Venice, Italy...Canals and side streets!

Adios Milan, Hello Venice!  Arrived in Venice in the early afternoon and found my hostel right away, it was super easy to find which is always a plus when you're lugging around as much junk as I have!  Checked in and had a nice time with Lapo the manager owner.  He had me add him as a friend as part of the check in process which was a bit odd, but whatevs.  I got into my room and it was nice because there weren't any bunk beds, woo hoo!  After dropping my things off I decided to walk around a bit and was told to be back at the hostel around 6:30 or 7:00 for dinner and then a pub crawl later that evening.  I walked towards the Piazza San Marco and totally got lost along the way, however that is the best part!  I attempted to follow a map that the hostel had given me but that was just a joke.  I even stopped into a little store at one point to ask for directions and point to me where I was on the map.  Thankfully I wasn't too far off the path. The streets are tiny and there are canals winding around everywhere.

I didn't end up taking a gondola ride during my stay in Venice because they were priced outrageously!  Maybe if you had a big group to split the cost several ways it would have been fine, otherwise I think it was like around 100 Euro for an hour!  Once I made it to the piazza San Marco I went inside the duomo and snapped a few pics.  I also climbed to the top to get a view from higher up.

The inside of the cathedral was almost purely done in murals which was an amazing night to see.  It was pretty Gothic looking on the inside.

And here is a view looking out from the top of the church.

On the left is the Doge Palace, but we'll get to that later on.  After I browsed around the church, got food, and walked around for a bit, it was getting close to 6:00 which is when I was told to be back at the hostel for dinner and such.  I somehow found my way back to the hostel without getting completely lost and that had to be some sort of a miracle.  When I got back to my room, some of my roommates were in.  There was Tim and Casey who were to American guys travelling around together.  They had been working in Manchester as Rugby coaches for school aged kids.  They were done with their contract and travelling around for a little while before heading back to the states.  There was also Bryce who was from Virgina but had gone to school in Miami.  He was 21 and was travelling around Europe for 6 months before he headed off to med school in the fall.  When we met he was only about 2 weeks into his trip.  We sat around and talked for a long while about where everyone was headed to next and where they had already been.  Tim and Casey had just been to Greece and were telling me and Bryce where to check out when we get there.  I always like input from others that have already travelled so I don't waste my time on stuff that's no good.  It was getting to be dinner time so I asked Lapo, the manager, where I could grab some food and he told me to just eat at the hostel with the others.  At first I was a bit confused but found out that each night one of the staff members, David from Mexico, cooks dinner and everyone just splits the cost!  That night David whipped up some gnocchi which is a pasta made from potatoes, and it was in a tomato cream sauce.  I only paid a whopping 2.50 euro that night for dinner and it was awesome!  After the grub we chilled out awhile and let the food settle, chatted with some more people from all over the World.  Finally 9:45 arrived and it was time to start the pub crawl!  It was only 5 Euro and you get free shots on every bridge you cross!  From the stories I had heard from the previous nights crawl I was a bit scared!  The mixture for our shots was cheap vodka and orange juice.  You put a little cup that  is attached to a string, around your neck and wear it like a necklace.  On our way to the first bar we probably crossed about 3 bridges, yikes!  The wine at the first place was super cheap and only 1.50 for a glass of red.  After a couple drinks we head out to our next place and it starts raining.  I bought an umbrella off a street guy for 5 euro since my first one I brought from the states broke back in Bordeaux.  The next few places start getting a bit hazy but here are some fun pics!

The above is the first AND last picture you'll ever see with that ol' umbrella!  Somehow I didn't make it back to the hostel with it!  As Jamie Foxx would say..."blame it on the al al al alcohol!"

These are a couple of my cutie roommates.  Bryce is on the left and Casey is on the right.  And as you can see, those things around our necks are the shot glass cups we drank out of...classy!  Here are a few pics at the second bar we made it too.

The guy above with the beard is actually the one who lead the pub crawl.  Don't really remember his name but I know he's from Australia!  As the night went on, so did the drinks.  The important thing is that I woke up the next morning safely in my hostel!  I  I finally crawled out of bed the next day around noon.  Most of the roommates were checking out that day.  Bryce was headed off to Milan and Casey and Tim were headed to Florence for a couple days.  I said my goodbye's to them and made sure we became friends on facebook.  My second day in Venice I had planned on going up the giant bell tower, because if you haven't noticed I love anything with heights!  I also figured I would check out the doge palace cause that was supposed to be cool.

The bell tower was fun and cost around 8 euro.  Right when I go to the very top the bells actually started ringing and it was super loud.  Also it was freezing at the top!  Walking around Venice was always a bit chilly but I guess when I got up so high the temperature really dropped.  It was also hurricane force winds up there!  I stayed for about 20 minutes to get the full 360 view and snap a few pics but then I got the heck up outta there!

After waiting in line for around 15 minutes just to get down the tower (isn't it usually a line to get up?), I headed over across the piazza to the Doge Palace.  Thankfully I still have my student card from college and I was able to get in for about half the price so I think it ended up being around 6 Euro.  I'm not sure if I was just a bit more hungover than I thought or if the Doge Palace bored me to death, but either way I wasn't a huge fan of the palace.  I didn't even take many pics but here are the ones I did take.  Basically the tour consisted of seeing the Doge different apartments and then also where they kept prisoners back in the day.  You seen one palace, ya seen 'em all!

In the pic above you could actually slip anonymous letters in the mouth part and "tattle" on people who had been committing crimes!

Once the Doge deal was done (see what I did there?) I headed back to the hostel to take it easy.  That evil vodka and orange juice mixture from the night before was hurting me! I did stop to take a few pics along the Grande Canal and also happened upon the shop that made the masks for the weird and freaky movie "Eyes Wide Shut" with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

When travelling alone, you get stuck doing a lot of "one-armed" photos!

During my few days in Venice I did notice that there were a ton of shops that sold mask similar to the ones above.  I wasn't really sure why they were so popular but apparently there is an old tradition and story behind the masks.  I wish I could relay the story to you, but quite frankly I don't really remember and I'm too lazy to look it up now! Once back at the hostel I was greeted by a whole slew of new roommates.  All girls this time which I was a bit disappointed, but only because my experience from the Milan hostel.  Either way they were nice girls, all from the states but were studying in the UK.  They were on their spring break so they were off travelling.  I went into the common room and chatted with some peeps and took it easy until it was getting to be around dinner time.  I decided I wanted to do the dinner at the hostel again since it was so cheap AND tasty, and good way to socialize.  This time I actually went to the grocery store with David along with about 4 other people.  I'm not really sure why David wanted us to come along because I think we ended up being in the way more so than helping.  Plus we didn't get that much stuff so it wasn't like he needed us to help him carry it back.  I suppose he just wanted some company.  For dinner that night we had bow tie pasta with grilled onions, mushrooms, and eggplant (or aubergine over here) in a tomato based sauce.  Scrumdiddlyumptious!  I even  helped a little and cut up the basil!  After dinner everyone started preparing for the pub crawl again but this time I decided to hold off.  I had a fairly early train the next day to Florence and I just wanted to chill that evening.  Aside from the manager Lapo asking me to write some crazy e-mails for him, everything was all good!  I don't even know where to start about those e-mails but they were just a little odd!  He had me write to some Canadian girl that had already booked a room and tell her he was cancelling her reservation because she asked too many questions!  He told her not to recommend his place to any of her friends and that she was a miserable person!  Haha, how crazy is that?!  I'm not sure why he wanted me to do it, maybe because my English is better, but finally after telling him I didn't want to and him insisting that I did, I just got it over with so I could be done with the whole situation!  Bed time was shortly after until I got awoken at about 3:00am to the new batch of roommates coming in from the pub crawl!  They were all pretty smashed and trying to get ready for bed.  One girl's backpack fell over and emptied everything on the floor and even broke some type of teacup on the cement floor!  I flipped the light on so they could see, plus I didn't want anyone cutting themselves.  After they got situated everything was all good except one of the chicks was a bit of a snorer.  I just popped my ipod on and tried to drift off! 

Milan, Italy...Home to Risotto!

So it's onwards to Italy, how exciting!  I woke up fairly early to catch a train from Nice to Milan with one stopover in Ventimiglia, which is a super small town just on the border of Italy and France, but actually in Italy.  I had around a 45 minute layover so I grabbed a coffee and a sandwich to eat on the train.  The train was a total piece of junk and the ride took forever.  Our little cabin section had 6 seats in it and every one of them was full.  I had the pleasure of being stuck in between 2 old ladies.  Plus my suitcase was so huge and the only way to store it was in an over head compartment, which there was no way I could lift that sucker over my head.  So instead I just left it in the aisle propped up against the wall.  Well that was a huge cluster as people that were trying to wheel their own luggage down the aisle couldn't get through.  Luckily the guy that was seated in my cabin would help me move it each time someone needed to pass by.  Finally one of the ladies sitting next to me reached her stop and when she got up I put my suitcase in her seat and that was nice for the additional 2 hours we would be on the train.  In all I think it took around 4 1/2 hours to get to Milan from Nice.  It doesn't look that long on the map but it took quite awhile because the train was not highspeed and we stopped off at every little no name town in between the 2 cities.

Once I arrived in Milan, it was fairly easy to get to my hostel.  I had to take the subway for a couple of stops and then get on a tram for a couple of more stops.  Finally I got checked in, they showed me to my room and it was an all female with 4 sets of bunk beds. Thankfully I got a bottom bunk.  My roommates ended up being a bunch of very un-friendly girls.  There was one set of 3 girls that sounded either German or Dutch and then there was another set of 2 girls that didn't speak English either.  A couple of times they would say something in English to me but it was just to use the plug that was near my bed, so I know they knew English!  Oh well, ya win some you lose some.  Time to hit the pavement!  I wanted to check out the roof of the marvelous Duomo and it was soon closing.  It was about a 20 minute walk and I was able to get up before it closed.  Of course I took the lift and paid just a couple euro's more.  Here's a shot of the wonderful Duomo!  It was so huge and it just took over the piazza!

And here are a couple shots from the top/roof of the Duomo with awesome views of the city.  I'm glad I'm not afraid of heights cause I love to get views of the entire city!

And a view of the main Piazza from atop the Duomo

After I explored the top I decided go in but it wasn't as impressive as the outside, but there was some really pretty stain glass.

Next stop was to check out the famous designer shops in Milan, which is apparently the fashion capital of the World, which I thought was Paris, but I guess I was wrong.  I'm also not sure if I already put that last sentence in this post but I just had a shot of Italian espresso and I feel like I'm going a million miles a minute.  So I temped myself and walked down the fancy street, but first to get there I walked through this enclosed glass area where a man was playing piano and  you can see the 80 yr old Prada store.

Once I got done roaming the fancy shop street I stopped off at Sephora and got some eyeliner that I was in desperate need of. Then took it back to the hostel, rested for a bit then it was dinner time.  I asked the hostel where something good and close was and they pointed me in the direction of a good Italian place around the corner.  I ordered some pasta carbonara and got guilted into ordering a second plate but after they brought my pasta out and I saw the massive amount that was on my plate I called the waiter back over and told him to cancel the caprese salad I had also ordered!  Probably a red-neck thing for me to do but oh well!  I got to talking with a nice Italian couple sitting next to me and they were very nice and spoke great English.  They gave me the run down of Italy and told me to be careful once I got to Naples because there is still a ton of organized crime!  I talked with them for a good hour and ordered some lemon sorbet for dessert.  Went back to the hostel afterwards and passed out cause I'm cool like that.

Day 2 of Milan started with a nice shower and off to the museum where the Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper" painting is house.  I knew that in order to actually see the painting you needed a reservation, which apparently you need to get a couple months in advance. However I figured it wouldn't hurt to at least try and go over there to see if there were any cancellations.  Of course there weren't so I got a picture of the next best thing...the building it's housed in!  It was a bummer that I didn't get to see the painting but I'm using this as motivation to one day return to Italy to see it!

Next was a visit to the castle, because who doesn't like castles?!  And to top it off it as within close walking distance.  Inside the castle they had an Egyptian exhibit that interested me so I went and checked that out along with a few other paintings.

And now to the mummies!

The castle didn't take too long to go through and I got done right around lunch time.  Thankfully there was a little roach coach selling panini sandwiches right outside the castle so i sat down and had one of those which was pretty tasty and cheap which is always a plus.  Then it was time to go to the train station and go ahead and get my train reservation to Venice so I didn't have to worry about it the day of the train. The line wasn't too long and it cost me 10 Euro for the reservation to get to Venice on a high speed train which was going to be a nice change from the funky one I took from Nice to Milan. Once the train reservation was booked I'm pretty sure I went and walked around for a bit then decided to take a nap. I know I know, it doesn't sound like I had done that much to even be tired, but this is a vacation too so I'm allowed to nap! I woke up around "aperitivo" time which was about 7:00. Aperitivo is a great concept that I think the US should adopt! I had read about it in my Italy book but I wasn't quite sure what it was exactly. Either way I decided to head over to the Grande Navagali which I had heard would be lined with young folks having drinks as well as it was a fun place to hangout. I stopped by this one bar that looked pretty happening and and sat down on the outside terrace. One of the host told me that all drinks were 8 Euros regardless of what it was, but that I could eat all I wanted. It was then that I peered inside the bar and saw this massive buffet set up! I ordered a mojito then grabbed a plate to go check this sucker out. There were at the very least 15 different options of things to much on. Ranging from pesto ravioli, breads, multiple meats and cheeses, mixed salads, you name it and they had it! I went in for one small plate and would have liked to have gone back for more but I didn't want to fill up. Talking to the couple from the night before they had told me I needed to try the Risotto a la Milanese because Milan is where Risotto originated and the a la Milanese meant that it was prepared with saffron. I had already scoped out a decently priced restaurant featuring this item so I wanted to be sure there was room for the risotto. While I was sipping on my mojito I got to talking, once again, with a nice Italian couple. She had a son living in Florida working for Hilton hotels. She had been taking English lessons and she said I was the first one that she had gotten to practice with. She did pretty darn good, her English was definitely better than my Italian! She proceeded to give me her son's card and told me I should call him! She also wanted my e-mail and said we should hang out. I must have forgotten to tell her that I was leaving the next day for Venice and the chances of that happening were pretty slim, but oh well! I had them take a pic of me with my mojito though!

After the aperitivo and my mjoito were finished off I decided it was time to go ahead and head to dinner which was just on the other side of the Navagali.  I went ahead and had my Risotto Milanese but I wasn't that impressed.  It was good, but to be honest it wasn't as good as the lady that I stayed with before I got my apt. in Paris.  Lorie Dana cooked a delicious shrimp risotto that is hard to beat. 

The above pic is the Grand Navagali right at dusk.  Dinner came to a conclusion, I had a nice glass of red wine as well.  I then decided to walk down to the Duomo to get a shot of the cathedral at night because I always like to see things both during the day and at night.  Did that and then grabbed a magnet of course.  Afterwards I just headed back to my hostel to turn in for the evening.  It was then that 2 new girls checked in for the night...AND they were American, AND they were super friendly!  Alice and Jesse!  Both girls were in Milan just for 1 night.  They are taking culinary classes outside of Torino and decided to get away for the weekend.  They rented a car with 2 other guys they are studying with who are from Brazil.  They asked me what I was doing that night and I said I didn't have anything planned so they invited me out with them!  We had a great time!  The Brazilian guy's knew where the hot spots were and it was quite nice because it was pretty close to the hostel. 

Jesse is in the middle and she actually went to Baylor so she is a fan of the state of Texas, and Alice is from Georgia.  After we drank a few beers in the street and did some people watching, they wanted a change of scenery.  They wanted to go hit up a club and go dancing but I decided I should probably catch some zzz's before my early train the next day over to Venice.  They drove me back to the hostel so I didn't have to walk and I think they came in somewhere between 2 and 3am!  I'm so glad they ended up showing up and saving me from the other unfriendly girls I was rooming with!  Next stop...VENICE!

Nice, France

Once I finally arrived in Nice around 11:30 pm I just wanted to get to my hostel!  I stayed at the Hostel Meyerbeer Beach.  It was both within walking distance from the train station as well as just a block from the beach and the fabulous emerald waters of the Mediterranean Sea!  Since it was obviously dark at 11:30 pm and I didn't know the exact location of the hostel, I decided to take a cab.  I didn't think it would be too safe to wander the streets by myself although Nice isn't know for it's crime.  Typically I wouldn't mind walking and getting lost but it was too late for that and I was pooped.  So the first mistake I made was even getting a cab!  This fool got lost and it was only like a 10 minute walk from the train station, much less in a car!  Then when we finally find the place he charged me 15 Euro!  He totally ripped me off.  I'm still a bit bitter about the situation to be honest!  Oh well you learn from your mistakes.  I got into the hostel just fine and there was a Russian girl in the room who was one of my roommates, her name was Maria.  I had no more than put my stuff on the bed and she asked me if I would like to go walk around.  As it's easy for me to cave to peer pressure, I agreed.  We just walked down to the water front and walked along the long promenade.  Had a couple local young boys try and hassle us but we just ignored them and kept walking.  I would say we walked around for about 45 minutes before we headed back to the hostel.  As we were getting ready for bed our other roommate came in who was a 20 year old Aussie.  We chatted for a bit then it was lights out.

My first full day in Nice involved a lot of walking around.  For the most part the weather was really nice, but still a little chilly to get into any bathing suit or get into the water for that matter.  My first plan of action was to walk back to the train station and get my ticket sorted out to get to Milan the next day.  I was only going to spend 2 nights in Nice as there isn't a whole lot of things to do outside of the beach. I figured out the train I needed to catch to Milan which had a stop over in a little Italian city called Ventimiglia.  Afterwards I bought a few postcards and rang my Aussie roommate to go meet him for lunch.  We decided on Kebab across from the hostel and it was delicious.  We then walked over to the old town area.

This was a neat little area in the old town of Nice that had musicians playing and this hilarious fat guy that was dancing around!  From here we saw a lookout point from a nearby hill so we decided to climb up and get a view of the city from there. It was well worth it!

I also walked around a bit more on the beach and snapped a few more pics of the stunning water.  One thing to note is that Nice does not have a sandy beach, instead it's a rocky one!  I found that to be surprising!

After roaming around awhile, I decided to go back to the hostel and figure out where I would stay in Milan and some of the other places that I was heading too.  That turned out to be quite a nightmare.  Some places were already booked, others weren't close to the train station etc.  I finally ended up booking a place that my "Rough Guide to Italy" book recommended.  It was called La Cordata, was reasonably priced and it was easily found from the train station.  But more on that later.  That evening the Aussie roommate and I had planned on catching a football match he wanted to see.  Soccer (football) doesn't really interest me much but it was something to do and get out for a bit.  Munich was playing Manchester United.  We had some food at the bar while we watched the game.  It was bar food so I don't remember it being anything spectacular. After the game, (Man U won by the way) I believe we just went back to the hostel.  Our Russian roommate had checked out earlier that day so it was just him and I which was cool cause I knew he didn't snore, haha!  That's my biggest problem with hostel dwelling is that you never know who you're gonna end up with and if they are gonna be snorers or not!  Next Stop...Milan!

Bordeaux, France

My first stop on my attempted 2 month road trip journey is Bordeaux in the southwest of France.  World renowned for their red wine, I figured it was a must stop on my trip.  I left Paris fairly early in the morning where I encountered a bit of trouble right off the bat.  The woman at the ticket office told me that with my Eurail pass they only allow so many travellers on the train with that pass and there were none available for me today!  Eek! She did end up letting me pay a difference in price and my reservation ended up being 18 Euro instead of 6 like it should have been.  Oh well, at least I made it to Bordeaux!  When I got to the train station I decided to go ahead and book my ticket out of Bordeaux for 2 days later (as that is all I reserved for hotel room for) to head to my next stop Nice.  Well once again I ran into some problems about how they already reached the max amt of Eurail pass holders and there was nothing available.  Then they told me that the trains were going on strike!  Ahhh, what a nightmare.  I was dealing with the nicest man and somehow he finally got me out of Bordeaux for 2 days later via Toulouse and Marseilles, and the best part was that it only cost me 6.50 Euro, which is more like it! 

Next I headed to the hotel and got on one of the trams from the train station to the center of town.  That was really easy to navigate and I found my little hotel right off the bat.  The man at the front was super nice and it was a cozy little room.  Nothing fancy, (as my budget can't afford fancy), but it had a double sized bed, a tv, a desk, internet hookup, and a shower and sink.  The toilet was down the corridor, but that didn't bother me.  I asked the man where a good restaurant was and he pointed me across the street to a little Chinese place.  Turned out to be a good rec, I had some noodle dish and it was real tasty.  I laid low that evening as the next day I wanted to explore a bit more and I had a half day wine tour set up. 

Woke up fairly early the next day to go walk around and take some pictures.  I also wanted to grab some lunch because the wine tour started at 1:30 and they didn't provide lunch.  I walked along the promenade winded along the river.  I'm not even sure if winded is a word.  Anywho, there was a neat little shallow water area where you could walk through (or run through as the kids would have it.)

After walking around a bit, I found a nice cafe to sit outside and have a sandwich and latte before the wine tour.  I got a Croque Madame instead of my usual Croque Monsieur.  The only difference is that the Madame has an egg on top.  Always wanting to try new things I opted for the egg. It was both yummy and greasy.

Next was the wine tour and we were to meet at the office of tourism to set off on our afternoon wine tasting.  We all loaded onto nice air conditioned coach buses for the hour long journey out to the chateau's.  The first stop was at a family owned winery called Chateau Mercier.  There we were greeted by the owner himself and he gave us a detailed description of how wine was made.  Thankfully we had an English translator!

Although the at the first stop the guy was very passionate about his work, he did tend to be a little long winded and went into wayyy too much detail!  I finally had to step outside after awhile and just roam around.  But not too long after was the most important part of the stop, the tasting!

They had set out some bread and jam that they sold as well for us to try.  The jam was made from the grapes that they grow, it was decent but nothing to write home about.

After we got through tasting you had a chance to buy some of the wines but I opted not since my suitcase is already so stuffed as it is.  There would be no way to carry that sucker in my luggage.  We load back onto the bus and head to our next destination which was about 20 minutes away.  This one was much more impressive and this time it was a lady giving us the run down and background to their wine.  It was a lot more scenic and they had an awesome mini mansion on the property!

The property also over looked a river!

This is the view from the back of the chateau.  The day was pretty so she talked to us outside.  We then went to wear the  barrels are stored to mature the wine and walked all around.

This was the name of the second winery we went to. 

Finally we get back on the bus and head back to the city of Bordeaux, I think I nodded off for a little bit, but the scenery was so pretty.  I went back to the hotel and rested for a few and then hit up dinner.  I walked around trying to find something cheap and happened upon a pasta place that was kinda like fast food, it was pretty decent too.  Then I took the long way back to my hotel and took this absolutely gorgeous picture!

The next morning I got up fairly early to catch my train to Nice.  Which ended up turning into a 12 hr. day on the train!  I first went to Toulouse then had an hour layover.  From Toulouse it was about a 5 hr. train ride to Marseilles where I had another hour layover. And finally to Nice after a couple of more hours!  I slept mostly and listened to my ipod!