ITALY - The journey is the destination...

Into the unknown...

As children, my sister and I secretly wished we were twins. When I lived several hundred kilometers away, there was still a promise that we would see each other at least once a month because anything else seemed too long. And now?!? When she left for France with her family, I felt like I was abandoning her. She later told me that she felt like she was leaving me behind. Taking her with me was also not possible... ☹ I miss you every day, Sis!!!

After I had a rather difficult farewell on the Côte d'Azur, we were now heading into the unknown. We wanted to go to Slovenia and "just quickly" pass through Italy because you know that already, but that went completely wrong. Back home, I read that you should plan a maximum of 400-500 km per day with a motorhome. Okay? Considering that you can easily drive across Germany from south to north with a car and do it twice, it sounded relaxing. But well. "They" have more experience after all. Our average speed is also half of that, which I had managed to ignore until now, and besides, the highway is not always the most beautiful route to see the countryside.

On the way to Slovenia, we made 3 stops. The first one was still in France in the "Provonce Alpes Côte d'Azur", more precisely in Sillans. I had googled a beautiful waterfall that we wanted to see. Actually, we had planned to "camp" somewhere inconspicuously, i.e. not check in at a campsite, but that's not so easy with such a huge "whale", or we haven't figured out yet how to find the best quiet spots. In hindsight, it wasn't a big deal because we found a very nice small campsite in a pine forest on the mountain, where we stayed for 2 nights. So, we rolled around the campsite three times, turned around twice, somewhat straightened the motorhome, and parked. Oops... The water! The wastewater tank is empty, but we still need to fill up fresh water because we saved the 120 kg on the journey so that we are not overloaded 😊 So, another round to fill the whale's belly with water and back to the spot. That's how it looked the first few times, and we're getting better each time.

On the way to the waterfall, we discovered 2 things that I want to mention here. A landfill and a pomegranate tree. My old trucker heart was particularly excited about the landfill because they usually have a scale on the property. We would have been interested to know how things are going with us at the moment. I mean, with the motorhome! I had never seen a pomegranate tree myself, and we allowed ourselves to take the biggest and reddest one for educational purposes, as I now have an important educational mission. I am no longer just a mother but so to speak, also a teacher - no, even better - a temporary civil servant!!! and I'm sure that's allowed 😉 The waterfall itself was reached via a beautiful little footpath. This ended at a viewpoint to take pretty tourist photos. Unfortunately, not as hoped, at the pool below where we could have a picnic and spend the day exploring and splashing in the foothills. But it was still beautiful, and we had a snack on the platform. Kids get hungry when they're hungry. Period!

When we drove into the yard of the French garbage collection company ready to leave two days later, armed with a nicely written note with our request and a tip in our pocket, we were shouted at and chased away by a very angry man. Even without having learned a single hour of French in school, I understood it clearly... I guess he got up on the wrong side of the bed or something. Who knows...

In Italy itself, we slept in Verona. And here, the initial stress took its toll, or as they say?! Felix had a fever of around 40°C in the motorhome and was glowing above the rooftops of Verona. The view from the motorhome was amazing!!! I was so close to "Juliet's Balcony" and imagined myself swooning down to Sebastian from above (hopefully everyone knows Romeo and Juliet) and I always wanted to see a colosseum or at least an arena like the one in Verona. Unfortunately, none of that happened, and we continued driving the next morning to get to the selected campsite in Slovenia where Felix could recover in peace, come what may. Staying on a parking lot with a view of Verona on a hill, was out of the question. To make matters worse, our water was also empty, but luckily I read somewhere that the parking lot has a drinking water supply, so I dug out our foldable emergency canisters and put them to use. 10 liters on the right, 10 liters on the left, and repeat that twice, that should last until Slovenia. At that point, we realized that we urgently need to slow down and not give the kids as much freedom as to go to bed whenever they want. That didn't do them AND us any good.

When we left, I firmly resolved to come back once without my husband and children so that I can absorb everything. I would say that calls for a sister's trip 😉

Goodbye beautiful Verona! Here we come, Slovenia...