This morning, due to bookings, I had to switch hotels. I took care of which was tonights stay yesterday, so it was just a metter of packing up and moving on. Again I was surprised how well everything still fits in the backpack – though I've had a little practice at it now. I think the nest two things I've included were a pillow case for popping 'sorted' clothes into, and the cheap self-sealing vacuum bags for flattening clothes. Without these I might find a considerable mess every time I open the pack.

The room I have booked isn't bad – it has a double bed (the first I've seen here!), a TV with 25 channels (1/3rd Italian, 1/3rd German and some snowy American news channels), a bar fridge and a private bathroom – which is still down the hall! Yes, you can have it all but it costs you see. I am happy with this.

Lake Como, Milan, Genoa, these places each sound very interesting but I'll have to visit them another time. I'm itching to get to Paris, so the day after tomorrow I'll get a train straight there, get a room and spend 4 nights in the city – well, that's the plan tonight, and those plans do have a way of changing on a daily basis.

I walked this morning to Portafino – apparently the rich and famous Italian getaway town. It was drizzly and not a bit cold. The waslk was nice – about 5km there. The town was small and very upper market. I did a couple of tourist places including a castle which was decorated with photos of “famous” faces – the only one I could recognise in any of them was a young Humphry Bogart. A couple of the locals gave me that “your kind isn't welcome here” look, which I've always blatantly ignored (even back home). There wasn't much to the town. I wandered hom; the only incident on the way was it was raining and I had an “altercation” with some wet, muddy stone steps. I bit of skin off my leg and a bruised arm is all – ok, and the mudd all up and down my pants. I walked the rest of the way wet, enjoying the rain.

Tonight I was hungry again and wandered all over town looking for what I knew I wanted: steak. I had a big plate of pasta with a beet, and then a fillet steak with seared vegies and a red wine , followed by a crème brulle and coffee. Oh yes, I paid for it all but as with the last time I had steak, it hit “the spot”.

I'm relaxing at the hotel right now, hitting the bar fridge and complaining at the snowy ads on MTV. I think I might do a little writing.

2005-01-31T19:46:07