Heidelburg

(written by Troy)

The train to Heidelburg was the nicest yet. Leave it to the Germans. It was an ICE (inter city express) Hi-Speed train with plush leather seats and glass doors that open before you even touch them. Well, first class is like that anyway. They even had a guy selling fresh warm pretzels instead of the usual person hauling his trolley of soda's stale snacks and ass coffee.

First stop after we arrived was the ticket office to make our reservations to Paris (good thing we did as we later found out the train was sold out!) and then to the Tourist Information office as we had no idea where our hotel was or how to get there.

A short bus ride and walk later and we were at our hotel at the foot of the old Bridge the Hollander Hof. (you can see our hotel, on a lot of the postcards of the old bridge. We were able to check in early, and this was another hotel which wanted us to leave the hotel key at the front desk when we left...weird) and then we headed out on our adventures.

We decided to check out the castle first. We took the funicular up, which probably wasn't totally necessary but we've been walking a ton in the last 3 weeks, so our feet could use the rest time.

In our haste we forgot that we were pretty hungry, having had only the pretzels from the train and a small pastry and coffee beforehand at the station that morning. We picked up some audio guides at the castle and wandered around the gardens a little bit and then grabbed some lunch at the self-serve cafe just outside the castle's main gate. Shara had some schnitzel (when in Germany...) and salad, and I had some more bratwurst and pommes frites. I also tried an unappetizingly named drink called "Lint" which turns out to be bubbly apple juice and not all that bad.

Then we toured through the old ruined castle which was pretty cool but they didn't let you wander anywhere fun inside the buildings, except for the giant beer keg.

After that, it was time for a nap.

Neither of us had done much "souvenir" shopping at all on the trip, but with the number of days we needed to carry our packs dwindling, now seemed like the time to start. We pretty much walked up one side of the old town's main street and then down the other side. There were a couple of really cool home stuff stores that had tons of neat stuff. One had an interesting table-top soccer thing, and Shara bought her "remember" memory game there and a music box for Vienna.

Fir dinner we stopped at the fun German restaurant. The sidewalk tables were full, but we got a table inside just by the window, across the street was a Korean restaurant that was totally empty. The waiter stood outside and kept coming across and talking to the patrons of our restaurant. He really should have moved his establishment next to the weird store that had everything from suvineers to watches to wine, and everything in between. In fact adding the restaurant as one more stop in the labyrinth of a store would probably ensure its success.

Back to our dinner, Shara ordered something yummy she saw on someone else's plate, chicken with mushroom sauce and spatzle, and I had some pork knuckle and spatzle. Our waiter was jolly and "cute" as Shara said it, and helpfully translated the specials of the day. He was also the only waiter on our whole trip to come and ask if everything was ok, although it was still hard to get the bill. He was also sweating profusely.

We got some ice-cream next door, and walked to our hotel Before heading in we walked across the bridge and checked out the castle bathed in glorious golden rays of sunlight. I would have grabbed the camera from the hotel, but the half of the castle that we could see was covered in scaffolding, as was the bridge.

We played a round of Shara's "remember" game, (Shara won) watched some CNN and then turned in.

The next morning we elected to forgo the 12 Euro/person breakfast at the hotel for some coffee and deliciously huge pastries for only 6 Euro total. We ate while standing around a fountain, (it was turned off). A little girl must have been hungry because she (probably 2 year old) walked over and stole some pretzels from a group that was having some sort of celebration while they were not looking. It was pretty funny.

We did some more walking around and picked up a few knick knacks. Heidelburg has a lot of bookstores! Then it was time to head to the train station to catch our train to Manheim, and then to Paris. We grabbed our bags at the hotel and went to our bus stop.

When we got on the bus, we could both swear it said bus # 32 on the front, somewhere along the line I noticed the LED sign now said "31". With some help from a local, we found that this bus was heading far from the station and we needed to get off, go down another street and catch the 34. Oh...and it only comes every 20 minutes. So we hop off and start hauling down the street. And there is the 34!! heading straight for our stop. I start hauling to catch it and manage to get there in time. I get on the bus and ask if it goes to the train station, and it doesn't. We need to go across the street. Luckily it arrives soon and we get to the station with time to spare.

Our next connection is pretty tight so we picked up some lunch at the bakery to eat on the next train. The connection is tighter than originally oped but we make the train to Paris with a minute or two to spare.

We were in another great ICE train (going up to 320km/hour in some places) to Paris in a compartment with a couple from Jacksonville FL. They were quite nice and we ended up talking to them the whole trip. She is an artist (R.N), and he is a Lawyer. I particularly liked how defending bad guys gave him no moral problems and that most of his clients are dumb people that did really stupid things. He just finished another degree at Cambridge and skipped graduation, and she was in Europe working on an Art Degree. They seemed to have an interesting relationship, bickering a bit in front of us. Shara noticed an absence of wedding rings.

We arrived in Paris Gare De L'Est all well and good, and then began our 2 hour trip to our hotel. First, long lines for the ticket machines. Then the ticket booths don't accept our credit cards. And they only take coins. Who carries 16 Euro 80 in coin? I went to wait in the lounge info line while Shara found someone else to help us. They suggested walking to Gare Du Nord (we needed to get there anyways and it was just 5 minutes away) We hoped to find an outgoing train to CDG, so we could use our rail passes and save the money of the RER train ticket. None of the people gave us any helpful information, they would not even look up anything in their computers. So we once again tried buying RER tickets at different machines (they had VISA logo's) and none of them worked. After this we were fed up, so we went in search of a cab.

Our driver was quite nice, even though he spoke zero English, and our French is not so good. The rates are cheap in Paris, the cars are nice. He even wore a nice suit! It was a good thing we took a cab, as our hotel wasn't exactly next to the terminal, and we never would have found it. After several tries, or Visa did work, and we bid our driver au revoir.

Novotel (the hotel) was quite nice and I'm sure the most recently constructed building we stayed in. As we were a little way from the terminal we asked about a shuttle for the morning. They do have a shuttle but the drivers are on a strike. Great, we booked another taxi.

One curious thing about our room is that you need to place the key card in a receptacle inside the door to activate the lights. This caused some initial panic as light was urgently required to find the toilet.

Our hotel had a pool, steam room, and sauna, so we took advantage of these in our first opportunity to break out our swimsuits. We went for dinner and bought some expensive but yummy burgers and club sandwiches. It was the first time we ate at 8pm and it felt normal (finally).

The swimming tired us out pretty good and time zones changes were soon to play havoc with our sleeping patters, so we did the final pack, and turned in for our last sleep in Europe.

On our last morning of our trip, we got ready pretty quickly and went down to wait for our taxi. Unfortunately he did not take visa, and I only had a small amount of cash. He said it might do if we hurry. He drove like a maniac, and stopped his meter for us for a few minutes. But he also took all our cash.

We arrived at th airport quite well in advance of our flight, so there were no line-ups to check in or at security.

Thankfully the pastry shop and Relay, (which had an airline headphone adapter) and the duty free shop all took visa, so we could have breakfast, buy treats for the plane and get some last minute souvenirs. The plane was a little late (they forgot the food), but according to the first officer, "they are going to try and make up that time in the air". What's up with that? If they have the ability go to go faster, why don't they always go faster, and get us to our destination sooner??!!

We are on the plane now, and about to land in an hour or so. It has been a wonderful trip, with lots of great memories. And most importantly I got to share it with my wife, and spend some much time with her!

Munich - Game Day

(written by Troy)

We arrived in Munich and finally found our hotel after having walked around an entire mall with our enormous packs on our backs. The hotel is nice, but it doesn't quite reflect the 220 Euro price tag that came with it (for 1 night!)

We decided the first course of action was to pick up the tickets to the soccer game. We headed to the nearby U-Bahn station where a nice man helped us with getting a "partner ticket". Once on the train we realized that it might be a good idea to have our passports with us, so back to the hotel and start our adventure again. Turned out we never needed them, but better safe than sorry!

The Allianz Arena is about a 15 minute walk from the U Station. As you approach you can see what looks like a deflated soccer ball (Shara's description) or some balloon's trapped by a net. In front, there are giant q-tips indicating the various parking garages.

We found out that the various ticket booths are outside the stadium which itself is not entirely enclosed. We made our way to Kassencanyon Ost only to find the lines we needed were closed. My confirmation had said to pick up our tickets "at least" 2 hours before kick-off. I think it meant "within" instead of "at least".

We spent about 45 minutes wandering about, looking at merchandise booths and eating pretzels until the ticket window opened. I went up to the window and anxiously and nervously went to get my tickets, hoping that everything in the transaction went smoothly. And then I had them in my hands and anxiousness turned into excitement!!!!

The security was pretty tight. They almost took Shara's water bottle from me fearing it may become a missile or was filled with something other than water. A guard even sniffed the open lid! Shara had to go through her own entrance to prevent being felt up by the male guards! Crazy times.

First stop, the fan shop. This was a BIG store. You would think the LEGO store at LEGOLAND would be big, well this was even bigger. And after only a few minutes and still over 2 hours until kick off, the shop was packed, wall to wall people. We picked up a few scarves and a Bastian Schweinstieger Shirt.

It was a bit of a hike up to our seats on the 3rd level, (117 steps up to be exact), but they were perfect seats, just down from the TV camera's, and the center line by about 25 seats (sec 305, Row 1, Seats 1-2).

After soaking up some of the atmosphere, we picked up some Bratwurst and snacks. The payment method is brilliant, as you are required to purchase a little debit card which then is deducted from, when you buy. And the prices were not that outrageous. (You place the cash card onto this electronic pad and it just automatically completes the transaction.)

The game itself was FANTASTIC! I love the crowd interaction. For player introductions the announcer says the first name and the crowd responds with his last name. Same for goal scorers. The best is when we score a goal the announcer and crowd have the following dialog:

Announcer: How many goals for Bayern?
Crowd: Eins
Announcer: And for Bielefeld? (other team)
Crowd : Null!
Announcer: Danke!
Crowd: Bitte!

The "true fans" are absolutely nuts. They sang, banged their drums, waived their flags and jumped around for the ENTIRE game. No silence from them at all. They all worked so hard that I can understand why they are considered the "12th player". The team even showed them special appreciation at the end of the game. My favorite bits included when one end of the stadium would shout and the other would respond back and forth (sounded like A-Oh), and them shouting "FC BAYERN DEUTSCHER MEISTER" for about 10 minutes straight. I think sitting in that section (well standing) would mean the events of the game would mean much less than the people around you, especially if you were standing behind a big flag.

The game started with a couple if chances at both ends, including a hit off Bayern's goal post. But once the game settled in, it was all Bayern.

And then they scored a goal and I was standing and waving my arms, trying to flap my little Bayern flag that wouldn't unfurl. Shara said I looked like a complete retard, but really it was the first time I saw a goal for my team in real life. I am proud that I was so excited that I made a complete fool of myself. So there. I don't get overly excited much, so its nice to know that it can happen. :)

There was one dis-allowed goal, a shot off their post, and one more goal by Podolski (Ribery got the first). It was a great game for a Bayern fan - all joy, no disappointment. Ribery was fantastic and ran his ass off. He was subbed off to a standing ovation. It was also great to see Oliver Khan in his 3rd last game ever (he even had his own song playing as he came onto the pitch for warm-up).

After the game there was a little tribute to the players for winning 3 trophies this year. VanBommel pranced out and flapped his arms like a bird as some Dutch music played. The team carried a giant logo around the pitch and then started jumping around and dancing all over the place. Crazy Germans.

The journey back to our hotel was a tribute to German efficiency. There was a massive sea of people exiting the stadium heading towards the U-Bahn, buses and cars. Literally tens of thousands of people; it looked amazing. But the crowds kept moving. I was sure there would be a massive line outside the station, but the crowds just moved on in and we waited less than minute for a train car that wasn't stuffed, and then got on. We had to wait a little bit in this crowded car before it left the station, but that was it.

We got back to our hotel by 11:30pm, and went to bed. The sleep was good but seemed too short. Now we are on our way to Heidelberg!

Innsbruck

Our train ride to Innsbruck was nasty. The Italian trains are dirty and smelly! If this is first class, I'd hate to see what second class looks like!

When we got on the train in Bologna, again, the compartment we had reserved was full, and we found another with only 1 man in it. We soon found out why. He was farting up a storm. A smelly storm. And he was farting loudly! Troy and I sat across from one another and communicated with our handy Ipod touch, about how smelly it was, and what we should do. Troy was even trying to muster up some of his own farts to combat with.

Finally I figured it was time to put an end to the farting, so with as much disgust as I could muster without laughing, I said to Troy, "Are you Farting?" and Troy replied "no" and I answered him, "Well it really smells bad in here!"

Troy immediately put his book in front of his face and would not make eye contact with me. I soon found out that was so he wouldn't laugh. Shortly after this, smelly left, and we did what we could to air out the compartment. What an obnoxious person! On top of the farting, he was playing video games on his cell phone, with the volume turned all the way up, he was talking loudly on his phone, and at one time, he bent his nasty face over the seat between him and I, and started doing something freaky I can't even describe. He was a nasty weirdo. Troy said he also spoke audibly to himself. We think he wanted us to leave the compartment...where would we go?

Finally the ride was finished and we arrived in Innsbruck, Austria. A country I love so dearly. We arrived at 4:33pm, and I navigated this time. We easily found our cute Austrian hotel The Weisses Kreuz, and got to our cute little room on the 5th floor, mountain view. We think Mozart stayed in our room, since it is advertised he stayed in that hotel, and there is a carving in the wall, of a date, and Mozart's name.

We settled into our hotel, and set out to explore Innsbruck. We nearly got trampled by a horse carriage, but despite that, it was a cute town. We found a restaurant for dinner called Weinerwald, sine I wanted some schnitzel.

The meal was enjoyable, but we found our waitress was quite nasty. Not to us, but to other people. The dessert we had ordered was supposed to have vanilla ice-cream. It didn't, and the waitress yelled very loudly at the girl who was delivering it. It was quite embarrassing. She took our desserts away, instead of just bringing some ice-ceam. We didn't see the waitress who was yelled at for probably 20 minutes, we thought she may be crying (I would cry if someone spoke to me that way!)

We went back to our hotel after dinner and watched an English movie on our Ipod, and had a fight over something silly that got blown out of proportion, as most fights are.

We woke up at 8am, got ready and went and had a typical Austrian breakfast buffet. From there we walked to the Gondola Station, and purchased tickets to take that and the lift to the top of the mountain. It cost nearly 50 Euro's each, but the views were worth it. The views were breath taking, too bad we couldn't stay longer!

Back in town we did some souvenir shopping, and went to check out, mail some post cards and grab a train ti Munich.

We got a yummy lunch of sandwiches and cookies to teat on the train.

Vernazza

We arrived in beautiful Vernazza after a split second decision to get off at our stop, even thouh we were late and figured we would miss our train. We didn't but had to trust the train number.

We arrived in Vernazza and set out to find a phone as our hostDaria was going to meet us. We travelled from 1 end of town to the other as the first phone we tried was broken. A man came to meet us and bring us to our room. Up and up and up we travelled. 71 steps up with our packs on, it was a lot of work, b ut it was worth it. What a beautiful room. Vernazza Rooms, the hotel we stayed in, was incredibly beautiful. The shower was outside on the balcony, it was enclosed but very fun. The balcony was beautiful and the view was incredible.

We showered and went out to explore the town. We loved it immediately and easily found the beach and rocks for sunbathing. We took off our flip flops and waded in the water and dug our feet in the sand and then wandered down the beach, and selected a bit rock to lounge on which we did for quite a while. I played on the algae, and loved the way it felt on my feet. It was hot and beautiful.

There were a couple of restaurants one which hung onto the edge of the rock wall. We climbed many stairs to find out it didn't open until 7:30pm. We made reservations, and left to do some more exploring!

We returned at 7:30pm and were seated on the outdoor patio overlooking the Mediterranean sea. We got to watch the sunset over the Mediterranean while we ate.

We started with a meat/vege tray and 1/2 litre of local wine. Our first course was an amazing Prawn pasta. Both of us absolutely loved it. For a man, I got a fried fish tray - there were all kinds of fishes, anchovies(which I tried) and bigger fish with their heads chopped off, but their tails intact. Troy's food was a Prawn platter - but the Prawns there were more like crabs...the were enormous, and had eyes! WEIRD!

Monday we wondered up town and came across an amazing cafe with wonderful pastry, taste latte's and blood orange juice freshly squeezed. It was totally awesome, so we decided to make dinner reservations.

Now in Cinque (5) terra (Towns) there are 5 towns (Who would have thunk it). We had decided not to hike between the towns, but to spend the day resting and relaxing, but we did decide to walk up to the top of the town so we could check out Vernazza Castle up, up and up we went. The views got better and better. At every short rest stop we figured we'd go a little further. The hike was a brutal one for most of it, but the views were rewarding, as was the cafe at the highest point where we got some water and pie. The hike was very enjoyable.

At Corniglia after our 3 hour hike, we had some lunch and the most disgusting experience of my life.

We decided to hike to the next town, and that hike was much easier. We really enjoyed the hike. We got Gelato in Magnolia and took a boat ride back to Vernazza as it began to rain.

In Vernazza we stopped and bought a few souvenirs before heading for a siesta.

We had hot showers and headed off to probably the best meal we'd found yet, at the Pirate Place again.

We also made friends with an older couple of ladies and a mid aged couple while we ate. The food was fabulous we had some bruchetta, salads and Troy had Tortellini and I had Cannelloni. Mmmmm It was a perfect day.

The following day we woke up and again had breakfast at the Pirate place and it was so yummy! Now we're off to Innsbruck.

Venice

We got up early the next morning to the sun and beautiful scenery outside. A picture I had become so accustomed to while I lived there, but had forgotten. The cloud separated the mountains from the town; it was beautiful.

Be boarded our train somewhere in the neighborhood of 6:50am, and rode through beautiful Austria. I don't recall anything overly exciting or noteworthy in our first leg. From Villach - Venice we required reservations and have been given 2nd class reservations (even though we had a first class ticket). The car we had reservations in, was full, so we selected another less full car. IN that car, was a chatty girl. She was a student in Salzburg studying, and she knew everything. At least she thought she did. She was entertaining for a while.

We arrived in Venice around noon, and purchased waterbus tickets valud for 48 hours. They were 26 euro's each!

As it turns out we did not require the bus as much as we expected to, and were able to find our way quite easily, thanks to my husband, who surprisingly...is fantastic with maps! I was honestly shocked and very proud of my husband, when we arrived!

Our hotel Al Portico Guest House was run/owned by a very nice lady named Stacy, who showed us around and took us to our room - 6. It was exactly what I expected for Venice, although the bed looked saggy (it wasn't...but it looked it).

We decided to get on our way and shortly after found ourself in a mess of people EVERYWHERE! We sat for a while, and then onwards again.

We took a lovely gondola ride, and shared it with a cute little family form Poland.

St. Marks Square was an absolute mess of wall to wall people. We walked as quickly though there as we could, and found a semi-busy street, lined with painters.

We had an excellent meal on the canal, right beside the Rialto Bridge and enjoyed a rest for our feet. We jumped on a water bus after perusing a bunch of mask stores and finding Troy a Bayern Munich t-shirt knock-off.

The waterbuss took us to S. Elena where we found a beautiful park and some more great photo's. We got very lost here, and ended up wandering around for 2+ hours, trying to make our way back to the hotel.

After finally arriving back to our hotel, we got some dessert at the restaurant next to our hotel, which Stacy also owned, with her husband. It was so delicious!!!

Our 2nd day in Venice we headed to the neighbouring island of Murano. We saw a glass making demonstration which was quite something and then set put to find some beautiful Murano Glass artifacts. We didn't fall in love with anything, so settled for walking around, looking in shops. We did find several we liked a lot, but all of them had 3-4 digit price tags.

We got some pizza for lunch at another cafe along the canal, and once again, rested our sore feet. We headed back to Venice, with empty hands, for a siesta. Mmmm Naps.

We got up again and headed out around 6pm for the train station to purchase our reservations for the next day. We also did some shopping, and found the perfect mask for Lisa, along with some other trinkets.

We ate dinner at a lovely canal, and it was quite nice. Cannelloni, salmon(me), Chicken (Troy) and Ensalate Misto to share. We also shared a small pitcher of wine. It was great!

We had to pay for our stay in cash, since Stacy's Credit card machine was not working. Who would have known it would be so hard! We tried 6 times before we got any cash. A couple ATM's were broken down, some were out of cash, and some were incompatible with our cards. Finally success, after walking around about 1 hour.

Things to remember:
~Crazy coffee lady who would not give me cream for my coffee.
~Cute old man in Stacy's Restaurant, who spoke with us about his servants, and buttons, and how he is a teacher of building restorations at the Venice Uni.
~Man who nearly lost his arm and camera when Asian man on water bus nearly closed the window on his arm.
~Little Baby Chubster and her cross-eyes.
~Banks In Venice try to maximize their bank fee's by limiting withdrawals to 250 Euro's, even though that may be far less than a daily limit.
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