Ciao for now, Italy!

I am writing this post from the airport in Bergamo - don't worry if you have never heard of it. I am about one hour's bus ride north of Milan. I am also about to fly Ryan Air for the first time ever, and the house wine at one of this airport's many cafes is starting to seriously tempt me.

On the bus ride here from Milano Centrale train station, we sat across the aisle from 2 German tourists who proceeded to read every bloody billboard and street sign from the City to the airport. Granted, the woman was convinced that the bus driver was heading for Malpensa airport (Milan's main departure point for air travellers), so I thought she would relax the on-board commentary once we deviated along the "Bound for Bergamo" route. Sadly, no. Soon she was joined by her husband, as together they recited the signs along the roadside for the illiterates amongst us. Okay so I'm being a bit unfair. They were not that loud. In fact, I could only hear them because they were right opposite me. But for Goodness sakes people! Could they not see that my morning coffee was yet to kick in?!

And so we arrived at the airport at arround 11.30am, my nerves shattered, to realise that our flight to Paris does not actually leave until 4.30pm. Uh huh. Don't ask how we did that, but perhaps in the spirit of finding that old silver lining, we can accept that for once we were well on time (and waaay early) for a city departure.

As I start to accept that this is my last day in Italy for a while, at least until my parents come over in September, I can say that this part of my holiday has been the best. I enjoyed France and Switzerland too of course, but the weather, food, and wine improved significantly once we crossed into Italy. And that did a lot to relax me into enjoying playing the tourist for a few weeks. I have eaten more pizza and drunk more Chianti in the last few weeks than ever before, and have probably relocated the kilos I'd lost from my body back in the fat farm of rural France, but I feel happy for it. Our days here have been spent enjoying the outdoors in these Italian cities, taking lots of photos and getting plenty of sleep. What's not to love about that?

A few more days in Paris lies ahead, and then we're off again - this time around Turkey on a tour called "Going Troppo in Turkey". Somehow I think I'll need to channel Bali's 'Go Hard Or Go Home' philosophy in orderto cope with the next 10 days. Sleep will probably be a way off.

At least I can be fairly sure that the Turkish street signs will be illegible to most of my fellow travellers - perhaps I will get some peace after all?