Where Are We...?

After one week in Monaco, we're headed into Italia - "the home land", as Kelsey says. It was nice having a place to ourselves, and no real responsibilities for a whole week! It gave us some good time to reflect upon all that we've already been through, and ponder what's really important to us for the rest of our trip. We ended up changing all our plans for the next month before Kels goes home...
We did sleep in almost every day 'til about 11, and some days we really lazed around, taking advantage of the freedom we had! It was well deserved and much needed!
We also got out and explored! Monaco is a very condensed and rich city. It takes only about 30mins to walk all the way through Monaco and Monte Carlo. It's main sights are: the Palace of Monaco up on a hill which houses the royal family of Monaco, the Port where all the mega yachts are parked, some beautiful "exotic gardens", and of course the Casino of Monte Carlo. Sitting on a bench anywhere, the people (car) watching will blow you away! Ferraris, Porchs, Lambos, Maseratis, Autis, Mercedes,  etc. constantly wizzingggg by. Any "normal" car stuck out like a sore thumb. We felt completely out of place, but didn't care one bit...we have no wish to have those amounts of $$ or to live that kind of life. Also, everywhere we went, there were cameras and policemen. It was like Big Bother was actually watching us! We attempted to get a feel for the Monagast night life by going out to the Brasserie (supposedly a big hot spot in the evenings), but walked right back to the appartment before even going in. It was very quiet and calm, and gave off the impression that it was very exclusive.
It is all thanks to Laetitia, a former student of our Spanish teacher from high school, Mr. Bouvier. Bouvier established the communication between us, and Laetitia, being the generous and loving woman she is, agreed to having us, at my first mention of it! She convinced her father to let us stay in his guest room (he, coincidentally, was in Spain for most of our time there). Not only did Laetitia provide us with a free place to stay, she also opened her doors and heart to us. She lives right in Monaco in a small (yet veryyyy expensive) house, with her husband and 2 beautiful baby girls. We went to their house almost every day, sometimes just for dinner (which entailed us making the majority of it, and watching the kids). It was great getting to know and spending time with them.  They're very international (they've both lived in many different countries), and had a lot of advice for us. It was fun!!
One day, we went over before 10am to help around the house, as it is difficult for Laetitia to get anything done between breastfeeding and diaper changes. As soon as we arrived we were given our tasks. I was to watch Athina, her 7 week old daughter, all day, and then she gave me a whole list of things tondo whenever I got a chance to split my attention. I must say, I felt pretty pro by the end of the day...but couldn't imagine having to do that every day of my life! Meanwhile, Kelsey helped Laetitia with house chores and just general cleaning... It was a busy day, but we each came out with €50 more to travel with!! After work, Laetitia gave us special passes to a huge wine (and european tasting AND coupons for a couple bottles of high quality wine! It was a great experience - probably a one time thing - going around to litterally over 100 stands and trying the delicious wines, chocolates, cheeses, olive oils, nuts...local products, mostly from France and Italy. We left, as most people did, full of amazing foods, and a bit tipsy.
Again, Kels and I spent almost the entire time together, so, as expected, there was a bit of a clash. When we finally were able to speak about it like civilized people, we agreed that we had been doing much better at the various things that we said we'd work on, and that it was simply yhat we were spending too much time together. The next day, we figured out a way that we could each do our own thing - exploring the city or whatever we felt like doing. At the end of the day we both felt strongly that that had been hugely necessary and that it should be something we do before things go overboard.
Well rested and ready for adventure, we're on a train to La Spezia where we will be couchsurfing :O The plan is thag we hike the Cinque Terre tomorrow, staying 2 nights at this guy Marco's house. We're not sure how or if it's going to work out, but we'll make the best of whatever's handed to us.
♡♥♡♥ Iolani
P.s. Thank you Mr. Bouvier! :) she's waiting for those sessions...