Travels with Tavish

Seth and I got up early on the 13th to take the train to the airport, allowing lots of extra time for delays because of the late train debacle we experienced upon arrival in Rome.  It was pouring rain, which did not make the early morning any better, but we were happy to arrive at the airport on time.  I bid Seth farewell as he boarded for Zurich and I got on my plane bound for Barcelona.  I arrived and traveled downtown without a hitch.  My first stop was the tourist office, as I did not pre-book a hostel for my first couple of nights.  This was a bit of a disaster, as I ended up walking (in the sun with my big pack) to multiple hostels that were full before returning to the tourist office and asking if they could give me other suggestions and check availability.  The situation was annoying, but I now have a better idea of when to book hostels (i.e. not the afternoon of my arrival in a city). On the 14 th , I started the day with a free Gaudi walking to...

On the morning of July 9th we woke up early to send off Greg.  He is traveling to Illinois to visit family before returning to Seattle.  Seth and I spent the morning packing and finishing off all the leftover food in his fridge that we deemed would go bad in 4 days if it were not consumed.  We completed this task successfully then headed off to the airport.  Seth had a direct flight to Rome, but my booking (as I picked the cheapest one-way ticket) took me first to Vienna.  My luggage and I successfully made it to Rome, where I was to meet Seth at our airbnb apartment.  I got on the train from the airport to the city (10 minutes late), and as it was about to leave a wave of people came running onto the train from one of the other tracks.  Thanks to a stroke of luck, Seth walked onto my train and found a seat in the same car as me.  His train was 45 minutes late and then was deemed to have mechanical issues so it was cancelled, hence the flood of tr...

While whipping the egg whites for pancakes (just the whites this time) on the porch on the morning of the 7th, a British lady (about 70 years old) who had just begun her stay in the property below ours, owned by the same host, asked if I was making an omelet.  I said "good guess" then explained that I was attempting to make pancakes without sugar and baking powder.  We talked for a few minutes while she hung up her laundry, then she went back into her place, only to emerge thirty seconds later holding a bag of sugar.  "Here, I found this in the cupboard.  Pancakes are nothing without sugar."  A spoonful of sugar really helps the egg whites whip.  I offered her our leftover flour as we left later in the morning, as Seth had no intention of trasporting a partially-used 1-kilo bag of flour back to his place in Zurich.  She took it, saying "I don´t know what I´ll do with it, but maybe I will make pancakes too!" For the final time, we walked from our plac...

We set off on the 30th to Bergamo, saving a few Euro on accident by booking a bus for the final leg from Brescia to Bergamo rather than a more comfortable train.  At the bus station in Bergamo, we met my friend Federico, a student in Milan who was an exchange student at Garfield last year.  He hung out with us in the afternoon and told us a little about the region.  We had a traditional lunch--polenta--at his recommendation.  By itself, polenta is bland, but cooked with two cheeses it was really good.  We visited the fortress at the top of the hill in Bergamo and walked a few minutes down the hill to a vista at the walls that surround the upper city.  We also visited two large churches in the main square which were really ornate and beautiful.  Federico gave me some insight into a few aspects of the churches, including a side room displaying artifacts worn by Pope John Paul II as he was carried to his canonization.  We watched the World Cup game a...

Munich  Bugatti sighting  BMW Museum  Olympiapark (site of the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics)  Surfers in downtown park (still Munich)  Innsbruck  Seth writing our names in the Gipfelbuch (summit book) at the Gipfelkreuz (summit cross) on top of Nochspitze  Hut Hiking  Return to Innsbruck  Entering Italy  Dolomites  Can you find my name?  Bolzano  Sugar Glider at the MUSE in Trento  Verona

The 25th began with a train ride from Innsbruck to Bolzano, Italy.  The last part of the train ride, as we entered Italian wine territory, was very pretty.  The tracks wove between large hills crowded with rows and rows of grapes.  Upon our arrival in Bolzano, we had a small fiasco with our accommodations; we booked a place online that was an apartment rather than a hotel (not sure how it ended up listed online).  We eventually found ourselves at the Bolzano Youth Hostel which was cheap and provided adequate amenities.  We had the best pizza of the trip (so far) at a small pizzeria near the center of town, took it to go, and ate in a park.  Gelato (for 1 Euro!) of course followed the pizza dinner. On June 26th, we embarked on a bus journey to Ortesei bound for the Dolomites.  We reached Ortesei and rode a (very expensive) cable car up to a peak called Seceda.  We hiked around the area for many hours and got some incredible views of the Dolomites...

I have not posted for a long time due to lack of computer access for the last couple weeks, but I am now back in Zurich and will post about my recent travels in two or three installments. On June 21st (feels like a really long time ago), Greg, Seth and I took the bus from Innsbruck to Mutters and hiked up to Nochspize.  The hike took about two and a half hours each way and had an elevation gain of between 700 and 800 HM (height meters).  The last segment of the hike was labeled as "for experienced hikers only" and it definitely earned its rating.  The trail was steep and gravelly and even included a couple small (5 meters long) snow fields that were yet to melt.  At the summit there was a beautiful view of the city of Innsbruck.  After traveling back to Innsbruck, we went out for a nice dinner where I had some very good Wiener Schnitzel with lingonberry jelly. The three of us commenced our hut hiking adventure in the Karwendel Mountains on June 22nd. ...