Saturday, July 12, 2008

Blogger speaks many languages

And the language changes as I move from country to country. Current language: French.

My sister, Marion, and I are in Menton, France. We started our drive down here yesterday, stopping at Acqui Terme in Italy along the way.

I'm exhausted. The drive took a lot longer than Garmin said it would on my computer. Garmin, I'm disappointed in you.

I'll be sure to post tomorrow about everything so far. In the meantime, some observations from my second road trip this month.

1. Hotel rooms are more energy conscious in Europe. That, or they just like to save money everywhere they can and call it saving the earth. Every hotel room I've been in since I've been here (both of them) requires the hotel room key to activate the lights in the room. Also, the air conditioning will not turn on unless the windows are closed.

2. Driving the speed limit is unacceptable. I can't tell you how many times I was passed the last two days. And every time I was either driving the speed limit or within a range of 10 km/hr above it. Craziness! Expecially in Italy.

3. People like to stare. Maybe we have "American" stamped across our foreheads and that is why they stare at us. I'm not completely sure, I just know that the people we have come in contact with in Italy and France so far stare, a lot.

4. The roads are very curvy. We navigated 6, 7, and 8 degree turns today. Thankfully, people waited until after those turns to pass us.

5. There is a McDonald's on every corner. Okay, not every corner. But you can find a McDonald's pretty easily while driving on the back roads of the Piedmont region of Italy.

6. I miss Switzerland. The roads are easy to navigate and people stop for pedestrians. Plus I was starting to get used to being surrounded by one language, and now I have bits and pieces of Italian and French in my head.

So, until tomorrow, I'll leave you with a picture. This is the view from the flat we are renting. If you are up for it, the rest are on Flickr. Night all!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice view!!! Enjoy your stay. By the way, the hotels throughout Italy were like that when Mom and I travelled there. It is a great way for them to save money on energy costs.

mrsmac said...

Thanks Hoppy!

Courtney said...

Great blog & great pictures! This kinda looks like Southern California - but not ;) Thanks for visiting my blog. And Tapas Teatro? Really? You might be more ambitious than I am dining w/kids.