Austria: Salzburg

The hills are alive.....

Is what kept playing in my head as we ventured around the scenic town that inspired the Sound of Music.

When we arrived in Salzburg, we were feeling a little culture shocked. The city was clean and orderly-- People actually stop for you at crosswalks! No one hassles you to eat at their cafe or restaurant. It felt a bit like home.

When we arrived, we were tired and frazzled. Our 8 hour night train had been our worst commute of the trip thus far, but we were partly to blame.

We arrived at the Venice train station 30 minutes early, and were ready when the train pulled up. It was a very busy train with many people getting on, and so we pushed into our car with all of our bags and quickly found our carriage. When we opened the door, a man and three girls looked up at us.

"Hi" Said Steve, "I belive we have seats 56 and 57."

They stared blankly at us.

"Are you sure?" Said the man.

"Yes," Steve said.

Still no one moved. They looked at eachother again.

Meanwhile, the small hallway was filling up with people unable to get around our large turtle-backs, and I was feeling impatient.

"See, here's our ticket" Said Steve.

The man mumbled in reply and the girls still didn't move. Behind us people were impatient and starting to close in on us.

"Well, you should maybe just get up and let us in so we can let the 100 people behind us get to their seats" I heard my voice say, in it's most authoritative and teacher-like tone.

Ooops. This is going to be a looong ride.

They moved and one girl shuffled out to a different car. Steve grabbed my hand to calm me down and did his best to smile and smooth things over.

It turned out our seat-mates were a teacher and some students on their way back to Vienna after a short field trip to Venice. We chatted and made small talk until the Italian train ticketer came to check our tickets. Steve handed him ours through mid-conversation.

"This is for yesterday" The man interrupted.

I felt my face begin to drain.

"I could kick you off and fine you" He said.

Steve and I looked at eachother.

Shoot....

"We bought it yesterday from a teller.....she might have misunderstood" Steve said.

"Well, you're lucky. It's a busy train, but I will let you stay. Next time, check the ticket."

The teacher and his students began to laugh. We felt so stupid!

Now we felt like invaders, making the small carriage extra crowded when they could have had it to themselves. I felt even more like a dummy for being so rude. It was a good reminder of having patience and grace for all situations.

We spent the next 7 hours in the cramped car, with broken a/c (again!), unable to sleep. By the time we arrived in Salzburg it was 4am and we spent another 3 hours in the station waiting for a coffee shop to open so we could eat and figure out how to get to the hotel.

When we finally arrived the hotel we were informed check in was not until 3pm. We were so exhausted. We stored our bags and took my travel blanket to a park where we found a patch of grass and napped until our room was ready. I'd say we played the part of dirty backpackers very well that day!

Fortunately, the rest of Salzburg was not like the trip to get there. The town is a beautiful medieval city placed at the foot of the gorgeous alps, with a green glacial river running through it. At times it almost seemed like we were in Banff, until we looked up and saw beautiful castles and fortresses pearched on mountainsides.

While were were there we visited Mozart's childhood home, which was fascinating to see. We also went to the Hohensalzburg Castle, a fortress overlooking the city. It was built orginally by the romans, but was re-created by one of the archbishops in 1077 and is one of the largest fortresses in Europe. It was expanded over many years and was only under seige once in 1595 when a few peasants tried to oust one of the archbishops. In the 1800's it was used duirng the Napoleonic war, and in the 1900's it was used as a barracks for the army, and then became a prison during both world wars. It eventually became a museum.

It was very interesting to see how it had changed over time, and some of the rooms are still set up with displays from the world wars.

Aside from the sights, we mainly enjoyed getting out in the fresh air. I went for a few runs along the river and enjoyed running toward a beautiful castle. On one of my runs, I had quite the shock! I almost tripped over a hedgehog! It took my brain a few seconds to adjust, but there it was--fat and waddling around, looking for some food to scavenge. Steve was excited to get the report when I came back, and we googled and learned that they are all over Europe. Crazy!

After a very relaxing time in Salzburg, blessed with hot weather, we hopped on the next train to Kaufering, Germany to visit some friends.

Italy:Venice

Venice is famous for Gondolas and Canals, bright colored buildings and romance.

We arrived in Marghera, a suburb of Venice in the late afternoon. The sun was very hot, and the airconditing on the train had stopped working at the start of our journey so we were sweaty and tired.

Our hotel was a cozy inn close to the train station that was run by a Chinese-Italian family and was marketed specifically for Asian tour groups. It was an interesting blend of cultures, and from the start we enjoyed sitting in the lobby and watching the owner speak Italian with a Chinese accent.

Because Venice is very small, it is hard to find accomodation right on the island, and it is also very expensive. It was only a 10 minute train to get accross, so it made it worth it for us to stay where we did.

When we left the train and walked up to the Grand Canal we were both stunned. Venice in person is even more beautiful than we could have imagined. Some people notice a smell from the sometimes stagnant water of the canals, but we came at the right time of year when the water levels are still high and moving from the spring rains.

We spent hours just getting lost. We walked through tight back alleys and walkways that led to a dead ends at the water or an ancient brick walls. We watched flocks of Asian tourists take gondola rides through the canals with singing drivers and stopped every few blocks to taste something new. It was a great way to enjoy Venice.

Because one of the obvious tourist things to do is take a boat ride, we toyed with the idea of renting a water taxi to drive through the grand canal, but it was pricy. Instead, we decided on the public transport boats. These boats are set up similar to city public transit, and are relatively cheap compared to the huge inflated prices of other comercial or private boats. It seemed like a great way to see the sights at a low price... until we hopped on one. Once we got to the dock we were herded in like a bunch of cats and it was absolute chaos-- people stopping in the middle of the traffic flow to take pictures or pushing their way to the outside edges of the boat. Apparently everyone had the same idea. By the time we got moving, we were stuck in the middle of a hot and sweaty mob with a transit worker yelling at everyone constantly in order to keep the flow when we stopped at different stations. We couldn't see past everyone and so it was quite pointless, but worth the experience I guess!


One of the things I found most interesting about Venice was venetian culture. I didn't realize that masqurade balls and mardi gras were started here. It began as the carnival of Venice, where people would come wearing elaborite masks. It begins on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It was started as a victory celebration in 1162. People would dance in the square, and it became especially popular in the renaissance period. It was eventually outlawed for religious reasons by staunch catholic Austrian powers, and did not begin again until the 1970's when the Italian government sought to bring the festival and history back to Italians. There were hundreds of shops selling beautiful masks and figurines.

Our last day in Venice was spent killing time before we were to catch our train to Salzburg, Austria. The train was an overnight train and so we stored our bags and headed over to the island again to find some tasty snacks. Steve really wanted to eat a big merangue puff covered in chocolate, so we hunted one down while I tried some homemade gelato. Life was grand.

At nine we made our way back to the hotel to pick up the bags for our spur-of-the-moment trip to Austria.

Next stop:Salzburg!

Italy: Florence

When I pictured Italy, my sister's favorite movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, always came to mind.

The movie is about a woman who moves to Italy to have a second chance; she buys an old house in the Tuscan countryside and fixes it up. It portrays Italy as a romantic and spiritual place. Arriving in Florence by train through the Tuscan wineries and rolling hills brought on a strange sense of nostalgia ; false memories of events I haven't lived through, yet have made an impression on me. After visiting Florence there is no wonder why it is attractive to so many.

We stayed in an Italian woman's childhood home through a website we sometimes use for accommodation called Air Bnb. The website has listings for places all over the world in people's homes or space for rent, and it usually has some pretty cheap options. We were thankful to find a room in Florence that didn't break our budget, since it is a very expensive city.

When we got to Beatrice's apartment, who we had communicated with over email through the help of google translate, we had an interesting time trying to sort out the details with her. But, she was very sweet and made small jokes as she tried to explain how to use the ancient appliances in her house for cooking and laundry and orient us to our surroundings (She herself didn't live in the house, it was a rental only and we shared it with a group of Asian tourists).

We mostly spent our time in Florence walking around the old centre and admiring the beautiful detail on the outside of the churches and royal buildings. We also visited the museum of science that featured inventions from Galeleo. It was amazing to see how far technology has come in a relatively short time, and it was also very cute to see Steve get excited about certain mathematic theories and grand inventions.

After spending around 10 hours each day walking, the highlight of our second day was going to the grocery store and buying some food to cook. It was the first time that we had a full kitchen to make use of, and we were happy to eat something other than McDonald's and fast food-- something that is unavoidable when you need to keep meals on the cheap.

We bought our dinner and headed to the apartment and climbed into the elevator. By this time my feet were aching and I was hot. The groceries felt really heavy in my hands and I had to pee. I was dancing around the elevator uncomfortably when Steve's curiosity piqued up. The land lady had told us not to touch the inward swinging door in the elevator while it was in use, so naturally Steve decided to open it while we were going up to see what would happen. Before I could stop him the alarm rang and the elevator slammed to a halt.

He looked at me. We didn't exchange words. My look of death was so sullen and fierce that he shrank back and put up his hands. When he finally caught his breath he said "I'm sorry! I just had to push it!"

I didn't reply. Only stared.

"Ummmm....what should we do?"

I shrugged.

"Maybe someone will find us?"

I shrugged again.

We stood there. In awkward silence. The grocery bags were pulling on our arms, reminding me of the delicious food we were so close to preparing. It made me even more aggravated.

Just as Steve was about to start climbing into the elevator shaft, the magic of the universe kicked in and saved his butt. The lift started moving up. With a sigh of relief, Steve said, "I knew it would start again."

I just sighed. After using the bathroom and eating dinner, I found my words again.

The rest of our adventures in Florence are not much to read about, but were very relaxing and romantic for us.We walked hand in hand, and enjoyed eachothers company as we took in beautiful sights. One of the highlights of Florence is the famous bridge that still has a few medieval houses built into it-- they were built buy people who wanted to avoid paying land taxes. It was a very picturesque bridge filled with buskers, vendors, and tourists.

By the time we left Tuscany I was still feeling full from fresh pasta and Lemoncellos, and thought of my sister and the times we enjoyed living vicariously through Diane Lane. It made me realize how much we love living life with others at home. Although it was amazing to see the rolling hillside, I wouldn't trade 20 Tuscany's for a night on the couch in Pajamas with my sister watching movies.



Beautiful house bridge:

Scooters everywhere!

Cool cathedral:

Galileo museum

One of the first electric motors ever:

Galileos finger! A little morbid we thought: