Home Sweet Roadtrip | Day 102 of my 2023 Journal

Viareggio was a lovely rest; oh, did we enjoy sleeping in our own beds. We chose this spot because there was some street art at the harbor and some sculptures on the mole.

When driving long distances, one of the exhausting elements is under-stimulation, and we are well aware we have to find time to do something awesome or at least remotely interesting.

We are on our way from Rome to Normandie, where we will live for a month with like-minded people. We have to cover 1500 kilometers in four days.

On our morning walk, we were blown away by the yachts. The city was full of them; under construction and renovation, they were all over the place. Arriving the night before, we had even been driving right behind one, maneuvering through the narrow streets.

The street art was by different artists. One outstandingly interesting was *the octopus* as it was worked with the door's structure painted on as if it transcended some cage.

A lot more interesting was the experience of the sculptures at the mole as we had to walk in rough weather to get there, with big splashes of whales coming over the wall culminating in a huge one soaking us. I was lucky enough to get the photo just as the wave went over the sculptures AND to save the camera when we were all hit by the massive body of water.

Adding to the day a helicopter landed right next to our parking, a somewhat rare sight.

Randomly a private helicopter landed as we were getting ready, contrasting our van life to extreme wealth even though I find my van life already extreme wealth. How can we wrap our heads around the contrasts of this universe?

Our day continued with driving and a lot of it. In La Spezia, we did basic shopping and had a surprisingly good Flower Burger.

Later we all fell asleep in the van, almost also the driver, so we stopped for espresso (four for the driver) before the Alpes. In the last light of the day, we entered the Mont Blanc Tunnel and came out in France. Four months in Italy had come to an end.

Love and light

Cecilie Conrad

# 102 of my 2023 writing challenge - Read them all here

More images from the day