I'm Going on an Adventure (Alastair and Bini's Exchange Blog)

Bini got sick last night. Didn't get much sleep. Ah well Alastair went  down to the bakery this morning and got some croissants for breakfast. Got in our train to Florence easily. The scenery on the way to Florence was great we went though valleys of olive trees and vineyards. Truly amazing. Bini slept.  Arrived in Florence and walked 20 minutes to our airbnb. Host let us in and went through the how the house works. The room is amazingly well designed. It's one big room with a little attic thing above the entrance hall way. It's a studio so had a kitchen ensuite bathroom and a couch, also had good wifi.  Bini took a rest for the afternoon and then we went out and got food from a nearby supermarket. Made Gills pasta for dinner. Which includes zucchini, olives and tomatoes, also I our case it included gnocci.  Had and early sleep. As we would need to wake up early tomorrow to get to the quiditch world cup. 

Woke up late after the concert. Went down to the patisserie again for breakfast and had an apple turnover over each and another custard filled thing. Went back to the fruit store and bought some bannans. Also got some more fresh bread, still had enough ham and cheese left from yesterday.  Found a beach that was free and looked nice in viareggio. Got the 1pm train and then took an our walk through a nice pine / blackberry Forrest to the beach.  Had a loverly swim. Sadly it was a bit cloudy so we got  a bit cold when we got out. Ah well no one got sunburnt which was good. We both super tired but walked back along the beach and then did a little bit of Forrest walking. Took train home. Had cheap pizza for dinner and went to bed. Ready to got tomorrow. 

Woke up late and went to a nearby patisserie for breakfast and ate two glazed croissants. Very nice.  Then went exploring around lucca for food. Found a wonderful fresh fruit store and bought some peaches. Also found a carre fore supermarket which bini used the have as a child. Went in and bought some ham and cheese. Next visited a bakery and got a fresh baguette.  Went home and made lunch while also researching the best place the hire bikes so that we could ride around the walls of Lucca.  Found a place called raja bike hire, went there and hire a tandem bike....... Naturally them I terrified bini. Heheh bini hadn't been on one before and it was great fun... And also very funny. Took us a while to get it under control but once we had all good. Neither of us killed the other so happy times. Bini didn't drive  much as she couldn't touch the ground from the front seat.  Ah well had a lovely ride for two hours. Did two laps of Lucca and had a great time. Had lunch ...

Got up early, had breakfast. Then Gill donated us two bananas, then escorted us an amazing bakery wherr we bought two almond croissants with custard inside. The Gill took us to the train station and put us on our first train.  From Venice Santa Lucia we went to Venice Mestre. Here we had had an half an hour to change here and then we took a train to prato which we again and half an hour to change onto a train to lucca.  When arrived we got lost. Did a few circle around the place we thought the house was. Finally we went down a tiny back alley and found the tiny sign saying da Francesco (the place we were staying). Got into the appartment and met the host. Room was super dusty and there was no wifi. Bini had a zertec immediately and we both went to bed.  Went out to lunch and had a pasta to share. Got hit with the table service fee we weren't expecting. Ah well we'll learn the one eventually.  Our mission today was to find an adapter that would change our fat stemmed ...

Woke had breakfast at me as normal. Didn't leave till 10:30 ish then we went walking sound Venice. Took ferry from a stop on the grand canal all the way down the grand canal to St Marks Square. We went under the rialto bridge which was cool but other than that nothing super interesting some great veiws and look in at the fish markets which we had gone to.  When when to saint marks we took some pictures from its at sea and then once we'd landed we bought our souvenirs bini got a nice key chains and I amazingly found a badge.  Next we took the ferry from St Marks to the train station around the west side of Venice. Form here we saw more of Venice, a really long cargo barge and a huge cruise ship. Also saw building that looked like stable which we assumed that Napoleon had built. (We are probably wrong).  Once we'd landed at the station we went shopping. On the way we bought a gelato each. I had coconut and caramel and bini had coconut and cherry. Mine were better.  Had...

Woke up at 8 this morning. Got up and had breakfast same as yesterday. Gave pop a ring this morning I had a short chat to him. Didn't leave home till 10:15 which I think disappointed Nick a little. From home went to the Venice arsenalle which happened to be open to the public for this weekend. It was amazing we saw a huge range I ships in the museum including the funeral barge for the workers, an old WW2 boat and a big Venice royal barge. From here we went into the actual arsenalle and saw the huge amount of land area was involved in building ships. We saw a big wooden open wet? Dock, a submarine and all the old factory halls that they would have made ships in. It was awesome.  Left the arsenalle at about 12 with bini and I were very very hungry. Started walking to Venice but luckily nick made us stop just in the nick of time (ha get it) and have some food from a kebab shop. Kebab was fantastic bit only because we were super hungry.  Bought a 24 hour ticket for the Venice ferr...

Woke up at 7 and had breakfast of cereal and tea provided by Gill and Nick. Had a nice morning then we went to the fish markets with Gill and Nick to look for tonights dinner. The markets were amazing, the highlight being the big sword fish head and the huge amount of fresh fruit and vegetables.  Before and after the fish markets we went over rialto bridge. Didn't get any pictures because we forgot. Might have to go again over the next couple of days. Here we left Gill and Nick after they had pointed us towards a lunch spot where we had a tramezzino each. Also bought and aranchini ball for bini and a mozorello in a carrage for me, which is two peices of bread with mozzarella inside then deap fired. It was interesting although not my kind of thing.  From here we walked to St Marks Square and enjoyed Venice along the way. I was surprised about how commercialised Venice is. Saw many shops including a big luxury store. At St Marks Square we walked around a bit and then joined the ...