We’ve had some trouble getting on the internet for the past
few days, so I’m afraid this is going to be a long one...
So I left you in the beautiful Tuscany. Wednesday was the
last day of our Italian tour – all of a sudden this trip seems to be winding
down very quickly! We packed our bags and left the hotel in Florence to head
back to Rome, with a stop in Siena on the way. It’s a really beautiful city,
with a lot of medieval buildings and windy, steep, narrow streets. It also has
the famous Piazza del Campo, a massive clam-shaped square that slopes downhill.
Very beautiful but also home to a famous (and arguably cruel) horse race which
takes place each year around the sloping cobbles – a lot of horses get badly
hurt in the race, but it’s the old animal rights vs. history and tradition
problem. At any rate, it’s a beautiful square. Basically we were free to just
wander around the city, and wander we did! Up the hill to the huge and
beautiful cathedral, then down the hill to grab an early lunch of giant pizza
slices. We sat in the square to eat them and I got pooped on. By a swallow. It
was very traumatic, and was a couple of inches away from landing on my pizza.
Instead it went on my skirt. After cleaning myself up with copious amounts of
Purell and tissues and pulling myself together again, we decided to walk and
eat so I wouldn’t be such an easy target. First we wandered back up towards the
cathedral via some quieter streets with amazing views, seeing stacks of scooters
all parked along the street (in these old towns they really are the only way to
get around!), and coming across the most amazing accordion-playing guy. He was
incredible! We were a bit early getting back to our last meeting point at the
Piazza, so we kept wandering and this time got a little bit lost. But we took
advice learned years ago from Blues Clues: ‘go back go back go back, go back to
where you were!’ and made it back to the group on time.
The belltower in the Piazza del Campo
Piazza del Campo
Siena's historic town hall
More cute pigeons! One is drinking out of the fountain, another one is having a shower under it. I may be the only person in the world, but I really like pigeons! I think they're funny...
Siena's cathedral with its funky stripey belltower
Giant pizza, moments before being pooped on.
A parking spot for your horse.
Scooters
Piazza del Campo
Back in the bus for the last leg of our trip, stopping at our
last truck stop/service station for a Chupa Chup (my stick came off. So it was
really just a cherry-flavoured lolly for me), before arriving in Rome, our road
trip at an end. How sad! A high-five for Luca-the-driver (I don’t know that
they do them in Italy, he seemed a bit confused and amused by it. But then I
think he’s always confused and amused by Mads and I. I don’t blame him really.
Even most English-speakers don’t know what we’re on about most of the time),
and a group photo with Brendan the Bus. We got our room allocation and ended up
being in a huge two-room suite! Rad! (Mind you I didn’t like it much, I felt a
bit lonely in my own room after having Mads right next to me for 7 weeks).
Last motorway stop
Presents for being frequent travellers (I guess it was an administrative error...) a bottle of Chianti and some local Marzipan cookies.
My room
Mads's room
Mads was pretty happy with the arrangement...
On the bus for the last time to go to our farewell dinner
near the Colosseum, at a restaurant in an ancient spa where they sing opera at
you when they deliver your food! Sooo fun! There was plenty of wine, and four
courses of delicious food, so it was rather jolly. And we were at a good table
with Jim and Becky, two of our favourites, and a nice family from Colorado. The
bus ride home was pretty fun too, Marisa playing Grease over the speakers and a
few people getting up to dance around, including Abraham (one half of the young
Aussie couple) who did a very big performance all up and down the bus to Grease
Lightning. Back at the hotel and time for final farewells. It was a bit weird –
we’ve spent only two weeks with these people and won’t see them ever again, so
it always feels a bit... false and contrived I suppose. Plus there wasn’t
really anyone in particular that we bonded with very strongly. However it was
very sad to say goodbye to Marisa and Luca, both of whom we like a lot!!
The mighty Colosseum
A little Roman laneway
Opera for dinner! So much fun.
Mads and Marisa
Luca, the best driver in the world! Nice, funny (and a bit cheeky), and a demon behind the wheel. Honestly, he could get that bus parked anywhere, down the narrowest of streets and around the tightest of corners. Not too bad on the eye either...
I love Marisa!!
Thursday, naturally, we slept in, before waking up and
feeling rather lost without Luca driving us wherever we were going and Marisa
telling us what to look at and where to eat and what was good to do. Eventually
we decided to go to the Roman Forum again for a better look around, so we had
to navigate the Roman public transport systems. The bus was fine. The train was
okay (except we had a bit of trouble finding the station), however we
discovered that the Italians are not as polite as the Brits when it comes to
the underground: trying to get off at Colosseo station the people on the platform
just started streaming in and we couldn’t get out. Thankfully the next stop
wasn’t too far away, but I had to actually yell ‘scusi!!’ before people would
get out of the way to let us off. We toddled up to the Forum and I have to say
it was much more extensive and incredible than I had realised. The site is
absolutely huge, and there are still a lot of excavations going on (I always
love seeing archaeologists at work). We had a look in the massive, restored
Senate building, which has a beautiful floor and there were a lot of beautiful
glass artefacts on display in there: amazing how well preserved these glass
objects are, some over 2000 years old! We kept wandering around, and then I saw
something that completely changed my day: in the house of the Vestal Virgins I
saw two imbecile tourists lean over and steal some tiles from the ancient
floor. Oh my goodness I was absolutely livid. I was shaking with rage. I wanted
to find someone who worked there to apprehend the disrespectful idiots who seem
to think these important, ancient ruins exist solely for their enjoyment and
have them deported at once, but there didn’t seem to be anyone around. I later
lamented the fact I hadn’t said anything to them, but Mads informed me that I
did actually yell at them... Good! What a couple of nong-heads. Apologies, I’m just
really passionate about history and I really dislike tourists. Hypocritical
perhaps, but I certainly hope I’m nothing like the obnoxious idiots that go to
significant places just because that’s what you do in Rome. Anyway I’ve come up
with a system: before entering important archaeological attractions (or any
other cultural attraction, for that matter), everyone must take a simple
‘respect and appreciation’ test to determine whether or not they should be
allowed to enter. They should pay to take this test, so there is no loss of
important revenue for the sites, and if you’re successful the fee is deducted
from the ticket price. This would make these attractions much, much, much more
enjoyable places to be. I think it’s a brilliant idea, personally. Then you
would weasel out people like the fellow I heard saying of an ancient window
‘oh, and that would have looked out on St Paul’s Cathedral. Beautiful!’
Jeepers, where to start with the errors in that statement... But enough
snobbery for the moment.
The Roman Forum
Mads walking in the footsteps of the ancient Romans.
Inside the old Senate building. Massive!
This plate is over 2200 years old. Incredible!
The mosaic floor of the Senate building.
Exterior of the Senate Building.
The return of the series on Mads Walking from Behind. Heading in to the house of the Vestal Virgins
Courtyard of the Vestal Virgins
We continued to wander through the Forum and the attached
sites, energy levels getting lower and lower, before we decided to head back to
the hotel to pack up our stuff and prepare to leave Rome and Italy. We got the
train just fine, however had a lot of trouble finding the bus to take us back
to the hotel. This had us crying out for our trusty tour leaders. ‘Marisa! We
can’t find the bus! Help us!’ ‘Luca, where are you? Come and pick us up and
take us back to the hotel!’ We stopped for some pizza at a little bakery/bar,
before heading back to the train station where we found a bus information desk
and a very, very, very helpful fellow who looked like an Italian version of
Tobias from Arrested Development, who told us our bus left from a side street
and went back towards the hotel a different way. Honestly, I could have kissed
that man. We got back to the hotel totally buggered, and honestly just ready to
go home. The Austria/Germany leg of the trip was looking less and less appealing.
Some of the ruins are spectacularly preserved.
The window that would have looked out over 'St Paul's Cathedral'... Actually we're in Rome, it's St Peter's Basilica and it wasn't built until about 1500 years later...
Another cute pigeon. This one apparently owns these ruins.
And for most of Friday we got more and more homesick, and
more and more desperately sad for the loss of Marisa and Luca. I know this is
starting to sound rather pathetic, but consider: for the last two weeks we have
been sheep. We’ve just been blindly following our Travel Director around Italy,
hopping on the bus, falling asleep and waking up at our amazing destination.
Getting to our hotel to find our bags delivered to our room. Being told where
to eat and when, what to see, what time to be places, where to meet and where
to get on the bus, where are the best places for souvenirs and cash and water.
I have discovered that I like to be a sheep. Independent thinking is so
overrated. Plus our bags are really, really, really heavy and we had a bit of
trouble with the trains.
We were supposed to go from Rome to Bologna, Bologna to
Kufstein, Kufstein to Vienna. We got to the first train just fine, boarded,
found places for our luggage (oh my goodness my bag is so heavy! Our arms have
lost their conditioning over these last two lazy weeks), found our seats, all
fine. But the train was a few minutes late arriving at Bologna, we had less
than ten minutes to find our platform and get our bags on. And as we got there
the train pulled away. With it went all the rest of our day’s travel
arrangements. I found a bloke who worked at the station who told us to go to
Verona to get a train to Kufstein and then to Vienna. But it was leaving in ten
minutes! So I sprinted through the station to find Mads, who I’d left with the
bags, then dragged the stupid things behind us to find the platform we needed
and we made it! But I was a sweaty ball of stress just ready to go home now.
All travelled out. So we arrived in Verona, and got a few puzzled looks from
the station staff. ‘Why did they send you here to get to Kufstein??’ Oh great!
But then we were pointed in the direction of the Germans and everything was
alright!!! The lady at the desk found us a train to Innsbruck that would take
us on to Vienna. We wouldn’t get there til 11.40pm but at least we would get
there!
Maccas for lunch, then we headed to the platform to wait for
our train, and were very excited to find that this train had real compartments!
Like in Harry Potter! It was very exciting. We found one, and managed to put
Mads’ bag up in the rack – we tried with mine but nearly squashed the poor girl
already sitting in the compartment, so I just put it on a seat. Thus we headed
north, to Austria. The scenery was so beautiful! Austria looks like a fairytale
land: huge, snow capped mountains, beautiful greenish-blue rivers, gingerbread
houses, green fields. Australia being as flat as it is, big mountains are a big
deal. They are so pretty! We had a Mr. Bean type fellow join us in our
compartment for a while. He was rather annoying but quite amusing at the same
time. He could not sit still, leaning over everyone to get brochures and
magazines, standing up to put a bag here, move a bag there, get something out
of his jacket pocket. He was also listening to his music rather loud and even
started singing along at one point.
Hooray, train compartment!
Location location location. I think this was still in Italy
Change of train at Innsbruck, to another very nice, new
Austrian train. By this time I was rather zombie-like, having been travelling
since 8.15am. Plus I finished my book (Dune. Torturous) and the battery on my
iPhone ran out so I didn’t have anything to do. We arrived in Vienna. I
realised I was out of cash, and apparently in Austria taxis don’t take credit
card. So we shuffled around the station like Zombies do and Mads found a cash
machine so we were all good. The driver had a little trouble reading the
address of the hotel, but we made it and we totally crashed into bed.
One of the best things about Europe is how late check out is
at hotels. We didn’t have to check out in Vienna until midday, so we slept in
late. It was fabulous. The pillows were so comfy! But we did have to check out,
so we got up, packed up, and got the hotel to store our luggage for the day.
The dude on reception looked kind of scary, but really he was very nice! We
took two steps outside before realising we actually didn’t know where on earth
we were, so headed back inside for a map and some directions, which were gladly
given. Off we toddled towards Ringstrasse, the masterpiece of Vienna as the
cultural capital of Europe at the turn of the 20th Century. We
stopped in at a schnitzel place, which Mads was very excited about, for some
tasty schnitzel (in Austria. Crazy!). Afterwards we wandered around looking for
the Ringstrasse, and despite having two maps we found it a bit difficult. The
problem is that Vienna has a lot of really small streets with really long names
that don’t fit on the map. So finally we just stopped, sat down and made a
plan: to go to Schloss Belvedere, on the other side of Ringstrasse to where we
were, to see my favourite all-time painting, Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. We found
the right tram stop, we were all ready to go and then foiled!! The tram wasn’t
running because there was a stoopid gay parade on. Blast it! Normally we might
have walked, but it was an absolute scorcher of a day, even by Aussie
standards, so change of plan we decided to go to the Kunsthistorisches Museum
(which will be known now as Kunst because I can’t be bothered to write the
whole name out again). Off we toddled, Mads almost being taken out by a tranny
with a long-handled sign, before reaching the beautiful art gallery. While I
didn’t get to see the Kiss, at least I could see some Klimt in Vienna, as he
helped decorate the interior of the gallery. We looked mostly at the Dutch,
Flemish and German gallery, which included a famous portrait of Jane Seymour by
Hans Holbein the Younger, Henry VIII’s official court portrait artist; a lot of
Rubens, and an amazing picture by Barthel Beham, ‘Portrait of a Man’, in which
the man seems to be looking right at you after you’ve interrupted him in the
middle of a task. Incredible! There was also a very interesting exhibition on
the cult of wine: ‘Bacchus always triumphs!’ no matter what measures are taken
to attempt to curb the excesses of drinking and its effects.
Schnitzel!!
On the Ringstrasse
Bloody parade ruining my efforts to see the Kiss. I will just have to come back...
Kunsthistorische Museum
The building itself is absolutely stunning.
'Portrait of a Man' by Barthel Beham
Jane Seymour by Hans Holbein the Younger
A cool gallery, full of medallions mostly from the Habsburgs I believe.
Yay Klimt!
More Klimt. Beautiful, I love this painting.
Vienna. A very pretty city.
The roof of one of the cathedrals.
Courtyard of the Wien University
After this we wandered back to the hotel to get our bags and
head to the station for our next train to Salzburg. We got there a bit early,
so while waiting I taped up the holes that have appeared in the bottom of my
bag from being dragged around the place (it has wheels but has a tendency to
flip itself over like a turtle at the most inopportune moments. I’m trying to
decide if I should call it Ignatius after the obese, flatulent main character
in Confederacy of Dunces, or Ryan after the biggest contestant in Biggest Loser
Singles who seemed to always be either on his back on the floor or rolling down
hills). We also got very pestered by a guy trying to sell magazines. He didn’t
seem to get the fact that we don’t speak German and he doesn’t speak English.
We got to Salzburg at about 10pm. More compartments in this train but this time
we were awkwardly stuck in with an extremely over-amorous teenage couple. I’m
really starting to hate trains. After arriving I was a bit worried that we
wouldn’t have enough cash for the taxi. So I tried about a million ways to get
cash out – no one could point me to an ATM, so I tried Maccas and the
supermarket to no avail. Finally I found a cash machine but it gave me a 100
Euro note. What taxi driver is going to change that!? Back to the supermarket
to buy some M&Ms for change. After all that the taxi was only 6 Euro which
I had all along. Figures. We got to the hotel after 10 and reception was
closed. Luckily (for once!) a couple of nice American fellows staying in the
hotel were able to let us in to the lobby where an envelope with my name on it
and room key in it was taped to the wall. So off to bed ready for a big day
today!
Today we were very excited because we got to be sheep again
on a tour of Salzburg! Hooray for not using our brains! Also hooray for not
having to move Ignatius/Ryan (Ryan Ignatius?? Has a nice ring to it!) for the
whole day! We got up early to be picked up from our hotel and taken to the tour
bus stop. First stop: the Salt Mines! We actually drove into Bavaria in Germany
for this: the mine is in a mountain right on the border. We popped our funky
suits on and had to hop on a train that took us into the mountain. It was very
dark and kind of felt like a ride: I was expecting a big drop at any moment.
Instead we just arrived in the cathedral, a biggish room, I suppose, with a
couple of shrines to saints in there. But there was also the best part of the
salt mines: these big, steep wooden slides you get to go down to reach the
lower levels of the mines. So fun! So weird going down that kind of hill on
your bum: and it’s not like a normal slide, either, you kind of sit on these
two raised rails, I guess, that support your cheeks, and down you go holding on
to the person in front of you. I made Mads go first (we’ve already discussed my
height issues...) but it was really fun! The mine isn’t especially pretty, but
it’s quite interesting to learn about how the salt is mined today and in the
past – and kind of weird to think that salt is sort of a kind of rock that we
eat. If you know what I mean... you just don’t really think about eating
something that has to be mined. And the slides are super fun. There is one
amazing part of the mine, an underground lake that is so clear and still it
reflects the roof perfectly, initially you think you’re looking on a wide, low
passageway with a rock floor and roof, but actually it’s water! Amazing. You
cross it on a boat and it really does get ruined by a music and light show that
plays dramatically while you’re crossing. I guess that’s the problem with the
salt mines, they’re a bit overproduced. But still a lot of fun! We got to taste
some of the water: mega salty! And I kept thinking of the book Germinal by
Emile Zola which kind of freaked me out. But it was a cool tour. The mine is
still in use today, and we all got free samples of the salt they get out of the
rock.
Me in my funky suit.
A huge mountain! With snow! In Summer! Beautiful. All the rivers are this beautiful greenish-blue colour.
The train that took us in to the mine
More mountains
I am loving the Bavarian portion sizes.
Onto the bus and we got near Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s mountain
pad/second HQ to pick up others on the tour who went there instead of the mine.
Didn’t get to see it though because the mountain was too cloudy. Then into a
little Bavarian town (very cute!) for a traditional Bavarian lunch: I had roast
pork and beer, and Mads had ribs, before getting back on the bus. The driver
kept trying to joke with us, but again we didn’t really get him and he didn’t
really get us (seems to be a theme on this trip). Then back to Salzburg to join
up with our Sound of Music tour! It was pretty fun to drive around Salzburg
with our guide in her traditional Austrian garb (you would be amazed how many
people actually wear it around! Very cool!), listening to the soundtrack from
the movie and seeing where it was filmed. We saw the mountain (from a distance)
Maria sang on and they climbed over to get to Switzerland (a bit of poetic license
here as the mountain actually leads into Germany via Eagle’s Nest); we saw the
famous Gazebo; the laneway Maria skips down to boost her confidence when
meeting the Von Trapps; the front of the movie Von Trapp villa; the palace used
for the gardens and the lake the children fall into; the abbey the real and
hollywood Maria went to; and the church in which they filmed the wedding. It
was fun, and we got to see a bit of Austrian countryside, which is very
beautiful. AND I got to have some apple strudel with vanilla ice cream which
was divine!
The famous gazebo from the Sound of Music
A palace, where the Gazebo is kept.
The lane down which Maria sang 'I have confidence'
Front exterior of the Von Trapp Villa
Mads with a dragonfly in her hair.
The lake and garden location.
Our guide, Mikhaela
Castle built in the 11th Century
How cool is this shop?? They sell Leiderhosen and everything! I really want to come back for 1st May, when everyone wears these outfits and they do the maypole dances and everything, how fun!
A nice looking lake. I can't remember what it's called...
The church Maria and Georg were married in. Awww.
We were very happy to find that our hotel is actually rather
close to the drop off point from the tour, so we toddled back and have been
fairly relaxed (albeit hot) all arvo.
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