Adventures in the Swiss Alps!

When we got to the hostel in Lucerne Monday night we were exhausted from traveling for basically two days straight. So we ran in the rain to get food from a gas station, cooked the food, ate the food, and slept. It wasn't much of an exciting day. Although the hostel we stayed in was meant for Korean travelers, so that was interesting. Tuesday we woke up early with the intent of wandering around town, but we heard about a deal that involved taking a boat ride across Lake Lucerne, riding the world's steepest cogwheel railway up to the top of Mount Pilatus, then riding back down in a cable car. We obviously did that instead! The whole trip was gorgeous, except the top of the mountain was covered in snow and clouds, so we couldn't see anything but white at the summit. At least we could see awesome views from the lower stops though! There were people from all around the world at the top of the mountain, and we suspect that some of them (if not most) had never seen snow before. There was basically one massive snowball fight on the roof of the building. 

After riding back down to the valley, we walked around Lucerne for a few minutes. The town isn't very big, but the bridges over and houses lining the river running through town are very picturesque. It would be a nice place to retire. 

Then we took a scenic railway ride through the Alps to get from Lucerne to Interlaken. We arrived to find a place so idyllic it almost looks fake. We are rooming with a Canadian couple, a guy from the UK, and an unnamed man from an unnamed country who speaks an unknown language. We lounged around the hostel last night and prepared for two days of adventures! We decided that while we were here we most definitely would not go canyoning since it looked too risky and would probably paraglide instead.

So of course we woke up this morning and went canyoning. We walked up to the outdoor adventure company's desk at 9 am and asked what adventurous thing we should do. One man said canyoning leaves right now so we should do that. We threw all inhibitions to the wind and even though we had no bathing suit, no towel, and were pretty sure we were going to die, we joined the group to go canyoning. It was the best decision we've made so far on this trip. 

First, the group of about 9 of us drove an hour out of town and up a mountain to reach the pass we would adventure through. The van stopped in the middle of the road next to a 150 ft cliff, and we were told this is where we would start. There were two canyoning guides and one photographer on the trip, all of whom are part of the adrenaline junkie cult that makes up Interlaken. So anyway while one of the guides held our rope, we each repelled backwards down the 150 foot cliff into a gorge in the Swiss Alps called Grimsel Pass. For the next hour and 45 minutes we did all sorts of crazy things to reach the end of the pass. We walked through rocky streams, climbed over large rocks, jumped off of cliffs into waterfalls, slid down natural waterslides, and zip-lined twice (once through a rock tunnel and once over a small deep lake). After the last zip-line we took turns attempting to backflip into the water--both of us hit the water face first. Keep in mind it was about 50 degrees this morning, so the water was freezing even with wetsuits. We were actually up in the snowy parts of the mountain. Changing back into real clothes at the end of the trip was glorious--as were the free beer and sandwiches.

We will have to make a separate post for these pictures, since they will be emailed to us within the next couple days.

When we got back to the hostel, we knew we wanted to do something else crazy today, so we booked a paragliding trip. We took a quick nap and bought dinner, which consisted of tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, brie cheese, and tasteless crackers. We miss Danny the chef today. After a break of a few hours, we got back in a van to the top of another mountain. There we paired up with our pilots and strapped on another harness. Then we literally ran off a cliff. We started flying of course, but we both can't get over the fact that we ran off a cliff today. The flight itself was about 20 minutes and was in the middle of the Jungfrau mountain range. We could see the whole city of Interlaken and the two lakes that surround it. For parts of the flight we just sort of flew around, but for other parts we did flips and turns. Colleen even got to steer for part of her flight! We agree that it was so much cooler than the parasailing we did 3 years ago in Cali--no offense. We definitely did not just sit and enjoy the scenery--we actually flew! At the end of the flight we landed in a meadow in the middle of Interlaken, finally feeling satisfied with the amount of adrenaline we had pumped through our bodies today. Now we are exhausted and will probably fall asleep within an hour. Tomorrow we're planning on hiking, which compared to today will probably seem boring!

Don't trust a man named Maurizio

Well, Venice was a bust. But we did see the canal, which was nice.

Upon our arrival, we figured out how to take a bus to the general vicinity of our campground. It turns out that the advertised bike ride from the site was 10 minutes to the bus stop, not to the city. So we walked for about 30 minutes from the bus. We also saw a man walking a cow as if this were totally normal on a busy street.

We were greeted by three older women smoking cigarettes and a plump, shirtless man who appeared to be sunbathing. This greeting consisted of them bossing us around and telling us to wait 3 hours for Maurizio, our supposed host, to come back. They showed us the bathroom, which consisted of a curtain and a toilet. The provided sleeping bag was actually a very dirty quilt, and we are convinced that the tent was non-existant. They also asked for our passport numbers and other personal information, and became agitated when we refused to write this down and told them we were leaving instead. So we walked back to the bus stop with absolutely no idea where the day would take us.

At the bus stop, the first bus blew right past us. So we waited for another 15 minutes while laughing at how unfortunate we have been on this trip.

Once we made it back to the train station, we decided to take an overnight train to Munich since we had nowhere to sleep anyway. We slept on little bunk beds in a compartment of six. At the German train station, Rachel got her first bratwurst for a light breakfast. 

We had 14 minutes of free internet access, so we decided to book a hostel in Lucerne, Switzerland. Luckily our Eurail pass allows us to jump on any train we like, so we got one to take us there right away.

We are now staying in a Japanese hostel in Lucerne for the night, and moving on to Interlaken tomorrow!

Bread on Bread on Bread

We arrived in Florence Thursday afternoon, and took a bus through the countryside to the farm where we had a reservation. The scenery was mesmerizing, and got better and better as we drove on. The farm was like something from a movie! The building was based around the Church of San Michele built in 1160 AD, and the part that we stayed in was a refurbished convent. 55 acres of olive trees and wildflowers surrounded us as far as we could see.

When we got out of the car, we met four Aussies who were also staying there. Rachel did not make the greatest first impression as she quickly found out that if a boomerang is thrown straight, it does not come back and instead lands somewhere in tall grass where it can never be found again.

Anyway, the Aussies were really friendly! There was a young couple staying there, along with Danny (who was a few years older than us) and his dad. Danny had visited last year as a tourist and ended up working for the family and picking olives, so he decided to come back and help out this year with his dad. They were both chefs, so we were very pleased to find ourselves in this situation. Danny even took us on a walking tour of the property, which involved getting lost a few times and climbing over wild boar mud holes and through thorn bushes, but we survived and appreciated the adventure.

There was also another American staying at the house. Gretchen, a 60 year old with a very odd fashion sense, joined the rest of us for dinner. Any description we try to add will not do her justice, but she did inform us that night about when her water broke and she proceeded to drive herself to work while in labor and deal with customers while having contractions. She also asked us if there are any vegetables that are not vegetarian, and explained that she wishes a device existed to keep gelato cold so that you could transport it from place to place. During this conversation, she was wearing a Titanic shirt with British flag leggings and Converse sneakers made to look like the American flag.

We would also like to add that Gretchen was born in Ann Arbor.

Friday we woke up early and went into Florence to explore the city. After seeing the lines and the prices, we decided that the art museums were not worth it to us. (Our apologies to everyone who told us we had to go to these, but we have had our fill of art for a while.) Instead, we wandered around for the entire morning and took pictures of all of the beautiful churches. We even accidentally ended up in Mass at one point...oops.

For lunch, we had been tipped off about a sandwich shop in the middle of the city. Apparently it is very well-known and tourists flock there. The funny part is that there are two identical shops directly across the street from each other, but only one is advertised in tourist books. So the advertised one had an insane line, and the one across from it (where they literally carried the bread over from) was practically empty. We ended up getting the same sandwiches, which were the best we had ever had, without waiting in line!

We continued to wander through Florence and made our way up to Piazza del Michelangelo for a really nice view before heading back to the countryside. Upon returning, we ate another dinner with the others on the picnic table next to the hammock outside our door. Gretchen was dressed in head to toe leopard print this night.

On Saturday, we got to sleep in and spent the day with Danny so that he could give us cooking lessons. In the afternoon we made bread from scratch, which we had as a snack before our pasta for lunch. Gretchen popped in for a little while after announcing that she was very hungry, so she also ate some of the bread and pasta. Her outfit consisted of: a tie-dye shirt, bright red leggings, bright yellow socks with smiley faces on them pulled up high, and red/orange/yellow shoes. She wanted to contribute to the food, so she brought pasta sauce that had about 57 jalapeños in it. Unfortunately, nobody could stomach this (Colleen at least had the excuse that there was sausage in it) so Danny ended up having to bury it outside. For dinner, we made gnocchi from scratch and used the extra bread dough for a veggie pizza. Everything was delicious and we had a lot of fun learning how to make it all! We also got to try a few different kinds of local Chianti wine and prosecco with peaches. The night ended with some stargazing out in a clearing with Danny and his dad, who were very amused with all of the fireflies...apparently those don't exist in Australia.

Today we woke up early again to go into Florence so that we could catch our train to Venice. Neither of us is impressed with the communication of our next host, so we are considering being spontaneous and ending up somewhere unplanned for tonight and/or tomorrow night before we head to Interlaken, Switzerland on Tuesday. We will keep you posted!

How to See the Vatican on a Budget

After getting minimal sleep Tuesday night, we woke up early again Wednesday morning to head to the Vatican. First we tackled the Vatican Museums twice--sort of. We walked through half of the galleries without an audio guide then realized we had no idea what we were looking at, so we went back and bought one. 

Budget Tip 1: Student discounts. Always ask for student discounts. 

Budget Tip 2: Buy a single audio guide. Have one person listen to it and recite the tour to the second person. Warning: most names and places will be lost in translation, but the general idea will get across. Also be prepared to be laughed at by many spectators as you search for quiet corners and have one person operating two camera phones. 

The museum(s?) were very confusing, but had some beautiful art and artifacts nonetheless. It is not like a regular museum with exhibits and one clear path, but is rather like a maze with art lining the passageways. Especially contemporary art--55 rooms to be exact. We cannot express how sick of modern art we are at this stage in the trip. The maze ends at the Sistine Chapel, which would have been breathtaking if the guards didn't have to yell every thirty seconds at people not to take photos and to be quiet. Also it would have helped to have better lighting. Still--it was impressive--just not how we pictured it. 

Budget Tip 3: Find free public water fountains. They're just as clean as bottled water.

Next we walked through a minefield of street vendors along the Vatican Wall to reach St. Peter's Square. Rachel may have snapped at one of them that got too close; Colleen likely would have done the same if we hadn't reached the square shortly after. The square was covered in empty chairs from the papal address that morning, but we still got to see the obelisk in the center and the surrounding buildings. We got in line for the Basilica at around 1:45 (prime time for tourism apparently) and left 30 seconds later when our claustrophobia set in and we realized the line would take at least 3 hours to get to the doors. However, we walked in the direction of the doors and somehow ended up at the front of the line and were inside within half an hour. Alert: something lucky happened to us!! 

St. Peter's Basilica made the trip to the Vatican worthwhile. It dwarfs all other cathedrals we have seen, including the one in Washington DC. We arrived just as a service was about to start, so we didn't get to touch St. Peter's foot or get a super close look at the altar, but we got to hear some amazing music! The tombs of past popes lined the basilica walls, as did some of the most beautiful chapels we have ever seen. 

After walking around inside the Basilica, we made the 551 step climb to the top of the cupola to find the most breathtaking view of Rome--like the ones you see on postcards. About 2/3 of the way up we took a break and watched part of Mass with an aerial view. It seemed really nice, even though we had no idea what was going on because of course it was in Latin.

After a long day of sightseeing, we finally ate. 

Budget Tip 4: Fasting. We spent the day in one of the holiest places in the world--it's only fitting to not eat all day--right..? 

Since we still had a few hours left in our day, yet were too exhausted to explore anything else, we decided to head back to our BnB and watch Angels and Demons. It was only fitting!

Our next stop is Florence, where we will be staying on a medieval olive oil farm!

When in Rome

We arrived in Rome on Monday at 2:15 pm. We tested our luck by trying to find our lodging once we got off the train, so of course the supposed 5 minute walk from the metro station took us 2 hours. Google maps works really well in Europe (not). Thankfully, our new hosts Marianna and Luca were absolutely amazing! Our room felt like home (though a little hotter than Detroit), and they gave us a full breakfast every morning for free. Anyway after we cooled down a bit from our latest adventure we headed to the center of Rome. We waited until the city was dark then saw the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Both were beautiful and lit to perfection, but were too packed with tourists and street vendors for our liking. We were approached countless times by foreign men trying to take our picture or sell us roses, umbrellas, or those stupid mouth kazoos that we hated so much in Barcelona. At least both spots were great photo ops and the weather had cooled down a bit. 

We reserved our first full day for general sightseeing, and we woke up at 7:30 to get a jump on the day. We got to the Coliseum right when it opened at 9 am to avoid the lines. It was very impressive and made us want to watch Gladiator, but we didn't spend much time here. We spent the next few hours exploring Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, the sites of the largest and most famous ancient Roman ruins. From living quarters to stadiums to government buildings, we saw examples (or at least what is left) of architecture from the greatest empire in history. 

From there we moved onto the Pantheon, stopping at the modern day Roman capitol building along the way. The Pantheon, tall as it is, pops out of nowhere since it is hidden by other buildings. The view from the front was spectacular, as was the walk through the portico. The basilica inside wasn't really anything special, but of course the dome and oculus were a wonder. The only thing we can figure is that the Romans were really lucky and good at math. 

Next we saw Piazza Navona and Piazza del Popolo. Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona is probably our favorite statue yet (and not just because it's in Angels and Demons). We considered seeing more after these famous squares, but realized we could not possibly walk any further in the heat. So we gave up and went back to the apartment to nap. That night we ate homemade pasta at a nearby restaurant and tried homemade tiramisu! We were disappointed by the gelato selection in Rome, but the tiramisu and cannolis definitely made up for it. We hear the gelato is great in Florence though so look out for additions to our flavor checklist--and waistlines. 

Nice and Cinque Terre

After our 21 hour trip to Nice from Barcelona (see previous angry post) we were absolutely exhausted. We thought our luck turned around when we got a private room at the hostel in Nice, but naturally we were woken up by the cleaning lady and kicked out early the next morning. Nice was not our favorite town in the world--the culture is not as rich and unique as Paris, and the beaches are mediocre. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our nap on the beach! Friday night our hostel and the one next door hosted a combined pasta dinner (boxed wine included) for 2 euros. It was a blast! We met people from all over the US and England. We had planned on going to bed early and leaving for Milan the next morning, but we got talking with two sisters from DC, Kelsey and Jessica, and we all decided to take an impromptu trip to Cinque Terre, Italy. This was actually perfect for us because it is on the way to Rome. 

So we left early the next morning on a train to Ventimiglia then La Spezia (the railway strike ended in France!!!). Once we reached La Spezia, the directions on our phone said it was a 20 minute walk to the hostel so we started trekking across the city. Half an hour later in the middle of a very large hill (let us say again that we should have invested in bigger backpacks and ditched the rolling suitcases) we were told by a woman to wait at a bus stop nearby. Good thing we did. It turns out our hostel was pretty much at the top of a mountain overlooking the entire city of La Spezia, and it would've taken at least 2 hours to walk there. 

The hostel itself needed some fixing up to say the least. The lights randomly turned off in the bathroom (convenient if you were taking a shower), the wifi worked about 30% of the time, and we hope people just spilled a lot of food on our mattresses and sheets. But the people that worked there were very nice, they ran a free shuttle to and from the first town of Cinque Terre, and this really is one of the most beautiful places we have seen. 

Cinque Terre is made up of five small towns, some with only one Main Street and a harbor, each lined with mountains on either side. You can travel between the towns by train or ferry, but the main attraction here is the hike between the towns. Saturday night we had time to wander through the first town of Riomaggiore and eat the most delicious pasta dinner of our lives and gelato. We also sat near the water for a while and watched a really awesome crab eat another crab and then get attacked. Colleen even made a starfish friend.

The four of us woke up early Sunday morning to start the hike. Unfortunately the hike between Riomaggiore and Corniglia (the third town) was closed, so we did the hike from Corniglia to Vernazza to Monterosso. Corniglia was on top of a hill so we were already tired by the time we reached the half way point, but we were motivated by the prospect of a beautiful beach at the end. The hike was absolutely gorgeous, although it was mostly walking straight up steps then straight back down the whole time. In all the hike took about 3 hours.

Once we reached Monterosso we spent some time on the beach, exploring the rockier parts of the harbor, and then got more gelato. We took the train back to Riomaggiore at night and ate a cheap pizza/pasta dinner and of course more gelato. Between the two of us we have already tried mint chip, lemon, strawberry, raspberry, pistachio, and chocolate gelato. This really is going to be a problem. While eating, we were very excited to find out that Kelsey and Jessica knew how to play euchre, so of course we played two games.

Last night we just hung out at the hostel with people from Utah, Argentina, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Poland. This morning we parted ways from Kelsey and Jessica, who are going to Interlaken, and are now on our way to Rome!!!