We finally got on the road at 10am for a long trip to Italy. Again, the mountains that we are driving near, around, through are just amazing. Very large and ominous and snow covered at the top. It’s just beautiful to look at. Pictures just can’t do it justice – at least with our camera. There were about 10 -15 tunnels through the mountains we had to go through I wonder how they ever cut through such stone without having it all collapse on them…
After one particularly long tunnel (the Tunnel of Mt. Blanc) there was a washed out roadway, just below a glacier that was coming between two mountains. It looked like there was an avalanche and there were a couple of cars trapped. It seemed as they were waiting to get out of the lodge that was on the side of the mountain. There was a nice waterfall coming through the mountains and a beautiful view of the mountain. Chris kept making me take pictures of this and that, but it was difficult to shoot by his big nose at times out his side window! (Click picture to see better)
We were glad we drove. We stopped at several points to just take in the scenery and the fresh air. There was still snow on the ground at several stops, but it was easily 65F out. We also saw some castles and a gondola ride up the side of a mountain that we saw in passing, but didn’t stop because it was a 7 hour drive and weren’t going to get to Florence until after 6pm as is.
Once we got to Florence, we got settled in the room and headed out to explore a little bit and get some money. We thought we could scout out the location of the sites we wanted to see tomorrow. We ended up driving down this maze of narrow one way streets with motorcycles and scooters everywhere zooming by us. We found the places we want to see and they are all within a short distance from each other. We then headed back to get money and food. It was around 8:30 by this point and Makenna was getting more and more cranky. So we changed our mind from a good place to eat to opting to go to McDonald’s…I know…in Italy and we eat from McDonalds? Well when you have a tired 2 and a half year old, you have to make compromises and this latest compromise was get fast food that we know she would eat and get her to bed ASAP.
She was screaming these incredibly high pitched screams, so loud they were actually deafening and our ears were ringing. She wanted everything now. We would have her get calm and then gave her whatever it was she was asking for. She would then immediately throw it and again start screaming for it. It was really annoying, but she is testing us.
Unfortunately, McDonald’s turned out to be back in the maze of narrow streets I mentioned and we were disappointed to have to go back through that maze again. We managed and it was actually open, so Makenna got her nuggets and mommy and daddy got a cheeseburger. They were the same soggy burger that we get back in the states. The Kids meal of 4 nuggets is just not enough for Makenna because she doesn’t always eat the fries, but she suffered through because that was all Daddy bought for her and she wouldn’t eat our hamburgers. She took it ok really, and surprised us eventually even eating a couple of fries.
I have to also mention…
1) the motorcycles and bikes in these European countries are like gnats. There are so many of them and they just weave in and out of traffic and at the tightest of spots. The problem is that you can’t always see them coming and as you start to take off from a light all of a sudden they’re zooming right past you, between you and the other car to your side. Oh, and that reminds me, here in Italy, there were at least lines on the road for cars to stay within, they just failed to do so (unlike France where there are no lines and they don’t follow any set pattern anyways).
2) What is up with the bathrooms? When we first got to France we stopped at a quick rest stop that only had bathrooms. I thought that it was a trucker stop or something because the toilet, on both sides of th
e building, only had a bowl, no seat. So I didn’t go. There was no demarcation as to which side was for women or men. Then, as we stopped at other places, I realized, nope, it’s the squat system. Well, then today was the one that topped them all. I’m not in the habit of taking a camera into the bathroom with me, so let me clear that up. It was when stopped just after passing through Mt. Blanc and we wanted to look at the incredible mountain. I was walking along taking pictures and I happened to notice a restroom so I went in. As you can see – this had not even a toilet bowl! It was truly a “bear in the woods” type deal where you were just squatting over this thing on the floor. I told myself it was a good workout for my thighs to go the bathroom in these countries.
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