I had to catch a ferry to greece so I traveled to mainland italy and spent the day in Bari. The only problem was that Russian president Vladimir Putin decided to do the same. Everywhere I tried to go, guess what, it was closed so taht Putin could visit it privately.

Even before I knew Putin was there, it was very clear that someone important was putting the city on lock down. It was reminiscent of when Bush came to Vienna.

So with no sights open to see, I decided to stick with the crowds and tried to get a glimpse of Putin. I was sucessful in getting abou 15 feet from him as he entered the Basilica of Saint iforget. Even more exciting I was pulled aside by the secret service type people in charge of the even, and they searched my portable library of tourist, novel, faith, and economics books. I guess I looked suspicious with a silly beard and brown eyes.

I boarded my 20 hour ferry in the evening. It seemed more like a cruise ship. It had several restaurants, a store, bar, disco, deck, pool, and sleeping rooms but as a eurailpass holder I had the choice of sleeping on the floor or in a chair. Although I have been perfecting the art of sleeping upright I chose to sleep on the floor. So the ferrie was a great experience and I would have taken it back to Italy if I had more time.