Italy, Switzerland and almost Paris

Turned out Spain really did go very well. I didn't realize how smooth everything went until we experienced things not going exactly as planned.  Having said that, we still had most everything go just as planned which leads me to feel awful for anyone who tries to travel Europe without either being extremely flexible or very prepared.

A few days after getting back from Barcelona, we packed up for a 6 day trip to Italy. This one was going to be a doozy. Two nights in Rome, two nights in Florence, and one night in Cinque Terra.

The fun started when we got on the train from Marseille to Nice and realized we forgot the Eurail Passes. These passes paired with the specific reservations for each train were our way to ride the train. Thelma did an awesome job and got reservations for just about every individual train we would take during our trip and was mailed a few booklets with all the tickets.  Although these tickets looked just like normal train tickets, most needed to be used WITH a Eurail pass.  The train from Marseille to Nice was no problem, no one checked our tickets. Nice to Ventimiglia, same thing.  Train from Ventimiglia to Milan it happened. Guy asked for our Eurail passes and we had to tell them we left them in Marseille. He told us we would have to talk to someone in Milan and straighten it out.  Wellllll we got to Milan twenty minutes late and our next train was leaving in five minutes.

The camp was divided on what to do next. We ended up rushing to one of the train staff members outside of our next train helping people board and showed him our tickets. I asked him in a mix of spanish, english, and french if we were ok to get on with our tickets.  He said yes right away. I repeated the fact that we did not have our Eurail passes and asked again if we were ok to get on. He again said we were ok. At that point, my conscience was clean and we pressed on. We got on the train and noticed that some of the tickets said "reservation" only and in another section said "only valid with Eurail pass" while other tickets said "ticket + reservation" and didn't mention anything about a Eurail pass.  We figured these were just as good as tickets and showing a Eurail pass would not be necessary.  We flipped through our Italy train tickets and noticed that all but our last two trains back to France said "ticket+reservation". We were pretty happy to see this because the other options going through my head up to that point weren't too fun.  I could only play so many hours of Settlers of Catan on my phone so the thought of me taking the train back to get the passes didn't sound great.

The rule follower of our group and my marriage (I wont name names) thought we should still talk to someone at the train station in Florence and make sure we were good to go.  We showed him our tickets, explain the situation, he said it was fine.  So that brought some additional excitement to the twelve hour, five train travel day from Marseille to Rome.

Sorry for all those words and no pictures. Me in 20 years is going to want to remember that fun.
So in Rome we got a hotel that would help us soak in the Italian culture....Best Western.  It actually wasn't anything like a Best Western in the states and felt very much like a typical European hotel.

Our first day in Rome took us to the Coliseum.  Again thanks the Thelmas great planning, we already had tickets to get in. Unfortunately, these tickets had to be picked up using a voucher and sure enough, there was a line to do that.  Turns out Rome had a bad storm the night before we got there and messed up stuff everywhere including whatever helped get tickets out for the Coliseum.  So after an our waiting in line to get a ticket, we start walking towards the Coliseum and are approached by a vendor selling tour guides in the Coliseum and the ruins next door.  He tells us about the 3 hours line to get in even if you have a ticket and says his group is leaving in 5 minutes.  It will only cost us about 100 dollars.  I'm thinking, "is 3 hours in line worth saving this 100 dollars"? It isn't really much of a thought because at that point I'm willing to pay lots more to avoid waiting in line.  I mean, if I'm not in middle school (or high school....or college) about to ride Mr. Freeze at Six Flags, then I'm not waiting in line.

I'm sure Gentry could sense my weakness and said that she didn't believe the guy and she didn't think we would have to wait in line like he said we would.  I still can't believe I did this but I told the guy to take a hike (obviously I'm not that cool, I asked told him nicely we weren't interested) and we rolled the dice.  We got up to the Coliseum and noticed a biiiiig line. We went ahead and just walked up next to the line, showed our tickets, and walked right in. I was kind of pissed when we got in when I thought about that the guy straight lying to us. I knew that the position he was in was prone to saying whatever it took to make the sale but it still made me mad. Not sure why....but it did.

Since everyone has seen pictures of the Coliseum, I'll just show two.  It was pretty crazy how big it was for the time it was built.
Next day we went to the Vatican. Thelmas prep work once again got us past the 2-3 hour line of people wrapped around the city wall waiting on tickets and right in.

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the Sistine Chapel ceiling so the one above will have to do.

After the museum in the Vatican we saw St. Peters Basilica. The panoramic picture below shows a line of people wrapping around the square waiting to get in the church sooooo I have not actually seen inside the largest church in the world. Thelma has though and enjoyed it. That was good enough for me at the time.  Gentry and I enjoyed a cold soda during the hot day and felt it was time very well spent.  

Thelma and Gentry both bought some hats to help block the sun. The hats also ensured that anyone looking at us would be completely certain we were tourists. While Thelma was in the church, I got to enjoy one of the hats.

After Rome we came back up to Florence for two nights. We stayed at a great B&B that was around 100 meters from the Duomo (big church in Florence). And yes, I just used meters.  

Florence came with a lot of museums and art. I wont pretend its my favorite but Gentry and Thelma really enjoyed it.  

Around the corner, here is the Duomo:

Now for the highlight of the trip to Italy. I think all three of us agreed Cinque Terra was our favorite part. 

We didn't think this as we pulled up to Cinque Terra on a little local train.  It was cloudy, cold, and our plans to take it easy on the beach weren't looking great. 

Our spirits changed quickly when we got to the apartment in Cinque Terra.  After walking around a little confused and enjoying all the stairs of the town with our luggage, we found it. It was worth the effort. I'll let the pictures do the talking. 

The panoramic pic is right outside our apt. 

Cinque Terra is actually five towns along this coast line. We took the train to a different town to check out the beach.  It wasnt' 'the best weather still but I had to get it. It felt great, it was relaxing, and the waves were huge (huge for someone who has spent no time swimming in the ocean).

After the beach, we went into our town, got a pizza, some olives, some wine, and enjoyed dinner on the balcony in our apt.  

We had till around 11am the next day to enjoy the town. Gentry and I took the path from our apt about 200 meters around the coast and found this sweet rocky beach.  I included a picture of just me only to show the path we took. I could sit and look at the water a lot longer than sculptures or paintings ha.

Panoramic makes the wave look a little strange.

It was hard to leave Cinqueterra. Gentry and I agreed we needed to come back.  Most of the train ride back was along the coast. Beach after beach after beach. The water was awesome at each one. So we figured out we wouldn't need to go quite as far if we wanted to come back to that water. 

During our train ride back, we actually had one almost big hiccup. One of our train switches came in Genova Italy.  We had about 50 minutes before our next train. We took our time getting something to each and walking over to the big board to check on our next train. We noticed a train going to our correct destination and leaving at the correct time but we noticed the train number was different. That didn't really sit well with me. We got in line to talk to "Information". The woman helping me breaks the news that we are not at the correct train station in Genova. Turns out, we got off one stop too early as we did not know there were two Genova stops.  At this point we have 20 minutes until our train leaves so I ask what can be done. She tells me if I hurry, we can take a cab to the other station. I ask a clarifying question and before I can finish it she points and almost yells for me to get moving. So we did just that. Our cab driver said we had a chance of making it. 15 minutes later, we are driving, I don't see a train station, and I'm getting a little worried. After the driver pulls a less than legal traffic move, we get there and run. We get on the train just in time.  So that was a fun lesson.

I can't believe I just wrote this much and only covered Italy.  I only have my terrible memory for these kind of things motivating me to do this. If only there was a place where people could easily post pictures and comments while on the go and all of it would be saved and available at any time in the future.  One day maybe. (that was a joke)

So after Italy, a few days of work and rest in Marseille, we left for Switzerland. We would spend three nights there and then two nights in Paris.  From Paris we would see Thelma off and back to the states.

We got to Interlaken, Switzerland around 12:05am. This was about 30 minutes late.  The owner of our hotel in Murren switzerland (where we were staying) email Thelma some directions on how to get from Interlaken to Murren.  She seemed confident that we would have no issues getting there despite our train scheduled to arrive so late.   

So we get off the train in Interlaken, know we are probably too late for the bus we thought we'd take, and are getting a little worried. I find a cap driver and tell him we need to get to Murren.  I tell ask him how much it would cost for him to take us.  I find it odd that instead of answering the question, he turns to the other cab and starts talking with him (they are speaking German so I have no clue what is being said).

He gets out of the cab and tells me about taking a train to Lauterbrunnen. So I ask if maybe we can walk from there to Murren. He looks at me for a second and then says "you don't walk to Murren, you....". He then acts out a climber throwing ice picks and climbing up a mountain. Needless to say, the idea of walking to Murren from Lauterbrunnen was about as possible as......(insert something impossible here).  

Long story short, we ended up begging one of the only open hotels in Interlaken to let three people share a two person room. Since the room cost $260 dollars a night, there was no chance we were paying for two rooms. I have too much Fredy Griffith in me to allow that to happen. I'm sure I could have found a comfy spot on the street somewhere. 

The next day we found out just how stupid my question was about walking to Murren.  Turns out Murren is over 3200 feet higher elevation than interlaken.  It took a train, then a cable car, then another train to finally get to Murren.  

In my mind, I was thinking about all the kind words I'd have with the woman at the hotel that was "helping" us get to the hotel from the train station.  Of course when I got there, she ended up being the nicest person ever and her only fault was not knowing just how ignorant first time visitors could be. After she explained the info she sent to us, it made more sense. Anyway, I was big talk and said nothing to her but sorry and thank you.  She didn't charge us for the missed night anyway. 

The first day in Murren, it rained literally the entire day.  Here are some pics of the town and the view (leaving out the cloudy pics):

Below is a train car that takes you up the mountain from Murren to Allmendhubel. Our first day happened to be the same day as a local festival.  We got up to Allmenduhbel and found a band, a bunch of older locals in their local outfits and local food vendors.  Local food turned out to be exactly what we had for dinner the night before. Sausage/brats, raclette cheese with potatos, and beer. Seems that is most of what is eaten here.

Here was our traditional swiss meal. You can't see the sausage and spatzl that I ordered. If you're wondering, the pot is filled with melted cheese. And yes, that is a rotisserie chicken.

We ended up eating half of our meals in Murren at a Chinese restaurant. We did this partially because everything was so expensive everywhere else and partially because it was good.  

We were really happy the weather eventually cleared up while we were there so we could see everything that was surrounding us. It didn't take long looking around for you to spot a huge waterfall somewhere in the distance. They were everywhere.

On our last day, we spent most of our time in Lauterbrunnen to check out some waterfalls and be a little closer to our train station to get to Paris.

Here is one of the bigger ones that falls right there in town.

****Thanks again to Thelma for making all this possible for us!****

I don't have the blogging stamina to continue. The last part of our trip to Paris will come another time.  

I'll end with the last piece of dessert I ever buy at a train station. For some reason, multiple comments had been made by each of us about wanting some cheesecake. It was pretty random so when I happened to walk by a store in the Basel train station that sold it and looked legitimate enough, I had to get some. Since Thelma and Gentry weren't with me when I bought it, I didn't tell them what it was and told them it was a surprise for after our dinner on the train.  After we ate, I revealed the piece of cheesecake and all its glory.  Then we tasted it.  Below is a picture of how it looked just before we threw it away and you know it had to be really bad for me to throw all that away.

As always, thank you for not judging me to harshly for my poor grammar and spelling.

Mike