Venice:
Erin and I didn't stay in a hostel on the island of Venice because it was too expensive. Instead, we opted for a hotel in a nearby suburb--an easy 20 minute bus ride from the island.
Of course, our second day there we woke up to a freak Venetian snowstorm. We waited patiently at the bus stop for bus 53 to arrive--or for frostbite to set in on our feet, whichever came first--but a half hour passed without a bus. We started talking to an Israeli woman and her daughter who were staying at our hotel. It turned out that the daughter goes to college in Erin's hometown in Illinois. Unfortunately, it also turned out that they had been waiting for bus 53 for the past hour. We had to face facts: the bus wasn't coming. Our bus driver was probably sitting in a warm bar somewhere, starting in on this 3rd glass of wine. The only thing to do was to walk back to the hotel and get out of the storm before our Christmas trip turned into the Donner Party.
We invited them to our hotel room for tea and cookies, went out for lunch and made a trip to the supermarket. That night the four of us had a Christmakuh party (Christmas/Hanukah) at a neighborhood bar Erin and I had found the night before. We brought a cake we'd bought at the supermarket, enjoyed the only decently-priced wine within 100 miles of Venice (they take a pound of flesh for every glass you buy on the island) and chilled with the old men playing cards.
I'd call it a good day.
The next day the buses were running and we finally made it to the island, where we met up with our friend, Andrew, from Rome. Venice was flooded from the snow. The entire Piazza de San Marco was under water--even the entrance of the basilica was flooded. The Venetians handled it like pros, setting up raised wooden walkways across the Piazza and inside the basilica. Imagine hundreds of tourists shuffling along narrow walkways, one misstep away from falling into a foot of near-freezing water. It took all my willpower not to push one to see if it would create a domino effect. Call it scientific curiosity.
Venice was unlike any other city I've seen, and they weren't lying about that whole "sinking" thing. The tops of hundreds of front doors just manage to peek up above the water where the ground floors are almost completely submerged. There is so little space to build or add onto houses that they just stack additions onto the tops and sides of existing buildings, making parts of the city look like a giant Jenga game that's about to fall over.
Vienna
The night train from Venice to Vienna went off without a hitch. When we got there we met up with Mark Thomas: friend from choir and tour guide extraordinaire. He'd spent the semester studying music in Vienna, so he gave us a free walking tour and took us to the opera that night.
The opera was Macbeth. In short: Good singing; weird staging. The show started out with three women covered from head-to-toe in multicolored paint lying on a huge piece of paper while other women painted them. From there, the show started to get really bizarre. All I can say is that it was worth the €3 I paid to get in. My favorite part was the guy in the audience who kept boo-ing the singers at the end of each aria, prompting all these little old men to start shouting at him in German. At one point I thought they were going to beat him to a bloody pulp with their canes.
The city itself was beautiful, and the Viennese really know how to do Christmas. They have gorgeous decorations, Christmas markets, hot "punsch," and pretzels the size of your head.
One of my favorite attractions was a giant natural history museum, featuring everything from cavemen to real squid tentacles to halls full of rocks and minerals.
In case you're interested, "Gold Clump" in German is "Gold Klumpen."
Other notes from Vienna:
Blood sausage and potatoes = Delicious
Rum-soaked cake bits glued together with pink frosting = Why didn't I think of that?
Big barrels of pickels = Something I wish I had in my house (Don't go all "Freud" on me now...)
Viennese microbrewery = A welcome relief from Cruzcampo. Spain, I love you but you can't make beer.
Piano in hostel = YAY!
...stay tuned for the third and final part of the Epic Christmas Saga!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
Epic Christmas Saga: Part I
My friend, Erin, and I went on a trip over Christmas break. We flew from Málaga to Rome on the 14th. From there we traveled by train to Florence, Venice, Vienna and Prague. We flew home from Prague on the 30th and arrived in Málaga on the 31st, just in time to spend New Year's Eve in Spain.
Rome:
Within an hour of arriving I managed to set off a door alarm in a train station. Apparently the Italians really, really don't want you to use that bathroom.
The ancient ruins and buildings were amazing. You just walk down the street, turn a corner, and there's Trevi Fountain or the Colleseum. My favorite was Trajan's Column.
We spent most of our time in Rome with a girl from New Zealand, who was on a short vacation, and a guy from London who has been traveling around for a year and a half and vaguely resembles the dad from the cartoon, "The Wild Thornberrys" (sorry, Andrew).
Italian drivers are as crazy as everyone says. Apparently they have an expression in Italian for when the stoplight is "just a little red."
Our hostel in Rome was one of my favorites, though, to be fair, they gave us free breakfast and dinner, and my loyalty is easily bought with food. Our first night a group of us went out with a guy who works there. He used to be a tour guide, so we got a free walking tour of the city and the most incredible hot chocolate ever conceived by man. We walked into one restaurant to get a glass of wine, but we scurried out with our tails between our legs after looking at the prices. (Our first clue that we weren't going to be able to afford the drinks was when they brought us a wine list the size of the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary.)
We spent one day at Vatican. We tried to get free tickets to see the Pope but, naturally, the Italian metro drivers decided to go on strike that morning. Apparently they do this a couple of times a month. By the time we made it to the Vatican all the tickets were gone. Oh well. Such is southern Europe.
St. Peter's Basilica is everything you would expect. A friend told me the Statue of Liberty could stand in the main dome without touching the ceiling or surrounding walls. I don't know if this is true, but it sounds impressive so we'll go with it. The Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel were amazing. My neck ached by the end because they had so many beautiful paintings on the ceilings.
Florence in a nutshell:
We spent the least amount of time in Florence. A few of the highlights were Michelangelo's "David," the Duomo, and Ponte Vecchio, a bridge that's so crammed with shops it's a wonder the whole thing doesn't collapse into the river. It was built in the 1300s, so when you walk along it you feel like you've been thrown back into the middle ages.
To be continued...
Rome:
Within an hour of arriving I managed to set off a door alarm in a train station. Apparently the Italians really, really don't want you to use that bathroom.
The ancient ruins and buildings were amazing. You just walk down the street, turn a corner, and there's Trevi Fountain or the Colleseum. My favorite was Trajan's Column.
We spent most of our time in Rome with a girl from New Zealand, who was on a short vacation, and a guy from London who has been traveling around for a year and a half and vaguely resembles the dad from the cartoon, "The Wild Thornberrys" (sorry, Andrew).
Italian drivers are as crazy as everyone says. Apparently they have an expression in Italian for when the stoplight is "just a little red."
Our hostel in Rome was one of my favorites, though, to be fair, they gave us free breakfast and dinner, and my loyalty is easily bought with food. Our first night a group of us went out with a guy who works there. He used to be a tour guide, so we got a free walking tour of the city and the most incredible hot chocolate ever conceived by man. We walked into one restaurant to get a glass of wine, but we scurried out with our tails between our legs after looking at the prices. (Our first clue that we weren't going to be able to afford the drinks was when they brought us a wine list the size of the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary.)
We spent one day at Vatican. We tried to get free tickets to see the Pope but, naturally, the Italian metro drivers decided to go on strike that morning. Apparently they do this a couple of times a month. By the time we made it to the Vatican all the tickets were gone. Oh well. Such is southern Europe.
St. Peter's Basilica is everything you would expect. A friend told me the Statue of Liberty could stand in the main dome without touching the ceiling or surrounding walls. I don't know if this is true, but it sounds impressive so we'll go with it. The Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel were amazing. My neck ached by the end because they had so many beautiful paintings on the ceilings.
Florence in a nutshell:
We spent the least amount of time in Florence. A few of the highlights were Michelangelo's "David," the Duomo, and Ponte Vecchio, a bridge that's so crammed with shops it's a wonder the whole thing doesn't collapse into the river. It was built in the 1300s, so when you walk along it you feel like you've been thrown back into the middle ages.
To be continued...
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