Croatia (Part 2)

May 22, 2013 3:30 PM—Zagreb

Today we really saw Zagreb. We walked everywhere and say everything from the cathedral in the upper part of town to the parks and squares in the lower part of town. There isn't much in the central part of this city we didn't see. We even saw a canon fire. It goes off everyday at noon from the top of a tower in the upper town. Once we felt like we had sufficiently seen everything we wanted to see, we stopped and had some lunch at a small cafe. Then we returned to our hostel. We may go out and get something to eat a little later, but for now we are just resting up for our trip to Budapest tomorrow.

The canon that fires everyday at noon

Can you see the guy in the red shirt? (Guess who he is...)

Croatia

May 21, 2013 10:30 AM—En route to Zagreb

Yesterday we left Naples and took the train up to the Adriatic coast where we got the ferry in a small town called Ancona. The ferry was great! It was like a scaled-down cruise ship. It was a little smaller and a little less plush than a cruise ship. But, nonetheless, we had our own private room with a bathroom and everything. When we got on and dropped off our bags in the room, we went exploring. The ship had a few different lounge/eating areas and it even had a small casino as well as a duty free shop. We sat and had some hot chocolate as we watched the ship sail away.

By 10 PM, we were back in our room and getting ready to sleep. I slept really good on the boat and I didn't get sick at all (unlike the Zanzibar ferry). This morning we got up around 6:30 and got some breakfast on the boat before we disembarked in Split, Croatia.

When we arrived in Split, we first found the train station and made sure we knew where we were going. Then we put our bags in a locker and went to see a little bit of this small town. It really is a cute town. It would have been nice to spend the night there before moving on, but we had to take the train today to Zagreb. So after spending an hour in Split we got on the train and now we are well on our way to Zagreb.

Italy (Part 3)

May 19, 2013 7:30 PM—Naples

Today we had another day in Naples. We started off by going to mass at the Duomo, which is the cathedral here in Naples. It was nice to go to mass in the cathedral, but it was all in Italian. Luckily mass is the same (or at least similar) everywhere, so at least you can follow along. After mass we looked around the cathedral because it is a really pretty church.

After we were done at church we walked up to the archaeological museum. This museum was really good to go to after going to Pompeii. A lot of the artifacts that have been recovered from Pompeii have been taken out and put in this museum. So there were some things that we saw replicas of in Pompeii, but we got to see the really thing in the museum. One of the most interesting parts was we saw a lot of artifacts and mosaics that we knew were from one specific house that we had gone to. I feel like you often see things in museums, but you just can't place them in real life, but with these exhibits and our visit to Pompeii, we could.

Once we sufficiently exhausted the museum, we briefly came back to our hostel and then went to Castel Dell'ovo. This castle is on a rock that juts out into the water. It was free to go in and we got some really pretty views of the sea from there. After seeing the castle, we returned to our hostel where are just relaxing for the rest of the day.

In the end, I don't know how much I really liked Naples. I liked the sites we saw and I really liked going to Pompeii, but Naples itself is just a dirty little town. There seems to be graffiti everywhere and there is often garbage in the streets. I really had high hopes for this place, but I was a little disappointed.

Tomorrow we are taking the train to Ancona, which is a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy. From there were are getting the night ferry to Split, Croatia. After we arrive in Split on Tuesday morning, we are taking another train to Zagreb, which is the capital of Croatia. So it's gonna be a long couple days...

Italy (Part 2)

May 18, 2013 7:15 PM—Naples

My dad made it! Despite his lack of experience traveling, he did actually find his way all the way to our hostel in Naples yesterday.

This morning after we had breakfast, we decided to take the train to Pompeii, which is about 30 minutes from here. The ruins there are quite extensive and we spent about 3 hours wandering around. The entire ancient city was about 160 acres, but only 12 acres is available to the public. 12 acres was more than enough for us. It was awesome to see. You actually felt like you were walking through this ancient town that was desecrated about 2000 years ago when Mount Vesuvius erupted. You could see the clear streets and block, the basic structure of the city as well as being able to actually go inside some of the houses. Some of the houses even had old paintings that have survived for the last 2 millennia. These may not have been the most impressive ruins I've seen, but they were probably the most extensive. It was also pretty amazing nonetheless.

Dad in front of Mount Vesuvius

A cask of one of the bodies of someone that died when Vesuvius erupted

This was from the 1st century, right?

The Roman Amphitheater

Some of the wall paintings that have survived

Once we were done in Pompeii, we took the train back to Naples and got lunch. We went to a local pizza place and totally satisfied ourselves on some delicious pizza. After that we walked back to our hostel and took a nap. Today was pretty exhausting because there was a lot of walking involved and it was pretty sunny out all day. Now we are just spending the rest of the night relaxing and working on the crossword puzzle. Tomorrow we are staying here in Naples and hopefully going to the Archaeological Museum as well as seeing some of the other attractions here in town.

Italy

May 16, 2013 6:00 PM—Verona

Today I'm in Verona. I left Innsbruck this morning and took the train to Verona. Now, Verona decided to step it up a notch with the weather. Not only is it raining here, it was also really windy today. So when I have to carry my umbrella, I had to also make sure it didn't blow inside out. When I first arrived here I was going to take the bus to my hostel, so I went outside the train station and found the bus stop. As I stood there getting sufficiently wet, I watched many buses go past. I think I must have seen ever bus go by at least twice, but there was no sign of the bus I needed, despite the fact that I was at the right stop. So I had a moment of weakness and I gave in...I took a taxi to my hostel. To me this is an epic fail. First of all, I usually prefer to take the bus and secondly, taking a cab is kind of cheating in a way. You're not really experiencing the city in the way I feel like you should. However, today was special circumstances. My bus was nowhere to be seen and with all the wind even an umbrella couldn't protect me in the rain. I mostly just didn't want to arrive with all my clothes and my electronics completely soaked.

Once I arrived at my hostel, which this time is more of a bed and breakfast, I checked in and got settled. This place is really cute. I have my own room and I actually think there are only about 3 rooms here. My room even has a TV (although I only found one channel in English and it soon changed back to Italian).

After I put down my stuff and gathered my thoughts, I set out to see the city. I first went to the Verona Arena, which is a Roman Amphitheater. I didn't actually go in, but I sat across the piazza and had lunch at a small cafe. After lunch I went to find Juliet's house. I got really lost and ended up wandering for a while. When I finally found it, I was a little disappointed. It was massively crowded especially with school groups. And with all the umbrellas everywhere it made it difficult to get around. Not to mention the fact that there weren't even letters on the wall! I don't know if this may have just been because of all the rain or if this is just a myth about leaving letters for Juliet. Either way it was a bit of a bummer.  I think I may have come to Verona on a bad day.

Since I spent a couple hours wandering the city, I was sufficiently exhausted and I returned to my hostel for the night. Tomorrow I'm leaving here in the morning and heading to Naples. I think it will take me almost 5 hours to get there, but when I get there I'm meeting my dad!

Austria (Part 3)

May 15, 2013 4:30 PM—Innsbruck

It was a lovely, perfect day in Innsbruck! I left Salzburg this morning, despite how much I really loved it there. I took the train from Salzburg to Innsbruck. It was only one stop to get to Innsbruck. However, this was a high speed train that was going all the way to Zurich, so 1 stop took almost 2 hours to get to. So I arrived here around 10 AM and walked across this small town to get to my hostel/guesthouse. This place really is more of a guesthouse than a hostel. I have my own room this time, but with a shared bathroom, although I don't know if anyone else is staying on my floor (I haven't seen anyone yet). I also like the location of this place. It is just across the river from the old town, so it was just a short walk away.

Luckily, when I arrived I was able to get into my room immediately despite how early I was. This was good because getting up early this morning didn't agree with me and I wanted a nap. So when I first got here I napped for about an hour and a half before going out to explore the city. Once I finally got out I decided to first get lunch. Today I actually had a real sit-down meal as opposed to the on-the-go street food I've been favoring lately. I ended up getting some Weiner schnitzel that came with fries and salad. I know I'm not actually in Vienna yet, but this is actually served all over Austria as well as in other countries. It was delicious! After lunch I also stopped at a small pastry shop and I bought rhubarb strudel. Since I've been in Switzerland, Germany and Austria I've been eating apple strudel like its my job, but this time I wanted to try something different. I didn't actually eat this one yet. It will probably serve as my dinner.

Now that I served many of my gastrointestinal needs I decided I should actually see some of this town. Innsbruck is actually a very historically important city, despite the fact that many people have never heard of it. It is the capital of the Tyrol region of Austria and it became the center of European politics and culture due to emperor Maximilian I, who moved the imperial court here in the 1490s. Innsbruck also hosted the winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976.

Just like Salzburg, Innsbruck is surrounded by mountains

The first place I went to see was the Hofkirche, which is an old Gothic church in the middle of the old town. After that I went to Hofburg, which is the imperial palace. It was originally built in 1460, but it was later rebuilt in the 18th century by Empress Maria Theresa. I was able to go inside and see all the state apartments with a lot of their original furniture.

By this point, I again wanted a snack, so I stopped to get a gelato and I ate it as I walked to the Cathedral of St. James. When I arrived there I still wasn't finished so I sat outside on a bench and ate the rest of my ice cream. After I went inside the church to have a look around. Once I was done there I finally went to Goldenes Dachl or “The Golden Roof”. This was built by Maximilian I in 1500. It used to be a residence and The Golden Roof is actually a balcony on the third floor that looks out onto the central plaza of the old town. It actually has 2657 fire-gilded copper tiles. It is the main site in Innsbruck.

After seeing all that and wandering around town for a while, I returned to my guesthouse to relax and chill out the rest of the day. Tomorrow morning I'm taking the train to Verona, where I'm spending one night. After that I'm meeting my dad in Naples!

Austria (Part 2)

May 14, 2013 4:30 PM—Salzburg

I finally got to explore a city in the sunshine! It didn't rain today! And to say that Salzburg is charming is a total understatement. This has to be at the top of my list of favorite places in the world. Salzburg really is a unique town. This morning I took The Sound of Music tour, which may seem a bit cliché, but in fact it was totally worth it. Now the tour doesn't show you absolutely everything from the movie, because there were just too many scenes filmed here in Salzburg. On the other hand, the tour also gives you basic information about the city of Salzburg and the real Von Trapp Family. And as expected you get all the ins and outs of the movie, some trivia and some discrepancies. The tour was also a great choice because they take you all the way out to a small town called Mondsee to see a site from the movie. On the way, you also get to see many of the mountains and lakes that are what this region is known for. After the tour was over, I decided to try to find some additional film spots in town and I also went to find Mozart's house.

Mozart's House

Okay, now since I went on The Sound of Music tour today, I'm going to post some pictures and you can see if you can identify which scenes from the movie they are from. (The answers are at the bottom with more pictures)

#1 (We're starting off easy)

 #2

 #3

 #4

 #5

 #6 (Hint: related to #5)

 #7

 #8

 #9

 #10

 #11

 #12 (We're ending with the hardest one...one I don't think anyone will get)

Scroll down for the answers...

#1 is the gazebo that was supposedly in the garden of the Von Trapp Mansion.  It was seen both at the beginning of the movie ("16 going on 17") and at the end of the movie ("Something Good").  Fun fact: the scenes inside the gazebo at the beginning of the film were actually filmed in a larger version of this gazebo that was built specifically for the movie.

#2 is where Maria and the Captain are married in the movie.  This is a church in a small town called Mondsee, which is about 30 minutes from Salzburg.  In real life, the Captain married Maria in the Abbey.

#3 is Nonnberg Abbey.  The beginning of the movie was filmed here as well as some of the scenes at the end.  The real Maria Von Trapp actually was a postulate here back in the 1920s.

#4 is where scenes of the Von Trapp mansion garden were filmed, including the scene where Maria and the children fall out of the boat.  This is not, however, the mansion that is depicted as the Von Trapp Mansion in the movie.

#5 and #6 are both in Mirabell Garden.  This is where many of the scenes for the "Do re mi" sequence were filmed.

#7 is Mozartsteg (or Mozart's Bridge), which was also part of the "Do re mi" sequence when Maria and the children are on their way to the picnic.

#8 is a fountain in Residenzplatz where Maria stops momentarily when she is singing "I Have Confidence" on her way to the Von Trapp Mansion.

#9 is the Untersberg, which is a mountain close to Salzburg.  This is where the scenes from the very beginning of the movie were filmed as well as the final scene with the family hiking their way to Switzerland.  Fun fact: the family could not have possibly been hiking to Switzerland because on the other side of this mountain is Germany.  You can also take a cable car to the top of the mountain.  I was going to do this, but it got too late, it was too expensive and I was too tired.  So I decided not to.

#10 is the mansion that was used for all the outside shots of the Von Trapp mansion in the movie.  This is different from #4.  In some scenes they even had one side of the scene filmed in one place and the other side filmed in the other place.

#11 is close to #10.  It is where the children were climbing trees.

#12 is a picture of the town of St. Gilgen.  This was used during the opening sequence of the movie when they are showing various shots of different places in Austria.

Two final fun facts: Most Austrian have never actually seen "The Sound of Music" and 70% of Salzburg's economy is based around tourism.