Thursday, May 13th 2004
at 2:14 p.m.
I think we're on our. . .6th day of 73, and Sarah, Alyssa, Mindy, and I are having a great time. We've already gotten into several adventures and taken tons of photos of course. Well, my camera broke, so it looks like I'll be paying someone for some doubles, but other than that, things have gone extremely smoothly (except for our orginial flight).
We started out our vacation very crazily as we tried to get ALL our bags for when we go to school in Florence for only an allowance of 20 kilos. Also it was delayed for quite awhile and we had to wander around Gatwick airport for quite some time. Joy! Luckily we had the amazing fortune of running into a classmate in the honors program whose family owns a house ouside florence, where we were able to stay. It was incredibly beautiful up in the Hills of Tuscany and it turns out that her family has a 500 year old villa which is situated on top of one tall hill and looks over an entire valley. Her family was so nice to us, and even though we were struggling to find somewhere, anywhere, to store our stuff they offered to hold our bags for us for the whole summer for FREE. They basically alleviated every single one of our stresses, and this all came out of just bumping into this girl, Erin, on the drivewazy of our school and mentioning we had no place to stay in Florence. . .Needless to say we told her that anytime she was in San Francisco/Seattle/El Paso/Milwaukee she would have a free place to stay as well. Also we bought the family a huge bouquet of flowers which hopefully will show our gratitude. Plus we�re going to get them something in our travels and bring it back when we pick up our stuff.
The morning after we arrived, we found the way by bus right into the heart of Florence, to Il Duomo and Ponte Vecchio. We ate our first pizza in a little trattoria off Il Duomo piazza and then roamed through the market (will have much fun with that next year!) After that we had, of COURSE, gelato. The day would not have been completed otherwise you know. It was relatively uncrowded with tourists though, which was nice, and actually I was able to recognize places which was exciting. I'm looking forward to getting to know the city next year.
After Florence, and spending some time getting to know Erin's remarkably-perfect family, we took a train up to Venice and stayed in a little pensione. We didn't get to see much of the city but went to bed early and got up to get on to Inssbruck, Austria, where I realiyed I�d been 6 zears ago, when the Sacrted Heart Cathedral Prep Choir sang at its Imperial Palace.
I was extremely impressed with the scenery, which I had somehow forgotten. It is the clasic Alpine town, with green fields scattered with millions of buttercups, broom, and dandelions (I am convinced that Austria only has yellow flowers) leading up to it, and then the city rising up in a deep valley. The architecture is baroque and beautiful, and all the buildings are painted in bright but mellow colors. The river Inn runs through it, and our hostel was situated closely. There are so maany evergreens which make it a very lush city. Also, the peaks are covered in snow, but what makes it remarkable is that they are so extremely close; they are that steep.
We have climbed up SO many Alpine foothills which to me, even as a San Franciscan, is really more like a mountain in itself. So my calves have been getting pretty toned! On this occasion we searched in vain for the supposed funicular up to the cable car )which I've been wanting to take ever since I saw a suspended car gliding through snow-covered mountains somewhere. Instead we missed it and ended up climbing the hill )same occurrence today, but we simply could not afford it). The winter Olympics occurred in Innsbruck in both '62 and '74, and so we went up to the very vertical ski lift and saw some spectacular views.
Also we visited a really interesting old Renaissance castle, which had great amounts of armour and weaponry. Turns out most of the knights were my height, can you imagine?! Just think how tall we�ll be in another several hundred years. . .however there was one giant ('gigant') whose armour displayed that he was about nine feet--quite an extreme.
We spent another day just strolling through the city, taking the trolleycar all over, and having a picnic by the river.
Today we got up early again to come over to Salzburg, where we are now. We climbed up a GIANT hill (mountain) rather than spring for the funicular, but were rewarded by the amazing views of the entire valley. Hightlights: the tour of the late medieval statesrooms which really gave me an image of those times (for the rich, of course), some austrian food for dinner, and meeting up with a woman who has been with us in both the Innsbruck Hostel, and this one. it turns out that she is an author for Rough Guide and she has asked us for a lot of feedback!
We are going on the Sound of Music Tour tomorrow, after watching it for free at our hostel (it wil be a singalong if no one else shows!), and she wants us to e-mail her about what she thought. Anyway the tour traces various locations of the film and the actual event, and while I liked the film I've only een it once, and so it's just going to be a laugh. My friends are quite excited though, lol!
And next: Vienna. I can't wait! I loved Vienna 6 years ago, but I think this will be quite a different experience since I'm not with my school! Plus I'm older of course.
The train has been really enjoyable. The countryside is so beautiful that going through it with our own compartment (usually, except one experience in Northern Italy with a flirtatious Italian), is a memorable experience in itself. In my journal I started illustrating an image out my wnidow of the rolling hills and poppy-filled fields of Tuscany, but beore I'd even finished half of it we were into the high steep mountains and brilliant green and yellow terrain of Austria. Not to mention snow-topped Alps!
What song is playing on my iTunes right now: What I'm reading: What I'm Wearing: Back to anecdotal journalism again! - Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
Plan? - Monday, Jun. 19, 2006
FINALLY things are going better!
(This month redefined my understanding of stress and 'hell') - Monday, April 24th, 2006
Just a few more days! - Monday, February 27th, 2006
Another one to chalk up to College Experiences - Sunday, February 12th, 2006