Venice, Italy

The train ride to Venice was lengthy and required me to make several stops along the way. I stopped in Bologna for the second night in a row. The train station was clean enough, but I didn’t know the town well enough to explore at 1:30am, so I stayed in the train station and slept on the floor. The first night I was a bit nervous about sleeping on the floor near other homeless people, but they seemed pretty well passed out. Keeping my guard up while I slept I got a few hours of necessary relaxation. At 3:18 am I boarded a train heading to Venice (Venezia).

I snatched a room all to myself. I was excited about being able to fold the seats down and sleep for the ride. But just as the train started to move, one other passenger came into my area. She was a nice girl about my age doing roughly the same thing I was doing. After a bit of nice conversation with her I slept quite soundly for an hour or so. I awoke to her telling me that the train was splitting in two sections, one section going to the main city Venice and another one going to the old city of Venice. Thanking her I jumped off and boarded another section of the train. Unfortunately I had to sit in a crowded room, but they were all nice people, and surprised that I was traveling with only one backpack and for so long. Everyone else had huge suit cases and several other bags.

Arriving in Venice at around 6:00am it was still dark. The streets were bare and quiet. I took advantage of the solitude and grabbed several shots of Venice in the morning light. I wandered along the narrow winding streets, surprised to find travelers like myself sleeping in random areas throughout the city. Some were sleeping on stairways; some were sleeping in the streets in groups. Seeing them gave me confidence about my new practice of sleeping in train stations and on trains.

Venice is confusing. The streets and passageways are set up in no logical manner. Venice was built on 117 islands with 150 canals and 400 bridges. The addresses are meaningless as well, so finding your way through logical street signs and such is nearly impossible. Fortunately there are giant, although confusing, signs pointing toward large squares and attractions.

I spent the majority of my morning confused and looking at a simple map of the area trying to figure out how to arrive at some of the prominent squares. I led myself in circles and even found myself walking down narrow side streets that dead ended at a canal with no way to get across.

Taking pictures along the way drained my battery and I was yet again in search of a stray outlet. I found several in the streets that were inoperable. I finally found a small café that was just opening. Two men were setting up chairs and tables outside for the morning visitors. I ducked inside and asked the older gentleman if he had an outlet. I mainly used motions and pointed to my charger; he took it from me and plugged it in. While it was charging I read my lonely planet guide on Venice several times as well as some of the other cities I would be going to. For his hospitality I decided to buy a chocolate filled croissant and a small macchiato just as a way of saying “thank you.”

Leaving recharged from the coffee I continued touring myself through the winding streets to several of the squares (piazzas) and other historic markers. I wound up in a fish market along the main canal, it was full of people yelling and selling fish. It took me a long time of getting lost and turned around to find the main piazza, the one all of the pictures are taken from. It was magnificent. The beautiful ornate buildings surrounding the plaza were impeccable. There were hundreds of pigeons in the center being fed various things by the tourists. Several Asian couples holding food up had pigeons perching themselves on their arms and shoulders. The gondolas are just cool as you think they are, small boats with men in Venice-specific hats roaming the canals. Occasionally you can hear one of them singing, but it was a rare site to see.

Several people had told me that Venice was dirty and it smelled bad. I did not smell anything, other than the salty sea water, which if you are not used to can smell a bit unpleasant, but all in all I thought Venice was not terribly filth ridden or smelly. However there were some areas that did have a large quantity of trash in them, but they were being swiftly taken care of my city workers with brooms.

Because I was alone and I walk fast, I was pretty much done with Venice by the afternoon. I took a nap on a bench that was facing the water and away from the tourist section. Hot and tired, I decided that I wanted to swim, but the water in and around Venice was a little too heavily used to be anything I would want to swim in. I got out my trusty Lonely Planet guide book and searched for a nearby coastal city that the train went to. I found a town called Trieste, on the border between Italy and Slovenia.

I headed back to the train station and jumped on board a train to Trieste.

Cinque Terre, Italy

Going from a cold and wet environment in the Alps to bright and sunny Mediterranean cities was just what I needed. The train ride from Zermatt to Cinque Terre gave me some time for sleep, but not nearly enough. I arrived very groggy and exhausted from my Swiss adventures. I didn’t really know what to do or where to go, so I just defaulted to the visitors center and started walking.

Cinque Terre is comprised of 5 towns, Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Starting at Monterosso al Mare, I started hiking along the Italian Riviera. A gorgeous, yet strenuous trail that takes you to all five towns. Profuesely sweating I kept hiking up the trail, hoping that my views were worth the strenuous hike. Reaching a viewpoint for Vernazza, I was certain that my efforts had not been in vain. Continuing along the trail I came across a toll booth. The woman inside wanted five Euros for the use of the trail. I was astonished! I can understand the concept for paying to use a nicely maintained trail, but why have it nearly halfway between cities. Not having five Euros on me, she let me through but told me I couldn’t hike to the other cities without getting a pass. I assured her that I would get money out of the ATM and pay the next toll booth.

Arriving in Vernazza, exhausted and drenched with sweat from my hike, I walked around the city marveling at how different Italy was than Switzerland. The buildings were brightly colored and very close together. People had their clothes strung up in the narrow spaces between buildings, children ran around playing games, concrete steps snaked either up or down throughout the city. Flowers, flags, clothes, tourists, and umbrellas dominated the city streets, creating a vibrant energy that helped boost my own after being thoroughly drained in Zermatt.

I found an ATM machine, but unfortunately it wouldn’t work, I tried several others with no success. Guess I wouldn’t be hiking along the trail after all. I headed to the train station and realized that my Eurail pass granted me access to the trains connecting the cities, relieved that I was going to see them all, I hopped on board for one of the next cities.

I don’t remember which town it was I went to next, but I think it was the last one, Riomaggiore. I started exploring the town just like the first, it was very similar to the first and second towns, in that it was on the coast, had brightly colored buildings, and was full of life. Now that I was quite hot from baking in the sun and carrying my pack around all day as I explored the cities, I decided to go for a swim. Not having any place to change into my swimming suit, I decided that the street would do just fine. Taking my plastic bag that I had previously worn as pants in the Alps, I covered my waist and changed into my swimming suit. TA DA! Ready to swim I was.

Securing everything in my backpack, I walked barefoot along some jagged rocks along a small cliff where others were attempting to relax and sunbathe. I set down my bag, and being a little uneasy about leaving it among a crowd of people I timidly started off into the crystal clear water. Having grabbed my goggles I swam around under the water surprised at how many fish I saw. Hundreds of fish all shapes, sizes and colors swam around me and the rocks. Keeping an eye on my pack I swam around to some of the surrounding cliffs, climbed up and got my fill of cliff diving.

After my swim I grabbed my bag and headed out for the next town via train, Manarola. Arriving already in my swimming suit, I figured that I might as well swim there too. Walking down to the rocky area where others were sitting, I once again nestled my backpack and dove in the water. Beginning to trust the international public a bit more I felt a little more comfortable about leaving my bag unwatched.

 

The area where I was now swimming had a lot more people and was one of my most favorites. I swam around big rock formations and jumped off a few of them. I eyed a guy in orange shorts jumping off the highest rock on the site. Battling my inner self whether or not to climb the rock and leap off, after much deliberation I climbed the rock and plunged into the water below. Feeling free and relieved I swam to shore, and grabbed my bag.

 

I decided to jump off the top of this rock... good times

 

This time before going to the next town I decided to try an ATM nearby and was thrilled to once again have a few Euros. I found a reasonably priced restaurant near the water and was greeted by a friendly Italian family who no doubt ran the establishment. Once I choose a seat, the host sat me and my backpack at a table. (Yes, I had lunch with my backpack). Since I was near the sea, I decided it only be fitting to order something from the sea. I settled on Linguini with Clams. This was my first Italian meal and it was fantastic!

Next I headed for the middle town of Corniglia. When I got off the train I did not see the town. It took me a minute to realize that it was much higher than the train stop. I joined the other tourists in climbing the 382 steps up to the town. Exploring the town for a while I stated to take pictures, but before I knew it my battery was dead. I began looking around the town for a plug in. I went into small coffee shops and Gelato shops to find a plug in. I came to what was the opening of an apartment complex, I finally found an outlet hanging from the ceiling just inside the doorway. I snuck up to the building and secured my charger with its adapter to the mysterious hanging outlet. Waiting nearby I found a faucet that some people were filling their water bottles at, I joined them and drank from this water. Assuming that it was treated I hoped for the best. I hung around the area a little while longer to give my batter a chance to charge before I jetted off and out of the town, back down the 382 steps. At this point I had already swam in two of the five towns and decided that I would swim in all five of them before leaving Cinque Terre.

I didn’t really see a nice swimming area like the other places had, but I did find a rock beach that was hard to walk on. The walk to get to it was quite far and arduous. Once reaching the area, I set my bag down, ripped off my shirt and walked into the water. Swimming around for several minutes, I got out of the water, shook off like a dog and headed back  up the metal stairs toward the train station.

Getting to Vernazza, where I had already been before, I knew I still needed to swim. I walked down to the water set my bag down, and jumped off the end of a dock. I swam around to another big rock that I felt the need to climb and jump off, just like the others. Successfully cliff diving in three of the five towns thus far I felt accomplished. Grabbing my bag I headed back up to the train station.

 

Throughout my day wandering around Cinque Terre I had spotted an older man who was sickly skinny carrying a newspaper and had a cigar in his mouth. He was at this train station walking around with a deranged look on his face. I could tell he was certainly not well. He began shouting something in gibberish Italian at one of the people waiting for the train, then he walked over to me and started talking to me in his gibberish Italian. I just kept a straight face and he eventually walked away from me to yell at a few other people. One of the other people waiting for the train looked over at me and we exchanged a look of “yeah, that guy surely is crazy.”

I was happy when the train arrived, it meant that I only had one more town left to swim in. Unfortunately this time I got on the train, but it was going the wrong way. It took me to Corniglia. Jumping off at Corniglia, I waited for the proper train which took me back down to Monterosso al Mare.

The daylight was beginning to dwindle, I found my spot along the beach and dove into my final swimming spot of the day. Happy that I swam in all five towns I got my train information to Venice. While I was waiting for the train I decided to grab a quick bite to eat. I found an area that sold sandwiches, and I just picked one of the cheaper ones off the menu. I didn’t really care what it was, I figured whatever it was had to be edible right?

I get a nice ciabatta bread sandwich and hungry from all of my swimming and traveling of the day I bite into the sandwich. It was then and there I realized that I had ordered something, rather fishy. I looked down and saw what I had bit into, a lushious tomato and a very salty fish. The overpowering salty fish took me by surprise. One typically needs to prepare themselves before indulging in a salty fishy tasting fish with the scales on it. The sandwich wasn’t that bad actually, just not what I was in the mood for.

Heading to the train station I utilized their bathroom. I washed my hair, brushed my teeth, cleaned my feet, washed my face, changed my clothes and just got myself as freshened up as I could before my journey to Venice.

 

Zermatt, Switzerland

 

Waking up a much later than I had wanted in Bern put me en route to Zermatt much later than I originally had anticipated. The train ride to Zermatt was stunning. I had to transfer trains several times, the routes took me high in the Alps and through the beautiful mountain passes, over ravines and gullies, over streams and alongside waterfalls. The expression on my face was that of a little kid in a candy store. I was overly excited to be in such a beautiful place, and knowing I was going to hike in the area made me even more elated. The closer I got to Zermatt I noticed that the concentration of outdoor enthusiasts on the train increased. Seeing people with backpacks, hiking poles and boots I knew I was in the right place.

 

Small electric taxi's take people from place to place in Zermatt, Autos are prohibited

The Gondola I refused to take

 

At 11:30 when I arrived in Zermatt I hit the ground running. I had plans to hike up to the Matterhorn and by golly I was going to stick to them. I briskly walked over to the visitors center to grab a map and some information about accessing the trails. Armed with my map and determination to stick to my plans I walked through Zermatt very fast heading toward the Matterhorn. The town of Zermatt is very quaint and cute with little skiing and sporting goods shops everywhere. If I was a rich tourist I would certainly come back to Zermatt for a few weeks and indulge in all their town has to offer.

Hiking at a fast pace up the hill I passed several other hikers with smiles on their faces just like me. I reached a small town up on the hill, Old Zermatt, even cuter and smaller than actual Zermatt. Continuing on I noticed that the number of hikers dwindled substantially. I like very few others decided to actually walk up the mountain rather than take the 45 Euro cable car up. Past the small town is where I really noticed my climb to begin. The air was cool and crisp as I headed up the mountain. The further I got the more I noticed the weight of my pack. Being as how I had everything with me for my “round the world journey” plus extra food and water it was certainly noticeable on my back. Drenched in sweat I continued on the path through the beautiful lush forest up into the sky.

 

Prior to my trek up the mountain I had noticed a cloud covering the tops of the mountains and the hillsides obstructing my view of the Matterhorn and anything up passed a few hundred feet from Zermatt. Now that I was several hundred feet above the town I too was engulfed by the looming cloud. A fine mist permeated the already cool and damp air. Completely drenched with sweat my core temperature began to cool as I ascended. Pushing myself to keep warm I hiked faster and faster, making amazing time up the increasingly steep mountain.

Exhausted I climbed out of the timberline and into the high elevation meadows. I grabbed my plastic poncho just before it started to rain. I ran into two other hikers roughly my age from San Francisco who had prepared even less than I had for their excursion and headed down the mountain when their cotton sweatshirts were nearly soaked. Discouraged that my new hiking buddies had quickly abandoned me I wearily kept storming up the mountain, not letting it or the weather persuade me to turn around. Arriving at one of the gondola’s stops, Schwarzsee Paradise, I found a small restaurant and hotel to get shelter and warmth at for a little while.

Once inside I headed for the bathroom where I used more than my share of the hot air hand dryer then I took off my wet poncho and studied the map carefully. Knowing that I had quite a ways to go I engineered myself a new clothing “system” for the remainder of my hike. I changed into my warmest and driest clothes that I had, layering of course. Next I grabbed one of my huge black plastic trash bags and cut two leg holes in it, I secured the trash bag on me like pants and tucked everything in to ensure maximum waterproofing. Next I put on my jacket and made sure it was nice and tight, next my backpack, and finally my plastic 97 cent poncho. Making sure everything was tucked in and secured I grabbed a quick bite of my Swiss chocolate bar for some energy. Looking at myself in the mirror I realized I looked pretty silly, for one I was covered in plastic, and secondly I was dumb enough to go outside and hike up the mountain in a storm. Luckily I found a back door out of the place and took it so that no one would see me.

 

Me in plastic in a Swiss bathroom

 

Thankful that my clothing efforts had not been in vain I kept hiking up the mountain. I was a little weary of going through a section of mountain sheep. Some found me quite curious, and a black one even chased after me a bit. Continuing to climb, the mountain became much more rocky and steep. A few minutes after seeing the sheep I realized that all of the people I had seen were heading down the mountain, and away from the storm. And all of those people were wearing expensive Gore-Tex hiking gear. They all had poles and everything one would need for hiking this terrain in this weather. I figured, oh well, I’m already this far, why turn back now.

The fog and haze of the cloud really began to engulf everything around me. The trail had progressively diminished from a dug out dirt path in a grassy area, to a well defined rocky trail, to eventually a barren wasteland of slippery rocks on a mountain ridge with orange and white markers. Hikers (in good conditions) are supposed to be able to see these markings painted on rocks, white orange white, and look to the next set of markings from the one they are currently at and continue hiking that way. However, in a storm it is nearly impossible to see from one set of markings to another. It wasn’t until I got into an area where I could see no more than 5 feet in front of me, did I actually worry. I got through my first set of markers okay and just had to stop. Getting turned around quickly I just decided to walk in the direction I felt was the right way, having gotten lucky I tried again on the next one. Several times over the course of this I had to backtrack and try another route to try to find the marked stones. The distance I covered would have normally taken me roughly 10 minutes, but instead it took almost 45.

 

Reaching a metal bridge I met one lone hiker who was just as lost as I was. He had come up from the gondola near where I wanted to get to and I was coming from where he wanted to go, so our exchange of information was quite beneficial. After exchanging pleasantries we went out on our ways. His leading him back to town and likely to a warm bed, and mine, leading me further up into the mountains in a wet, windy, rocky, snowy, barren environment where I was planning to spend the night.

 

The cloud cover began to clear a bit, and I was able to see the trail markers a bit more clearly. I heard a giant rock slide toward the direction I was heading, which made me all the more comfortable with the journey and my plans to stay up on the mountain at over 8,000 feet.

 

The area I had to choose a place to sleep

 

 

Finally reaching the general area I would call home for a night, I had to pick a spot that would keep me as dry and as warm as possible, while at the same time keeping me sheltered from any falling rocks and debris. The area I had to choose from was several hundred acres of open space filled with rocks, snow, lakes, ice, and snow, not to mention the cliffs on the side of the expanse. So, I began wandering around the open area in search of the perfect spot to rest my head, jumping over creeks and trying not to fall down the loose gravely surface I picked up a few stray pieces of wood, that had somehow gotten there and carried them with me while I searched. Finally I came to a large boulder that would protect me from the wind from at least one direction. I began to dig up larger rocks around the area and make a small perimeter around where I would be sleeping, giving myself some shelter from the wind. I found several small alpine plants that I used to pad the area where my head and shoulders would be resting. I did not want to be lying on either the cold mud, nor the sharp rocks during the course of the night. As for the few sticks I found, I took a bit of rope I had been carrying around with me the entire trip for the “just in case” factor and fashioned a “roof” over my head. Once my terrible rocky and cold structure was completed I headed out to brush my teeth and fill up my bladder bag.  Returning I unrolled my bivy sack and inserted an emergency blanket to try to keep some of my warmth through the night.

 

My dentist would be proud, Im trying to not die, and what do I do? I brush my teeth.

 

I used my rope, "What are we gonna need the rope for?"

This is what the inside of a bad idea looks like

 

 

 

Crawling into the non insulated bag I realized that this was a terrible idea. The ground was uneven, uncomfortable and frozen. The wind was relentless during the night. I didn’t really sleep. I just froze. It was by far the coldest night I had ever experienced. Once the sun went down the already cold temperatures began to drop even faster. I tried to get sleep but unfortunately I was so cold that my shivering kept me awake. I put on as many of my clothes that I could that were dry, to try to increase my temperature. This helped only slightly. I was afraid of my phone freezing and breaking, so I kept it close to my body. Aside from shivering all night I decided to get up out of my bag and do jumping jacks to try to get my blood flowing and warm up a bit. This helped for about two minutes and I was back to shivering again. Finally I grabbed another one of my emergency blankets and threw it in my bivy sack with me. I was able to fall asleep for roughly twenty minutes before I woke up freezing and soaked. The two emergency blankets had insulated me so well that I began to sweat so much that I had condensation forming on the inside of my bag and on the emergency blankets. When the freezing air reached it from the outside it froze and I was basically in a small personal freezer on a cold mountain. Waking up to the ice and water I jumped up and did my jumping jacks and shook out my iced over bag before trying to sleep again. The whole process probably took 35 minutes, for me to get to sleep, be asleep for 20 minutes, get up and do jumping jacks and try to get myself back in my bag. I did this the entire course of the night. It was an incredibly long night. For some hours I would basically just sit up and stare at the clouds wishing for the warming rays of the sun. Throughout the night I did get to see the cloud cover drift away from the top of the Matterhorn. Slowly but surely it began to reveal its strikingly beautiful presence.

 

First picture I took when it was light enough. Its not in focus because my hand was shaking too much from all the shivering I was doing.

 

Trying really hard to smile here

 

 

 

Before the sun rose, I had determined that it was basically morning for me. I wasn’t going to kid myself any longer, I would not be able to sleep any longer because of the cold. So I got up and started walking around trying to get some feeling back in my toes. I was sure I had gotten frostbite on my big toes, I couldn’t feel them at all when I walked for the next few months. I examined my bladder bag I had filled the night before to find that the hose on it had froze and cracked, rendering it leaky thus ending its useful life.

 

Town of Zermatt covered in Clouds

 

I walked up to a rock where I perched myself with my camera taking pictures of the surrounding mountain peaks and the cloud cover that was blanketing the entire town of Zermatt. I was high above the entire town while they were trapped in a soup bowl of fluff. Slowly but surely the sun started to light just the tips of the peaks. Taking advantage of the amazing photographic opportunity I snapped as many pictures as my frozen hands could manage. Waiting patiently for the sun to illuminate the Matterhorn I was poised and ready to capture shots that those even in Zermatt wouldn’t be able to see. Seeing the glorious Alps in all of their majesty made enduring the bitter cold worth it just to see some of the sights I was fortunate enough to have.

I was relieved when I was finally drenched in sunlight atop my perch on the rock. I took full advantage of it while I had it. Once I was able to move my digits again I began to clear my camp. Working slowly I dismantled everything and readied myself for another intense day. Today’s challenge called for hiking another few thousand feet or so along a steep ridge to the actual Matterhorn.

After having my Swiss chocolate for breakfast I headed up the steep trail which took me along a metal grate-way bolted into the side of the cliff. The grates were coming apart in some places, so it was wise to be mindful of the loose panels, for the drop was not to be taken lightly. Once off the grate I and many other hikers who seemed to appear out of the woodwork (who I am sure came up the gondola like a sane human being), headed up the ever steepening grade toward the Matterhorn. Some were armed with climbing gear, some with small backpacks and some with just a bottle of water. I had all my stuff I needed for three months.

As the trail went higher the presence of ropes along the trail increased. With ropes also came steep drop offs to both the right and the left. At the top there was a rather large hotel, and restaurant that many climbers use as a base before attempting to summit the jagged peak. My goal was not to climb the monstrous mountain, but merely to get as far as I could without climbing gear, and touch the mountain. Which I am proud to say that I was able to do.

 

It the abyss...

(My beard is all messed up)

 

3260 meters = 10,695 feet

 

 

 

After touching the mountain I found myself a nice rock and had lunch, once again basking in the glorious view of the Matterhorn. After relaxing for a while I determined that I should head back down the mountain, all the way back down to Zermatt to catch a train out of Switzerland. Hustling down the steep slopes I decided to take an alternate way down, that afforded me another view of the Matterhorn, just as spectacular.

(YAY! I touched it!)

 

The sun was out and at its full intensity and I spotted a gigantic flat rock just off the trail that was calling my name. I climbed up and laid down on the flat stone staring at the snow blowing off the Matterhorn. I caught some necessary sleep on the rock. About an hour or so later I put my socks and shoes back on and headed down once more. Walking through beautiful green pastures I noticed a gigantic waterfall along the hillside in the distance. I started to see and hear sheep along the grassy hills. Then I heard cows, I noticed the sound kept getting closer and closer. Then I saw an entire heard of cattle right in the middle of my path, holy cow! (No pun intended). They were all wearing bells, I couldn’t believe it! I had never actually seen a cow wearing a bell, other than in cartoons. But these cows had nice pointy horns and they were all eyeing me with curiosity as I walked right in the middle of their grazing territory. I was a bit nervous about walking through a field full of cows with horns. I figured they wouldn’t hurt me, but some of them were right on the trail, and I certainly didn’t want to get in a fight with any of them over whose trail it was and whose it wasn’t. Taking a video of the cows the entire way through, I was relieved to be out of their territory. I kept heading down the hills toward Zermatt and once into town I had to stand to the side as several small children were leading a rather large number of goats through town. Again these goats were all wearing bells and the sound was intense but the sight was just too unique, for someone like me. I spotted a McDonald’s and convinced them to fill up my water bottle for free, feeling a little bad I bought a small sandwich and enjoyed the small hot meal I had bestowed upon myself. I kept walking and smiling toward the train station and I grabbed my ticket for the last train out of Zermatt just moments before it left.

 

Doesnt that rock just say "Take a nap on me"

 

I bought Swiss Cheese and Chocolate

And oh were they good!

 

 

Feeling accomplished I felt I could finally rest for a little while I rode the train into Italy.

Salzburg, Austria

Because I have a Eurail pass I can basically jump on any train I want. I desperately needed to go to the bathroom and since almost all of the bathrooms require a fee, I decided “Hey, I can just use the one on the train!” So I jumped on a train headed from Graz to Salzburg. I arrived in Salzburg, after of course using the facilities on the train, and had only 2.5 hours to see the town. With my lonely planet book in hand I followed the streets to the heart of the old town. Briskly walking and taking photos of every interesting building along the way I finally reached my destination across the river, the heart of town. It had narrow cobble stoned streets lined with shops and tourists, several bustling squares and many areas with concentrated amounts of tourist food under the obligatory beer company umbrellas. Several streets were closed due to live performances. I saw a bit of a theatrical performance and heard a bit of another musical performance on a different street. Walking through the narrow streets you can’t help but hear classical music, namely Mozart. As this is his birth town. The town has a beautiful castle adorning one of the nearby hills, even though I was pressed for time, I decided to run up the countless stairs to the top of the monstrous hill and up through the castle for a glimpse of the beautiful city below. At the top I was exhausted, sweaty and panting taking as many pictures as I could of the castle in the darkening light and the views of the city with the river snaking through it. After only a few minutes of being up there, I ran down the hill and tried to make my way back through the hordes of tourists to the train station. I stopped briefly at a fountain that was marked “okay to drink” and took a giant gulp and continued with my near-run walking pace to be stopped by a crowd in the middle of the street watching a street performer, darting down another alleyway I avoided the bulk of the crowd and continued toward the train station. I made the train by the skin of my teeth, but I am certainly glad I went to Salzburg, it was one of the prettiest and most interesting places I have been, I wish I could have spent more time there. 2.5 hours just wasn’t enough.

Copenhagen, Denmark

The train ride to Denmark was very nice. The train was one of the nicest I had been on. I used the opportunity to sew my sock back together. I had worn a hole in the toe. Copenhagen is on an island and the train actally had to go on a ferry! I had no idea you could put a train on a boat. When the boat docked the train got off just as fast as it got on, and we continued down the track toward Copenhagen. When the train was on the boat all the passengers needed to go above to the deck of the ferry. We didnt know this and I had left Carmen on the train to sleep, once I found out about this little rule, I ran back on the train to find her missing and a few Germans escorting people off the train. Turning back around the the exit I got yelled at, HEY! AUS! As I was heading for the exit I got a little peaved by them yelling at me and kept walking away from them while they were yelling at me in German. I had just woken up and wasnt about to head down toward the yelling. Once they saw I was in fact getting off, the smiled at me and realized they were jerk pants.

Copenhagen was beautiful! The city was filled with brightly colored buildings along the waterfront. We meanered through the city streets trying to find a place to eat. We ran into a shop selling fairly cheap sandwiches, donner Kebap style. After food we headed toward the water and jumped on a boat doing tours through the channels. This was really cool! Seeing Copenhagen from the boat perspective was beautiful. We got to see the main sights of Copenhagen in about an hour including the famous Mermaid whos head apparently had been sawed off a few times.

This was on a bridge, as you can see someone put a binky in its mouth

That evening after seeing almost all of Copenhagen we decided that since our train didnt leave until 2 am we would catch a movie. We saw Public Enimies in a very nice theatre pictured above. The seats were assigned, very comfortable but it was so hot in the theatre, at one or two points in the movie we both fell asleep for a bit. The movie was very good. I really enjoyed watching it.

We went back to the train station and waited for our train back to Hamburg, Germany.

Berlin, Germany

 

We arrived in Berlin in the morning via the strange train from Poland. Berlin was beautiful. As I got off the train I realized that my bag lock was stuck again! If you remember from India I had a lock for my bag that I had to bust open with a can opener. Carmen brought me my sisters old lock (identical to the one I was using earlier) after several days it too became stuck. So, being skilled at breaking apart locks with a can opener, I reached into my bag and pulled it out, starting to pry it apart on a bench in Berlin. I was successful at breaking into it and destroying the lock.

I was very impressed by Germany, it was very clreean and organized as I figured it would be. We caught the S – Bahn into town, (S – Bahn stands for Schnell Bahn, or Fast Train). We wandered around for a bit and then found the Berlin Wall.

Their was a historical marker with some information about the wall and the division of Germany, and about the art along the wall. They had hired twenty some artists from other countries to paint on the wall. Some of the spaces were very interesting, some cute and some confusing. My favorites were of course the ones with Batman on them.

and who could forget Mr. Potato Head!

The area where the wall is the longest and has the paintings is called the East Side Gallery

After the wall, we basically explored Berlin for the rest of the day. It was beautiful. We saw the gates at one end of the city, many of the historical buildings and sights. Along our way of exploring we decided to try to get some German food at a local resturant. We were reading a menu in German doing quite well and about to order when the waitress realized we wernt from around these parts.She asked if we  wanted to trysome Berlin food, we said of course and give us whatya got. The drink below is Beer. Green Beer, very tasty with a hint of lemon lime in it. The food we got was a giant piece of pig. I say pig and not pork because it still had the skin and some of the hair on it! She warned us that it would look disgusting but taste… Amazing! She was right on both things.

We could not find any couch surfers that could host us in Berlin, as they were all either out of town or busy with other people. We tried looking for hostels but found that they were about 20 € a head which would have been about the price of a hotel room, very expensive. So, I had a crazy idea, why not take a night train someplace and sleep on the train see the place for a day and then come back to Hamburg Germany. So, the next train to Copenhagen Denmark was our decision, however it was overbooked so we had to wait until the train at 5.17AM, we slept in the train station…

and woke up at 5.15am and then ran to the train, which left right as we got up to it. CRAP! We missed our train! No worries, we got on the one that left about an hour later…

We were then on our way to Denmark!

Warsaw, Poland

Arriving in Warsaw Poland we met up with our couch surfers in the evening. They took us on a drive around the city and showed us some of the monuments and sights to be seen. It was a very nice city. We then went to a very cool cafe where they like to go and sat and ate a bit with our hosts, they are very nice people and we got along great with them. We picked up a bit of Polish and then headed out for a tour of the old town by night. It was very pretty. Old monuments and buildings just seem to look so much prettier at night with the lights hitting them just right.

We meandered through the old town square where there sat a mermaid on a fountain thing. It wasnt a fountain persay it just stayed wet, so it occassionally threw up water around the base. It scared our host pretty bad when he was trying to take a picture next to it.

Fire Dancers

 I think fire dancing was invented when someone accidentally lit their ribon dancer on fire and kept going…

 

That evening we sat around with them at their flat telling  jokes and sharing YouTube videos, such as Powerthirst, Mandles, and Sleepwalking dog.

The next day we caught up on some much needed rest and slept in all day.

Later in the evening on the way to the train station we passed by a park where we played for a bit on a spiderweb thing. Childrens parks in other countries are so cool! They are not safe at all. So far ive seen Pirate Ships, and high rope-like spiderwebs that you could totally fall off of and break your neck.

On our way to the train station we tried to find a geocaching spot for Carmens mom. It was near a hospital, we searched around for a good hour or so in the dark near a creepy hospital building in Poland before giving up and getting to the station…

 

At the train station we had an interesting experience with our train to Berlin. The woman at the ticket counter did not want to help us at all. She was quite rude to our Polish friends and only told them that the train was coming from Russia, and that she didnt know how much it was going to be.

Knowing very little we went down to the platform and awaited a mystery train. A blue train arrives with Cryllic on it and we knew it was ours. A woman dressed in normal clothes guarded the door with a displeased look on her face. Our polish friends tried to communicate with her and after some debating we managed to get on board. It did not seem like they wanted to let us get on the train. We stood in the hallway of the train for a little while while they gave us dirty looks and ushered us around the hallway, back and forth back and forth, they would usher us this way and that and into a small room that looked like a cabin but was actually one of the ladys private cabins. We were very confused about where we were going to stay. At this point we still had no idea how much it was.

Finally we got into a cabin with one other gentelman from Poland who told us it was 50€ for the train. We made our beds and tried to sleep.

Before going to poked my head down to her bunk below and told Carmen (my travel buddy) that I have heard on Russian night trains they gas people and then go through their stuff and take things.

I am assuming that is not true, but who knows. So far Im not missing anything… I think.

Rab, Croatia

Rab is an island roughly 3 hours by bus from Rijeka. We bussed along the beautiful adriatic coast and saw much of the beautiful landscape that is Croatia. The rocky coastline is dotted with trees and shrubbrush hanging on to life it seems, some of them are growing between in the rocks. It was not quite what I had expected. It was beautiful but in a different sort of way. Close to Rab the bus got on to a ferry and we arrived a few minutes later. The bus driver seemed like a very nice man who would wave at all the other bus drivers along the route, at policemen and at all his other friends along the way, giving us the feeling that this was a small town, which was nice. He even had a stuffed chicken hanging in the middle of the bus window.

Getting into Rab we were a bit confused about where the beach was, which is strange because we were on an island. We headed in a direction toward water, which was actually the port where all the boats were… not a very good swiming hole, however we did go up to the monastary on the hill nearby and wander through the mazes of streets and churches that riddled the hillside. I even climbed to the top of a small tower. It had great views of the island and the Adriatic Sea.

After sweating like a pig for several hours with my backpack on I finally set it down near the water. I dare call it a beach because there really was no beach to speak of. It was actually a concrete sidewalk that people were laying on with the water crashing against the rocks and concrete. We got to an area with what appeared to be the most beach-like thing we had seen on the island. The island is very rocky but pretty, so we were not able to get a great beach day in.

I put on my goggles and took my waterproof camera out to the sea, to see what I could see, and I noticed there were sea urchines around the rocks near my feet, so I made certain I watched where I stepped. (I met someone in Turkey who had stepped on one and her foot was very bloody and not doin too good.) While watching for more of these hazards I noticed a few fish taking an interest in me, I noticed more and more and more it was great. I even saw a school of fish that didnt scurry off right away.

There was a concrete dock that people were diving off of. I of course had the urge to jump of something, and did. It was really fun! However… the concrete was a bit tricky to get up.

In an earlier post a comment was left regarding my pink eye and how I should document all of my injuries… So I took a picture of this bug bite that I scratched a bit too much thinking that this would be one of my biggest injuries…

Turns out that the concrete was very sharp and tricky to get up. After going up it several times I looked down at my foot and this is what I saw…

My bloody foot and a nice view

So I swam around a bit trying to get the salt water in my cuts on my foot. Once the blood stopped pouring over my foot we got our bags and headed out toward the bus station. We got on a bus back to Rijeka. After eating an amazing burger and looking for pastry we jumped on a train to Slovenia.

Budapest, Hungary

Arriving from a night train to Budapest we started looking for our hostel, we walked from the train station to the hostel which was quite a walk, but as most everyone knows, I am very cheap and dont like to spend money on public transportation plus I just prefer walking, you can see more cool buildings that way. Speaking of cool buildings, Hungary has a lot of them, it seems that every time you turn a corner you will find a statue or a very ornate building with many statues on it, which makes Budapest superb for sightseeing. In addition it has several bridges over the Danube which at night light up and just turn the city ON. The whole of Budapest looks like a gem at night, the vibrant colors of the buildings and the lights reflecting off the water make it one of the prettiest cities to photograph.

Train Station

After arriving at the hostel, we set our bags down and headed to one of the famous bath houses nearby. It was amazing, we bought admission to the swimming pool and wave pool area, the wave pool area was outside and was the size of a normal wave pool but it had old statues surrounding the entire grounds, also there were statues peering into the pool, it was absolutely breathtaking stepping out of the locker room and seeing the detail surrounding a swimming pool. The pool on the inside was even more amazing. It was surrounded by columns and there was a second story balcony looking over the pool and an open glass ceiling. It was very relaxing to float on my back and look up at the beautiful blue sky while inside surrounded by decadent statues. After spending about 5 hours in the complex we cleaned up and walked around outside at night, walking along the river taking pictures every few feet of the bridges, the buildings the water etc. We arrived at a nice dinner restaurant that was about to close, but got in just in time to eat a delicious meal, they are known for their dishes with goose meat, which I of course needed to try, it was fantastic!

(Parliament)

The next morning we walked up a  nearby hill to the citadel it was quite a hike up to the top, but the views of the city were well worth it. We also walked to a nearby castle and explored the castle and the grounds of the national art museum, under the castle there is a labyrinth of passageways, we went in and explored a ways, it was very cool but unfortunately you could only go in so far before you had to pay, at which point we turned around. We explored the city a bit more and went back to the hostel to grab our bags and headed to the train station.

THE TRAIN STATION

The train station in Budapest is very nice on the outside just like all of the other buildings in Budapest, so we were very happy going in, and were just generally happy being in this city which is good. We bought a ticket to Beograd, Serbia, which they were having a special for which was great, so the ticket price was greatly reduced, awesome! We even found a place inside the train station that sold amazing gyros and raspberry fanta, the gyros were so good I decided to go back and get another one, and another one, and another one.

While we were eating and drinking we noticed that there were a plethora of young backpackers at this station, which was very unusual because typically I dont see too many others, and most of these people were Brittish and almost all of them were making “Beer Runs”, going to the grocery store down the street and coming back with armfuls of beer and other alcohol, we were wondering where the heck are these people going? We figured they wern’t going to Beograd.

When we got to our train platform we saw between 200-300 backpackers filling up the platform, ah crap! All these drunk backpackers were going to be on our train! This was a night train and we were looking forward to getting some sleep, we knew now that this was probably impossible. When the train arrived people just rushed the train like it was filled with gold. People were pushing and shoving people out of the way, pulling people off the train, and after one or two people from a group got on they would open the window and yell “we got a carrage!!!” following which we heard loud cheering from a small group. I knew this was not going to be pretty. Originally I thought, okay, we have tickets which ensures us a seat, no big deal we are in a civilized society they likely have these things worked out, HA! was I wrong. We got on the train and ended up in a hallway standing for most of the journey. All of the seats were taken, most people were sitting 2 to a seat, people were on the floor the cabins, and I was sitting in the hallway with my backpack and an unpleasant look on my face. There were people sitting and standing in the hallways of the entire length of the train. Sitting on the disgusting floor, thinking back to the reduced ticket price, HA Beograd Special, JERKS!

I ate 3 of these

So we sat next to a Canadian who was originally from Novi Sad Serbia, which apparently all these drunk people were going. There is a huge music festival there called EXIT several days of big name bands playing and 100,000 people from all over head to this concert in this small town. Hence the reduced fair on the train, and all the drunk people.

Throughout the night there were all these people walking over us trying to get to the bathroom and because they were drunk I dont think they understood that we were fairly upset with them plowing through us every 5 minutes, most all of them were Brittish so we heard ’scuse me, sorry love, sorry mate, etc. Although they kept calling me their mate, I certainly didnt feel like it, considering they were stepping on me and my stuff. It was very nerve-racking having the drunk people smoke a few windows down because the smell and the ashes would blow right into my area where I was sitting and attempting to relax. Later at the stop where the border police boarded to check passports two really drunk British guys were wandering around the train looking for old beer bottles and drinking what was left in them. It was really disgusting seeing them finish off other peoples backwashed beers. They were talking to each other about getting through the crowd of people in the hallway to get to their bags in a different train car to get their passports. We tried to tell them that they couldn’t get through the hoard of people in the hallway because there were already people standing there plus there were people waiting to get off at that stop (mostly older people). After we told them we couldn’t get through they said, “what? I can’t understand her” after several times trying to convey the message we were told the same thing, “what?” They decided to just plow through us anyway, they didnt get very far, just to the other side of me and then stopped. One of the guys was leaning out the window looking like he was going to ralf everywhere the other one was a bit more spastic and was talking a lot “this is so boring we’re just standing here, its just so boring, we need to get moooving” the other one a bit more reasonable retorted “no no no we cant go anywhere there are all these people in the way, lets just wait until they get off and then we can go” “no no, we need to get mooving this is so bloody boring, I can’t believe it” “what do you want me to do? there is an old bag in the way” “well just push the old bag out of the way, just step on her, we need to get mooving! I dont care, I’m going” and he crawled under him and then started falling on everyone and pushing people out of the way “scuze me, scuse me, sorry coming through” They plowed through everyone including the “old bag” they got off the train, and we didnt see them again. I suspect they got off the train, took a nap on the pavement and then woke up in Serbia at the station dazed and confused. Later after a few people got off we managed to squeeze into a cabin so we had a seat, two other Brits jumped in with us and one of their friends was singing and carrying on and was told to shut up by another guy… one thing led to another and they almost got into a fight, the two Brits inside the cabin with us were absolutely shocked at what their friend called the other guy. They were both British and speaking English, but we had no idea what they were saying. It all sounded like jumbled up English. So we are sitting there stunned that we couldn’t understand any of their insults. Later the two drunk Brits inside the cabin with us asked the serbian guy about Novi Sad, “Are there Rostels there” “Whats a Rostel?” Pronunciation of “Hostel” was a bit difficult for them. Later he asked where I was from I said “America” he replied “I can’t understand you.”

Later when all the drunks got off the train we acquired a cabin to sleep in for the hour and a half we had left on the train ride. On the floor of the cabin were all sorts of beer bottles, and every time the train would speed up or slow down or stop, they would go crashing from one side to another, startling us and waking us up. Later when i got up to go to the bathroom I had to walk through the rubbish that was left of the train, there was trash everywhere, all over the train, beer bottles, etc, in the bathroom someone took their poo and flung it on the walls and ceiling, yes thats right poo on the ceiling, it was so gross. It was the worst experience I have had on a train. But I got a good story out of it We arrived in Beograd utterly exhausted.

Beograd Special… HA! real special

Japan

After a 10 hour flight, I arrived in Narita airport in Japan. I took a train and a series of subways into Tokyo it took roughly 3.5 hours to get to my destination. Many people on the trains and subways were wearing masks, because of the concern with swine flu. I decided to wear my mask to help mitigate the risk of becoming held in an airport hotel for 10 days. During the ten hour flight I was able to watch three movies, Frost/Nixon, Inkheart, and Seven Pounds.  i am anxiously looking forward to tomorrow where I will be exploring Tokyo and all it has to offer, rather than just taking train after train through it with a giant backpack.  (Note, everyone and everything is much smaller here, so walking around carrying my bag was very awkward. ) Oh, and for those of you who dont know,  they drive on the other side of the road and the lanes are substantially smaller here than in the US.

For now, it is tomorrow… Oyasuminasai !