Venice, Le Tour de France and The French Riviera

Havent had enough time to write much because these Europeans make you pay to use their computers and make you pay for everything else as well. We now have some down time and are just going to hash out what weve been up to.

Venice:

Really the best place in Italy we have been to, the canals are incredible up close (and arent smelly like all the books say). The city has only had two new buildings put up in the past 500 years or so, so it has a feel unlike anyother place that we have seen. There are all of these cool alleyways and sidestreets that you would never go down in Philly but here they are home to a lot of really cool storefronts,restaurants, bakerys and bars. Although its really expesive on this group of islands there is a kind of mystery about them that draws you in. Venecian masks everywhere (some priced over a few hundred euro, and mascarade clothing in the thousands), glass artwork is also big here. Our hostel overlooked the water and at night it was beautiful. To get everywhere we had to take a boat/water taxi (we figured out how to not pay and saved a bundle of money). There were no cars no buses no trains becuase the city is so dense and old there is no room. Its all water here people!!

On our last night in Venice we saw this free concert/art performance. It was hosted by Swatch in Piazza San Marco. It was to launch their new line but it was still really neat to see. This American artist created an entire canvas (it was as long as the stage and maybe 8 feet tall) in a 50 minute period while a band played. Apparently the artist was inspired by the band so they worked in harmony. It was really cool to see and the entire Piazza lit up with a whole laser and light show during the performance. It was a great way to end Venice

Nice and the French Riviera:

Nice was niiiiiiice! First off, it is beautiful and completely relaxed which is exactly what we were hoping for. When we changed our plans to to go Nice instead of Lyon we booked a Hostel through a different website than what we had previously used. This "hostel" we booked was actually a Hotel 2 blocks from the beach at an incredible rate! It was such a nice change of pace and so very welcome! We spent the first day just laying on the beach (its a rock beach but still pretty comfortable and less messy than sand) and swimming in the Mediteranian which was so clear, warm, and calm, the best ocean/beach we have ever been to. At night it didnt get dark out until around 10pm (which is actually a norm for southern europe so far were noticing) and we would just get dinner and relax. The perfect vacation from our vacation.

The next day we went to go get our train tickets to Geneva because we would be leaving the following day. Turns out, everyone and there mother wanted to go there from Nice and we couldnt get out for another couple of days. In the end we decided to cut out Geneva all together, spend more time in Nice and go directly to Vienna...(well go from Nice to Milan, Milan back to Venice, then take an overnight train from Venice to Vienna).

The additional day payed off becasue we were able to go to Monaco. We wanted to see everything, the palaces and the museums but got no chance due to a small not so well known bike competition that was happening called Le Tour de France...ever heard of it? :) We spent the day in the stands (front row) watching the Grand Depart, which is the first official day of competition. We saw Lance Armstrong, who came out of reitrement this year, fly past us as well as all of the other competetors. It was really incredable to see!

Off to the north (or as far north as we have gotten thus far) to see Vienna, Austria!