Italy Trip Part 1 - Cars

So this summer we went and visited Tina's brother and his family in Italy. We were over there for two weeks and it was a lot of fun. I'll spread out the pictures from the trip into multiple posts so I don't feel overwhelmed to finish.

In preparing for the trip, one of the toughest things was finding a rental car. When we have rented cars in New Zealand, we have gone with companies that rent out older (10-15 year) cars. That has saved us a bundle and I really have no pride when it comes to the car I drive (I've been driving a 1992 Ford Escort with more rust than paint). Plus, I'm much more relaxed driving a car that's seen better days. No worries if someone dings my door. So, I looked really hard to find some rental agency like that in Italy. No luck. I swear I should open my own used car rental place in Italy - I'd make a fortune. Anyway, we went with some place I don't remember and picked the Fiat Panda because it was the cheapest 4-door we could find. When we got to the rental place, they gave us a Lancia Ypsilon. Here it is:

I was really worried when we picked it up because it was brand new. I think it only had 4km on it when we got it. That plus all the horror stories of the crazy driving in Italy freaked me out. I was so worried, but we turned it back in in perfect condition. I was a little worried too that it was only a 2-door, but it wasn't a problem even with two car seats in the back. In fact, I loved this car. By the end of the trip, I wanted to export one to the US and use it as my commuter car.

Speaking of cars in Italy, just about every car there looked about the same as the Ypsilon. Little compact hatchback. In fact, here's a Mercedes:

As long as I'm talking about cars. Here are a couple of funny ones. The Fiat Multiple (ugliest car in the world):

And an Italian pickup truck:

One more car related photo from Florence:

Of course, the tiny cars of Italy almost dissappeared when we went across the boarder to a village called Eze in France, just outside of Monte Carlo: