but they let me leave my stuff in reception and I headed out to see the rest of the sights. First I headed for a park in the north of the city centre, this was really pretty and it was good to get away from all the people and cars for a bit. I kept going north and eventually I reached my destination which was a collection of auditoriums designed by italian modernist architect renzo piano. I stayed here for a little while then headed back to the city centre alomg the river tiber. On my way I passed some of the citiy's stadia (including the one where the italian rugby team plays) and the striking new museum of 21st century art by the celebrated british/iraqi architect zaha hadid. Once back in the city I saw the piazza del poppollo which marks the end of a couple of the major streets in rome with an obelisk which the romans had brought back from ancient egypt. Then I crossed the river for the first time using a roman bridge and I saw the castle and st peters cathedral which was absolutely mobbed! Next I headed down to the medieval part of the city and then it was time to head back. I checked into my new hostel and got chatting to a german guy who was in my dorm. We took advantage of the free pasta on offer then I sorted out my arrangements for the rest of the week and went to the train station to make a reservation. Got back again and then called it a night. Saturday 16th October Rome-Sorrento I'd decided to stay somewhere more low key after rome and I chose sorrento as it was in the right direction, was close to pompei and herculaneum and I had had good reports on it! I had to change in naples then pick up a local suburban train to sorrento. After checking into our rather odd hostel/4 star hotel I wandered into town. The place is really attractive and has great views from the cliff tops of naples bay and mount vesuvius, an active volcano. There was a lot of older holidaymakers around from britain and the states and lots of the bars were showing the premier league football so I settled in and watched a bit of that with a few beers. I got chatting to a couple from san francisco then we met a contestant in a regional beauty contest that was about to take part in the adjacent square! Unfortunately a thunder storm ensued and this delayed the competition so after the americans had left I went to another bar. I'd had a nice relaxing afternoon/evening and about 10.30 I wandered back to the hostel after watching a bit of the beauty contest. I had an incredibly uncomfortable nights sleep as the air conditioning in our windowless dorm wasn't working and it became unbearably hot. Eventually I gave up and went to sleep in the foyer about 5. My complaints fell on deaf ears in the morning but the following night it wasn't so bad. However, to add to my frustrations I then had great difficulty in organising my plans for the following day when I was due to catch an overnight ferry from the east coast (either bari or brindisi) to patras on the greek peloponese peninsular. Although travelling north/south on the italian trains had been quick and easy, going from west coast to east was going to be an entirely more complicated proposition! I also was unable to book a place on the ferry and was going to have to turn up and chance it! I had planned to spend one night on the peloponese before heading to athens but this also proved too expensive/difficult. To add further to my plight the computer crashed as I was in the process of booking my stay in athens and I wasn't sure if I had booked anything or not! I didn't want to book anything else in case I was charged for both and couldn't speak to anyone at the booking agency as it was a sunday! As it turned out, even though they charged me the deposit and booking fee, no booking had been made. After several hours trying to sort things out on the internet and on the phone I eventually gave up and left the hostel with very little achieved! I then headed to herculaneum, a roman town which, like pompeii, had been buried alive when mount vesuvius last erupted. It was only re discovered in the 20th century but has been excavated now to reveal a massive amount of detail of the town and its buildings including statues, mosaics, frescoes and all sorts of other fascinating things. Unfortunately the eastern part of the city cannot be excavated because it has a modern town built directly over it! I found all this fascinating, especially the city walls which originally faced a beach but are is now 100s of metres from the shore and dozens of metres beneath the surrounding ground levels such was the volume of material that the volcanoe dumped onto its surroundings. I left about 5 and got back to the hostel about 6.30. I then went out for some dinner before heading to bed.