The Museum

I know, I know, I've been lax in my updating yet again. But I have a decent excuse! The internet is very expensive in Venice... possibly because it's surrounded entirely by water. We were in town for a few days and I think it was the longest I've ever gone without seeing a car.

Italy won the World Cup! Holy crap, what a crazy night. I think the entire country exploded with joy and general kiosk-pounding merriment.

We're in Florence now, having just finished peering at some poorly-lit paintings in the Uffizi Gallery. Yesterday we hit Pisa and took the obligatory "hold up the tower" photographs on the lawn. The rest of the day looks like laundry day.

The Beach

So Alex and I are now down in Nice, where the weather's warm and the beaches are close. Strangely enough, the beach here in Nice is made of stone - pebbles, really - instead of sand. It's very different from the sandy beaches I'm used to, but at least I don't have to worry about tracking dirt everywhere I go. The walk from my towel to the water can be pretty painful, though.

Let me just say that being in France during the World Cup has been awesome. The past few nights have been crazy - the entire country erupts every evening depending on which team wins.

The Tour de France

Okay, long time, no update. Alex and I went up to Strasbourg for the first stage of the Tour de France. It was freakin' sweet. We saw all of CSC's team bikes being built, and we managed to see most of the teams warm up. We even met Bobby Julich and saw Dave Zabriskie goofing around before race time.

During the time trial, we had a pretty sweet position near the finish line (150 m mark) and at one point, this guy came up and started video taping the riders behind us. We started chatting with him and then realized who he was: Christian Vandevelde! Holy crap, too cool. We were talking to a tried and true (albeit retired?) CSC cornerstone cyclist.

Now we're in the south of France. We hit Arles (boring, but we did see a bullfight) and Avignon (sweet theatre festival). Now we're headed to Nice to relax on the beaches for a few days before making our final tour through Italy. I'll update again soon!