Italy- Milan, Lake Como, Venice, Dolomite

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Italy - Milan, Lake Como, Dolomites and Venice
Dave B 5-2-07

I had laid down for about 15 minutes when the guy that had been missing came back. Not sure what he had been doing the whole time, but whatever it was he was done doing it and was back. All of the sudden our door was opened and this uniformed lady said something. The Italian guys snatched there identification then I realized she had said passports. She looked at the new Italian man's passport for a long time and called someone to check his background. Finally after several minutes she told him ok. She looked at mine and gave it back almost immediately. That was a nice change as at the airports they reviewed mine extensively. A lady I met recently from Canada, who lives in Switzerland, said she thinks Americans passports are checked thoroughly for reciprocation reasons more than anything. That was an interesting theory. She says she has dual citizenship and whenever she flashes her Canadian passport she has no trouble, but when she shows her American passport they review it a lot closer. She says America reviews people thoroughly and maybe it is a way for the rest of the world to give Americans a hard time. She also said when Bush was reelected their were 400 American Canadians a day crossing back into Canada. She said him being reelected was a shock to the world. I told her it was a shock to me as well. I told her Americans recently came around and didn't put his party back in office. I told her too Americans just don't follow politics and what Bush has been doing. I never use to either and quite frankly I think I was more sane back then. It definitely has to be taken with a grain of salt although they make such important decisions. She said a lot of people in the world lump Canada into the US. I told her I didn't see that at all. I told her I was thinking of putting a Maple Leaf on my backpack as I think foreign people would be more friendly to Canadians than they are Americans.

It seemed a little funny to me being in this train car with two Italian guys, one I estimate to be in his early 50's and the other in his late 40's. They seemed nice and did not seem to be concerned about anything. I had slept about an hour between 2 and 3 then awoke and looked out the window at this beautiful Swiss Alps lake. The buildings surrounding the lake lit up the lake enough to see it pretty well. This was a ski resort area as well with snow, so that helped provide more illumination of the area. The place is called Arth Goldau as stated at the next train station. I was wide awake staring at the high alpine area. The Italian kids were no longer making the noise and I was having a moment. Some homes were built on steep mountain sides. Lots of conifers on the hillsides. Very cool.

The train kept going through tunnels blocking my view. I finally decided to try and sleep some more. I really never fell a sleep. Again the door went flying open and there were more guards with dogs. This time I immediately recognized the word passport. I got mine out and gave it to the uniformed man. Again no problem. This time the review of the Italian guys went quick as well and the guy left. I asked one of the Italian guys if that was the Swiss guys and he said yes. He said Italian guys are next. I never imagined getting checked like this on the train. I thought maybe once you got off the train, but not on the train.

Again I continued to gaze out the train. I think the next train ride I may try for a sleeping car with a bed. We will see. Maybe I will just travel during the day as you can see more. My Eurorail pass is good through July 31. I suspect that last month is going to be a little crazy with regards to trying to get the most out of that pass. In Lugano we picked up more passengers and 3 women sat with us. It was now around 6:00 AM. The women were from South Africa, Canada and Switzerland. Now that is what I am talking about. These 3 women to go with the 2 Italian guys. Now I am traveling. We talked about lots of stuff and had a great conversation. The ladies from Canada and South Africa have lived here 10 and 7 years respectively and work for a shoe and baggage leather company. They were going to Milan for work. I told them that sucks that you have to work and we laughed. I know my day is coming. I understated to them that I hear Milan is kind of big into fashions. I think they knew I was understating it. I suggested they incorporate some goretex into their product line of purses. The Canadian women said her husband suggested the same thing. The Canadian women said Switzerland is very safe. She said they do not get overly concerned about having their doors locked. I ask her if she did when they lived in Canada and she said no not there either. She lived in Eastern Canada. The Swiss lady didn't say much, but I saw her smile several times so I knew she was listening. I asked her if she snow skied and she said no, but she mountain bikes. She was in great shape as were all the women for that matter. The Italian guys English was not good enough to follow along. On occasion however they spoke Italian and the women in the car all spoke Italian as well. At that time I felt left out . I am going to learn Spanish as the Italian's say Spanish is so close to Italian that they can follow Spanish conversations. I find myself often talking really slow with no extraneous adjectives even with those who speak good English. I think it is a good habit to get into. One thing I find Europeans always doing is hinting to me about global warming. These ladies said how mild this past winter has been for them. As if I could do something about it. I tell them I think the globe is warming which seems to be pretty much proven. What not is proven however, in my mind is why. I go on to say I think the whole world needs to curb there emission of greenhouse gases just in case man is one of the primary reasons for the warming. This is the only thing man can do about it. I know it will cost money, but I think it is money well spent. Sure there will be suffering as a result or maybe a slightly reduced standard of living for some people, not the wealthy of course as they will just pass the cost on to other folks as they are the ones that own the businesses. Man I think of the differences that had Al Gore been president these last 8 years rather than Bush. The Kyoto Agreement would be effected and we would not be in the Iraq War. I think however we would still be fighting in Afghanistan and having more casualties there however. That region of the world hates us as Bush says, "Because we love freedom". I am not sure what the heck Bush even means by that. I guess he thinks if he throws the word freedom in a sentence that will get him votes with the public. I actually came over here down on America mainly it´s politics, which the tour guide from Ireland said it's sad to see so many Americans having little national pride, but as I traveled my pride of America has actually increased. I think a lot of people are a little jealous of what we have, but will not admit it. The Canadian lady said it best. Even though America has really went backwards during the Bush Administration at the end of the day America still steps up to the plate. I told her too I think at the end of the day America will do the right thing. Our grandfathers stepped up to the plate in W.W.II. As I told Jackie if it was not for our grandfathers the dutch people might be speaking German right now. I do think they get that, even though they like to slam America. It's been a great trip with regards to learning about other countries and I have just begun my travels. I actually feel a lot better about America. The Canadian lady said over here unless you have extreme wealth and clout you can not go nearly as far as you can in America. She sighted an Italian guy she knows that went to America and became a doctor. He is extremely grateful for that and indicated that that would not have happened had he went to school in Italy. He said America gave him the chance. No one likes a winner and America has been and still is a winner. We have it good. Like everything however our empire will eventually fall. I suspect it will be within 100 years our clout in the world will go down significantly.

Finally we made it to the train station and we went on our individual ways. I was looking around for information so I could ask where to find the Republica Train Station. I was not readily seeing anything and was not seeing much written in English either. I finally just wanted to walk around outside for awhile so I proceeded in that direction. The exit of the train station had some large fashion related posters. As I walked outside I did not see the direction signs that are so common in the City's I have visited to date. Outside there were several modern looking businesses. Where's the Roman stuff? I saw lots of Roman stuff in England why not here I ask? The train station however is huge and lots of Roman décor. I have yet to see the Cathedral however, that I hear is just phenomenal and extremely gothic in decoration.

I decided I better go back inside as I was not seeing tourist information stuff. Milan is not that touristy of a place I don't think. In the station I did find a ticket purchasing window and ask him and he said just to continue walking straight down the street once you exit the station. I did just that and after about a 1/4 mile I found the station. I don't think the Eurail Pass covers these local trains so I went to buy a ticket. While standing in line I was talking to the guy behind me and he said I need to go down stairs and I gathered buy the ticket down there. It was amazing the line there. A few minutes earlier there was no one in line and now I bet there are 20 people there buying tickets. It was like a line to the toilet at 1/2 time of the super bowl. I got out of line and went down stairs to check out the situation. I saw the platform I needed to wait at, but did not see anywhere to buy the ticket. I finally decided to beg forgiveness if someone ask for my ticket on the train. The train came right on time as they normally do and I got on. The train wasn't that clean, but it was ok. We were in a tunnel for the longest time then finally we emerged. I saw some graffiti on the concrete walls. After about 30 minutes I made it to Conarte my stop without being asked for my ticket. I got off there and called Rosella my couchsurfing contact in Milan. She was surprised I was there so early. It was raining in Milan and everywhere for that matter so sightseeing would not be very productive and I was going on an hours sleep so I decided to just go there right away. I remember how Amsterdam was with only a couple hours of sleep. I was pretty much worthless. This was definitely time better spent.

A few moments later Rosella called back and she needed to wait for her mom to get back with the car. She indicated it may take as much as an hour. I told her I could do some typing and for her to take her time. I then saw a restaurant across the street and decided to run through the rain to check it out. Once there I decided to have some coffee and a pastry. I immediately called Rosella back and told her I would be in the coffee shop across the street. She knew exactly where it was and continued apologizing for not having a car to pick me up immediately. I told her not to worry as it is not a big deal.

I went up to the counter and asked if they had a chai latte. The guy did not speak English and said something to the lady working there that ended in Engleseo. She came over and I reasked the question. She too said no Chai Latte. I then asked if they had any drinks with no caffeine. I gathered she was not understanding everything I said so I just said coffee. The coffee came in a glass about the size of a shot glass. I assumed it must be very strong coffee. He asked if I wanted milk and after a couple drinks I decided it needed something so we put in some milk. I also had a pastry that was awesome. I went over and began typing. I drank the coffee and realized I had a lot of time to wait so decided to have another. This time they ask me if I wanted a bigger glass. I did not know if it was the same thing, but I just kept saying yes and nodded my head. I went over to the pastries and really didn't want another, but finally gave in. The guy pointed at one and said very good. It was cool to see them totally trying to help me the best they could. Earlier when I was asking questions about the coffee and what they had I thought maybe they were becoming irritated with me, but they were not at all. They were sincerely trying to help me. I got the pastry he suggested and it indeed was very good. I went back to my seat and was very happy sitting in the countryside of Milan drinking coffee and eating pastries with the locals. Life is beautiful!

Rosella arrived and she said the traditional Italian greeting is to kiss each side of the cheek twice so we clumsily did that. I told her in Dutch it is 3 times on each cheek. The people sitting next to me said hi to Rosella. They obviously new her. That's kind of weird sitting by someone like that and not even knowing that they actually know the person I am sitting right next to. Anyway I ask Rosella if she would like some coffee and she said sure. I went up with her and paid for it and decided to have some myself. This is my 3rd cup of coffee today and I do not even like coffee. It was kind of keeping me going though, since I had only slept about 1 hour on the train. It was still raining outside and we ran out to her car and jumped in. It was a short drive to her home. I volunteered to open the gate and jumped out in the rain and then had to figure out how to open it. This was not the time to figure out how a gate works as it was raining. Rosella yelled instructions and I finally figured it out. She pulled into the driveway and I ran for cover. They have a beautiful big home and they have 3 rooms that they use as a bed breakfast. It is very beautiful. Rosella showed me my room which was near the kitchen's B&B. This area of the home is sectioned off by the other portion of the house where her mom and 100 year old grandma live. I was hoping to visit the grandma, but she is bed ridden. I suspect she would not have spoken English either, so essentially we would have just stared at each other for a few minutes, which would have been awkward for all parties involved. I met Rosella's mom who is a very nice lady who does not speak much English. Pretty much the younger crowd does, but not the older crowd.

Rosella fixed some pasta for lunch and we also had some salami and crackers as well as a salad freshly picked from their garden. Most people in this area do have gardens it appears. Especially as I rode on the train here I saw many gardens in backyards along the tracks. Although it may have just been the socioeconomic status of those who live near train tracks results in a disproportionate number of gardens. Not sure but Rosella's family has one. Rosella's father has passed away. It was great talking to Rosella and her mom. Rosella says organized crime is prevalent in Italy. Especially in Naples. She said shop owners there must give them money or they will burn their shop down. I was surprised to hear of this. I thought that kind of thing is long gone. She said the politics around here is ridiculous too. It sounds like Italy is pretty corrupt.

Rosella went to work and I told her to have fun. She said she never has fun at work. I took a shower and went for a nap. I awoke 3 hours later and got up to do some typing. I was a little hungry and grabbed some cookies off their table, which is the area for the bread and breakfast guest. I also drank some water as it seemed I could not get hydrated for some reason. At 7:00 Rosella got home from work. We decided to order a pizza from a local place and it was awesome. The pizzas are very thin crust and big. A person can eat the whole pizza by theirself fairly easy. We sat and watched the soccer game for awhile as Milan was playing Manchester United for the right to go to the Finals. Each country has a soccer league and the best team from each country plays the best teams from other countries in a tournament. It's called the Champions League. They play two games and Manchester United won the first one in Manchester. Milano had to win this one to get to go to the finals. If the score was a tie then Manchester would still go to the finals since Manchester won the first one. The finals were being held in Athens this year, which changes each year. Milano looked to be hustling more and looked like the better team this night. They scored two goals and each time Rosella would yell and jump up and a big smile would be on her face. She was very in tune with the game and a big fan of the Champions league series. She said their are two teams from Milan and they dislike each other greatly as you might imagine. The economics of the situation is like American baseball, where the team with the most money gets the best players. From that perspective I did not like it. She said the owner of the team also owns 3 tv channels in Italy and was the former prime minister of Italy. Make up your own picture of all that and how it works. The two best Milan players are Kaka and Seedorf. Kaka is from Brazil and Seedorf is from Africa. It was funny too that they have hockey here as well, but obviously not popular. Rosella said they get the older players from Canada often to play hockey here. Essentially those that are not good enough to play in NHL come here to play.

We went to an Irish Pub to watch the second period. I had a Guinness there. Not sure why, I go back to drinking the Irish stuff as I did the same thing in Amsterdam. Milano went on to win the game 3 to 0 and now advance to the finals against Liverpool on May 19th and I thought the two weeks wait for the Super Bowl use to be long. This is almost 3 weeks.

We left there around 11:30 and called it a night. It was a long day and I was ready to hit the hay.

5-3-07
I got up around 9 and had slept like a log. This is a great place to stay. I love the bed and better yet I love the pillow. The pillow is a flatter type and less fluffy. I typed on Rosella's computer sending a couple emails to couchsurfing folks. I need to try and keep the couchsurfing accommodations about 5 days in advance. Any longer than that the couchsurfers generally think that's planned out to far in advance and shorter they think your staying with you on a whim and just looking for a place to crash. Generally I think they want to hear of your travels.

Rosella's family has a maif for their 100 year old grandma and she does chores around the house. Rosella has a sister who lives in Venice and I learned that Rosella's family also has a house northwest of Venice. They must be doing ok. Good for them! I have a couchsurfer lined up for Sunday in Venice, but I am considering trying to go to the Dolomites, which might push back my Venice arrival back to Monday. Rosella says the Dolomites are incredible and she thinks neater than the Swiss alps. This will probably be my only chance to see them on this trip so I better do them. I can always go there after Venice too.

I ate some breakfast and worked on my diary. I decided to not leave for Milan until Rosella went to work, which was a little before 1. That way she could just drop me off there on her way. I had plenty to do before then. I had ask Rosella to help me with a few Italian word pronunciations as I figured I better learn a few things since I will be here for a month. She did and I was amazed how far I was off with a few of the pronunciations.

We got going around 12:45 and she dropped me off there. At the train station the window was closed where you can buy the ticket, but a person there said you can buy them from the person working at the magazine stand outside. I did that and Rosella pointed to the train outside that just pulled up and said that is your train. I took the ticket and took off running. As I approached the platform I could see the doors just beginning to close so I ran faster and jumped through the air (not minding the step but jumping over it) and landing in the train as the doors closed behind me. This was the first time I made the train in such dramatic fashion. It was fun. I have missed it badly one time, but never made it like this. It saved me about a 1/2 hour of travel time.

As I was approaching my stop I got to wondering if maybe there was a better stop for me to get off which would be closer to where I wanted to go. I at the last minute ask the lady sitting next to me if she spoke English and she said she did. I showed her where I wanted to go and ask her if there was a closer stop than Republica to get off at. We approached and stopped at Republica as she tried to get her bearings on the map. Finally I realized I had no choice, but to get off at the next stop as I had mixed this one. Finally she showed me where the next stop was and it was going to be about the same distance walk.

Once getting off I headed to the Piazza Duomo. This is the location of the Gallery and of course Milan's cathedral, which is the 4th largest in all of Europe. Now that is saying something. I assume at least one of the bigger ones is in Rome. Stay tuned. I saw a park located on the path to the church so I walked through it. It was not that great. From there I continued on my journey as the Europeans call it. I saw a lady with a backpack on and I ask her what she planned to see today. She told me in ok English. I ask her where she was from. She said Rome and was staying with friends who are in school today. She said therefore she is traveling by herself. I told her I am as well. She said traveling by yourself is not as good. I told her if I was traveling with someone else I would not be talking to her right now. She agreed. I told her when staying at motels or bed and breakfasts it is a lot cheaper traveling with someone else. We talked as we walked and she told me my plans to see Rome in 3 days will not workout as you can not see Rome in 3 days. I told her well you have to have a reason to come back. We got to an intersection and she told me I have to go in that direction. I headed that way and we went in different directions. It was a nice chat. As I walked along I saw a church that was pretty cool and thought now if that church was in America people would talk about it. But I am not in America now am I. I wondered if maybe that was a church of significance and thought no, when I see something of significance I will know it. That's just how big the things are here. I walked a little farther and got a little turned around. I knew I had to be close. I thought man if I could just get away from these buildings I should be able to see it. I walked on and around the next corner. There it was. The most massive Gothic thing I had ever seen. Your just awestruck of the enormity of the thing. I walked over to it and tried to take a picture, but you just can't get it in the photo. I walked to the front of it where there is Plaza Duomo, which is your classic European square area, with lots of pigeons and lots of tourist. One man was showing a guy how to get the pigeons to sit on him so he could take a picture. I wondered how much the guy was charging for that service. These guys are creative in finding a need of tourist and exploiting it. A few people tried to sell me about 12 kernels of corn to feed the pigeons and I said no and didn't even ask the price.

About 1/2 of the bottom front of the church was being cleaned and had scaffolding all around it. I got back as far as I could to take a picture and didn't feel like I got a good pic, but it would have to do. I walked towards the front of the church and wondered what it cost to go in. I decided to walk to my left, which is the Gallery. It's an outdoor walkway with shops on both sides with a arched glass like roof over the top. Very elegant with expensive stores all around such as Luis Viton, Gucci, Prada and McDonalds. Yes in the middle of the Gallery the most prized area of the store there is a Luis Viton, Prada and a McDonalds. I could not believe it. I walked in and it was a McCafe inside and it appeared just sold coffee and pastries. Amazing, McDonalds must be making some money. Actually I see there golden arches a lot in some prized real estate areas all over during my travels. At times I am tempted to eat there just because I know exactly what to order and at times it just seems relaxing to do so in a weird way. I fight the urge however and don't do it. I walked to the end of the Gallery and saw a Leonardo Da Vinci statue. Another building to my right looked interesting and was guarded and I walked over there an attempted to just walk in, but the guard stopped me. I ask what about the building and he said it is City Hall and you must have an appointment. Well I didn't have that and I didn't want to do anything illegal to get an appointment, so I walked back over to the Leonardo Da Vinci Statue. He had these painted cows around him. These cows are some kind of artsy and awareness thing going on all over Milan. A different artist paints a cow and it is placed somewhere in Milan. I bet I saw 40 of these cows around Milan. It appears they are designed to provide awareness of a plight.

I walked a little further around the City Hall and realized this is the church that I had looked at a little earlier that I thought might be of significance. I had been really close to the good stuff and didn't even know it. Everything looks a lot different when seeing something for the second time. There is something exciting about the first time of doing are seeing anything, but that excitement usually wanes with time. Hey about that sentence? A blatant state of the obvious. Maybe I can be a sports announcer after all. That's like saying Albert Pujols is a good baseball player or saying Kaka is a good football (soccer in America) player for Milano.

I walked back to the Cathedral and walked around it looking for that prized photo. I never seen it. I did see an entrance to the Church and thought what the heck I will walk in and see what they charge. Well it turned out there is no admission. As I walked in I saw a statue of a guy that it appeared had his skin removed as you could see the man's muscles only. A little weird, but cool nonetheless. I walked around just looking up at all the stain glass and statues and columns. It's amazing. I read where the church will hold 10,000 people and wondered how could a priest not get a little power hungry after preaching to this many people. It would be hard to stay humble and I suspect many were not. However with the king willing to chop off his head if he did something wrong that might be intimidation enough for the priestto not to want much power. The importance of these churches back in the day is very evident. A lot of resources went into building this thing. I am not sure the resources might have been better spent on the poor and needy but I suspect Milan is glad the money was spent on the church now as their are lots of tourist hear now.

I finally pulled myself away from this area and head down to a different area of Milan that had canals. I cannot completely wean myself from canals having spent 10 days in Amsterdam recently. On my way I stopped and got a Vegetarian sandwich. Not sure why it just looked good. They heated it up for me. The sandwich was really good and I ate while I walked. I decided also to stop and get an ice cream bar for dessert. I notice the Europeans love there ice cream. I thought this to be more of an American thing but they like it here as well. After getting lossed a few times and I suspect walking around a mile I made it to the canals. The area was mainly a shopping area which was neat see but it was getting late close to 5:00 clock so I decided to keep on trucking. I continued on to the park where the castle was. I saw a man urinating in the park near a tree. I was a little hard pressed to be mad at the man because there is no public restrooms anywhere. On several instances I saw public urination in Amsterdam which did seem a little ridiculous. You pretty much have to go to a McDonalds or a bar to find restrooms. Then when you get the restroom often they only have one stool. For example the McDonalds restroom near the Galleria would have had like 6 toilets in America but only had 1 hear.

I made it to the castle and thought it to be pretty cool but did not overwhelm me are anything. I walked through the entire park and on one end there is a Coliseum like arena which I could not see in but would have liked to. On another side of the Park is a giant arch which was very neat. I was amazed however at all the Graffiti I have seen in Milan. There is some in the US but not this much. It is everywhere here.

I decided to walk back to the Church one last time as it is by far the best thing to see in Milan. There was still loads of people there. I checked some of the prices in the Gallery area and as expected they were very high. I decided to walk towards the train stop in hopes of finding some ma and pa operation but didn't expect that to happen. I finally decided on a place which looked fairly reasonable. I had a glass of wine and a paste dish with salmon sauce on it. The meal was 13.50 euros with a 1.50 surcharge for eating at the restaurant. I saw some people for 5 Euro come in and get a drink and eat appetizers while standing at the counter. I wish I had done that as the appetizers looked great. Rosella had told me later in the evening that is very common to do. She said most bars have these as well as restaurants. I left their a little disappointed in the meal but I gave him a Malto Bene anyway which means very good in Italian. I just wanted to use the words and he acted surprised to hear me say that and he said good in English as to be asking was it really good?

As I walked to the Republica Train Station I was thankful I had such good weather as it had not rained all day, but was a little overcast. The forecast was for a chance of rain, but it had not all day. There was no where to buy a train ticket back so I had to use a vending machine. The one I was trying to use did not seem right so I ask someone which machine was for the train and they pointed me to another machine. The machine I had been using was for the subway system. The machine was in Italian, but I was able to navigate my way through it and get the right ticket. I was happy about accomplishing that. I had to wait about 20 minutes for the next train to where I was going. I read more about the Lake regions of Italy where I was headed tomorrow. I got on the train and practiced my Italian words more. I am not good at this language stuff. I am not confident enough to use it, which I really need to do to learn it.

Once at the train station I text messaged Rosella and about 15 minutes later she showed up to pick me up. What a nice set up. Back at the ranc'h Rosella and I talked for awhile. She gave me more ideas of things to do while in Italy. She told me about her travels in Australia, which were quite funny and a little crazy. Her and a friend traveled all over Australia in an old van they bought there. They even drove through the desert, which the locals said they were crazy to do. She said their gas tank would hold enough gas for 300 kilometers and the gas stations were spaced about 300 kms apart. She said they carried a can of gas in the van with them. She said one time the truck stopped and they turned the key and nothing. She said they had to jump start it by pushing it and popping the clutch. It seems everyone in Europe drives standard transmission vehicles. I counted a few yesterday in a short stretch of walkway and I estimate from that observation, that 95 out of 100 vehicles are standard transmissions. No one where's hats either. I have decided to not, where my hat as much either just to try and fit in a little. I may get my hair cut really short too.

Rosella also said everyone in the small town she lives in thinks she is crazy. She said people in Italy do not travel a lot. When they do it it is in big groups for short stays. She travels alone are in small groups and usually goes to places like South America where it is really cheap. She would fit in a lot better down there than I would as her skin color is pretty tan and looks similar to those who live there. She said she has hiked all over down there. I may go to Argentina, but if I do I will stay with Gabby and Lu if there offer is still good. Actually I am not sure they offered a place to stay, it might have been just to come and visit? Anyway we will see where we are from several perspectives next fall. Rosella is great to talk to and I enjoyed it immensely, but decided we had best hit the hay. It was another great day. In summary my five favorite things about Milan were the Cathedral, staying with Rosella, the breakfast in Conegrate by the train station there, the Milan train station and the castle. I had not wrote about the Milan train station, but it was very neat. A huge building with some huge fashion related pictures on the walls inside. Several huge statues on the outside of the building as well. I didn't read a thing about the train station building in the Rick Steves book, but I think he should have something in there about it. Very cool place. Arrividerchi, which means goodbye in Italian.

5-4-07
I got up this morning to the spatter of rain outside. It always rains in Italy. Everyday I have been here it has rained. I have had great weather on this entire trip beginning in December. Even today the rain is good timing as I am traveling today and not sightseeing. I got up and got some tea and started typing. I wrote for an hour and then decided to fix some breakfast. Rosella had some great bread and great butter that I had yesterday so I decided to have some of that again . Also I tried some of her mothers homemade Apricot preserves. I really liked it and actually had two pieces of the toast with her apricot jam. After breakfast I fixed some more tea, this time I went with the lemon flavored type. It wasn't too lemony and I like it a lot.

Rosella came down and was running late for her massage. It is funny watching her bound around. It seems she is always frantically running around, but always in a great mood and always positive. It was refreshing to see her energy. I typed for awhile longer and decided I better start packing as I did not want to make Rosella late for work. She brought down her computer a few minutes later for me to use it. I sent an email to a couchsurfing contact and checked out the travel blog. I then went back to packing as it was getting close to the time we needed to leave. I got my stuff together and Rosella and I took a picture together to commemorate our time together and she took me to the train station. I jumped out and got my ticket. I was feeling like I finally knew what I was doing just in time for me to leave. Rosella had waited for me to insure I everything went ok for me. That was nice of her to wait on me. I went to the train station and got on the train and was off to Milan.

On my way to the train station I stopped and got some food. It was kind of a hot pocket type thing but much better. I said it was take out, but actually just took it outside and ate it outside. Not sure if I was really taking out, but I saved money by doing such. I quickly ate it and continued on to the train station. I got my ticket as I needed to have a reservation which cost me $5. I asked her how much it would have cost without the Eurail pass and she said an extra $8. This Eurail pass thing to date is still costing me more money than I expected. I am sure however it will pay off once I start traveling more.

I got my ticket for the next train to Como. I had missed the train by a few minutes and had to ride on the next. I therefore had to wait for an hour before leaving on the next train to Como. I bought an ice cream and a soda. I felt like I needed some caffeine. Once the train arrived it was a quick ride to Como. At Como I got on the bus and had to wait there for about 30 minutes for the next bus to Mennagio. The bus was quite crowded, but there were a few people who had there bags in the adjacent seats that could easily move them. I asked this guy if I could sit there and he reluctantly moved his bag. That kind of makes me mad when people are that way. The guy next to me followed suit and moved his bag for the next guy getting on behind me. One young kid got on with a musical instrument and he sat by the door on the steps. I felt like telling someone who had a bag on his seat to move their stuff and give the kid a seat. The kid who was maybe 8 didn't seem to mind.

Anyway we proceeded around the lake and it is beautiful. You just have to see it. The streets are amazingly narrow. In certain sections of the road the driver would honk his horn I think to warn people who might be parked in garages and wanting to pull out onto the road. It was an amazing drive. Once more people got off I moved to the back of the bus to get a lake side seat in hopes of getting a photo. I took a few pics, which I thought might turn out, but I figured once I got to Menaggio there would be a lot more opportunities.

We arrived at Mennagio around 6:00. I asked the hotel worker across the street, where the Hostel was and I gave her the name. She said just walk up the street outside and it will be on your right. She said it's a 5 minute walk. I wonder, now is that an Irish 5 minute walk or an actual 5 minute walk. I walked in that direction and saw a couple ATM's which I needed as I was out of cash. I also saw a place that had Appertivos. This is what I should have had last night. I was thinking I can not make that mistake again. I need to eat there tonight. I found the hostel and it was actually a 5 minute walk. It had a great few of the lake and I was impressed. The worker there was very cool too, saying I didn't need to pay now I could wait until I check out. You usually have to pay on arrival. Again very nice.

I got settled in and talked to my roomies. They were a girlfriend and boyfriend from California. They spent some time in Florence studying abroad. Very fun to talk to. They were leaving for Baden Baden tomorrow. They said they were going to the spas. They said for less than 20 euros you can get the full treatment all day. I am going to have to try that. Maybe I will use Uncle Bernie's gift for that. Just kidding I would never use it for that. I have an idea for his gift. I can't wait it, is going to be great.

I decided to just spend the evening walking through the town. I walked back into town and the sky was clearing. It was going to be a fabulous night for photos and I got some great shots. I walked about a 1/2 mile to the other end of town and saw a Pizzeria that looked like they might have cheap food and I was getting hungry. I said no I am not going to make the same mistake twice. I am going to do the Appertivo tonight, but then I heard Rosella say some Appertivos are not that good. I walked the 1/2 mile back to the place I saw the Appertivos and walked into check out the food. There were lots of locals speaking in Italian and the food does not look that great. I couldn't believe it, but I decided no Appertivos tonight I am going back to the Pizzeria. I walked the 1/2 mile back and walked up the alley like entrance. I was thinking oh my God I bet I have made a mistake. I took a picture to illustrate how bad this place looked. As I walked in however I was pleasantly surprised this place looks really nice. As I walked upstairs the place only got better. Linens on all the tables, silverware on all the tables with low lighting. I then was concerned holy cow this place is going to be extremely expensive. I got the menu and everything was Italian. I ask the lady if she spoke English and she did not and went and got another person who did. I ask the lady if I was reading the menu right. It appeared the pizza was 4 euros. I ask her if that's a really small pizza and she said no it's pretty big. I illustrated possible sizes and if indeed it was as big as she said it was a big one. I then asked about the wine. She showed me the wine selections and I told her I would like a house red. She ask me if I wanted a 1/4 liter or 1/2 liter. I was wondering if I had her right. The cost of the 1/2 liter was only 3.50. Holy crap this total meal was only going to be 7.50. I couldn't believe it. Last night in Milano I paid 15 euros for some microwaved mustachio and a shot glass of wine. This was awesome. I saw a pizza come out to another table and it was indeed huge. I started drinking the wine and was anxious to throw out the couple Italian words I knew. At every chance I would throw out a Buon Giorno or a Malto Bene or a Balecemo. I knew I wasn't saying them right, because I could hear the waitress and the lady working behind the cash register laughing about something and I assumed it was about my Italian. Throwing Italian words is a double edged sword, because once you do they think maybe you know some Italian so they talk in Italian. They soon learn however you do not know Italian and go to English. Sometimes when something happens to me and someone starts talking in Italian to their friend I quickly turn and look at them to act like I know what there saying just in case they are talking to me. Just trying to have fun with it.

I took pictures with the wine and ask the waitress to take a picture of me, the wine and the pizza. I was having a blast with all this. I was starting to feel the effects of the 1/2 liter of wine and decided to stage a photo to make it look like I fell asleep at the table. Well I finally left there with a smile on my face as I had a blast.

As I walked back it was around 9:00 and getting pretty dark. At the hostel I talked to my roomies for awhile as they were actually just getting ready for bed as they were heading out early in the morning. My other roomy also showed. She is from Australia and is currently working in Sweden. She was going to bed soon too, but was going to read for awhile. This is not the party animal hostel that is for sure.

I talked to a lady from London and a lady from New Zealand for awhile. They were in there late 40's I estimate and were going out to look for a little nightlife. They invited me to go along, but I told them I wanted to do some typing for awhile.

Down stairs I typed for awhile and all of the sudden their were lots of people showing up. I estimate the average age to be 55. I had no idea that many people were even in this Hostel let alone people that age. It was actually kind of cool. The oldest people were still up having a good time while the younger people were in bed. I am going to like this Hostel. Well what started out to be somewhat of a rainy gloomy day turned out to be quite enjoyable. I got some great dusk photos, had some great food and wine and met interesting people. Buon Giorno.


5-5-07
I got up and had a pretty good breakfast at the hostel. Around 10 I got going. I was going on the hike from Bregalia to the Rifugio Menaggio and up to Monte Grona if everything went well. I waited at the bus station and saw another guy wearing a ball cap. That told me as long as it doesn't say New York on it he is from the US or Canada. This guys hat said Slo Pitch softball. It turns out he is from Toronto. He too was going to hike the same mountain I was going to. Actually there was a pretty large group going. I found out later that they were on a guided trip and this was actually there day off from the guided trip so they were going. The actual guide was with them as well. She however was not on their clock, but on her own, but she said she would show them the way. They all appeared to be in pretty good shape, but until you start climbing the mountain you really do not know.

I had a little time before the bus came so I went to the tourist office and saw a sign that said tourist could use their computer for up to 30 minutes free of charge. I checked my emails and sent an email to my Venice couchsurfing host to confirm my arrival. I then went back to the bus stop and waited a few minutes longer before the bus arrived. I talked to the tour guide and worked on my Italian with the tour guide who was actually Italian. On the way to Bregaria it was amazing to see all the narrow roads. The bus driver would honk his horn on the blind turns to warn any oncoming cars.

We made it to our bus stop and I walked with this group. I started in the back just going at their pace. A little later several of them wanted to stop, but the guide was still wanting to keep moving. Finally it was just me and the guide up front and it was obvious the rest of the crew were in no shape to summit. The guide kept saying they are not going to make it. We are never going to summit with them. We continued on and and the rest of the group was out of sight. I ask the guide further if she should be leaving the rest of the group as she is their guide. She said no to day this is a free day, they are on their own. I told her I didn't think they were going to be able to follow the trail as their were lots of places where the trail was hard to follow. We waited for them in one location. Finally the decision was made and we were proceeding on with out them. As we got a little farther we met a guy that was hiking alone. We hiked together for awhile. The guide went back to the group and I hiked with the Tony the man I had just met. He is from Boston and is doing research at the University of Massachusetts on wind turbines. He is in Milan for a conference and decided to come to Como area for the hiking. He had been here before and knew how nice it was. I felt like I was getting lucky as this hike was turning out to be a great day. It was beautiful. The clouds were lively as they moved through the mountains. They seemed to be moving upward at a pretty fast clip. I guess there were some thermo updrafts pushing the clouds up the mountain. It was a pretty dynamic thing to see. The view at times was only a few hundred feet, but at other times wasn't too bad. Like Tony said he was just happy to be dry as rain was forecasted for the day. Tony is 58 years old and is in great shape. He runs up this 800 ft. High mountain beside his home to stay in shape. Whatever he was doing it was working. We hiked on and finally made it to the chalet are Rifugio. Rifugio's are essentially mountain huts. This was Rifugio Menaggio as it was close to the town of Menaggio. We took a little break there and then were going to head to the summit of Monte Grona. The guide Keyarla (sp) came up the path by herself. She was going to the summit and the rest of the group when they made it up were going to have lunch at the Rifugio.

We headed out together after a quick break. I personally do not like to take long breaks as it is harder for me to get going. Nor do I like to eat much when I am ascending a mountain, but at the Summit and going down I do eat. We headed out and the pace was pretty quick. I was not sure I could keep this pace up. Keyarla was really moving. I kept saying to myself, I could not let a girl beat me so I had to stay with her. Tony was taking a more reasonable pace and was farther behind. Keyarla had been up this mountain before and said there is a couple ways to summit and the last time they took the wrong way. She said it is easy to miss the turning point. We were on some pretty narrow paths and it was very steep, but for whatever reason I was not noticing any fear of the steepness. Not sure why, but I was feeling pretty good and staying up with Keyarla. We went across some pretty tough areas and came to a couple locations where chains were fastened to the rocks to provide something to hold on for protection. We came to a rock wall and Keyarla recognized the area to be where she went the last time. Again we had went the same way she went the last time. She said it is harder to concentrate when your talking. I gave her a hard time for blaming me on us going the wrong way. I teased her a lot. We heard Tony yell at us from above. He had taken the right path and was about 70 ft. above us already. We climbed directly up to him holding on to the grass on about a 60 deg. slope. We made it up to his path and got going again. This trail was a lot more difficult than expected. There was about 3,000 ft of elevation so I should not have expected it to be a walk in the park. We were doing good as we were keeping a very good pace. We were all hot, sweating and breathing hard. After about 20 more minutes we reached a cable running along several rocks and at the top of that was the summit. The view was phenomenal, but would be Balecemo on a clear day. After looking around for a few minutes we decide to eat some lunch I had brought some sardines which are packed with protein and very good for this high impact workout. I could not talk Keyarla into eating any. I told her it is a great Italian cuisine, but she wanted know part of it. I was actually glad, because that meant more for Tony and I. I had some crackers that we ate with it. It was very good. Also we had some chocolate, which we ate as well. Keyarla headed down and Tony and I stayed there a bit longer. The view improved a couple times and I took a few photos. It is amazing to think, just because these other people were not in reasonably good shape they missed out on this view. That is the benefit of staying in shape you do no miss out on this kind of thing. Tony and I decided to head down. The walk down to the Rifugio went very quickly. Tony is great to talk to, which made the trip go a lot quicker.

At the Rifugio the rest of the group were there eating. Tony and I got a beer and Tony ordered some food. The people working there were great and very friendly. When we got going the owner offered us a shot of some kind of herbal whisky. Tony and I had a shot. It was a great gesture and we thanked him and I took a picture with him and his son before leaving. That's the kind of thing I really like to see. He was originally from Georgia and I assume married an Italian women. Not sure.

The trip down went very smoothly and I was extremely satisfied with the days hike. I talked to Tony awhile longer. His wife is a pediatrician and works with Spanish speaking patients. Tony is fascinated by languages and took up learning Spanish as he wanted to learn it better than his wife. It was a competition for him. He said his vocabulary is now better than hers and his sentence structure is better too. It was funny listening to him talk about this competition. Another couple in their 50's I guess, stopped by and talked for awhile. They are from the Lake District in England and highly recommended that area for hiking. Tony is a hiking enthusiast and said he might try and get out again tomorrow. I think he really enjoyed the hike as well.

The bus ride back to Mennagio went very fast. At the hostel I decided to have their supper, which was rather expensive at 12 euros, but I decided to go with it. It wasn't that great. I talked to Nikki for awhile after supper. She is a lady from New Zealand. Also have new roommates. There are two French kids in the room as well as a kid from California. There seems to be a lot of Americans studying in Florence as the two kids last night had done it and then tonight there is another kid that had done it, while at supper there was a lady that was doing the same thing. School had just let out and there time studying abroad is over so they are spending a little time traveling before they go back home. The hike today was Balecemo.

5-6-07
I woke up around 8 and laid in bed until about 8:30 to let the French couple sleep a little longer. The French guy above me did a lot of tossing and turning through out the night. The French are always so nice and neat it is actually a little disturbing. You know the person that is always organized that you tend to hate. That was a similar feeling like I was getting from these young French kids. It was a little much although they were very nice. I went down stairs and had the breakfast. Today the breakfast did not include any yogurt as yesterday it did. We still had pretty much any sort of beverage you so desired. I had a cappuccino and a pastry. The pastry was a croissant like thing with a little filling. The intense sweet flavors are not as common although they do like their chocolate and ice cream. I sat outside with a German Lady named Hilga. We had talked for awhile the previous night. She has done lots of traveling in the past and in Hawaii her husband and her slept on the beach to save money. She said her husband wanted to go to Canada to end their US travels, but she convinced him to go to Hawaii since it was warmer. She is an avid hiker and gave me some suggestions on staying in Rifugio's in the Dolomites. I loved the previous days hikes and I am going to do her suggestions. It sounds like a blast and she said the views or beautiful. It's amazing the food that is served way up in the mountains and it is reasonable in cost. One of the Rifugio's she said is actually free and they have blankets you can use. She said rock climbers use the Rifugio a lot to climb the 3 peaks nearby. I am really excited about this trip. More so than going to Venice actually. The cappuccino was very good and I hit the guy working there up for another one.

This hostel was very unique in a couple respects. First of all the view of Lake Como is awesome. The price is only 14.5 euros. The shower areas were unisex and the only privacy you had was when you were actually showering. Once you got out to dress you were with everyone else. I only took one shower and I was the only one in there. The bathrooms too were unisex. The toilets had a door, but there was not room enough to shut the door when sitting on the toilet, because my knees stuck out too far. The one time I used it I opened the adjacent toilet door, which was between me and the entrance door as a wall for privacy. No one came in while I used it, but it was a little awkward. I have no idea why they made them so small. The toilets could be flushed by depressing a ball with your feet. This actually seemed more sanitary than the levers that we are use to. Actually most European toilets do not have levers, they usually have a button like thing on the top of the toilet to depress for a flush. Often they would have two buttons to depress. One for a big flush and one for a smaller flush. Both buttons flush more water than what the toilets in the US use.

The Kiwi lady, her 70 year old mom, and a lady from England stopped by and we chatted for awhile. She said for me to contact her if I decide to go to New Zealand and Australia, which I am still throwing around the idea to do that in October of this year.

Oh I learned the other day at the Pizzeria Ristorante that when I was trying to say Malto Bene, which means very good, I was pronouncing it wrongly and was really saying Many Toilets. I guess that's why they were laughing at me. I guess that is what a 0.5 liter of wine will do to you. That and not knowing a foreign language.

The morning conversation with the German and Kiwi was great. We had a great view of the Lake from where we drank our cappuccinos. I was amazed at Nikki's mom who is 70 and hiking like there is no tomorrow. She is going to hike to Riffugio Menaggio tomorrow. It's a pretty tough hike, but by the looks of her I am sure she can do it. She is traveling to England next and will be spending 4 months on her own as her daughter goes back to New Zealand. She has a son studying in Munich, which is where she is off to next. We said goodbye and went on our separate ways. The German lady was heading back to Nurhrnberg where she lives and said I should call her when I get there. They have a castle Hostel there that I want to stay at. She said if she has time she will show me around. I told her it will be sometime in July.

I walked down, got on the bus and was off to Como. The drive from Mennagio to Como is awesome. On a several occasions we had to stop and wait for cars to backup because the road was too narrow to meet two vehicles. I would not want to be driving here as the roads are so narrow. A motorcycle would be fine. There were lots of bikes riding on the road which didn't really seem too dangerous because everyone seemed to respect them and give them room. On several occasions I took pictures of the lake from the bus window hoping to maybe get a good fluky picture. I don' think I did.

In Como I got off at the train station and quickly went to the ticket window. I got a ticket and had about 9 minutes to make it to my platform. I quickly looked at the table and it looked like platform 3 is where I needed to be. I got there and saw no train and no people. This can't be right so I ran back and ask a security guard stating "Milano Centrale" They said platform 1 and pointed there. I was wondering what happened so ran back to the board and realized I had looked at the arrivals not departures. I waited there and the train was actually about 3 minutes late which is surprising as they are almost always on time.

The trip to Milano is only 30 minutes. Just before arriving I looked at my train schedule book and saw in less than 20 minutes there is a train to Venice and it was going to cost me 5 euros as I needed a reservation. The only non reservation trains were much later in the day. I jumped off the train as soon as that door opened and ran to the reservation counter, which was down stairs. OJ's airport running commerical did not have much on me and I had a backpack on too. I got there and some lady was talking too the reservation guy getting her ticket. I impatiently waited a couple minutes and finally said over her shoulder "Milano 11:55" from which they gathered I was hurried. Finally she left, I got my ticket and I ran back up stairs and grabbed a soda, chips and an ice cream. I then ran to the platform and got on the train. I was pretty much out of gas from the running. I sat there and watched people continue to get on. I had more time than I thought, although if there would have been more people getting reservations then I might have not been so lucky. Anyway it worked as I was sitting on a fast train to Venice. I was getting very lucky with the trains today.

On the way to Venice I looked at the Rick Steve's book and saw where this same trip is normally 25 euros so I am saving 20 Euros. Also checked out the trip from Amsterdam to Milan and that cost is roughly 255 euros so there I saved 250 euros. Yeah this rail pass which cost 1,400 euros will pay for itself quickly. Actually I think it would be cheaper to fly than use the rail service. Man these trains are fast. The train I am on now is going I bet 90 mph and in a pretty much straight line to Venice. They are an experience all in theirself. The German train was the best I have been on so far. That thing was going about the same speed, but less bumpy. This train is not very bumpy either. I have heard a couple people say the German trains are the best. I will see for myself, but so far I would have to agree. The Alps are to my left now and flat land to my right. I bet you could take a glass of water and fill it to within a 1/4 inch of the top and not spill a drop. I just saw my first single pedestal water tank, like back home, to my right at a factory.

It doesn't seem like the Italians go out of there way to show signs in English. I guess they already get all the tourist they can handle so why bother. I was seeing lots of vineyards here in northern Italy. I wondered about the variety.

As we approached Venice we took a bridge to the island of Venice. I did not realize it would be that far off the coast, which I estimate around 5 miles. It was neat to see the blue colored water. It is always neat to see ocean water as it looks so clean even though it is not always. I suspect in Venice Proper it is not that clean at all.

As we pulled in Veniza St. Lucias train station my adrenaline level increased. All of the sudden after being a little tired on the way I was no longer tired. I could hear the guy behind me getting excited. I had heard him citing a book and for whatever reason the way he said it, I got the impression it might be a Rick Steves book. The couple were older, I suspect maybe in their 70's and they sounded excited. How can you not be excited. I was about to enter Venice and it's not the one across the river from St. Louis in Illinois either. This is Venice, Italy. Man what took me so long to start traveling. Well better now than never. It is hard to travel a lot, when working in the US. In Europe they get 6 weeks of vacation. Why is the US like it is? I think maybe we like money too much. Maybe Europeans enjoy life more? I don't know.

As I got off the train I walked to the ticket window to get a reservation to Sacile if necessary with the Eurail Pass. Wow for the first time no reservation was necessary. Things are just getting better. I could see just outside the train station my first canal. Man did I want to get out there, but first i needed to check the trains to Sacile where I was staying. There were many trains and I decided to walk around for an hour before I left this area. Did I say I was in Venice, Italy?

As I walked out I was just amazed. I walked over the bridge and into these small walkways between the buildings. I saw many mask for sale. They were very cool masks, but again I did not want to pack one around or mess with mailing it back. There were some backpacks for sale for around 20 euros. That definitely seemed reasonable. The buildings had lots of flowers hanging off their balconies. I just thought man if I were walking down walkways like this in the US I would be afraid as a lot of them were very narrow and abandoned. Sometimes I would come to a canal and have to turn around. It was like a giant maze. I saw lots of boats, but most of them were motorized. A few Gondolas however were seen being pushed around. It was neat watching the gondola pushers pushing technique. Did I say I am now in Venice, Italy?

I stopped and got an ice cream and an awesome pastry with a fruit topping of strawberries, kiwi, pineapple etc. It was Balecemo! There was a fountain in the middle of this Plaza like area that kids were drinking from. I saw several kids playing in the plaza area. It is a Sunday so lots of the shops were closed. I walked around for a while longer, but thought I should get back on the train so I would make it to my couchsurfers at a reasonable time. I usually try to take them out the first night and didn't want it to be too late when I got there.

I tore myself away from this incredible place and went back to the train station. I really thought I would have to get my map out to find my way back, but surprisingly I didn't. As I got closer however I was able to use the signs that pointed me in the direction of the train station.

On the train I asked again the conductor about needing a reservation and she said no. I told her I was just making sure as I have heard horror stories from people who either forgot to validate their ticket or did not have a ticket. She said no reservation necessary.

The train back was a little slow and if I had counted right it should be the 6th stop and should take an hour. Just off the shore of Venice I saw about 5 Gondolas racing. It was a great site and lots of other boats were there cheering them on. I wish I had taken pictures as they were wearing colorful uniforms, but I didn't think to do that until it was too late.

These trains are almost always on time. I think if they get behind they do speed up and lots of time they may sit stopped at a train station for a few seconds I guess to remain on schedule and of course to maintain the posted schedules. I saw many vineyards on the way back and I didn't expect the couchsurfer Nicole to live this close to the mountains. I also saw lots of poppy flowers. I assume they were originally planted when the seedbed was placed along the tracks. Maybe there wild I do not know? Some of the poppy plant groves are aways from the tracks on private property. They all seem red as well and to be in pretty extensive clumps. I like that idea of throwing flowers in with grass seed for areas along roadways and train tracks. Why not? Of course before I would specify something like that I would have to look at erosion properties and the long term effects, but I must say they look nice.

I made it to Sacile Train station and called Nicole she had just started walking there to get me. She said she would be there in 7 minutes. She arrived more like 10 minutes later and said she had walked back for the umbrellas as it was thundering. It has rained every day I have been in Italy.

Nicole is Korean decent and now works for a US company. She has been all over the world. Her apartment is very nice and she also has an older computer there for guest use. Her spare bed was not available so I got the couch. The couch was actually very big and a great place to sleep. We talked for awhile and Nicole made me some tea. We decided to head to a nearby restaurant around 8 as they do not open until then. They have kind of weird eating habits. Let me rephrase that, they have different eating times as whose to say what is right or wrong or weird. Not me.

Anyway we went to a restaurant and I ordered a pasta with a tomato sauce. Not sure of the exact name. Nicole ordered a gnocchi, which is a potato like pasta. I tried some of hers and really liked it. The pasta was very small. I will be sure to have more of that before leaving Italy. Wow I am really in Italy. We also shared a 1/2 liter of wine. It's cool how you order it by a fraction of a liter. I liked this wine, but still my favorite house wine was at the Pizzeria in Mennagio.

The waitress was really friendly and Nicole and I talked about traveling. After eating we headed back to her apartment and she hit the hay around 9:00 since she hadn't been feeling well. I watched a little TV and hit the hay. I was tired as I had spent most of the day traveling after a hostel night of sleep, which normally is not that great.

5-7-07
Wow the time is really flying by. This trip unfortunately will not last forever. It is going to be hard when it does come to an end. I hope I am completely wiped out and ready to go back to work or it will be harder to do such. I will just have to make sure that is the case. I think I can assure that is the case.

I got going around 7:30 as I wasn't sleeping much and decided to throw in a movie of Nicoles. It is called The Beach with Leonardo DiCappri. It looked like a pretty bizzare movie, one I would enjoy, but I did not finish it as I wanted to get going. I was unable to get the computer going so I couldn't work on updating the blog so I thought I would head to Venice and then work on the blog tomorrow morning assuming I get the computer going. I am working to line up another couchsurfer for Tuesday night who actually works in Venice, but lives outside Venice,- like most people. I think about 1/2 the population of Venice are tourist. For the first time in a long time I approached people yesterday assuming they were from America.

I took a shower and got going around 10:00 like normal however, I couldn't find my way to the train station and actually walked under a bridge in one location that was the actual train tracks. You couldn't really tell when you were walking under the bridge and I was following signs that seamed to indicate train station. Anyway this added about a 1/2 hour and a mile or two of extra walking before I made it back to the train station. It will be much easier getting back tonight.

I had a sandwich at the train station and a bag of chips to go along with a diet soda. That hit the spot as I had not had any breakfast. There were a group of men come in for coffee and they just stood up to drink it. Nicole said around here Sunday and Monday are the days off instead of Saturday and Sunday. I had to wait about for 40 minutes for the train. For whatever reason the train did not run as regularly this time of day and therefore a long wait. I assume I had missed the train, but I did not check to see how bad I had missed it. Yes a gps would be handy, but it isn't so bad getting lost either.

The train was a local so that resulted in about a 15 minute longer trip. We made it into Venice around 1:00, which still seems weird to think I am in Venice. Once getting off the train I hung an immediate left as did most people as it was extremely busy. Lots of shops. I saw lots of mask for sale again today. Not sure why they sell mask here. There seemed to be lot larger crowds today than yesterday although today I walked in a different area with more shops, which was probably busy yesterday as well although yesterday I was here later in the day. Eventually I made my way to St. Marco Square, which is the busiest location. There were lots and lots of people as well as pigeons. Lots of people were feeding the pigeons and getting them to land on there arms. One little girl was particularly cute and her shirt said "It wasn't me" which made it even cuter. I watched her for awhile before her parents called me a creap and told me to leave. Just kidding they didn't tell me to leave I left on my own😊.

Of course as I walked through Venice I found a McDonalds, which I actually find myself looking for which is a little disturbing. I also find myself paying particular attention to the Japanese tourist. I did find some riding in a water taxi and laughed as I watched them trying to get in position in the front of the boat such that when they took a picture the bridge was also captured. That made me laugh. I also was watching some blackmen sell purses which you see a lot of. One time I heard one man yell something and I hurriedly watched them gather up all the bags and walk a way. Evidently they were not suppose to be selling their purses their as a couple seconds later I saw two lady police officers walk by.

I walked down to the waters edge, which I assume there is considered the Adriatic Sea although that might still be considered the Grande Canal. St. Marco's cathedral was definitely cool, but I know Rome and Florence will be much better. The lines too were long for the cathedral as well for the Belltower.

I walked to my right once I reached the water to try and get away from the crowds a little. I think if a person were planning to come here they may want to consider being here even earlier than May. It was very hot today and I suspect even in March and April the weather is decent.

I found a place where a dock extended into the water so I took my shoes off and put my bare feet in the water. I was getting a little tired after walking 3 hours straight and it felt great to put them in the cold water. The temperature was really warm today and I suspect I have a sunburn. After a few minutes of this I walked on. I stopped at a café near some cruise ships and had a beer. The beer was excellent and I enjoyed it immensely. It was nice to sit in the shade for awhile, as I had been walking for awhile by then.

After that I wanted to try and get lossed from the crowds even more. I heard some church music so I went in sat dow for a second to enjoy the music and cool church in temperature and it artwork. From there I just walked hoping to find a ma and pa restaurant. I really didn't have much hope in finding that as it seemed every turn I found more tourist. Then I realized a lot of the restaurants were not open until late. I better just find something. I did find a place that looked pretty cool, but it would be more of a people watching experience as there were lots of people walking by. I ordered the gnocchi, which is what Nicole had last night that I liked so much. I also ordered a beer. I saw many water taxis go by, people shipping suit cases on boats, police boating by etc. Essentially the water canals are the roads in Venice. I got my food and the pasta was bigger than what Nicole had the night before. The waiter acted like this portion was not enough and acted like I should have ordered more when I first ordered, but I told him I wasn't that hungry. He may have been just trying to get me to buy more as the helping was plenty.

After eating the meal I asked the waiter how far to the train station and he said just a 5 minute walk. I wondered if that was an Irish 5 minute walk or a Venice 5 minute walk and I wondered now is a Venice 5 minute walk like an Irish 5 minute walk. Anyway I was much closer to the station than I imagined. I made it to the station in plenty of time and got on the train 10 minutes early. I typed on the way back to Sacile about the days events.

Well it was an actual 5 minute walk so that was nice and it didn't take long before I was at the train station. I had stopped and had my first Gelato and it was very good. Even better was the conversation I had with the person working there. It was fun throwing out some Italian and not being looked at like I was from another planet. Even throwing out Salute after someone sneezes and they responding as if I said the right thing is cool. Salute is also used for a toast for the record.

The train ride back to Sacile was uneventful and I made it back to Nicole's surprised she was not yet home. She works way too much. She got home around 8:00 and then went to bed right away at 9:00. She said she has a hard time meeting people around here I think I know why.

I worked on the computer for awhile and watched a little Italian tv and went to bed.
5-8-07
This day I decided to take a break from traveling and get a blog update. The blog updating using the external drive really works slick. I was happy to see that. I also feel more comfortable when I get some of my pictures stored in another location as I am always fearful of losing my camera.

I watched the Johnny Depp and Heather Graham movie called From Hell, which was surprisingly good. I also watched Last of the Mohicans. It seems all her movies are good. I watched the Beach the day before and liked that as well. We have similar movie taste.

Around 11: 30 I was getting hungry so I headed for the grocery store. I had seen it yesterday when I was walking from the Train Station or Trentalia Stazione as it is in Italian. When I got there and said something to the lady in her 70's her first words where an enthusiastic. "Americano". She quickly knew I was American and it wasn't like I was wearing the American flag or anything. I think in your big cities everybody is from everywhere, but in these rural areas it's a little different seeing someone like me. She bent over backwards to help me and that was very cool. I was so impressed with her. All this kindness caught me a little off guard and I did have my Italian words on the tip of my tongue so I did not have as much fun as I could have. Anyway it was still cool. I need to review my happy words again as Rick Steves calls them.

For some reason sardines sounded good again today. Not sure why, maybe because they were so good at the mountain summit. I thought they will never be that good in doors as food is always better outside. I was wrong it was excellent in doors as well. I was afraid of smelling up Nicole's house so I put the spent sardine can in a plastic bag outside her door. Along with everything else I had for lunch. I finished the blog entry around 7:00 and was pleased with the results. I emailed a couple folks to let them know it is done. By far the best thing to do is to just subscribe to the blog as notices are sent out immediately when the blog is published. It always gives me a sense of accomplishment once a blog is published.

Nicole arrived about 7:30 again working way too much. I went and got a couple slices of pizza and Nicole had one. I was glad because I then had room for the orange slice. It is great when you are out of junk food so you are forced to eat healthy. You should always have limited portions of the good stuff that way you will be forced to eat healthy and will feel better for having done so.

Nicole surprisingly had a beer with her pizza, which I had done as well and then more surprisingly had another. It was getting to be around 10:00, which was late for Nicole. She hit the hey and I did as well soon after. It was a good relaxing day. You need to take a break from traveling occasionally and I will be ready to head for the Dolomites tomorrow. Arrividerchi!

5-9-07
What a goofy day. I got up and left at the same time as the person I was couchsurfing with as she didn't want me to leave the door not deadbolted. She said there had been a history of people breaking into this apartment complex and didn't have anywhere for me to hide the key. This is the most secure door I have ever seen in my life. There are 4 dead bolts by the latch itself and then another 2 at the top and bottom of the door. You have to turn the key a complete 3 revolutions to get all 6 dead bolts completely extended. On top of that the door was the heaviest door I have ever seen. The neighborhood seem to be one of the safest too. Nicole said there are some gypsies that roam around. I left at 7 when Nicole left and I made it to the train station about 7:25. There was a train at 7:31 according to the station schedule, but the guy working there said the next train was at like 8:04 or something. I saw the earlier train and ran to the appropriate platform and it never showed. Maybe the guy working there new this to be the case. I then had some breakfast and did some typing in the station. I then proceeded to the platform and waited for the train. I saw on the schedule an SOPP by this train. I ask another person there and she said that means the train is cancelled. Ok this is not going well already cancelled 2 trains on me. The next train to Verona where I needed to go was in about a 1/2 hour. I went back and ask the guy about it and he just said sorry. Anyway I was back in the train station doing some typing. Finally another train came and I was on my way about 1 1/2 hours after arriving. This train was a local and extremely slow, but a couple hours later I had made it to Verona. There I was pressed for time and got to the platform for the next train to Bolzono. I got to looking at the train schedule and saw where a fast train was also going to Bolzono that would save me about 30 minutes time. Since time is on my side I decided to just ride the slower one and not have to pay the reservation fee, which has always been 5 euros so far on this trip. I kind of wished I had checked the cost, but I was too afraid of missing this train as there were only a few minutes before it left. Anyway this train was a few minutes later arriving and was slow. It seemed like not much was going right on this journey as Europeans call these trips. At Bolzono I went looking for a bus station as the Rick Steves book said you can bus from Bolzono to Cortina, which is where I am going. I found the bus station and they said I needed to take two trains and a bus to get there yet today. Not sure if a bus takes you all the way in the mornings or not. I had about 1.5 hours to wait before the next train left. I was tempted to see the frozen ice man who they have in their archaeological building, but I decided not to. I decided to get my tickets first just to make sure everything worked out ok. The guy working at the train station desk was not helpful and I finally just walked over to where I thought you got the tickets in the machine. I decided to just stand there and watch the next person do it. A guy walked up who actually could speak decent English and he helped me through it. It was 8 euros for the one way trip to Dobbiaco, where I planned to spend the night as the tourist information center said they have a hostel. I had no idea of where I would sleep if I didn't stay there so I thought I better go there. She said Cortina does not have Hostels.

The limestone rocks in this area or very beautiful as advertised and the mountain pastures are really pretty too. I had seen lots of Vineyards during my journey and several castles to boot, albeit they were relatively small castles. Oh get this, in Bolzono some of the residents still want to be German speaking, but Italy obviously wants them to be Italian. As a result all the street signs and all signs for that matter, are written in both German and Italian. I was just getting a little comfortable getting around speaking Italian and now there is a mix of Italian and German. What a mess up.

This area is beautiful and in the Rick Steves book he says it is really hard to distinguish this area from Austria. It is beautiful and I think of that movie about the family that lives in the Austrian Alps. The name eludes me at this point but I will think of it. Oh is it Swiss Family Robinson maybe? Maybe it was the Swiss Alps. Not sure?

Anyway Bolzono is a really messed up from a linguistics perspective. I went to a bar while waiting for the train. I decided to not see frozen man as I figured he would not thaw out if I decided I wanted to see him really badly sometime in the future. I don't know, seeing that kind of thing just didn't enthuse me a whole lot.

I only had 3 minutes between where we were to arrive in Fortezza (Italian) or Franzensfeste (German) so I was hoping the train got there on time. True to form it was about 5 minutes late. I got on and hoped it would make up some time. It seemed to be moving pretty slowly. After what seemed like eternity we made it to Fortezza (just using the Italian word as it is shorter). As we came to a stop I asked the lady at the exit door if the train waiting was to Dobbiaco and she said it was. I ran out of the train and across the tracks right in front of the security guard asking him if that train was to Dobiacco and he he said it was and jumped on the train. I just didn't want to wait around for the next train to Dobbiaco if there even was a train to Dobbiaco. I saw a couple people out of breath on the train as I looked back as several people were doing the same thing I had just done. I guess they were waiting on us a little as we were just a minute or two late.

Anyway I was on my last train ride for the day and was happy about that as it has been a long day of traveling. My theory about setting your watch to these trains is down the drain. They were not bad, but I sure the heck would not set my watch to them. I saw several snow capped mountains on the ride to Dobiacco. This was a very pretty high alpine area as advertised. A look of the mountain tops did not have vegetation so you know they are pretty high. Mountain streams ran along the train tracks for the majority of the journey to Dobiacco. It reminded me of Oregon's and northern California's streams. I have seen some trout fishermen in various locations of northern Italy. Oh in Sacile the stream just outside of Nicole's apartment roared all night. If you left the window open I would have never been able to sleep as it was that noisy. The windows sealed good however, reducing the noise greatly. I also saw a kayak course and some kayakers in the stream in Sacile practicing on the course.

I arrived at the Dobiacco train station. According to the map I had gotten at the Bolzono tourist information office it appeared the Hostel was really close to the train station and appeared to a very big building. I saw a huge building close to the train station, but thought that can not be it surely. I walked the directions I had drawn and it appeared maybe this was the hostel. Sure enough I walked up to it and saw Ostello, which means Hostel in Italian and of course the American name Hostel and the German name for Hostel, which is Jugend Her Berge. I really wish they would pick a language and go with. Actually I think the people around here have picked a language as they all speak German.

The place was full of kids probably about 14 and I saw a couple guys about my age or older. No one here could speak English even the host, which I thought for sure he would be able to speak it but nope. It was very difficult explaining to him I wanted a room. Finally he understood I wanted a room for one night. I went over and ask the guys that were about my age if they could speak English to help out the situation, but they indicated very little. I did hear them say however that I may want to get a room away from the game room. I tried to explain this request to the German guy working there, but no dice. I went up to my room and it was right next to the game room. The kids were in there too and even with the door shut there was no stopping the piercing noise. As a result I went back down to the front desk and drew a picture. He understood and moved me to a room farther away from the game room, but the noise was still there. The hostel room however was awesome. It was roomy with a desk and big closets and only two beds. This was great for the price, which was 21 euros although we still had the matter of the noise. I thought this might be the night I try those ear plugs.

I had a long day and decided to take a siesta, might as well throw some Spanish in the mix as well. I laid down for about 30 minutes never really sleeping and then remembered these places usually close in northern Italy early so I best get some food. The caravan of kids had moved from the game room as it was actually peaceful there, but as I got to the 0 floor, as numbered in Italy or first floor in America, I realized where they had went. It sounds like I was about 2 inches from a beehive as the 40 plus kids were in the cafeteria eating. I tried to ask the cost of the meal and what it was, but to no avail. Besides I thought I better go out as I might need a drink to cope with that noise tonight. I don't even think they had a chaperone. They appeared to be about 80% boys to me.

I walked down the street marveling at the surrounding mountains. These mountains appeared different from anything I had seen before. They were really jagged in some locations, but yet you often seen trees growing at roughly the same elevations. I really do not think we were up that high and the mountain peaks were not that far above us albeit they were indeed a ways up there probably ascending 4,000 ft above where I was standing. They were very magnifioco or whatever the italian word is for magnificent. I am staying with the Italian for now since we are in Italy. There will be time for sprechen vie Deutsch.

I found a restaurant and thought oh boy, here we go trying to order in German. I got seated which was a big accomplishment and I was handed the menu. The place was really nice with linen table cloths and several sets of silverware indicative of a nicer restaurant. I recognized spaghetti and wine so I ordered a 1/2 liter of wine and spaghetti and she asked about a salad in English and I said sure lets have the salad. The wine came out in a bottle with a screw off top. What could I expect for 4 euros. I didn't really like it that much. Soon after the spaghetti and salad arrived. The salad was very interesting it was actually a bowl of lots of different vegetables and included corn, green beans two types of lettuce and grated carrots. It was indeed good as well as the whole meal. I wondered what the price might be as I didn't see it on the menu. Maybe it was one of those deals where if you have to ask you can not afford to eat there. I was surprised when she said the total bill was only 12 euros which 4 of that was for the wine. I was happy about that and decided to walk around town for a little bit. I walked over to a gas station as it seemed to be about the only thing open. There were several guys inside drinking beer. I decided to get a desert so I grabbed a pastry, which was not that good. I suspect it had been there all day. From there I thought I better find the bus station. I asked a young lady and she understood a little English and I ask her how you say bus station in Italian and it is pronounced like bust stazione. I kept putting an h in the word like busht stazione. I had stazione down pat, but she kept saying I was saying bust with an h. Frankly I think she was being way to hard on me, but eventually I got it to her satisfaction.

We walked separate ways. It's really hard to get to know people if you do not know their language. Wow maybe I should become a sports announcer with the that great comment. Albert Pujols is a good player. Yep I am sports announcer material.

I found the bus station as described by my German instructor. I saw the bust I needed to be on, but was not sure of the time based on that hard to read schedule. I think it would be much easier if I knew the names of the towns and the stops. Things would make more sense.

As I walked back to the castle, I mean hostel, I saw another bust stop. It was by a tourist information facility. That would work out great I could talk to the tourist information folks while I waited for the bus. I walked back to the hostel and tried to ask the hostel supervisor about the schedules as that is something hostels are keen on as most of their guest are traveling. He simply was able to say the bust stazione is right outside and he pointed to the train station. I decided to walk there and sure enough the bus I needed to get on did stop there. Better yet I would have a couple minutes more before the bust got there. I still had the schedule that the tourist information office ini Bolzano gave me and according to their schedule the bus should be at the station at 8:04. Based on that information, I ciphered that the bus would be here a little later.

I went back to the castle of a hostel and got ready for bed. The troops I mean kids, were having a grand time. I heard some big sounding, thumping music down the hall I decided to investigate. I walked in the room and saw a few girls dancing to the DJ music. I was wondering how long this is going on. This is not supposed to be happening on a Wednesday night. I got to thinking, man I must be getting old to start thinking like this. Anyway I walked back to my room , which was fantastic by the way with only the two beds and spacious desk and closet. This is living it up as far as Hostels go. Occasionally I was tempted to run out in the hallway and yell something at the kids really loud in English. I was a lot bigger than they were and I am sure I could have intimidated the crap out of them. I was thinking of what I needed to do to look like a total psycho. Is a certain look in the eye and loud voice all that is needed. I knew I should have brought my clowns mask. That would have worked. Run around the building with the clowns mask yelling something like Merry Christmas as loud as I could. Anyway I did not have the courage to do that, so I just put my ear plugs in and covered my head the best I could. It was only about 10:30 which is early for Hostels as my strategy in Hostels are typically to go to bed late so people don't come in after me. I awoke about 12:00 and could still here the kids run around yelling. The next time I woke was about 2:00 and the noise had stopped. I took my ear plugs out and went back to sleep. All in all I have slept pretty well on this trip, but the last few nights for whatever reason I had not. Anyway the noise makers were fast asleep I rolled over and was too.

5-10-07
Man I can't believe the month is 1/3 over already and I don't feel like I have seen much of Italy yet. Lets see I have been to Milan, Venice and Como. I guess that is about 1/3 of the things I desire to see. Actually a little less than 1/3. Oh well I may just end up staying in Europe a little longer than expected. August 18th is the next big thing back home I need to be there for. I will just extend the trip as necessary.

Well I got up around 6:30 and took a shower and typed for a few minutes. I decided I better get packed and down to breakfast. I was thinking I bet those kids will not be up yet. After my shower I saw a couple kids. I was thinking holy smoke a few of them are up already. I got my stuff stowed in my backpack and headed downstairs. When I got down stairs I was surprised to see so many people already up and there were kids too. There were a few adults there who I assume were the chaperones. I think they could have gotten those kids to be a little more quiet. Those kids were running like mad people last night. I know I am getting old. Even in my youth I would not have been that loud. Must be an Italian thing.

The breakfast was very good. They had everything, but yodeling. I had some yogurt with granola cereal added, a bowl of cereal with the granola, another cereal mixed and a piece of bread. It was great and hit the spot. I figured I was going to need a breakfast like that in a few hours when I started hiking. I left and went to the bus stop and waited a few minutes before the bus arrived. The whole time I marveled at the area and the castle I mean hostel, I stayed in. On the bus I saw awesome mountain peaks and I couldn't resist but to take a few shots through the bus windows. We made it to Cortina and I walked around looking for the "I" which always means tourist information center. The first place was closed and stated there was another "I" just down the road. Upon arriving there I probably talked to the lady working there for about an hour. From this conversation we determined the mountain riffugios were all closed and would be for about 10 more days. I mentioned coming back at the end of May and she said that would be a crazy time as the Italians have a big bike tour that is in town that weekend. Italians love road bikes I see them all over the place. I said well maybe I will come back when I am in the area sometime in late June. She thought that would be best. I could have done day hikes and stayed in expensive hotels, but I didn't see the point. She gave me all the bus information and train information to get me to Bologna at 5:30 today. I decided to get back on the road. I kind of feel like I missed 2 days of traveling as a result of not calling here in advance, but then again I got to see the Dolomites just not in the way I wanted to. They are amazing mountains and like none other I have ever seen. I think this area might be some of the most amazing back country hiking around. At least the accommodations provided with these Riffugios I hear are pretty awesome and the cost is very reasonable. The lady said the cost is about 20 euros to stay there over night. That's less than I paid in that hostel last night. I need to make sure I come back.

From there I walked to an internet café and decided to send out a couple couchsurfing request for Florence. The internet café was expensive. 9 euros for an hour at 0.15 euros per minutes. This town of Cortina is pretty much an expensive ski resort town. I checked my emails and had gotten a couple nice unexpected emails, which is always nice to receive. I checked the blog and had 59 hits on the Holland / Belgium update in only one day. That was nice as it really provides me incentive to keep doing it knowing that many people are checking it out. If they were not, I am not sure I would be putting it out there for public consumption. I suspect in the future I will be glad I did the blog. I probably wish I would have wrote better as I know I can, but it is just hard to proofing anything and changing things to make it better. Time is just a little crunched. I actually have more time in Europe to type as I spend so much time on trains when I can type. I should do a better job I know. I try to run through the text one last time, before putting it in the blog and really do not change anything unless it is really bad. I really do not edit anything as I figure if someone doesn't like what I have to say they can quit reading. The blog with all the pictures will be nice to have in booklet form with all the pics someday. I will probably need to proof it before making a final copy. It also provides a nice backup for the pictures and text in case I loose one of my electronic devices. The phone's Microsoft word and this Stowaway keyboard really had worked pretty flawlessly. I remember after the 3 months traveling in the US when I started showing people my pics I could spend hours doing such. I really need to get my pics cut down to about 100 as it gets old looking through the thousands of pics I have and telling all the stories as so much has happened. Jay coined the trip correctly when I first told him about it as being, "A trip of a lifetime." I have not been disappointed in any of it and really everything has went well.

The couchsurfing website wasn't coming up so I decided to cut my session short and get out of there as it was too expensive not to be productive. From there I walked to the bus station to get my bus ticket and then walked up a hill to get some nice pics. of the Dolomites in this area. Cortina is a beautiful town. As I was walking I saw a lady pushing a baby stroller, I assume containing a baby, to be honest I didn't even check to see the cargo. As I walked past I looked up and used my hands in a dynamic gesture in true Italian fashion and said, "Balecemo". She said something in Italian that I did not recognize and then I said Chow and Buon Giorno and walked on. For a moment I felt like I knew Italian and that felt good. I got some good shots and walked back down the mountain road meeting the women again. She asked me something in Italian and I said only speak Englesio and the cat was out of the bag and I felt dishonest to portray that I knew Italian. I am actually surprised this town is not German speaking. Actually the words I know are from the Rick Steve's book. He gave me enough words, which he calls "Happy Words" to make me dangerous. Yeah lets blame that little dishonest episode on Rick.

At the bus station I confirmed with fellow bus riders that I was in the right spot and the bus soon arrived. The bus ride through the Dolomites were beautiful. I took several pictures through the bus window, a few of which I think will be pretty good.

We made it to Calalzo where we got on the train to Padova and then to Bologna. I grabbed a sandwich there. I still have not had much good Italian food as it seems like 1/2 my meals are at train stations and on a budget. I suspect as I go south the food will become more enjoyable.

The scenery was quite phenomenal the entire time we were in the mountains. Once we got out of the mountains it was quite ho hum and actually somewhat warm. I suspect I am a lot better off getting through the southern parts now before the heat is really on. It will be interesting to see what the crowds are like in Florence, my next stop, and in Rome next week.

I got to Bologna and went to an internet café to see if my contact in Bologna had replied to my email. He had not. I had contacted the tourist information center and they said there was a hostel in Bologna. I decided to spend the night in Bologna since supposedly Florence is expensive. I thought Bologna might be cheaper. I walked to the bus stop that takes you to the Hostel as instructed by the tourist office. While waiting there I tried to figure out the bus schedule. It appeared buses arrived every 30 minutes. I asked a guy near me if you could buy a ticket on the bus. He said he didn't know, but maybe you can buy one in the nearby shop. I feel like I am starting to type in short sentences as I have been talking in very short sentences lately since not a lot of people speak English. I understand the further south you go in Italy the more this is true. I passingly asked the guy if he by chance was going to the Hostel. Surprisingly he said he was. This was reassuring as all I needed to do is follow him. We talked for awhile and it turned out he is from Naples and of course he gave me the spiel about having the best pizza in the world. He said the mozzarella cheese is awesome there. He said nowhere else has cheese like that. He said it doesn't preserve well and can not be taken to other places, when I asked why other places don't make pizzas like theirs. Our bus arrived and it was very busy. We had to stand like sardines. One lady in the front was seated and complaining about how bad this bus line was as explained to me by the guy from Naples. The number of this bus line is 93. We rode the bus for about 30 minutes before arriving at the hostel. At the hostel stop there were several people getting off the bus and several walking in the same direction as we were to the hostel.

The hostel was huge and had 280 beds. The guy in front of me was from California. You see lots of Californians on the road. There was also a lady from Argentina behind me and a guy from Dublin. All staying at this Hostel. My hostel room was in another building down the road. I had asked Carmine if he wanted to head out for a bite to eat and he said he did. It was almost 8 and in northern Italy a lot of places were beginning to close at that time. I asked Carmine if it was ok to throw my gear in his room so we could get going. He said sure and we headed out. We walked along a street and the cars were whizzing by somewhat close. I didn't feel very safe, but it did not seem to bother Carmine. I guess being from Naples you learn to live on the edge as I understand it to be one of the craziest City's in Europe. He said it is the 3rd biggest behind Rome and Milan. We decided to eat Mexican as that sounded like a nice change from the Pizza I had been primarily eating lately. Plus I needed to save my pizza appetite for Naples. We talked a lot about the world and I could tell he did not like the fact that Americans don't travel much. The lady from Milan said people in her area of Italy do not travel much either. I have been seeing quite of few Americans in Europe and really can not remember meeting any Italians traveling during my US travels. Not sure I was buying all that. At times I think they are just looking for reasons to bash America. I find myself sticking up for America more and more. Anyway I enjoyed the conversation and the beer and then we headed back to the hostel. I grabbed my stuff and headed to my building. It was actually about a 1/ 4 mile walk. At the Hostel entrance there was another several 100 ft. walk to the Hostel which appeared dark. It was actually a little scary in all frankness. I had already decided if I am the only one in this big old building I am not staying. I would go back to the main Hostel and request a room there. Fortunately in my room there were two other guys. A Japanese guy and an Italian guy. They were both extremely nice and we talked a long time. The Japanese guy was traveling about 4 months like myself. He was majoring in tourism and asked lots of questions. I bet he asked a 100 questions. I went to take a shower as I felt and looked like I had been traveling all day. I finish the day a lot better if I had climbed a mountain that day rather than if I had sat on a train all day.

You just kind of cross your fingers and hope the showers in the Hostel works reasonably well. A lot of stuff doesn't work too well in Hostels. This shower worked ok until I realized there was no turning the hot water down. It had a preset temperature and for whatever reason it was hot. It was so hot I could not stay under it. I went to the other shower and tried it and it wasn't any better. I would lather up and then turn the shower on and let it hit my hair which kind of had a cooling effect so when the water ran down my body it was not scalding like when it came out of the shower head. I ask the other two guys in the room if they took showers and they said no. They said normally the showers are too cold and not too hot. I told them that was my experience as well.

The guy from Chicago, who now lives in Indianapolis, came in. We talked awhile and he said he is probably going to grad school at St. Louis University as he said his girlfriend is from there. It was about 12:00 now and I decided to call it a night. It was a lot later than I expected. Today I started out feeling pretty good even though I was not able to go the Riffugio, then later in the day all the traveling started to wear on me a little and now after a good meal and good conversation I was feeling a lot better. Another day in the books. Actually a warm day as it was in the 80's in this region of Italy. In southern Italy it was a little cooler about 10 deg. I had bought a USA Today newspaper to read on the train. I have gotten really out of touch on what has been going on in America. Ok lights out.

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Photos

Lake Como
Ahhhhh! Very Nice. I call this picture, "Low Blood Pressure."

Milan - Cathedral
This guy was so impressed by this church he died on the spot.

HIking Pic
A picture from the summit. This is near Riffugio (mountain hut) Mennagio.

Trying to Find Milan´s Cathedral
Does anybody see a gothic cathedral around here?

Milan's Gothic Church
This monster is the fourth biggest Church in Europe.

Milan Cathedral
Unfortunately it was getting a partial facelift, but just imagine more gothic craziness under those sheets and you will accurately complete the picture.

Milan -Gallery Entrance
Entrance from Cathedrale Square to Gallery.

Milan - Gallery
This is the central portion of Milan's Gallery. The store on the right is Louis Viton and on the left corner is a Prada store. Now look at the next photo of a picture of another corner in this same location.

Milan - McCDonalds
Right there with Louis Viton and Prada you have a McDonalds. I forget what was on the other corner, but I know it was not Burger King.

Milan - Fashion
Milan and it's fashion. This is a supersized advertisement almost on the Cahthedral.

Milan - Who let the Cows Out
Probably the same guy that was to be watching those dogs. I think I have already used that joke in this blog sorry for the redundancy. There was some sort of exhibit in Milan, where different people paint these cows all over Milan. I bet I saw 30 of them. A lot of them were promoting human rights.

Milan - Couchsurfing
I slept here two nights. The couchsurfing host has a bed and breakfast and this is a spare room where they have a bed where she allowed me to couchsurf. Very nice accomodations!

Milan - Couchsurfing
This is the lady that I couchsurfed with near Milan. She lives with her mom and 100 year old grandma. This is a great way to get to know how real Italians live in Milan.

Milan - Park Entrance
This is a very nice monument but the graffiti makes it look bad. The Italians seem to be ok with graffiti as you see it all over. I suspect the reason for the fence is a place for the graffiti other than on the monument.

Milan - Hogs or Cows
I thought Harley's were called hogs?

Milan - Fountain
This is the fountain outside Milan's castle entrance.

Milan - Castle Entrance
Milan has a big castle. This is the entrance.

MIlan - Fashion
Anyone interested in a 140€ purse? I think I will spend that money on lodging for a week instead.

Lake Como - Pic 2
Pick your own words.

Lake Como - Pic 3
Trying to be artsy!

Lake Como - Pic 4
Very Nice! Head for the mountains!

Lake Como - Pic 6
Now if I just swim out and take that boat for a quick sail no one would even notice.

Lake Como - Pic 7
The fog almost looked alive as it moved across the lake.

Lake Como - Pic 8
The roads around the lake are often way too narrow for two vehicles especially if one of those vehicles is a bus. The buses honk there horns on blind turns to warn any vehicles that may be on the other side of the other corner. I am not sure how the locals put up with the honking horns all day and night long.

Lake Como - Priceless
1/2 Liter of Wine 3.50€
Pizza 4 €
Trying to say Malto Bene (very good) in Italian and instead saying Malto Bawna (sp) meaning Many Toilets. Priceless!

Lake Como - The Fog
The clouds over the lake are pretty cool. It reminded me of the horror movie called the Fog.

Lake Como - Mennagio Hostel
A german lady that I met at the hostel. She recommended I hike in the Dolomite region of Italy as well and gave me specifics on where to go. Pretty nice view of the lake!

Lake Como - Hiking Pic 1
Beautiful place to hike.

Lake Como - Hiking Pic 2
Hiking Partner. Keyera is a tour guide from Italy who had a day off and we hiked together.

Lake Como - Hiking Pic 3
Tony is a professor at the University of Massachusetts and is doing research on wind energy. He has a conference in Milan and decided to come here for hiking. He is in his 50's and is in great shape. He runs the 800 ft. hill in his backyard a few times each week to stay in shape. I really enjoyed hiking and talking to Tony.

Lake Como - HIking Pic 4
This is my hiking partners Tony and Keyera in the Riffugio (mountain hut) Mennagio. We took a break here after summitting. The Riffugio's are way up in the mountains, but serve great and reasonably priced meals.

Lake Como - HIking Pic 5
The man pictured here with his son lives in this Riffugio with his wife. They gave us a gratis shot of a local Schnaaps like drink for the trip down. That gesture of kindness was probably my favorite part of the hike.

Lake Como - HIking Pic 6
If you like to hike, there is some great hiking around Lake Como.

Dolomites
The big building to the right is the hostel I stayed at in Dobiacho, Italy. This part of Italy was won by Italy in a war against Austria The people of this region still predominantly speak German. The street signs are written both in Italy and German.

Dolomite Hostel
This Hostel was awesome. It was a huge lodge, castle like in size in Dobbiacho, Italy. These were my quarters for the night.

Dolomite Hostel - Exterior View
This Hostel was awesome. It was a huge lodge, castle like in size in Dobbiacho, Italy.

Dolomites- CortinaPic4
I planned to hike in this area of the Dolomites but learned that the Riffugios were closed. They close for a short time between Winter and Summer and that is when I happened to be there. I am going back sometime in June to do a 3 day hike here.

Dolomites
Train ride to Bologna.

Venice
Crossing the water by train to this Island that maybe you have heard of. It is called Venice!

Venice- Train Station
This is the first thing you see upon leaving the Venice Train Station.

Venice- Pic 3
The canals are used just like streets in most city´s. You have police in boats, taxis are boats, moving services use boats, mail transported by boat etc. Here these folks are carrying the bags to the motel for their guest.

Venice- Pic 4
An Alley in Venice. I wonder about their streets maintenance programs. I wonder if they have a oil and chipping program?

Venice- Pic 5

Venice- Pic 6
The romantic Gondola rides. Sipping wine and eating cheeses. The Good Life!

Venice- Pic 7
Venice has a pig piazza. Here you can see the bell tower and the church.

Venice- Pic 8
There were lots of pigeons on this piazza. People sold bird feed to allow people to attract pigeons to this extent. I watched this little girl for several minutes. She was fearless of the birds.

Venice- Pic 9
Another building bordering the Piazza.

Venice- Pic 11
It was pretty hot this day so I decided to cool the feet. It is not hard to find water in Venice and it was actually quite cool.

Venice - Pic 12
I was surprised to see so many mask for sale in Venice. Not sure why there is such a demand for mask. Maybe they have lots of costume parties.

Venice - Pic 13
Lets see two men supporting the world and a woman. I am not touching this with a ten foot pole. Both sides can make up there own jokes about this one.

Bologna Hostel
For whatever reason I assume they were full at the main hostel, they put me in this building, which is down the road all by itself fron the main hostel. I walked up to it about 10 at night and there was only one car out front and the place was virtually dark. Insert horror music here. I decided if no one else was in there I would go elsewhere. There were a couple other people there so I stayed. Safety in numbers right?

Comments

[Nancy R]

The masks
The masks in Venice were for Carnival. Jack and Annie went there once in a Magic Tree House book. Sounds like you're still having fun!