Europe 2003

I did it.  I backpacked (part of) Europe.  Woo hoo!

  First stop, Frankfurt, a beautiful clean city, where everyone you meet is so friendly.  Way to go Germans!

A relaxing day in Heidelburg.

Then we got on an overnight train to Venice.  It didn't take long for us to distinguish between German and Italian trains - like night and day.  More about Italy's charm later . . .

Then for some reason we went to Naples - Italy at it's finest.  Using this scary "don't ever go here" town as base, we explored places like Pompeii (above) and even went to Casserta, my grandfather's hometown.  In this part of Italy you'll experience the true flamboyancy of the Italians, but it's actually really fun and gorgeous too (and where my roots come from - a lot of the locals looked like me, pretty cool)

We didn't think it could get more beautiful than Capri . . . mountains and ocean, the perfect combination.

Despite a few minor drawbacks, we made it to Rome unharmed.  Rome was one of my favorite places on the trip.  You'll be riding in a taxi through the streets, and then "oops, there's the Colosseum," like no big deal.  Fascinating.

Here's Whitney throwing money into Trevi fountain.  Supposedly if you throw in a coin, you'll come back to Rome.  Later Whitney took a picture of me merely pretending to throw in money, because we were running low.  That probably means I'll never travel again, or some back luck like that.

Other insignificant sights to the local Romans.

Then on to gorgeous Tuscany.  I wanted to rent mopeds and ride through Tuscany, but they don't let people do that who've never driven a moped before.  So Whitney and I got bikes instead.  We didn't realize how hilly Tuscany was until we got going . . . but what a workout.

Then we came to Cinque Terre and topped the beauty of Capri.  

We got off the train in this little town called Riomaggiore (above).  It was late on a Sunday, and we had no place to stay.  Fortunately, an old lady named Ivana (who spoke no english) was standing down at the train station asking if we needed a room (someone translated).  To make a long story short, we ended up staying in this woman's private home!  She made us a traditional Italian breakfast and often yelled at us in Italian even though we had no idea what she was saying.  That was fun.

Finally, after 7 days, we left Italy.  We were pretty ready to leave.  Italy's great, but it wears on you when the 87th Italian man hits on you because you are better looking than a box.  Yay for Switzerland!  We hit up Interlaken and Grindelwald (above), where we went whitewater rafting in the Alps!

As excited as we were to be in Switzerland, it was really expensive.  So we decided to spend some nights on the overnight trains and go to Berlin.  I am a jelly donut!

Seeing the Berlin wall after coming from Russia was really cool - like seeing both sides of the issue.  Berlin was also one of my favorite places.

Lastly, we ended up in Zurich, where we would catch our flight home.  Our bags got searched at the airport, and I felt pretty bad for the lady who did it, since I hadn't truly washed anything in two months.  But she was still really nice, as the Swiss tend to be.

Then we went home and promptly washed our clothes and celebrated the English language (and our stupidity for not knowing other languages).

Home

Frankfurt

Heidelburg

Venice

Naples

Casserta

Pompeii

Sorrento

Capri

Rome

Florence

Siena

Cinque Terre

Interlaken

Grindelwald

Berlin

Zurich