How do you get Wien out of Vienna?

No, that isn't a typo and there is no punch line coming.  That my friends was a real question.  It would seem that Vienna's name that it calls itself is Wien. I have no idea why.  I didn't spend a lot of time here. I took a night train from Rome.  Had two lovely German ladies in the sleeper with me. They where just finishing about three and a half months of travelling.  We chatted about how to get drugs, like aspirin, in Germany and the judicial system in the US.  Yeah, it felt random at the time too.  Anyway, we went to sleep or what passes for sleep on a moving train and were later joined by a woman who spoke neither English nor German. She had the faded look of a woman that was once beautiful but was now rather wispy and incomplete somehow.  It is just sad when beautiful people age poorly. Unlike the rest of us they just don't seem to know what to do when their face no longer makes the world spin around you.  Anyway, back to the trip.  I arrived in Vienna exhausted and went to the wrong hostel.  Thankfully the crazy haired lady there gave me directions and I only got lost twice more before finding the hostel.  It was nice enough but the room smelled like a mens locker room. It was a weird mix of stinky gym bag and cologne.  It is a mark of how tired I was that I didn't notice at first!  I made my bed, laid in it and fell right to sleep.  I woke a couple hours later and went exploring.  Vienna is incredibly beautiful.  You don't have to look hard to find this jewels wonders.  The stately city rivals Paris for me and considering how I feel about Paris that is saying something.  The weird thing is I didn't take a single picture. I realized on the train today that I have not even one picture of Vienna. To give an idea of this city and its impact on me, I loved it even though the street made just barely more sense than Rome's, almost every man I came across did a once over look that ended just below my neck and stayed there, most of the women did the once over but ended it with a sour look and the night train left me feeling foggy and confused.  Vienna is the opposite of the lady on the train.  She shows her age with grace and poise like a great book the more you see the more you love it.  I am sad to leave yet know this is one city I will make the effort to see again.

When in Roma

Hello all.  So, I've left Rome and will now share my thoughts and impressions. First, a disclosure. I'm sure that at least in part my impressions of the city were swayed by the fact that I caught a cold my first day there. I was feeling miserable and that influenced me.  So, with that in mind, the two biggest impressions I got from Rome were long lines and confusing street layout.  The lines weren't just in my head. The line for the Vatican Museum was literally a kilometer long. It was intense.  Let's go through Rome as I exerienced it.
Arrival:
I arrived in Rome from Florence on one of the high speed trains without any real issues. As I couldn't find the confirmation for the hostel I wanted I just headed for the hostel.  They wer sold out but in the same building was the Hotel Corallo that offered dorm rooms. The worst thing about this place was the guy at the front desk. His English was okay but the real issue with him was that apparently he just wanted to play on the internet and not help anyone.  Most of the people in my room the first night were nice.  There was Ben a Navy guy from DC stationed in Naples, Brian from Philidelpha who was doing a round the world trip before starting his officer training with the Army, Argentina a nice guy but I didn't learn his name, same with New York and I wasn't introduced to the last guy.
What I did in Rome:
My first day I took it easy.  I was planing to be here three nights and didn't want to push it.  My second day, I went to St. Peter's Basilica. The day started out great.  The line for the church wasn't bad and even though it was crowded it was ok.  You could still move and the place was so big that it didn't have that weird too many people smell. After the church, I wanted to go the the museum but the line would take three hours. I deceided to head back to the Metro and try to see something else that day and make a reservation to get in the museum.  I then wandered, feeling more and more poorly, for an hour before I finally found a metro station.  At that point, all I wanted was bed so I went back to the hostel and went to bed.  That evening when I woke up I got some dinner then was relaxing in the common area when NY showed up.  He was feeling chatty even if I wasn't. The basics of that conversation are I should know that I am an intimidating figure, like a man, which is why I cant get a man but if I lost 100 pounds, his number, than I would look younger and nicer and could be appealling.  This, he assured me, is important. Why? Because my fertility is coming to its end and I won't be able to have children.  After all this sharing about my life I said I was tired and went to bed. End day two. On the third day, I got up early and went to the Coloseum followed by the Forum and Palatine Hill.  These were great but crowded again. I deceided that I would walk to the Pantheon after this because it looked easy enough but after wandering for an hour and a half I was three year old tired and ready to pick a fit. Thankfully, like a gift from God, I turned a corner and there was a tourist information both.  The Pantheon was just a few blocks away and so worth it. It was super impressive. I really liked this site. Crowded like everywhere else but huge and awesome. After that, following the signs and only getting lost for a minute on the way, I went to the Trevi Fountain.  This was so crowded it was hard to enjoy.  I deceided walk to the Spanish Steps from here but got lost again instead so when I found a metro stop I just headed to the train station and reserved my ticket for the train the next day. As I was taking a night train I went to the Spanish Steps, the Vatican Museum (so crowded it had a nasty, weird smell), and ended my day back at St Peters.
Leaving:
Well, I saw everything I wanted and more. In the only appropriate way to end this trip the bottom ripped out of my pants and I had left all my clothes at the hostel so had to go across town with my undies flashing the whole world.  I thank God I survived.
Until the next.

Florence aka Firenze

Florence, or in Italian Firenze, is beautiful. It isn't even hard to see past all the people and imagine it filled with wonderfully costumed people like the ones in the paintings in the Uffizi Gallery. Well, not the Jesus ones but the ones that look like it took three stout men and a crane to get that women in that dress. The buildings all have a Renaissance quality that, sans the multitude of tourists, make it feel like you have stepped back in time.  It feels as if you will turn a corner and Michelangelo will be there with paint stained fingers. It is way better than the pictures.  The cons, you ask? I don't even want to image this place during the high season.  As it is, there are crowds and lines everywhere you want to be. The Uffizi was about an hour waiting in line with super annoying people selling "English speaking tours! Skip the line!"  If it hadn't been triple the price of admition, I would have considered it.  The art was worth the wait. I saw the original birth of Venus.  It was a little bit like seeing the Mona Lisa.  She looks pale and is surronded by throngs of tourists who went for the tour and think nothing of stopping right in front of you. Mostly my day was filled with art and walking.  My legs are still sore from the Alps but I'm not letting that slow me down. PS  yummy yummy Gelato. That is all.

Milano!

Yesterday I was in Milano!  Even typing that gives me a giddie feeling.  No, I didn't misspell it.  It is Milan.  It's on the signs.  I didn't spend a whole lot of time there but I will give ya what I got.  Milan is lovely and busy.  There is graffitti everywhere and the people are really friendly.  Lots of smiles and Ciao!s happening.  The hostel, Hostel Colours, was nice and seemed to be over run by dudes.  No, I am not talking about surfers.  I'm talking about the male of the species.  Boys as far as the eye could see.  In the time I was there I saw a total of 5 girls and I think 3 of them may have worked there.  Me, being who I am, try to always pick the cheapest room possible which usually ends up being the 8 bed mixed dorm.  This was no exception.  The difference was this one filled up and everyone in the room was male.  Seven guys and me in bunk beds.  It was a little funny but mostly because of the looks on the guy's faces.  Startled half awake by some idiots alarm clock I looked around and realized that all of them had on almost the exact same kind of jockeys in either grey or black and that was their pajamas.  Cracked me up then I rolled over and went back to sleep.  This morning, when I really woke up I deceided to hit the road and after leaving Milan I realized I didn't take a single picture of it!  Oh well, I guess this just means I will have to return someday!  Ciao!

Lost in the Alps

Okay people so this is the story of two women who trusted a very trust worthy source and got totally lost.  The story begins innocently enough.  I met Katrina.  Katrina and I became instant friend.  She even commented on knowing we would be friends when she saw me in my tyedyed tshirt.  And she was so right.  She was spending more time than me in Zermatt but we deceided to do one of the options for a tour in the Alps.  We went to the tourist information office and asked what was available.  There was a train that takes you to Gornagrat  or a lift that that takes you to Glacier Paradise.  The lady went on to say that if you wanted to you could take the train to Gornagrat and hike down.  She assured us that it was an easy, clearly marked, 3 hour hike.  We deceiced that that is what we would do.  The next morning we headed for the train and rode up to the top.  It was stunningly beautiful.  There were even breaking the the clouds from time to time to allow for some great pictures of the Matterhorn.  We began our descent down the mountain and I think we can say that for at least the first 90 minutes that we where on the right track although I am not sure where we went wrong.  I do know that we went wrong.  That realization came about the time that fog rolled in and we found the sheep and cows.  We hadn't seen another human in a while and the map we had didnt seem to fit into where we thought we where suppose to be.  We deceided to keep going as there really wasn't another option.  So, remembering that my father had once advised that if you find yourself lost in the mountains go downhill.  People tend to live in valleys and assuming that since we were still on a path, not very well worn but a path none the less, and those sheep and cows had to belong to someone, they didnt but those bells on themselves, we continued down the path.  Shortly there after, following the path down a steep section, we found a trail marking that indicated that at some point we had picked a path that led AWAY from town but at least we knew that we were on a path.  We continued down the path I like further and here the bells the indicate livestock and rounding a corner saw Zermatt!  To make it just that much more fantastic there was even a rainbow over the city.  Totally, stunningly beautiful.  Thinking it wasn't far now we headed down the path and found the source of the bell.  I thought they were Sheep but low and behold they were goats!  Friendly goats at that.  They were just hanging out eating sapling pine trees and watched us pass. Hoping more than expecting at this point that we must be getting close we keep going and the path is more established now but then we come across a sign that didn't seen like it could be true.  Not only did the sign say that we where still an hour from Zermatt but it seemed to just point straight of a cliff!  No joke.  After a brief discussion we deceiced to follow the sign.  The path turned out to be a switch back that slowly made it's way down the cliff.  A little in the distance there were houses and we thought surely this was it.  Wrong again.  After about another hour we finally made it back to our hostel and instead of getting there around 3 when we planned to I could catch the train to Milan we got back at 6.  I will tell y'all the God's honest truth.  If I had been better prepared I wouldn't have been nearly as worried.  As it was, I was in a pair of kicks and while the original 3 hours may have been fine the 6 was too much. To end this story on a happy note the Barley soup at the restaurant we went to for dinner was AMAZING!!!  Oh, and we lived.

An Ocean Away and me with No Watch

So, upon landing in Zurich and heading to the ticket office at the airport to get my ticket to Zermatt, not a free trip by the way with the Eurorail pass, I looked down to see that I had forgotten my watch.  Normally this would be fine but for this particular travel experience a watch would be super handy.  Why?  I am doing most of my travel by train and here the trains are on schedule and if you are not on time you wll miss your train and Some of the trains require a reservation and if you miss that train you lost the money for the reservation.  I was lucky in that the train to Zermatt left about 30 minutes after I got to Zurich and I had a about 10 minute window to meet the next train.  Now that I have mentally wandered with everyone for a while on to my trip so far.  Zermatt was adorable.  It really looked like it came straight out of a fairytale and if you looked hard enough you could spot a goblin under a bridge or a troll in the Alps.  I had only intended to spend one tonight in Zermatt before continuing to the next leg of my trip but that is not how it turned out.

Here is the story:

I arrived in Zermatt around 1 PM and wondered around town getting familiar with the layout and looking for an internet source.  It was Sunday afternoon and a lot of places were closed but I finally found a bar with free internet for its patrons went in thelovely waiteress, she was from Scotland, gave me my Coke and let me sit there and drink my Coke and surf the internet for at least an hour.  We chatted about the local things to do and what it was like to be a waitress in our respective countries and what not.  While there I discovered that one of the two hostels in town was open.  The Matterhorn Hostel.  I will give it this, it was pretty clean over all and if even one of my showers had ended normal it would have been great.  What am I talking about?  The first night the shower flooded the bathroom.  My shower stall ended up ankle deep in water and there was about an inch of water outside the stall on the floor.  The next shower I tried to take there was no cold water.  I got in and out as quickly as possible and did didn't leave me feeling clean just scalded.  The best thing by far that happened so far is that I met Katrina.  She is a flight attendent who is also vacationing by herself and we became instant friends.  She is also part of the reason that I spent six hours wandering lost in the Swiss Alps.  That will be my next post.