Nothing like waking up in a super comfy bed to a bowl of shreddies. We got up and out and on our way to London to meet San Sebastian Sam at a pub near his office/bank/wherever he is claiming to work today. We love the English way of pints at the pub during a break from the office. That's a work environment we could get used to...maybe we need to expand the Australian job hunt to the UK as well. Epic news, we were early! Sam arrived and we cheersed our Doonbar's to adventures, present and future. (Jessie Foley if you are reading this prepare to be weirded out...) Sam turned to Jenny and declared that he worked with a girl she went to school with when she lived in the UK, Shona (thanks Mark Zuckerburg for the mutual friends facebook feature). Jenny hadn't seen Shona since she was 11 years old so when she turned up at the pub it was one crazy coincidental reunion! The 4 of us briefly caught up until the duties of this real world we have heard about called Sam and Shona away. We were left to wander Soho and window shop before heading back to Kingston on a train ride that suited us both for a little snooze. We explored Kingston shopping area, getting lost even though we should know our way around these parts like champs by now. In a sneaky deal with Tim and Shirley we had swapped babysitting Jen's cousin Loius in exchange for a free ride to the airport before the crack of dawn. Babysitting consisted of a little kid food cooking (Jen's specialty) and a coreographed dance routine - video will be making it's way to the blog sometime soon. Cherades rounded out our super babysitting evening before bed for Louis, and chores for Jenny and Kelly.
For some reason this was a moment that it both really hit us...We were going home...not home the way we refer to whatever hostel we are staying in that night, or even home the way we walked about our temporary residence in Costa Rica. Home sounded strange, scary, unfamiliar, overhwelming as well as exciting, relaxing, cleansing and routine. We have a LOT of packing to do, thanks a lot over packing prior selves! In retrospect we feel like this experience has flown by, and could easily have been a long and detailed dream. They say home is where the heart is but we think our hearts are with backpacking, at least for now.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Thursday May 4th - Don't worry, be happy
"Don't worry...be happy..OooOOohhHH..." This is the song that Stena Line uses as an alarm clock via the loud speaker, not too shabby. 5:30 am wake up announcements had us wishing we could stay in our dark warm cabin for days. But we managed to get ourselevs up and off the boat (not last this time). Jenny noticed on our ferry ride that we had re-emerged into an english speaking country for the first time in months! What a luxury it is...but also strange that everyone can understand us now as well. ah oh!
Our rail and sail passes had us jump right on a train from Harwich to London; from there we bought train and tube passes for the day. We took the tube to Waterloo station, hoping to take the train to Kingston, change, drop off our backpacks and head back into London. We quickly realized there were NO trains leaving and an announcement on the board said someone had been hit by a train at Charing Cross. What a sad story! We gathered it would be a while before we could set off, so we made an executive decision to stash our bags in lockers and go shop despite our appearence and dirty clothes and scraggle hair. Hungry hippos as usual, we popped in a bar at the station for a 4£ english breakfast to start the day off right.
Zara, Top Shop, H&M, boutiques...we hit all the major spots and left happily at the end of the day, each with one new item to treat ourselves. Backpacking is not a pretty sight on your blogging hosts, and we became enthralled with women in Top Shop who were threading eyebrows (it's weird, google it). We are usually wax girls, but this opportunity to look a little more human was too tempting. Ouch...but we feel like new people with shaped brows :) awww coming back into the real world.
We finally made our way to Kingston around 7, with plans of going back into London to meet Sam and James, our friends from San Sebastian who live in london. We showered, fell in love with the suitcase of clean clothes we had left here, and chatted with Tim, Shirley and Louie. It felt so nice to be back here, and a bit surreal as well. Opening our suitcases was like every Christmas and birthday ever. We have been living in the same 5 t-shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 1 fleece and a few misc. items for 2 months. Our prior overpacker selves had stuffed everything we could into giant suitcases, and coming back to these was the ultimate ecstacy. Honestly a feeling that we can't describe and most likely won't remember, but we are sure a feeling that every backpacker knows.
We quickly showered and got ourselevs together but our timing was pretty off tonight. By the time we made it to London, we only had an hour before we had to catch the last train back to Kingston. Poor Sam met us at a bar by the station for quick Mojitos in Cubana, and a brief game of catch up. He was a great host for the 45 minutes we were with him! We decided it just wasn't enough time with good ole Sam, so we made plans for lunch tomorrow in town.
Luck was in our favor as we parted ways with our friend and caught the train. We watched a drunk couple scarf down food and pass out while we dozed a bit ourselves. The couple bolted off nearly missing their stop about 30 minutes later and we couldn't help but crack up and a guy across from us joined in. We struck up conversation with this tattoed, british young man about our story and his. He recently started his own music company and plans to move back to L.A. by the end of the year... such a nice guY!
We paced home quickly, not fans of English weather. Alice's new room was the next best thing to our own beds...only 1 more nights.....
Our rail and sail passes had us jump right on a train from Harwich to London; from there we bought train and tube passes for the day. We took the tube to Waterloo station, hoping to take the train to Kingston, change, drop off our backpacks and head back into London. We quickly realized there were NO trains leaving and an announcement on the board said someone had been hit by a train at Charing Cross. What a sad story! We gathered it would be a while before we could set off, so we made an executive decision to stash our bags in lockers and go shop despite our appearence and dirty clothes and scraggle hair. Hungry hippos as usual, we popped in a bar at the station for a 4£ english breakfast to start the day off right.
Zara, Top Shop, H&M, boutiques...we hit all the major spots and left happily at the end of the day, each with one new item to treat ourselves. Backpacking is not a pretty sight on your blogging hosts, and we became enthralled with women in Top Shop who were threading eyebrows (it's weird, google it). We are usually wax girls, but this opportunity to look a little more human was too tempting. Ouch...but we feel like new people with shaped brows :) awww coming back into the real world.
We finally made our way to Kingston around 7, with plans of going back into London to meet Sam and James, our friends from San Sebastian who live in london. We showered, fell in love with the suitcase of clean clothes we had left here, and chatted with Tim, Shirley and Louie. It felt so nice to be back here, and a bit surreal as well. Opening our suitcases was like every Christmas and birthday ever. We have been living in the same 5 t-shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 1 fleece and a few misc. items for 2 months. Our prior overpacker selves had stuffed everything we could into giant suitcases, and coming back to these was the ultimate ecstacy. Honestly a feeling that we can't describe and most likely won't remember, but we are sure a feeling that every backpacker knows.
We quickly showered and got ourselevs together but our timing was pretty off tonight. By the time we made it to London, we only had an hour before we had to catch the last train back to Kingston. Poor Sam met us at a bar by the station for quick Mojitos in Cubana, and a brief game of catch up. He was a great host for the 45 minutes we were with him! We decided it just wasn't enough time with good ole Sam, so we made plans for lunch tomorrow in town.
Luck was in our favor as we parted ways with our friend and caught the train. We watched a drunk couple scarf down food and pass out while we dozed a bit ourselves. The couple bolted off nearly missing their stop about 30 minutes later and we couldn't help but crack up and a guy across from us joined in. We struck up conversation with this tattoed, british young man about our story and his. He recently started his own music company and plans to move back to L.A. by the end of the year... such a nice guY!
We paced home quickly, not fans of English weather. Alice's new room was the next best thing to our own beds...only 1 more nights.....
May 2nd...and 3rd - aaaand Kelly's thinking about chocolate milk again
As Kelly turned our alarm off this morning she scrolled through all the usual iPhone apps of Facebook, Twitter and CNN to learn about Osama Bin Laden being killed. In quite a bit of shock we read aloud various articles online about what had happened and the celebrations taking place in the states. Moments like this we feel far from home, and remember that we are often out of the loop more than we realize. We showered and packed up quickly (baffled that it was our last hostel night) so that we could watch the news over our last free breakfast. We were glued to the TV as we watched the US and global reactions to what was happening. Trying to get our heads around it all was pretty difficult, but the oh so wise Patti Foster articulated it best (stay tuned for wise quote).
Our ideal situation for this day was as follows: hop on a short train ride to Basel, Switzerland in order to enjoy another full day here...then take an overnight direct train to Amsterdam for a small fee, in order to spend the afternoon tomorrow there before catching our ferry from Hook of Holland tomorrow night. But that would just be too easy wouldn't it? Of course.
Actual series of events went as follows:
The dweebster train station ticket man informed us the night train we wanted to take would cost us over 200 euros. HA! That was never going to happen, so we figured we would figure out our own route, which is nottttt easy. Getting timing and fees and countries on our Eurail pass right was a serious challenge. We hopped on a train to Basel, got kicked out of 1st class (again) and an hour later we were in the bustling station hearing nothing but bad news from the friendly information man. Our route to Holland was getting more and more difficult. Wifi was crucial in this moment, so we bought tickets to Paris (our in between spot, yes it was necessary) and set into town to find internet on our hour and a half layover. After a Switzerland priced coffee where the wifi ran out, Kelly eventually found a Starbucks just down the road. We examined all our options and decided we had about a 20 minute window to get off our train in Paris to a bus station (via Metro) and take an overnight bus to Amsterdam like we had early in the trip. We knew this was a risk but it was our cheapest and least homeless gamble.
Somehow, we always keep ourselves entertained on trains, but for some reason this 4 hour trip to Paris was most bored we had ever been. Of course our lack of things to do had us cracking up most of the ride at our own weirdness. And of course we put a hefty dent in our groceries.
Our train pulled into Paris at 11:05pm, approximately 15 minutes late, meaning we were stuck in Paris, homeless and exhausted. If it hadn't been the LAST time this would happen we would have been more bothered perhaps, but this wasn't our fault and luckily we planned ahead and knew how to get ourselves to the hostel here we liked so much.
A short metro ride later (yes, Paris still gives us the heeby jeebies at night), we were waiting in line at St. Christopher's Inn. our hope was to chill in the busy bar til it closed and then hopefully loiter around til 5am-ish when we would leave to get on a 7am bus to Amsterdam. But we knew it was more likely we would paying for a dorm for the next 5 hours. As we waited in line, the friendliest of all hostel workers we had met our first time here spotted us and recognized us! What a crazy good memory! We explained our situation in small talk, and he offered us to chill in the bar and then just hang with him and some other people who work there til we have to leave...Liam to the rescue! Times like these are what redeem any negative encounters with people...Liam barely knew us and went out of his way to save our wallets and time. What a gem!
We sat around for a while until the bar closed, at which point our crew for the night began to appear. Liam, our Australian host, introduced us to Cristian the Brazilian chef, Marly the quirky Australian hostel guest who has befriended the hostel staff, and Rashid the Moroccan chef. We played pool as the night crew cleaned up and Cristian became hero #2 by bringing out huge bowl of potato wedges and nachos for all of us. Friending the staff is definitely not a bad route to go... chefs especially if you are hefs like us. After a couple hours, we sneaked into an empty room and Liam set up his laptop for a movie. We piled around and watched "True Romance"...the movie was so awesome that as it ended we realized it was 5am and we had made it! Victory! We said our goodbyes and thank yous and strapped Burt and Dewey to us in hopes of making a morning bus. As we left St. Chris, I guess we realized that was our last homeless nomad night and we felt really amazing about it. Nights like that are what it's all about...in a moment of unknowing, we found ourselves pulling an all-nighter with two Aussies, a Moroccan and a Brazilian all living in Paris...all because of one nice saving gesture. They were great people and it was a perfect ending to a failed travel attempt.
As we stood purchasing our metro passes a man approached us...several full bags with him, and asked where we were from. He questioned us about our feelings on Bin Ladens death and was obviously a looneytoon, which started our morning in Paris off on a shakey note. So far we have not encountered almost any anti-American sentiment... we were hopeful it wouldn't begin now. Shortly after as we scanned a metro map, 3 Parisian army men approached us from behind and our stomachs knotted up yet again. Turns out the straight faced men were just trying to help us, but it's kind of hard to listen to someone who's holding an AK-47 to your back...
The bus station brought us further bad news, and we discovered there was no early morning bus to Amdam today! Which means the later bus was too late to make our ferry. Trains it is.
Long story short...trains were expensive. Trains were full. Repeat. Repeat. Ticket line, train line, ticket line, train line. Oh Paris, land of the helpful and friendly. Finally, we had tickets. Our lack of sleep, combined with a FREEZINg train station and stressful morning got the best of us for a few minutes, we admit. Luckily, we usually have our weakest link moments at different times and are able to support each other when there seems to be no light. We waited for our train in a station cafe where we were completely ignored by every waiter for nearly an hour as we tried to pay...we decided it was a perfect time to get rid of all of our 1 and 2 cent euro coins...7 euros later we pured our change into our Parisian waiters hand. It was a victorious moment for us, so we left and played cards until our train arrived! Kel & Jen-1, Paris-0. So, one far to expensive train ride later we made it to Amsterdam! We felt like we had just been here and had trouble believing we had begun here nearly 2 months ago. Our short afternoon visit confirmed that we still LOVE this city. We snacked on a bench, browsed the afternoon prostitute selection, and sipped big coffee in a coffee shop...really we just had coffee..geeez.
We walked around downtown and shopped for souvenirs when suddenly two old men came into the shop we were in...our ears perked up when one of the men (seriously, were talking remember when TV was invented old) asked the young hippy sales clerk: "Now this may be a dumb question, but can you tell me where we can buy a space cake?!". Let's just say it took every fiber of our being to not fall over laughing... obviously we followed the two men to the coffee shop they were directed too. Inside jenny got distracted by the dazed and confused black cat on a bar stool. Little guy was OUT, reminding us of a VERY scary magician and rabbit duo at Alex's birthday party a few years back. The AARP crowd left with a space cake in hand, leaving our minds racing with thoughts of the rest of their day.
Time was up and we had to head towards the train station...we didn't have time to see our Canadian buds again or the fabulous Mr. Lee Waddle for dinner, which was kind of bummy. But we were so focused on a cabin for sleeping and taking these backpacks off we honestly didn't mind to be traveling again so soon.
An couple hours later we were back to Hoek van Holland, where our Stena Line ferry awaited us as a proper ferry should (screw you janky Minoan ferry lines). Our cabin was the happiest place in the world...showers and comfy beds. Asleep by 10o'clock? Damn right...
Our ideal situation for this day was as follows: hop on a short train ride to Basel, Switzerland in order to enjoy another full day here...then take an overnight direct train to Amsterdam for a small fee, in order to spend the afternoon tomorrow there before catching our ferry from Hook of Holland tomorrow night. But that would just be too easy wouldn't it? Of course.
Actual series of events went as follows:
The dweebster train station ticket man informed us the night train we wanted to take would cost us over 200 euros. HA! That was never going to happen, so we figured we would figure out our own route, which is nottttt easy. Getting timing and fees and countries on our Eurail pass right was a serious challenge. We hopped on a train to Basel, got kicked out of 1st class (again) and an hour later we were in the bustling station hearing nothing but bad news from the friendly information man. Our route to Holland was getting more and more difficult. Wifi was crucial in this moment, so we bought tickets to Paris (our in between spot, yes it was necessary) and set into town to find internet on our hour and a half layover. After a Switzerland priced coffee where the wifi ran out, Kelly eventually found a Starbucks just down the road. We examined all our options and decided we had about a 20 minute window to get off our train in Paris to a bus station (via Metro) and take an overnight bus to Amsterdam like we had early in the trip. We knew this was a risk but it was our cheapest and least homeless gamble.
Somehow, we always keep ourselves entertained on trains, but for some reason this 4 hour trip to Paris was most bored we had ever been. Of course our lack of things to do had us cracking up most of the ride at our own weirdness. And of course we put a hefty dent in our groceries.
Our train pulled into Paris at 11:05pm, approximately 15 minutes late, meaning we were stuck in Paris, homeless and exhausted. If it hadn't been the LAST time this would happen we would have been more bothered perhaps, but this wasn't our fault and luckily we planned ahead and knew how to get ourselves to the hostel here we liked so much.
A short metro ride later (yes, Paris still gives us the heeby jeebies at night), we were waiting in line at St. Christopher's Inn. our hope was to chill in the busy bar til it closed and then hopefully loiter around til 5am-ish when we would leave to get on a 7am bus to Amsterdam. But we knew it was more likely we would paying for a dorm for the next 5 hours. As we waited in line, the friendliest of all hostel workers we had met our first time here spotted us and recognized us! What a crazy good memory! We explained our situation in small talk, and he offered us to chill in the bar and then just hang with him and some other people who work there til we have to leave...Liam to the rescue! Times like these are what redeem any negative encounters with people...Liam barely knew us and went out of his way to save our wallets and time. What a gem!
We sat around for a while until the bar closed, at which point our crew for the night began to appear. Liam, our Australian host, introduced us to Cristian the Brazilian chef, Marly the quirky Australian hostel guest who has befriended the hostel staff, and Rashid the Moroccan chef. We played pool as the night crew cleaned up and Cristian became hero #2 by bringing out huge bowl of potato wedges and nachos for all of us. Friending the staff is definitely not a bad route to go... chefs especially if you are hefs like us. After a couple hours, we sneaked into an empty room and Liam set up his laptop for a movie. We piled around and watched "True Romance"...the movie was so awesome that as it ended we realized it was 5am and we had made it! Victory! We said our goodbyes and thank yous and strapped Burt and Dewey to us in hopes of making a morning bus. As we left St. Chris, I guess we realized that was our last homeless nomad night and we felt really amazing about it. Nights like that are what it's all about...in a moment of unknowing, we found ourselves pulling an all-nighter with two Aussies, a Moroccan and a Brazilian all living in Paris...all because of one nice saving gesture. They were great people and it was a perfect ending to a failed travel attempt.
As we stood purchasing our metro passes a man approached us...several full bags with him, and asked where we were from. He questioned us about our feelings on Bin Ladens death and was obviously a looneytoon, which started our morning in Paris off on a shakey note. So far we have not encountered almost any anti-American sentiment... we were hopeful it wouldn't begin now. Shortly after as we scanned a metro map, 3 Parisian army men approached us from behind and our stomachs knotted up yet again. Turns out the straight faced men were just trying to help us, but it's kind of hard to listen to someone who's holding an AK-47 to your back...
The bus station brought us further bad news, and we discovered there was no early morning bus to Amdam today! Which means the later bus was too late to make our ferry. Trains it is.
Long story short...trains were expensive. Trains were full. Repeat. Repeat. Ticket line, train line, ticket line, train line. Oh Paris, land of the helpful and friendly. Finally, we had tickets. Our lack of sleep, combined with a FREEZINg train station and stressful morning got the best of us for a few minutes, we admit. Luckily, we usually have our weakest link moments at different times and are able to support each other when there seems to be no light. We waited for our train in a station cafe where we were completely ignored by every waiter for nearly an hour as we tried to pay...we decided it was a perfect time to get rid of all of our 1 and 2 cent euro coins...7 euros later we pured our change into our Parisian waiters hand. It was a victorious moment for us, so we left and played cards until our train arrived! Kel & Jen-1, Paris-0. So, one far to expensive train ride later we made it to Amsterdam! We felt like we had just been here and had trouble believing we had begun here nearly 2 months ago. Our short afternoon visit confirmed that we still LOVE this city. We snacked on a bench, browsed the afternoon prostitute selection, and sipped big coffee in a coffee shop...really we just had coffee..geeez.
We walked around downtown and shopped for souvenirs when suddenly two old men came into the shop we were in...our ears perked up when one of the men (seriously, were talking remember when TV was invented old) asked the young hippy sales clerk: "Now this may be a dumb question, but can you tell me where we can buy a space cake?!". Let's just say it took every fiber of our being to not fall over laughing... obviously we followed the two men to the coffee shop they were directed too. Inside jenny got distracted by the dazed and confused black cat on a bar stool. Little guy was OUT, reminding us of a VERY scary magician and rabbit duo at Alex's birthday party a few years back. The AARP crowd left with a space cake in hand, leaving our minds racing with thoughts of the rest of their day.
Time was up and we had to head towards the train station...we didn't have time to see our Canadian buds again or the fabulous Mr. Lee Waddle for dinner, which was kind of bummy. But we were so focused on a cabin for sleeping and taking these backpacks off we honestly didn't mind to be traveling again so soon.
An couple hours later we were back to Hoek van Holland, where our Stena Line ferry awaited us as a proper ferry should (screw you janky Minoan ferry lines). Our cabin was the happiest place in the world...showers and comfy beds. Asleep by 10o'clock? Damn right...
Packing up Burt and Dewy one last time...
A glimpse at the life (and sleep techniques) of a nomad...
Juuust the two of uUuussSs....
Sunday May 1st - Not Wood Like the Boner
Rise and shine early in Interlaken for a full day of Swiss exploration. We know nothing about Switzerland but we know that we like it, and that's enough for us. As wise travel savy (psh) Kelly had guessed last night during our pitch dark arrival, the mountains were indeed all around us...and huge for that matter! Staring up at them, some snow covered and rocky, some coated with lush green trees, we were amazed at a little building that sat on top of one of the mountains. Who the heck would build that, and who the heck would ever go up there?!
With the guiadnace of our super awesome hostel staff (Balmers Herbage is awesome!) we headed off to do some hiking. We were warned that it was a pretty hard hike and we would be very happy to get to the top. After Cinque Terre we were pretty certain we were the hiking masters...before we got schooled by a Swiss mountain. This hike was 3 hours straight up with rocky, tree stump floored trails. The views were UNBELIEVABLE! The city of Interlaken lies between 2 lakes which are both literally aqua blue. A picture can't capture this color but it looks like the most amazing bright gem in a piece of jewelry. Tree blanketed mountains are next to snow covered ones going up into clouds so thick they look like billows of white smoke. Switzerland is so crisp with insane natural beauty. About half way up we got to a tiny house surrounded by cows grazing while the noise of their huge cow bells chimed into the surrounding silence. This made us miss our pet cowgoats in CR, which seems worlds away from this mountain. As we climbed up we hit rain, super hot patches, freezing areas, and cool breezes. Mountain climates are a mystery to us but walking in and out of rain storms made Switzerland even stranger to us. We finally got to the top!!! And looked out and realized we were in the tiny building we had spotted on top of the mountain earlier that day. If we had known our destination there is no way we would have attempted this crazy hike! We enjoyed the view from the top and the satisfaction of our day before starting our long decent to the bottom. As wel walked down we met young American siblings enjoying time off work together in Switzerland and then Spain, reassurance that once we woman up and get real jobs vacations still exist! We deserved a legit siesta once we got home, after which Kel booked a flight for the final leg of her journey home. We haven't really processed going home yet but we know it's going to be strange and different.
After a failed hunt for an open grocery store we settled for nutella sandwiches for dinner and sat down in the cozy movie room to watch Calendar Girls, a feel good flick about old fogies who make a nudie calendar for charity. Good to know there is much fun to be had in the saggy tit era of our lives. We talked to a really nice interesting Australian couple who had to be in there mid 60's. Our conversation turned to politics and recessions - apparently Australia's prior prime minister saved them from recession. Maybe we need to move there and job hunt instead?
In addition to our cheerful friendly interesting Australians we met a Canadian traveler who taught us a valuable lesson. Do NOT become people who talk incessently about travel and backpacking as if we have seen/done/know it all. It is not only obnoxious but puts a nasty damper on the glorious free childlike feeling of travel. If we knew it all, we wouldn't have gone on this trip. Much like our knowledge of Switzerland, we know pretty much nothing about this life we are living, but we know we like it and that's enough for us.
With the guiadnace of our super awesome hostel staff (Balmers Herbage is awesome!) we headed off to do some hiking. We were warned that it was a pretty hard hike and we would be very happy to get to the top. After Cinque Terre we were pretty certain we were the hiking masters...before we got schooled by a Swiss mountain. This hike was 3 hours straight up with rocky, tree stump floored trails. The views were UNBELIEVABLE! The city of Interlaken lies between 2 lakes which are both literally aqua blue. A picture can't capture this color but it looks like the most amazing bright gem in a piece of jewelry. Tree blanketed mountains are next to snow covered ones going up into clouds so thick they look like billows of white smoke. Switzerland is so crisp with insane natural beauty. About half way up we got to a tiny house surrounded by cows grazing while the noise of their huge cow bells chimed into the surrounding silence. This made us miss our pet cowgoats in CR, which seems worlds away from this mountain. As we climbed up we hit rain, super hot patches, freezing areas, and cool breezes. Mountain climates are a mystery to us but walking in and out of rain storms made Switzerland even stranger to us. We finally got to the top!!! And looked out and realized we were in the tiny building we had spotted on top of the mountain earlier that day. If we had known our destination there is no way we would have attempted this crazy hike! We enjoyed the view from the top and the satisfaction of our day before starting our long decent to the bottom. As wel walked down we met young American siblings enjoying time off work together in Switzerland and then Spain, reassurance that once we woman up and get real jobs vacations still exist! We deserved a legit siesta once we got home, after which Kel booked a flight for the final leg of her journey home. We haven't really processed going home yet but we know it's going to be strange and different.
After a failed hunt for an open grocery store we settled for nutella sandwiches for dinner and sat down in the cozy movie room to watch Calendar Girls, a feel good flick about old fogies who make a nudie calendar for charity. Good to know there is much fun to be had in the saggy tit era of our lives. We talked to a really nice interesting Australian couple who had to be in there mid 60's. Our conversation turned to politics and recessions - apparently Australia's prior prime minister saved them from recession. Maybe we need to move there and job hunt instead?
In addition to our cheerful friendly interesting Australians we met a Canadian traveler who taught us a valuable lesson. Do NOT become people who talk incessently about travel and backpacking as if we have seen/done/know it all. It is not only obnoxious but puts a nasty damper on the glorious free childlike feeling of travel. If we knew it all, we wouldn't have gone on this trip. Much like our knowledge of Switzerland, we know pretty much nothing about this life we are living, but we know we like it and that's enough for us.
Interlaken
hikemania
Local waterhole
When you come to a fork in the road, take it!
Saturday April 30th - Mother Goose is definitely Swiss
Time to hike our bootys off in Lago de Como, and inevitably end up lost in George Clooney's backyard who will no doubt welcome us inside with open arms for a cookout...him and Kelly are both Kentuckians so obviously they will become fast friends, while Jenny will remain a little skeptical that he is probably an asshole but enjoy her Clooney cooked hamburger nonetheless. Let's just say our day didn't go exactly as we had planned.
We wanted to leave Bert and Dewey (our backpacks not our new boyfriends, duh) at our hostel and take a 3-4 hour hike up into the hills and mountains surrounding lago de como to get a better glimpse of the beautiful scenery. This was a no go since there was no good place at our bogus hostel to leave our luggage (Menaggio Youth Hostel = not so helpful) and because we wanted to go to switzerland, but the train there was going to take some serious time. We decided that due to our lack of hiking time dilemma we should compromise. We stashed Bert and Dewey in an outdoor shed (they are tough and dirty, they were okay with it) and went for a semi-hike up a steep hill to take in Lago de Como's epic scenery. Now this is a place to revisit with some mula. We would kill weeks enjoying fine dining on a five star hotel balcony here. Instead we settled for carrot sticks and granola bars on our hostel deck playing a seriously competitive game of Egyptian ratscrew (which Jenny dominated in, obviously). We got on our 55 minute bus to Como train station, which was one hell of an experience as the roads are crazy narrow and our bus driver was clearly an angry looney or seriously hopped up on stimulants - slow and steady was out the window for crazy turns, lots of honking, and serious pumping of the brakes. The scenery was gorgeous (ask Kelly, Jenny was power napping as usual like a damn cat) and there were huge beautiful villas lining the clear water. We can understand why George wants to live here...but can't be as understanding about why he didn't invite us over for a barbecue. We decided that Italy has some of the most incredible natural scenery (Cinque Terre & The Almafi Coast in addition to Lake Como) as well as an enchanting charm, bold pride, and unfussed feel. Italy is amazing because it is what it is without hesitation or apology. We like that about it and it's a good lesson for us to take away. Be happy with yourself and proud of yourself, flaws and imperfections included (not that there isn't always room for a little improvement :))
From Como we took a train to Arth- Goldau sitting across from an Australian lady originally from Hungary who had been looking at property on lake Como during her visit to her daughter living in Switzerland. Next we got on a train to Luzern and from there to Meiringen. As evening crept up we both stared out the window of our train totally amazed by the most brilliant scenery we have encountered. We passed storybook villages in valleys of snow covered mountains where the houses are nestled into the rich vegetation. The villages are tiny and houses look randomly sprinkled around, like monopoly houses that have been strewn across the lush green grass. There is literally no concrete to be seen as we whizz by tiny village after tiny village. This is the place where nursery rhymes were born, we decided. Hansel and Gretel must have been in a Swiss house, wizarding families must be living in these dimly lit wooden cabins. We arrived at Interlaken, a city we know nothing about but had a hostel recommendation for. As we walk to Bamer's Herbage in the dark we are amazed by how silent it is here. Even in the dark we can make out that every lawn is perfectly manicured, trees are pruned and flowers grow in organized patches along pretty fences. There is not a twig out of place or a person in sight. It is literally dead silent. Kelly speculated that we were probably surrounded by mountains, although the opaque darkness prevented us from making a conclusion about this. It was both beautiful and picturesque and slightly ominous at the same time. We decided this place, and the villages we had seen during our day of trains, were like the beginning of a novel where everything is depicted as extremely perfect...too perfect. The books you read and think "somethings got to go wrong any minute." The beauty of Switzerland is that it hasn't. They have remained in a state of neutrality since 18...? refusing to join the UN and holding on to their own currency in favor of the euro. The people are nice and helpful. The economy is thriving and adults here have the most wealth of any country in the world. Even the water that came out of the sink at our hostel was ice cold and better than Evian. We could definitely stay a while...if it wasn't so damn expensive!
We wanted to leave Bert and Dewey (our backpacks not our new boyfriends, duh) at our hostel and take a 3-4 hour hike up into the hills and mountains surrounding lago de como to get a better glimpse of the beautiful scenery. This was a no go since there was no good place at our bogus hostel to leave our luggage (Menaggio Youth Hostel = not so helpful) and because we wanted to go to switzerland, but the train there was going to take some serious time. We decided that due to our lack of hiking time dilemma we should compromise. We stashed Bert and Dewey in an outdoor shed (they are tough and dirty, they were okay with it) and went for a semi-hike up a steep hill to take in Lago de Como's epic scenery. Now this is a place to revisit with some mula. We would kill weeks enjoying fine dining on a five star hotel balcony here. Instead we settled for carrot sticks and granola bars on our hostel deck playing a seriously competitive game of Egyptian ratscrew (which Jenny dominated in, obviously). We got on our 55 minute bus to Como train station, which was one hell of an experience as the roads are crazy narrow and our bus driver was clearly an angry looney or seriously hopped up on stimulants - slow and steady was out the window for crazy turns, lots of honking, and serious pumping of the brakes. The scenery was gorgeous (ask Kelly, Jenny was power napping as usual like a damn cat) and there were huge beautiful villas lining the clear water. We can understand why George wants to live here...but can't be as understanding about why he didn't invite us over for a barbecue. We decided that Italy has some of the most incredible natural scenery (Cinque Terre & The Almafi Coast in addition to Lake Como) as well as an enchanting charm, bold pride, and unfussed feel. Italy is amazing because it is what it is without hesitation or apology. We like that about it and it's a good lesson for us to take away. Be happy with yourself and proud of yourself, flaws and imperfections included (not that there isn't always room for a little improvement :))
From Como we took a train to Arth- Goldau sitting across from an Australian lady originally from Hungary who had been looking at property on lake Como during her visit to her daughter living in Switzerland. Next we got on a train to Luzern and from there to Meiringen. As evening crept up we both stared out the window of our train totally amazed by the most brilliant scenery we have encountered. We passed storybook villages in valleys of snow covered mountains where the houses are nestled into the rich vegetation. The villages are tiny and houses look randomly sprinkled around, like monopoly houses that have been strewn across the lush green grass. There is literally no concrete to be seen as we whizz by tiny village after tiny village. This is the place where nursery rhymes were born, we decided. Hansel and Gretel must have been in a Swiss house, wizarding families must be living in these dimly lit wooden cabins. We arrived at Interlaken, a city we know nothing about but had a hostel recommendation for. As we walk to Bamer's Herbage in the dark we are amazed by how silent it is here. Even in the dark we can make out that every lawn is perfectly manicured, trees are pruned and flowers grow in organized patches along pretty fences. There is not a twig out of place or a person in sight. It is literally dead silent. Kelly speculated that we were probably surrounded by mountains, although the opaque darkness prevented us from making a conclusion about this. It was both beautiful and picturesque and slightly ominous at the same time. We decided this place, and the villages we had seen during our day of trains, were like the beginning of a novel where everything is depicted as extremely perfect...too perfect. The books you read and think "somethings got to go wrong any minute." The beauty of Switzerland is that it hasn't. They have remained in a state of neutrality since 18...? refusing to join the UN and holding on to their own currency in favor of the euro. The people are nice and helpful. The economy is thriving and adults here have the most wealth of any country in the world. Even the water that came out of the sink at our hostel was ice cold and better than Evian. We could definitely stay a while...if it wasn't so damn expensive!
Cloudy but beautiful day in Lago de Como
Interlaken, Switzerland
Friday April 29th - Excuse me, are you going to the national jogging convention?
Today was our first and only day in Milan. We had a hostel booked in Lago de Como (Lake Como, and home of George Clooney, to those of you who are still hanging onto every word of our gripping blog from the US or UK - exciting stuff, huh?) this evening which we would make it to...eventually. First things first, Milano in a day. And what an amazing day it was! Hotel RossoVino started us off right with breakfast in bed. We will point out they throw the term "breakfast" around a bit loosely in Europe, except in England, the master/founder of delicious breakfast, and Amsterdam, the master/founder of the hungry stoner. Anyway, breakfast croissants did the trick and we hopped on a tram and made our way to the Duomo di Milano, a really amazing building in a big square full of people. The inside was amazing with huuge tables ablaze with prayer candles and the highest ceilings we have seen. The gothic interior is very different than a lot of the cathedrals and sanctuarys we have seen and the dark vibe and impressive stone gives you goosebumps. The stained glass windows were unlike any we have ever seen, made up of square panels depicting scenes of people. After we had taken in the beautiful strangeness of the Cathedral of Milan we strolled through a huge indoor shopping mall with McDonalds next to Gucci and Louis Vuitton, coming out to Piazza Scalable, where we sat on a stone bench and people watched for a moment. We kept on walking to the other big sight we had been told to see, Castelo Sforzesco. The old castle ruins were pretty cool but we were more taken with the beautiful sunshiney weather. We decided the educational sight-seeing part of our day was pretty much over so we followed some outdoor music and lay in a beautiful huge park, Parco Sempione, taking in all the groups of people walking by and hanging out. After a sufficient snooze/life chat about our friendship and how lucky we are in this particular moment, we were ready for some good old aimless wandering. We found ourselves in the Golden Quad, home of original designer stores and more runway fashions, both on manicans and wealthy shoppers, than we could count. Walking down the cobblestone road was a great way to get a taste of why this city is the fashion capital of the world. We pondered the pros and cons of various get-rich-quick schemes as we stared at all the stores we would most likely never shop in. If only we had no morals or an eligable sugar daddy...
By the end of our wandering it was somehow evening. We still needed to make our way to Lake Como, but obviously we should put that off to get a taste of Milan evening life. We sought out a great apperitivo place with a good vibe but none of them seemed as fun and delicious as our spot last night. Good Times Lounge round 2 it was, for the most apperitivos anyone has ever consumed in one sitting with a few pre-train cocktails.
What happened next should be preluded with a lesson we had during our 3 hours as TEFL students, which compared 3 types of travelers in an analogy about teaching styles. Traveler A plans every detail of their trip- they maps routes, schedule transportation, lodging, museum visits, reserve researched restaurants etc. Traveler B plans general guidelines, maybe booking or transportation, and has rough ideas about what they want to do, but is flexible with plan changes and willing to do things spur of the moment. Traveler C plans nothing, they show up where they want to be with no preparations and free as a bird open to any suggestion or chance encounter. On our first day of TEFL class we were asked to identify ourselves as one of the 3 travelers, and conclude pros and cons of each traveling style (a lesson that we must admit we found to be pretty stupid at the time, but in retrospect was the most unreal forshadowing and a discussion we often recall). Both Kelly and Jenny found themselves somewhere between traveler A and B, concluding that traveler C was a total nutter putting themselves in stressful, and even risky situations and missing out on good things due to lack of research. It is safe to say that as our plans have changed and our organization has dwindled over the past 3 months, that we are both officially that unplanned nutter. The traveler C in us was ever apparent during the next few hours of our lives. We hopped on a bus to the train station, which apparently didn't go there, we should have taken the tram. A Milano woman clued in on the fact we were lost (maybe due to our dazzed expressions or huge backpacks?) and she pointed to a nearby Subway entrance - which successfully got us to the train station. We hopped a train to Lago de Como, arriving there just after 10pm. Right, we should probably look at the directions to the hostel and catch a bus or walk there as usual. We had thought ahead and had the directions pulled up on Jen's phone....but clearly not thought quite enough ahead to glance over them. We discover that the hostel we reserved that morning is...a 55 minute bus ride from the Como train station. Cue the rain, literally. We learn that the last bus left at 8:30pm. It is currently 10:17pm. Our inner traveler C has totally screwed us and after being approached by a drunk dude who had just finished peeing in the street it seemed like things couldn't get much worse. Sidenote, Kelly has been ridiculing Jenny for her ridiculous marathon outfit of long leggings tucked into her gym shoes all day, Jenny gets on a bus to ask the driver if his route goes anywhere near Menaggio when Kelly wins the ultimate victory. A guy yells from the back of the bus "excuse me! Are you going to the national jogging convention?" If Jen was in any other mood she would have been hysterically laughing but the stress of the moment made her just stare blankly at the (German?) guy instead. A nice waiter at a nearby pizzeria took pity on our soaked selves and called a cab for us...which was going to cost 80€. If it weren't for the fading memory of our incredibly fun cocktail and apperitivo dinner we would definitely both have burst into tears. We do NOT spend the equivalent of $112 on transportation, especially when missing the free bus was self inflicted and avoidable. Holy shit, what are we going to do. We stood outside the cab and weighed our options...realizing that there weren't any, so we got in and braced our wallets.
Our cab driver was one crazy dude who seemed to have all the Lake Como gossip and no filter. He told us that the Heinz family (think ketchup) lived in Clooney's house before he did, and he used to be their driver. He didn't have a whole lot to say about the Heinz fam but had plenty to say about their secretary...mainly that her face was a tragedy...so terrible..like something out of a carnival. To add insult to injury he said you would be terrified if you came across her even in the dark. Something about his lack of filter and total rudeness made him hilarious. At least our huge lump of money was going to a cab ride and comedy show. He said George Clooney's gf was an absolute idiot and known for it. Apparently she can't speak English and the Cloon can't speak Italian...but when you look like that who needs the ability to communicate?
We made it to our hostel, momentarily seriously miserable as we walked up the steep long ramp from the road in the pouring rain with light wallets after our major Traveler C mishap. Once we were dry and whispering in our dark hostel dorm full of sleeping people we realized what an amazing day we had in Milan. Milan in a day, a learning experience, and waking up in a new place for new adventures. We don't have a complaint in the world :) except that we haven't seen all of it yet. Right before Jenny fell asleep she started cracking up about the jogging convention inquiry. The guy didn't have much of a sense of humor so maybe her was serious? Kelly's vote is Jen got totally clowned...either way, she won't be rocking the tucked in legging gym shoe combo anytime soon.
Italia loves Italia...and so do we!
Romantic park self portrait
no castle is complete without a waterfall
Gothic cathedral
Cathedral of Milan
By the end of our wandering it was somehow evening. We still needed to make our way to Lake Como, but obviously we should put that off to get a taste of Milan evening life. We sought out a great apperitivo place with a good vibe but none of them seemed as fun and delicious as our spot last night. Good Times Lounge round 2 it was, for the most apperitivos anyone has ever consumed in one sitting with a few pre-train cocktails.
What happened next should be preluded with a lesson we had during our 3 hours as TEFL students, which compared 3 types of travelers in an analogy about teaching styles. Traveler A plans every detail of their trip- they maps routes, schedule transportation, lodging, museum visits, reserve researched restaurants etc. Traveler B plans general guidelines, maybe booking or transportation, and has rough ideas about what they want to do, but is flexible with plan changes and willing to do things spur of the moment. Traveler C plans nothing, they show up where they want to be with no preparations and free as a bird open to any suggestion or chance encounter. On our first day of TEFL class we were asked to identify ourselves as one of the 3 travelers, and conclude pros and cons of each traveling style (a lesson that we must admit we found to be pretty stupid at the time, but in retrospect was the most unreal forshadowing and a discussion we often recall). Both Kelly and Jenny found themselves somewhere between traveler A and B, concluding that traveler C was a total nutter putting themselves in stressful, and even risky situations and missing out on good things due to lack of research. It is safe to say that as our plans have changed and our organization has dwindled over the past 3 months, that we are both officially that unplanned nutter. The traveler C in us was ever apparent during the next few hours of our lives. We hopped on a bus to the train station, which apparently didn't go there, we should have taken the tram. A Milano woman clued in on the fact we were lost (maybe due to our dazzed expressions or huge backpacks?) and she pointed to a nearby Subway entrance - which successfully got us to the train station. We hopped a train to Lago de Como, arriving there just after 10pm. Right, we should probably look at the directions to the hostel and catch a bus or walk there as usual. We had thought ahead and had the directions pulled up on Jen's phone....but clearly not thought quite enough ahead to glance over them. We discover that the hostel we reserved that morning is...a 55 minute bus ride from the Como train station. Cue the rain, literally. We learn that the last bus left at 8:30pm. It is currently 10:17pm. Our inner traveler C has totally screwed us and after being approached by a drunk dude who had just finished peeing in the street it seemed like things couldn't get much worse. Sidenote, Kelly has been ridiculing Jenny for her ridiculous marathon outfit of long leggings tucked into her gym shoes all day, Jenny gets on a bus to ask the driver if his route goes anywhere near Menaggio when Kelly wins the ultimate victory. A guy yells from the back of the bus "excuse me! Are you going to the national jogging convention?" If Jen was in any other mood she would have been hysterically laughing but the stress of the moment made her just stare blankly at the (German?) guy instead. A nice waiter at a nearby pizzeria took pity on our soaked selves and called a cab for us...which was going to cost 80€. If it weren't for the fading memory of our incredibly fun cocktail and apperitivo dinner we would definitely both have burst into tears. We do NOT spend the equivalent of $112 on transportation, especially when missing the free bus was self inflicted and avoidable. Holy shit, what are we going to do. We stood outside the cab and weighed our options...realizing that there weren't any, so we got in and braced our wallets.
Our cab driver was one crazy dude who seemed to have all the Lake Como gossip and no filter. He told us that the Heinz family (think ketchup) lived in Clooney's house before he did, and he used to be their driver. He didn't have a whole lot to say about the Heinz fam but had plenty to say about their secretary...mainly that her face was a tragedy...so terrible..like something out of a carnival. To add insult to injury he said you would be terrified if you came across her even in the dark. Something about his lack of filter and total rudeness made him hilarious. At least our huge lump of money was going to a cab ride and comedy show. He said George Clooney's gf was an absolute idiot and known for it. Apparently she can't speak English and the Cloon can't speak Italian...but when you look like that who needs the ability to communicate?
We made it to our hostel, momentarily seriously miserable as we walked up the steep long ramp from the road in the pouring rain with light wallets after our major Traveler C mishap. Once we were dry and whispering in our dark hostel dorm full of sleeping people we realized what an amazing day we had in Milan. Milan in a day, a learning experience, and waking up in a new place for new adventures. We don't have a complaint in the world :) except that we haven't seen all of it yet. Right before Jenny fell asleep she started cracking up about the jogging convention inquiry. The guy didn't have much of a sense of humor so maybe her was serious? Kelly's vote is Jen got totally clowned...either way, she won't be rocking the tucked in legging gym shoe combo anytime soon.
Italia loves Italia...and so do we!
Romantic park self portrait
no castle is complete without a waterfall
Gothic cathedral
Cathedral of Milan
Monday, May 2, 2011
Thursday April 28 - I'm a street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm
Usually high hopes lead to a major let down but we can honesty say that Venice exceeded even our super raised expectations. Venice is beyond enchanting with winding alley ways and curving canals, making the entire city a mysterious maze. Jade green water in the place of roads gives the entire place an unreal "pinch me" effect. UPS and ambulance boats whizzing by seem bizarre. The insanity of a place where front doors open directly onto deep water is completely eliminated by the magical charm. We love Venice, and we must admit we were more be'ers than do'ers here, but the vibe seems as if that's what this place is for. We never got over the unexpected beauty of the old, rather decrepit, buildings with bottoms covered in barnacles and dark algae and foundations totally burried under the opaque green canals. We strolled around observing and browsing the last of the quaint little Venitian stores, wishing we had the space and the money to buy souvenirs for everyone at home.
Afternoon rolled around and we decided we should head to Milan and see what the fuss was all about. In true penny pinching backpacker style we decided to skip the high speed train leaving in 15 minutes for 10€ and wait 2 hours for the slow janky free train. This gave us time to sit on the step of the train station beside the Grand Canal and watch the swarms of people of all nationalities arriving and departing, and the boats and gondolas drifting by.
The janky train was super janky (got to love the italian train system) but we arrived in Milan and hopped on a bus to our budget hotel, RossoVino (obviously we wanted to stay somewhere called Hotel Red Wine) which was nice and not far from the city center. Our tiny Chinese roommate, Shen, talked about the woes of being away from home for 10 days "such a long trip!" she sighed. Try 13 weeks Shen! We simultaneously thought to ourselves how woe'less our 13 weeks had been and felt happy and fulfilled.
Hungry and tired left us feeling stressed about still not booking a flight home. We had missed the time for Milans famous appertivo scence, but we thought it was worth venturing out to try and find some anyway. Shen had offered us her laptop, so we felt like we had to take advantage and book our flights tonight. We strolled down the road and came across a bar where the appertivos looked like a wedding buffet. Um, yes please! 5euro cocktail and all the food we could eat! They were closing up but said they would leave it out for us for a while, so we ordered mojitos and bloody marys and snacked away. They brought us out a plate of miscelaneous meats which had carnviore jenny one happy camper. Full and satisfied, we set off back to our hostel. With the help of Shens computer we managed to book the best flight to New York we could...from there the rest will fall into place. It was an instant lift off of our shoulders. Yet, the reality set in we were going home. And so the mixed feelings begin as we wrap up our European tour....
Afternoon rolled around and we decided we should head to Milan and see what the fuss was all about. In true penny pinching backpacker style we decided to skip the high speed train leaving in 15 minutes for 10€ and wait 2 hours for the slow janky free train. This gave us time to sit on the step of the train station beside the Grand Canal and watch the swarms of people of all nationalities arriving and departing, and the boats and gondolas drifting by.
The janky train was super janky (got to love the italian train system) but we arrived in Milan and hopped on a bus to our budget hotel, RossoVino (obviously we wanted to stay somewhere called Hotel Red Wine) which was nice and not far from the city center. Our tiny Chinese roommate, Shen, talked about the woes of being away from home for 10 days "such a long trip!" she sighed. Try 13 weeks Shen! We simultaneously thought to ourselves how woe'less our 13 weeks had been and felt happy and fulfilled.
Hungry and tired left us feeling stressed about still not booking a flight home. We had missed the time for Milans famous appertivo scence, but we thought it was worth venturing out to try and find some anyway. Shen had offered us her laptop, so we felt like we had to take advantage and book our flights tonight. We strolled down the road and came across a bar where the appertivos looked like a wedding buffet. Um, yes please! 5euro cocktail and all the food we could eat! They were closing up but said they would leave it out for us for a while, so we ordered mojitos and bloody marys and snacked away. They brought us out a plate of miscelaneous meats which had carnviore jenny one happy camper. Full and satisfied, we set off back to our hostel. With the help of Shens computer we managed to book the best flight to New York we could...from there the rest will fall into place. It was an instant lift off of our shoulders. Yet, the reality set in we were going home. And so the mixed feelings begin as we wrap up our European tour....
Parking garage?
Hate to say goodbye
Wednesday April 27th - "Wear whatever smells the least like old mans asshole"
Standard morning of hostel breakfast and a little laundry in the sink, with shampoo as a substitute for detergent - the lifestyle of a champion. I guess you can get used to anything, standards of cleanliness are definitely relative.
We took a waterbus to Saint Marks Square and stood in line for the basilica. Jenny couldn't go in because she is wearing shorts like an idiot, but Kel took a quick peek around at the ornate gold painted interior. We strolled around the famous square constantly dodging in fear of the gross pigeons dive bombing around us. Despite bird mania Saint Marks is a really amazing square, and it's vastness is a stark contrast in this city full of tiny winding alleys and canals.
After sufficient people watching, souvenir browsing, and bird dodging, we hopped on a waterbus to Burano, a nearby island famous for lace, seafood and it's colorfully painted buildings.
Just as we started to wonder why the heck we were on an hour long water bus, we pulled up to Burano. It was love at first sight (thanks for the recommendation Jill Puckett!). Every home is brightly colored, with clothes line drying, blooming flower boxes, and beaded doors. Kelly decided if she could make this her own island with everyone she loves in the bright quiet streets and homes, it would be perfect. There is almost a weird truman show-ness to the quaint oddity of the island. Known for their lace, we shopped all around for lace presents and more Murano glass knickknacks. Grocery store lunch and sunshine added to the perfect afternoon. As evening approached we hopped on a packed water bus back to Venice, where we sat on the floor with the little girls at their mothers feet (being grown up is over-rated). Back to the mainland (island?) we threw off jackets and set off to get cheap vino before happy hour ended. Our glass blowing friend in Murano explained that Venice is not a place of much nightlife, which was good for us since we had work to do. After a couple glasses of red and a some veggies it was back to casa Andre to get ripped off for Internet usage. It's time to book a flight home. In hopes of exploring every option to find our cheapest deal, we curled up at the computer prepared for a stressful couple hours...it's now or never.
We took a waterbus to Saint Marks Square and stood in line for the basilica. Jenny couldn't go in because she is wearing shorts like an idiot, but Kel took a quick peek around at the ornate gold painted interior. We strolled around the famous square constantly dodging in fear of the gross pigeons dive bombing around us. Despite bird mania Saint Marks is a really amazing square, and it's vastness is a stark contrast in this city full of tiny winding alleys and canals.
After sufficient people watching, souvenir browsing, and bird dodging, we hopped on a waterbus to Burano, a nearby island famous for lace, seafood and it's colorfully painted buildings.
Just as we started to wonder why the heck we were on an hour long water bus, we pulled up to Burano. It was love at first sight (thanks for the recommendation Jill Puckett!). Every home is brightly colored, with clothes line drying, blooming flower boxes, and beaded doors. Kelly decided if she could make this her own island with everyone she loves in the bright quiet streets and homes, it would be perfect. There is almost a weird truman show-ness to the quaint oddity of the island. Known for their lace, we shopped all around for lace presents and more Murano glass knickknacks. Grocery store lunch and sunshine added to the perfect afternoon. As evening approached we hopped on a packed water bus back to Venice, where we sat on the floor with the little girls at their mothers feet (being grown up is over-rated). Back to the mainland (island?) we threw off jackets and set off to get cheap vino before happy hour ended. Our glass blowing friend in Murano explained that Venice is not a place of much nightlife, which was good for us since we had work to do. After a couple glasses of red and a some veggies it was back to casa Andre to get ripped off for Internet usage. It's time to book a flight home. In hopes of exploring every option to find our cheapest deal, we curled up at the computer prepared for a stressful couple hours...it's now or never.
Saint Marks Square in the morning
Burano Streets :)
It's a colorful life
Tuesday April 26th - What a cheap bastard, eh?
After a little Venitian canal-side stroll and some leather shopping and souvenir browsing, we took a boat to the island of Murano sans our Canada squad as they were doing laundry and most likely sleeping the day away. Murano is known for it's glass blowing, which initially began in Venice before the trade was moved to this specific island due to it's dangerous nature as a serious fire hazard. We saw a guy blowing glass in a factory and then browsed packed glass shop after glass shop until everything looked the same. After a cafe linner we were just about to hop on a boat to Burano (another nearby island) when Kel spotted a huge chandelier hanging from a high ceiling down a long corridor. Walking down it we found ourselves in a huuge glass factory where Kelly asked an employee about tour times. This employee turned out to be the owner and master designer and he told us they were closed (when has that ever stopped us?)...so long story short, they let us in and had us try blowing our own glass creations!!
... yayy for free awesome experiences! The manager (a suave well-dressed Venetian man) sat with us and explained all of the various ways the glass is made - we have a whole new appreciation for anything glass blown! This is not a simple art form. He gave us a tour of the galleries and explained glass blowing trends through different decades. Blowing our own glass in Murano was one of the highlights of Venice, although our creations were less than impressive and the manager laughed at us and told Jenny her glass bubble looked like a giant condom (see picture). No time for Burano after this amazing twist in Murano so we boated back to our hotel. The ever so handy Facebook put us in touch with our Canadian friends, who were leaving that night on a late ferry to Germany (boo).
The three of them met us at our hostel (way to get the kids together Taite) and we strolled around and sat on some steps while they negotiated with street salesmen for pervy lighters. Haggling is one of Simons favorite activities, and he is no quitter...keep up the good work bro. The 5 of us recapped all our crazy encounters and decided there shall be more to come someday.
We said our goodbyes as they got on the train (our babies are all grown up! juuust kidding boys you can totally pass for 20 haha). So strange that we had come across these perfect strangers by chance in Rome, coincidentally come across them in Corfu, Greece for a weekend, and then amazingly spotted them in a bustling crowd in Venice. Clearly they are stalkers but we like them anyway :)
... yayy for free awesome experiences! The manager (a suave well-dressed Venetian man) sat with us and explained all of the various ways the glass is made - we have a whole new appreciation for anything glass blown! This is not a simple art form. He gave us a tour of the galleries and explained glass blowing trends through different decades. Blowing our own glass in Murano was one of the highlights of Venice, although our creations were less than impressive and the manager laughed at us and told Jenny her glass bubble looked like a giant condom (see picture). No time for Burano after this amazing twist in Murano so we boated back to our hotel. The ever so handy Facebook put us in touch with our Canadian friends, who were leaving that night on a late ferry to Germany (boo).
The three of them met us at our hostel (way to get the kids together Taite) and we strolled around and sat on some steps while they negotiated with street salesmen for pervy lighters. Haggling is one of Simons favorite activities, and he is no quitter...keep up the good work bro. The 5 of us recapped all our crazy encounters and decided there shall be more to come someday.
We said our goodbyes as they got on the train (our babies are all grown up! juuust kidding boys you can totally pass for 20 haha). So strange that we had come across these perfect strangers by chance in Rome, coincidentally come across them in Corfu, Greece for a weekend, and then amazingly spotted them in a bustling crowd in Venice. Clearly they are stalkers but we like them anyway :)
We had falafels (big surprise) as our very late night dinner as we wandered around talking about how much we love Venice. This city lived up to our expectation, and they were highhhh expectations. It has a magical element unlike anywhere else. Note to selves: plan romantic weekend with studly husbands here sans the kids circa 20 years...or just with each other if we have given up on normal life by then and remain nomads.
Bueno Notte bellas! (what? kelly never said she passed italian...)
Murano
Sticks of glass used for designing
Round one: Kel shows mad skills
(this is the owner guiding us through)
Note Jens giant glass condom creation...talent
GLASS everywhere! Good thing we didn't cart around the backpacks here...
Monday April 25th - The end of a bromance
As we regained our land legs, our new crew split up with plans to meet in Accademia around 1 at the raging pub. Everyone headed off on buses to hostels or hotels as we wandered aimlessly in circles, homeless yet again. No wifi to be found we popped into Casa Sant Andre right off of the Grand Canal. We had researched Venice hostels and knew one thing- they are expensive. We wanted to be in the city so we settled for a room out of our frugal budgets. Paninis and coffee settled us as we waited for our room, eager to wash the ferry floor off of ourselves. Timing was never our thing and before we knew it was 2 o'clock. Our map made the walk to Accademia seem easy enough so off we went for afternoon beers with the boys. Umm, not so much. Venetian streets are actually elaborate, small mazes of bridges and alley ways. About 45 minutes later we stumbled into a piazza and saw the bar. It was empty, as we expected, so we asked if a group of American boys had come through- to which we found out we had missed them by about 10 minutes. We scanned the area with open eyes & ears but knew the odds were unlikely to find them. Ok we admit it, we had a moment of gloominess as we tried to accept never seeing these travel buddies again. It was like camp had unexpectedly ended!! We would have been more bummed but we were to busy being completely obsessed with Venice. This city is unreal! As we winded about the maze in hopes of working our way to San Marco, crowds of people surrounded us on the narrow, water lined sidewalks. Suddenly as we approached a bridge, Jenny loudly squealed "BEN!". Believe it or not, there were Ben, Taite and Simon standing right in front of us.
We were apparently destined to enjoy Venice with our temporary little bros as we had randomly bumped into them once again, a crazy coincidence in a city made of mazes and moats and full of bustling people. This was run-in #3 so we just allowed what the universe obviously had in store for us. The boys wanted to take a gondola ride together so we quickly fed ourselves so that Jenny would be pleasant company on our ride. Our gondalier had been doing this for 37 years and we learned it is a very exclusive job with extensive training and specialized schools. Simon says only 3 are accepted a year! Sleepy Ben and Taite split up with Simon who wanted to find a museum. We said they could power nap at our hostel before meeting up with the Prague crew in Saint Marks Square at 6:30. The nap didnt go so well since we just spent the hour or 2 being lost.
We were apparently destined to enjoy Venice with our temporary little bros as we had randomly bumped into them once again, a crazy coincidence in a city made of mazes and moats and full of bustling people. This was run-in #3 so we just allowed what the universe obviously had in store for us. The boys wanted to take a gondola ride together so we quickly fed ourselves so that Jenny would be pleasant company on our ride. Our gondalier had been doing this for 37 years and we learned it is a very exclusive job with extensive training and specialized schools. Simon says only 3 are accepted a year! Sleepy Ben and Taite split up with Simon who wanted to find a museum. We said they could power nap at our hostel before meeting up with the Prague crew in Saint Marks Square at 6:30. The nap didnt go so well since we just spent the hour or 2 being lost.
We were nearly an hour late to Saint Marks but the few others that were there told us most of the group had never shown up. It was a sad ending to their bromance. Hungry again, the 5 of us scanned menu prices only to realize Saint Marks isn't really a backpack friendly budget place to dine. Nonetheless, one waiter lured us in with free garlic bread and we laughed over our over-priced dinner. This square is amazing... lively, bustling, beautiful and unique. Windows appear to be candle lit to the top floor, and the basilica Dome and bell tower glow, towering over us. There are live classical and jazz bands across the court from one and other, where hundreds of outdoor tables sit full of listening crowds, sipping their vino. There's definitely an element of magic to this spot. You're left wanting more... (preferably when you have a fuller wallet and a jacket :).
Taite's internal compass somehow got us home, which is right by the bus station to get themselves home, conveniently enough! Good chats and full bellies, it was time for everyone to sleep in a real bed. We said goodnight to these silly boys with plans for more fun tomorrow!
Groggy backpackers after a long 25 hours at sea
Bridges bridges everywhere
One of the most beautiful cities possible
Simon, Ben, our gondalier, Taite, us :)
Saturday, April 23, 2011
April 19th - April24th: I don't know if I can get down with your burrito
We are on vacation from backpacking in Corfu, Greece! We are having an amazing time lying on the gorgeous beach by our crazy huge mountain top party hostel, The Pink Palace. We walked into the hostel bar on our first night here for a beer and Jen spotted a guy who looked exactly like Ben (the Canadian 18 year old backpacker who we met on the random pub crawl in Rome - he and his friend Taite hung out with us and Ashley and Jack a little that night). Strange lookalike turned out to be even stranger, it actually was Ben! We exchanged super weirded out looks and then saw Taite and their third buddy, Simon. They were accompanied by Jordan, a sweet 20 year old studying in Athens who was pretty headstrong about fighting the cultural norm and distinguishing himself as different. The 4 of them had befriended one hell of an "athlete" lacrosse loving Logan, who turned out to love Dutch cougars even more...a scaring discovery by Kelly Puckett. One beer turned into several and we talked about the strange workings of the universe that would bring us to the same island in Greece to the famous hostel here at the same time when we had never discussed this plan with each other. These guys are great fun and we immediately formed a brother/sisterly bond with them and have been hanging out over egg breakfasts and at the bars here...they sleep all day, which we can't hate on them for since we are usually dozing in and out on the beach. We also met a big group of kids studying in Prague...as college graduates we are clearly a few years too old for this place, but the Dutch Logan-loving cougar had us beat by a few decades. Prague kids turned into buddies one day while poolside so our group of vacation buddies grew with the addition of Dan, Ian, Greg, James and there 4 other friends. Chaos hit the Pink Palace on Friday with the arrival of a 700 person spring break tour. Our palace was overrun with 20 year old messes that brought us back to our spring break memories, and lack thereof. If you can't beat them, join them, was the general attitude of the prior palace occupants, so relaxing vacation became more of a party pit stop. One of the best days was when we rented four wheelers from our hostel with Ben, Taite, Simon and Jordan and whizzed off down the windy Greek roads to Corfu Town to get a little feel for the island outside of our party confine. Free wheeling along cliff roads looking down at the beautiful beach and Adriatic Sea below the green mountainside thick with tall pointy pines made for amazing views. We caught parades as part of Corfu's famous Easter festival...which were pretty much one morbid marching band after the next, but an interesting change of pace nonetheless.
Swimming in the sea here was freezing but so clear it felt like you had been dropped into a glass of drinking water. Looking down at not only your toes but every individual grain of sand on the sea floor it seemed like you were looking down through a sheet of glass.
A toga party was Saturday nights big attraction and hundreds of Pink Palce residents attempted to make decent and sturdy togas out of the shiny pink satin sheets that were mandatory to attend. We helped our temporary little brothers tie their togas the best we could and headed to the huge paladium nightclub here. In case you haven't pieced this one together, this hostel is ENORMOUS and reminicent of a summer camp for drunken 20 year olds. The toga party was part rave and part tradition as a traditional Greek dance performance turned into the staff setting the dance floor on fire as a man lifted a flaming table with his mouth. Then hundreds of ceramic plates were carried out, stack after stack and smashed on the head of every guest followed by a shot of Ouzo from the bottle while the Greek music blared and ceramic shards flew everywhere....Greek traditions are weird. The madness was swept up as quickly as it had begun and the smoke filled toga rave continued all night. This was convenient for us and our Canadian and Prague friends as we were all taking an early morning ferry to Venice which meant we needed to be on a bus departing the palace at 5:45am. No sense in going to bed first we reasoned, as this was a 23 hour ferry ride and embarking well rested would make us some bored bunnies. After nearly missing our bus, perhaps due to Jenny's inability to get her life together, we were finally on our way. Help got us up and moving, the perks of befriending the hostel staff over a political discussion that day at lunch. Big shout out to our buddy to Armondo, who Kelly said she would see in 5... Not so much. You are a gem for the personal wakeup and help dear!
We had all been seriously Pink Palaced and were ready for a slice of reality and a return to Italia. A ferry floor had never seemed such a comfortable place to sleep as it did to our group of 11 that morning. Partied as we were, we were no strangers to the danger of travel so we all secured our belongings, hiding our purses and lining our bags up behind our heads. Everyone lay guarding their things and we all fell asleep on our bags, drifting in and out of sleep, but apparently were no match for the agile robbers aboard as we woke up to find 3 members of our squad (including yours truly, Kelly) had been robbed of their most valuable belongings. This was a crime that no one could wrap there heads around, including head of security when he saw the precision with which it had been executed by someone who would have had to make his was through our crowd of people silently. Hours 4-23 were now a giant game of clue and with knots in our stomachs we kept a hand on every bag at all times. We wish the agile robber had had it in his heart to leave Kelly her camera card containing every picture she has taken on our travels for the last 2 months. Losing your possessions out of carelessness is hard, but theft out of a hidden purse behind a 40lbs backpack with 3 people sleeping practically on top of it...that's a loss that's hard to swallow.
So now Kelly is phoneless (our only lifelines to the real world), and camera-less. Which, if you know Kelly, you know her camera and pictures are her most valuable and personal belonging since she was in middle school. When you are far from home and have one backpack, it seems to amplify this loss. Kelly of course will always feel sick about her pictures and the phone is just more or less a pain in the ass. It's strange to be electronic-less for these last couple of weeks, and probably not a bad lesson. Frustration, sadness, anger, confusion... The list of feelings goes on especially after so much good luck and 3 months of being so careful. But the reality is we have had nothing but great fortune (knock on wood) our whole trip, healthy bodies and once in a lifetime experiences. Being with a group was a crucial aid to staying positive all day on our ferry and then we are in Venice. It makes it hard to complain... As the expression goes, shit happens. Kelly feels positive and isn't going to waste time being anything but grateful to be back in Italia :)
We all took turns eating, napping, and being general bums on our long adventure. As a group, we came to a general consensus that selling deck seats on a 25 hour janky ferry is cruel and unusual punishment. Thank goodness we had a squad to stay distracted. Ian had a laptop, so we piled around it an watched hours on end of the Amc show "breaking bad", as our butts went numb. Bored eating got the best of us and ice cream Sunday's made for perfect midnight snacks. Finally the group fell tired again, and decided to get a few more hours of shuteye. Well as best we could... Kelly & Greg undoubtedly had slept with one eye open.
Venice scenery surrounded us all we pulled up to port the next morning. We couldn't wait to be off this boat and bid farewell to our lost belongings and sketchy neighbors. We were in Venice! Venice! Words can't describe our excitement, so we won't bother trying...
Swimming in the sea here was freezing but so clear it felt like you had been dropped into a glass of drinking water. Looking down at not only your toes but every individual grain of sand on the sea floor it seemed like you were looking down through a sheet of glass.
A toga party was Saturday nights big attraction and hundreds of Pink Palce residents attempted to make decent and sturdy togas out of the shiny pink satin sheets that were mandatory to attend. We helped our temporary little brothers tie their togas the best we could and headed to the huge paladium nightclub here. In case you haven't pieced this one together, this hostel is ENORMOUS and reminicent of a summer camp for drunken 20 year olds. The toga party was part rave and part tradition as a traditional Greek dance performance turned into the staff setting the dance floor on fire as a man lifted a flaming table with his mouth. Then hundreds of ceramic plates were carried out, stack after stack and smashed on the head of every guest followed by a shot of Ouzo from the bottle while the Greek music blared and ceramic shards flew everywhere....Greek traditions are weird. The madness was swept up as quickly as it had begun and the smoke filled toga rave continued all night. This was convenient for us and our Canadian and Prague friends as we were all taking an early morning ferry to Venice which meant we needed to be on a bus departing the palace at 5:45am. No sense in going to bed first we reasoned, as this was a 23 hour ferry ride and embarking well rested would make us some bored bunnies. After nearly missing our bus, perhaps due to Jenny's inability to get her life together, we were finally on our way. Help got us up and moving, the perks of befriending the hostel staff over a political discussion that day at lunch. Big shout out to our buddy to Armondo, who Kelly said she would see in 5... Not so much. You are a gem for the personal wakeup and help dear!
We had all been seriously Pink Palaced and were ready for a slice of reality and a return to Italia. A ferry floor had never seemed such a comfortable place to sleep as it did to our group of 11 that morning. Partied as we were, we were no strangers to the danger of travel so we all secured our belongings, hiding our purses and lining our bags up behind our heads. Everyone lay guarding their things and we all fell asleep on our bags, drifting in and out of sleep, but apparently were no match for the agile robbers aboard as we woke up to find 3 members of our squad (including yours truly, Kelly) had been robbed of their most valuable belongings. This was a crime that no one could wrap there heads around, including head of security when he saw the precision with which it had been executed by someone who would have had to make his was through our crowd of people silently. Hours 4-23 were now a giant game of clue and with knots in our stomachs we kept a hand on every bag at all times. We wish the agile robber had had it in his heart to leave Kelly her camera card containing every picture she has taken on our travels for the last 2 months. Losing your possessions out of carelessness is hard, but theft out of a hidden purse behind a 40lbs backpack with 3 people sleeping practically on top of it...that's a loss that's hard to swallow.
So now Kelly is phoneless (our only lifelines to the real world), and camera-less. Which, if you know Kelly, you know her camera and pictures are her most valuable and personal belonging since she was in middle school. When you are far from home and have one backpack, it seems to amplify this loss. Kelly of course will always feel sick about her pictures and the phone is just more or less a pain in the ass. It's strange to be electronic-less for these last couple of weeks, and probably not a bad lesson. Frustration, sadness, anger, confusion... The list of feelings goes on especially after so much good luck and 3 months of being so careful. But the reality is we have had nothing but great fortune (knock on wood) our whole trip, healthy bodies and once in a lifetime experiences. Being with a group was a crucial aid to staying positive all day on our ferry and then we are in Venice. It makes it hard to complain... As the expression goes, shit happens. Kelly feels positive and isn't going to waste time being anything but grateful to be back in Italia :)
We all took turns eating, napping, and being general bums on our long adventure. As a group, we came to a general consensus that selling deck seats on a 25 hour janky ferry is cruel and unusual punishment. Thank goodness we had a squad to stay distracted. Ian had a laptop, so we piled around it an watched hours on end of the Amc show "breaking bad", as our butts went numb. Bored eating got the best of us and ice cream Sunday's made for perfect midnight snacks. Finally the group fell tired again, and decided to get a few more hours of shuteye. Well as best we could... Kelly & Greg undoubtedly had slept with one eye open.
Venice scenery surrounded us all we pulled up to port the next morning. We couldn't wait to be off this boat and bid farewell to our lost belongings and sketchy neighbors. We were in Venice! Venice! Words can't describe our excitement, so we won't bother trying...
Tuesday April 19: "I mean, this is the best pre-packaged toast I've tried"
We start waking up here in Sorrento about 6am to loud church bells that we remain unsure about... Church or rude alarm? After that its a series of loud gals and door slams. So when our alarms went off around 8 we were already awake. We must have our minds in the right place, because we got right up and set out for a jog. After a quick shower, we moved quickly through free breakfast and checkout. Greece? Venice? Decisions decisions. Were having trouble figuring out our ferry to Greece. We decided we need a few Samara kind of days before finishing up, so were hoping to make it to an island in Greece by tomorrow. There we have some serious goals: bake in the sun, sleep in the sun, explore grecian island life and re-center/refocus/regroup. And maybe wash some socks, panties and shirts. Not that we smell or anything....
So we skipped town towards Napoli... That's Naples for y'all American folk. On the way we jumped off the train in Pompeii, curious about the ruins. We wanted to see te froZen people but not enough to pay and wait in line. So we took it in from a distance, compared my Vesuvius to arenal, and re-boarded our train. We had about an hour and a half to kill in Naples, and the one thing that's a must do is eat pizza (where it was created)! Jenny had done some research and we mapped our way to what was reviewed as the oldest and best pizza. There were tons of people waiting outside to get in... The city has pizza rules, thats right, rules. Here's the guidelines for Napoli pizza:
We decided to ask for ours to go and when Jenny ordered one margarita (the only other option is maranara) the friends chefs thought she was one crazy Americana. We walked back to the train station in anticipation and they were right. One was a bad idea. This was the best pizza imaginable, and we can't explain why. It was unlike anything else. We enjoyed our halves and dreamed avout more as we waited for our train.
We had 2 trains to catch to Bari (the port town and homeland to THE Shea Donovan-there's billboards of him all over, your people send their love dear). Obviously, Jenny passed out while Kelly watched the gorgeous Italian scenery pass by as er iTunes played the perfect soundtrack. Today we are feeling great about our decision to go home and know it's the right time. We passed a ton of windmills and as U2 serenaded Kelly there seemed to be signs and symbolism coming at us the whole day. Now let's just hope we can find a boat to Greece...
Success! We made it to Bari with approximately 30 minutes to find the port, figure out a ferry, book and board. We did it! We would be in Ingomenutsa by 6am.
We boarded expecting a shnazzy ferry like our first to holland. Ehh not so much. No Internet or cool spots. We sat in a movie theatre meets airplane type of room with a bunch of strangers and our backpacks. Salad and fries for dinner and, as always, stole some bread for breaky!We watched Erin brokevich (yay for no dubbing) and then spread out across seats in hope of sleeping a bit...
Doze on and off... On and off... I think were somewhere in Greece by now...
Monday, April 18, 2011
Monday, April 18-- The uncurable travel bug
This day was for centering, reflection, and planning forwards. We have had so many ideas and plans and uncertainties rattleing around in our heads and we needed to get some calm. We are really conflicted as we approach the end of the route we had in mind. We both encounter homesickness in fleeting moments, whether it's as silly as missing our blowdryer and straightener or as deep as longing to see a person that we miss. We are really fortunate to be able to talk about these things with one another and be each others support system. The internal conflict comes into play when homesickness meets desire to nomad. We are obsessed with Italy and typically totally absorbed in the present, hence our usual lack of planning! We are soaking up every moment of where ee are but we have a seerious case of the travel bug, there are endless places we want to go. We are fearful that some of these are now or never. It seems unlikely we will retire our pencil skirts and disregard work emails in future years to be dirty hippies living out of a backpack with no plan and few commitments. We want to see Morocco, we have both dreamed for years of a trip to Africa to volunteer, Kelly longs to travel Oceania and Jenny is dying to go to Thailand. The thought of time in a disciplined Ashram strikes our fancy, and so does some time in China. We don't have the money for these right now, and we both have people and upcoming events at home that we are ready to get back to. We decided Almafi was the place to go to mellow our conflicted souls. The Almafi Coast is amazing and the most celebrated in Italy (although we still hold Cinque Terre as an untouchable number 1 in our hearts) and we intended to find and hike Sentiero degli Dei (Path of the Gods) a well famous 6 hour mountain hike. Yea we are just as surprised as you that a long hike appeals to us more than cafe chilling or window shopping...our inner dirty hippies must be really thriving. After an insanely long windy bus ride from Sorrento along the edge of the cliff (think the crazy mountain top toads on which James Bonds high speed chases occur in Austin Martin convertibles) we arrived in Almafi. Wrong place for our path we learned but awesome seaside village surrounded by cliffs with aqua water. We ate crepes in an Italian cafe where the smiley server pridefully told us about the greatness of Almafi and gave us his address so we could write to him when we wanted to return, gotta love those Italian men!
We have come to terms with the fact that this trip will not cure our travel bug, and that's okay.
As much as we feel we need to go everywhere right now, if we hold ourselves to everything we have learned on this trip then we know our travel adventures are far from over. The challenge will be coming home to a society that prizes work and "adulthood" over all else.
After a long chat about home and travels and life, We hopped on a bus back towards Sorrento. We decided this was a good place to map out the last leg of our trip. After some down time and a quick jog for Jenny, we grabbed a salad in the restaurant of our hostel and camped out at the computers. We looked at going to Africa, asia, etc etc. But the reality is, we need a planning break! Despite our lack of planning style, when you're backpacking with no set plan, the reality is you plan everyday. Plan plan plan. Our brains (and bank accounts) need a holiday. So together we decided when were done with Europe, as our rail pass expires, it's time to go home. And time to get excited for it! So... I guess you could say that's the plan :) bed time... Tomorrow were going to.....???
We have come to terms with the fact that this trip will not cure our travel bug, and that's okay.
As much as we feel we need to go everywhere right now, if we hold ourselves to everything we have learned on this trip then we know our travel adventures are far from over. The challenge will be coming home to a society that prizes work and "adulthood" over all else.
After a long chat about home and travels and life, We hopped on a bus back towards Sorrento. We decided this was a good place to map out the last leg of our trip. After some down time and a quick jog for Jenny, we grabbed a salad in the restaurant of our hostel and camped out at the computers. We looked at going to Africa, asia, etc etc. But the reality is, we need a planning break! Despite our lack of planning style, when you're backpacking with no set plan, the reality is you plan everyday. Plan plan plan. Our brains (and bank accounts) need a holiday. So together we decided when were done with Europe, as our rail pass expires, it's time to go home. And time to get excited for it! So... I guess you could say that's the plan :) bed time... Tomorrow were going to.....???
Sunday, April 17- Do you want a bite of my cheese and lettuce sandwich?
This morning we enjoyed the quiet solitary environment of our B&B, and not being
in a mad rush to check out for once. We took nice long showers and repacked our
bags (which are considerably heavier after some impulse gift and souvenir
shopping...guess we should have see this one coming) and did travel research. We
were Romed out so it was on to the next. We were having a hard time making
decisions so we just got on a train to Naples, not the safest place we have
heard, but the Almalfi Coast is supposedly one of the most beautiful in Europe and
we could see the frozen ruins of Pompeii as well as Mt Vesuvius.
Heading this way we could take a train to a nice hostel that Sam (our friend
from Florence) recommended to us in Sorrento.
Sketchball city is what we will call Napoli, although we only saw the view of
the city from our train, and the train station as we connected onto a heavily
graffitied train to go to Sorrento. We arrived at our hostel with some directional guidance from a Polish guy who was also staying there. We dropped off our belongings and headed out for dinner, a delicious and filling roast vegetable dish, before going home for a decently early night.
in a mad rush to check out for once. We took nice long showers and repacked our
bags (which are considerably heavier after some impulse gift and souvenir
shopping...guess we should have see this one coming) and did travel research. We
were Romed out so it was on to the next. We were having a hard time making
decisions so we just got on a train to Naples, not the safest place we have
heard, but the Almalfi Coast is supposedly one of the most beautiful in Europe and
we could see the frozen ruins of Pompeii as well as Mt Vesuvius.
Heading this way we could take a train to a nice hostel that Sam (our friend
from Florence) recommended to us in Sorrento.
Sketchball city is what we will call Napoli, although we only saw the view of
the city from our train, and the train station as we connected onto a heavily
graffitied train to go to Sorrento. We arrived at our hostel with some directional guidance from a Polish guy who was also staying there. We dropped off our belongings and headed out for dinner, a delicious and filling roast vegetable dish, before going home for a decently early night.
Saturday, April 16th--Pope's are Weird
We had left things with our hostel hosts open ended about whether or not we could stay Saturday night. By 11 (end of the checkout period) they were no where to be seen so we presumed they had arranged another night for us. We had another date with Jack & Ashley to go see the Vatican so we hustled to meet them at a nearby McDonalds. Most people would take a bus or train over to the Vatican city, but these 4 amici were going to soak up all the sunshine we could. About an hour later we were approaching Saint Peters Square, which is quite a site on Saturday afternoons (or ever). We knew we had a long wait and day ahead of us so we popped in a pizza place... Yes more pizza and no we aren't sick of it yet. Something in the air here strips away the need for all food that isn't Italian... Or maybe were just on a ravenous carb binge and our bodies now refuse to desire foods that aren't white. The busy pizzeria gave us way too much food as we stood in the packed room chowing down. We were barely into the city limits before tour guides bombarded us from every direction. We listened to one woman for a while but decided to just wait in the line and wander through on our own. Luckily another guide approached us and decided to cut us a deal since Kelly and Ashley had student IDs (traveler tip: NEVER get rid of your student ID...you can get discounts everywhere, plus cheaper movies at home. duh). As we spoke with him the first woman came back yelling at all of us and trying to bargain her deals over his... The guy was calm and starred at lady #1 like the looney toon she seemed to be so we left with him, listening to her angry but compelling sales skills behind us. While it was a bit stressful getting there and going, buying a tour was the smartest thing ever! We would have probably never even found the Sistine chapel on our own (seriously, that happens to people). Our extremely knowledgeable guide dragged us through the dangerously crowded Vatican museums. Our first stop was the courtyard where parties were held for popes back in the renaissance, and she explained all the insane details behind Michelangelo's famous ceiling. We also learned about fresco paintings and artists like Raphael who have left their marks. We listened to our guide via one eared headphones, so naturally we played secret agent while trying to follow her red umbrella around. Maturity.
After a lot of narrow corridors full of frescos, ornate ceilings, tapestries and ancient statues, we had finally made it to the Sistine chapel. The ceiling has been restored fairly recently and they left a patch of what it looked like before... The difference was insane! Michelangelo used really bright colors and they say he painted for himself based on details found during the restoration. His self portrait is said to be in the de-skinned saint within The Last Judgement. We sat in the quiet chapel as long as we were allowed. You have to really take it in to be in the sheer awe of what he did. It's overwhelming. Stiff necks and all, we wound our way out and into St. Peters basilica. Another overwhelming site; the basilica is beyond ornate and enormous. We snapped a few pictures in St. Peters Square, which was roped off with thousands of chairs for Palm Sunday tomorrow. Crazy to think that the Pope would stand right there the next day! We stumbled around like idiots before realizing we all had terrible "museum legs". So we walked back to their hotel (across town) because Jack decided we had wine to finish off! Gotta love his style. While crossing over the river into Rome, Jenny heard someone..."Jenny? JENNY!"... then out of NOWHERE, squeals were let out as Jenny ran into a friend from home who is studying abroad in Florence, Carly. It was SO random but awesome. Funny how those things happen. Our tired legs made it to the hotel, passing by the Pantheon, Spanish steps, and other amazing sights. Ashley tucked in for a nap while the three of us took our wine to the neighboring park to play cards. We played games, went through our wine stash, and had life chats with 20 year old Jack. He is an amazing person, as is Ashley. Sightseeing is so incredible, but sometimes nothing beats making new friends with such awesome people around this world and hearing their story and thoughts. New bestys in whales? Check!
When the bottles were empty and out bladders were too full, we ran back to the hotel to wake up sleepy Ashley. Our friend in Florence, Sam, suggested a restaurant to us in Rome with a student menu. It was in Trastevere, where we had been wanting to go, so the 4 of us hopped in a cab and on we went. La Fate was perfect! Italian, cute, and 3 courses for 10 euros!! What a killer deal for Rome. Red wine included of course (keep it coming with this quartet). We all knew we wanted an early night, so we shared an awesome dinner and headed back towards home. It was the perfect end to an amazing few days together. Jack & Ashley are our travel bffs. We were sad bunnies to say goodbye but we know we will see them again :)
As we walked up stairs to our apartment room, we joked about our stuff being gone because the room wasn't ours anymore. Then around the corner there was Johncarlo and Maki, our hosts. Up so late? Oh no! They informed us they had to give the room to new people with reservations so they moved ALL OF OUR STUFF to another hostel they own. We will admit that we had stuff everywhere, personal, important and a lot of it. Our combination of being grateful and mortified left us shell shocked. They laughed and said it wasn't our fault and it was no problem. Maki walked us about 10 minutes away to another nice apartment where our backpacks and a bag full of every lose item we own sat. All our valuables, panties, lost socks, trash... ALL of it. It's official these people are amazing! Totally shocked and humiliated, we paid maki and said goodnight. This was definitely a first (and a last). Bed time... Somewhere above a Chinese restaurant in Rome....
After a lot of narrow corridors full of frescos, ornate ceilings, tapestries and ancient statues, we had finally made it to the Sistine chapel. The ceiling has been restored fairly recently and they left a patch of what it looked like before... The difference was insane! Michelangelo used really bright colors and they say he painted for himself based on details found during the restoration. His self portrait is said to be in the de-skinned saint within The Last Judgement. We sat in the quiet chapel as long as we were allowed. You have to really take it in to be in the sheer awe of what he did. It's overwhelming. Stiff necks and all, we wound our way out and into St. Peters basilica. Another overwhelming site; the basilica is beyond ornate and enormous. We snapped a few pictures in St. Peters Square, which was roped off with thousands of chairs for Palm Sunday tomorrow. Crazy to think that the Pope would stand right there the next day! We stumbled around like idiots before realizing we all had terrible "museum legs". So we walked back to their hotel (across town) because Jack decided we had wine to finish off! Gotta love his style. While crossing over the river into Rome, Jenny heard someone..."Jenny? JENNY!"... then out of NOWHERE, squeals were let out as Jenny ran into a friend from home who is studying abroad in Florence, Carly. It was SO random but awesome. Funny how those things happen. Our tired legs made it to the hotel, passing by the Pantheon, Spanish steps, and other amazing sights. Ashley tucked in for a nap while the three of us took our wine to the neighboring park to play cards. We played games, went through our wine stash, and had life chats with 20 year old Jack. He is an amazing person, as is Ashley. Sightseeing is so incredible, but sometimes nothing beats making new friends with such awesome people around this world and hearing their story and thoughts. New bestys in whales? Check!
When the bottles were empty and out bladders were too full, we ran back to the hotel to wake up sleepy Ashley. Our friend in Florence, Sam, suggested a restaurant to us in Rome with a student menu. It was in Trastevere, where we had been wanting to go, so the 4 of us hopped in a cab and on we went. La Fate was perfect! Italian, cute, and 3 courses for 10 euros!! What a killer deal for Rome. Red wine included of course (keep it coming with this quartet). We all knew we wanted an early night, so we shared an awesome dinner and headed back towards home. It was the perfect end to an amazing few days together. Jack & Ashley are our travel bffs. We were sad bunnies to say goodbye but we know we will see them again :)
As we walked up stairs to our apartment room, we joked about our stuff being gone because the room wasn't ours anymore. Then around the corner there was Johncarlo and Maki, our hosts. Up so late? Oh no! They informed us they had to give the room to new people with reservations so they moved ALL OF OUR STUFF to another hostel they own. We will admit that we had stuff everywhere, personal, important and a lot of it. Our combination of being grateful and mortified left us shell shocked. They laughed and said it wasn't our fault and it was no problem. Maki walked us about 10 minutes away to another nice apartment where our backpacks and a bag full of every lose item we own sat. All our valuables, panties, lost socks, trash... ALL of it. It's official these people are amazing! Totally shocked and humiliated, we paid maki and said goodnight. This was definitely a first (and a last). Bed time... Somewhere above a Chinese restaurant in Rome....
Friday, April 15--Pain No Shame
Today's themes are hangovers and wine...which we suppose are kind of
contradictory themes, but they went together pretty well. We hadn't made it
home until the early hours of the morning, so we had what Patti Foster would
call "a bed day." With our technology and B&B provided snacks we did absolutely
nothing until the late afternoon (not that we could have if we had wanted to). This was obviously the hangover part of our
day, not the wine part. We headed out into Rome to see some sights...which
turned into playing with make up in Sephora and talking about how much we were
going to indulge our vanity when we got home...especially after nights like last
night when we go out to clubs with not a scrap of makeup, scraggly hair, and
dirty tourist outfits. We walked down Quattro Fontane and saw the 4 famous fountains
tucked into the buildings on the four corners. We walked around some beautiful
Roman building looking at the stone fountains and imagining how scary This
statue-filled city would be if everything stone came alive at night. Then we
headed to the Spanish steps to meet the boys we had met on our pub crawl last
night. We really didn't expect them to be there as we barely knew them, made
these plans totally inebriated last night, and would be invading on their
couples trip to Rome. The Spanish steps are known for their people watching so
we scanned the crowd until our gaze fell upon...Jack! He was jumping up and down
and so were we as we ran to meet him and Ashley. This was a fast forming
friendship and the two of them are our new favorites, hilarious, a totally
adorable couple and insanely fun!
Jack immeditaley declared it was time to start hitting the bottle...the red wine
bottle that is. Our first instinct was "heck no!" as we were both still a little
on the queasy side and Jen's head was pounding more and more. Our second thought
was "heck yes we're in Italy, bring on the vino!" We were all in agreement that
this was a hair of the dog kind of evening. We strolled to the Trevi fountain,
where we stopped to toss a penny in and make a quick wish, before finding a
little wine bar with outdoor seating and some seriously strong heaters. Wine and
apperitivo time had our headaches fading and the four of us cracking up and all
enjoying the company of new friends in a new city. We decided to keep the good
times rolling so we had some pasta...and wine...at another spot up the road. Not
the best food we've ever had but definitely some of the best company. We were
probably disturbing the other diners with our level of laughter as we chatted
and planned the script for Ashleys new feature film, based on his highschool
years, Zach Efron will be staring in this award winning film and we will be
first on the list to the London premier thanks to our inspiration and
support....right Ashley?! After dinner we decided it was probably time for some
more wine so we went to a little shop and bought 2 bottles for good measure, but
the wine loving girl working decided to throw in one for good luck so we left
with 3. We walked back with Ashley and Jack to their hotel room where we all
sipped about one plastic cup of vino before tiredness came over us and we were
ready for bed. Hangover + wine must = sleep. We weren't done enjoying Rome with
our new friends so we decided to meet in the morning and go to Vatican City
together.
The 2 of us walked home to brush our purple teeth before falling asleep in our
awesome, quiet, peaceful B&B (Wow Roma is the name if you are looking for an
apartment to enjoy in Rome!) Goodnight peeps! See you tomorrow for adventures in
the Vatican.
Thursday, April 14th-- When in Rome
Most days we are up and going fairly early, either for free breakfast, checking out or sightseeing. When you share a dodgey room with 10 strangers, sleeping in isn't really all to appealing anyway. Our hostel in Rome is more of an apartment bedroom, where the breakfast and snacks sit out all day in the kitchen. Taking in the quiet, clean, dark private room we shared, we decided not to set an alarm on our first day in Rome. Well, it worked! We didn't wake up until about noon. Moments like these remind us that after 2+ months of traveling, your body starts to get a little worn down. So quit your judgin', we still had plenty of time to explore Roma!
First stop today was a little snack bar where jenny was in need of a coffee on the go. Since everyone here takes espresso shots, she ordered an American coffee... A few moments later they handed jenny a small plastic dixie cup of coffee. As she walked awkwardly holding the tiny treat, we decided America does take away best. We headed south through Piazza Republica, stopped in Santa Maggiore (a huge and beautiful basilica) and then winded around streets until we suddenly saw the Colosseum down another normalroad. Lucky for us, we waited less than 5 minutes before we walked in for free (love culture week!). The Colosseum is pretty amazing. The history, what's left, the sheer size of it. We imagined it in all it's glory; drunken brawls over favorite gladiators and men being eaten by starving lions. Roman history is craazy! We peaked around the neighboring ruins where archaeologist work all day but the cold grayness was not awesome for our ugg-less adventures. So we took our freezing feet to a cafe across the street for a snack.
Sometimes culture finds you in the least expected places... Now, everyone warns you about Italian men. And we have encountered a few charmers here and there but nothing to hilarious. As we waited for Jenny's panini, Kelly ordered a latte on which "I *heart* u" was written in chocolate. But this was only the beginning... soon we made a new friend. A 77 year old man, Gianni, came and sat down with us. He has lived in Rome (proudly of course) since he was 7 and we talked about places to see and where we are from. He told us about his 2 sons and his hobby of archaeology. Quite the charmer this guy was... He looked like a short round Robert DeNiero. Gianni asked us to join him at his apartment for homemade gnocci that he was making for his German friend in town. As always, we declined, And then we declined again... and again. But Gianni redeemed himself by sending us 2 huge glasses of the wine of Rome on his way out. Free wine? Yes please! As we sipped our sparkling reds, a young waiter from somewhere near Saudi Arabia came out from the kitchen with a finely constructed foil rose to present Jenny with. Habib, was sure he was in love, and sat down to win Jenny's heart. His Romanian boss decided it was rude to not make Kelly a flower, so he quickly took care of it, bursting Habib's bubble; but not as much as hearing about Shea the boyfriend. Nonetheless, in typical European fashion he persisted, with no luck of course. Before we knew it we had a free pizza and champagne! All we had heard about Romans being rude was bogus! This place rocks. Kelly sampled free gelato flavors with the awkward Romanian manager while Habib explained to Jenny not to "fear him" because he does not use drugs (insert heroin motion) or want her money. If that's not a solid first date we don't know what is, gotta love a man who lays it all on the table! While we applauded his efforts, it was all a bit too much. Our empty glasses were the que to get the heck out so we did just that. Assuring our new friends we'd be back tomorrow (yeah right). Turns out these Italian men are indeed quite forward. Just not the cute ones...
We walked down the street to catch a bus to an area called Trastevere. As we searched for our bus stop, a group on a pub crawl passed us merrily. Earlier in the day we were handed a flier for this event, but we never do things like this and usually venture out on our own. But this pub crawl leader was a smooth talker and convinced us to come into the first pub and think about it. For 15 euros we got free covers, open bar, pizza and tshirts. Since most drinks in Rome were upwards of 8euros it turned out to be a good deal. Since we don't clean up to well these days anyway, we went for it despite our very non clubby appearances. 2 hilarious sweetish girls quickly friended us as we made the most of the open bar. We made friends with a couple promoters for the team before they rushed us out to catch a bus to the next bar. On the way there Jenny befriended Jack & Ashley, an adorable couple on vacation from Whales. While Kelly friended Ben and Taite, backpackers from Canada.
By the time we were in bar #2 everyone was soaked to the bone from the rain. It was a bit to quiet so we all headed saugy to some big club. The rest of the night we danced and partied til the wee hours (details shall go unsaid seeing as they are a bit foggy anyway) when we shared a cab across town with Jack & Ashley. The four of us made plans to meet tomorrow night on the Spanish steps. New friends and a crazy night in Rome... We don't usually splurge or go out but it felt right, it was ladies night, and heck, when in Rome... :)
First stop today was a little snack bar where jenny was in need of a coffee on the go. Since everyone here takes espresso shots, she ordered an American coffee... A few moments later they handed jenny a small plastic dixie cup of coffee. As she walked awkwardly holding the tiny treat, we decided America does take away best. We headed south through Piazza Republica, stopped in Santa Maggiore (a huge and beautiful basilica) and then winded around streets until we suddenly saw the Colosseum down another normalroad. Lucky for us, we waited less than 5 minutes before we walked in for free (love culture week!). The Colosseum is pretty amazing. The history, what's left, the sheer size of it. We imagined it in all it's glory; drunken brawls over favorite gladiators and men being eaten by starving lions. Roman history is craazy! We peaked around the neighboring ruins where archaeologist work all day but the cold grayness was not awesome for our ugg-less adventures. So we took our freezing feet to a cafe across the street for a snack.
Sometimes culture finds you in the least expected places... Now, everyone warns you about Italian men. And we have encountered a few charmers here and there but nothing to hilarious. As we waited for Jenny's panini, Kelly ordered a latte on which "I *heart* u" was written in chocolate. But this was only the beginning... soon we made a new friend. A 77 year old man, Gianni, came and sat down with us. He has lived in Rome (proudly of course) since he was 7 and we talked about places to see and where we are from. He told us about his 2 sons and his hobby of archaeology. Quite the charmer this guy was... He looked like a short round Robert DeNiero. Gianni asked us to join him at his apartment for homemade gnocci that he was making for his German friend in town. As always, we declined, And then we declined again... and again. But Gianni redeemed himself by sending us 2 huge glasses of the wine of Rome on his way out. Free wine? Yes please! As we sipped our sparkling reds, a young waiter from somewhere near Saudi Arabia came out from the kitchen with a finely constructed foil rose to present Jenny with. Habib, was sure he was in love, and sat down to win Jenny's heart. His Romanian boss decided it was rude to not make Kelly a flower, so he quickly took care of it, bursting Habib's bubble; but not as much as hearing about Shea the boyfriend. Nonetheless, in typical European fashion he persisted, with no luck of course. Before we knew it we had a free pizza and champagne! All we had heard about Romans being rude was bogus! This place rocks. Kelly sampled free gelato flavors with the awkward Romanian manager while Habib explained to Jenny not to "fear him" because he does not use drugs (insert heroin motion) or want her money. If that's not a solid first date we don't know what is, gotta love a man who lays it all on the table! While we applauded his efforts, it was all a bit too much. Our empty glasses were the que to get the heck out so we did just that. Assuring our new friends we'd be back tomorrow (yeah right). Turns out these Italian men are indeed quite forward. Just not the cute ones...
We walked down the street to catch a bus to an area called Trastevere. As we searched for our bus stop, a group on a pub crawl passed us merrily. Earlier in the day we were handed a flier for this event, but we never do things like this and usually venture out on our own. But this pub crawl leader was a smooth talker and convinced us to come into the first pub and think about it. For 15 euros we got free covers, open bar, pizza and tshirts. Since most drinks in Rome were upwards of 8euros it turned out to be a good deal. Since we don't clean up to well these days anyway, we went for it despite our very non clubby appearances. 2 hilarious sweetish girls quickly friended us as we made the most of the open bar. We made friends with a couple promoters for the team before they rushed us out to catch a bus to the next bar. On the way there Jenny befriended Jack & Ashley, an adorable couple on vacation from Whales. While Kelly friended Ben and Taite, backpackers from Canada.
By the time we were in bar #2 everyone was soaked to the bone from the rain. It was a bit to quiet so we all headed saugy to some big club. The rest of the night we danced and partied til the wee hours (details shall go unsaid seeing as they are a bit foggy anyway) when we shared a cab across town with Jack & Ashley. The four of us made plans to meet tomorrow night on the Spanish steps. New friends and a crazy night in Rome... We don't usually splurge or go out but it felt right, it was ladies night, and heck, when in Rome... :)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wednesday April 13th - Almond biscotti is worth the walk
You can't say you've seen Italy if you haven't been to the vineyards of Tuscany...today seemed like a great day to get our wine buzz on. Everyone said we should go on an organized tour to Chianti but we have discovered we aren't really fans of overpriced tours where we are stuck with a group of potential dudders all day (anti-social of us, we know, but we didn't want any debbies raining on our Italian vino parade). We decided to ditch our backpacks at the hostel luggage room for the day and attempt to get a bus to the region and attempt to find wine...I mean how hard could it be? This was agreed upon as a pretty stupid idea by everyone we came across as reservations are usually needed for tastings and the Chianti region is pretty large and not very pedestrian friendly. We ignored everyone and stuck with our plan but decided we would need a hearty breakfast to fuel for this day. If you are ever in Florence go to the Cafe Deluxe. We had the most amazing eggs benadict with huge coffees - not a big deal to all you at home walking around with your venti lattes, but Italy is a fan of the tiny espresso and has refused to allow a single Starbucks in the country as it is apparently a commercialized rip off of Italian coffee bars. Some of The Beatles greatest tunes played loudly as we ordered from our cheerful Italiano server and enjoyed our amazing breakfasts, happy as clams (why do people say that? Flashback to all-nighter in the library with Tori and Chelsea when this question led to a very strange clam discussion). We were in in this great happy cafe in a city that is at the top of both of our lists for it's beauty, charisma, history, and vibe - this was just one of those moments of true elation where we dug our lives more than we can explain. Dear Jenny and Kelly, when you are old fogies reading this to remember this experience, remind yourselves how important these tiny moments of friendship and bonding and simplicity are! They can be found in every day as long as you seek them out!Anyway, got lost in the moment for a second, back to the main point, we got bus tickets to Chianti and took in the amazing scenery...well Kelly did while Jenny took a nap, she has become a serious master of passing out on any public transportation vehicle, not sure if this is motion sickness or exhaustion but she always misses the most epic landscapes in favor of a little shut eye. We got off the bus full of locals and walked to a cafe where the barista said he had a friend who worked at Castello di Verrazzano, located on a hilltop in the Chianti Classico area. The castle's high position over the Greve valley was once of strategic-military importance and was an etruscan then a roman settlement before becoming the property of the Verrazzano family in the VIIth century (Giovanni Verrazzano is credited with discovering NY) Winemaking here is said to date back to 1150. History lesson over....
Unable to contact his friend he was happy to point us in the right direction. A a nice very italian romance novel cover bus driver took us there for free and we ended at the bottom of the enormous hill that the castle sat on. Here was a a small building for wine tasting where a scary school teacher type Italian woman told us we could basically do whatever we wanted and the castle was up. She wasnt kidding when she said up...holy walk. We really shouldnt be phased after Cinque Terre but this was pretty far, probably 30 minutes straight up hill, but the views of Tuscany were worth the climb. We followed the noise of wine buzzed laughter into a room in the castle and were so sad to find that they were just closing. A nice lady working there looked a little shocked when we said we had walked from the bottom and arranges a special last minute tasting for us with their classic chianti wine, port and almond biscotti while she told us about wines and history - we cannot thank her enough! This was such a wonderful experience!We were apparently there at the perfect time to see the Italian owner of the vinyard and castle cut loose as he took paintings off the wall and posed in pictures with the last lingering guests before switching shirts with one guest wearing a grape covered hawaiian shirt. He tried pretty hard to convince kelly to swap shirts with him as well...but she was definitely not on their wine level and politely said no thank you.
We were offered rides down the hill but preferred to walk and admire the insane views again before getting on our bus back to Florence. We managed a speedy backpack pick up and train station paninis to go before getting on our 8:10 train at 8:08, perfect timing! We were heading to Rome not really knowing what to expect except a big city with big history, especially as it often gets mixed reviews from visitors. We arrive in Roma at night to find what seemed to be an outdoor homeless shelter, complete with drunken prostitutes, lining the train station wall. Cities always give a better first impression when you arrive in daylight. We were so happy to get to our quiet peaceful apartment at B&B Wow Roma. The family owned little place was so nice and relaxing! The owners are amazingly kind. It felt so nice to be away from what we now call "mega hostels" and have a little place of our very own as a home base in Rome. We slept like babies :)
Unable to contact his friend he was happy to point us in the right direction. A a nice very italian romance novel cover bus driver took us there for free and we ended at the bottom of the enormous hill that the castle sat on. Here was a a small building for wine tasting where a scary school teacher type Italian woman told us we could basically do whatever we wanted and the castle was up. She wasnt kidding when she said up...holy walk. We really shouldnt be phased after Cinque Terre but this was pretty far, probably 30 minutes straight up hill, but the views of Tuscany were worth the climb. We followed the noise of wine buzzed laughter into a room in the castle and were so sad to find that they were just closing. A nice lady working there looked a little shocked when we said we had walked from the bottom and arranges a special last minute tasting for us with their classic chianti wine, port and almond biscotti while she told us about wines and history - we cannot thank her enough! This was such a wonderful experience!We were apparently there at the perfect time to see the Italian owner of the vinyard and castle cut loose as he took paintings off the wall and posed in pictures with the last lingering guests before switching shirts with one guest wearing a grape covered hawaiian shirt. He tried pretty hard to convince kelly to swap shirts with him as well...but she was definitely not on their wine level and politely said no thank you.
We were offered rides down the hill but preferred to walk and admire the insane views again before getting on our bus back to Florence. We managed a speedy backpack pick up and train station paninis to go before getting on our 8:10 train at 8:08, perfect timing! We were heading to Rome not really knowing what to expect except a big city with big history, especially as it often gets mixed reviews from visitors. We arrive in Roma at night to find what seemed to be an outdoor homeless shelter, complete with drunken prostitutes, lining the train station wall. Cities always give a better first impression when you arrive in daylight. We were so happy to get to our quiet peaceful apartment at B&B Wow Roma. The family owned little place was so nice and relaxing! The owners are amazingly kind. It felt so nice to be away from what we now call "mega hostels" and have a little place of our very own as a home base in Rome. We slept like babies :)
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