Carnevale

Our final day in Viareggio was spent beautifully as I was taken early in the morning by Lydia and Chiara to see a nearby town named Forte dei Marmi, which means "fort of marbles" as the fort in the town was once used to store the precious marble which was brought down from the nearby mountains. Therefore, you can imagine that the town was very wealthy and I found that all of the streets and homes were absolutely clean and lined with designer stores, flowers and beautiful restaurants. 

Chiara took me to a small bakery in Forte dei Marmi to try what she says is some of the very very best Focaccia bread in Tuscany. And two pieces later, I don't doubt that she is right!

A small square near the Fort

Pretty pretty pretty

Also here they were getting into the Carnevale spirit!

For lunch we met Massimo, Alice and Filippo at the same Pizzeria of the day before, where the weather was equally as beautiful as it had been for my birthday.

We even returned again to the Frozen Yoghurt store, although this time we kept it tame with a €2 size each.

We finished eating and found that the clock was almost at 3PM, which meant that the official Carnevale Parade was about to begin! Although Massimo took Alice and Filippo back to the house so that they could study, Chiara, Lydia and I continued, by bike, along the boardwalk to where the Parade was taking place. To get into the parade was an exorbitant €20 per person, so we took to the fence line where many other people had secured their place crouched down looking under the fence or standing on pots and boxes to look over. One of the most incredible things about the parade was that so many people were dressed in full costumes of anything and everything "different".

A family of bunnies!

Confetti. Everywhere.

A photo for my brother; a small child dressed as Pikachu!

The parade then started and Chiara and I found a nice view looking underneath the fence. The floats moved quite slowly so in the 45 minutes or so that we stayed there we saw only seven floats. Each float was completely different, although they all seemed to be holding a band and a large group of dancers, and they all represented Italy's very favourite topic; politics.

As you can image by looking at the stripe down the middle, this face was able to open and close, I believe representing how "two-faced" the politicians can be; happy as a clown one moment, and completely different the next.

This float was in the shape of a Carousel, where the horses were replaced by politicians sitting in theme-park appropriate items such as teacups, racing cars, sailing boats, etc. 

This next one showed a kind of robot on a wooden horse, below which there was a band playing songs with lyrics about politics and a sign that said "F*** The Austerity".

A very angry volcano with a band playing on top.

This one shows different royals of the world with blank faces and the bodies of dragons and their wings were opening and closing the cover and show their face, and even Lydia and Chiara were not completely certain of the meaning.

The message of this float was very clear; Berlusconi representing the PDL Party in a press conference, making an absolute clown of himself.

Although unfortunately I did not get a good photo of this one, I found it most interesting. It depicts a rooster surrounded by baby hens and represents the Prime Minister of Germany as the rooster, protecting and carrying the hens, who each flew a flag of a different European Union country.

The weather soon grew colder and it was time to head back for dinner. While Chiara walked with Louise, Lydia and I rode bikes through some of my favourite streets in Viareggio.

And finally, after a wonderful dinner of pasta, it was time to head home. We farewelled Lydia and her neighbours before a three hour drive to Milano where we drove past all "Cinque Terre" and Genova. Then tomorrow morning, it's up bright and early at 6AM for another week of school!