Great day. I got up at 5:50, caught a bus to the train station, and then took the train from Luzern to Engelberg (about an hour). The train was on a very light ascent most of the way... barely noticeable. Then, for the last four of five kilometers, it took an almost steep ascent into the mountains. Engelberg is surrounded by big, sharp, steep, snow covered mountains (mostly, as in the lower areas most of the snow has melted off). First I talked to the information desk and then I got breakfast at Cafe Desire (which sounds chic or something, but [View Full Entry]

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Got up early and took a taxi to the train station. In a few hours, I met Teresa in Chambery and we rode another train to Lyon. Teresa brought some food and so we ate and caught up on what we have been up to the past six months. She is studying French and Spanish in Chambery. After arriving in Lyon, we first walked around to find the hostel so that I could drop off my bag. We ended up walking quite a ways through the city and up many, many steps (I felt like a monk on a pilgrimage with [View Full Entry]

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Started out early from Cinque Terre. The first train was cancelled (more fun), which put me off schedule. I sat and talked to a guy from Sweden for about an hour. He had studied Italian in Perugia for about five months and said it was like one big party (but he did learn a lot of Italian). He also knew German and English pretty well. Very interesting guy. It was his fifth time to Cinque Terre. From there, I went through La Spezia to Genova to visit the Acqqurio di Genova, which is the largest acqarium in Europe. Genova is also [View Full Entry]

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Cinque Terre was amazing! I had never before hiked anything like it. The trails travel through small, very old towns as well as olive and lemon gardens overlooking the ocean. It was like some ideal Disneyworld old-Italian coast-town exhibit on steroids. Beautiful countryside, cheerful people, great food, challenging hikes... Woke up around 7 am... went downstairs and had breakfast. An older, cheerful Italian guy prepared croissants, biscuits, hot chocolate, and cereal for me. He seemed to genuinely enjoy serving me breakfast and setting everything in order on my tray. I plotted my [View Full Entry]

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This morning I woke up to the intercom "30 minutes to Bari...". I had slept about 10 hours and I really needed it. First off the ferry, I found my way (via Taxi) to the train station. Took off from there to Bologna on the Trenitalia Eurostar. (http://www.trenitalia.it/en/treni_stazioni/eurostar/index.html) No smoking allowed (I love you, Trenitalia... God Bless). Today was definitely Irish. Much of the 12 hours in transit, I was reading Irish History for Dummies. I also had lunch in a restaurant on the train... a bit pricey at 26 Euros for the complete meal... but I wanted to have t [View Full Entry]

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This was the beginning of a two-day adventure that I just completed. Sidenote: I lost the camera cable, so I'll have to find another way to upload the photos (maybe someone around the hostel can help... I'll check tomorrow). Day 12 started out in Athens. I crawled out of bed in the hostel, still groggy and fighting off the cold. Also, the guy from Brazil was coughing all not... sounded pretty bad and so I tried to stay away from him. The girl in the room (mixed dorm - him, her, and me) was from D.C. We caught the bus to [View Full Entry]

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Last day in Belgrade. Spent most of it planning for the rest of the trip. Ivan made breakfast and lunch. We then took a cab to the train station and I was off to Thessaloniki! :) The train wasn't too bad, except there was a lot of cigarette smoke carrying over from other people in the train car I was in. However, most of them were gone by the time I got to sleep (they got off at stops along the way in Serbia). And actually, for most of the night it was just me and the attendant in the whole [View Full Entry]

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Thessaloniki was okay, but with the dreary day, exhaustion of carrying around my bag all over, and overdoing it with the desserts (thus, not feeling so hot... in addition to trying to kick the remnants of a cold), my expectations of Athens had kind of dimmed. This morning, I peaked outside and found crystal-clear blue skies... not a cloud ANYWHERE! :) And the weather was about around 60 degrees (this was about 8 AM). That was a good start. I took a taxi to the subway and then set out for the Accropolis. I exited the subway and after about 50 [View Full Entry]

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Wow! What a dreary way to start the day... it was the kind of day that thriller movies start at with... cold, lightly-raining, heavily overcast... But the weather is what it is... Heading out from the train station, I caught a bus to the central area of Thessaloniki. It has a long walkway along the ocean about five feet above the water... so it just drops off. One of the first things I noticed was Greek flags all over the place... seemed a bit over-patriotic at the time... hanging out windows, people selling them on the street, etc... more on that [View Full Entry]

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Woke up this morning feeling better. I'll probably be about 85% when I leave tomorrow. This morning, Ivan cooked breakfast. We then listened to music, talked, etc. I also read some more about Irish history... which is getting more interesting the more I read about it. Later on, Bobana came over to Ivan's apartment. Ivan cooked dinner (pancakes... but not the American kind... this were kind of like crepes except folded in squares and triangles... some with chocolate cream and others with meat, cheese, and sour cream). We talked and ate for about three hours. It was good to catch-up wi [View Full Entry]

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