Mountains, Canals and Pasta!

SPRING BREAK!

I think I will have to split up my two weeks of break into two blog posts, because otherwise you would all probably die reading it lol.

Amy and I left for Zurich Friday night, we took Swiss airlines, and boy did they spoil us! Free drinks, a free sandwich thing and then to top it all off we got free chocolate :] Our hotel had free airport shuttles so we didn't have to spend 10 bucks on a train ticket. Our hotel was nice, though it was out of the city, but our room  had a balcony! The next day we booked a trolley tour and short boat cruise online, so we set off to find our way into zurich and find the meet point. We had some issues with public transit as usual but we made it to the tour!

We rode in this cute little trolley and went all over Zurich, then we took an hour and half cruise around the Lake Zurich. It was probably the most beautiful boat ride I've ever taken. It was sunny outside and the mountains looked spectacular in the skyline. After the boat ride we went on a ferris wheel ride by the lake. It was gorgeous! We could see the lake and the canal leading from the lake, mountains and all the hills surrounding the lake, and a beautiful garden near the ferris wheel. Zurich was so spectacular that Amy and I came up with a new saying: "We died and went to Zurich" :] We spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, I love when we wander, just going where ever we feel like it. We went into a few churches and we found a cute little park were we sat and ate some food then back to the hotel for us!

The next day was fairly uneventful, we went to store our luggage in the train station and then took off for more wandering. More gorgeous parks and good food and cute little side streets and also a delicious muffin! We went wandering through a residential neighborhood and found the cutest park with a ton of locals, kids running around and people playing chess, it was so freakin' ridiculously swiss I couldn't help but laugh at my luck :] The best part of the morning was when we were walking around and talking with these three ladies behind us. We stopped to look at this vendor and the three girls walk past and I hear them say "Am I trippin or were they speakin english?" We burst out laughing and were like uh yeah we are speaking english lol. We headed back to the train station to catch our train to venice. On the way to the train we encountered a large group of kids outside a storefront wearing these funny costumes and the store owner was giving them things like oars and sponges shaped like ducks. I asked one of the adults if he spoke english and then asked if he could explain what was going on. Apparently its some annual festival thing that has to do with the professions/guilds from the old days and stuff. I didn't really understand it but it was cute :]

The train ride to Milan was ridiculously spectacular! Gliding through small towns and under swiss alps in the train was postcard perfect. I mean I fell in absolute love with the Swiss country side! I was ready to pack up and find the nearest for sale sign and just move right in. The funny thing was that there were no signs telling us when we had crossed the border from Switzerland to Italy, but we could just tell. No offense to Italy or anything, cause God knows I love ya, but in an instant you could just tell that it was a different country, the buildings got less "grand" and put together and it just looked like a different place. We got to Milan and only had 15 minutes to catch our connecting train to Venezia. No prob we thought! Wrong lol! The Milan station was insane....people EVERYWHERE! It took us nearly ten minutes to get to the reader board to find out which platform our other train was leaving from. We finally figured out that it was on the other side of the station and the train was leaving in a few minutes. So basically we ran and tried to avoid running over toes with our suitcases, no promises though, people just didn't understand "EXCUSE ME!" Basically the second we got on the train it left...best timing ever! The train ride to Venice was also beautiful in a different way, farms and fields laid around us until it got to dark to see them anymore. As we got closer to Venice I could smell the saltwater and it made me smile :]

We set off to find our hostel, not an easy feat because street signs in venice really suck lol. The directions to our hostel were more like "cross the big bridge, then continue to a square, then cross a second bride and then keep going until there is a third bridge, but don't cross it go right until you find this square" We felt a serious sense of accomplishment when we found it :] We were staying at a  place called the Venice Fish, it was kind of a disaster! Don't get me wrong it you want to share two bathrooms with like 50 people, and have unidentified liquids gunk on the floor of the bathroom then please please go there!

It was a really good place to meet people though, and its definitely a party hostel, but we just weren't feelin it when we were exhausted. The first night we were there, we were getting ready for bed and the rest of our roommates come in when some hostel employees, they went out drinking, and started having a cheeseball fight, and then a toilet paper fight oh and there was more...a nutella fight. This all lasted over an hour, so half of the room had gone to bed but the fighting continued, I woke up the next day with cheeseballs on my bed and suitcase! Sometime around 1:30 or 2 am one of the drunken cheeseball fighters began to contemplate if he wanted to jump out the window of our room into the canal below us. For an hour I listened to "come on guys how many times will I be in Venice" with various profanities intermingled in that phrase. I considered getting up and pushing him out the window, but being charged with murder would really put a cramp in my travel plans :] Eventually someone came to yell at him and get him out of the window, which allowed the rest of us in the room some sleep.

The next day we explored Venice. We got lost trying to find the Rialto bridge, Venice isn't great for someone as directionally challenged as me! The Rialto bridge is so pretty, and there was a ton of little shops...copenhagen is too expensive for my blood, so all my shopping happened in Venice :] After the Rialto we went to San Marco square, very cool looking! We went up the clock tower to get a better view of the square and the islands. It was such a spectacular view of the city :] I have a thing for viewing cities from high points apparently! Venice is interesting from up high. You couldn't see the canals anymore from that high, it was just red, the red roof tiles, mixed with the blue from the sea. It was fantastic :]

We continued our shopping/getting lost adventure for a bit while eating some gelato :] then we set off to go to this pretty church on the point that we could see from the piers by San Marco. We decided to take the long way back to the hostel, which put us in some neighborhood areas, which were amazing. I loved listening to real people, not the tourists, and the volume level dropped significantly because we got out of turistmania! We found this awesome park that was definitely a local park, I loved it :] We saw a ton of college age kids doing homework and some old people having a cute picnic! Also it was next to this hotel with a ridiculous name...hotel Papadopolis! I couldn't say that name with out cracking up lol. We got free dinner at the hostel at 8 so we decided to head back early because our feet hurt. We spent the night talking to this girl named Ali from our hostel. She was traveling Europe during her R&R from the military, she's stationed in Afghanistan.

Our next night was far less eventful, involving quite a few hours a sleep! The next day our plan was to hang out with Ali and just wander around and get lost more. We had a great morning. We walked to the Venice ghetto, which was really sad but very powerful. I was kinda surprised that there were a ton of tourist shops in the ghetto. It was a little depressing, seeing this beautiful and powerful memorial being turned into a tourist trap. We ate lunch at this adorable little cafe on the bank of a canal...PASTA! After lunch was the most eventful part of the day....I need to build the suspense, so the story comes with it!

I bought one of those oh so typical tourist Italia zip-up sweatshirts in the stand out blue lol. I was oh so happy with my purchase swinging in a plastic sac in my hand, so we stopped for some gelato, only the second of the day. We went to sit on some steps by a canal and eat our gelato, it was just so Venice, eating gelato by a canal...this is when it happened! Were just chillin' there and a small breeze blows, the next thing I know, my plastic sac with my brand new jacket gets knocked over and is falling down the stairs. What happened next came in slow motion. I saw the bag fall...step by step and then I hear myself scream "NO NO NO NO NO!" I go to reach for and then I slip...can you guess what happens next?? Its basically what ever tourist in Venice hopes that they can see happen...I FELL IN THE CANAL! The next thing I know I am sitting in filthy stinky water squealing! Ali saved my jacket and Amy helped me out, so there I was standing on the bank of the canal with a priceless expression according to my friends. Did that just happen? No...no way...I could not have just fallen in a canal in Venice! I also managed to take my purse with me into the canal so we start pulling things out of it trying to make sure my camera and phone are still working and that nothing floated away. I was still in a slight state of shock so Amy and Ali kinda took the reigns and took me back to the hostel. I took over one of the two bathrooms and for nearly an hour rinsing the nasty out of my clothes and washing myself off. That canal was the most disgusting thing I have ever been in, there was a thick layer of puke green scum covering my cardigan where I tried to catch myself on the steps!

After the shower I started to feel a bit better, but my clothes still smelled like a dead fish. I went to talk to the hostel employees about doing laundry, I told them what happened and their first response was "ohh my god you're going to get hepatitis" boy did that make me feel better! We found a laundromat over near the train station so I could wash my clothes. It cost me 15 euros to do laundry...thats over 20 dollars, and then I had to go buy a cheap purse since mine went into the canal with me, that cost me another 5 euros! That freakin jacket! It ended up being way more expensive that I thought lol, it had better last forever! With all that drama behind us, the three of us walked to the train station to say bye to Ali, she was taking a 12 hour train Paris. Even though we just met her the day before I was sad to see her go, she was definitely a fun girl! And she made the whole canal situation a little easier because she kept laughing at me lol :]

We went back to the hostel for one last free dinner and a drink from Frulala before catching our night train to Rome at midnight. My phone stopped working when we got back to the hostel, I was really pissed at that canal by this point :[ We were thinking that an overnight train wouldn't be too bad, especially after our nice trains from Zurich to Venice. Oh so wrong were we! We were sitting in a box like 7x4 feet with 6 seats, 3 on one side face 3 on the other side. Our box was full so you couldn't move without hitting someone or something, not exactly how I wanted to spend my night, especially after the whole falling in a canal and feeling ridiculous thing.

We arrived in Rome about 7am and found our way to the hostel, which was super super close, we were really lucky! We couldn't check into our room that early but he said we could store our luggage and eat breakfast if we wanted, free breakfast was included! We realized that the bathroom on that floor was free so we thought hey why not use the shower before breakfast! After we got cleaned up and our bellies were full we were in much better moods, but still exhausted! We thought that we would avoid doing anything too big since we were tired, but somehow that didn't stop us from getting in line to see the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps! It was culture week which usually wouldn't mean much to me except that it also meant that anything historical owned by the city of Roma was....FREE to the public! Can you say fabulous! I love not spending money on things :]] The Trevi Fountain never ceases to make me smile :] Its just so beautiful, I know its crazy touristy but i like to think that its kinda magical. We were also told about this great gelato shop called San Krispino, so we went on a mission to find it! We did find it and it was DELICIOUS...I love gelato :]  The Spanish steps were great, I hadn't seen those before so finally something new! There were definitely more steps than anticipated so we had to stop half way up for a "gaze at our surroundings" break, I really love those :] The church at the top of the steps was beautiful so we went inside and sat for a bit watching some prayer time for all the priests and nuns in the church.

After a full exhausting day we went back towards the hostel to find some deliciously cheap pasta for dinner. We settled on this cute little cafe with a kinda annoying host guy. We both had pasta that reminded me a bit of american food, mine slightly resembled the double cheeseburger macaroni from Hamburger Helper and Amy's pasta slightly resembled Chef Boyardee ravioli. Back at the hostel we checked in and found our room, we had 4 roommates who were settled in but not in the room. Like any nosy traveler I examined the stuff they had laid out lol, I had a theory! I said to Amy "I think they are adults!" she didn't think so though, she's like but look at these clothes and this goofy umbrella...I still thought they were adults. Upon further examination I had another theory "They are asian!" Amy also didn't agree with this statement, but I could just feel it! Twenty minutes later and asian woman in her fifties walks in and talks to us, Amy asked her if she was travelling with the others staying in the room...she said yes! Bahaha my intuitions were correct! Score one for Alyssa :] I'm not sure if I should be proud of the fact that I can guess who people are by their belongings lol! Amy and I were hoping that we wouldn't get roomed with any crazy party girls that stayed out way late cause we were EXHAUSTED...but I guess we need to be more careful about what we ask for, the asian ladies went to bed at like 9pm. We ended up chilllin in the hallway for a hour or so cause even my exhausted self couldn't go to bed at 9!

The next day we did the Vatican, we attempted to get a semi-early start, but that didn't work out lol...there were a ton of little shopping stands on the road to the Vatican and being girls, well, we had to stop :] Amy bought two shirts and I walked away with nothing, now that takes some serious will power! We got in line at the Vatican and were bombarded by people trying to sell us tours..."ladies ladies you don't want to wait in this line, its so long, come with us and we'll get you in now, you don't have to wait two hours!" We turned down everyone and only waited about 20 minutes to get in....take that pushy people! And we got a student discount on the entrance fee, half price :] The Vatican was beautiful but packed full of stuff, we wandered everywhere staring at random statues, neither of us were particularly history buffs so much of the contents meant little to us, but it was still nice to look at. We eventually made our way to the most important part lol the Cappella Sistina! I've seen the Sistine Chapel before but it is still beautiful, the intricacy and precision of this masterpiece is simply amazing. We sat down along the side of the room and stared for half an hour just trying to take it all in, eventually we moved to the other side of the room so we could see the whole thing. We left the Chapel and went to find some food, I got a slice of pizza with the most interesting ingredients...cheese, salami, black olives and hard boiled eggs! Strange concoction yes, but also surprisingly DELICIOUS!

We left the Vatican and went to St. Peter's Basilica, which was insanely beautiful inside! Stuff everywhere, paintings, statues, people, altars, candles and so on. It was so grand and spectacular I can't get it out of my head! We walked out and looked at the guards in funny outfits, they made me giggle! We walked farther away and tried to take a picture of ourselves with the Basilica in the background, I am pretty good at the "outstretched arm picture of yourselves" shot but it just wasn't working lol, this nice French lady just walked up to us and goes "ahh no no no I take! Un. Deux. Trois...Viola! I loved that she was so friendly :] We went back to the hostel for a free "pasta party" which in my mind means free dinner :] They pasta wasn't spectacular but it was filling and we met a group of cool australian girls so it was a good mingle time. We wanted to go see the Trevi Fountain at night so we left around 9 to make our way over there...it was a bit sketchy but we just kept walking! The Trevi is so magical at night! It was all lit up and golden, if it wasn't raining it would have literally been perfect! Then we went to get more San Krispino and ate it next to the fountain before heading back to the hostel.

The next day we went to the train station to try and mail some postcards, I'm not a fan of Italian post workers lol! The guy at the counter tried to tell me that I couldn't mail my postcards, which didn't make any sense and I could barely understand him so I was like uhh whatever and we left to go to the Roman Forum and Paletine Hill. I found a Tabachi shop on the way and I bought some stamps from there and mailed my postcards....so to all of you who I mailed postcards to I really hope they got sent lol! Roman Forum and Palitine Hill were also free, thank you culture week! We wandered around there for a few hours and then were starving so we found this little cafe on the hill above the Colosseum to eat lunch...tortellini! We went on to find the Pantheon, but got distracted along the way by pretty churches and gelato, when we finally got there it wasn't all that impressive so the distractions were worth it to me! I had to pee so badly so we started fast walking in the direction of a train station and ran into a McDonalds on the way, so we stopped there to use the restroom. This McDs was HUGE! Three stories and a panoramic viewing area, the only downfall was the horrendous line for the bathroom, it was about twenty minutes, but either way I got to use the bathroom! We went on a muffin hunt on the way back to the hostel, settled on a good lookin' chocolate muffin from a bar, and then had some free pasta at the hostel. We left after dinner to find a canoli, I've decided I love canolis :]

The next day we stored our luggage at the hostel because we were both leaving Italy later on, and left to wander the city more. We found a slightly sketchy park where we ate our muffins, and then continued our wanderings. We went back to the cafe where we got a canoli the night before to get our last bowl of pasta for lunch...ravioli and tortellini! Unfortunately it was time for me to leave! I got my luggage and Amy walked me to the train station so I could catch the express train to the airport. With my track record there was no way I could escape Roma unscathed, I almost got pick-pocketed on the train by a teenage girl! She didn't get my wallet or camera so I was happy, and then I got to the airport and made my way back to Copenhagen to stay the night and pack for my next adventure to the Czech Republic!

Last surprise of the vacation...my phone started working again! I guess it just needed 4 days to dry out cause it finally starting working again right before I left for Czech!