Day 8: Venice to Laives-Leifers

Last night I counted Sarah's mosquito bites and covered them in after bite (which wasn't at all fun). She has 59. Aww aww....there there. I wish they had purged her of all her blood, so she'd stop bloody going on about them. Even after she got some 9 euro after bite she's still not happy.

Day 8 and El Burro has got her first injury. The wheel is trembling more than usual, which we think is cos the front passenger wheel is looking a little bit flat. Simple problem, easily fixed. Except when every petrol station we've been to doesn't have an air pump. Shit loads of vacuums, but no air pumps. Otherwise, she's doing good.

After the thunderstorm last night, the temperature has dropped significantly to a cool 27 degrees (and even cooler when you're driving through mountains). Sarah is mourning the sun bathing weather but I'm just glad my body can now function.

We aimed to drive through the countryside, across the dolomites (a mountain range sarah had never even heard of), to north west Italy. We drove along the rolle pass, which was bloomin' amazing! I felt a little bit like a rally driver, with sarah as navigator (although I'm not sure she was too confident with my driving. She kept holding on). The winding roads that doubled back on themselves with 300 degree corners as they crept up the mountainside made me feel giddy. Tomorrow we're going to drive along the stelvio pass back into Switzerland. Exciiiiited! I loved Paris, I loved Venice but driving along these roads is definitely the best thing so far. I'm so glad we decided to drive instead of take the train.

We've come up with an agreement as far as driving is concerned. Since sarah has a shocking sense of direction (she had to use a compass to retrace our steps through Venice yesterday) and can't seem to read a map, she drives whenever we enter or leave a destination, and I navigate. Then when we get to a point where navigation isn't as imperative, I drive.

Where we are now, very close to both the boarder with Austria and Switzerland, doesn't feel like we're in Italy, which is sad. Its windy and cloudy and everywhere looks and sounds German. *sad face* Although mark my words, sarah will probably still hunt down a Diavlo pizza.
The first spot they gave us wasn't really up to scratch. I know we've had bald patches in the past, but this one looked more like a gravelled patio with a few weeds than a camping pitch! We got a new one, which was a little better. Luckily there was a 1m by 1m square of grass on which we could position our tiny tent.

Then ensued the hunt for cigarettes. No major shops sell them, so every time we go somewhere we have to hunt them out to feed Sarah's addiction. She gets cranky otherwise. Soon she'll be hustling kids for 'em. Maniac. Just to add to this sore point, she's left me in the very warm car with no windows down. We all know what happens when dogs are left in a warm car too long. This may well be my last post.

Tomorrow (if I'm still alive..) : stelvio pass, lichtenstein, another Switzerland lake

Miles: 1523
Mosquito bites: 70
Cigarettes purchased: 40

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