From Southern France to Paris

Sunday, 30 August

With a little bit of a sleep in (OMG! The sun is coming up at a civilized time now!!!!), we drove into the city of Beziers, most famous for the eradication of the Cathers, a Christian religion that believed a normal man could commune with God directly and they allowed women to be ‘Perfects’ a person of high respect. Obviously, these 2 things were heretical to the Catholic faith and therefore must die.

The castle in Beziers (now a Monastery) was the stronghold of their faith and was besieged. It ended with total slaughter of the Cathers and some nice new property titles for a few Nobles.

Luckily, that wasn’t our problem. Ours was we couldn’t find a place to park within relatively sane walking distance. We finally gave it up as a joke and continued on our way. From what we saw, as we negotiated through narrow, one way streets with the gentle sound of Dee occasionally screaming in the tight parts, was quite nice.

We continued into the French countryside, heading for a town which was holding a market that day. It was very nice market and we prudently decided to let Dee go browsing by herself and Gene would follow me. We decided to meet at 1pm. The added bonus was about 200 bikers showed up with horns, big revs and bikie moles. It did explain why there were so many stalls selling American merchandise, leather goods, knives, and black tshirts.

We had an extended afternoon kip and didn’t make our night time stop until almost 9pm. The backroads may be scenic but they also take quite a long time to drive.

Monday, 31 Aug

Today was spent enjoying more French scenery. For some reason unknown to us, the area we were in didn’t have many camping grounds but we eventually found one after checking out a free area with services and  a GPS led point that didn’t have anything remotely resembling a camping ground down a steep, narrow street.

As it was the first day of school, not only are the camping spots wonderfully vacant but they are at least half the price of the peak period which finished the day before. We used the washing and drying machines to great effect, their cost almost equaling the cost of camping itself. We also used the internet to its full extent. We also had a great storm pass over with thunder and lighting. Those 2 last points don’t always go well together but I like living on the edge.

Tuesday, 01 September

A nice pleasant drive to Mont du Chalus brought us into town right when the Tourism Office closes for lunch. We’ve done this a few times, looking for a vital service right on their afternoon siesta.

After gaining the required map and finding out some pertinent information, I took Gene off for a walk to the Castle that King Richard the Lion Heart was sieging when he was killed with a crossbow bolt.

Old Dicky was conducting a reconnaissance of the besieged castle to find the weak points dressed in a gambeson (padding worn under armour) and his shield. One of the castle’s crossbowmen took a pot shot and hit him in the shoulder. His medical team wasn’t really up to it and made a botch of the job to remove the bolt and he died a few days later. Before he died, the crossbow man came to him and received forgiveness from Richard, just before Richard’s men hung him and flayed him alive (by some reports).

The pertinent information for us was the castle was open to the public during the months of July and August, aligned with the school holidays. The problem was it’s the first of September. Sigh….

So, Gene and I did what King Richard did (with fewer fatalities) and walked around the perimeter of the castle, trying to find a way in.

We’re now resting in a ‘French Passion’ site (ie free site for camper vans) and the owners have just come home. We picked the site as it was owned by a blacksmith which would be very cool. What actually happened was we used the GPS coordinates of another site, just below the planned spot in the book. Luckily, they’re very close geographically, so we may visit tomorrow. We’re heading towards a medieval castle which is being made from scratch with period tools.

From there, Paris! But now, dinner!

Thursday, 03 September

We were able to visit the blacksmith we had hoped to stay with the previous night. The blacksmith and his wife were wonderful and we had a great conversation half in gestures that Marcel Marsou would be proud of.

Our main point of interest was to visit a site called Gudelon, sounding like ‘Get-along’, an enterprise when people are building a castle from scratch using period tools. The concept was started in 1997, the year we started re-enactment, and isn’t planned to be completed until 2025. The site was amazing. They still have a fair few things to complete but what they have done is astounding. My only gripe would be the lack of correct medieval clothing for the workers there. I’m not concerned about the safety stuff of steel capped boots or hard hats but just the basic tunic and not a tabard looking thing with a rope belt.

Our nighttime stop was a wonderful little farm 100km up the road and getting closer to Paris.

Friday, 04 September

With only 100km to Paris, we made our farewells and made good time, reaching Paris by 11am, even with the traditional, big city congestion that was a quarter of our total driving time for the day.

We decided to rest for the day and see the Arc de Triumph and Eiffel Tower in the afternoon/evening. This was mainly influenced by the shuttle bus not running from 1 to 5pm. The Arc was very impressive but we didn’t bother getting too close due to 9 roads of traffic converging at the roundabout.

The Eiffel Tower was fantastic. For some reason, I thought was green but it was more of a light brown. We decided to have dinner first before joining the long que to travel up the elevators. All things considered, it was a relatively short wait when you compare the probable lines during the recent summer holidays.

I had a brain fart getting ready for the day and brought my leatherman pocket knife which I couldn’t take with me. I cunningly wrapped it in a brown paper bag and stuck it under one of the concrete block seats before I went up. Luckily, it was still there when I came back.

With a shaky ride up with a few scared cries by other travelers, we made it to the 2^nd level then onto the top to enjoy the views.  The trip down was much easier.

Making our way to and from the Tower we had a multitude of African men selling various Eiffel Tower souvenirs who had the ability to quickly pack up and move when the police showed up. There were also the ball and cup games happening with 3 or so helpers pretending to part of the crowd. It was lots of fun to watch.

Saturday, 05 September

An early morning start had us at the entrance of the Louvre with only 30 people in front of us. We were able to see the Mona Lisa and escape far from the maddening crowds and see the other cool things in the museum.

After a late morning tea we caught trains to see Notre Dame but halfway there Gene realised she had left her night time braces at the cafeteria. As we had already lost he day time ones in the UK, we had lunch at MacDonalds and I went back and went hunting for them. Luckily, the staff had put them away and I was able to quickly collect them and join up with the girls again.

We visited Notre Dame and the crypt next door to it but not the catacombs which we though was the latter. Bugger. The Cathedral was amazing and the stained glass fantastic. I don’t know how old the rear windows are but they look close to the 13^th century but I’m thinking that they may be actually 18^th Century…… I’ll have to google it.

So we’re back safe and sound with French berets, of course. Tomorrow, we head towards Mont St Micheal.

Trying to muffle the muffler.

Friday, 28 August

On starting the motor on Tuesday morning, I knew something wasn’t right. It started fine but it was just LOUD. We moved out of Geneva, the city of perpetual red lights, and onto the highway entering France and free camping for those so informed.

After a half hour, I pulled over and checked the exhaust (or Auspuff in German) system. It looked OK but I noticed a crack very close to where the exhaust connects to the engine. Bugger. Since it was raining, I didn’t want to spend too much time outside and we kept on going to our end destination at Cogin les Gorges.

I can only speculate that the crack was caused when the Bologna mechanics lifted the muffler too high to the body of Springy. It could have also been damaged by poor hangers (the rubber rings that hold up the muffler). Any which way, it was beyond my abilities to fix, so we took her to the local mechanic just down the road from our night’s stop.

The mechanic was able to weld close some of the cracked muffler but not the top part of the pipe as he couldn’t reach it. At least it was going to stay on for a bit longer. We found the camp site and met the owner, a lovely lady who became a Godsend for us over the next few days.

We visited another local mechanic (our new friend’s mechanic) and they organized to have the required bits sent and they would have it all fixed the following day. Facing the fact we were here for a couple of days, the camper owner took us to the local sites of the Abbey of St Anthony, where you could still see his bones and up into the mountains where the WWII French Resistance fighters were based.

Unfortunately, the mechanic couldn’t fit the new pipe to Springy, something about it being incompatible with her due to her age. It was a bit confusing to me as I couldn’t see the actual connector to the engine with the parts that were shipped. I then asked if the top part of the crack could be welded close if the pipe was removed. They could have a go but we had to bring Springy in the next day.

With that decided, we spent the day relaxing at our friend’s place waiting for the phone call from the mechanics. It was quite a relaxing day overall. I even started and finished making one medieval shoe, something I had been hoping to do for quite a while. We even watched, ‘Monsters Vs Aliens’ in French which was quite entertaining as we had seen it a thousand times before and wanted to listen to the translated version.

With the phone call from the mechanic, we picked up Springy. They were able to weld up the crack but they said it was still a bit loud. Turning on Springy, she sounded just as quite as she was before and we were all quite relieved. That night we celebrated our time with our friend by going to a very nice local restaurant. They even made me drive her left hand drive manual car, something that I had never done before. I thought I went fairly well.

Unfortunately, we now had to change our plans and not visit Spain at all since we had lost so many days. We’ll spend the rest of our time in France and maybe come back to the UK a day or so earlier.

Friday morning came and we had to finally say goodbye to our new friend. There were tears from the girls but we will keep in touch, even if we have to do it old school via email as she doesn’t have Facebook.

As the highway trip from Geneva to Cognin leg Gorges cost us 32 Euro in tolls, we decide to keep off them whenever possible. This will save us some money and Dee can enjoy more of the countryside. It’ll just take us longer to get to the end point in the afternoon. And wear me out a bit as highway driving is less mentally taxing compared to narrower streets, mad on-coming drivers and constant roundabouts

Along the way we visited an amazing antique shop which tempted us greatly, more so if we actually lived in the area and hand a few more dollars.

We also pulled off the road and found a shady area near 2 rivers to have lunch and bit of a siesta. Even though it wasn’t a main road, there did seem to be a bit of traffic some of it very close to us.  As we recovered from our kip we realised the locals were thinking we were prostitutes (remembering in Bologna some prostitutes were making good us of Springy-like campers) We quickly packed up because Dee was starting to panic that someone was going to proposition us, even though she was still saying ‘Bonjour’ to everyone who came by making it sound like she was a welcoming prostitute…..

And someone was practicing with automatic fire somewhere in the locality (not at or near us though).

AT 5.30pm, we finally arrived at Vallon Pont d’Arc (A little valley with the arched bridge). 20 years previous a massive cave system with beautiful 36,000 year-old drawings was found. What the French government had done was create an amazing replica of the site so you can visit the area without damaging any of the actual structure or paintings. I think the last book from ‘Clan of the Cave Bear’ series actually uses the site as part of the story. We didn’t have dinner until 8.30 at night.

Tomorrow, we travel to Beziers the sight of a Crusade where the Gnostic faith was eradicated back in the 12^th century.

Saturday, 29 August

With an 8am start, we saw the Pont d’Arc, a natural landmark of the area. Water has eroded a hole through one side of a valley wall and has created an arch the current river goes through. They have evidence the area has been used for over 36,000 years and I’m has been used a clear reference point since then. It’s nice to think that almost all of the people I know should have ancestors who went, ‘Oh! Ahh!’ just like us.

The back roads to Beziers were nice and we saw some lovely country side but it took ages……

We found antique shops and large Saturday market just outside of Ales. I was able to find a set of small screwdriver heads which was exactly what I was looking for. The supporting screw for our water heater was loose (I blame the Eastern Bloc roads) and I couldn’t tighten it as it’s in a very confined space. With a short screwdriver head and my multi grips, I was able to get some tightness to it. Tomorrow we’ll see how much it rattles.

We made the executive decision and get a French gas bottle. I don’t believe our last English gas bottle has enough inside it to last the next fortnight. After the normal charades I had signed a contract for a bottle and then found out they were out of full bottles for the one I wanted. I then signed another contract for a different bottle, received my gas regulator then went in search for an adaptor to connect my rubber gas hose to the new regulator. I had to buy a complete, outdated, regulator to get the little piece I needed to connect to the hose.

After all that, I decided we’re going on the highway for the last leg (bliss) and we’re now parked in an olive farm in Beziers.

Australians in Austria

Well, I think we're in the Alps? Lots of mountains and it's cool? That'll do!
:)

As we drove to Austria, we passed the area where the 'Otzi the Ice Man' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tzi) was found. It's amzing to think that this area was populated for so may thousands of years.

Innsbruck was great. A nice wander around and enjoy the sights. The ongoing fun of trying to find a non-undercover parking spot for Springy and local businesses that don't want your business because I don't speak their language were the only mars of the day.

We also found some Mustache wax.....
:)


We found some cheap but awesome apple juice that is thick and tastes amazing. We noticed a bee had come in and was making circles around an empty bottle of one, so I put a dreg of juice in the lid and set it aside for the bee who fell upon it and had his fill. Within half an hour, we had 3 more bees in the camper, so I moved the lid outside.

As we were getting ready to leave Innsbruck, we struck up a conversation with another Aussie who was travelling with his wife. It's amazing how good it feels to listen to a person with the same accent as you.

The mountains are still awesome and gene has secretly fallen in love them.

We made our way to Lichtenstein and stayed in the nation's capital in the parking lot of their soccer stadium. We even had a clear view of the Royal abode.

Today, we drove to Lucern in Switzerland, hoping to see a library of medieval books that we saw in the 1999 trip. Our memory must be failing on us as the library is in St Gallon instead. Bugger. It's still a beautiful town. I took Gene for a walk to find the library that didn't exist and found awesome stuff instead as Dee had an afternoon rest.

We decided to stay the night in Lucern and push on to Geneva tomorrow so we're at CERN bright and early for the Monday morning tour we're on.

I even did some laundry, de-rusted bits of Springy, fixed the exhaust pipe and did the washing up. Quite a balanced day of chores.
:)

Leaving Italy

Today, Dee was released from hospital at about 4.30pm with a nifty bag of drugs that will almost get her through to our return to Australia. It was a bit of a decision whether to stay in Bologna for another night or head towards Austria. In the end, Dee was happy to move on, so we did. It's great to be all together again.

She's taking it very carefully and we're not letting her do anything stupid.

Once we were on the highway, we noticed the smell of exhaust fumes in Springy and Gene was saying how hot the back was, even when it was quite cool. We pulled over for dinner and I realised when the mechanics looked at the exhaust pipe, they used the small rubber hangers that hold the exhaust pipe up. The problem was it was too high up and fumes and heat were coming in. I took off 2 of the rubber rings, lowering it down to where it was before. No problems with heat an fumes now but it still needs good long rings to keep it at the distance required and stable.

The mountains we're passing between are amazing with castles and medieval towns all along the way.

We found our campsite for the night, a place at the top of another mountain, this time with wet roads.It's a nice place but horribly expensive due to the high season. We should be in Innsbruck, Austria tomorrow.

Prepare for the confusion of having Australians in Austria!

It all sounds like Baloney

Tuesday, 18 August

The days have been filled with visiting Dee twice a day, getting various bits of Springy seen to and trying to rest. It hasn’t been bad, just not static.

The good news is that Dee is being released tomorrow but we don’t know when. We’re hoping it’s before lunch but you can never tell.

I love making connection to English words from the local words. Whilst Dee is in hospital, I found out that 'Floor' in Italian is 'Piano' and 'Room' is 'Camera'.

One of our friends, who has been taking care of our place whilst we’re gone was a Godsend today. To ensure we didn’t have to pay any of the hospital costs and allow the reciprocal arrangement between Italy and Australia national health services occur, we had to provide Dee’s Medicare card. First I thought it was in Dee’s purse that was stolen in Hungary but Dee had left it back in Australia with all the other bits and pieces she normally carries. Our friend was able to get to our place at night and find it (the latter bit the major concern, trying to remember where we put it 4 months ago), take a photo of the card and email the hospital. It was a massive relief.

The current plan is pick up Dee and start driving to Austria. We’re hoping its cooler up in the Italian Alps.

With Gene and I driving the length and longth of Bologna visiting Dee ad doing various odd jobs, 2 things have gained our notice.

1. Roadside prostitution is quite common in the city. Not only are they at various roundabout and such but they have campervans.  I think it’s quite inventive but they all look like the same style and age as Springy. I would hate for anyone to think of me as fat, furry man whore judging me by the vehicle I drive. It was also a good opportunity to talk to Gene about prostitution in today’s society.

2. Traffic light windscreen wipers. These guys come out when you’ve stopped at the red light and ask if you want your windscreen wiped. Even if you say, ‘No’, they still do it and then ask for money. Canberra has them but if you say no, they don’t wash your windscreen or do it and not ask for money. These Buggers do and it drives me insane. I picked up the local technique of stopping about 5m from before where I’m supposed to stop and when they come up to my window, I drive forward, leaving them behind me. The fact that I still had suds on my window from the previous window washer should indicate that I don’t need his services. I don’t mind beggars though, they are a bit different. They don’t provide a service you don’t want and then expect payment.

I’d rather see more prostitutes on the road than window wipers.

Today, we also found a locksmith to try to open the safety box we found underneath our cupboards drawers. We have no idea what’s in it as we never received a key. Unfortunately, he couldn’t open it, so the mystery continues.

I love the idea of businesses closing for the summer break but I do hate the fact that all the businesses that provide items for camper vans and caravans are closed during the high season  when caravans and campervans are visiting and require a bit of TLC.

Now for some stupidity from me.

About a fortnight ago I wrote above our water tank port ‘Lock’ and ‘Unlock’ with arrows pointing in the relevant directions as the girls could never figure out how to open. Then they got miffed that I wrote it as it indicated that they couldn’t open a locked nozzle which they couldn’t. I also did the same with the little back hatch that holds our water hose and fold up chairs). The next time I tried to open the port, I thought I opened it the wrong way and I had written the lock and unlock directions the opposite way. Today, I tried to open the port doing the opposite of the incorrect markings for quite a while but to no avail. I thought the lock was busted somehow and I had even prepared to visit a professional the following morning to sort it out. Then I tried following the actual arrow directions I had originally drawn and it opened easily. So I was smart to draw it in the first place but an idiot (twice over) to think I had drawn it wrong then follow my incorrect assumption. The good thing is I know now which way is correct…….

Ever since we bought Springy, we had been using gas to run the fridge when we were stationary and the leisure battery when we were on the road. Most of our overnight stops didn’t supply external power, so we didn’t worry about that third option. Coming into countries that didn’t condone free parking, we tried the external power but it didn’t seem to work. We just figured that the fridge just didn’t work that way and we just accepted it (figuring the cost of getting the electrical system was a bit too much). When we replaced the fridge, we realised it didn’t run on external electrical as well, reinforcing our original thoughts. About a week or so later, Dee is sorting out her clothes cupboard which is situated next to the fridge and notices a power point at the back with a cable half plugged in and the switch turned off. When she pointed it out it finally clicked that the fridge wasn’t hardwired into the electrical system but just plugged in. Plugging the plug in and throwing the switch gave us a cold fridge in a couple of hours.

Gene now has a Hello Kitty Wonder Woman watch thanks to a McDonalds Happy Meal.

Big Hearted Dee

Monday, 17 August

With Dee resting in the hospital, Gene and I have all this free time to explore the city of Bologna. Apart from the Twin Towers (a building one of the characters in the Percy Jackson books talks about), we didn’t know what to see and really we wanted to rest between visiting hours with Dee.

The weekend is upon us and with a public holiday on Saturday (I thought that was a bit strange), the city was pretty deserted. It made driving through an Italian city pleasurable.

Bologna has a hospital precinct with hospitals building for each specialisation (cardiac, Pediatric, ocular, etc). One of the patients told me that Bologna was one of the best places to be sick in as they have the best hospitals in the area. It’s great the amount of care given but it makes it a bugger to walk to and from a car park that can take a camper. Such is life! It’s my exercise for the day.

Gene has been great throughout the whole experience, taking things as they come.

The hospital staff have ben lovely but not many people speak English which has been a bit frustrating for Dee, being a rather chatty sort of girl.

We have Springy for a quick see to. It’s been 10,000km since the last service but the mechanic says these vehicles should be right for one every 15,000. That’s great but I still need somethings looked at.

Our kitchen cabinet catch has finally failed on us and we have to rely on masking tape to hold it close until I can find a place to buy a new one (and possibly some spares). It makes going around sharp corners fun.

I was able to contact our travel insurance people and they are onto any possible hospital bills. We’re lucky that Australia and Italy have reciprocal medical agreements and any medical costs should be nil. That is a relief. We were worried that we may have to pay out the costs then seek reimbursement.

We’re currently hiding in McDonalds trying to use their wifi but to no avail, so I’m tpying this blog on a word document and I’ll copy and paste it later.

I was also hoping to see a few businesses about purchasing the correct shelves for our fridge but no-one is answering their phones. I have a sneaking suspicion that many businesses have a Sunday-Monday weekend.

We reviewed our trip and we don’t think we can make Venice now. Once Dee is released (hopefully today) we’ll be heading north to Innsbruck in Austria then West to Lichtenstein and Switzerland over the next week.

The weather has been much cooler over the last few days and we’re hoping it will continue as we head towards autumn. I even had to use a doona last night.

With the evening upon us, we have been informed that Dee has an enlarged heart (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/enlarged-heart/basics/definition/con-20034346). I always knew she had a big heart but not in this way.

No idea what caused it or what type it is so far but we have a meeting tomorrow morning with the Chief Doctor to discuss it. There is medication they want to put her on which will involve being monitored in hospital for a couple of days.

The funny thing is we had to travel halfway around the world to find out what was wrong.

The good bits of the day are:

We now know what’s wrong.

We can begin treating / managing it and last and least

Springy had a bit of a service and is running much better.

Thank you to all the messages and well wishes, they are wonderful.

Pisa, the Hotel California and hospitals.

One of biggest problems we’ve had so far is trying to find a mechanic who can service Springy. It seems that all viable options occur on the weekends. Yesterday evening, we thought we had found one so we packed up everything this morning. We thought we were a bit early, so we did the daily shop to find the business still closed. After trying to interpret the various notices, we realised the mechanics were closed for the holidays.......

With only a sigh, we drove to Pisa and did the touristy thing around the most famous architectural failures in recent history. You don't want it lean to far as it might fall over and no-one will visit the town. You don't want to straighten it as it just becomes the ex-Leaning Tower of Pisa which also doesn't draw the crowds.

Before we get too carried away with the trip, I realised we hadn't planned to see Assisi the home St Francis and where we bought Dee's wedding ring. looking at the map, we realised we had missed it already as we were travelling north to the left off Perugia and Assisi is on the right. To turn back would be a 2 day trip from where we were. We weren't too happy about that. Where we pulled over was the drive of the Hotel California. We hoped it wasn't an omen...............

Currently, Pisa must be the easiest Italian city to enter and look at the sights and get out again. Even the road side sellers were incredibly helpful. They pointed out the car park that was just about to open up and helped me reverse park Springy in. It was worth buying 2 hand woven bracelets of him for 5 Euro. I also considered them our unofficial security for Springy as they seem to have selling rights there. If any of the cars were broken into, they would be the first to be fingered, so they keep a watchful eye out.

The Tower looked much better than we last saw it in 99. The surrounding religious buildings also had scaffolding taken away. The main attraction was all the tourist taking photos of them and the Tower, pushing it up or over, kicking it or pretending it's their genitalia.

Suitably impressed and with a picnic lunch under our belts we travelled on. The GPS had a camping ground called 'Piccolo Paradiso' near our finish point for the day, just before Bologna. Things are going well, we get off the highway and are looking to be there is 15 minutes. Excellent! 

Dee sees another camping sign. Is that a comment or a request to depart from the planned end? We go on and soon see a sign for 'Piccolo Paradiso' that is not along the GPS route which isn't a bad thing as we've been led along a longer path following the GPS on several occasions before.

Following the road with 2-3 signs so far is good. Then the signs stop. The road loops around and we're back to the start again. Puzzled, we follow the GPS again.

We've found camping sites in the weirdest of places during our travels. So, when we start going uphill a bit, I'm not too concerned. When it becomes a narrow road and then gravel, I'm concerned and start looking for a place to conduct a 3 (or 15) point turn.

We turned around and looked at the GPS again. There are 2 listings for the site. I scribble the addresses down and choose the one I didn't pick originally. Surely this is the right one!

We figured we must have missed something with the signs as the GPS was pointing in the same direction, so we went back, stopping at a petrol station to confirm directions and tried the signed path again This time I noticed above the sign was another sign of a different font with 'Piscene' on it. At an intersection, there was only one sign, this one with Piscene on it. Trying my luck, I followed that sign to Picadillo Paradiso. 

It didn't look right. I couldn't see any campers. I got out and found the main serving area to see a pool, play equipment and a basketball court. Whatever it was now, it isn't a camping spot any longer. The lady behind the snack bar then confirms this saying it hasn't been one for years. I try to point out that not only is it in my GPS as a camping spot, there is 2 listings, one being at the top of a nearby empty mountain. The breakdown of the language barrier strikes again.

We go back to the sign Dee saw originally and followed that. Surely it can't be too far. So we drive. And drive. I can't recall missing any signs and we spot a camping sign, so we continue on. And on. 

We finally arrive and it doesn't look like any campsite we've ever seen. It has a high locked wooden gate with an intercom. I ring and the gentlemen says he'll be down in a minute. I look at the sign and the name of the camping site. I think about how far it is from everything else. Another car drives up and is very happy to see us, just as the manager shows up. Both are from the Netherlands and perhaps partners. I ask and my suspicions are confirmed. It's a nudist camp....

Now, I do't have any problem with nudity but I was fairly sure that Dee did with Gene with us. Thanking them for their time, we drove off heading towards Bologna to see if the camping site there was something more than a fantasy.

As it was about 6pm by this stage and we had been on the road for about 10 hours, I suggested we stop at the next open restaurant and have something for dinner and bugger the expense. It was around that point we drove past the petrol station I asked direction from and hour or so previously. We had completed a massive winding loop......

All the restaurants were closed. It was then I proposed the hypothesis we actually died somewhere along the road (like Hotel California) but instead were doomed to travel the roads looking for camping sites that didn't exist and look for dining that was closed.

For at the last week, the weather has been uncomfortably hot with the only respites when it rains making it cooler but humid.With this long day of just bizarre situations, it became too much for Dee.

About half an hour outside of Bologna, Dee asked to be taken to a hospital. Previously, Dee has had chest pains and they have never been deemed heart attacks after the lengthy testing that was conducted. I thought this is the same but I wasn't taking any chances. Gene loaded the GPS for the nearest hospital and we were off. I didn't fully know where we were and I didn't feel confident the operator, if we called, would be able to send an ambulance.

We made it to the hospital and Dee was admitted. It was then we found out it was a orthopedic hospital....

After confirming that things look OK, they organised to have her moved by ambulance to the General hospital for better care.

The Bolgona Medical services are great. What surprised me was the separate buildings for the different specialisations (orthopedic, cardiac, pediatric, etc). It also makes it a bugger trying to find the right hospital to find Dee.

We finally found the General Hospital and had enough coinage to dine on 2 packets of chips and biscuits. Dee stayed at the General Hospital that night and was moved to the Cardiac hospital the following morning. Gene and I slept in Springy on the road near the medical precinct as it was 10pm by then and tried to park closer in the morning.

The doctors are keeping her in hospital until they can perform  a  stress test on her on Monday, Gene and I spent most of this morning walking and driving around trying to find closer parking spots for a camper, seeing the Twin Towers of Bologna and finding the camping site for the night.

Tomorrow should be a relaxing day...............