Day 28, Gimmelwald

I can't resist, I have to say it.....here goes....Though we may have just come from Amsterdam, we really got high in Switzerland!

This place is exactly what Andy and I expected, wanted, and dreamed of. It took a long time to get to Gimmelwald from Zurich (like 8 hours with three trains, a cable car, another train and a 30 minute downhill hike), but this place is amazing. I know I say that a lot, but this place really is unique. Gimmelwald is a tiny little hamlet with less than 100 residents in the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland. I've only seen two cars since we've been here, and I think they just use them to move heavy things from one end of town to the other. This first picture is a view from our room. Yep, those are Alps right there, and that's a waterfall going down to the valley. The valley below brags that it has 72 waterfalls, which seemed like an exaggeration at first but I feel like I've seen at least 20 without even trying so I think it's a fact. With all the snowmelt, there's no shortage of water coming from high altitudes, that's for sure.

Yesterday we ventured to the other side of the valley (involving a cable car, a bus, a train, another cable car, a hike, and another train) to go to Jungfraujoch, Europe's highest train station (11,300 feet). The station is a destination in itself, complete with an ice palace (even the floors were ice), but I think the best part was just going outside into the snow and looking around. You can even ski and sled up there but we got there kind of late so we didn't have time.

We were lucky that we went yesterday because today was quite cloudy. It was so cloudy this morning that we couldn't see the building across the street. We went up to Schilthorn anyway to have the James Bond breakfast. Schilthorn is where they filmed ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' for all you Bond fans. The restaurant rotates, which even with the clouds was pretty cool. We were actually above the clouds at 10,000 feet, so we could see the tops of the surrounding mountains. We trekked a little bit outside, but it was a little bit iffy with all the loose rock. I guess that's why high heels are verboten. We have very much enjoyed this part of Switzerland, though we're now looking forward to the scenic train rides we have planned for tomorrow and the next day. It will be another long journey back down the mountain and back to Lucerne, but maybe we can catch some of that Yodelfest!

Day 25, Lucerne

It's been another several busy days since I left Paris. First I stopped in Colmar, a medium sized town in the Alsace region of France. It was very different from Paris which was exactly what I was looking for. Colmar is also in the center of the Route du Vin, aka the Wine Road, which is a windy path linking dozens of little towns and hundred of little wineries. Colmar is unique in that it has canalized the river going through it, so the canals in addition to the adorable half-timbered houses, the town was very charming. Despite warnings, I overdosed on all the cuteness and had to take took a long, hard nap after biking to the nearby town of Eguisheim. If Colmar is cute, Eguisheim is it's even cuter pet baby bunny. While I was there, I had a traditional Alsatian lunch of chicken in Riesling sauce with homemade spaetzle noodles which my mouth still waters over.

After Colmar, I stopped in Luxembourg and spent the night on my way to Amsterdam. I visited nearby Vianden to see the castle which was neat....it's a more rustic castle than the palaces in major cities. Stayed in a hostel there, hopefully my last!

After Luxembourg I finally rendezvoused with Andy in Amsterdam where we enjoyed all that all the city has to offer. Thanks to the guidance of Jessica and Marc (Andy's sister and her boyfriend), we were able to sample a variety of Dutch cuisine, which we found out mainly consists of fried or sugary snack type foods, and cheese in all its glory. Believe me, we're not complaining. Visted the Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum, which should be (thankfully) the last museums we'll be visiting on this trip. From here on out, it's nothing but cowbells and mountain meadows.

Right now, we're in Lucerne on our way to Gimmelwald. They're preparing for the Lucerne Yodelfest (or so we can gather from the banners), which we might be able to experience in a few days when we come back through here to take the William Tell Express to Lugano. It's a bit muggy here, and we can't wait to get up into the mountains. So, on that note, we're off to enjoy the Alps!

Day 19, Paris

OK, so I know it's been too long, but it's been a crazy past several days. I survived the 7 hour train ride from Vernazza to Venice, but it rained most of the time I was there which was only a day and a half. Despite Venice being a very interesting place to visit, I thought it was kinda creepy. It may have had something to do with the gray skies and rain, but all the buildings feel dead, if that makes any sense. I toured the Doge's palace and St. Mark's Basilica, spent some time in famous St. Mark's square, I even braved the rain and went to Murano, which is the glass making island. After that, there wasn't a whole lot left to do except just wander and shop, which is exactly what I did. I headed back to the train station with plenty of time to catch my overnight train to Paris, or so I thought.....so Europe uses the 24 hour clock, so 5:00 pm is 17:00, which is easy enough, but for whatever reason, I looked at my ticket which was for 20:07, and thought 10:07 pm. So, I missed my train, had a minor panic attack, spent the night in a 25 euro a night room in the corner of an old lady's attic, and caught the next train which was at noon the next day and lasted 12 hours. I felt lucky to get the seat, since I ended up sitting in the train station next to a girl who said they told her the previous night the train was full, but I felt unlucky to be stuck in second class for such a long ride. I hope that will be the worst train ride I ever have to take because let me tell you, it was miserable. The silver lining was that I did enjoy passing through the French Alps which I would have missed out on if I had made it to my original train. So even though I lost a day in Paris and breathed enough second hand smoke to do some damage I'm sure, I eventually made it to Paris by midnight on Saturday and it was worth all the trouble.

I had to rearrange my itinerary and cut out the day trip to Rouen, but Sunday was Versailles day and it was wonderful. They play classical music and run the fountains on Sundays during the summer and it was quite a treat. I spent all day there (well, almost all day....I did get lost trying to find the place for about an hour or two) just soaking it all in. The palace was nice and all, but for me it was all about the gardens. They go on forever, so I rented a bike and rode around for a while, stopping at Marie Antoinette's "hamlet". It was all too cute, with flowers in the window boxes, swans and jumping fish. It felt like the setting of a fairy tale.

That night I did a blitz tour of Centre Pompidou (the modern art museum) while my clothes were washing, then had a lovely dinner with the best creme brulee I've ever had for dessert. I wandered over to the Eiffel tower and though I was too late to go up to the top, the view from the bottom was pretty good too. Yesterday I did the

Notre Dame cathedral, the Louvre, and a night time bike tour through Paris. Today I did the Musee D'Orsay, picnicked under the Eiffel tower on quiche, and walked the Champs-Elysees. This city is just so gorgeous, it's hard to know what you should be looking at. In every other city, the museums and monuments all stand out, but here all the buildings look like museums and there are monuments and statues everywhere. I really like Paris, and I'm even getting to practice my French which somehow people are able to understand. Everyone has been very nice (some have been too nice) so I'm very relieved. Time has gone by so quickly and there are so many things that I just didn't have time for. C'est la vie. Tomorrow I'm off to Colmar where I'll hopefully have enough energy to ride a bike through the Route du Vin and check out some wineries. I only have a partial day there after the train ride, which this time I will not miss!!!

Day 13, Vernazza (Cinque Terre)

So I got the heck out of Florence, where my hostel was absolutely miserable. I was eaten alive by mosquitoes both nights but the window wasn't open so I don't know how they got in. I hopped on the train and headed to Pisa for a quick stop to see the leaning tower. I paid the €15 to climb to the top which some might say is too much, but it was kind of cool to climb up, since the stairs would lean this way and then that way, and then back the other way. It felt a bit like I had had too much vino. After the quick trip, I got back on the train and headed over to Cinque Terre. For those of you that might not be familiar with this place, it's a national park made up of five little towns on the coast. There's lots of hiking trails, a couple beaches, and great views. The town I'm staying in has only 500 residents and everyone knows everyone. As soon as I walked out of the train station I thought I was in a Disneyland version of the Italian Riviera, everything was so clean and cute and everyone is just so happy!

I'm staying in Vernazza which is this little beauty here. There are trails connecting the five towns, and on my first night I attempted to hike to the fifth town, Monterosso, but this was as far as I got which was as far as I needed to go to experience the gorgeous view. I'm staying in a room in a lady's house that doesn't speak a word of english, but the room is on a quiet little street up not too many stairs. All of these little towns cling to cliffs and hillsides, so stairs are inevitable anywhere you go. I consider myself lucky to only have to climb about three or four flights.

There's not a whole lot to do here except hike (did that yesterday) and relax, so today I went up to Monterosso and enjoyed the beach. It a rather pebbly beach, but the lack of sand means the water stays really clear. You can go out in the water pretty far and still clearly see fish swimming under your feet. Much different than California beaches where you're scared to stand up because you can't see what you might be stepping on. Tomorrow I take a long train ride (about 7 hours) to Venice, my last stop in Italy. I think I'll turn in early so the 4:30 alarm isn't quite so painful....

Day 10, Florence

So, as usual, it's my last night in a place and rather than being sad, I can't wait to get to a new place. Florence is nice, but I kinda miss Rome. One thing I miss are the fountains, both the drinking kind and the visually pleasing variety. This particular fountain was at the Vatican, which I think is why it looks like three sarcophagi (I'm not sure I spelled this right) stacked on top of eachother. I saved plenty of euros by filling up my water bottle at these little beauties. Plus I felt totally safe in Rome, but here it's a little iffy. You know you're getting old when you're a bit scared of groups of teenagers just standing around. One fellow traveller described them as being like wild animals, which I felt was a pretty accurate description.

Yesterday I spent a few hours in Siena before the rain kicked me out of town. If I had to pick one word to describe Siena, it would be 'medieval'. Everything looks like it's straight out of the middle ages so much that you half expect someone to throw the contents of a chamber pot out of the windows above. Speaking of chamber pots, this little sign in a 'toilette' in Siena made me chuckle...the fact that it's self-sanitizing is pretty cool, but look how jazzed Mr. Stick Figure is that the seat automatically goes up. You can almost hear him saying ''yeeeah'' and then doing a little beat boxing while he moonwalks. Anyway, Siena was lovely and I wish that I could have stayed a bit longer to roam the streets, but I did get to have lunch on Il Campo which was quite nice (as it well should have been, for €28 for some grilled veggies, a pizza and a beer). My Italian is getting almost comprehensible now, I'm able to say ''un tavolo per uno, per favore'' (that's ''a table for one, please'') with the best of 'em, so that with my ''grazie'', ''mi scusi'', and ''per favore'', and my pointer finger (''piccolo per favore'', as I point to the gelato flavor that happens to strike my fancy at that moment), I'm managing to get by here.

Today was my one day to spend in Florence, and I spent it doing non-stop guided tours. The morning was a walking tour, where we learned all about the Medici family and how rich Florentines used architecture to show off their money. This is a picture of an alms door in the wall of a home formerly belonging to a wealthy family. It's a little door about the size of a mailbox that poor people could knock on and someone on the other side would pass food through. Apparently, that's where the phrase ''we ate at a little hole in the wall'' comes from, according to our guide. Though it sounds altruistic, it was actually a statement to the city that the family has so much money that they can just give food away. In the afternoon we did the Uffizi Gallery, which has two of my favorites, Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Botticelli's Primavera, plus tons of other works by Italian artists. We spent the evening in the Accademia gazing the beautiful David and he did not disappoint, even with his freakishly big hands and feet. It's been raining all day, so I'm spending the evening inside doing laundry and reading up on Cinque Terre, where I'm off to tomorrow after a quick stop in Pisa. Maybe I can brave the rain for just one more gelato....

Day 7, Rome

At least I think it's day 7, I'm completely out of touch with such things as dates, days of the week and other such non-essentials. I am now in Rome, after passing through Naples again yesterday. I had just finished the Italy section of Eat Pray Love and read the part about the best pizza in the world being in Naples at Pizzeria da Michele, just a few minutes walk from the train station, so of course I had to try it. It was alright, but to be honest the crust was so thin that it was totally soggy. Oh well, maybe I don't know what good pizza really is. Once I made it to Rome I checked into what might possibly be the smallest hotel room ever. Imagine one foot of walking space on either side of a twin bed....but at least I have a private bathroom, something of a luxury around here. I then did a Twilight Tour of Rome, where we saw the famous Trevi Fountain among many other things. We even went to the same gelateria, San Crispino, that is also referenced in

Eat Pray Love, but this time it was the tour guide's idea. I had a combo of honey and cinnamon ginger, just as is recommended and it was rather tasty. However, I had some gelato today at a place near the Vatican that blew all my other gelato experiences away. The flavor was Mousse di Panna Cotta. I took the first bite while walking and had to immediately find a place to sit down and pay the attention to this gelato that it deserved. Oh, and about the Vatican, it was pretty neat and our tour guide did a good job of narrating the story told by the Sistine Chapel which was amazing, but otherwise I was underwhelmed. I guess I expected the pope to be walking around in his pope hat shaking hands or something. I did like this guy in the picture though...he was guarding an entrance of sorts but I thought guards were supposed to be intimidating....this guy is just funny, right? Well, my time is about up and I need to see the Pantheon before it closes tonight. Tomorrow is the Colosseum and all that stuff, then it's off to Florence. Ciao!

Day 4, Sorrento

First picture is of a statue called The Drunken Faun which I've selected because it reminds me of me (only I'm drunk off fun, of course). Next is a view of the town of Amalfi, though the fun was the drive and I'm afraid only postcards can really capture the coastline. Last is an ancient street sign from Pompeii. I could have put in a picture of a ruin or a plaster cast but I'm sure you've all seen those before. This sign is posted on street corners and means that the road is for pedestrians only, no ox carts allowed!

Sorry no new pictures this time, I can't figure out how to connect my camera to this computer and everything is in Italian. I'll catch up tomorrow or the next day when I get to Rome. I left Athens and arrived in Naples on Sunday. I visited the Archaeological museum there, where they have a lot of mosaics, frescoes and other artifacts from Pompeii. The museum is famous for their well-preserved, very large sculptures, one being the Farnese bull which is an action scene of a woman being strapped to a bull to be smashed against the rocks. Unfortunately, they had closed the hall where that particular piece was held so I missed out, but the other things there were enough to make me say "wow" out loud. Pictures don't do it justice but I'll give it a try. After a few hours in Naples (did I mention that it's HOT here?) I took the train to Sorrento. It's a smallish touristy town near the water and everything is adorable--a far cry from Naples though it's only an hour to the south. My hotel, Mami Camilla, (more like a bed and breakfast) is also adorable, complete with a garden, a live-in family and a chihuahua named Lola. It's also a cooking school so the guests benefit by enjoying a four course meal every night for only 18 euros. Delicioso!! I am enjoying my pizza a lot, let me tell you, but it's nice to share a table with the other guests and enjoy homemade food. I'm meeting lots of people, Australians, Americans, French, anyone who speaks English. The French family I sat with last night confirmed that Parisians are indeed very rude....despite my hopes that the rumor was only a rumor. We shall see if I can charm them with my rudimentary French skills. Anyway, yesterday I visited Amalfi and took a bus along the famous Amalfi coast drive, and today I'm going to visit Pompeii and do some laundry, then it will be another dinner here at Mami Camilla. Ciao!