Neil and I have decided to become alcoholics. And it's not that this seemed like a really good idea, or something we had thought about before the trip. However, the economics of Prague really seemed to make it the obvious choice, or, in our case, way of life. The first step in us becoming alcoholics came about because we did not understand the currency. We've left the territory of the Euro and entered the land of the Czech Republic Koruny, which is a very mysterious entity indeed. Allow me to do a conversion: 75 Czech Republic Korunys is equivalent to 1.3 [View Full Entry]

---

---

Neil and I successfully met up in Berlin, in what may very well be the largest train station in Europe. It's not that we planned it that well, it's more that I figured out which train he was probably arriving on and tried to stand in a place where I could see people coming down the stairs off of the platform, and we got kind of lucky. We stayed at Jetpak City Hostel. With a name like that, how could we say no? Actually, it may be the best hostel we stayed at so far. And it's won a bunch of [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today I had one of those spectacular travel experiences that makes people want to spend there whole lives traveling around and doing nothing else. In fact, today was above in beyond anything I could have thought about. In fact, I may have achieved a state of travel nirvana, and ruined traveling for everyone else. How? I went to Liechtenstein. But first I set out to explore Feldkirch. It didn't take long. But it was really nice. I also went on a short hike recommended by the hostel clerk where I got great views of the town and the neighboring countryside. At [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, I'm officially one entire country behind on the blogging. So instead of starting from the beginning of Italy, I've decided to skip over it and write a couple of more current entries before going back and filling things in. So for now there will a be a significant hole, a "time hole" if you will. But the hostel in Berlin has free internet, so maybe it'll get filled in a bit. But I'll be trying to write them as if I actually wrote them on that day, so that's why verb tenses might be... wrong here and there. Amy's time [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey! Do you want to hear a slightly amusing anecdote? We've seen signs that post hours in Italian as "11:00 - 24:00" and in English read "11:00am to 12:00pm". It's kind of funny, but it's also really thoughtful of them to have made an English sign in the first place, so I'd never make fun of it. That's why it's just an "amusing anecdote".... and I realize that the amusement is limited..... very limited.... moving on... Ok! The Cinque Terre! Here we come! More beach time! And it's our last destination in Italy before Amy heads back home and Neil and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Since we saw what we wanted to in Florence, we decided to use our last day there to take a day trip. Neil and Amy headed to Pisa, while I decided to see if I could get to both Siena and San Gimignano in a day. It was a day of transportation challenges. The first thing Neil and Amy encountered was a rail strike. Since service was severely reduced, they had to wait hours for a train to Pisa that wasn't canceled, and when one did show up, it was jam packed with other people who had also been waiting around [View Full Entry]

---

---

I left Positano to meet up with Neil and Amy at the train station in Naples, which meant I got to take the crazy bus ride one more time. I've really gotten used to it though. The fact that the drivers don't slow down around blind corners seems natural enough now. Daniel also left Positano at the same time. On the way to Naples I realised I forgot to pay for my hour of internet time, and Daniel realised he forgot to pay for his bed on the second night... I guess since they didn't ask they forgot too, right? Just [View Full Entry]

---

---

A guest entry by Neil: While James was lounging about in Positano for a couple more days, Amy and I took the short trip to the island of Capri where we were greeted by sharp cliffs, lush greenery, and light blue water. The island is composed of two villages. These would be Capri and Anacapri. Anacapri (where we stayed) is farther into the island, and although this sounds like a bad thing, it is MUCH less touristy. It was already evening when we were finally settled into our hotel, so Amy and I grabbed a picnic dinner and headed out to [View Full Entry]

---

---

This entry is long. You can do a lot in 5 days. First of all, allow me to recommend the Amalfi Coast. Second, let me suggest the southern coast. As spectacular as the north coast is around Sorrento, the south side is somehow five times more spectacular, and the bus ride there is incredible! I'm looking forward to telling you all about it. But first, a couple of adventures I forgot to mention about Rome: During our second night in the hostel, I got up to go to the bathroom, but the power must have gone out, or maybe they shut [View Full Entry]

---

---

Rome wasn't built in a day, but we almost saw it in one. I don't recommend doing it like that, but if you're curious, here's how we ruined Rome for ourselves. We arrived after a pretty long "high speed" train ride. It was also somewhat uncomfortable train ride because the tables in our high speed train that separate the rows of seats which face each other were built for people without any knees. I don't know why, but the bottom of the table is about level with the top of the seat, so I'm not sure how one would contort themselves [View Full Entry]

---

---