Enough of Italy - Bring on Bavaria Country

Wow...I forgot how tough of crowd you guys are. Yes, I do realize it's been over a month since my last blog. I'm sorry.

But everyone is entitled to vacation...it's law...at least in this country. And yes, I was on vacation from my vacation...enjoying friends and family back in Canada.



And since I won't have much to say for another week or two as I'm just heading back to Europe. I thought I better finish off the Bavarian blog...EVEN though I'm not completely packed and leave for the Hamilton airport in less than 5 hours.

I hope you guys feel the love and the commitment I have to you. And just a reminder...postings will come in about 2 week intervals as I'm moving pretty quickly once again.



Now let's get back to the meat of the blog...Bavaria Land. Now this is the Germany I always pictured. Happy, drunk people dressed in liederhausen (spelling?). I'm trying to learn German and it seems right phonetically. I'm guessing no one will correct me as it would be a bit strange that someone actually knows how to spell it.

And you can't forget the cuckoo clocks, the huge steins of beer and the Black Forest. Now the Black Forest always seems cool when you here about it (and it is), but it's also a pain in the neck.

By looking at maps and reading the Lonely Planet (backpackers bible)...I planned my route through Basel, Frieburg, and on to Titisee where I spent the afternoon.

Things were good until I reached Titisee and even though it's quite the tourist town...I couldn't find any lockers and had to cart both bags around again. I'm too old for that crap! But one thing I have to say...Bavarian men aren't too old for earrings. I have NEVER seen so many old (and I mean OLD) guys wearing earrings. It kind of freaked me out.

After frolicking around Titisee for a few hours, I was bagged and just wanted to to my hostel in Neustadt...but nooooo...for some reason I feel compelled to always "take one for my readers" so I drag my butt onto a bus and find my way to the top of Mt. Feldmen with BOTH bags in tow.

Finally it's time to get to my hostel in Neustadt...yeah... as I'm beat...but as we roll into town...a thunderstorm hits and strands me at the train station. I try one quick exit only to be turned back by hail stones the size of marbles...damn...they hurt. And what the hell...it's July...HELLO Mother Nature...what's up?

The storm finally breaks and I head out to find my hostel. Quickly I see a sign (thank heavens) and off I go. However, after 30 minutes of walking aimlessly and asking two different people for directions...I find out that the sign was pointing in the wrong direction...great...nice practical joke on the backpackers.

Now I'm on the right road...only to find out it's straight up hill for a kilometer. As I crawl into the hostel...I find out they misplaced my reservation. I'm not sure how I managed to stay out of jail for murder, but they did end up giving me my own room. Nice.

But I soon found out that I was the only non-family person staying at the hostel so it was pretty quiet. Spectacular views, but I wouldn't stay there again.

The next day I went to explore more of the Black Forest only to find out that it's huge and trains really didn't go to where I wanted them to go.

I don't want to give you the wrong impression...Schwarzwald (Black Forest region) is beautiful, but it's best seen by car. Buses and trains are a hassle. You can thank me later!!

On to Munich and the beer halls. If only it hadn't taken me FIVE hours by train (would have only taken about 45 minutes by car) to get from Neustadt to Stuttgart and then another few hours to Munich...it might have been a nice day. That's another bitter story and I won't bore you with the details.

So after a couple of terrible travel days...you know what I did in Munich...of course you do...I drank!!!

Munich is in the top five of my favourite cities...and not just for the drinking...OK...a lot of it had to do with the drinking, but the atmosphere and the architecture were very cool. And to make things even better...I got to hook up with my German friend Markus for a night on the town. All I'll say is that we both made it home safe and sound. Although...what would have been a 5-10 minute walk turned out to be a 30 minute subway ride. I blame Markus for leaving me stranded.

Now let me set the stage...it's a Tuesday night when we decide to hit the famous beer hall...Hofbrauhaus. We get there around 10:30 (I find out later that this place can hold up to 1300 people) and we can barely find a place to seat. It's Tuesday people...don't you have to work tomorrow. I guess not.

Now Markus and I both enjoy Erdinger beer from Bavaria, so we proceed to order a couple and informed they only come in 500mL steins. So far...that sounds great. That is until I start looking around the hall and see that even the most petite women are swirling out of full 1L steins. We quicklly switched to a beer that came in 1L stein. I have a reputation to uphold as you know.

Walking around Munich was fabulous. I spent a full afternoon checking out the sights and could easily have spent another day.

Make Munich and Berlin must sees on your next European vacation. I think you'll thank me for it.




It was then back to Canada for about 6 weeks of vacation with family and special friends. And the wedding of two of my best friends was well worth the trip home. I haven't sent them the invoice for my plane tickets, but they're still in the Newlywed euphoria so it shouldn't be a problem.

Now I really need to finish packing as I fly out to Scotland tonight.

Italy - Part V - Venice and Milan...

After another long and painful 7.5 hr train ride...I arrived in Venice. I wasn't sure what to expect as 50% of the people I met on my travels didn't like Venice at all and 50% loved it...so I had to find out for myself.

And so I did. To me...Venice is one of a kind! I have never seen anything like it before.


Now I didn't fall in love with Venice...I think I'm one of those rare...OK...maybe odd people that was in the middle ground. I was impressed with Venice, but didn't see it as this fabled, romantic city some people describe it as.

Every building, except maybe two, desparately needed a paint job. I don't know if it was the salt water or the dirt and grime, but all the buildings looked desheveled.


If my memory hasn't failed me...yet again...I believe Venice is made up of 117 individual islands connected by little bridges. How cool is that. But the really cool thing about Venice is how the residents have adapted to this one of a kind city. Almost all travel is done by some sort of boat...I know...no big surprise.

But to see boats carry all sorts of products such as computers, fruit, water, machine parts, and everything in between is just so vastly different than the tractor trailers that I'm used to.




There are garbage boats, train boats, fire boats, police boats and of course the famous gondolas. Unfortunately, I didn't get a gondola ride. I was feeling cheap and wasn't willing to fork out the $75-$90 dollars for a 50 min ride. But those gondola "drivers" do earn their money as larger boats and ferries zip by them in the small canals.




Lately when I have a long travel day, I treat myself to a restaurant or cafe instead of street vendors or hostel food. Hey, I'm worth it. But I have changed my mind lately. After finding my hostel on Guidecca island...no small chore, I decided to sit under and umbrella on a cafe and overlook Venice. A wonderful view, but then I realized they wanted 7 Euros for less than a pint of beer. That's almost $11Cdn. I almost didn't order it, but it was a hot day!

However, after sight seeing for hours the next day, I became the frugal backpacker again. I entered a supermarket about 150 metres from the cafe and proceeded to buy two 500mL (each containing more beer than the one at the cafe) for only 49 Euro cents a piece. No that's what I'm talking about. And proceeded to drink them less than 10 metres from the cafe so I had the exact same view.

And while I was drinking my beers and chatting with some fellow backpackers...I had a chance to redeem myself from Dusseldorf. We heard a commotion and saw a very drunk guy (and no it wasn't me) push a whole garbage bin into the waters of Venice. How sad as I was very impressed with how clean the water was. (I had heard horror stories about the waters in Venice). And then the drunk stumbled towards us cursing and kicking at everything.

He stumbled down a small corridor and vanished. I started to follow him, but since he was quite a large man...I didn't see the need to confront him in a back alley on his home turf. But when the cops showed up about 30 minutes later...I was on my way to tell them where I had last seen the guy when he comes out of hiding...stumbling to a point of humour and then walks past where the cops are talking to other witnesses and attempts to push more garbage into the water.

Man...bad timing! I saw 5 police officers tackle this guy, throw him down and put the boots to him. They had him pinned to the ground for at least 30 minutes until they finally took him away. So even though I didn't get the chance to inform the police where the guy was hiding...I felt my intentions were definitely civil minded and felt like I redeemed myself somewhat for letting the perp in Dusseldorf run by me.

I took a picture of the masks(above)...Venice is famous for it's carnivale as well the obvious...to show my good friend Bo what to expect his attire might look like on the day of his stag...which luckily for him is after his wedding due to my travel plans.

Bo...don't think you're off the hook yet dude. You're going to look great in a Venetian mask, German suspenders, a European speedo bathing suit, fake Heidi pig tails, forced to sing the theme song to "The Sound of Music" all day covered with Maori tatoos all over your body. Didn't you realize my trip was just in preparation for your stag? It's been fun knowing you!

Then it was on to the fashion capital of Europe...Milan.

And unfortunately I found myself in many more stores than I would have liked...and no I didn't buy anything. But then again...I found Milan didn't have much to see outside of their main square...but it was definitely an impressive main square.

The cathedral is the second largest Gothic cathedral in the world...so once again...it's hard to get a picture that does it justice.

But what really amazed me was the fact that it had a capacity to hold 40,000 people it in. That's crazy! That's more than everyone in Woodstock going to church at the same time in the same building.




OK...that was probably a bad example. I know Woodstock is almost completely filled with bad people who wouldn't step inside a church for fear of being struck done. Isn't that right Pam and Mark?

Well...this segment of my trip is starting to wind down. I'll find myself in the Black Forest, Munich and back to the middle of Switzerland before heading back to Canada.

But for those of you who haven't already heard...I've decided to head back to Europe after about a month and a half stay in Canada to finish off my sightseeing.

But before that happens...I'll see you in the Bavarian beer halls of southern Germany.