Hey all, and i'll try to keep this one a bit shorter! Sorry for wearing you out with the longest blog known to man! As you can see by the fact that a new blog has appeared, Kirsten and i actually made it back alive from Spring Break! Here's a brief synopsis of the rest of our journey:
1. We bliebed in Barcelona for a total of 4 nights because AlBerGuest was so excellent and explored the city and enjoyed excellent weather! It was hard to leave Al and his excellent hangout.
2. We took a few trains to the same stops we made on our way through France, but then took and overnight train from Toulouse to Nice...crazy. In Nice we rolled our bags down to the rocky beach which this section of the French Riviera is Famous for and enjoyed a hearty meal of McDonalds (some sort of French Delicacy i presume...) Anyway, it filled our stomachs. Actually, before i was about to enjoy my McMeal, i had to use the WC and i found one on the beach. It was one of those lame ones you 'have to pay for' and as there was no one at the counter i just went in and did my business. i came out and there was an old man expecting 35 Euro cents. crap. Having zero (count 'em zero) coins in my pocket and my wallet back on the beach blankets with Kirsten (the beach blankets were really our sleeping bags), i decided to side step the guy and just walk away. The man came busting after me so i picked up my trot a bit and (cursing in French which i of course cannot understand) proceeded to pick up the giant French Rock of Nice and chuck them at me!!! HARD!
i ran right off that beach as quick as i could.
...and this was the only WC i paid for on our whole trip; which i opted to pay 1 Euro for in exchange for no more hurling rocks and a peaceful spot on the rocky beach. i went swimming after that and it was really cold. Eventually, we got back to the train station on our way to Italy to meet Kirsten's sister Jenny and her brother-in-law Jon in Cinque Terra, but not before i went to an ATM and made a large withdrawal from my bank account to pay for the rest of our hostels and for food money upon arriving back in Austria. turned out to be a bad move.
3. Cinque Terra. ('Five Lands' or 'Five Cities'). What a beautiful place! Go there if you ever have the chance. You can hike between all five of the cities and they are all right on the ocean with the bluest, clearest water you have ever seen. That is the real Italy, not Florence or Rome, and well worth it. I cannot speak for Venice, as i still have not made it there, though Aro told a great story about it during his adventures in the Old World. At any rate, i had a bad experience there as my wallet was lost/stolen near the grocery store DeSpar in Monterosso! BOOOOOOOO!!! (i'm not entirely sure how it happened, but i lost about 280 Euro, all my IDs (except my passport thankfully) and some other stuff which undoubtedly is important, because i keep it in there. i was able to somehow communicate this to the very Italian store owners in the area and the Carabinieri (local police), but to no avail. i did file a report of loss, but who knows if i will ever see it again. We did our hike to Vernazza anyway and it was quite beautiful.
4. After a short stop in Pisa and seeing the main square and the tower and all-at, we booked it on down to Rome where Jenny and Jon already had a hotel reserved. Kirsten and i found one too after a bit of searching and a little bargaining and got a decent deal, but it was still the most expensive we paid the whole trip. Then we went to dinner. While we were eating, an Italian waiter came and turned on infoTV with the newsline: Juan Paulo II è mort. Of course meaning, The Pope had just died. Craziness at the Vatican! We went. i am really glad we hadn't been there later, after the massive wave of people that came! We probably would have been stuck for sure. It was pretty dang full of people and kind of strange. i really do not understand what all the commotion is--i mean, i know he's the leader of the Catholic Religion and all, but he's still just a man. Not God. He has no special access to God that the rest of us don't. i know that is pretty to the point, but why are so many people so riled up about the death of this old man as if he were Christ? Infallibility? I should think not. The only one infallible is God himself, and the only reason Christ is infallible is because he was fully God.
Anyway, i'm steaming out my ears with plenty of other things i should probably not write on this topic, so i will close on a positive note: it was worth it to go from a pop culture standpoint and to see all the people out and about.
So, here i am at 'Big Net' an Internet Cafe, which Kirsten and i have taken to calling 'Big Butt' which of course is both hilarious and true. Classes have started up again and lots of stuff is due soon. i also must register for Chapman classes and i found out i have a business hold which i have to clear up (party!). Also i have a German test on Tuesday! AHHHH!!! i am a bissel verrückt i think. (a little bit crazy!) I will post an update sometime this week regarding Salt Mines and Home Cooked Austrian Meals. I Don't Know Why I'm Capitalizing Everything! Tschüss!!
love, ac
1 comment:
Yikes for the stolen wallet! That is more than awful. But at least Cinque Terre is totally beautiful, right?
I almost hesitate to tell people about it, because the more people who know, the more it will become like Venice and just be post cards and tourist shops. Still, amazingly nice people and basically THE highlight of my travels in Europe. Dang. I'm really glad you guys got to go.
You wouldn't believe how much the Pope is in the news over here, too, it's basically been nonstop. And everything has been positive, too -- I feel like it's sugarcoated Pope land over here.
But I'm not sure that the hubbub is TOTALLY unjustified -- by most accounts he wasn't a bad guy. People made a fuss when Mother Theresa died, and she really wasn't any more than an ordinary nun. People even made a huge deal out of Nixon's death, and he certinally was no Man of God.
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