A blog about art, adventure, and life!: The Life of the Rich and Famous

Hmmm...where did I leave off. We went to Florance and visited the sites. There is this really neat bridge that is the oldest in the city and has arches and houses and shops built on it. It's hard to explain without a picture. I skipped the leather making demo and walked around for a few hours. I came across this huge old palazzo where all of these esentric artist were selling their paintings. I almost splurged and bought a painting from an old guy artist with an eye patch but it would have required me to find a bank and take more money out. I may regret it but I have a hard time making decisions quickly- I'm fickle.

The included dinners have stunk... Choices veal or fish. Gross! Good thing I've had those 5 course meals to hold me over. Did I tell you my trick for saving money and not buying lunch? The ladies I met in London taught me... you make a sandwich and take some fruit from breakfast, wrap it in a napkin and throw it in your handbag. I've converted half of my tour group to this method. :) I'm a total tread setter!

Yesterday we visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It really is leaning! It looks better in person meaning prettier. We headed up the Mediterian coast and went through 164.5 tunnels into France. About half of the time through while in a tunnel my friend Kelly from Canada who is on her honeymoon started shouting for help. We quickly discovered her husband was experiencing a grand mal seizure but he is healthy with no health problems so this came as a shock plus we were in a tunnel and couldn't pull over. Thank goodness for the 3 nurses we have in our tour group. We made it to an exit and the ambulance came right away. I can't imagine being Kelly who had to jump into an ambulance in a foreign country and head to a hospital to have her husband treated without knowing how to speak Italian. We later heard that Tom is doing okay but has to be in the hospital for a week. I'm sad for them but grateful that he is okay.

We moved on to Menton where we stayed last night though we spent most of the night in Monte Carlo with the rich and famous. My friend Debbie swears we were sitting across from Brian McNight at a cafe! Debbie and I joined our gambling money together- 2.50 euros each for the minimum 5 euro bet. We played the Sex and the City slot machine and won 12.90 euro so we stopped, cashed out, gave each other back our original money plus 1.50 each (so we were sure to come out on top) then went back with our remaining 5 euros and lost it all in 90 sec. on the Star Wars slot machine! We then took our winnings and went out in front the high roller Casino and made fun off the rich people and how horribly dressed they were but thought they were hot stuff. We had quite a few laughs.

Of course I haven't mentioned much about the roommate but last night was a testament to my patience. I undoubtably get the aggressive alcoholic roommate who has no less then 5 drinks a night, is nasty and uncompromising when we get back to the hotel, then passes out, snores all night, and acts like nothing happened the next day which is most likely because she doesn't remember. She tries to hang out and follow me around when we are visiting cities but I've finally told her I need alone time and walk around on my own. I am not a babysitter or therapist on my vacation. My patience is running thin though and she may soon feel the wrath of Casey!

On to Nice and Grenoble today.