Bountiful Buddies in Barcelona

Finding B words can be tough, I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't give up this whole aliteration business, expecially with stops like Bruge and Brussels coming up. Anyway, we arrived on time in Barcelona, or five minutes early as our eager to please pilot pointed out. From the out of town airport taking a 12 euro bus into town seemed to be the best option. I believe Ryan Air is getting a cut of that action though, so all in all considering the time, effort and money involved, our cheap flight wasn't such a bargain, but it did get us there in decent time and our experience with overnight trains hasn't been great so far. After a train into town, we hopped on the metro and made for the apartment that my parents rented for the next 4 days. We found it with no problems thanks to wayfinder and my GPS, but I guess my family had thought we would be there sooner and were anxiously awaiting our arrival and a search party had already been sent out. Once the search party returned we all sat around and caught up and it was a good time. After we were done catching up we all made for our beds. Me and Cara were a bit disappointed to find our old friend the twin beds pushed together but we slept well nonetheless.

Sunday morning we woke up and got our bearings. We took advantage of the washing machine in the apartment and did some much needed laundry. We had some breakfast and after only 2.5 hours our one load was done washing. We hung them out to dry and then took the troop out for a day of sight seeing. We heard the Gaudi 'Park Guell' was a must so we headed there by metro and then took a good km walk to the park. It was pretty cool and lots of the ideas for the architecture was very inventive. After a few hours and many photos later we headed out in search of some more Gaudi sights. We found a famous apartment building of Gaudi's and then stopped at a cafe for some drinks and a bite to eat. Unfortunately there was no drink menu (a disturbingly recurring theme in Barcelona) and we found the meal quite pricey on the drink end of things when we went to pay. Oh well you really have to shrug off the bad and just remember the good. After the cafe we made our way to the famous cathedral of the Sagrada Familia. This cathedral is a mammoth undertaking by Gaudi and was started in 1882. They believe it might be done by 2030. We paid for the lift up one of the tower and enjoyed a good view from a precarious tower. It is quite crazy when you consider that the majority of the building is stone. I probably wouldn't think much of a structure like this if it was concrete or steel, but to see such a building of stone is a sight indeed. Some our our group took the lift back down, but me and my dad were adventurous and took the incredibly windy stairs down. We spent a few hours wondering around before realizing that there was a museum underneath. We toured the museum and learned even more. I was particularily interested in a design method Gaudi was using where he would use string and little sand bags to make complicated designs overtop a mirror so that when you looked into the mirror you could see a structure that when built with stone (high compression strength) would be very sturdy. Ingenious. After all those stairs and learning we were a bit hungry and there was an all you can eat buffee near so we took part. We and Cara were thankful for the veggies and loaded up on those. It's amazing how much meat, cheese and bread we've eaten since being here. After dinner we all headed home and after some social time we took some time of the bed variety.

Monday morning we woke up and after the Gaudi packed previous day, decided to have a little less busy day. We headed down to La Rambla for some people watching and eventually found some good shopping areas where Caleigh and Cara were more than happy to do some shopping. And Cara finally found some scarves and I was happy for her and also myself, because that meant that we wouldn't have to pester every scarf dealer from here to Scandinavia, hehe. After the clothing stores, we hit the food market just off La Rambla. We picked up some fresh shrimp and some other things to make dinner with, then we headed back to the apartment where we had a delicious dinner. Cara helped cook dinner and was happy to get some cooking in, because cutting up cheese doesn't really constitute cooking and so we haven't done any cooking all trip really. Dinner was great thanks to a group effort and shortly after we all headed to bed.

Tuesday we all got up and after breakfast headed down to the extremely well priced internet cafe (50 cents for 40min beats the hell out of 5 euro for 1 hour {Venice}). My mom hadn't printed off her flight info for her flight to Rome (leaving next day). After some frantic searching for an e-mail that possibly never got sent, 1 phone call to Visa and a few phone calls to an airline, we managed to get it somewhat sorted out. Meanwhile I updated the blog again and we looked ahead for accommodations in Belgium. After an action packed morning we headed back to the apartment and then headed out for some more sight seeing. We basically just made our way down to the water with a mind to see the aquarium (Europe's largest). At 16 euro it was pretty pricey, but we needed the air conditioning and we thought it would be a good time. It was an ok time and not worth 16 euro. We now see why Europe's Largest aquarium only ranks in the top 4 sights down by the water front and doesn't even grace the top 10 in Barcelona. It wasn't all bad though and at least we escaped the heat. After the aquarium we hit La Rambla again in a search for Kelly and Conan (Cara's friends from Saskatoon), who had said they might be on La Rambla around 4pm. After a failed search we headed back to the apartment and had some drinks and tried to decide where to go for dinner. We picked a place out of the top 10 book and headed out. After a good hike we got there and sat down for a meal. We had another pretty decent tapas experience and a pretty good host as well, and the meal was reasonably priced too. After dinner we took the long walk back to the apartment where everyone except us prepared for early mornings to catch flights.

Wenesday morning we woke up and my parents were gone already (really early flight). Caleigh and Tom where around for a bit though. After everyone headed out we tidied up the place and did a last sweep for forgotten items. We found a few trinkets belonging to Caleigh, but that was about it. We got away at around 10 and headed for Kelly, Conan and Sydney's accomodations. Cara had been looking forward to seeing her friend for a while now and we were excited to spend the day with them. After some searching and some confusing street signs and a confusing buzzer with 3 'number 1's' on it we found them. We had decided to take the overnight train to Paris (cheaper than a cheap flight and less hassle) so we had until 9 pm to catch up. After spending a bit of time at a different apartment (owned by Kelly's sister Laura), we headed out to see one of Barcelona's parks. On the way we grabbed some lunch at a sandwich joint and the lady gave Sydney a free popsicle. The park was pretty good and we got to see some great vistas and the Olympic (1992) buildings as well. At the end of our Park outing we visited the naval fort on top of the hill, it was littered with cool canons and heavy guns and had some great vistas of its own. After the fort we took a gondola down and went back to their apartment, where again we tried to pick a good dinner place. We settled on one in the Lonely Planet and headed out. Unfortunately the place didn't open until 8, but it did look awesome from the outside. Unfortunately we were trying for an 'early' dinner, so we wandered around some more and after not finding too much that looked promising, we hit a spot in Placa Real. Generally it is not a good idea to eat in a Plazza (Placa in Catelonian), you usually pay a premium for the people watching. This place didn't look bad though. We orderd some Paella and some drinks (again no drink menu and this time I was completely put off by the words 'around' when asking about prices). The meal was decent and when we got the bill it wasn't too damaging although the drinks were a bit pricey. Cara wasn't done with her meal and asked to get it packed up. The guy looked at her like she was crazy and after talking to a few people, we finally got a ball of food in tin foil. We headed back to the apartment to get our bags and then we all made our way to the train station (Kelly and Conan were good enough to see us off). We had been looking for a train office or station all through our stay at Barcelona and were a bit anxious because we hadn't seen one and thus had no reservations yet. This time our anxiety was not unfounded and all the seats were full on the train so we had to pay 70 euro for a bed in a couchette (dorm). Pricey, and we had to sleep in seperate compartments (not mixed). Afterwads we decided to drown our sorrows in some ice cream across the street. We talked and then parted ways as we made our way onto our train. I tried to convince the conductor lady to let me stay in Cara's dorm as she appeared to be the only one staying in there, seems like she gets all the breaks, haha. My dorm on the other hand was completely full with 4 guys and it was really cramped. She wouldn't have any of it though. A few minutes before depature I found out an excellent little tidbit of information for a fellow passenger in my dorm: there might be a train strike in France tomorrow. The conducter lady confirmed this for us, so we may not be able to leave Paris once we get there. We decided to try and not worry about it too much though and so after we left the station and we were sure no one else was in Cara's dorm, we hung out in there until it was time for bed. I returned to my packed cabin and put up with a couple of snoring men for the night. In the morning I returned to Cara's dorm. She said the rocking of the train kept her up most of the night.

So we arrived in Paris tired and very concerned about the train strike. It appeared to me that other private lines were running so we decided to make our way to the other station any way and evaluate our options there. We took the metro to Gare du Nord and once there waited in a very long line to get tickets. Looking around it didn't look good, with not alot of trains up on the board and people camped out around the station. Once at the ticket window though, we managed to get onto a train leaving for Brussels in 20 minutes time. Can't really be disappointed with that, although there was a reservation fee. I think my assumption was correct though, because we are now on a Thalys train and I haven't seen any SNCF trains around (France's national rail). Things seem to be looking up though and hurtle towards Brussels, Begium at 300 kph and are due to arrive after only an hour and half after departure. It might take us a while now though to work up the courage to take another overnight train.

Buildings in Bacharach

We arrived at the Bacharach Station on time at 10:21 pm. There was only one more train leaving Bacharach that night so we had to be quick. I managed to find an open Wi-Fi connection right outside the station and check my mail. There was an e-mail indicating that there would be no problems and we did indeed have a room. That was a relief, because Bacharach was a really small town and it might have been tough finding other accommodations at that time of night. Again we are still adjusting to the new hours of operation in Northern/Not-Southern Europe. Our hostel was in fact a castle and we found a trail that lead along the wall of the castle and eventually to the castle itself. It was a bit of a hike, but it was less of a hike than taking the road. The trail was dark so we used my headlamp to see the way. After wandering around the outside for a while trying to decipher how to penetrate this fortress we eventually rang the buzzer. Apparently that's what we're supposed to do because someone answered and let us in. We got our key and found our room and after making our bunk beds we went to sleep.

We woke up Friday to a bunch of kids running around in the cafeteria. This hostel is definately family oriented, and is practically full of families and seniors. I guess the 10pm curfew is having the desired effect on the clientel. Breakfast was good and very similar to the eats we had in Switzerland. For the first night we had a private room so as not to wake anyone, so after breakfast we had to change rooms to a dorm. After taking care of that we headed into town to get some info on the ferries that run up and down the Rhine. Turns out the ferry left in a few minutes so we made our way down and caught the ferry (making use of our rail pass). On the ferry we met a nice older couple from Wisconsin. The ferry was slow (about 10kph) so we relaxed had a beer (at noon) and watched the parade of castles march by. The Rhein is one of the most important inland shipping routes in Europe and as such before the unification of Germany there were literally hundreds of Dukes, Barons and Princes camped out along the Rhein. By doing so and building Castles they were able to enforce taxes on any goods comming through their territory. Imagine driving through 20 border crossings in 20 km. This is the reason for this area being so rich in Castles. The parade was great and soon we arrived in Koblenz. We walked to the point at which the Rhine and the Moselle meet, which is called Deutches Eck, a monument to Wilhem I. This is the guy who basically United Germany and put an end to all those little robber Barons. There is also some parts of the Wall here and it's basically a German unity symbol. After the monument we headed down the Moselle by train to see a cool castle we saw on a Rick Steves episode before we left. Information was scarce so we just arrived and started looking. Even here getting info was hard and eventually we found that we needed to walk 6km. We thought it strange, but after a brisk 5km walk we saw why walking was the only option, the last few kms were on a forest trail. I guess if you want a bus or taxi you go to a different town. We didn't mind though and the hike was great once you got off the asphalt. Anyway we made it in time for the last tour of the day, which was in German and not English today. Oh well, it turned out that it was just us and another couple, so the tour guide gave us a quick English version after the German. It was quite interesting. The castle is actually 3 seperate residences of 3 different Eltz family lines all joined together. A hundred years ago or so, one family failed to prodce a male heir, so they were down two and then just this century one family ran out of funds and sold their half. So it's just the one line now and they still live in it today, although 2/3rds of it is on the tour, the other bit is off limits and not all that interesting anyways as it's pretty modern I think. It's amazing that one family managed to avoid being taken over militarily or politically for nearly 1000 years. The tour was cool, but no pictures. This time I wasn't too disappointed because admission was cheap and it looked like the place could use the money (there were cracks forming in some of the rooms). They even told me they didn't want pictures taken because they would like to sell some stuff from the souvenir shop (finally some honesty) and they also said that the Eltz family that now owns it has regular jobs in the city. It was very cool and after the place closed down we stuck around to take some pictures. Then we made a dash for the train, we needed to catch the 7:43 in order to make it back to our Castle in time for curfew. Originally I had thought it took us only about 45 minutes to walk there, but as time started slipping away we needed to jog the last km or so. We made it with about a minute to spare, Cara was quick to remind me that she thought it would take longer and hence she was right and I was wrong.... Oops. Anyway we had a half hour lay over at Koblenz station, so we grabbed some dinner and then caught the train to Bacharach. Although this was the last train we could catch to make curfew, we had plenty of time. Everyone seemed to be either sleeping or getting ready for bed in our room, so we followed suit with an early night.

Saturday morning we got up early because of our early night and were among the first to the cafeteria. This time there were no kids, but a bunch of seniors were there already. We had breakfast and I grabbed a shower and then we checked out. We didn't have much on the agenda today. We thought maybe a wine tour and then a cruise up the river (last cruise was down the river). But wine tours didn't start till later and we needed to get going early as getting to Frankfurt Hahn airport isn't exactly easy. So we hung around town and bought a bottle of wine instead and then caught the first ferry upstream at 11am. Again the ride was accentuated with lots of Castle viewing. We got as far as Bingen and then dropped our bags at the train terminal and then did some shopping. I was surprised how much like North America German is commercially. It seems to me that Wal Mart could have a future here, whereas, and I'm not saying that's a good thing, I couldn't see it surviving in any of the other countries we've visited so far. Anyway, we looked around and bought some ice cream and I bought a shirt for 5 euro. Then we picked our bags up and caught a bus ouside the station. A transfer and an hour and a half later, we arrived at Frankfurt Hahn. 70 km outside of Frankfurt and a tiny airport, I don't see how they get away with calling this Franfurt Hahn. We definately didn't know, when we booked the tickets. Luckily it was on the right side of Frankfurt or else we would have been really choked. I think Ryan Air operates about 90% of the flights leaving Hahn. Anyway we arrived really early and waited in line for the ticket window to open and then waited for our flight to arrive. We also checked out the duty free, but there are already hardly any taxes on wine and beer so it wasn't even a deal and the wine we bought in Bacharach was much cheaper. We thought our tickets had seats numbers on them, so when everyone jumped up to line up way before the plane started boarding, we just sat and waited, no sense standing in line for half an hour. When we got on the plane we realised that we didn't have seats and that the plane is rush seating. We still managed to get a couple seats side by side, although by this time all the overhead was full (you pay extra for checked lugage, so everyone crams as much as possible into their carry on. Appearantly the 'Barcelona' airport is quite a ways out of town as well so we should have fun getting to the apartment that we are sharing with my parents and Caleigh and Tom.

Impromptu Interlaken

Interlaken wasn't planned but it turned out great. During the planning stages I didn't think the weather in Switzerland would be great early on (like April 20th) when I would have put it in, so I didn't. It worked out now and, although May is not much later than April, the weather was great. We watched the scenery change rapidly from Milan to Spiez. Then in Spiez we got off and got some Francs out (the Swiss are not on the Euro, that would ruin the whole Swiss bank account thing). Orignally Cara informed me that 1 Franc (CHF) = 1.5 EUR = 2.25 CAD so I was appalled when our 20 minute train ride cost 10 CHF each. I knew Switzerland was expensive, but not that expensive. We got off at Interlaken Ost where we thought our hostel was, but when we got off and looked at the map, it was actually on the station we just passed. We were tired and didn't feel like walking 20 minutes so we waited 15 minutes for a train that took 3. Once at the correct station we made our way to our hostel and were surprised to find it closed, but there was a note on the door for us with a key and instructions. When we got to our room, we found a hot kettle of water and some apple cider mix. It was awesome and we were starting to see why this hostel had such excellent reviews. It was strange after spending so much time in night owl cultures like Spain, Italy and Greece and then coming to a culture where shops are closed after 6 and hostels don't have 24 hour receptions. The cider was great though and we went straight to bed.
Wednesday morning we went down for breakfast. I was kinda expecting sausage and eggs and a huge breakfast, but it was actually similar to the camping one, plus yogurt and some fruit. It was still awesome and we ate our fill. Ursula came around (the super nice owner) and gave us our information. Information included pamphlets on anything you wanted and some Q and A, where she tried to help you get the most out of your stay. We wanted to go up to the Jungfrau, but after finding out it was about 130 dollars each, we decided to go for something cheaper. The Schiltorn is cheaper and you go right to the top, whereas the Jungfraujoch actually just goes to the saddle of the Jungfrau and the Monch. But at 70 dollars each, it was still pricey. We decided to rent mountain bikes and get up close and personal with the Gimmelwald valley. Also it was at this point we realised that 1.5 CHF = 1 EUR, so Francs are about equal to Canadian dollars, so the bus wasn't too bad. We got some bikes at a sports shop and started our voyage. The roads weren't too busy and the scenery was awesome. We eventually got onto a gravel bike path and for the first time in Europe we felt truly alone. After a bit of riding, 15km and about a 400 meter gain, we got to Lauterbrunnen. Here we took a gondola up to the top of a cliff and gained 800 meters for about 8 bucks (plus it was the only option besides climbing or hiking with the bikes up). Then we had some more uphill until we reached Murren. At Murren the views were amazing; the downhill also started here. We made quick time to Gimmelwald. Too quick in fact, I rounded a corner and was confronted with a tractor coming at me. I had a pretty good spill and got some nice road rash, especially on the back of my right bicep. Gimmelwald is an awesome little town and one we came to see, so I wasn't going to let anything spoil it. This is a picturesque town that was almost spoiled and turned into a resort, but luckily the townspeople came up with a plan and got it turned into an avalanche zone. It's tiny and beautiful. We ducked into a hostel where I cleaned my wounds and then we had to ask directions as the road wasn't clearly marked here. Cara ducked into a hostel and came out giggling like a school girl. When I asked her what was going on, she said she met the lady that was on the Rick Steves episode and asked to have her picture taken with her. We both thought it pretty funny. Now cara can say she's only 1 degree of seperation from the goofey guy on pbs. After a chuckle we were on our way again. Most of the rest of the journey was downhill except some uphill parts. One section needed walking down as the brakes didn't really work on the steep incline. We finally made it to the Trummelback falls. Not sure exactly how they formed, but some stream found a soft spot on the mountain and now the falls are literally inside the mountain. It was very cool. After that we had a long ride back to the city; we decided to take the road instead of the bike path, because it was more direct. On our way back to the hostel we stopped in for a bite at a 'cheap' place recommended by our hostel. If the food here was cheap, I don't want to know about the other places. Anyway, we had some great swiss cheese fondue and some much needed salads before heading back and going to bed.
Thursday morning we got up and did the breakfast thing again. This time we hit the internet after to try and find some accomodations on the Rhine in Germany. This proved more difficult than expected and I ended up just e-mailing a few, because I couldn't find a good booking service (like hostelbookers) for the Rhine. We went and returned the bikes and grabbed some groceries (among the items: Swiss Chocolate) and after we got back to the hostel, I had a reply from a great place in Bacharach, an actual medival castle converted to hostel. Since it was nearing on noon by now we decided to have a more relaxed day and go to the top of Harder Kulm, a small Island mountain 800 meters off the valley floor, it offers great views and is actually celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the funicular being built. We got to the fenicular and were surprised to find the fee only 4 CHF because of the festival. A bargain ride up and once at the top, the views were incredible. After looking around the restaurant and surrounding views, we headed off on a hike. About an hour later we were done and not too much out of breath. The we rewarded ourselves with a couple of beers and enjoyed the view. We headed down around 3 because we wanted to catch a train at 4. We picked up our bags at the hostel and I checked my mail for word from the hostel. Problem.. I guess they have a 10pm curfew and we are arriving at 10:30, so I emailed them back requesting a key be left outside or something. We caught our train and now sit headed for Basel and after 3 changes should arrive in Bacharach. Hopefully the hostel is able to work something out. If we can we'll try and snag some internet somewhere, but our connections are all about 15 minutes, so we're not sure if that'll happen.

Virus in Venice

Saturday night as we rode the ferry, I realized that I was in fact definitely sick. Cara's throat was sore as well and my night did not include much sleep, but did include lots of time in a women's washroom. Maybe I should explain. We were in the dorms, the dorms were both men and women although at one point they must have been only women cause there was only a women's washroom. However there was a sign that read "For your convenience the Men's washroom is located and deck 9 and the showers on deck 10". Deck 9 was upstairs and deck 10 was the pool and the showers outside...... nice. We were the only people in the dorm besides another guy, so I just used the women's. I hope the other dude didn't find his shower too cold in the morning, haha.

We hopped off the boat at around 11:15 in the morning a full 45 minutes late and despite some running we missed the train we wanted by 10 minutes. This caused a ripple effect on our plans and we ended up having to shell out 30 euro for a faster train from Bologna to Firenze (Florence) in order to make our 4:30 reservation to see David, as Cara said it was an expensive statue. But I don't regret it, it was pretty amazing. The rest of the museum was not amazing though; pretty much a bunch of low class art with David and some of Michelangelo's unfinished works. In the museum as I was gearing up to take a picture of the David I got harassed by some attendant that there ware no pictures allowed. Good grief! I respect the Louvre more and more the more I go to other museums. They allow pictures everywhere and only ask that there be no flash. Fine by me, although I can't honestly see how a little flash is going to harm a marble statue especially one that stood outside in the elements for a few hundred years and is currently being exposed to indirect sunlight, but whatever. Also I've had to check my bag at a number of museums and most have tried to take my monopod away from me, but not the Louvre. Anyway, tons of people were snapping pictures anyways, many with the flash and so I took a few myself. As much as they like to pretend it's to preserve the art, really it's just to push more merchandise out of the gift shop. We looked at the rest of the museum, which didn't have much and then we headed out, and went through a good street market (tourist oriented of course). We're not sure if it was good because it was Sunday or it's good everyday. Anyways Cara was pleased to get in some shopping and Curtis and Blair picked up some cool gifts. After this we hopped a train to Venice connecting through Bologna again. In the end David cost us 4 hours and 50 euro, a hefty price, but it's the best sculpture I've seen to date and my favorite art is sculptures.

At around 10:30 we got into Mestre. Venice is way overpriced (at least 40 euro per person), and we found our cheapest digs on the trip so far in Mestre (about 20 min by bus from Venice), a campground for 10 euro a night. The campground wasn't too easy to find and we ended up walking just over 2 km because the bus they suggested taking doesn't run that late at night. But once there we found the accommodations pretty decent, by far not the most uncomfortable beds that we've had thus far, and I kind of liked sleeping in tent. Anyway, for 10 euro you get a good size tent, 2 cots and sheets and blankets. Everything is set up for you, but you have to make you're own bed (like anywhere else).

After a cold night we woke up and had some showers and paid 4 euro for a pretty decent buffet breakfast with some of the best jam yet (we nabbed a few for later). Then we hoped a city bus to Venice. Again we were confused by the city buses in Italy, once on the bus you don't seem to be able to buy tickets or we just aren't able to communicate that we want to buy tickets to the drivers, either or, we've rode a few times now with no ticket. Once in Venice we followed the signs all the way to the Piazza San Marco. This is a windy route that includes lots of bridges and, if you don't watch the signs carefully, lots of dead ends. In the Piazza stands the Basilica di San Marco, free entry, so of course we went in. Mosaic heaven if you like mosaics, which we do. Again no pictures, but I followed the crowd and took a couple crappy ones. Not having you're eye in the viewfinder doesn't make for good pictures. One thing that became very apparent to us while in the Basilica is the effect of sinking Venice on the architecture; there isn't a straight wall or arch in the building I don't think. After we walked around and were ready to leave we tried to decide whether to go to the gallery or not. On the outside above the entrance to the Basilica are 4 bronze horses that Constantine manage to 'save from the heathens' in the fourth crusade. The ones outside are fakes and you can see the real ones inside the gallery. I submitted and paid the 4 euro to go upstairs into the gallery, Cara abstained because she didn't think it worth it. It ended up being worth it I think. Not only are the horses up there, but you get to walk outside and stand next to the fakes and there are some mozaics and tapestries and books and more loot up there as well. I motored through it as fast as I could and went back to a patient Cara. After that we wandered around and among other things witnessed a pigeon feading frenzy, saw a kid ridding a toy electric Vespa, got some gelato and got lost some more. We headed back to the campsite early because we needed to make some crucial trip decisions, too bad we decided to do this in Venice where internet is 5 euro an hour. We caught a bus back (this time with tickets) and got some takeout pizza, which we ate back at the campsite. Then down to business.

The problem is that Croatia was next on the trip and I had planned on being much further along before we needed to be in Barcelona, a combination of being a few days behind schedule and needing to be in Barcelona earlier than expected. So as it stood, we could do our days in croatia but then we would have a huge travel day with crazy rail connections to make it to a place where we could fly to croatia for cheap (getting to barcelona by rail didn't seam possible in less than 24 hours). So we needed to decide to show up late or change the plan. We talked about many alternatives, but the best was to go to Switzerland (unplanned, but we both wanted to see it, more so than some of the other stops) and then hit the Rhein and end up in Frankfurt where we could get a cheap flight with Ryan Air. We booked flights and managed a few frantic minutes to do other things like the blog and e-mail. The Nokia internet tablet that I've been packing around has been great, especially for the blog. It has lots of maps and hooks to the bluetooth gps, but the best seems to be for writting the blog. I write the blog with the bluetooth keyboard and upload pictures to it while we're on a train or boat so that as long as the computer has usb, I can update the blog in a few minutes. It also can hook to unsecure wi-fi connections, but Europe seem to be much more secure than North American, you really have to do some legwork to find an open connection. Plus the blog website doesn't work well with the tablet and I can't arrange the pictures in the text with the tablet, so I've taken to waiting till we get to a computer to update. Anyway, after we were done planning and doing internet, we went to bed (round midnight).

Next morning we dug in to the cheap buffet and checked out of the campsite, then we took all our gear with us on the bus and dropped our bags off at the Venice train station. After this, we went and asked about trains to interlaken. Neither of us wanted to arrive really lake to Interlaken so we decided to catch to the 2:50 train that arrived, after 2 connections, at 9:30. We boarded the train and, after our change in Milan, we're quite interested in the rapidly changing scenery. So now we sit on a Swiss train pondering what this bus icon means on our schedule (we think we might need to take a bus).

Crazy Corfu

We arrived in Corfu at 7 am and to our relief there was a lady holding a sign for the Pink Palace at the ferry terminal. Turns out she's the daughter of the people who started the Pink Palace and it all started from a 2 room hostel and grew to what is now somewhat like a headonistic summer camp with more than 600 beds. We thought it would be a great time but even in low season with only 80 guests it was a bit too much for us, we both shutter to think how it would be with 600 rampaging backpackers packed in. That being said we met some awesome people and it was our cheapest stop yet considering it comes with both a hearty breakfast and a 3 course dinner, so for 25 euro it was an excellent value.
We got to the Pink Palace at 8 am and had some breakfast and then we moved into our room. We had met a New Zeland girl named Rebecca on the ride and so we eat breakfast with her. Me and Cara both went for a quick nap after breakfast since our overnight ferry didn't provide much sleep. Then we headed down to the beach. The place was pretty quiet and from what we were told by the other guest, last nights festivities were the cause. Also there was a Booze Cruz planned for 11am, but at 20 euro plus drinks we stayed away. A good portion of people did go out on the cruz though. The beach was good and we got to do some relaxing. After going for a walk and heading back up to the room to change, we headed down for the free dinner. There were some seriously rowdy people out and about now though and we were wondering if this place was such a good idea. We were sat at a table with a buch of other Canadians including a very nice stoner couple from Ottawa. The meal was a decent soup, salad and coleslaw, and mashed potatoes and roast. Dinner is served in the disco so that you can conviniently keep drinking and socializing well into the night. After an excellent choriographed dance to a Solja Boy song by the rowdy guys, they suddently dissappeared. At this point we found out that there was a US Naval boat in the area and those guys were on a five day leave. Good timming as the rest of our stay was a bit quieter. We hung out with the Ottawa couple and talked travel to around midnight where we called it a night.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast. We couldn't decide whether we wanted to go for a kayak or quading. The decision was made for us by some poeple we met last night that invited us quading. We got ready in decent time, but the paper work and quad tutorial took way longer that we thought and by the time we were done the group had left, so we went with the next group, which was a bunch of girls from Edmonton and a couple guys from England and Scottland. It was pretty fun, although we did have a breakdown, but we spent the time waitting at the beach, so it was ok. After we returned our quads we went to the room and changed and went down to use the internet. The hostel had some crappy computers and no usb access and the price wasn't great either. So we walked a few minutes into the small town where we found a place that offered free internet (place served drinks, so we bought a couple).

Looking ahead to Croatia we encountered another ferry dilemma. Of all the days in May seems the ferries, for some reason, decided not to sail on the day we wanted. So we thought of a plan. We still wanted to see David so we decided to still sail to Italy as planned, but go for a day in Florence and then come back to catch a ferry to Croatia. It was either that or stay another night at the Pink Palace, and neither me nor Cara were really interested in that. But it all hinged on making a reservation for late Sunday afternoon at David's museum. After talking it over some more we decided to move Venice up in the itenerary and go there for 2 days and see David if we can on the way.

At dinner we were seated with a bunch of guys from Ontario and our 2 UK friends. We talked with the UK guys and one of the Alberta girls for a long time and even did some dancing much to my protesting (electronic music). After we were danced out, me and Cara and the Alberta girl headed back up to the reception where they have a more mellow and quiet bar. We finally got to bed around 2 am.

After an unsatisfying sleep, complete with worry about missing the alarm, we woke up at 8 am. Check out was at 9 am and conviniently that's when the museum opened to take reservations to see David. We checked out of our room and phoned Italy. Reservations were not a problem and we got a showing at 4:30. For the rest of the day we ate breakfast and hung out at the beach again, I think Cara might even be getting beached out by now. Around 1 we went into town and when to the cafe again where we did some internet stuff and booked ahead to Venice. Then we did some souvenir shopping until 3 when the bus came to take us to the port. We took a crowded, smokey ferry to Igoumenitsa. Once there we looked for a market and found one; we bought some supplies for the 14 hour ferry ride. Then we headed to the terminal to get tickets. A few days ago I was browsing through my eurail discount book and found that the sailings between Italy and Greece with Superfast ferries are supposed to come with free dorms if your eurail is first class. We got those free dorms (if only we had known when going from Bari to Patras, we would have been much more well rested). We boarded the ferry at 8. We were dissapointted when we found that the dorms are segregated (male/female), but there doesn't appear to be anyone staying in them, so we've got a 6 bed to ourselves. Now we sit in the lounge contemplating going to bed and wondering if we're both comming down with a flue that a few people have caught at the Pink Palace.

Abridgement of Athens

We arrived in Athens late and managed to grab one of the last metro trains of the night into Athens and towards our hotel. We had wondered how safe the Athens metro would be at midnight, but it was fine and we have definately had worse company on inter city trains in Italy during daylight. We got to our hotel and checked in, the Easy Hostel, and it was pretty easy. It has been recently renovated too, so it was pretty nice and a good value. We went straight to bed.



Next day we were up early because we had a big day of sight seeing and didn't know how much we were going to be able to get done. We partook in the free breakfast which was all you can eat toast and hard boiled eggs, with juice, coffee or tea. We didn't mind though, because having eggs was good and we were able to have a big breakfast with a big day ahead. We headed straight for the Acropolis. We had a bit of trouble locating the entrance, but eventually found the south slope entrance, where we bought tickets. We saw the huge theatre of Dionysis and some other impressive structures and then headed up to the top. It was still early so the crowds were small. We saw what there was to see, which was less than we thought there would be and were disappointed to see our old friend scaffolding. It was still pretty cool though and then we found ourselves walking out of our major sight for the day at 11am. After the Acropolis we headed for the Hill of the Nymphs, and then on to the Ancient Agora. We were getting hungry by now so we went off to find some food. We checked out one place mentioned in the Lonely Planet that seems to have disappeared. Then we found another. We had a cheap lunch consisting of greek salad, tzatziki dip and a couple beer. After which we hit the market area that we passed through on our way to eat, much to Cara's joy (shopping at last). Cara was a bit let down though, she had expected more variety. Cara almost found some scarves, but they said 100% polyester and made in Italy, so she couldn't justify the price for something not even from Greece. After walking around a bit we left purchaseless and went to see the last few sights on our tourist tickets. We saw the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Roman Agora and the Keramikos. Before we arrived in Athens I didn't think we were leaving oourselves enough time to do all that in one day, but we did and we didn't even feel all that rushed. I guess looking at ruins is nothing like trying to get through a huge museum like the Louvre or the Vatican. After we finished off our sights for the day we went back to the market where Cara looked longingly at some vases, but we couldn't figure out how the get them home safe and she couldn't be bothered to pack and ship them. I did buy a travel sized backgammon set before we left though and we also bought a kg of strawberries for 1.50 euro. And both of us agree they were the best strawberries we've ever had, althogh we may now contract some illness because we didn't wash them before consuming. After a long day we grabbed a gyros and headed back to the hotel where took advantage of the free internet and looked ahead to our next leg of the trip.

Another early morning with plenty of boiled eggs. This time our goal was to check out the National Archeological Museum. We got there just before opening and pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was great and complemented our previous day of sightseeing. Had all the art been still around the acheological sites, I think we both would have been much more impressed. We finished with the museum around noon and then headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags. We saw a camera store on the way so I asked about lens caps and they were out of stock, but they had a used one and they gave it to me for free... Score. We also made a stop at a market because we had a four hour train ride ahead followed by a couple of ferries. We had looked the night before and found the way to Patras out of Athens. At first we thought that we screwed up getting to Athens and would have been there sooner the first time had we done it correctly. But once at Larrissa Station, we discovered the line was under maintenace and even though the electronic board inside the station had the train listed, it was in fact not going to come... nice. So we made our way out of the city as we had done on the way in. 2 metro lines, 2 trains and 4 hours later and we were in Patras. In Patras we went to the ticketing office were we discovered that even though the ferry calls in the port that we want to get off at, it only lets people on and no one is allowed to get off...... grrrr. So now we had 6 hours to kill before the next ferry out, and instead of a free ferry we had to pay. Oh well our ticketing agent was a pretty funny and crazy guy and let us keep our bags at his place. We then hit the tourist information next door for some free internet and a map. We made a loop through Patras and saw a very dereliqued fort. After our little tour we had some dinner with our groceries at our ticket agents office while him and a few friends watched the soccer game. After we were finished we watched the sun go down and met the greek version of Mr. Bean, whose cousin now lives in Regina SK (go figure). We then boaded our ferry 3 hours early since we had nowhere to go and it was cold out. After finishing up a couple games of backgammon we're just about to get some sleep and wake up on Corfu, where hopefully a shuttle will be waiting for us.

Stranded in Santorini

We arrived in Santorini and found our hotel guy without any problems. We waited by his mini bus until he could rope in a few other people before we wound our way to the top of the cliffs on a pretty crazy switchback road. We checked into our place which was ok, but nothing special, one thing of note was that the shower had no shower curtain so water got pretty much everywhere, but at least there was a drain in the floor. After unpacking our stuff and hanging the last bit of clothing that needed drying up we headed into the streets with a mind to rent a moped and go to Oia to watch the famous postcard sunsets. Everywhere we went we got the same story; a motorbike licence is required to rent mopeds, even though our guide book indicates otherwise for bikes under 50cc. So we gave up and decided to rent quads (ATVs) instead. Apparently anything with 4 wheels can be rented with a driver's licence. At 10 euro a piece for 24 hours, we got two. We made good time and got to Oia without any problems although we only took the correct road by chance a couple of times. Oia was beautiful, and the sunset is well deserving of the thousands of postcards that it graces. Chances are if you've seen a postcard with a Greek hillside town, it was Oia. We were thinking of grabbing dinner in Oia but after the sun went down it started to turn cold and neither of us wanted to be on the road after dark on quads, so we headed back to Fira. In Fira we decided to look into ferry times for Sunday since it was apparently a long weekend (Thursday was a holiday) and the island seemed to be a bit busy for low season. After asking at two agencies, we discovered that all ferries were full. We were bummed, especially because Cara had already reserved ahead to Athens. We decided that there are worse places to be stuck though, so we grabbed some food at a kebab shop and some beer and food for breakfast at the market and hung out in the deck area of our hotel and had a good meal. 15 euro bought us way too much food though and we had to save some for the next day.
The next day we got up with a mind to explore Santorini on our quads a bit. So we headed in the direction of Kamari. Once in Kamari I saw a sign for Ancient Thira, so I followed it. It turned into a windy cobblestone road up to the highest mountain in Santorini. Once at the top we started walking up the path. We didn't really know what to expect since none of our guide books mentioned it and we didn't see anything about it in the tourism offices or anything. It turned out to be really interesting. Some buildings dating to the 6th century BC and continuing on to the 7th century AD it was a crazy town perched on top of a mountain that was at one point home to about 2000 people. The years have not been kind though and mostly just foundations remain, intersting though. I particularly liked the drainage system and also the water collection. Fresh water being scarce, each home collected water off the roof when it rained and channeled it into a cistern under the house, which is accessible from inside. There was also an amphitheater in the town and it also collected water into a comunity cistern.
After a bit of history we headed back down and sat on the beach for a bit. I realised I left a lens cap back up on the hill somewhere so I went back up while Cara soaked up some rays. I never did find it although I think some German guy said he saw it lying on the roadside on the way up (he walked), but I couldn't find it. Back on the beach we went for a swim and then went for another washroom search, where I eventually pretended to be interested in some menu, after which we ran away avoiding eye contact. It's a strange cultural thing this no washroom business. And if there is a public washroom, it's a pay washroom. It does make for some nice washrooms though, never have I found a filthy washroom. We had about an hour and a bit left with our quads so we high-tailed it back to our hotel and collected the rest of our groceries. Then we went in the direction of the beach, we made it within a few hundred meters before we ran out of road. So we stopped next to a horse, donkey and a very suspicious cow. We had a nice little picnic with a pretty nice view. Around the time we were ready to pack up and go a guy showed up. He didn't speak any English, but I think we may have been on his property. We pointed at the way from which we came said we were just leaving. I think he kinda understood and left. He was nice about it and we said sorry in Greek. We didn't think we were on private property because the road just kinda ended, but the guy showed up walking, so could be he just walks where he needs to go. A strange concept for us in North America I know, but I like it. After our picnic we headed back into town and returned our quads. Then we hit an internet cafe to change our reservations for Athens and make another for a different town on Santorini (our hotel wasn't great and we wanted a change of scenery). It was still early enough to catch a sunset in Fira. We did just that on a rooftop restaurant. Fira is similar to Oia but the sunset is not quite at the right angle and there are more telephone lines and stuff to ruin the view, nevertheless pretty amazing.
The next day we woke up and decided to explore Fira a bit and grab some tickets to the volcano. We bought some tickets on a sail boat to the volcano across the water. We were already in a travel agency, so we asked about ferries. At this point we found out that the ferries for Sunday are not fully booked and we could choose any of the 3 sailings. A bit too late now, we had already reserved a place for the night in Santorini and changed our accomodations in Athens, bummer. I thought 2 opinions were enough, but I guess in Greece you need to ask 3 times to be sure.
The sailing to the Volcano took all of 10 minutes and once on the volcano some guys had a booth set up and charged us admission. At this point I realised we were in a tourist trap and feeling a tad ripped off, I'm sure there was a better way to get to the volcano but we didn't find it. The little card they gave us was informative. Santorini is kind of a half moon shape, this is appearantly because it used to be completely round and formed by a volcano, but a huge earthquake sank the middle portion and formed a half moon about 3500 years ago. Since then a few islands have cropped up around it, formed by underwater volcanoes.
After our tour we took a bus to Perissa and checked into our new accomodations. Much better, a shower curtain and a private patio and only a block back from the beach. The owners were really friendly too, we recommend Stelio's Place to anyone staying in Santorini. After which we hit the beach until sunset. After sunset we hit another market to get some food for dinner, breakfast and some food for the ferry back to Athens the next day. We had a nice dinner with beer on our patio.
We woke up today with a checkout of 11 and ferry sailing at 3:30. We dropped our bags at the front desk early and headed out to get tickets on the ferry. The crowds had disappeared since the weekend rush and we were confident in getting a spot on the ferry. The first place we went to knew nothing about our 30% discount with the eurail pass, so we went back to the hotel to get our previous tickets as proof. Once we got to the hotel we found a place to reserve tickets that was closer so we went there. She knew nothing about it either and after phoning it in, told us we needed to go to the main office in Fira to get the discount. The ferries were starting to become one huge headache. I asked if there wasn't an office down at the port and she said no. After waiting for a bus that didn't come I thought I'd better double check, so we went back to the first place. The guy phoned it in here too and same thing, we needed to go to a main office. This time when I asked if there was a main office at port, he said yes. Much better, no need to take a bus to Fira and back. So we hit the beach again. It was very windy though, so we took shelter behind a blown over umbrella. We sat there until it was time to go. Everything after that went pretty smooth and now we're on the long ride back to Athens. This time we ugraded to indoor seats for a whopping 2.30 euro each, much less chilly, but no chance of meeting cool new friends like we did on our last sailing. Our only concern is that the metro shuts down at 12 which means we might be taking a taxi if our ferry is even a little late arriving.

Naptime in Naxos

After getting off the train at 6:30 we were feeling pretty good because we had an hour and a half to navigate to the ferry terminal and get on board. After asking at a couple information booths we found the best (i.e. cheapest) way to get to the terminal is to take the bus. We found the spot to catch the '20/' (not to be confused with the '20'). Bus was to arrive in about 15 minutes, so we decided to do that. In the process of all this we met some new backpaking friends from the New York area. Unfortunately they were even more clueless than us, so they weren't much help. The bus arrived 5 minutes early, so we hopped on board. 30 minutes later we were still sitting on the bus at the same station. Not exactly sure if our bus driver decided to go get a root canal or possibly just went to go drop his kids off at the pool, but needless to say our anxiety levels were rising very rapidly. He finally came back to the applause of the other bus riders. He drove like a madman to the terminal and we ran to get our tickets and get on board. We were on board a half hour before departure with a 17 euro upgrade to indoor reclining seats (cabins were way overpriced at 100 euro each). The ferry left 20 minutes early though, so our 30 minute buffer, wasn't much at all. We had fun talking with 2 groups of Americans and watching the Manchester United vs. Barcelona game in one of the bars. Then we had a less than adequate sleep on the cabin floor, but at least it wasn't outside.
We got into Patras the next morning 45 minutes early so we were able to catch the train and it was looking good for making our connection to the Greek island of Paros. The train managed to cover a whopping 150kms in 4 hours and we had to make a switch from a less than comfortable train to a downright uncomfortable and crowded train. We lost one set of Americans and picked up some Aussies though. Two young guys on a 6 month vacation. They seem to have a lot of party stories, and as a result have been robbed twice now, once at knife point in Amsterdam and once in their sleep in Milan. The one guy also drunkenly lost his wallet, camera, prescription glasses, sunglasses, and shoes. They went to lots of bars in Rome but didn't realise that St. Peter's Basilica or the Sistene Chapel were in Rome and missed them. They did remember to see the Colosseum though. Definately not the way to travel. Nice guys though. On the second train a bum started yelling at us for talking saying that "this isn't America" and "I'm trying to sleep, so just shut up, just shut up". After a a second round of yelling, some of the other Greek people on the train told him to shut up, which he did for a time. We were under the impression that this man was a homeless bum, but suddenly he pulled out a cell phone (!!!). He then appeared to try and call a combination of the police and the American Embassy to report a bunch of Americans who were on the train and he wanted someone to come and arrest them and take them away. He was speaking a combination of Greek and English. It was at this point that we realized he might actually be insane. And then he told a crying baby to "shut the hell up" and then we were convinced...

We went all the way to the ferry port in Athens and lost all our companions as they were staying in Athens proper. but we got to the port with time to spare and boarded the crowded ferry. After accidentaly sitting in some upgraded seats and eating lunch, we noticed lots of people looking at their tickets and the numbers on the seats, so, like the polite Canadians we are we moved without being asked to, just to avoid being asked to move. We moved outside, and although it was really cold later on in the evening, we're glad we moved because we met a really nice couple from Finland. We talked about traveling and our respective countries. Sami (didn't catch the spelling) is quite well traveled as is one of about 200 people each year who have actually been to North Korea. After a few Heinekens and four hours (the last 2 were quite cold) we arrived in Naxos. Huh? Thought you were going to Paros. Well Naxos was the next stop and only 45 minutes away and our new friends were going there. The two islands were so similar and Pirjo had already done some research and found a nice place to stay. We got off the ferry at about 11:15 pm, and indeed there were spare rooms at Villa Naxia (highly recommended). The rooms were excellent with a balcony, 100 meters from the beach and came with a kitchenette too, all for 30 euro. We had showers (for the first time in several days) and went to bed.

The next morning we woke up late at 10am. Two nights of not enough sleep and a long travel day caught up with us. I actually didn't sleep too well because I was cold from the breeze coming off the ocean. Cara laughed because she found the blankets in the closet and I didn't think to look. After short walk into town and a stop at the only grocery in town open we came back to the room and had some breakfast. The yogurt is excellent in Greece. Then I headed down to the beach with a very excited Cara in tow. She's been looking forward to a true beach day for 3 weeks now. We spent the day doing nothing but relaxing. Well Cara did, I got ADD and went for a walk down the beach to collect some shells and rocks. I was aware of the sun and applied sun screen 3 times, but I still got my burn on (hope you're reading the blog Daryl). At around 4 we headed out in search of some internet and a place to do laundry. We found both but I guess on the islands there are only laundry services, so we gave our laundry over to the guy at the information desk and were told to come back in 2 hours (not sure where he went, but I think he went home and got his wife to do it). In the meantime we went to an internet cafe and Cara got down to some serious facebooking (check out her new pictures if you haven't yet). I tried to no avail to e-mail myself important pictures with 3 different accounts. 5 gigs of storage but it seems 65MB rar files are too much. After that we headed back to our hotel with two bags of wet laundry (dry would have been next day). We hung it up to dry on our balcony and went to find our Finnish friends. We found them at the beach bar and sat down with them for a beer before heading out for some dinner.

We went out for dinner at a place mentioned in the Lonely Planet 'Meze 2'. In my opinion the best dinner yet, Cara thinks a 4 way tie (Paris, Seville and Forte Dei Marmy; and she calls me indecisive...). It was true Greek and we stuffed ourselves. We had calamari, greek salad, tomato salad, a house specialty fish dish, an assortment of rice balls, tzatziki, among others. Meze is apparantly kind of like the idea of tapas, but the portions are larger so it worked very well with 4 people. After dinner we talked for a bit and then walked home and went to bed.


Next morning we woke up earlier and had the remainder of our groceries. We were leaving for Santorini at 1 so we thought to have a walk around the old portion of town, do some shopping, see the temple of Apollo, and get some more food for the ferry. We did it all and the old center of town was quite interesting, with its narrow and windy streets. We got back to our hotel, checked out and caught the ferry to Santorini.

We're now about an hour into our 2 hour journey to the most popular and scenic of the Greek islands. This time we have accomodations, so we are feeling relaxed.

Rigorous Rome

We arrived in Rome late and found the hostel with no problems, the hostel was ok and we had a couple from Sweeden staying in our room and they were nice and quiet too. We went straight to bed after we each had a shower.

The next morning we woke up early and had the free breakfast at some place down the street (Seems all Roman hostel operate this way). We got tea and bunch of bread but only one butter and jam package; I was refused more. We then set out to find better accommodations. We went to an internet cafe where we searched and wrote down the addresses of a few places. We went straight to a place called David's Flat, we asked about a room and at first they said no, but then as we were about to leave the manager came around and said he did have room. We hiked all the way to the sixth floor to look at the room. Then we headed downstairs to negotiate price. It was 50. I tried to bargain with him but eventually I said we'll take the room upstairs. The room wasn't cleaned yet so we left our bags and went out site seeing. We headed for the Colosseum. We stared at the crowds for a while. Then some lady approached us and asked if we wanted on their tour for 10 euro each, admission was 11 so I said sure. But to our dismay you also had to pay the ticket too. We did it anyways, because audio guides were 5 euro anyways and apparantly there was a second part to the tour after. The Colosseum was huge, much bigger than the Nimes one. Unfortunately nowhere near as well-preserved. People have been stealing building material from it for a long time, whereas Nime's was constantly inhabited so there was always someone around to catch the thieves. One of the larger thieves was the pope who built St. Peter's Basilica from stone blocks from the Colosseum, nice... After the tour ended we explored it ourselves, then after an hour of that we joined the second part of the tour, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. So the tour wasn't a bad deal after all, because the Forum admission was 10 euro too. The Hill was very cool as well. Its were all the emperors had their palaces (most recently Mussolini) and was literally the center of politics and religion in Rome. Our guide said that over the course of the years there has been so much construction there that the hill is rumored to be more brick than earth. The tour was informative and we saw the Circus Maximus (huge chariot arena). Then after the tour broke we explored on our own, when a free tour wandered across our path. The guide had a Masters in Art History and is from Louisianna. We only caught the last half hour, but the guide was awesome, really descriptive. He had us hooked and we signed up for his paid tour of the Vatican the next day.

After the hill we headed for a 1km hike across town to a restaurante in the guide book; it was closed. Next place on our list also closed. We were already in a Piazza so we just picked a place and ordered two Pizzas. The pizza in the piazza was good, but as expected a little over priced. After dinner we hit a couple sights on the way home, the Pantheon, The fountain of the four rivers (closed for restoration) and the Trevi Fountain. Then for a long walk back to our hostel, where we were in for a surprise. We got there and the night guy didn't speak much english at all, I managed to get the keys for the room upstairs off him, so we took our bags up and went to sleep. About an hour after we got to sleep the guy came up and woke us up insisting that we did not pay for this room and we needed to move to the dorms downstairs. I realized right away what happened. The managed asked me for 72 euro before we left earlier. I thought it odd, but I hoped he had thought us from the US and we had agreed on 50 dollars, and if not I thought that maybe he wanted payment for the first night in full and a deposit for the second. But now I realized that we had paid for a dorm. It was impossible to convince the night guy to let us stay and we'd pay the difference. So we moved, not too pleased.

Next morning we awoke and heard the night guy raising a stink to the morning girl about how we tried to steal the private room. Needless to say the staff weren't very nice to us for the remainder of our stay, despite my attempt to explain things. Never go to David's Flat. We did get a free cream filled croissant and a cappuchino for me and a tea for Cara at a bakery down the street. This day we set out to see the inside of the Pantheon before our tour of the Vatican. We stopped at some sights along the way, but the highlight of the morning was the Pantheon. Awesome, hard to imagine that the Romans built that huge dome. Since it's service for the Romans an Emperor donated it to a Pope and now it's a church. Kinda funny that it was build by Romans in 27 BC, when Christianity didn't exist and was later illegal and now the church owns it. Raphael is also burried in there and we saw his tomb, which is actually some ancient roman's tomb that they 'recycled'. Romans (people who live in Rome) are some of the earliest recyclers, hehehe.

We then stopped at a pizza joint and grabbed a cheap lunch combo (pizza, rice roll, and beer, for 5 euro). Then to the Vatican where we snuck a peek at the very, very impressive St. Perter's Basilica. Magnificent building, me and Cara agree, it's the nicest building we will ever enter. Then we met up with our tour group and got under way. We entered the museum and saw some awesome sculptures and paintings. Michelangelo and Raphael. Then to the Sistene Chapel. Very cool, but sorry no pictures. Then back (for us) into St. Peter's. We got a better look this time, with less crowds. Cara rubbed the famous statue of St Peter's foot and we got a more private viewing of the Pieta statue. Unfortunately back in the 70's, some guy busted up the Pieta with a hammer cause he was jealous of it, so it's now behind bullet proof glass. Talk about a party pooper.

After our tour we took a very crowded bus back to our crazy hostel. We changed and prepared to head out on a pub crawl, as it was Cara's birthday. She found the flyer for it at our first hostel and she though it looked like fun, so we went. It started at the Yellow Bar which had overpriced drinks, but a free glass of champagne. Then to get to the cool bars in town we had to take a long hike across town and the crawl also includes a lude and funny walking tour. We stopped at a Bernini fountain, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. At the Steps there was an embarrassingly loud monologue about Italian Stallians and how to view them in their natural environment. The Trevi Fountain was the most interesting. It is attached to a building that used to belong to a very powerful family, who commissioned the fountain. Appearantly the son of the powerful family was thrown from the building, while the fountain was under construction and his ghost haunts the fountain. There were so many sights of the ghost falling from the window, that they bricked it up and painted a window on the outside (top right). We continued on to some bars and made some cool friends from the UK, Australia and Canada. After the 3rd bar we headed home, walking with our funny UK friends. Two cousins of East Indian decent, one living in Yorkshire and the other living in Orange County for 5 years. The Orange County guy has completely lost his accent, it's pretty crazy. When we got to the hostel we went straight to sleep. We had a busy day ahead; we wanted to catch a train to Pompeii and after seeing Pompeii we were to head to the coast to catch an overnight ferry to Greece.

After about 4 hours of sleep we got up catch a train. I have to say I was very glad to leave that place behind. Rome itself was a bit crowded and it took alot of walking to get around. It was a bit more expensive than we had hoped too, but the sights were all worth it. We got to Naples at 9:30. After going to our first McDonald's of the trip we caught a long subway train to Pompeii. By the time we got there it was 11. We had hoped we would make better time and get in a few hours of sight seeing, but we only had one hour and tickets were 11 euro, so we viewed Pompeii from afar. We were both disappointed in our naiive choice to squeeze Pompeii in. Oh well, we have to assume we'll miss out on some things and we will probably come back at one point in our lives. After another subway and another train, we're on our way to Bari where we will hopefully board a ferry to Greece. Not sure if we'll be freezing overnight or if the cabins are reasonably priced and we'll have a great sleep. Tune in next time, same blog channel, same blog time.