Oh boy where to start...
I got back from my week long trip with Megan last night and for the amount of traveling we did, I'm surprisingly not as tired as I thought. I still am not 100% sure I know where we were some of the time but I'll try and piece it all together. I've split the trip into two parts, Italy and Austria (with a few other places thrown in here and there).
Italy:
My journey started last Monday when I took a flight to Nice in France to meet up with Megan who had gotten there a few days earlier to see a friend from school. Waiting for the bus at the airport to get into town, all I could think about was how much the place reminded me of Hawaii. There were palm trees everywhere, tourists in khaki shorts, and it was hot and humid. I met up with Megan at the train station. We had about an hour and half to kill so we walked around the town a little and then caught the first of what was to be many trains. After a brief connection in Ventimiglia in Italy, we made our way to Genoa. We got there around 8 PM and the streets were deserted. After checking into our hostel, which had a surprising amount of people there for it being a Monday in Genoa, we tried to find a store but everything in the city with the exception of two restaurants was closed. Genoa is an odd place. In the morning after not knowing where our train station was and sprinting to the train, we got on with about two minutes to spare and headed to Cinque Terre.
 |
| Genoa |
Cinque Terre, or the five lands, is a stretch along the coast of the Italian Riviera. The little towns are close together and can either be traveled between by hiking or train. The towns of Cinque Terre are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. Once we settled into out hostel in Manarola, we got a quick breakfast (drank the best orange juice I've ever had...freshly squeezed) and walked around the town. Walk really is not the right word to use here. Almost everywhere people "walk" usually consists of hiking up very steep hills. The scenery was stunning! Whether you looked at the buildings that made up the town, the water, the huge green hills, or the vineyards, everything was spectacular!
 |
| Cinque Terre |
If I remember correctly, we took a train to Monterosso and after exploring a bit, hiked from there to Vernazza. The hike was pretty intense! It was a lot of very steep uphill but the views made it all worthwhile. We were able to soak our feet in the ocean once we got to Vernazza and the water was perfect! We hung around the town for the night and watched the lights come on from a viewpoint on one of the hills.
 |
| Cinque Terre |
The next morning we took a train to Riomaggiore and looked around followed by taking another train to Corniglia. We hiked from there to Vernazza. This hike was not nearly as tough going in our direction and also offered amazing views. After heading to the beach again, we got a train to Monterosso and hopped on a ferry that took us along the coastline to Riomaggiore where we got on another train back to Manaraola. The view of Cinque Terre from the water was, once again, absolutely amazing! That night we got some fresh seafood pasta (I had octopus for the first time and had no idea how to eat it) and watched the sun go down on "our" town.
In the morning we headed back to Monterosso and walked around a little before saying goodbye to Cinque Terre.
 |
| Cinque Terre |
Our train took us to Milan but was late and the train we were supposed to connect with was leaving about ten minutes after we arrived. This was one of the only portions of our journey we didn't already have tickets for so we missed the train. This posed a problem because the place we were staying for the night in Verona had a strict cutoff for checking in and we were worried we wouldn't make it. After waiting a ridiculously long amount of time in the ticket line and witnessing what appeared to be a group of pickpockets scouting out potential victims, we booked a train to Verona.
 |
| The Arena |
We ended up making it to our bed and breakfast in time and were able to relax a little after a stressful past few hours. Megan and me headed into town and saw some of the sites such as the Verona Arena and Juliet's Balcony from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Seeing as the story is fictional, we were slightly confused as to how the balcony we looked at was the balcony. Verona was a neat city and I would like to spend some more time there.
 |
| Juliet's Balcony |
Austria:
This brings us up to Friday. Megan and I went from Verona to Innsbruck in Austria, which was a beautiful train ride! When we arrived, we met up with Megan's college friend Gwynne who lives and "works" in Bludenz, Austria and her friend Katy. We walked around the town a little and soaked in the amazing views of the Alps. The four of us hiked up a steep hill and got to the ski jump used in the 1964 Olympics. That jump was steep! The pictures don't do it any justice. After taking a tram to the top, we got a gorgeous view of Innsbruck.
 |
| Innsbruck |
 |
| Ski Jump |
|
The next day Megan and I got on yet another train and moved on over to Salzburg with every intention to recreate The Sound of Music.
We decided to go on a tour which was way overpriced but definitely convenient. The tour took us along with a large group of other Sound of Music nerds to the lake where Maria and the kids fall out of the boat and we could also see the backyard of the Von Trapp house as portrayed in the movie. Our next stop was the famous gazebo in "16 Going on 17" which had been moved after filming to a park. With the soundtrack playing, we then headed up to the lake district where all of the shots at the beginning of the movie were filmed. It was stunning! Next was the church where Maria and the Captain got married. After driving on an autobahn, we got back to Salzburg. Megan and I then continued our own tour in town, going to the Mirabell Gardens where a lot of Do-Re-Mi was shot and many other various locations around the city. It started to rain pretty hard but we trudged through and ended the day with watching the movie (the hostel we were staying at showed it every night).
 |
| Lake and Backyard |
|
 |
| The Gazebo |
 |
| The tour bus |
The day is now Sunday and we took a train to Bludenz to meet back up with Gwynne. We ended up going to the Fohrenburg beer festival where we met up, once again, with Katy and two others. For dinner, we rode the rail to Feldkirch and got giant schnitzel in the courtyard of a castle.
 |
| Beer fest |
In the morning, I got up and said goodbye to Megan and Gwynne and then headed, via train, to Zurich, Switzerland where my flight back to Dublin was departing from. I was able to spend the whole day in Zurich which was fun! I had heard how expensive Switzerland was and the rumors were true! There was a food stand selling normal hot dogs for the equivalence of about 7 euro! I got kind of sad in Zurich because it was going to be my last place in mainland Europe. I had to stop for a second when I exited one of the churches because it was probably the last church I would go into in Europe for a while.
 |
| Zurich |
It was also a depressing thought when I got to the Dublin airport that the next time I would be there will be to go back to the US. Even on the shuttle bus I was thinking that the next time I buy a ticket, it will only be for one way.
Although it was a lot of traveling, it was a great week and I got to see a lot of really amazing things!
-----
I think I missed describing one train connection but other than that I believe I covered everything. As you can tell, it was a lot of trains and a lot of walking/hiking! My legs were a little mad at me a few times throughout the week. I now need to get the motivation to study for exams. My first, and probably the hardest, is accounting on Thursday. Then I have a few days until my next test on Saturday.
Wish me luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment