So, we´re back in Munich...Barely. (remember, they have funky keyboards here, so if you see any stray Zs or Ys, forgive me). And I would just like to say that I´m extremely happy because I will soon be on my way to a Starbucks for my vanilla latte with only a half shot of espresso, and extra pump of vanilla and a pump of caramel. Oh yum Yes, we were in Italy where they have the best coffee ever, but see, I don´t actuallz like the taste of coffee. You can see my dilemma. So, we´re giving them time to get open, because as per usual, we´ve arrived at some ungodly hour in the morning, not to mention.....late. Shocking though it is. Every stinking train we´ve been on that originated in Italy has been late. Every single one. !
I know know I said our last night train (Rome to Venice) was the worst ever, but I hadn´t gone from Venice to Munich yet. Seriously, worst night train situation EVER. We made our reservations yesterdaz morning, thinking we were ahead of the game. Yeah, everzthing was full. Everything. Well, we´ve heard that before, so we kept at the guy, telling him we HAD to get to Munich. Didn´t matter how, had to get there. So, he told us take a train to Verona (sorry, thought it was Padua) and then switch to another train at 1:00 in the morning. But see, the train we were on was going to Munich, so we thought we didn´t have to actually change. Yeah, we were wrong. There was another train leaving at the same time (although they were both late) and both stopping in Munich. Our original train ended in Nice, the train we switched to ended in Munich. What a nightmare. There were already people in our seats. The train was seriously oversold. Don´t even think we didn´t make the people leave. I wasn´t even caring if I was nice about it....just wanted our seats. We got them and then had person after person try to get them. HA!!! We were in a 6 seat compartment (3 on each side facing each other), and the whole compartment ended up being full with 5 not-so-little men and me. It was hellacious! There wasn´t enough room, and my already tender back got jacked up. Then, people kept coming in and out turning on the lights and whatnot.
The sleep was nearly non-existent. Chris tried to get us off at the wrong station. He heard someone say the next stop was Munich, so he woke me up and off we went. Well, that crazy German-Italian speaking crusty old guy did´t have a clue, and rather than try to get back settled in our compartment, we just waited in the hallway, and within minutes the guy we had to kick out of our seats came with his younger cronie and started smoking.....in the Train Car right next to me and my allergy ridden self and, get this.....right in front of a NO SMOKING sign. And, the Deustch Bahn guys kept walking right buy and not saying anything. Can you say grumpy Jamie? We moved cars. But, we´re here, and we´re glad of that. It´s cold, though. Really cold. Thank goodnes for my fleece stocking cap! We came to the internet cafe to make a hotel reservation. We made one months ago - the first one I made, in fact, but when the time came, we couldn´t find any info about it. So, we came back for our last night in Europe with no reservation to speak of. But, good óle Rickey Steves, we checked his book, got online and now have a reservation 2 blocks away for tonight. Yay!
On another note, I didn´t get to finish my entry last night. See, I was seriously doing the potty dance. You have no idea what it´s like to have to go the bathroom until you have to go (and I mean GO), and you simply can´t. There isn´t anywhere. Thankfully, in Venice they have public bathrooms all over with signs to get you there and everything. The first time we used one, we were outraged that it was 1 Euro per person - that´s $1.20! For the bathroom! But, when you´re desperate, you´ll do anything for a bathroom, so.......we paid that 1 Euro several times.
Anyway, Venice is truly enchanting. on Sat., we went to a church across the lagoon from St. Mark´s. Very cool. There were monks singing in the apse (I think that´s what it is called) and was just awesome. Now, I know I use that word a lot, but I mean this in the truest sense of the word. It was awesome. Awe-inspiring. We were awe-struck. Had to sit down for a while and just listen. There were great views of the city, and a bell tower that you can go up in, but as we were walking over to it, they closed the church for an hour, and we never got back.
We did play with the Pigeons in St. Mark´s square, though. It was freaky at first, but cool. You buy bird seed (unopopped popcorn) and sprinkle a little to get the attention of the birds and then hold a little in your hand, and zou get birds all over you. Totally freaky at first, but very cool. Chris refused to try it at first. Not a big pigeon fan is he, but I talked him into it, and by the end, he thought it was pretty cool. Surprisingly, we made it through with no poopage on us!
Yesterday, we spent a lot of time exploring Venice and shopping. We took RS´walking tours of the city and happened upon the best pizza of our lives. Oh my, was it good. In the afternoon, we decided to go to Murano. We´d thought about it before, then changed our minds, then decided to go again. So, we got on the Vaperetto to head over there, but about 1/2 way there, we realized that we wouldn´t get back in time to go to any of the shops we wanted to. So, we hopped off in some random part of the city and found our way back. Too fun!! We made it to the shops, and did all that we could to help the Venetian economy!!
I mentioned yesterday that Italy is lousy with cig. smoke. It´s actually not as bad as you´d expect. They´re really working on it. You see Vietato Fumare signs all over, and the actually enforce them (when they want to)....unlike here in Germany where smoking anywhere and everywhere is the national pasttime.
Don´t think from that or my last entry that I don´t like the Germans. I do, I love them and Germany. I just prefer most of them actually be in Germany when I´m in Italy!! So, we already can´t wait to go back to Italz, but for now it´s off to Starbucks and then maybe Dachau.
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