100th Le Tour de France!

 After Venice we went camping in the Dolomites.  We caught a cable car to the top of the mountain Latemat and we went on a dragon quest (it was a bit babyish.) They had some really good cravings and clever ideas. Josie kept screaming because she thought there was a real dragon and she thought it would kill her. At the end they gave us a wooden dragon.  Eliza was disappointed because we did not find a real dragon.

Looking for Dragon teeth.

Looking for clues in a Dragon's nest.

At last  we went to the 100th Tour de France. We watched the  16 & 18 stages . Before the cyclist come they have a parade were trucks come and throw things out to the crowd. We got heaps of hats ,juice,  water bottles, shirts, lollies you name it even detergent! Dad, Bailey and I painted a huge flag with a wave dancer,  an Australian flag and GO CADEL on it.

The red devil with his bike made from water bottles.

Lee from England with Eliza's teddy.

                                 
                                           

There were thousands of people!

Go Cadel Evans!!!! (he is in red and black)

PS for more info on the tour visit 
http://www.sportal.com.au/tour-de-france?gclid=CLDz8d_tvbgCFU2R3goddH0AhQ

We had a long drive to Regula's and Pasquale's (mums friends.) in Tuscany.  They have hundreds of guns because Pasquale hunts cinghaile (wild pig.) They cook the best food.We had home made pesto pasta for dinner last night. Lunch we had a feast set for a king. They have a giant dog called Camillo and he gets so exited and pushes you over or pulls you're shins down.

Regula feeding plums to Camillo

Tomorrow we are off to Sicily where my great grand Pop was born.

BACK IN ITALIA !!!!

When we left Brač we went camping in Hvar, another one of the 1300 islands. The ferry trip took 3 hours. We stayed in an abandoned village next to an olive farm were we set up the tents. We stayed there for three nights. On the last night we found a big ancient water collector. We used it as a skate park with our scooters. After 1 hour we went to a restaurant and got a mixed grill it was delicious. The restaurant was the only place open in the abandoned village of Malo Grablje



After Havar we went to Istria on the mainland for 2 days. We camped in someone's front yard which was also a shooting range. We visited a huge amphitheatre in Pula where gladiators would fight.  They fought each other and fought other beasts. It would not be nice to be a gladiator but they did not have a choice as they were prisoners.


Then we drove back to Italy!!!!!! Right now we are living in Venice. There are no streets it is just water .    Venice is a city on 117 small islands connected by about 400 bridges with 150 canals. I have not seen a car in Venice because they are banned so everyone uses boats for transport.  Yesterday we went on a gondola. It was soooooo  expensive  80€ for half an hour. But it is worth it!!! They have the most comfortable seats. Our captain was called Marco and he started being gondalier when he was 18. His dad was gondalier, his grandfather was a gondalier and his great grandfather!!!!!! We get a great view out of our window of our apartment on a canal.  We are about ten centi meters away is the cannel.  WOW!!!!

We visited the famous San Marco square where Poppie visited when he was young. Dad, Bailey and I climbed a huge tower.  Yesterday we visited Venice's fish market. It was huge and smelly.  It sold so many different fish and canal seafood including spider crabs and snails. The fish man gave Eliza and Josie a sea snail which they kept as a pet.

       THIS IS THE BEST PLACE IN ITALIA!!!

                           

We are leaving Brač!

Three days ago we went cycling. The last time I was on my bike was in January. I really miss riding.  I hired a red and black mountain bike and Bailey got a tiny green plastic one. The course we went on was gravel and there were trees everywhere. We rode for 7.5 km into Supetar and 7.5 km back.   I thought it was awesome because we hardly ever go off road. 

The next day we went to some water slides in Supetar. There were 2 of them. The red one was so fast for most of it you were just falling down.  The blue one was boring. It was so slow and you kept getting stuck. Josie was too scared to go down so we stole her tokens. We went down about 15 times. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun!!!!

Last night we went to the arcade again. On the way we got the biggest stick  of candy floss. At the arcade I worked out a cheat for the car game. Because they put BOUNCY balls in you could make them bounce over the fence and into the win hole. I won six balls and about 20 other kids started copying me. It was awesome.

         THIS IS OUR LAST DAY ON BRAČ