An attempt at a week's worth of adventures

Bonjour! Bongiorno! Gutentag!

I have never been to a city that speaks so many languages! Every single sign is in French, English, German, and Italian. I love it!

I arrived in Geneva late Wednesday night. As usual, I got lost, caught in the rain, and was ridiculously tired after a 12 hour train trip here. However, I guess I'm used to it now because honestly, I just laughed in the rain instead of breaking down crying or freaking out. It's just funny by now, I think I take after my mom (sorry Ma) and just can't follow directions. I have seriously gotten lost everywhere. I arrived in Geneva after leaving Rome early that morning after having to catch a train to Milan, and then Milan to Geneva. It was a long twelve hours and when I got here I had no place to stay. But finally, after almost 3 weeks on the road I kind of like having no idea what I'm doing. I was totally stuck Wednesday night, but I traipsed through the raging thunderstorm in my flip flops and huge backpack with a smile on my face :-D It was great! I found a hotel (no hostels in expensive Geneva) right near the train station and fell into a deep sleep (forget my 12 hours on the train, travel sleep sooo doesn't count).

But what happened to my week in Italy? You can guess from my complete lack of communication that I have been too busy to sit down and write. I think I left you at my dramatic trip into Amalfi. When I woke up the next morning in my grungy hostel, I went straight to the beach. Really gorgeous water, hot hot HOT sand, rocky cliffs, and beautiful Italians and bathing suits... But the town was too small for me and it would take hours to get anywhere more exciting. So I enjoyed my time at the beach but ended up leaving early for Rome to have something better to do. I literally have NO exciting stories of Amalfi, but I'm glad I saw it, and would definitely go again with friends.

Rome on the other hand, was of course exciting - I think I both hated and loved it. I stayed in two different places. I at first got my own room in a hostel (gasp!) cutely named Fawlty Towers but was meeting no one so I switched to this great social/party hostel where I was put in one room with FIVE guys. Thank God they were all sweet because I completely freaked when I first got to my room. But I ended up meeting this nice guy from California who I travelled with during my time in Rome. The hostel offered a pub crawl through all the famous Roman sites so we did that together, as well as ate TONS of pasta with some other lone travelers we met in the hostel. I also found the most amazing gelateria in all the world. Seriously. I could die now and be completely happy. I went back three times in two days and got six different flavors: honey almond, sacher torte (remember that Austrian cake I mentioned earlier? Yeah, its also GELATO), green apple, coconut, cappuccino, and pink grapefruit. It was absolutely amazing, especially because I spent all my time in Italy searching for the perfect ice cream. I think I may have stopped at every single gelato place in Rome, and I feel soooo victorious having found the perfect place...

And of course I did the typical touristy things in Rome. I saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Sistine Chapel.... all amazing and just like I had imagined. When I first stepped out of the Metro stop by the Colosseum my breath was literally taken away. It was kind of like meeting a famous person. And I went through an entire memory card on my camera!

Now that I'm in Geneva I'm slightly bored, but in a good way, I promise. Geneva is the perfect place to recharge my batteries because I'm mostly sitting a lot but I don't feel guilty because it's not like I'm missing out on a lot! After this I head to Nice, to see my lovely friend Alea (hi Pancake!), and from there I go back to Paris so I can take the Chunnel to London and actually do some work ;-) Geneva is great though, I've seen the United Nations, the Red Cross museum, and of course Lake Geneva, which is beautiful when its not raining! Last night though was the Absolut Highlight. My childhood best friend Thana's best friend from high school, Mya, lives here in Geneva (confusing enough?). I've heard everything about Mya but we've never met, so I took the opportunity to meet her here and we clicked automatically. I took her out for dinner, and then we went out to meet some of her friends. Geneva really is the most international city I know. My super-helpful Lonely Planet guidebook says that Geneva belongs less to Switzerland and more to the world, and that really is the case. Mya's friends were from Luxembourg, Germany, Mexico, the States, and the ones who were actually from Switzerland had families originally from places like Finland or Afghanistan. It was a great group of people and I heard lots of stories. I'm meeting people from all over the world, making great connections, and I bet the next time I do a trip like this I won't even need to stay in hostels! At the end of our night Mya and I, along with some of her friends, walked around for a while and we were treated to a performance by her Swiss friends freestyle rapping in French. For those of you who have yet to hear French rap, you immediately need to get on that... hiiiilllaaarious!

I'm sorry for this book of an email, but even with this I can't paint a big or brilliant enough picture of everything I've been doing here. You can tell from the fact that I've been too busy and tired to write until now that too much has been happening for me to sit. Except I kind of like it that way...

Love to all!!!

Italy! (and the journey there)

Buongiorno!!!

So far, one word and one word only can describe my 2 days in Italy: FINALLY. I left Croatia at 11pm on the 22nd, and arrived in Amalfi, Italy at 11pm on the 23rd. It literally took me 24 hours to get here.

I took a ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari, Italy. The trip was overnight and the total sailing time would be just under 9 hours. I figured I could sleep on the boat. Wrong. I went outside because the day had been 100 degrees and I was dying from the heat. As the boat took off into the Adriatic it got colder and colder. I put on two pairs of pants. Nothing. Three sweaters. Nope. Socks? Again, not even a teeny bit better... Get the picture? And my lovely new friend Maurry from Scotland was sleeping peacefully on the wooden deck (having sweetly given me the elevated seat) in his toasty sleeping bag. I was insanely jealous. I sat starting at him like a psycho debating whether or not to wake him and ask to crawl in for about 15 minutes before regaining my senses. So I went inside figuring I would sleep on the floor, but everyone else seemed to have gotten the same idea. People were sleeping on the stairs, in the halls, on the bar. It was actually kind of funny, but at the time I just wanted to sleep. So I ended up back on the actual deck of the boat to escape the wind, but of course it started to rain (as it always seems to do just for me!). But at six in the morning when I gave up trying to sleep the sun came up and out and I was rewarded with a perfect and peaceful view of the sun rising over the Adriatic Sea.

We finally docked in Bari where it was incredibly hot and it ended up being one extreme or the other that day. My entire left side of my body was covered in red spots, broken blood vessels, and scrapes from lying on the wood for so long. My plan was originally to take the train from Bari to Solerno, where I would find my hostel (supposedly) but the boat docked 4 minutes too late and I missed my train. I overheard an America talking who was going to Naples (in the same vicinity of Solerno) and was taking a bus. However, to catch the bus we had to take a train. In the opposite direction. And Solerno? I watched the city pass me by, like a drooling dog, my face plastered to the window. By the time I actually reached Solerno, I had taken 2 buses and 2 trains. Both Bari and Naples were the most disgusting places I have ever seen. I will spare you the ugly details as I know it is my beautiful experiences you want to hear about, but lets put it this way: the smell of noodles will haunt my dreams forever.

Once in Solerno I was informed it was another hour long bus ride to Amalfi! And the bus had to travel up winding roads that were uncomfortably close to the craggy rocks and ocean below. Two hours, an upset stomach, and FIVE Italian boys (seriously, boys. This seems to be a reoccurring problem with me) later I was in Atrani, a cute little village next to Amalfi. Supposedly, I had to just follow the signs to get to the hostel, but that wasn't the case either. Phone calls, policemen, and lots of stairs finally got me to the hostel, where I passed out immediately after arriving.

This morning, I woke to find myself in a gorgeous little Italian town, with the hostel practically right on the water. The location was great, the hostel... not so much. Kind of wet and musty, but I spent my first couple hours here outside instead, lying on the beach trying to get my pasty skin to actually look like an Italian's. I spent 2 hours in a cafe, drinking Coke (which I never do, but for some reason Coke is really good in Europe) and zoning out. I wrote a little in my travel journal and generally just relaxed and tried to get over the horrors of the previous day. Now, I am actually in Amalfi, a 15 minute walk UP a massive mountain, but it was a very pretty walk: lots of clear water and grand buildings with peeling paint. Not much is here actually except for lots of beach and tourist shops. So I decided to catch up on email by paying a ridiculous amount of money to use this computer. I'll probably spend the rest of the night sitting in another cafe and eating pasta. The one great thing about Europe, besides the Coke, has been the cafes. I really haven't seen a lot of museums or monuments, but I've been having lots of great dates with myself, comfortably watching people, drinking really great coffee, and meeting interesting people. I've already met an American engineer named Frank who was my company to Naples, a Canadian English teacher named Sandra, a crazy Norwegian named Isaac who hasn't been home in months and works just so he can afford to stop working and travel the world . There's also Rachel and Pip, two girls met in two different hostels who were also travelling alone and a pleasure to be around. And of course, Maurry, my Scotland gentleman with the sleeping bag.

Arrivederci!

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dobar dan! Good day!

So far, Croatia has been nothing short of incredible. The night I got here, Thana and her mom took me out to dinner at a gorgeous restaurant where we were practically sitting in the Adriatic. We ate the best fish I have ever tasted (until of course our next meal) coupled with really great wine and crepes with cherries and ice cream. Due to the wine or just the excitement of finally seeing Thana in her own home, we spent hours reminiscing and singing old songs. Since we have known each other for years, there were A LOT of songs to sing.

The next day was the highlight though. The three of us got up early to go out on their boat and I got the grand tour of Dubrovnik from the sea. Before stopping at a small island for yet another great meal, we stopped at what looked like a rocky edge of land. Thana took me into the water and once we got to the rocks she had us go under the water, swimming underneath the rocks where we came up into a massive cave. Hardly any light shone through, and it was completely mysterious and kind of scary. I felt kind of like a pirate... hehehe.

Essentially, our days have been spent napping in the sun, eating amazing fresh food, drinking wine and sitting around and talking. We talk on the boat while sunbathing, we talk at cafes for hours and hours. We talk on the family's beautiful porch that overlooks the terra cotta roofs of Dubrovnik and the huge expanse of the Adriatic sea. I cannot imagine ever leaving. This is the most beautiful, relaxing, seductive place I have ever been. At six this morning we watched the sun rise over the city from the terrace, then walked ten minutes to a bakery that had just opened so we could buy hot bread and pastries and milk fresh from the cow that we drank straight from the carton on the walk back home.

Yesterday, a friend of Thana's mother, Mercy, arrived. Anne and Mercy have known each other since kindergarten and continue to stay in touch. The same is true for Thana and I. Today, the four of us girls drove to the house of an old friend of the Pavelic family for lunch. Thana describes her surrogate grandfather, Leo, as the salt of the earth, and she could not be more spot on in her description. His stone house and the surrounding buildings are the result of his design and work. The stones were literally stacked by his old and experienced hands. The garden is filled with mint, from which the wife makes her own grenadine and tea, and grapes and limes grow on their trees. Thana and I swam in the small bay where the family lives and relaxed in the water before lunchtime. For lunch we ate fish that Leo had caught the day before and cooked himself in his outdoor oven that was topped with his homemade olive oil. Nothing goes unused in this family. For dessert we ate the grapes off their trees and these amazing pastries (I think) that are made with dough fried in brown sugar and filled with fresh plums . Afterwards, we sang songs in Croatian and English, which caught the attention of an Italian couple from Naples. They joined us, drinking wine and singing, adding another language to our repertoire. Everyone spoke some part of the others language and we switched between them for the rest of the afternoon. I cant speak a word of Croatian and only slightly understand Italian, but we could sing songs anyway and leave with new friends. Think Under the Tuscan Sun but better, more beautiful, more lively, and slightly drunker! Everything was natural and amazing. We could not have had a better day.

Tomorrow I leave on a ferry to Bari, Italy, from which I may go to Naples, maybe the Amalfi coast, maybe Sorrento. Wherever the wind takes me....

Dovidenja, until our next meeting,

Marian

Days 2 and 3

Gruss Gott!


My stop in Austria was only planned as a stopover before Croatia. I didn't plan anything and like Paris, got into the center of the city and just walked. Nothing much happened before I met up with my mom's pilot friend, Dieter. For 7 hours I got the history of Vienna in a very fast paced walking tour. He showed me the most amazing cathedrals - St. Peter's, St. Rupert's (?) and St. Paul or Mark or someone... I have no idea which was which. But I saw some hardcore Baroque, Gothic and OLD churches. The Baroque was pretty on the outside but the second I walked in was hit with this force of shiny gold. GOLD... and painted ceilings and alters and marble pillars and the skeletons of dead saints wearing fancy, old, decaying clothes reclining in a glass box. I was horrified and amazed at the same time, but had to stifle my giggles inside the quiet church.

The first church I stopped at was so impressive on the outside I didn't even bother going into it until later. The exterior was massive and so old the stone was turning black. It was exactly what you think of when imagining a Gothic cathedral (you know, when you do all that Gothic cathedral imagining...). The interior was just as baroque and gaudy as the other church. Every wooden pew was hand carved and every stone pillar had cherubs and saints and God knows what else so efficiently chiseled it was impossible for my mind to completely grasp what I was looking at. Totally amazing though.

Dieter and I climbed to the top of one tower and got a good look of all of Vienna. Plus, we saw the roof up close which is not at all what you'd expect from this very menacing building. The roof was tiled in patterns of colors that resembled some sort of rug pattern. A real juxtaposition and very bizarre. We hit a few more cathedrals and as amazing as they all were, my all time favorite was the oldest one, which I think was called Saint Rupert's. It was so old there were no fancy paintings or gilded pillars. The pews were plain and made of dark wood. White walls and candles and that's about it. To be perfectly honest, it's what I think a church should really look like, peaceful and respectful. We then went BACK to the first church (lots of walking), taking a guided tour through the catacombs. Dukes and cardinals and bishops are buried down there plus the organs of some Empress are have been preserved in alcohol and stuffed in a huge urn.

The most interesting however, were the rooms with piles and piles of bones. This is where victims of the plague were literally thrown. After the tombs ran out of room prisoners were forced to peel the meat of the dead so there would be more room to just pack the bones. Some rooms were just scattered with bones, others had neat and tight piles. It was so horrifying but none of us on the tour could look away. Especially when we were told how the smell was so bad they had to move the cometary to the outskirts of Vienna. Basically, under the beautiful stone pedestrian walkways I had been admiring were hundreds of thousands of skeletons (expect for those reclining above ground in special boxes for our viewing pleasure).

Dieter showed me a lot. We had famous Sacher cake and ridiculously strong coffee, plus Austrian apple strudel at the summer home of the Empress who would be Marie Antoinette's mother and who's organs are lovingly placed underground. I got the 411 on the old Hapsburg Empire and where to get the best weinerschizle. We also went to Vienna's oldest pub, where signatures of the incredibly famous like Beethoven and Mozart cover the walls.

I've been to Europe before but it was here where I really realized just how old everything is. It's amazing how much history there is here, and I love it! Turkish cannon balls are still embedded in building walls that now make up a modern shopping center. Beautiful old buildings are everywhere. Some are preserved in their history, others now have billboards and flashing advertisements. There was way too much to see in two days that I've been here, so I'll just have to come back.
Off to the airport now where I fly to Dubrovnik where I see my friend Thana's home for the first time! Auf wiedersehen...

Day 1 - August 16

Bonjour!

I am in Paris but back at CDG airport on my way to Vienna. I have really spent the last two days travelling, getting lost, feeling sore, and crying my eyes out. But, on the other hand, I met a cute little French boy on the plane over who taught me how to ask, "do you speak English?" in French. My accent is so bad I'm surprised they had any idea what language I was speaking.

While the French have not lived up to their notoriously rude reputation, a surprising number of them don't speak English at all. Not that they should, but before I left I was comforted over and over again by friends saying I would easily get by without any French. SO not the case. By the time I got to the storage facility where I left my ridiculously heavy luggage, I had a couple of hours to fill before my flight to Austria. So I wandered around Paris. I sat in an adorable outside cafe with my French coffee and croissant. I just sat and watched the people while sitting near various Frenchmen doing the same while also smoking like chimneys. I then wandered around some more with a very bad map at hand. That's when I was so surprised when I ran straight into the Eiffel Tower!

So of course I took a million pictures and was finally aware I was travelling Europe and totally free! I could do whatever I wanted. So instead of standing in line all day at the Louvre like most tourists and family vacations, I sat outside in the sun, taking photos and looking around me until I felt it was time to go. As I walked back I looked through some cute shops, admired a church and it's beautiful garden - both of which I've never heard of. That's when it started to pour, with no warning and with me completely lost in the middle of Paris. I was out there for two hours.

There was nowhere to sit and look at a map besides a cafe, where I sat and sulked in confusion while paying 7 euros for an uneaten crepe and cold coffee. When I finally swallowed my pride and tried calling the storage place, the stupid number wouldn't go through! Though they had given me the country code, I had no idea how to call Europe from another European phone. After literally 10 attempts I had to call the states and have a friend Google how to call Paris from a London cell. Oh, and this was after 2 cab attempts, where both drivers spoke no English and had to talk to my friend on my cell in French and then decided - no, refused - they couldn't' take me to the address that ended up being a 5 minute walk away after all. At the end of this delightful episode I was so sore in my legs plus got a bruise on my shin days after dropping the stupid suitcase I had to store on myself. Not the best start to my trip of a lifetime.

But, I did get a marriage proposal. A handsome young Italian named Lorenzo stopped to tell me I was beautiful and kissed my hand. He asked me out to dinner but I showed him my fake wedding ring as an excuse to politely walk away. Without blinking he said if I ever were to get divorced to call him as he would marry me right away.

So much for Paris. But Italian men are smooth....