Abbynicole’s first Trip Report: Venice was just like I’ve always dreamed, the French Riviera was sunny and relaxing, Paris was like seeing an old friend, but I lost my heart to Austria!
Aug 14th, 2005, 05:00 AM
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Hello, a note to T'Aggie. Some years ago friends and I stayed in St. Gilgen and visited both Salzburg and Halstatt by car as daytrips. I wasn't the designated driver, but it seemed like a very simple option at the time. St. Gilgen is a charming small lakeside town, if you'd care to consider staying a bit out of Salzburg. We used a small hotel in the village; I've got the name somewhere if you're interested. Most of the b & b's were up along rather steep hillsides. J.
Aug 15th, 2005, 08:06 AM
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Hi jmw,
Yes I would love the name of the hotel. With our particular group I think it could be quite adventageous to stay in a quieter area. Do you recall how long the drive was between St. Gilgen and Salzburg?
Yes I would love the name of the hotel. With our particular group I think it could be quite adventageous to stay in a quieter area. Do you recall how long the drive was between St. Gilgen and Salzburg?
Aug 15th, 2005, 08:16 AM
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TexasAggie, the drive from Salzburg to Hallstatt is fairly easy to follow and you pass through some magnificant scenery in the Salzkammergut. We took this drive when we were in the area in May. It takes a little over an hour to reach Hallstatt from Salzburg. Hallstatt is a lovely town in a perfect setting on the lake. There are some great restaurants and its a perfect place to spend a morning or afternoon. I highly recommend it!
We also spent an evening in St. Gilgin, and actually had our 5 year anniversary dinner in town! Its a great town, again on a lovely lake, this one the Wolfgangsee. Its a very easy 20 mile drive from Salzburg, and, if I'm not mistaken its on the way to/from Hallstatt.
Tracy
We also spent an evening in St. Gilgin, and actually had our 5 year anniversary dinner in town! Its a great town, again on a lovely lake, this one the Wolfgangsee. Its a very easy 20 mile drive from Salzburg, and, if I'm not mistaken its on the way to/from Hallstatt.
Tracy
Aug 15th, 2005, 08:41 AM
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Continuing our first day in Salzburg…
After checking into our B&B we spent some time washing our laundry in the sink, and then exploring the grounds around us. We took a quick swim in the pool – it was kinda chilly because though it was a warm day, the sun had disappeared behind the clouds – and then got changed and headed into Salzburg.
Following a recommendation from Fodor’s (again, Thank you!), we headed to the Hotel Stein and went up to the roof to have dessert in the Terrasse restaurant. The view was amazing, and we certainly enjoyed our Topfenstrudel and Tiramisu.
Thursday June 16th – we had been debating whether or not to do the Sound of Music Tour (it was not in our budget so we would’ve had to cut back on some things – Heather is a huge Sound of Music fan, I’ve only seen it once but I like it) and from a map we figured out that we could do pretty much everything that Heather really wanted to see on our own, so we decided to skip the tour (Although Heather would really like to go back one day and do it, we don’t regret our decision, considering it gave us extra money for our day trip to St. Gilgen).
Our first stop, since it was way out in the suburbs near where we were staying, was Schloss Leopoldskron, which is the building they used as the Von Trapp family house in the movie. It is closed to the public, but you can walk around the lake and get a gorgeous view of it from there.
Once we got into the city center of Salzburg, we went to see: Hohensalzburg – we climbed a LONG way up to the fortress, only to discover my guidebook had been wrong, and it was 8 Euro, not 3, to get in. We decided not to go in, but it wasn’t a waste of time since there’s a nice view on the way up. Nonnberg Abbey was our second stop, since it’s right by the fortress. You can’t go in the abbey, but you can go in the church, which is where the real Maria Von Trapp got married. We saw a nun coming out of the abbey – that was pretty fun =) Other sights of the day: the Dom and the Mirabell Gardens. Nearing the end of our day of sightseeing, we saw on our map that there was a great view from the top of the Capuchin cloister/church, and so we did the LONG hike up the stairs to it. It’s located behind the Hotel Stein, and goes even higher up – we were looking down onto the roof where we had the sat the night before. The view is incredible, and if you can do stairs, it’s definitely worth it. Some of my best pictures of Salzburg are from that viewpoint.
Friday June 17th – less sightseeing to do this day, so we had lazy morning, getting groceries and making sandwiches, and sitting by the pool a bit. Once we got going we did: Schloss Hellbrunn, very similar to Schloss Schonbrunn in Vienna, although it has the Gazebo from Sound of Music to boast as well. The trick fountains are supposed to be pretty cool, but we didn’t feel like paying for the tour just to see the fountains. Once back in Salzburg, we saw Mozart’s birthplace and Residenz, and wandered the streets and did some shopping. We also found out information for the next day’s planned trip to St. Gilgen – the tourist office gave us a bus schedule, and then we stopped by the Mirabell Gardens bus stop to ask the driver how much it would cost.
We went out for supper to the Wilder Mann (we got the recommendation from the Fodor’s restaurant section) and though the food was good (we had Bauernschmaus – meat and dumplings) our waiter was not very friendly, and we sat for nearly an hour after our meal waiting for the check, before we realized that if we just took out some cash, they would come right away. It was frustrating, but at least we learned our lesson – if you want the check, all you have to do is take out your money.
Saturday June 18th – this was our halfway day – we had been traveling for nine days, this was the tenth day, and we had nine days to follow. We got on the bus from Mirabellplatz a little after noon, and we decided to ask for tickets to Fuschl Am See, which is a few stops before St. Gilgen, because this was the area where they had filmed the “Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music” opening scenes. Fuschl was an adorable little town, and we had an incredible experience there – just as we were finished wandering around and were about to head to St. Gilgen, we heard music in the street, and what we thought was a parade started to pass us. We ran up the street ahead of them to watch and get pictures – they were dressed in traditional Austrian costume and playing instruments, but once the first section passed, everyone marching behind was wearing suits/dresses – normal modern clothes. We were a bit confused until Heather spotted the woman wearing white – this was a wedding march! They marched down the street and into the church, and we stood there for a minute taking it all in before we headed off for St. Gilgen. We had missed the bus (they go about once an hour) so we decided to walk - it was only a few bus stops away, we figured probably about a 45 minute walk. Well, we were right, but the first ‘St. Gilgen’ stop on our bus schedule wasn’t actually St. Gilgen – it would’ve been about another 45 minutes to the actually town. We stopped at a covered bus stop just as it started to rain, and didn’t have to wait long for the bus to come.
When we got to St. Gilgen it was still sprinkling a little, but it eased up, and as we explored the town, the skies cleared up more and more. We had a little extra in our budget, so we treated ourselves to ice cream, and then were trying to decide whether to take the funicular up the mountain or find something else to do. What we really wanted to do was take a paddleboat out on the lake, but we weren’t seeing any boat rental places, other than motorboats.
So, we started walking the way we had come, to head up to the funicular, but I saw a path along the shore that had a sign for Mini-Golf. I figured if there was mini-golf down that way, maybe there’d be other recreation too. So, we wander through this path, with hedges on either side of us, and when we came out the other side, lo and behold, there was paddleboats tied to a dock! We were ecstatic, and we took the boat out for an hour, and just floated and suntanned. It was great – exactly what we felt like doing. It cost 8 Euro for the boat for an hour.
We were back in Salzburg by about 8:30 PM – the trip on the bus cost us about 10 Euro.
After checking into our B&B we spent some time washing our laundry in the sink, and then exploring the grounds around us. We took a quick swim in the pool – it was kinda chilly because though it was a warm day, the sun had disappeared behind the clouds – and then got changed and headed into Salzburg.
Following a recommendation from Fodor’s (again, Thank you!), we headed to the Hotel Stein and went up to the roof to have dessert in the Terrasse restaurant. The view was amazing, and we certainly enjoyed our Topfenstrudel and Tiramisu.
Thursday June 16th – we had been debating whether or not to do the Sound of Music Tour (it was not in our budget so we would’ve had to cut back on some things – Heather is a huge Sound of Music fan, I’ve only seen it once but I like it) and from a map we figured out that we could do pretty much everything that Heather really wanted to see on our own, so we decided to skip the tour (Although Heather would really like to go back one day and do it, we don’t regret our decision, considering it gave us extra money for our day trip to St. Gilgen).
Our first stop, since it was way out in the suburbs near where we were staying, was Schloss Leopoldskron, which is the building they used as the Von Trapp family house in the movie. It is closed to the public, but you can walk around the lake and get a gorgeous view of it from there.
Once we got into the city center of Salzburg, we went to see: Hohensalzburg – we climbed a LONG way up to the fortress, only to discover my guidebook had been wrong, and it was 8 Euro, not 3, to get in. We decided not to go in, but it wasn’t a waste of time since there’s a nice view on the way up. Nonnberg Abbey was our second stop, since it’s right by the fortress. You can’t go in the abbey, but you can go in the church, which is where the real Maria Von Trapp got married. We saw a nun coming out of the abbey – that was pretty fun =) Other sights of the day: the Dom and the Mirabell Gardens. Nearing the end of our day of sightseeing, we saw on our map that there was a great view from the top of the Capuchin cloister/church, and so we did the LONG hike up the stairs to it. It’s located behind the Hotel Stein, and goes even higher up – we were looking down onto the roof where we had the sat the night before. The view is incredible, and if you can do stairs, it’s definitely worth it. Some of my best pictures of Salzburg are from that viewpoint.
Friday June 17th – less sightseeing to do this day, so we had lazy morning, getting groceries and making sandwiches, and sitting by the pool a bit. Once we got going we did: Schloss Hellbrunn, very similar to Schloss Schonbrunn in Vienna, although it has the Gazebo from Sound of Music to boast as well. The trick fountains are supposed to be pretty cool, but we didn’t feel like paying for the tour just to see the fountains. Once back in Salzburg, we saw Mozart’s birthplace and Residenz, and wandered the streets and did some shopping. We also found out information for the next day’s planned trip to St. Gilgen – the tourist office gave us a bus schedule, and then we stopped by the Mirabell Gardens bus stop to ask the driver how much it would cost.
We went out for supper to the Wilder Mann (we got the recommendation from the Fodor’s restaurant section) and though the food was good (we had Bauernschmaus – meat and dumplings) our waiter was not very friendly, and we sat for nearly an hour after our meal waiting for the check, before we realized that if we just took out some cash, they would come right away. It was frustrating, but at least we learned our lesson – if you want the check, all you have to do is take out your money.
Saturday June 18th – this was our halfway day – we had been traveling for nine days, this was the tenth day, and we had nine days to follow. We got on the bus from Mirabellplatz a little after noon, and we decided to ask for tickets to Fuschl Am See, which is a few stops before St. Gilgen, because this was the area where they had filmed the “Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music” opening scenes. Fuschl was an adorable little town, and we had an incredible experience there – just as we were finished wandering around and were about to head to St. Gilgen, we heard music in the street, and what we thought was a parade started to pass us. We ran up the street ahead of them to watch and get pictures – they were dressed in traditional Austrian costume and playing instruments, but once the first section passed, everyone marching behind was wearing suits/dresses – normal modern clothes. We were a bit confused until Heather spotted the woman wearing white – this was a wedding march! They marched down the street and into the church, and we stood there for a minute taking it all in before we headed off for St. Gilgen. We had missed the bus (they go about once an hour) so we decided to walk - it was only a few bus stops away, we figured probably about a 45 minute walk. Well, we were right, but the first ‘St. Gilgen’ stop on our bus schedule wasn’t actually St. Gilgen – it would’ve been about another 45 minutes to the actually town. We stopped at a covered bus stop just as it started to rain, and didn’t have to wait long for the bus to come.
When we got to St. Gilgen it was still sprinkling a little, but it eased up, and as we explored the town, the skies cleared up more and more. We had a little extra in our budget, so we treated ourselves to ice cream, and then were trying to decide whether to take the funicular up the mountain or find something else to do. What we really wanted to do was take a paddleboat out on the lake, but we weren’t seeing any boat rental places, other than motorboats.
So, we started walking the way we had come, to head up to the funicular, but I saw a path along the shore that had a sign for Mini-Golf. I figured if there was mini-golf down that way, maybe there’d be other recreation too. So, we wander through this path, with hedges on either side of us, and when we came out the other side, lo and behold, there was paddleboats tied to a dock! We were ecstatic, and we took the boat out for an hour, and just floated and suntanned. It was great – exactly what we felt like doing. It cost 8 Euro for the boat for an hour.
We were back in Salzburg by about 8:30 PM – the trip on the bus cost us about 10 Euro.
Aug 16th, 2005, 07:59 AM
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For the next two days (Sunday June 19th and Monday June 20th) I have copied and pasted my original email home to my friends and family, because it’s detailed enough that I figured, why write it all out again? Enjoy! =)
A Series of Unfortunate Events...
Ok, now that my title has you a little bit worried, I'm going to tell you about my series of unfortunate events that led to us being homeless in Venice... (this is the moment some of you start to really freak out) ...and then being taken in by missionaries that we know from back home in Canada! (cue music) It's a small world after all...
Ok, here's our last two days in sequence. On Sunday we took the train to Vienna, and then a bus to Bratislava in Slovakia, where we were staying for the night. Now, we were both a bit worried about Slovakia, it being a formerly communist country and all. Our day trip to Hungary had made us a bit skittish about more Eastern European countries. (Nothing bad happened to us in Sopron - it was just a bit on the run-down side and in comparison with Austria it made you want to clutch your bag a little bit tighter. I wouldn't say it was particularily dangerous on a whole, but we just didn't want to find ourselves on the wrong side of town accidentally, if you know what I mean.) Anyways, so we were a bit worried about spending the night in Slovakia, because we had no clue what kind of area our hotel was in. So, as our bus drove in to Bratislava and we got our first real look at the city, we started to relax, because it was actually a whole lot better than our overblown imaginations had made it. I still wouldn't want to be out after dark, but in daylight I felt perfectly safe and comfortable there. So, we got off the bus at the main station and had to catch a trolleybus to our hotel. Unfortunate event #1: the bus stop had a machine where we could buy tickets, but it only took Slovakia Koruny, and all we had was Euro. Our hotel took Euro, so we assumed other places in Bratislava would too. So, we got on the bus hoping to buy tickets from the driver, but when we got on we realized that they don't do that here, and before we knew it we were moving. So, criminals that we are, we rode the bus illegally to our hotel, not knowing what else to do. We figured when we bought our next tickets we'd buy extra to make up for it.
So, we reached Hotel Plus, which, despite the cheap price, was actually a very decent hotel in a fairly decent area of town. We successfully paid for our room and checked in, and then went out to see if we could find our bus stop, for the bus to the airport the next morning.
Unfortunate event #2: We asked the lady at the front deskwhere the bus stopped, and she gave us directions and told us it was bus #61. We found a bus stop at what we thought was the road she had told us, but the only busses that stopped there were #63 and #67. So, we thought maybe the numbers were mixed up, and went back to ask. The desk lady got very frustrated with us when we said that we had found the bus stop and there was no bus #61 that stopped there and maybe was it bus #67? I can understand frustration, but she kind of took it out on us. Amid angry Slovakian words and pulling out maps and drawing a map, she finally made us understand that it was on a road past the one we had gone to. So, we set out again, found it (it was very close to IKEA, so we also explored the Slovakian IKEA) and came back and thanked herand received glares in return. She had previously said that we could exchange Euro at the desk, so we pulled out some change, but she said we could only exchange bills. We didn't have any small bills, so we went out to the bank machine and took out 100 SKK with my debit card (that's less than $5.00).
Unfortunate event #3: We needed coins for the bus ticket machine, so Heather bought a Coke at the front desk, and we got a 50 SKK bill in return. Foiled again. So we asked if we could get coin in exchange for the bill, and the guy was about to give it to us, but the lady told him not to. Ok, there's where I started to get mad. I think I was also starting to get a bit of culture shock, because I fumed up in our room unreasonably for quite some time before I prayed and calmed down.
Unfortunate event #4: We made plans to ride the bus to the airport and then get change there and buy tickets to make up for having ridden it illegally. (We were not overly scared of fines, because the chances of a controller being on our bus at 6:00AM were slim to none). At the airport however, no one would exchange our bill there either. So, having completely run out of options, we let it go and left Slovakia on our flight to Venice.
The flight was great and we were excited to arrive in Venice however...
Unfortunate event #5: The grand-daddy of them all... we rode the vaporetto with our luggage, were hot and sticky and sore and just wanted to get to the convent and put our luggage down. We found it alright, but it was CLOSED. Sometime in the last few months, the convent shut down it's hostel operations. We don't know why (the lady there only spoke Italian) but we had no way of knowing, because they don't take reservations and (while they were still operating) never turn anyone away, so we figured we were safe.
However, Unfortunate event #5 turned out to be the biggest God-thing of our trip so far. We went to a nearby internet cafe hoping to look up some other hostel options, and Heather decided to try and get ahold of her sister-in-law's aunt, who is a missionary in Venice and loves to have visitors. We actually had tried to contact her before the trip to see if we could stay with her, but the email address wasn't working or something. Anyways, Heather looked up her phone number and got ahold of her, and despite having a full house with a missions team currently here, she told us to come on out. We arrived at her house on the mainland (about a half hour bus ride from the island of Venice) at about 2:00PM yesterday. We walked in dropped our luggage and screams broke out - happy screams that is. Who was sitting in her kitchen but Anne, my friend Conni's best friend from Edmonton Alberta. She was on the missions team that was staying with Carman (the missionary that works here). Anne and I had been in Conni's wedding party together, so knew each other fairly well.
A Series of Unfortunate Events...
Ok, now that my title has you a little bit worried, I'm going to tell you about my series of unfortunate events that led to us being homeless in Venice... (this is the moment some of you start to really freak out) ...and then being taken in by missionaries that we know from back home in Canada! (cue music) It's a small world after all...
Ok, here's our last two days in sequence. On Sunday we took the train to Vienna, and then a bus to Bratislava in Slovakia, where we were staying for the night. Now, we were both a bit worried about Slovakia, it being a formerly communist country and all. Our day trip to Hungary had made us a bit skittish about more Eastern European countries. (Nothing bad happened to us in Sopron - it was just a bit on the run-down side and in comparison with Austria it made you want to clutch your bag a little bit tighter. I wouldn't say it was particularily dangerous on a whole, but we just didn't want to find ourselves on the wrong side of town accidentally, if you know what I mean.) Anyways, so we were a bit worried about spending the night in Slovakia, because we had no clue what kind of area our hotel was in. So, as our bus drove in to Bratislava and we got our first real look at the city, we started to relax, because it was actually a whole lot better than our overblown imaginations had made it. I still wouldn't want to be out after dark, but in daylight I felt perfectly safe and comfortable there. So, we got off the bus at the main station and had to catch a trolleybus to our hotel. Unfortunate event #1: the bus stop had a machine where we could buy tickets, but it only took Slovakia Koruny, and all we had was Euro. Our hotel took Euro, so we assumed other places in Bratislava would too. So, we got on the bus hoping to buy tickets from the driver, but when we got on we realized that they don't do that here, and before we knew it we were moving. So, criminals that we are, we rode the bus illegally to our hotel, not knowing what else to do. We figured when we bought our next tickets we'd buy extra to make up for it.
So, we reached Hotel Plus, which, despite the cheap price, was actually a very decent hotel in a fairly decent area of town. We successfully paid for our room and checked in, and then went out to see if we could find our bus stop, for the bus to the airport the next morning.
Unfortunate event #2: We asked the lady at the front deskwhere the bus stopped, and she gave us directions and told us it was bus #61. We found a bus stop at what we thought was the road she had told us, but the only busses that stopped there were #63 and #67. So, we thought maybe the numbers were mixed up, and went back to ask. The desk lady got very frustrated with us when we said that we had found the bus stop and there was no bus #61 that stopped there and maybe was it bus #67? I can understand frustration, but she kind of took it out on us. Amid angry Slovakian words and pulling out maps and drawing a map, she finally made us understand that it was on a road past the one we had gone to. So, we set out again, found it (it was very close to IKEA, so we also explored the Slovakian IKEA) and came back and thanked herand received glares in return. She had previously said that we could exchange Euro at the desk, so we pulled out some change, but she said we could only exchange bills. We didn't have any small bills, so we went out to the bank machine and took out 100 SKK with my debit card (that's less than $5.00).
Unfortunate event #3: We needed coins for the bus ticket machine, so Heather bought a Coke at the front desk, and we got a 50 SKK bill in return. Foiled again. So we asked if we could get coin in exchange for the bill, and the guy was about to give it to us, but the lady told him not to. Ok, there's where I started to get mad. I think I was also starting to get a bit of culture shock, because I fumed up in our room unreasonably for quite some time before I prayed and calmed down.
Unfortunate event #4: We made plans to ride the bus to the airport and then get change there and buy tickets to make up for having ridden it illegally. (We were not overly scared of fines, because the chances of a controller being on our bus at 6:00AM were slim to none). At the airport however, no one would exchange our bill there either. So, having completely run out of options, we let it go and left Slovakia on our flight to Venice.
The flight was great and we were excited to arrive in Venice however...
Unfortunate event #5: The grand-daddy of them all... we rode the vaporetto with our luggage, were hot and sticky and sore and just wanted to get to the convent and put our luggage down. We found it alright, but it was CLOSED. Sometime in the last few months, the convent shut down it's hostel operations. We don't know why (the lady there only spoke Italian) but we had no way of knowing, because they don't take reservations and (while they were still operating) never turn anyone away, so we figured we were safe.
However, Unfortunate event #5 turned out to be the biggest God-thing of our trip so far. We went to a nearby internet cafe hoping to look up some other hostel options, and Heather decided to try and get ahold of her sister-in-law's aunt, who is a missionary in Venice and loves to have visitors. We actually had tried to contact her before the trip to see if we could stay with her, but the email address wasn't working or something. Anyways, Heather looked up her phone number and got ahold of her, and despite having a full house with a missions team currently here, she told us to come on out. We arrived at her house on the mainland (about a half hour bus ride from the island of Venice) at about 2:00PM yesterday. We walked in dropped our luggage and screams broke out - happy screams that is. Who was sitting in her kitchen but Anne, my friend Conni's best friend from Edmonton Alberta. She was on the missions team that was staying with Carman (the missionary that works here). Anne and I had been in Conni's wedding party together, so knew each other fairly well.
Aug 16th, 2005, 08:19 AM
#29
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Ok, here's a few more 'trip report' details to add to the last couple days.
First, our hotel in Bratislava: it was called 'Hotel Plus', and aside from the temperamental receptionist, I would recommend it if you're looking for a cheap place to stay. It was a lot nicer than we were expecting it to be, considering it cost about 15 Euro per person. It's very close to the airport as well.
Venice: When we got to the airport, we found a counter for bus tickets into Venice, and they cost 3 Euro each. I thought that maybe the prices had gone up, until I figured out that we had bought tickets for an ATVO express bus - the normal one (Bus #5) would have been 1 Euro. Oh well. So learn from my mistake - if you're planning to take the bus from the airport and you want the cheap one, don't take the ATVO! I think I just needed to explore a bit more to find their counter.
Once in Venice we bought a 72 hour vaparetto pass, which we found out later is good for the buses in Mestre too. This is VERY good to know if you're staying in Mestre! We would have paid 1 Euro each way every day if we hadn't been told about that.
Now, once our arrangements had all been figured out, we went into Venice for the rest of the afternoon. We explored Piazza San Marco, where we had heard there was a McDonalds (I had to go to the bathroom again, and McDonalds is the only free bathroom in Venice - if anyone knows of another one, feel free to correct me. I discovered something about myself on this trip - I have a bladder the size of a walnut. Yes, I knew it was small before, but I didn't know how small until I travelled for longer than a few days in Europe, where free bathrooms are few and far between. I think I usually needed to find a bathroom about 3 times as often as Heather did, which must have been frustrating, because every time we stepped out the door (even if I went just before we left) I would turn to her and say "we're going to have to find a bathroom at ___________ (fill in the blank - Schloss Hellbrunn, Mirabell Gardens, etc.)"
Anyways, the McDonalds at Piazza San Marco is tucked away in one of the side streets, so you may have to ask someone if you're looking for it.
After the bathroom break, we spent a couple hours wandering the streets of Venice, and then went back to have supper with our hosts.
First, our hotel in Bratislava: it was called 'Hotel Plus', and aside from the temperamental receptionist, I would recommend it if you're looking for a cheap place to stay. It was a lot nicer than we were expecting it to be, considering it cost about 15 Euro per person. It's very close to the airport as well.
Venice: When we got to the airport, we found a counter for bus tickets into Venice, and they cost 3 Euro each. I thought that maybe the prices had gone up, until I figured out that we had bought tickets for an ATVO express bus - the normal one (Bus #5) would have been 1 Euro. Oh well. So learn from my mistake - if you're planning to take the bus from the airport and you want the cheap one, don't take the ATVO! I think I just needed to explore a bit more to find their counter.
Once in Venice we bought a 72 hour vaparetto pass, which we found out later is good for the buses in Mestre too. This is VERY good to know if you're staying in Mestre! We would have paid 1 Euro each way every day if we hadn't been told about that.
Now, once our arrangements had all been figured out, we went into Venice for the rest of the afternoon. We explored Piazza San Marco, where we had heard there was a McDonalds (I had to go to the bathroom again, and McDonalds is the only free bathroom in Venice - if anyone knows of another one, feel free to correct me. I discovered something about myself on this trip - I have a bladder the size of a walnut. Yes, I knew it was small before, but I didn't know how small until I travelled for longer than a few days in Europe, where free bathrooms are few and far between. I think I usually needed to find a bathroom about 3 times as often as Heather did, which must have been frustrating, because every time we stepped out the door (even if I went just before we left) I would turn to her and say "we're going to have to find a bathroom at ___________ (fill in the blank - Schloss Hellbrunn, Mirabell Gardens, etc.)"
Anyways, the McDonalds at Piazza San Marco is tucked away in one of the side streets, so you may have to ask someone if you're looking for it.
After the bathroom break, we spent a couple hours wandering the streets of Venice, and then went back to have supper with our hosts.
Aug 16th, 2005, 07:41 PM
#32
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See pictures of my trip at
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2122282949
you have to register, but they're worth it, I promise!
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2122282949
you have to register, but they're worth it, I promise!
Aug 17th, 2005, 09:13 AM
#33
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Tuesday June 21st – we spent hours wandering the streets of Venice, having fun getting lost, and did some shopping in the market by the Rialto bridge. Later we went back to Piazza San Marco and went inside the Basilica (it was closed the day before when we were there). After that we went to a restaurant for some pizza – a little tourist trap, which we only picked because I was starving and everything around Piazza San Marco is a tourist trap! Then we got our first gelato… mmm, gelato…. After more wandering we headed back for a late supper with our hosts again.
Wednesday June 22nd – This time we headed into Venice with the girls that we were staying with (including Anne, my friend from back in Canada), and spent some time shopping in the Rialto market, and then we went for a gondola ride! Now, the real gondola rides are super expensive, so we went to the S. Sofia traghetto crossing (close to the Rialto bridge, on the same side as the market), where we’d heard that you could ride a gondola across the canal for 50 Euro cents. We enjoyed our 3 minute gondola ride to the fullest extent, taking pictures of each other and the gondolier. It’s a great way to say you’ve been in a gondola without shelling out the big bucks =)
On the other side of the canal, (starting near Ca D’Oro) we wandered for quite some time, shopping and getting gelato. At one particular street stand, Heather and I stopped and were looking longingly at the beautiful scarves, but hesitant to pay 10 Euro for them. The guy saw us looking at them and said “I give you good price”, so I offered 6 Euro and he took it! So I have a beautiful black scarf with gold threading through it. Heather bought one as well.
Finally we had to split up (the girls had to make their way to Sant’ Elena park to do their kids club for the day) so Heather and I hopped on a vaporetto and headed out to Murano Island. It was fun wandering around there and seeing them making glass. We had wanted to go to Burano as well, but by this time we realized that we were not going to have enough time, since we needed to go back to Mestre after supper and pack our things for our night train. So we went to Sant’ Elena, said goodbye to the team, and then went out for supper. We ate at a restaurant in the Ca D’Oro area – we had gone there to find a restaurant that we had a recommendation for, but we found the address and it was not a restaurant – the right name was above the door, but the building looked like it hadn’t been a restaurant for quite some time. Oh well, the restaurant we ate at was good enough. We had spaghetti – it was so delicious. We had to eat and run unfortunately, so we asked for the check right away and then hopped on the vaporetto to head back to Piazzale Roma and take our bus to Mestre. We got back, packed our stuff, and came back in on the bus, and were at the train station by about 10:00 PM, and our train was at 11:00 PM.
Wednesday June 22nd – This time we headed into Venice with the girls that we were staying with (including Anne, my friend from back in Canada), and spent some time shopping in the Rialto market, and then we went for a gondola ride! Now, the real gondola rides are super expensive, so we went to the S. Sofia traghetto crossing (close to the Rialto bridge, on the same side as the market), where we’d heard that you could ride a gondola across the canal for 50 Euro cents. We enjoyed our 3 minute gondola ride to the fullest extent, taking pictures of each other and the gondolier. It’s a great way to say you’ve been in a gondola without shelling out the big bucks =)
On the other side of the canal, (starting near Ca D’Oro) we wandered for quite some time, shopping and getting gelato. At one particular street stand, Heather and I stopped and were looking longingly at the beautiful scarves, but hesitant to pay 10 Euro for them. The guy saw us looking at them and said “I give you good price”, so I offered 6 Euro and he took it! So I have a beautiful black scarf with gold threading through it. Heather bought one as well.
Finally we had to split up (the girls had to make their way to Sant’ Elena park to do their kids club for the day) so Heather and I hopped on a vaporetto and headed out to Murano Island. It was fun wandering around there and seeing them making glass. We had wanted to go to Burano as well, but by this time we realized that we were not going to have enough time, since we needed to go back to Mestre after supper and pack our things for our night train. So we went to Sant’ Elena, said goodbye to the team, and then went out for supper. We ate at a restaurant in the Ca D’Oro area – we had gone there to find a restaurant that we had a recommendation for, but we found the address and it was not a restaurant – the right name was above the door, but the building looked like it hadn’t been a restaurant for quite some time. Oh well, the restaurant we ate at was good enough. We had spaghetti – it was so delicious. We had to eat and run unfortunately, so we asked for the check right away and then hopped on the vaporetto to head back to Piazzale Roma and take our bus to Mestre. We got back, packed our stuff, and came back in on the bus, and were at the train station by about 10:00 PM, and our train was at 11:00 PM.
Aug 19th, 2005, 01:31 PM
#35
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The night train from Venice to Nice:
(Background: When we booked the night train, we decided to save some bucks and just sleep in the normal seats instead of paying for a couchette)
We boarded the train at about 10:45 PM and grabbed an empty compartment. In hindsight (which is always 20/20) we should’ve just grabbed seats in one already occupied by some nice old people or something, but we wanted to stretch out on the seats, so we were hoping that the train would not be full and no one would join us.
Before the train started moving, some sketchy guys came in and tried to talk with us, but we successfully ignored them and they left, realizing that we weren’t much fun. The train started moving, and we breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that we were in the clear. Suddenly, I realized that the train would be stopping at Mestre, and there would probably be a lot of people boarding there.
Sure enough, some more sketchy guys came into our compartment and made themselves comfortable, with their music playing and drinking from open bottles of liquor. They were speaking French, and I speak French but Heather doesn’t. We just ignored them, though they were trying very hard to get a reaction from us. They went through several languages that they spoke, trying to figure out what we spoke, and when we figured out that they didn’t speak much English, we latched onto the pretense that we only spoke English, and when they would poke us we would just glare and them and speak English. They argued back and forth in French about whether or not we spoke French (they had seen the Canadian flag on Heather’s bag, and the one guy was certain that we spoke French and were pretending not to, and the other guy wasn’t so sure), and tried constantly to get us to react to them. The train was very full, with people in the hallways, so we didn’t want to risk trying to switch compartments and getting stuck with somebody worse!
We put up with their loudness and tried to sleep until about 2:00, and we were thankful that there was always someone else in the compartment (first one old Italian man, and then another old Italian guy) because that made us feel safer. Around 2:00 AM, there was an incident with some Africans that wanted to sit in the compartment – one of the French guys was a real hot-head, and got into a fight with an African who thought he was being racist. One of the Africans ended up staying (the Italian man was gone by this point) and his presence seemed to calm the French guys down, and they stopped being so loud. They had a conversation with the African guy about what he does, and lo and behold, all 3 of them were major DRUG DEALERS traveling on business. AHHHH! This made me less comfortable, but they quieted down and turned the light out and started trying to sleep. One of the guys (the hot-head) stretched out across the two seats beside Heather and I (we were against the window, facing each other) and tried to get comfortable. He kept bumping us as he repositioned, and that was frustrating. Eventually he ended up with his head on my bag, that I had put beside me as a barrier between us.
Then, while he thought I was sleeping, all of the sudden I heard Velcro, and in the dark I could see him slipping his hand into my bag! I grabbed the bag out from under his head, and walloped him with it as hard as I could!! He pushed me back, but then seemed to just go back to sleep. A few minutes later, he hit me pretty hard on the shoulder and pointed at his face. He kept doing this over and over, and I finally figured out that he wanted me to put my bag back for him to sleep on!! I just said “No! You were trying to steal from me!” and he swore at me, and then for the next 20 minutes or so, he would just routinely hit me and then swear at me.
Well, by this point I was exhausted and was about to have a nervous breakdown, when the train stopped in Milan, and all the guys went outside to have a smoke. I got up and went to look for another compartment, and found one with just the old Italian man from the first part of the trip! So I ran back, grabbed Heather, and we moved down. The man only spoke Italian, but he clearly knew why we were moving and expressed his disapproval of them drinking on the train. We felt quite safe with him, so we stretched out (we had 2 seats each) and got a few hours of good sleep. At about 6:30 AM some young Italian guys joined our compartment – they were kind of creepy too, but they were quiet, which we were thankful for. We slept upright on and off until we reached Nice at about 10:00 AM.
Funniest moment of the night train episode: When the guys were starting to quiet down and had left for a smoke for a second, Heather says to me “I think that African man is our guardian angel” (for making them quiet down). I said “Heather! He’s a DRUG DEALER!!!”
Well, I don’t know if things would have been better in a couchette, since those are shared as well, but this experience has sure made me skittish of night trains! If I do ride one again, I will find some nice old people to sit with =)
(Background: When we booked the night train, we decided to save some bucks and just sleep in the normal seats instead of paying for a couchette)
We boarded the train at about 10:45 PM and grabbed an empty compartment. In hindsight (which is always 20/20) we should’ve just grabbed seats in one already occupied by some nice old people or something, but we wanted to stretch out on the seats, so we were hoping that the train would not be full and no one would join us.
Before the train started moving, some sketchy guys came in and tried to talk with us, but we successfully ignored them and they left, realizing that we weren’t much fun. The train started moving, and we breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that we were in the clear. Suddenly, I realized that the train would be stopping at Mestre, and there would probably be a lot of people boarding there.
Sure enough, some more sketchy guys came into our compartment and made themselves comfortable, with their music playing and drinking from open bottles of liquor. They were speaking French, and I speak French but Heather doesn’t. We just ignored them, though they were trying very hard to get a reaction from us. They went through several languages that they spoke, trying to figure out what we spoke, and when we figured out that they didn’t speak much English, we latched onto the pretense that we only spoke English, and when they would poke us we would just glare and them and speak English. They argued back and forth in French about whether or not we spoke French (they had seen the Canadian flag on Heather’s bag, and the one guy was certain that we spoke French and were pretending not to, and the other guy wasn’t so sure), and tried constantly to get us to react to them. The train was very full, with people in the hallways, so we didn’t want to risk trying to switch compartments and getting stuck with somebody worse!
We put up with their loudness and tried to sleep until about 2:00, and we were thankful that there was always someone else in the compartment (first one old Italian man, and then another old Italian guy) because that made us feel safer. Around 2:00 AM, there was an incident with some Africans that wanted to sit in the compartment – one of the French guys was a real hot-head, and got into a fight with an African who thought he was being racist. One of the Africans ended up staying (the Italian man was gone by this point) and his presence seemed to calm the French guys down, and they stopped being so loud. They had a conversation with the African guy about what he does, and lo and behold, all 3 of them were major DRUG DEALERS traveling on business. AHHHH! This made me less comfortable, but they quieted down and turned the light out and started trying to sleep. One of the guys (the hot-head) stretched out across the two seats beside Heather and I (we were against the window, facing each other) and tried to get comfortable. He kept bumping us as he repositioned, and that was frustrating. Eventually he ended up with his head on my bag, that I had put beside me as a barrier between us.
Then, while he thought I was sleeping, all of the sudden I heard Velcro, and in the dark I could see him slipping his hand into my bag! I grabbed the bag out from under his head, and walloped him with it as hard as I could!! He pushed me back, but then seemed to just go back to sleep. A few minutes later, he hit me pretty hard on the shoulder and pointed at his face. He kept doing this over and over, and I finally figured out that he wanted me to put my bag back for him to sleep on!! I just said “No! You were trying to steal from me!” and he swore at me, and then for the next 20 minutes or so, he would just routinely hit me and then swear at me.
Well, by this point I was exhausted and was about to have a nervous breakdown, when the train stopped in Milan, and all the guys went outside to have a smoke. I got up and went to look for another compartment, and found one with just the old Italian man from the first part of the trip! So I ran back, grabbed Heather, and we moved down. The man only spoke Italian, but he clearly knew why we were moving and expressed his disapproval of them drinking on the train. We felt quite safe with him, so we stretched out (we had 2 seats each) and got a few hours of good sleep. At about 6:30 AM some young Italian guys joined our compartment – they were kind of creepy too, but they were quiet, which we were thankful for. We slept upright on and off until we reached Nice at about 10:00 AM.
Funniest moment of the night train episode: When the guys were starting to quiet down and had left for a smoke for a second, Heather says to me “I think that African man is our guardian angel” (for making them quiet down). I said “Heather! He’s a DRUG DEALER!!!”
Well, I don’t know if things would have been better in a couchette, since those are shared as well, but this experience has sure made me skittish of night trains! If I do ride one again, I will find some nice old people to sit with =)
Aug 19th, 2005, 01:44 PM
#36
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Oh my goodness, what a terrible experience! Mine (back on my backpacking trip after college in 2002) doesn't even compare!
As an FYI... we (my best friend and I) booked a couchette after our first disastrous night train in regular seats and we requested an all women couchette. No guys. I still slept with my bag up in my bed but I felt pretty safe. You might want to try this next time!
My husband and I booked a private compartment on an Italian train this past May and it was so-so. I think overall night trains are just difficult.
As an FYI... we (my best friend and I) booked a couchette after our first disastrous night train in regular seats and we requested an all women couchette. No guys. I still slept with my bag up in my bed but I felt pretty safe. You might want to try this next time!
My husband and I booked a private compartment on an Italian train this past May and it was so-so. I think overall night trains are just difficult.
Aug 19th, 2005, 04:17 PM
#37
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What a horrible experience on the train. My daughter travel a lot by train when she was in college and had interesting experiences, but not like yours. Now I know why I don't take trains. I do think women are more vunerable than men.
Aug 23rd, 2005, 08:36 AM
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Thursday June 23rd – When we arrived at our hostel in Nice (Hostel Faubourg Montmartre), they were still cleaning, so we left our bags with them and went to a nearby mall and grabbed a pastry for breakfast at the Brioche Doree. On the way back we went into Monoprix for groceries, and a bakery for fresh baguette for sandwiches. Around noon we checked into our hostel. It was probably my least favorite place we stayed, but it wasn’t bad for what I’ve heard about hostels. We were on the 4th floor of an old apartment building, and our ‘apartment’ consisted of a bathroom so small you couldn’t turn around in it, a small kitchen, an open room with a bunkbed and a bed in the corner, and then a small private room. Heather and I had the bunk bed. There was a girl named Julie staying in the open room with us – she was trying to get a job in Nice and living in the hostel. She seemed very nice and low-key, not a partyer, which we were very thankful for.
We got our beach bags ready and made sandwiches, and hit the train station by 1:30. We bought tickets to Monaco and got off at Beaulieu sur Mer, and lay on the beach there and swam in Mediterranean. Several hours later, we packed up and moved on to visit Monaco. We basically just walked around, (we visited the palace and the Monte Carlo casino) and bought some postcards.
We got back to the hostel at about 8:00, exhausted and ready for bed. I was quite sunburnt (I wore even stronger sunscreen than when we were out walking in Venice all day, but I forgot what a difference swimming makes) and so I lotioned myself up, we chatted with Julie a bit, and we put our pyjamas on. Sometime before we climbed into bed, we noticed Julie rolling some cigarettes, but when she smoked them, they were not cigarettes! About twice a day while we were staying in Nice we had to put up with the smell of Julie’s weed. She was very good about it – smoked by an open window so the smell didn’t fill up the room. I guess now we know why she’s so mellow.
Friday June 24th – We were up around 8AM and left by 9:00AM. We did a bit of shopping, went to an internet place to do some emailing, and came back to the hostel at noon. We did the same as the day before (got our beach bags ready and made sandwiches) and then headed out on the train to Cannes. In Cannes I rented a beach umbrella and chaise, and I sat in the shade while Heather swam and sat in the sun. We left the beach at 5:30 and wandered the ‘walk of fame’ before heading back to Nice. I had been looking forward to going back to a crepe place that Liz and I discovered when we were in Nice 2 years ago (it was amazing – I have never had a crepe that good since), but it wasn’t there anymore! I could’ve cried. We walked down towards the shore and eventually found a take-out stand, so we got a crepe there and sat on a park bench and ate it. We wandered, took some pictures down at the shore, and were back at our hostel by 8:30, and asleep by 10:30.
Saturday June 25th – We took an 8:30 bus to the airport (bus #23 from out front of the train station – make sure it’s #23 because there’s also a shuttle bus that costs a lot more) and checked in with EasyJet. Our flight to Paris was about a ½ hour late, but what can you expect for such cheap prices?
We took the Orlybus to Denfert-Rochereau and then took the RER out to Lognes, in the suburbs, where we were staying with friends of mine. We settled in to our room, I chatted with my friends, and we put some laundry in. Eventually we went out to the Chinese supermarket and bought groceries, and then went back to the house and ate. We both used calling cards to call home – Heather talked to her parents, and I talked to my boyfriend and then to my parents.
Around 6:00 we headed out to the mall at Torcy (the ‘soldes’ had just started in Paris!!) and did some shopping.
When we got back we had supper and eventually went to sleep.
We got our beach bags ready and made sandwiches, and hit the train station by 1:30. We bought tickets to Monaco and got off at Beaulieu sur Mer, and lay on the beach there and swam in Mediterranean. Several hours later, we packed up and moved on to visit Monaco. We basically just walked around, (we visited the palace and the Monte Carlo casino) and bought some postcards.
We got back to the hostel at about 8:00, exhausted and ready for bed. I was quite sunburnt (I wore even stronger sunscreen than when we were out walking in Venice all day, but I forgot what a difference swimming makes) and so I lotioned myself up, we chatted with Julie a bit, and we put our pyjamas on. Sometime before we climbed into bed, we noticed Julie rolling some cigarettes, but when she smoked them, they were not cigarettes! About twice a day while we were staying in Nice we had to put up with the smell of Julie’s weed. She was very good about it – smoked by an open window so the smell didn’t fill up the room. I guess now we know why she’s so mellow.
Friday June 24th – We were up around 8AM and left by 9:00AM. We did a bit of shopping, went to an internet place to do some emailing, and came back to the hostel at noon. We did the same as the day before (got our beach bags ready and made sandwiches) and then headed out on the train to Cannes. In Cannes I rented a beach umbrella and chaise, and I sat in the shade while Heather swam and sat in the sun. We left the beach at 5:30 and wandered the ‘walk of fame’ before heading back to Nice. I had been looking forward to going back to a crepe place that Liz and I discovered when we were in Nice 2 years ago (it was amazing – I have never had a crepe that good since), but it wasn’t there anymore! I could’ve cried. We walked down towards the shore and eventually found a take-out stand, so we got a crepe there and sat on a park bench and ate it. We wandered, took some pictures down at the shore, and were back at our hostel by 8:30, and asleep by 10:30.
Saturday June 25th – We took an 8:30 bus to the airport (bus #23 from out front of the train station – make sure it’s #23 because there’s also a shuttle bus that costs a lot more) and checked in with EasyJet. Our flight to Paris was about a ½ hour late, but what can you expect for such cheap prices?
We took the Orlybus to Denfert-Rochereau and then took the RER out to Lognes, in the suburbs, where we were staying with friends of mine. We settled in to our room, I chatted with my friends, and we put some laundry in. Eventually we went out to the Chinese supermarket and bought groceries, and then went back to the house and ate. We both used calling cards to call home – Heather talked to her parents, and I talked to my boyfriend and then to my parents.
Around 6:00 we headed out to the mall at Torcy (the ‘soldes’ had just started in Paris!!) and did some shopping.
When we got back we had supper and eventually went to sleep.
