Corseaux-Vaduz-Zurich-Corseaux Day 16

April 15,2010

Day 16 Corseaux-Vaduz-Zurich-Corseaux

Today we decided to head to Liechtenstein, one of the smaller countries on our list.  It took us 4 hours to get there, but we made it to Vaduz in Liechtenstein.  This is a country between Switzerland and Austria.  It still has a Prince and apparently the royal family's net worth is more than the British Royal family!  When we got to Vaduz we decided to walk up to the castle that sits above the city.  You're not allowed to go in, since the royals still live there, but the hike up to the castle was really nice.  We saw a bunch of huge snails along the trail and took our sweet time getting up to the castle.  At the top we took some pictures and then headed back down.  It was a quick trip to Vaduz, but very pleasant.  We then headed to Zurich.  We decided to have some supper there before we headed back to Corseaux.  Trevor found a cute Swiss restaurant.  We ordered fondue and snails!  You'd think I wouldn't be interested in the snails after seeing them crawling along the path earlier in the day, but they ended up being okay.  They pretty much had the texture of seafood.  After our very lovely, but expensive, dinner we headed back to the train station and headed back to Corseaux.  We got there around 21:00 and ended up packing and trying to figure out what to do about the French train strike.  The next day we would be trying to take a train through France, but we weren't sure if that would be possible.  Unfortunately our internet searching was not very successful so we would see the next day how everything would work out.

Zermat-Corseaux Day 15

April 14, 2010

Day 15 Zermat-Corseaux

The day started out beautifully.  We woke up pretty early so that we could rent our skies and head up the mountain pretty quickly.  We didn't quite make it for the 08:00 ski rental opening, but it was early enough.  The views of the Matterhorn from the city were amazing and we were crossing our fingers that it would stay that way for the rest of the day.  Once we got our skies, we decided to head for the highest gondola first which would take us to 3883m!  Heather and Matt had been up there and had warned us of how thin the air was up there.  We also got a warning from our fellow gondola riders on the lower gondola saying that they had been up there and had skied as fast as they could to try and catch their breath.  I was a little worried.  We rode one gondola to the first highest level and then took a special cable car to get us all the way up.  That car fit about 20-30 people.  I didn't think that was the smartest thing if people were going to start passing out, especially since it started getting super warm the higher we got.  Finally at the top we had to walk through a tunnel to get to the ski hill.  Halfway through the tunnel was a view point area and to get to it you had to take an elevator up and then you had to climb stairs.  I also didn't think this was a good idea at this altitude, but luckily both Trevor and I were fine.  You could definitely feel there was less oxygen here, but it just meant (at least for us) that you had to move a little slower.  Climbing the stairs, especially with ski boots, took a little longer that usual, but the views at the top were unbelievable.  Words can't describe how amazing it was.  All you saw was mountains and the bluest sky you've ever seen.  It was so amazing.  After getting back to the tunnel, we walked toward the ski hill and Trevor decided that he would try and climb to 4000m while I purchased some postcards and waited for him.  I thought it would be hard to pick him out as the climber, but thankfully when he climbed back down I spotted him and met him down the hill a bit.  We then went for our first run and it was awesome!  The entire time we pretty much skied blue runs, but the snow conditions were amazing so even Trevor had a good time, minus the waiting for me.  Our lift passes that we purchased allowed us to ski into Italy, so for the first little while we tried to get ourselves over to the Italy side, but once there, we realized the ski conditions were not as good as on the Swiss side, so after skiing all the way down the Italy side we took a few chairs and a gondola and got back to the Swiss side.  At this point we decided that I would take a break while Trevor did a big run, so I went to one of the bars on the hill and eventually found myself a lounge chair and relaxed while I waited for Trevor to meet me.  We then went down a bit further together and decided to split again, allowing me to take my time and Trevor to be super speedy.  All the while the weather was gorgeous with the sun shining bright and the sky clear.  At the point that we split, I started a run that turned out to be super slushy and horrible to ski.  I crashed a bunch of times and felt so out of control.  By the time I got to Trevor I was so unhappy.  It had been such a great ski day for me and this run was awful.  Thankfully Trevor suggested we finish our day and get back to Corseaux earlier than planned.  The rest of the day was good with us catching an earlier train and getting to hang out with Matt and Heather for a bit.  Turns out I burned my face really really bad.  The later it got, the redder my face got.  Beautiful day at 3800m meant very little escape from the sun.  Should have worn sunscreen.  Still, I was so excited that the day turned out so good for us.  It was awesome.

Corseax-Zermat Day 14

April 13, 2010

Day 14 Corseax-Zermat

Thankfully I had been drinking lots of water during night because by the morning I was feeling better.  We decided to let me sleep just a little longer than originally planned, but by around 09:30 we were on the train heading to Zermat, home of the Matterhorn.  The train ride was nice, with views of castles and churches on cliffs.  We even saw the tops of the mountains across from Heather and Matt's (we had only seen the bottoms since our stay). It took us a few trains to get to Zermat, as usual for our train trips.  In Visp, the views of the mountains were starting to get incredible.  These were real mountains.  When we got on the train from Visp to Zermat, they checked our tickets (nothing unusual) and this time we found out our Eurail passes were no good.  We ended up having to pay for the tickets for this portion because it's a private line.  It was definitely worth it, even if it was unexpected.  We got into Zermat around 13:15 and since the tourist office wasn't open, we started to wander.  It was another town like the one we skied by the day before.  There were only electric cars and horses as vehicles.  It was very nice.  The town was super cute too.  By this time, I was starting to feel a little sick again.  We headed towards the "view point" for the Matterhorn and saw our first glance of the great mountain.  It was a nice clear day so it was a great view.  We then tried to find out hostel and after a very roundabout way of getting there, we made it.  Turned out, you couldn't check in until 16:00 and there was no one at the office until then, so we left our bags where it said we could and headed back to the tourist office to get some info about skiing and a hike.  I was still trying to decide if I was up for a hike, even though I could feel my body starting to give up on me.  Once at the tourist office, Trevor found a pamphlet on spas and pools in the city to encourage me to relax, before our skiing day the next day, but when he came back with the info about the hike, I just couldn't refuse.  So we went to a grocery store to pick up some food and headed on a 3 hour hike.  The first part of the hike was uphill entirely, and just at the start of the trail we had a little picnic. The hike we took was called the Matterhorn trail.   It was uphill for about 45 min before we made it to Zumutt, a little village that looked like a ghost town along the path.  The next part was a little bit uphill until we hit a fork in the road where we split up.  It had started to get cloudy and now you really couldn't see the Matterhorn.  I headed directly to Furi while Trevor headed to a place called Stafel.  We agreed to meet at the hostel.  This part of my hike was pretty much a road the entire way right next to what I would learn the next day to be the ski out to Furi.  I kept seeing signs telling  me how far until Zermat and I kept taking pictures of them to see if I was slower or faster and it turned out I was about 30 min faster than the signs.  When I finally got back into Zermat, the path took me directly to the hostel where I checked in with a less than pleasant front desk man.  I then thought I would go out and walk around a bit more until Trevor got back from his hike, but when I left the hostel it had started to snow hard enough that I didn't want to be out there so I returned to our room where I got acquainted with two of our roommates.  It wasn't long before Trevor arrived.  I had started falling asleep when he got there and was told that I had been snoring.  I must have been tired.  Our evening was pretty uneventful from there.  We ate at the downstairs restaurant called Sparky's and paid way too much and then pretty much went to bed at 21:00.  That was the first day at Zermat.

Corseaux-Portes du Soleil-Corseaux Day 13

April 12, 2010

Day 13 Corseaux-Portes du Soleil-Corseaux

Today Heather and Matt took us skiing.  It was awesome.  The place that they took us allowed us to ski the Alps on both the Swiss side and the French side.  The day started out pretty good.  It definitely wasn't a clear day, but we could see some of the views.  Matt drove, so we got to the ski hill pretty quick, around 09:00 after renting our equipment and we were off.  We never had to ski the same hill twice, there was so much to ski.  I had some issues at the start of the day, but after a pretty ugly wipe out, I was good to go.  Everyone was so nice, skiing a little slower to allow me to keep up.  Each person took turns waiting for me so that I knew where I was going.  At one point we skied by a little town where you can't drive your cars into it.  Everyone uses horses.  It was cute.  The skiing was pretty good and though the runs were mostly blue and red (in between blue and black) Trevor seemed to like the runs, too.  Unfortunately, the last third of the day the snow started to fall and it was really wet snow that stuck to our jackets.  We all looked like snowmen from the front and every time we sat on a chair lift, it would all melt and we'd be soaked.  The visibility was awful at that point and on the last run of the day (for everyone, but Trevor) you had no idea what you were skiing.  Everything was just white.  Trevor was good about sticking with me.  Once at the bottom Heather, Matt and I went in while Trevor ate a quick snack and went back to do a few more runs.  We then headed back to Corseaux so that Heather and I could make it for her synchro practice that night.  It was nice watching synchro again.  I had missed it for sure.  It was also interesting how much French I understood, at least when Heather was talking.  Unfortunately, as the practice went on, I started to feel really sick.  I had woken up with a sore throat in the morning, but had thought nothing of it, and then with crashing my head on the snow and getting wet all day, my body had clearly given up.  I was shivering on the pool deck and as soon as we got back to Heather and Matt's, I went straight to bed.  Not a great ending to the day.

Corseaux-Geneva-Gruyere-Corseaux, Switzerland Day 12

April 11, 2010

Day 12 Corseaux-Geneva-Gruyere-Corseaux

We got up and headed to Geneva to see how much we could fit in before heading to have a quick look around Gruyere and then heading back to Corseaux.  When we got into Geneva, things were pretty quiet.  At first we were just going to do either the Red Cross Museum or the walking tour that was in the Lonely Planet guide we had borrowed from Heather and Matt, but as we headed toward the museum, we stumbled upon the UN building where we noticed that they were giving tours, so we went looking for the entrance to see if we could do a tour.  It was a tricky thing find the entrance, but Trevor found it and we went in.  I got a lovely visitors pass (with picture and everything) and then we were told the next tour wasn't for another 40 min and it cost 10 CHF (Swiss francs) each.  If we did the tour, it meant we wouldn't see anything else.  We figured it would be pretty cool, so we said we'd do it, but since the Red Cross Museum was across the street, we figured we'd check out how much things cost over there and what we could do there.  So we paid for the tour, went to the Red Cross Museum, looked around the little portion that was free, a few archive pictures that were displayed, then ran back in time for the UN tour.  The UN tour was pretty neat.  We saw some of the conference rooms, including one where all the countries had their places marked.  We learned a little more about the UN and how it works and where the 4 headquarters are in the world (if you're interested they are in New York, Geneva, Nairobe and Vienna).  It was then off to catch the train to Gruyere, home of the Gruyere cheese.  It was such a cute little, typical Swiss town.  If you picture Switzerland with green grass and mountains and little villages everywhere, you have hit it dead on (at least the rural parts).  Gruyere was up on a hill with a cute little castle on the top.  Along the streets of this village, you could buy cheese, meringues and fondue (specialty of Switzerland).  It was awesome.  We explored a little, bought some of the meringues and bought some cheese at the factory before heading back to Corseaux.  Back in Corseaux, we finally saw Heather and Matt.  It was nice to talk to them and hang out.  We went to the grocery store together and Heather made us a wonderful fondue.  We ate and drank wine and talked until it was time for bed.  It was a lovely evening.  

Milan-Bern-Corseaux, Switzerland Day 11

April 10, 2010

Day 11 Milan-Bern-Corseaux

Our day started at 07:00 rushing to get some breakfast before our train to Brig.  The train ride was nice with great views of the Alps the closer we got to Switzerland.  At one point our train had issues and we had to go back to the nearest station and change trains.  It delayed us a little bit, but wasn't a big deal.  We finally arrived at Bern, a place that we thought we would have to cut out of our trip, but we managed to work it in.  The reason why we went there in the first place was that Albert Einstein lived there and you can walk through his house and there is a museum devoted to him.  So we walked down the cute streets of Bern with statues of jesters in the fountains and made it to Einstein Haus.  Apparently the one floor was the original house.  There were family pictures, pictures of his wife and his kids.  It was really interesting.  We looked around, watched a little movie, finding out that Israel had asked him to be their president and he had declined, and then we headed to the Einstein Museum.  Bern was quite cute and crossing the bridge to the museum allowed us some pretty views of the river.  At the Einstein Museum we learned about the womanizer that Einstein was and got to see a bunch of his belongings including his passports, a letter to President Kennedy, letters to Sigmund Freud and a picture with him and Marie Curie!  Craziness!  We also learned that Trevor is following Einstein's path pretty nicely (I can't wait to see what happens next!)  After pretty much getting kicked out because we stayed until the last possible second, we headed back to the train station to get to Corseaux, where friends of ours live.  I would say Bern was our first introduction to how expensive Switzerland is.  We made it to Corseaux easily and after following the scavenger hunt to find the key to Heather and Matt's home, we finally got in.  Their place is gorgeous, with views of the lake and mountains.  We also met Piper, their cat, who was super adorable.  We spent the rest of the night settling in.  At one point we tried to find a grocery store, but instead found a neighboring field with 3 sheep and 3 little lambs.  They were pretty cute.  We ended up just eating food at Heather and Matt's and going to bed to get ready for the next day.

Nice-Ventimiglia-Milan Day 10

April 9, 2010

Day 10 Nice-Ventimiglia-Milan

We woke up pretty early to try and get some information from the train station.  We went in and lined up and at the front of the line we found out that there were no trains heading to Switzerland this day or the next.  Don't get me wrong, it would have been very lovely to be able to stay in Nice for 2 days, but our schedule didn't work with that plan, especially since we had Heather's kitty cat to worry about.  We figured if we couldn't get into Switzerland the French way, we would try the Italian way.  We had thought we weren't going to see Italy for a long time, but it turned out, we would see it again very soon.  There was a local train to Ventimiglia that was running at 15:23, one of the only trains running this day.  We headed back to the hotel to figure out what our plan was going to be.  Unfortunately, going to Monaco was out of the question because the best way to get there was train and the first one in that direction was the one we would take back to Italy.  We had to decide how far we would go in Italy this day and where we would spend the night.  After all that planning was done, we went to eat at a café on the street and then headed to the Promenade des Anglais to see what the beaches of the French Riviera look like.  It was a beautiful view at the beach and a really nice day to top it off.  I had no idea that the beaches were not sand here.  They were rock all the way along.  We stayed on the beach for about 2 hours, suntanning and enjoying the sound of the ocean and then headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and headed for the train station.  Looking at the boards, it looked like the train we had been told would be running was cancelled, so I went back in line to ask while Trevor went running around trying to figure it out from other sources.  Luckily someone told him everything was good (though he did say that our train was leaving in 2 minutes even though we should have had 20) so he ran and got me and then we ran to the train.  We left on time and headed into Ventimiglia and then booked our Milan tickets and got on to the train for Milan.  This train was like the sleeping train with the 6 seat cabins facing other people.  Near the end of our ride we started talking to the people next to us, who lived in Milan, but were from Chile and USA.  They told us some great info on couch surfing.  We then headed to our hotel through the massive train station of Milan and found it to be an amazingly fancy 4 star hotel.  We finished our night off with a bit of food, some gelati and a movie on the laptop.  At least we were now closer to Switzerland, even if we were behind schedule.

Venice-Bologna-Parma-Le Spezia- Cinque Terre-Le Spezia- Ventimiglia- Nice Day 9

April 8, 2010

Day 9 Venice-Bologna-Parma-Le Spezia- Cinque Terre-Le Spezia- Ventimiglia- Nice

Our first train took us to Bologna, arriving at 02:15.  We had about 2 hours at this station.  The first place we found to sit was the floor at the entrance of the train station.  It was cold and there was a mix of homeless people and other travelers scared to sleep because of the homeless people.  At least we weren't in the "homeless hallway" (my nickname for it) where there were probably about 30 people sleeping.  It was definitely warmer there, but also smellier.  I was not in a good mood since it was 2 in the morning and I was tired.  Thankfully Trevor went hunting for a better, warmer spot and found a seating area (almost full) for us to sit in.  I laid my head on my backpack (like a desk when you're in school) and tried to get some sleep.  Then at 04:15 we caught our next train to Parma and there we had another layover.  We found a seating area there too, but when we opened the door, you could automatically tell that most of the people in there were homeless.  It was warm, but smelly and I told Trevor there was no way I would stay there.  I think almost all the people (if not all of them) were men.  It was crazy.  This time we decided to spend our layover in a café drinking some thick hot chocolate and trying to stay awake until our 06:00 train to Le Spezia.  Once we arrived in Le Spezia, we searched for somewhere to store our back packs, grabbed some breakfast and then hopped on the train to Manarola, one of the 5 villages of Cinque Terre.  All 5 villages are built on cliffs and there is a walking trail linking all 5 towns.  The trail is along the coastline.  We decided to do the hike between Manarola and Vernazza (there are actually 4 trails, and we would be doing 2 of them.)  Apparently the trails get progressively harder and we were going in the direction of harder rather than easier.  Our first hike started with a somewhat difficult uphill portion, but then eased up considerably until the end where you have to climb 382 steps.  The views were incredible.  Some of the little villages could be seen from the trail and they looked so cute with their colorful houses.  The first hike didn't take us too long and we stopped for a quick snack in the village between Manarola and Vernazza, Corniglia.  Then we started the next trail.  It started automatically uphill and it seemed like it wouldn't stop.  It was crazy and the steps were high.  The trail was not flat so you had to pay attention more to the trail than the amazing views.  I was surprised how difficult the trail could be.  They warn you, but you would never guess that it was actually true.  I have to say, though, I was very impressed that no one was wearing flip flops.  I have been on too many hikes and walks where people think it's okay to have flip flops.  Here, everyone had runners or hiking shoes!  Thankfully, about 45 min into our uphill climb, the trail started to head downwards and didn't stop until we got to Vernazza!  With all the downhill, I couldn't imagine walking the trail from the other direction (even though I'm sure our direction was just as bad).  One lady along the way asked how much more uphill and I just couldn't give her false hope so I said, "Lots".  It was not very reassuring, I'm sure.  Once in Vernazza, we had a lovely lunch by the seaside where a group of 4 people sat next to us wearing Hockey Canada caps.  I couldn't help asking where they were from.  Would you believe Saskatchewan?!  Not only that, but then the people behind us chimed in that they were from Calgary!  We had a lovely chat after that about where we had been and where we were going.  It was fun talking to fellow Canadians.  After our good meal, we walked around the rocks a bit and then I headed to the beach to relax a little.  Trevor bought us some gelati and we ate it on the beach.  We then walked around some more and decided that we weren't going to do the last hike and since we were pretty much done in the village, we tried to find a train that would get us into Nice sooner.  We had already booked tickets for one of our trains to Nice and so we asked if we could change our reservation.  Apparently the only way to do that was to head back to Le Spezia.  So, since we were ready to leave, we headed back to Le Spezia.  Waiting in the train station I heard two girls singing the Teletubby song.  It was hilarious.  The train ride was really nice, with views of the sea along the way.  In Le Spezia, we lined up to ask about an earlier train and were told we don't need reservations for the next train, but it would only get us in an hour earlier to Ventimiglia (even though the train left 2.5 hours earlier).  Since we were already there, we took the train.  It was a good train because it had bench seats instead of individual seats, so we took a bench each and we were able to sleep.  We got into Ventimiglia around 22:00 and were waiting for our train into Nice when we started to realize that there might not be a train into Nice.  Trevor ran out and found some internet where he read that the French train drivers were on strike.  Now we started getting into a little bit of a trouble.  We had already booked a hotel in Nice and we didn't want to lose the money, but if we got into Nice, would we be able to get out?  At first we were going to take a taxi in to Nice with another man that needed to get there, but the fear of not getting out of Nice was causing us a bit of an issue, plus the unknown cost of the cab.  Luckily at 23:32, when our train was suppose to leave, a coach bus showed up to take all the people to Nice.  We were talking to some people and they were telling us that the strike was going on since Tuesday and that they already had had problems with the trains.  They told us to get into the train station early the next morning to find out when the next train left Nice to get us to Switzerland.  They were very helpful.  Riding to Nice, we drove through Monaco and saw some of the cool hotels and the Grand Prix track.  At around 01:30 we got into Nice.  Thankfully our hotel was right across the street from the station, so we quickly walked to the hotel and pretty much passed out as soon as we got there.  

Venice, Italy Day 8

April 7, 2010

Day 8 Venice

Our morning began with a lovely breakfast included in our hotel.  It was very nice.  Then it was time to explore Venice.  With the sun shining on the city, I instantly fell in love.  Amazingly beautiful with all the canals and clean little streets (and no cars), it was such a pleasure walking around.  First stop was San Marco Square, the main tourist area on the main island.  Along the way we saw some incredible stationary stores and bakeries and other cute little shops.  It was so awesome.  At the square I noticed some girls feeding pigeons and the pigeons actually landing on their hands.  Trevor had some crackers so we decided to try.  Sure enough, the pigeons started landing on us!  It was so much fun!  Then we decided to go up to the top of the bell tower in the square to see views of Venice.  It was very nice at the top, though maybe not worth the 8 Euro a person to see it.  Next destination was Murano and Burano, islands near Venice that were easily reached by water bus.  Our first stop was Murano.  There were a lot of people waiting to get on to the boat and it just happened that Trevor and I were standing in different parts of the loading area when the bus came and sure enough, we got separated.  Trevor got on the bus and I was stuck trying to tell the guard that my husband was on the boat.  He didn't seem to care too much, saying that there was another bus coming.  Figuring that we both knew we were to head to Murano, I tried not to panic too much and go onto the next boat that came 5 minutes later.  I sat down and tried to stay calm.  Not 30 seconds later Trevor shows up!  Turns out, he got off at the next stop and sprinted back!  Thank goodness!  The trip to Murano was about 20 min.  Murano is apparently famous for its glass and pretty much every store on the island had some sort of glass souvenirs.  They were incredible!  They made little animals (and I'm talking little.  They had ants that were almost as small as ants!) and other different shapes.  We walked around looking at the shops, taking pictures and enjoying the weather.  It was then time to head over to Burano.  Right before we left, Trevor performed a mini rescue.  A little girl (maybe 3 years old) slipped about 4 feet from the sidewalk to a little beach area that Trevor was on.  Trevor grabbed her and handed her back to her parents.  Thankfully she was mostly just shocked.  We took the waterbus over to Burano, an island famous for its colorful houses and it sure was colorful.  Most of the houses were painted very vibrant colors.  They were so pretty.  It made you so happy just walking around and looking at them.  After a bit of walking around, we went back to Venice where we decided it was time to get lost (apparently a must when in Venice).  Trevor is too good at knowing where he is, so it was up to me to get us lost and by the time I was done, I had no idea where I was, but Trevor apparently knew too well.  When we finished with that game, we decided to go back towards San Marco to buy a souvenir that I had only seen there.  Unfortunately, when we got there, the store was closed.  Seeing that people were cleaning inside, Trevor figured he could convince them to give us the items if we had exact change.  Sure enough, they let us in and let us buy the souvenirs.  We then went back to the restaurant we ate at the night before and had some yummy supper.  Going back to our hotel (to pick up luggage) we used some the free internet again before catching the waterbus back to the train station to catch our next train.  Here began the awful night train.  When we got into the train, we were kicked out of our seats by some train workers who decided that they were going to take over our cabin until the next stop, and we had reservations!  I was not happy.  Luckily there were seats in the cabin next door.  We transferred cabins when we got to the next stop, but quickly had to change again because a group of people got split up between 2 cabins and wanted to know if we would switch with them.  We said sure, and moved into a different cabin.  We were in cabins of 6 people, 3 on each side facing each other.  It's definitely an interesting way to have to sleep, but thankfully we got a few hours in before our first destination.

Venice, Italy Day 7

April 6, 2010

Day 7 Rimini-Pisa-Venice

I woke up today thinking that we might have been wrong about what time our train departed.  It's a good thing I woke up, because it turned out instead of our train leaving at 07:30 like I had said the day before, it actually left at 07:01, so needless to say, we were rushed.  Thankfully we made the train, starting our insane trip for the day.  We took a train from Rimini through Bologna to Firenze (Florence) to get to Pisa.  In Pisa, we walked 20 min to the leaning tower of Pisa.  Very cool!  Definitely leaning, it is also falling a part.  They had boundaries preventing anyone from coming within 3 metres of the building.  We had wanted to go up to the top of the tower, but unfortunately the earliest tour was 15 min before our next train left.  We were there around 11:30 and the earliest tour was at 14:40!  I had tried to book tickets before, but had a heck of a time finding the site on line, so we lost out on that opportunity.  Oh well.  We took a bunch of pictures and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and then headed back to the train station.  Our next train took us from Pisa to Firenze and then to Venice (through Bologna, though we didn't change trains this time).  It was amazing driving into Venice.  The water was everywhere.  It looked so gorgeous.  At the station, we did some more booking of tickets, got ourselves all the info we needed then headed to catch a waterbus (a ferry of sorts) to get to our hotel.  It was an awesome boat ride.  By the time we got to our hotel, it was dark.  We had some dinner next door (very yummy) walked around a little bit and then spent some time using our free internet at the hotel.  It was a good day.

Rome-Naples-Pompeii-Naples-Rome-Rimini, Italy Day 6

April 5, 2010

Day 6 Rome-Naples-Pompeii-Naples-Rome-Rimini, Italy

Today begins at 06:00.  We had to leave our hotel at this time to make it to our 06:45 train to Napoli (Naples).  The train ride was pretty uneventful, but very comfortable.  Once in Naples we had an interesting time trying to figure out where to go to take the train to Pompeii.  Thankfully, Trevor worked wonders as usual and got us onto the train we wanted.  A short ride got us into Pompeii and then it was a 15 min hike with our backpacks to get to the Pompeii Ruins.  We had planned to store our luggage in a storage locker at the train station, but there weren't any that we could see.  Luckily, there was an area at the Ruins.  The Pompeii Ruins are ruins after Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD (I think).  They were pretty incredible.  You could just imagine what the city looked like.  A really cool thing at the ruins was the plaster of paris casts of the victims.  Some of them had the bones!  You could see their facial expressions at the time of their death.  It was crazy.  After about 3 hours of walking around, we headed back to the train station to get on a train back into Napoli, where we grabbed a slice of pizza (it is, after all, where pizza was invented), booked another train (one of the one's you must reserve) then headed to the train to Rome.  This was a super speedy train.  It made your ears pop.  They even served us like in an airplane.  That was nice.  We got drinks and a snack.  When we had reached Rome, they even gave us an Easter egg chocolate on the way out!  Then it was off to catch our final train of the day, to Rimini.  The plan in Rimini was to visit one of Trevor's University friends, who just happened to be there at the same time, and to see if we could get to San Marino (another country to check off the list).  I decided I was too tired to care, and left Trevor to do some running around Rimini to see if he could manage to check off these two items.  After having a lovely late evening meal, I headed back to the hotel to read while Trevor went off.  Unfortunately nothing worked out.  At least we had a good hotel really close to the train station.  It was time to sleep before another crazy day.

Rome, Italy Day 5

April 4, 2010

Day 5 Rome, Italy

I figured we should get to the Vatican earlier than the day before so that we could get good seats and it's a darn good thing we did!  Thinking that the weather would be similar to the last few days (gorgeous), I didn't bring a jacket, just my scarf to keep me warm for the first hour or so.  That was a mistake.  When we got out of the metro it started to sprinkle a little bit.  I figured it was no big deal and that it would stop.  There was an amazing amount of people heading to the Vatican already, even though mass was at 10:15 and it was only 08:30.  We walked as fast as possible, by-passing as many people as we could and passing all the vendors trying to sell us umbrellas.  I still thought we were in the clear, weather wise.  When we got to the wall of Vatican City, the guards had it blocked off to everyone.  You had to stand in line.  Trevor found a huge gap in the line and we snuck ourselves in pretty close to the front.  You have to understand that the line was probably 10 people thick, kind of like a big crowd of people swarming.  It took a little bit of patience, and finally a small group of us was let in to get in line at the security screening.  Once past that point, it was a mad rush to find some good spots in the same place that we had sat the night before.  Thankfully this time the Pope was going to be outside as well.  Trevor found us some great seats, while I got us some great souvenir mass books.  And then we waited.  The longer we waited, the worse the weather was looking.  It started to rain.  I hid under my scarf (it was big, so it did a great job hiding me from the rain) while Trevor curled himself up with his Gortex jacket.  Behind us was guy praying the rosary annoyingly loud.  I think Trevor wanted to punch him.  At 10:15, mass began and for the second time this trip, we saw the Pope live.  It was awesome.  Mind you, almost the entire time we were looking at the Pope through umbrellas and people's shoulders, but it was still very cool.  About halfway through the mass, some nuns sitting behind us offered us an umbrella.  That made the mass much easier to sit through.  I was cold and wet, but excited.  Then, for the briefest moment, the rain stopped and I was able to get a bunch of pictures, but it was not to last.  After the mass finished (only 2 hours this time), we waited because people weren't moving and then I realized that the Pope was going to the balcony to address the people.  Everyone clapped when he came out.  After a while of listening to him speak in Italian, we decided to start heading out before the crowd.  This seemed like a great plan, but it turned out others had the same plan and worse than that, there was only on way to get out of St. Peter's Square.  Trevor called it a mosh pit.  We were pushed from all sides, packed together ridiculously close.  It was crazy.  At one point, a girl grabbed my arm and walk with me for a while.  A little weird, but we bounded over the fact that we both spoke English.  And then we were out.  It was still raining and I no longer had my umbrella (or other people's umbrella's to hide under as I did during our exit).  I was soaking.  We decided to head back to the hotel so that I could take a hot shower and warm up.  We tried to get down to the Metro, but it was crazy packed.  Good thing if you crossed the street, the other entry was completely empty.  We headed back to the hotel, I took a hot shower and we hung out for a while before venturing out again.  We had wanted to go to the Catacombs, but apparently they were closed due to Easter, so we went back to the Vatican after eating a lovely lunch at our downstairs restaurant.  I wanted to see the inside of St. Peter's Basilica and after waiting for 40 min in a line that went almost all the way around the edge of St. Peter's square, we were in.  We happened to be there just in time to see the start of another mass (this one not lead by the Pope).  Then we walked around taking pictures of the crazy huge and very pretty Basilica.  Other churches around Rome had nicer paintings or better decorations, but this one was by far the biggest with crazy huge marble statues.  It was neat.  With no more plans, we headed back to the hotel to spend our evening there (mentally preparing for the insanity of the next day).  We bought a 3 Euro 1.5L bottle of wine and shared it.  It wasn't that good, but what do you expect for 3 Euro.  And that is how we ended our stay in Rome.

Rome, Italy Day 4

April 3, 2010

Day 4 Rome, Italy

We had an early start to our day today because we had bought Skip the Line tickets and they were for a set time…8am!!!  So off we went and even though we were early (7:45) there was a line in the reserved area as well as in the non reserved area.  It was crazy.  Lucky for us, as soon as the building opened, we were let in (super quick too) and now we had the museum (or museums I should say) to almost ourselves.  We didn't have to fight through a crowd at all.  It was amazing.  Almost in every room the ceiling was painted and all the ceiling paintings were outstanding.  At the same time almost all the floors had mosaics or some cool design and even the walls were sometimes outrageously painted.  And then there was all the stuff.  There was just so much to see.  It was overwhelming!  So awesome.  There were a few places where there was a hallway and along the entire hallway were Roman statues (both sides).  That was super cool.  As part of the Vatican Museum(s) we had access to the Sistine Chapel.   Now that was cool.  It is just amazing how much work was put into it.  We saw the very famous Creation of Man.  I would have thought it would be bigger than all the rest of the scenes, but it almost blended in.  But it was cool, none-the-less.  Another neat thing in the centre of the museums was a courtyard and right in the centre of the courtyard was this gold colored ball that looks like it is splitting apart with a smaller sphere inside.  We've seen a similar one (smaller) in Washington DC and Trevor says there is one in San Francisco.  There was no caption, no artist named and Trevor has a theory of what it is, but I'll let you ask him if you're interested.  Definitely stuck out like a sore thumb there though.  After 3 hours of wandering (you stop appreciating the amazing things after a while, to be honest) and after mailing a couple of postcards through the Vatican Post, we were off again.  When we left the Vatican Museum, we saw proof of what it would have been like had we not booked tickets in advance.  The line (at least 5 people thick) wrapped around 3 walls.  It was ridiculous!  I'm so glad I found the "Skip the Line" ticket option.  We needed to pick up our tickets for mass tonight and tomorrow and when we  went to the info place the lady said it was probably too late, but we could wait in line to get into St. Peter's Basilica, go through security and the office was in there.  The line for the Basilica was longer than to get into the Vatican Museums!  It was absolutely insane and there was no way we'd make it in time to get the tickets.  I was devastated.  This is what I had come to do, go to Easter Mass at the Vatican, and I wouldn't be able to without the ticket!  What would we do?  Thankfully I have a husband who makes miracles happen and knows how to handle me when I'm stressed and after sitting me down he went by himself and 10min later produced the tickets!!!  He's amazing!  Next, it was time to eat and after getting sucked in by a lady advertising on the street, we went to eat at her restaurant only to be ripped off.  It was awful.  They were going to charge us 14 Euro more than they had said!  I was really angry, but didn't show it too much.  I was hoping Italians were better than that, but I guess there's bad apples everywhere.  We then walked around a market we found and headed to the Cappuchin Crypts.  This was super cool and disgusting.  They took the bones of monks and decorated the walls of 4 little rooms.  They even had skeletons dressed up as monks and chandeliers made of bones.  Really amazing.  At the end of the little area is a sign that reads "As you are, we once were.  As we are, you will be".  Interesting thought.  It was back to the hotel after this for a nap before mass.  Mass was at 21:00 and we decided to back to the Vatican about an hour before it started. When we got there, there were a lot of people there already and after asking a few Vatican guards who didn't speak English where to go we figured out we should stand in line to get into St.Peter's Basilica.  Once through we quickly headed to get seats outside and I thought I was pretty good and had gotten great front row seats when all of a sudden the guards let through a bunch of people into the actual church.  At that point I realized that mass (and the Pope) was going to be inside and our tickets didn't give us priority seating inside.  It was a first come first serve and we didn't come soon enough to get the privilege of being inside.  There were TV screens and speakers so that we could be part of the action, but from the outside.  Many people tried to sneak in, but got caught, so we didn't push our luck.  We sat outside for over 3 hours!  It was really cold!  I was probably shivering for an hour!  The mass  was interesting, but not what I had had in mind when I reserved the tickets.  We ended up getting back to the hotel around 00:30 since the mass went until 00:00.  We had to go to sleep so that we could get back to the Vatican early for the next mass.

Rome, Italy Day 3

April 2, 2010

Day 3  Rome, Italy

Definitely feel the burn on the feet from today.  Today was a day with a lot of "to do's" to check off including moving hotels and reserving train tickets.  So we got up (with difficulty on my part.  I could have slept another 2 hours.), ate our breakfast of Melba style toast with jam and cream cheese, chocolate croissants and some sort of pastry as well as choice of hot drink and fizzing orange/lemon juice while looking at the awesome view, and then caught the bus/train/metro to our new hotel.  We were now in the heart of Rome (or at least pretty close).  It took us a while to get in contact with our B&B people (we're actually staying with people in their own apartment), but they finally came.  They're a super nice older couple.  Very limited English which makes it all that much more authentic!  And then we were off.  Today we decided to explore the National museum of Rome (which gives you access to 4 sites as a combo ticket).  One of the sights wasn't open today and I am so thankful it wasn't.  I don't think my feet could take anymore today. After we booked our tickets at the Termini (which looks like an airport) we went to hunt down the museum.  First we stumbled upon a church called Basilica Santa Maria Degli Angeli E Dei Martiri which turned out to be super cool.  There was a sundial meridian thing on the floor of the church that at certain times each day will have a beam of sunlight hit it and tell us what time of year (what day) it is!  Super cool.  It had gorgeous decorations (mostly paintings) and a lot of information on Galileo and the church.  Then we headed to the first museum which had a ridiculous amount of typical Roman statues and pillars.  It had a beautiful courtyard and some of the statues were outside.  It was really neat.  The next museum was close by and had a lot more heads of statues (it's as if it's rare to find a whole statue.  They either have a body or a head, but not both).  There was also a huge coin collection dating as far back as the 2^nd century!  They also had a collection of beautiful tile mosaics.  Unbelievable!  After seeing all the museum had to offer, it was off to find the third museum.  We ended up at the Spanish steps on the way there.  They're amazing and the amount of people there was just incredible.  Right in front of the steps is a street with designer store after designer store.  We're talking Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Jimmy Choo, Cartier, etc!  It was crazy.  I can't even imagine how much money is on that street!  Walking down that street Trevor got us to the last museum of the day.  This one was in a building that itself was a ruin and in parts of the building you could see what the original looked like including ceiling paintings.  It was awesome!  We figured we were done for the day, but ended up at the Colosseum after taking a wrong bus.  We decided that since we were hungry and it was 20:00 already, we would find a restaurant and hang out until the Way of the Cross Mass started at 21:15 by the Colosseum.  After pushing our way through the crowd (after supper), we got to see the Pope!!!  We only stayed until the 4 th Station of the Cross and figured it was time to get back because we have a crazy early day tomorrow.  The crowd was amazing and much less pushy than you'd expect for the amount of people.  It was great being a part of it, but my feet were just crying out, so home we headed.  Until tomorrow…

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Rome, Italy Day 2

April 1, 2010

DAY 2  Rome, Italy

Today was a day of exploring.  First, we had breakfast at our hotel in the cutest breakfast nook.  It had views of the mountains.  It was awesome.  Then we were off.  Our challenge was getting into Rome from Monterotondo which ended up not being as much difficult as long.  It took us about 1.5 hours to get into town, but once there we went straight to the Colosseum.  It was incredible.  One thing that is really amazing is that it is in the middle of Rome among all the streets and chaos.  The amount of tourists was incredible and even more amazing was the amount of people who spoke English with a Canadian/American accent (tour guides included!)  We went inside the Colosseum and lucky for us we had purchased Roma Passes which allowed us to bud a ridiculous amount of people and pretty much walk right in!  It was awesome.  The Colosseum was incredible and I can only imagine what it looked like so many years ago.  After taking it all in, we grabbed a snack (panini and pizza with Trevor commenting "It's like the Italian market") and then we headed into the Palatino where we walked amongst a bunch of ruins which were really cool, though it reminded me a little bit of Egypt, in the sense that there were parts of columns lying all over and no one cared if you sat on them or touched them.  They're a little more careful about preserving the artifacts, but not all of them.  It was a beautiful day.  The sun was out and the weather was warm.  It was prefect weather for a walk. Palatino's ruins were not your typical Roman ruins.  It just looked like brick buildings and walls that had been damaged.  After walking around Palatino, we headed to the Roman Forum.  This was more like what you would imagine Roman ruins to look like.  Some of the typical columns were still standing.  After a lot of walking and picture taking (even though my camera was being fussy) we decided to head for the Pantheon.  Since mass was in progress we headed to the Trevi fountain to toss our coins in.  This is an amazing fountain!  It was huge!  It is said if you toss a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, it will ensure your return to Rome.  Figuring we still had time before mass ended we went to buy gelati at a place recommended by a girl on the internet who said it was the best gelati, San Crispino.  It was pretty amazing and very much a Cold Stone/Marble Slab type place with incredible selection.  I got chocolate meringue and honey and Trevor got lemon and banana cream.  It was awesome!  Then it was back to the Pantheon, a church that has an incredible ceiling.  It is dome shaped with a hole/skylight in the centre.  Pretty amazing.  After this incredible day it was time to eat and we chose a restaurant in the square and were entertained the entire time by a clown, a live band and an opera singer.  It was great.  Unfortunately I didn't like the food much at this restaurant (and it was way too expensive), but no big deal.  Better luck next time.  We headed back to Monterotondo, and though we thought we were going to be in trouble with the buses and train, we lucked out and made it home safe and sound.  I wonder what adventures await us tomorrow!

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