So we left the land of beautiful women (Hungary - it really is full of some of the most gorgeous women I have ever seen) and arrived in the city of tourists. We were able to spend all our forins, which the bus driver was unimpressed with, as there was a small fee for stowed baggage, fortunately we got on, it just meant our bags were handled a little roughly. Our first night here we went to Charles bridge, and it seems everyone else had the same idea until we saw how packed it was today. After the bridge we stopped at the museum of medieval torture... how glad I am to be living in the 20th/21st century. Some of the things we saw were so horriflying it is difficult to comprehend their reality and that people actually experienced it. Anyways moving along. Our appetites were so worked up we had to stop for a nice Czech dinner. We ducked down a side street and found this cool old looking stone pub, with the heaviest wooden chairs imaginable. I had some meat with gravy and dumplings and David had the same sort of dumplings in goulash. He said they were just like his Gramma used to make and quite delicious. I was starting to feel sick so we called it a night early. I popped in the earplugs and slept like a log.
Unfortunately it did nothing for my illness and I woke up feeling like I was hit by a train. You can even see my re-enactment of it on film when we return. So, our first stop was the pharmacy where I got just the drugs I needed. Our destination today was the old Prague Castle. We read in the book that the changing of the guards occured at 12 noon and it was 11:30am. So we "froggered" it through the throngs on Charles bridge and arrived just in time. It was busy but we got up a little higher on some scaffolding. After that we tried getting into St. Vitus' cathedral, but the line up was outrageous, so we bought a ticket for some of the other sights. Our favourite was the story of Prague Castle. The history of people inhabiting the area dates back to at least 5000 BC. We saw all kinds of impressive old relics. The Convent of St George was another highlight as it housed Czech art from the last 2 centuries. There was a lot of it too. After so many pictures of mountain scenes and portraits we were a little weary. Walking towards something else we saw St. Vitus' line had dwindled to nothing so we went in. It was very impressive, especially the stained glass. Glad to get away from the crowds we went out through the gardens and eventually back to our hostel neighborhood for some chinese food dinner. We booked flights to the UK which was also quite exciting. We fly out of Berlin on July 16th. After dinner we were in search of a quiet drink at a Jazz club. Unfortunately the recommended location had an expensive cover, so we found a place nearby. However, there was some kind of party in the back room with music as well, so when the Jazz trio was due to come back on instead they refused to play. We left shortly after for a walk down the main street in the new town. It was full of Cabarets playing "Grease Lightning". We're back at the hostel now and its off to bed. We hope to avoid the tourists tomorrow. Wish us luck.
Na Shledanou
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Budapest
At the train station in Vienna we met a fellow named John from Detroit. We chatted with him all the way to Budapest. The train station in Budapest was full of people trying to sell us rooms. And there were sooo many tourist offices, all with different signage, they couldn't all have been run by the city tourism. Other than that and the occasional clouds of poo smell wafting by Budapest is great. I didn't really know what to expect and I have been blown away. The first night we had a fairly expensive dinner, but we both ordered traditional Hungarian food and it was delicious. It was July 1st, so we had to go out and celebrate after. The hostel receptionist directed us to this outdoor summer club. It was insane. The area had at least 6 bars, some food joints, two dance floors (one more for the metal crowd - I swear we saw Marilyn Manson... not really but you could tell this one guy was a big fan), a covered games area and a hot springs pool (bath) complete with a bar in the middle. There were tables and chairs everywhere too, so lots of places to sit. Surprisingly they played a lot of Canadian artists, which we were thrilled with. I wore my Maple Leaf bandanna hoping to attract others from our country to celebrate with, but this was the first place we went with no tourists. Haha, just when we actually wanted some. Well didn't let that spoil the night. Walking home we belted out the anthem on a bridge crossing the Danube with a marvelous view. This attracted the attention of a couple Hungarian guys who we shared the walk home with and conversed in broken sentences.
The next day we booked some bus tickets to Prague and walked the main street (Andrassy Utca) all the way to the city park and biggest Turkish bath in Budapest. Enroute we saw many fabulous buildings, although they were more run down than say in Vienna they were just as beautiful. Much of the city is undergoing improvements right now so maybe one day they will be restored. At the park we saw heroes square. It was enormous and full of monuments depicted important figures in Hungarian history. The baths however were the best part of the day. Imagine a hot springs, housed in an ancient building. You walk in and come out into a court yard of pools. It was great. I haven't felt that clean or refreshed in a long time. Afterwards we came across an open air pub where I won a Jagermeister bandanna, and on our way home from there we came across a summer Jazz festival. We stayed there well into the night as the music was spectacular. It was sort of a club at the bottom of an enormous set of stairs everyone was just hanging out on. Last night was a late one, so we busted out the earplugs and enjoyed a much needed night of long restful sleep.
Today we walked across the second oldest bridge across the Danube up to the city palace and Mathias church. They were also very amazing to look at. We stopped at the shops for some gifts etc. then trekked up the the citadel. The view was amazing and we came across a few interesting monuments along the way. On the way back down into the city we came across a park making use of the hill side. It had these 40ft tube slides, like in a regular playground, but to the extreme. I went flying down in a dress and in my effort to save the camera, popped right out onto my butt in the dirt, legs in the air. It was quite hilarious. We're back at the hostel for dinner and plan on going out again to the jazz festival tonight. Tomorrow we're on a bus for 7 hours to Prague. It's cheaper and sounds nicer than the train though... air conditioning, movies, free drinks.
Update: We went back to what we thought was the Jazz festival. Turns out it was just a club with really good live music. Not the case tonight. Haha, but a local heard my comment and added his own and we started chatting. He was really excited to show us the city. He was born in Budapest, but his parents moved him to DC when he was 14. He was gone for 10 years but came back 4 years ago and thinks there's no better place in the world. He was sad to here we were leaving in the morning, but at least recommended a cafe we would have to stop for breakfast... Luckily they take Visa as we spent all our Hungarian Forins except what we need to pay for the hostel in the morning. Should be good.
Szia (Sounds like "see ya" and is the informal Hungarian greeting. Works for hello and goodbye, like ciao. Reminiscent of Borat)
The next day we booked some bus tickets to Prague and walked the main street (Andrassy Utca) all the way to the city park and biggest Turkish bath in Budapest. Enroute we saw many fabulous buildings, although they were more run down than say in Vienna they were just as beautiful. Much of the city is undergoing improvements right now so maybe one day they will be restored. At the park we saw heroes square. It was enormous and full of monuments depicted important figures in Hungarian history. The baths however were the best part of the day. Imagine a hot springs, housed in an ancient building. You walk in and come out into a court yard of pools. It was great. I haven't felt that clean or refreshed in a long time. Afterwards we came across an open air pub where I won a Jagermeister bandanna, and on our way home from there we came across a summer Jazz festival. We stayed there well into the night as the music was spectacular. It was sort of a club at the bottom of an enormous set of stairs everyone was just hanging out on. Last night was a late one, so we busted out the earplugs and enjoyed a much needed night of long restful sleep.
Today we walked across the second oldest bridge across the Danube up to the city palace and Mathias church. They were also very amazing to look at. We stopped at the shops for some gifts etc. then trekked up the the citadel. The view was amazing and we came across a few interesting monuments along the way. On the way back down into the city we came across a park making use of the hill side. It had these 40ft tube slides, like in a regular playground, but to the extreme. I went flying down in a dress and in my effort to save the camera, popped right out onto my butt in the dirt, legs in the air. It was quite hilarious. We're back at the hostel for dinner and plan on going out again to the jazz festival tonight. Tomorrow we're on a bus for 7 hours to Prague. It's cheaper and sounds nicer than the train though... air conditioning, movies, free drinks.
Update: We went back to what we thought was the Jazz festival. Turns out it was just a club with really good live music. Not the case tonight. Haha, but a local heard my comment and added his own and we started chatting. He was really excited to show us the city. He was born in Budapest, but his parents moved him to DC when he was 14. He was gone for 10 years but came back 4 years ago and thinks there's no better place in the world. He was sad to here we were leaving in the morning, but at least recommended a cafe we would have to stop for breakfast... Luckily they take Visa as we spent all our Hungarian Forins except what we need to pay for the hostel in the morning. Should be good.
Szia (Sounds like "see ya" and is the informal Hungarian greeting. Works for hello and goodbye, like ciao. Reminiscent of Borat)
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Happy Canada Day!
First things first. Congratulations Lacey, Lincoln is beautiful and I'm glad he finally came out on his own. Everyone else Happy Canada Day!
So to ease the tension of the last post we did end up getting a room. We got one for last night as well. The annoying thing was having to check out everday at 10am, stash our bags and check back in later. But, unlike a lot of people in the city we actually had a place to sleep the night of Eurocup 2008. It was on a Sunday (kinda weird), so that morning we got up really early to attend Sunday mass at the Hofburg Palace chapel and see the Vienna boys choir. They were amazing, and the cutest thing since sliced bread. You couldn't actually see them during the service, they were up on a balcony, it was a small church. It was free for standing room, but super hot and I've never experienced this before, but I had some sort of spell about 45min in. I was dizzy, which made me sick feeling and felt like I couldn't breath, so we had to leave. Once outside I was fine.
After recouping on the steps we walked to where the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was supposed to perform at 11am... Unfortunately it was cancelled due to the football :( It would have been an awesome show. We bummed around town for the day, saw some sights and outfitted ourselves as German fans for the evening festivities. Unfortunately Germany lost. Spain outplayed them incredibly. Everyone was in good spirits and there were no incidents we saw at least. Another funny thing to mention is we had dinner at the awesome Turkish place and there was this cute 11ish year old kid working there. Doing everything from folding napkins to working the bar, pouring drinks :P
Yesterday we went to KunstWeinHaus (aka. the Fairytale museum). It was built by and dedicated mostly to the works of Hunderwasser (I think thats how you spell it) a very environmentally concious artist from 1950 to about 2000. He also designed naturally harmonious buildings like schools and churches. The museum was cool. The floors were all uneven brick with non square windows etc. In the afternoon we checked out Schonbrunn Castle and wandered around in the extensive palace gardens. Its weird to see people going about a regular day in such a fantastic place. Kinda like Stanely Park, but the entire place is a manicured garden with statues and Roman ruins. Unbelievable. In the evening we went to the cinema and watched "The Third Man". Neither of us had heard of it before, but its a movie from the 50's set in post-war Vienna. There's actually Third Man tours here that take you to all the sights from the movie including the sewers. It was actually really good. We came back to the hostel afterwards and met some guys from Brown University and a guy travelling with them. Chatting in the lounge till 1am. We got our free drinks at the hostel bar (toasted to Canada day - it was after midnight) then went to find the place recommended by the people at the hostel. Unfortunately not a whole lot is open at 2:30am the Monday night after Eurocup. We were just giving up when we came across a Kebab stand (very common here) and he was selling 2 Euro beer (resonable for here) so we chilled out at his stand with a local guy (originally from Serbia I believe) we met in this whole process till about 5am. They were all good guys and the conversation was awesome. Haha so we paid for a hostel room we used for less than 5 hours, but we're still hanging around the place eating breakfast, taking care of laundry and using this computer ;)
At 1:52pm we're off on a train to Budapest. We have acquired an extra day or so so originally we were going to go to Bratislava, but have heard not good reviews from people, so we opted for Budapest instead, which people have raved about.
Well back to my domestic duties.
Adieu
So to ease the tension of the last post we did end up getting a room. We got one for last night as well. The annoying thing was having to check out everday at 10am, stash our bags and check back in later. But, unlike a lot of people in the city we actually had a place to sleep the night of Eurocup 2008. It was on a Sunday (kinda weird), so that morning we got up really early to attend Sunday mass at the Hofburg Palace chapel and see the Vienna boys choir. They were amazing, and the cutest thing since sliced bread. You couldn't actually see them during the service, they were up on a balcony, it was a small church. It was free for standing room, but super hot and I've never experienced this before, but I had some sort of spell about 45min in. I was dizzy, which made me sick feeling and felt like I couldn't breath, so we had to leave. Once outside I was fine.
After recouping on the steps we walked to where the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was supposed to perform at 11am... Unfortunately it was cancelled due to the football :( It would have been an awesome show. We bummed around town for the day, saw some sights and outfitted ourselves as German fans for the evening festivities. Unfortunately Germany lost. Spain outplayed them incredibly. Everyone was in good spirits and there were no incidents we saw at least. Another funny thing to mention is we had dinner at the awesome Turkish place and there was this cute 11ish year old kid working there. Doing everything from folding napkins to working the bar, pouring drinks :P
Yesterday we went to KunstWeinHaus (aka. the Fairytale museum). It was built by and dedicated mostly to the works of Hunderwasser (I think thats how you spell it) a very environmentally concious artist from 1950 to about 2000. He also designed naturally harmonious buildings like schools and churches. The museum was cool. The floors were all uneven brick with non square windows etc. In the afternoon we checked out Schonbrunn Castle and wandered around in the extensive palace gardens. Its weird to see people going about a regular day in such a fantastic place. Kinda like Stanely Park, but the entire place is a manicured garden with statues and Roman ruins. Unbelievable. In the evening we went to the cinema and watched "The Third Man". Neither of us had heard of it before, but its a movie from the 50's set in post-war Vienna. There's actually Third Man tours here that take you to all the sights from the movie including the sewers. It was actually really good. We came back to the hostel afterwards and met some guys from Brown University and a guy travelling with them. Chatting in the lounge till 1am. We got our free drinks at the hostel bar (toasted to Canada day - it was after midnight) then went to find the place recommended by the people at the hostel. Unfortunately not a whole lot is open at 2:30am the Monday night after Eurocup. We were just giving up when we came across a Kebab stand (very common here) and he was selling 2 Euro beer (resonable for here) so we chilled out at his stand with a local guy (originally from Serbia I believe) we met in this whole process till about 5am. They were all good guys and the conversation was awesome. Haha so we paid for a hostel room we used for less than 5 hours, but we're still hanging around the place eating breakfast, taking care of laundry and using this computer ;)
At 1:52pm we're off on a train to Budapest. We have acquired an extra day or so so originally we were going to go to Bratislava, but have heard not good reviews from people, so we opted for Budapest instead, which people have raved about.
Well back to my domestic duties.
Adieu
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Killing time in Vienna
I think this is the first post I will have done purely because I have nothing else to do. We got into Vienna today, but were only able to get a room for tonight as the football final between Germany and Spain is tomorrow and the game is here. We think we may be able to get into a campsite tomorrow, but they told us at the Hostel that the usually have cancellations and if we ask in an hour we can maybe get a room for tomorrow. It's quite a nice place and would save a lot of hassle tomorrow. We plan on getting up early (in about 6hrs) to go to Sunday mass so we can see the Vienna boys choir. If we don't get a room here we would have to stash our stuff at the train station in the morning and come back later and try to find our way to the campsite, then go back into town for the football festivities, so... we wait, and take time to reflect on the past few days.
Swarovski's Crystal world was kind of a let down. There were only two giant crystals, the rest were kinda touristy "art" exhibits displayed there that made some use of the crystals. The store at the end was just as much of a show. We went back to the campsite in the evening to make some dinner and watch the football match. We got stuck for a while on our little covered pinic table island as another (even bigger) storm rolled in. A few lightning strikes were right down in the valley and we were worried the grass field was flooding and our tent would get wet, but as usual it performed remarkably well. After the monsoon subsided we made our way to the campsite restaurant a perfect place to watch the Russia, Spain match in which Spain truely dominated.
In the morning we took the Sightseer bus to the Alpenzoo. It was pretty cool. There are a lot more Alpine animals than we thought, also now we know there are poisonous snakes etc. as well, before we were just enjoying a certain blissful ignorance. They even had brown (grizzly) bears. I think a lot of the animals there no longer exist in nature in the Alps due to hunting and climate change etc. After the zoo we took a tram to the Nordkettenbahn and took the cable car all the way to the top. It was really cold up there so we only spent a little time scrambling around looking at awesome views of the city and surrounding mountains. We took the tram into the city and caught a bus to Ambras Castle. Unfortunately we only around 40min until it closed, but lucky for us an english tour was starting when we arrived, so we mingled in and saw everything at lightning speed (much easier when someone is explaining everything). In the evening we enjoyed some truely Austrian Schnapps with dinner before heading out for our first taste of Innsbruck's nightlife. It was pretty good. We came across an outdoor concert at a Fan Zone first. The guy seemed popular, but was singing in German, so we moved on. We met some South American guys (its funny how difficult it actually is to meet locals) at Jimmy's and later found ourselves at more of a pub. It was just picking up when we had to leave for our last bus at 1:40am. Its cool here how you don't have to show up at a place by 9:30pm just to get in while its still empty and they hold everyone in a line outside to look busy.
This morning was beautiful in Innsbruck. All the rain last night and the night before took away the haze and there were no clouds, so it was just beautiful and clear. Too bad we were moving on. We spent 5hrs on the train to Vienna. We arrived and for a nice change (we've been camping a lot and the campsites are always on the outskirts) we were able to walk to our hostel. We ditched our stuff and found dinner, and a lot of it. We had the most ginormous schnitzels. We decided to see if the night market had kicked off yet, but we were too early so we just kept walking. We discovered some open air concerts and beautiful views of the architecture in the twilight. We saw that the philharmonic orchestra is playing tomorrow at 11am and we're going to try to get in after seeing the Boys Choir. Ten minutes left... perfect. There is a bar in this hostel and it is so unbelievable rowdy at the moment. I think its another Contiki Tour. I hope the guy who just got carried outside is ok :S
Well that's it for now.
Ciao (they actually use that a lot here)
Swarovski's Crystal world was kind of a let down. There were only two giant crystals, the rest were kinda touristy "art" exhibits displayed there that made some use of the crystals. The store at the end was just as much of a show. We went back to the campsite in the evening to make some dinner and watch the football match. We got stuck for a while on our little covered pinic table island as another (even bigger) storm rolled in. A few lightning strikes were right down in the valley and we were worried the grass field was flooding and our tent would get wet, but as usual it performed remarkably well. After the monsoon subsided we made our way to the campsite restaurant a perfect place to watch the Russia, Spain match in which Spain truely dominated.
In the morning we took the Sightseer bus to the Alpenzoo. It was pretty cool. There are a lot more Alpine animals than we thought, also now we know there are poisonous snakes etc. as well, before we were just enjoying a certain blissful ignorance. They even had brown (grizzly) bears. I think a lot of the animals there no longer exist in nature in the Alps due to hunting and climate change etc. After the zoo we took a tram to the Nordkettenbahn and took the cable car all the way to the top. It was really cold up there so we only spent a little time scrambling around looking at awesome views of the city and surrounding mountains. We took the tram into the city and caught a bus to Ambras Castle. Unfortunately we only around 40min until it closed, but lucky for us an english tour was starting when we arrived, so we mingled in and saw everything at lightning speed (much easier when someone is explaining everything). In the evening we enjoyed some truely Austrian Schnapps with dinner before heading out for our first taste of Innsbruck's nightlife. It was pretty good. We came across an outdoor concert at a Fan Zone first. The guy seemed popular, but was singing in German, so we moved on. We met some South American guys (its funny how difficult it actually is to meet locals) at Jimmy's and later found ourselves at more of a pub. It was just picking up when we had to leave for our last bus at 1:40am. Its cool here how you don't have to show up at a place by 9:30pm just to get in while its still empty and they hold everyone in a line outside to look busy.
This morning was beautiful in Innsbruck. All the rain last night and the night before took away the haze and there were no clouds, so it was just beautiful and clear. Too bad we were moving on. We spent 5hrs on the train to Vienna. We arrived and for a nice change (we've been camping a lot and the campsites are always on the outskirts) we were able to walk to our hostel. We ditched our stuff and found dinner, and a lot of it. We had the most ginormous schnitzels. We decided to see if the night market had kicked off yet, but we were too early so we just kept walking. We discovered some open air concerts and beautiful views of the architecture in the twilight. We saw that the philharmonic orchestra is playing tomorrow at 11am and we're going to try to get in after seeing the Boys Choir. Ten minutes left... perfect. There is a bar in this hostel and it is so unbelievable rowdy at the moment. I think its another Contiki Tour. I hope the guy who just got carried outside is ok :S
Well that's it for now.
Ciao (they actually use that a lot here)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
In Austria now (with my people)
Hey Guys! Since the last post we finished up our stay in Northern Italy and now we're in Austria. The Dolomites were fantastic. We had a couple more days of climbing in Cinque Torri and we found this other area on the map as well. The rock is much steeper, but has lots of big holds, so we were able to climb even in the rain. Our last day there we went to Mt. Lagazuoi. It played a role in WWI and has now been turned into an open air museum. The Austrians had dug themselves into the mountain to hold the surrounding valleys etc. The Italians were able to sneak in below them and essentially blow away half the mountain to take it. The place was full of impressive tunnels and rooms dug right out of the mountain. It was very interesting exploring. While having lunch after David left our tent at Passo Falzerego and we slept in the car that night. We were able to pick up the tent (someone turned it into the cafe there) in the morning and brought the rental car back and got on a train to Innsbruck. There was a fellow on the train from Nigeria who got turned around by the ploice on his way to Germany because he didn't have a Visa, even though he had a German wife.
Innsbruck has turned out to be a lot more than we thought. We expected to stop by for some hiking and outdoor experiences, but there is a ton of history here as well. Yesterday we saw the Golden Roof built by Maximilian I, and learned all about him at the museum. Afterwards we wandered through the Imperial Gardens and played chess on one of those enormous chess boards that you have to walk around. We went to the lake after because it was soooooo hot. We stopped for a delicious Thai dinner and then intended to watch the football game at another Fan Zone. Little did we know mother nature had a different plan. The sky opened up during dinner, and even getting back to the campsite was trecherous. There was ginormous rain drops, hail, lightning etc. It cleared up so we thought to walk 1km rather than wait 20min for the second bus, but it didn't stay clear for long... we got drenched. Luckily we have a good tent and our stuff stayed dry.
Today we're off to Swarovski's Crystal World and some other sites.
I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been replying to the posts. I love hearing back from you guys even if I don't have time to respond to them. Thanks for taking care of my dad on Father's day Fallon and let me know as soon as you have any news on Lacey's baby (wish her the best from us). Also congrats on on the wedding stuff.
I should head out now.
Avedazein
Innsbruck has turned out to be a lot more than we thought. We expected to stop by for some hiking and outdoor experiences, but there is a ton of history here as well. Yesterday we saw the Golden Roof built by Maximilian I, and learned all about him at the museum. Afterwards we wandered through the Imperial Gardens and played chess on one of those enormous chess boards that you have to walk around. We went to the lake after because it was soooooo hot. We stopped for a delicious Thai dinner and then intended to watch the football game at another Fan Zone. Little did we know mother nature had a different plan. The sky opened up during dinner, and even getting back to the campsite was trecherous. There was ginormous rain drops, hail, lightning etc. It cleared up so we thought to walk 1km rather than wait 20min for the second bus, but it didn't stay clear for long... we got drenched. Luckily we have a good tent and our stuff stayed dry.
Today we're off to Swarovski's Crystal World and some other sites.
I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been replying to the posts. I love hearing back from you guys even if I don't have time to respond to them. Thanks for taking care of my dad on Father's day Fallon and let me know as soon as you have any news on Lacey's baby (wish her the best from us). Also congrats on on the wedding stuff.
I should head out now.
Avedazein
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Switzerland and Italy - Coles Notes Style
I actually have a whole half an hour to produce this post, but much has happened since the last one; I'll try to squish it all in.
After leaving Geneva we took the train to Interlaken. The first night we stayed in the Funny Farm hostel. It was interesting, had everything all in one. That night we went to the club downstairs and watched a Canadian musician sing and play along with this Brazilian hand drummer (Pepe), it was quite good. The place was packed with football fans and Swiss army men. The next day was a hunt for a campsite and stove gas. We were successful in the former, that was after getting caught up in a parade of Dutch parade 2500 people strong. We went climbing for the first time on the trip as well. The style is totally different, I found it difficult then, but after a few days here in Cinque Torri, it is getting easier. We met a Swiss fellow by the name of Patrick at the crag as well and after some more shenanigans the next day we caught up with him. He bought all the ingrediants and fed us a real swiss fondue for dinner and let us crash at his place (this included laundry, showers and internet). After the night at Patrick's we took a train to Luzern.
Luzern was an interesting mideval style town. The funniest thing was happening when we arrived though. We walked out of the train station right into at least 500 people in wet suits carrying pool toys. I heard some english and asked what they were up to. Apparently they were floating 25km down the river, because this was the one day a year when they were allowed to. What more reason would you need? It began with them all gathering on a bridge and at the stroke of 11am they all jumped in. After witnessing this we checked out some of the other sites and hoped on a train to Lugano. We only spent one night in Lugano (a mediterranean stlye town in the south of Switzerland) before catching the train to Venice.
Vencie was incredible. I think it was what finally made me realize we're half way around the world (I think I was still in shock in Paris). It was so different, and I loved just meandering down the streets, with a gelato trying to figure out a way across each of the canals. The first night we just wandered eventually finding ourselves in St. Mark's square, which we would see in more detail the next day. We also picked up tickets to see Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" performed in a church with amazing acoustics the following night. That night we went to the "bar" at our "campsite". It was actully quite happening. They must base there business soley on the Contiki groups dominating the place. The following day was a full day in Venice. We saw St. Mark's basilica and the doge's (duke's) palace. The palace was unbelievable. Understandably so David's favourite part was the Golden Staircase. I can't comprehend the time and effort that used to go into creating such magnificent works of art. That afternoon we went to Murano and were fortunate to see a glass blowing/shaping demostration. It was incredible the things these men could create with such accuracy and relatively quickly. Unfortunately the vaporetto there was relatively expensive and we had not enough Euros left to purchase something. That night was the concert. Although not mindblowing it was still very impressive and I could think of no better place to enjoy it. The following morning we booked a rental car we would pick up in Bolzano a few hours later.
Bolzano looked cool, but wasn't our destination. We picked up the car and drove to Cortina, the closest place to the Cinque Torri in the Dolomites. It's an interesting limestone climbing area right in the Alps and we've had the chance to do some amazing hiking here yesterday too. I experienced my first Via Ferrata :D Yesterday we did some exploring and wound up scaling several peaks. Unfortunately we were chased away by a storm about 20m away from the last one, but it was still a day full of accomplishments. We're here till Tuesday, then its on to Innsbruck, Austria.
Bye for now,
Jenn
After leaving Geneva we took the train to Interlaken. The first night we stayed in the Funny Farm hostel. It was interesting, had everything all in one. That night we went to the club downstairs and watched a Canadian musician sing and play along with this Brazilian hand drummer (Pepe), it was quite good. The place was packed with football fans and Swiss army men. The next day was a hunt for a campsite and stove gas. We were successful in the former, that was after getting caught up in a parade of Dutch parade 2500 people strong. We went climbing for the first time on the trip as well. The style is totally different, I found it difficult then, but after a few days here in Cinque Torri, it is getting easier. We met a Swiss fellow by the name of Patrick at the crag as well and after some more shenanigans the next day we caught up with him. He bought all the ingrediants and fed us a real swiss fondue for dinner and let us crash at his place (this included laundry, showers and internet). After the night at Patrick's we took a train to Luzern.
Luzern was an interesting mideval style town. The funniest thing was happening when we arrived though. We walked out of the train station right into at least 500 people in wet suits carrying pool toys. I heard some english and asked what they were up to. Apparently they were floating 25km down the river, because this was the one day a year when they were allowed to. What more reason would you need? It began with them all gathering on a bridge and at the stroke of 11am they all jumped in. After witnessing this we checked out some of the other sites and hoped on a train to Lugano. We only spent one night in Lugano (a mediterranean stlye town in the south of Switzerland) before catching the train to Venice.
Vencie was incredible. I think it was what finally made me realize we're half way around the world (I think I was still in shock in Paris). It was so different, and I loved just meandering down the streets, with a gelato trying to figure out a way across each of the canals. The first night we just wandered eventually finding ourselves in St. Mark's square, which we would see in more detail the next day. We also picked up tickets to see Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" performed in a church with amazing acoustics the following night. That night we went to the "bar" at our "campsite". It was actully quite happening. They must base there business soley on the Contiki groups dominating the place. The following day was a full day in Venice. We saw St. Mark's basilica and the doge's (duke's) palace. The palace was unbelievable. Understandably so David's favourite part was the Golden Staircase. I can't comprehend the time and effort that used to go into creating such magnificent works of art. That afternoon we went to Murano and were fortunate to see a glass blowing/shaping demostration. It was incredible the things these men could create with such accuracy and relatively quickly. Unfortunately the vaporetto there was relatively expensive and we had not enough Euros left to purchase something. That night was the concert. Although not mindblowing it was still very impressive and I could think of no better place to enjoy it. The following morning we booked a rental car we would pick up in Bolzano a few hours later.
Bolzano looked cool, but wasn't our destination. We picked up the car and drove to Cortina, the closest place to the Cinque Torri in the Dolomites. It's an interesting limestone climbing area right in the Alps and we've had the chance to do some amazing hiking here yesterday too. I experienced my first Via Ferrata :D Yesterday we did some exploring and wound up scaling several peaks. Unfortunately we were chased away by a storm about 20m away from the last one, but it was still a day full of accomplishments. We're here till Tuesday, then its on to Innsbruck, Austria.
Bye for now,
Jenn
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Long Time, No Post
Sorry its been awhile guys. Since leaving Geneva the internet was really expensive everywhere else in Switzerland. We're in our "campsite" across some water from Venice right now. This is where we spent the last two days. In about half an hour we leave for Cinque Torri (in the Dolomites - a mountain range in northern Italy). I can't post much more as I'm not sure how much time is left on the internet, so I should post this right away, but just so you know we're alive an doing well.
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