Fussen, Germany 7/26 - 7/28

Fussen is a small town in germany located near a few castles. We went on a tour that showed us a church that had mummies. Apparently churches buy holy things from the Vatican and at some point they sold mummies of (illegedly) saintly people. Very creepy.

We then went to neuschwenstein castle which was the basis for the Disney castle. It was built by the mad king Ludwig to be more of a dream than a castle, and was never finished. Nearby was also castle obermagau, where the knights of the swan that used to rule the valley resided in before the state of bavaria came along. He dedicated the castle to Richard Wagner, and wouldnt allow him into the castle until it was finished, and they both died before Richard ever came near it.

Finally we saw Ludwig's mansion, which was incredible. He was so antisocial that he had a dinner table in his quarters that could be raised and lowered from the kitchen so no servants would have to come near him when he wanted to be alone, and he sat across from a mirror for company.

He also had a gigantic artificial cave grotto created near the property that was very cool and he would hold parties and listen to music there.

Salzburg, Austria 7/21 -7/26

So we checked into a hostel that was a loooong hike from the city, and with the amount of stuff we have acquired at this point, not easy, but we were rewarded when to my surprise it was located inside of an old fortress that had an overlook of the entire city.  First day we just did laundry and shopped for food, getting ready for my mom and her friend Diana's arrival the next day, at which time we would join them in some hotels and countries for 18 days in a trip planned by Diana to coincide with our country itinerary.

Next day they arrived and we met them at the lobby of hotel sacher, a pretty amazing hotel, and my mom was extremely happy to see that we were still alive and not taken hostage.

We all went on a driving/walking tour the next day that took us through the history of Salzburg and Mozart, who was born here, and gave us some of the history of the town including the famous Salzburg red limestone, Mozart's house, red bulls headquarters, and the sound of music(which was filmed here).

The amount of sound of music tour buses was ridiculous BTW. It's a huge attraction apparently. Also, apparently Mozart was very short and ugly. :)

The next day we were taken on a drive of the alps and Salzburgs mountain lakes on our way to the largest ice cave in the world. They were amazing. It was a 20 minute hike up steep mountain trail, through a cave, up a gondola, 20 more minutes of hiking, and we were at the tunnel mouth that was blocked by a door. Some of us were given old gas lanterns, a tour guide grabbed about 40 of us, and the door was opened and cold air came rushing out so hard it almost knocked everyone over.

We were ushered in and the door (which preserves the tunnels temperature of below freezing, since outside was above 50) was shut, and our lanterns lit.  Pictures weren't allowed, so naturally I took a lot of them, but none of them came out anyways as it was dimly lit and my camera sucks in that situation.  We went up and down 700 stairs while the guide explained the different formations. Very awesome.

On our last day as we got in a car to take us to Fussen, our next destination, we made a pitstop at the eagles nest, Hitler's old home that was gifted to him by the Austrians(although he didn't like it). The view was spectacular.

Munich, Germany 7/16 - 7/21

Initially we stayed in a hostel that was...pretty dirty and poorly managed, as well as 30 minutes out of the city. My bad on this one. The farmlands we were around were very pretty but we ended up bailing and checking into a hotel in the nearby town of germering which was pretty damn awesome and had a pool and sauna we used before heading on to the next destination.

I discovered my new favorite beer here of course (weissbeer). The best thing about the hostel was a dog that looked like a bear and is probably one of the cuter ones I've seen in my life.

We went and saw the royal palace and gardens of munich which were pretty impressive. Other than that we hung around the hostel and hotel and rested and drank beer at some beer gardens.

Lucerne, Switzerland 7/10 - 7/16

Since I'm writing this blog a few days before the trip is over I can say with firmness that Lucerne was the most beautiful of all of our destinations. A small city next to a lake, surrounded by the alps. Every angle seemed like a postcard. Including on the train ride over.

It came at a price, however. Because of a lot of factors such as high minimum wage, being landlocked, and not being part of the European union's schengen zone, prices are astronomical here.  We stayed in a very average hostel that was the most expensive place we stayed in all trip(aside from hotels of course), and the average sit down meal was 20usd per person. A big Mac meal, for instance, was the equivalent in swiss franks of 9.80usd. We didn't eat out once, but we're used to cooking now anyways.

We were informed of a free boat ride for visitors and took advantage and it turned out to be a 4 hour lake cruise visiting different towns that was unexpectedly awesome. We also took a peddle boat out onto the lake for a little while as well as hiked the ancient towers and walls that are part of the city.

Naturally there were swiss army knives in almost every store. To which I say: Get over yourselves swiss people. We get it.

Milan, Italy 7/7 - 7/10

We only had 3 days here so not as much as usual and it was a very nice rest in a private room in a hotel that boasts 2.5/5 stars proudly on its door hahahaha. Was very nice though, and had a pet turtle on the premises that we named tartaruga.

We had fast food for the first time all trip at a place called chicken choice, and visited the golden triangle, which is the fashion district of Milan which is a fashion capital. It'd actually called the quadrilateral d'oro locally because its a square of 4 streets and apparently whoever named it the golden triangle was retarded and couldn't count.

The cathedral was also gigantic and very pretty. Also the train station was gigantic and pretty ornate. That's about it for Milan. It was a pretty modern city and fairly similar to home.

Train Mishap

This occurred between Rome and florence:

So we woke up slightly late on the morning of our train ride to Florence. No big deal, the bus stop was close, and we had alotted extra time anyways. Then we booked it to where we thought was a bus station. Turns out it was a train station(same cost though), so we had to wait there for a train to our main train station. Now THAT train was running 10 minutes late. So we get to the main Roman train station 5 minutes before our train to Florence departs and scramble around to find our train to no avail. Must have already left while we looked and I wasn't too adept at navigating the stations until after this experience.

So now we're wandering around the front area of the terminal looking for some representative of the train line, and some girl walks up, asks if we need help. We say yes, she takes us to a uniformed girl who runs us to the departure board and then to a platform, saying if we wait there for 10 minutes a new train will come that we can get on.  We say thanks, and she then asks for money.

Instantly I realize there is probably no train we can get on. This girl is a scammer who would have helped us if our train existed, but since it was gone she was lying and trying to get off with some money. We said no, we don't have any money, but she insisted we go to the ATM and withdraw some then since she had helped us. We said no again, and she rolled her eyes, obviously very upset, and left. Hahahaha.  We didn't expect scammers like that in train stations but lesson learned and she got nothing from us but 5 minutes.

SO. Not over yet.  I go to the front to a representative of train and I order a new ticket (i also tried to say the scammer was the reason for our being late but the rep. literally said 'when in rome' haha. O well. Worth a shot)for a train coming up in 3 hours, compare it to a departure board, figure out what platform, and we sleep and wait. An hour before it should arrive I'm checking boards and our train doesn't seem to exist. The number is slightly off from what is displayed.  A train arrives, going to our destination, but it has a different number than our ticket AND the number on the departure boards. Kill me.  So after running around for a few minutes we just say 'screw it', and get on.  Guy who checked our tickets while we were en route didn't like it, but thankfully he just let us stay with no problem even though it must have seemed like we were just sneaking on the train, and we got off in Florence. Finally. 4 hours after we should have. Since then we get to train stations so early and I'm very good at reading the boards as well.

So now I check the original ticket on Google when I get back on WiFi and the ticket I was sold was to a train number that was discontinued. So I've disputed that shit on my card and I don't expect much resistance but that's nonsense and I have the ticket as proof so good luck train-line-that-shall-not-be-named.

Venice, Italy 7/2 - 7/7

On the way to Venice we passed back through Florence at 9:30pm wndbhad to wait until 1:40am which was fine, hazards of budget travel, except for how they turned the station lights off between trains which was quite scary and seemed dangerous, so we waited in the tlwell-lit tunnels below and got eaten alive by bugs while playing cards. Then got on a 4 hour ride to Venice in a cramped cabin with 4 other guys that got delayed am extra 80 minutes and had no a/c. Sucked.  On to a 30 minute trek to our camping village. We were absolutely dead when we arrived at 10am.

Here we stayed in a camping village on the outskirts of Venice on the mainland (10min away from Venice via camp provided shuttle bus). Same company as Rome and florence, and just as nice as the one in Rome. Weather was very hot though, and we and other backpackers referred to our house tents lovingly as 'sweat boxes'. Basically being in them after 9am and before 11pm was absolute hell, which forced us to get up earlier than usual. We also utilized the pool wayyy more, one day we were there from 10am-8pm. I had tweaked my back the night before and it felt awesome to just rest a day going from pool to whirlpool over and over with intermittent meals from the camp restaurant.

Venice itself was very cool. So different to be in a place with no roads and no grass or trees. Just the canals. The street sellers that try to hand you roses so they can charge you after you take it were easily ignored, and all of the glass shops had awesome items for sale.

Just wandering around we walked across the entire city twice in a day, trying to take alleys and stay off the tourist packed areas when possible. No mosquitos here somehow, even though they swarm the camping village.

In the Marc plaza, street sellers sell pidgeon food and put it in your hand and pidgeons jump all over ur arms. Looked fun, but don't birds carry some diseases? I avoided that.

Animal of note:

Name: Kebab - pidgeon with a limp that we couldn't resist giving some of our leftover scraps that were going to go in the trash after eating some kebabs that we are now addicted to.

La Spezia, Italy 6/26 - 7/1

Here we thought we were staying in a private room in a small hostel. Turned out to be a apartment with 3 bedrooms and a landlord. We had a huge room to ourselves with a shared kitchen/bathroom. Was very very very nice, especially since we were paying so little.

La spezia is a hub fishing city that has a train network connecting to the Cinque Terre(5 Towns.) Cinque Terre is 5 small coastal towns that are very beautiful and connected by a train or hiking paths. Of the 5 we went to Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggoire.

While the coastal hiking paths were closed due to avalanches, the towns themselves were so beautiful, and we spent a day swimming in a secluded bay near corniglia after climbing to the city earlier via 365 steps. (Supposedly its 365 steps, one for each day, but I counted 379. Just sayin')

La Spezia itself is also very pretty and the people here have been the nicest of any place so far. So extremely polite to us the entire time. It was also the place with more dogs than we have ever seen(with owners this time, unlike Athens).

This is the first time I've ever done my laundry by hand and hung it on clotheslines, which I prefer so much more over laundromats because A. It's cheaper, and B. It takes way less time than standing around for 2 hours waiting for laundry to wash and dry. 10 minutes to wash and hang, then lesve it alone until u collect it the next day.

The Special Olympics were also in town but we only saw them one day parading and playing music in the market square and then never again.

Animal of note:

Name:chongo - cat we found and let in corniglia, was just chilling on a porch and looked like he had recently been in a cat fight. His wounds didn't seem very bad, I'd hate to see the other guy.