Internet Cafes are too expensive

Sorry for the long silence but the prices for internet cafes are terrible in Italy and I have a budget to maintain people! Luckily I am now staying with some friends of a friend of my parents in Lausanne (Switzerland) and taking advantage of the free internet to update.

To backtrack a little, Venice was the most incredible city I have ever visited. Postcards, movies, nothing does it justice and it would have been well worth spending a little longer there. It did wonders in cheering me up (I am now cellphone less, whether pickpocketed or my own idiocy I don't know but I went through a bad moment when I realized that my life-line connection to the world was gone...first and ony time I cried while traveling to be honest, it made me realize that moments like that are much easier when you're not alone). But, now all is much better. I rode the water taxis in venice, got lost on the little streets, bought a mask, and loved every single second. Seriously, that place has a magic that is not comparable to anything else. I wish I could have afforded a Gondola ride but alas for 80 Euros (which is 2 full days of traveling with my budget) it just wasn't feasable. Oh well! Just means I'll have to come back...

Then, Milano was rather boring..beautiful cathedral (biggest Gothic cathedral ever etc...seats 40,000 I think it was) but otherwise lots of expensive shopping in fancy buildings. Nice to look at but lets get serious, am I out to buy Prada and Louis Vuitton, because if not then Milano is really just not worth it.

Now I'm in Switzerland, today Lausanne (then tonight camping in Interlaken), tomorrow exploring Bern and Interlaken (where I might try Paragliding...it is the capital of extreme sports after all) and then Luzerne. The next night I'll be in Salzburg, then two days in Vienna and then its off home to Romania with a brief stopover in Budapest.

As promised, I'll try to upload some photos!
Tschuss!
Petra

Michelangelo

David. The real one, the plaster one, the bronze one, the souvenir one, THE REAL ONE...I saw them all. I feel very stupid saying this, but, ladies.. that is one hell of a male body. If only they were all like that. Before you start laughing, I know that you too would have admired him for a good half hour from all angles...in 4 different places.

=)

No Foto!

These words echoed in the Sistine Chapel with shocking regularity despite the signs, ammoumcements and guards yelling at people to not take pictures. Naturally this made it a little less than ideal to be standing in this tome of beauty staring upwards until I got a cramp in my neck, but nothing could take away from the magnificance that is Michelangelo's creation - nothing. Today was Rome sight-seeing day, aka the Vatican and all that is catholic and pop-related but still beautiful. The view from the cupola of Saint Peters Basilica, and knowing that I was standing on the dome of the biggest freaking church in the world, took my breath away...that and the 500 odd steps I climbed at 8am to get up there and beat the masses.

Tonight, beer in the light of the Trevi Fountain with Popi and Carol (from Argentinia and Brazil). More when I get to Anica's in Florence tomorrow night, and PICTURES!

Cheers,
Petra

PS - To the parents (specifically daddy), sorry about the beer and blagging but I'm young and stupid (as you once were from Dietmar's stories....) and practically everone in Europe is out to rip me off every chance they get. So, as long as I don't end up in jail, am not drug smuggling, being overy promiscuous, kicking dogs or doing other terrible things, you can let the things I do *do*, slide, right? Excellent. Love you both, and will behave somewhat in the future =)

Blagging

I have fallen desperately in love, with southern Italy. After an amazing boat ride (what a luxury way to travel!) that had a swimming pool and full out leather seats, I met up with two Essex girls (who are not typical Essex girls, aka no long fake nails and white shoes) we traveled together to Napoli where they reluctantly left me to fend for myself among the pickpockets all aimed at tourists. Luckily, my hostel was on the outskirts of Napoli in relative safety and had some very interesting people (cheers to Davide) who I chatted with until 5am, then woke up at 7am (what a night) to go to Pompeii with my new British travel mates. Pompeii was exceptional and like nothing I've seen before, we spent the day walking around in awe and heatstroke conditions, and then came the blagging.

They (Katie and Mikaela, the brits) had a little cabin in a campground in Sorrento (an hour away on the bay of Napoli) with coastal view and privacy (which never happens in hostels) and we wanted to sneak me in. Blagging is brit-speak for BS-ing your way through something. Basically, I walked in aiming to sneak down to their cabin but the guys at reception stopped me (big backpack for a non-customer is a little wee bit suspicious me'thinks). So, after tearfuly saying I got robbed blind in Napoli and needed to speak to my friends from the boat, they let me on to the site on the condition that I leave my bag there. Back at the site, we schemed how to get me in so that we could split the bill 3-way and make it cheaper than 35/person per night. We went back and sobbed to reception that I was robbed blind and had nowhere to go and no money and could I please stay with them, I cried a little (damn good acting my friends, damn good), and they let me stay for free since the Brit girls were only taking up two beds of a 4 bed cabin. Then for night two, Mikaela (one of the brit girls) asked the reception guy if there were lockers at the train station because me (being "moneyless") was planning to sleep there and then continued with how she was worried and is it safe to sleep at a train station etc. Finally the guy said, no let her stay with you two for free since she hasn't got any money etc. So instead of paying an overpriced 35 each for the cabin, with the BEAUTIFUL view, we payed 23 each, totally decent for what we got, and had a fabulous time in our little wood-log house thing. Great time. Of course, for all the money we saved there we got scammed ourselves by this dodgy Capri tourguide.

Ah Capri. I could have stayed there forever. I took the chair-lift (what a ride) and saw the whole bay of Napoli and Mediterranian spread out in front of me. What an experience.

Now, I'm in Roma (my own little Roman Holiday n'est-e pas Nessa?) and should stop typing and get exploring since a lifetime is not enough for Rome let alone 3 days. Off I go. My love to you all back home, I have loads of photos to post on facebook when I get back.

Ciao,
Petra

PS -Keep on blagging. If any country is a place to take advantage of being a girl, its Italy where the Bambinos on scooters will lay themselves at my blonde feet. Heh. (Thats how we got a 25 euro taxi for 10, pretty smiles and blonde hair)

Slight change in plans...

Quick update about my small change in plans. I'm still taking that really long boat ride, but then I'm going down to Naples to a hostel nestled in the beautiful southern Italian countryside on the outskirts of Naples. I've got 3 nights there to go see Pompeii, Capri and Naples, and then head up to Rome and continue northwards to Florence etc. Then, I may duck into Switzerland and come back to Italy to Trieste -thank goodness for Mr. Husic and his lovely relatives- because Venice is VERY expensive to stay in and this way I can just day-trip. Then I'd head up to Austria and continue horizontally across Hungary to home-sweet-home in Romania. That is the plan...do I have anything actually booked...of course not!
Spontaneity is key, that and the freedom to change my plans. Maybe I'll head to Greece, maybe not. We shall see, but yeah, now you know that tomorrow I shall be in Naples.
Ciao
Petra

The night of the the grab and go

Barcelona! What a city. To sum it up nicely, I strolled along La Rambla at all hours of the day and night, went to see the whole plethora of Gaudi buildings - even did a guided tour of one of the houses! Which was really cool because there were no corners, only rounded edges, and it was all designed to imitate an underwater environment with wild plays of light and texture. Gaudi is my new favorite architect!

Also visited the Picasso museum -be still my heart- and drooled over the masters works. It was especially cool because there was special exhibit on the photography of Lee Mills, who extensively photographed Picasso and his works in progress. Saw the aquarium, for a massive entrance fee, and walked through a glass underwater tunnel amongst sharks. Have been drinking lots of Sangria, eating Paella, getting tanned and generally having a good time.

Speaking of good times, last night was one of those. I was sharing a room with an austrailian and a british chick, clearly dating, and we decided to find a flamenco show and make a night of it. We headed out for dinner, with the brazilian also sharing our room in tow, and after dinner, flamenco, and wandering along La Rambla we decided to go for a drink. So we sit in a pub on La Rambla and get the biggest ass of a waiter ever. Miserable, rude and just plain awful. Then, in the midst of drinking our beers, Nick -the Austrailian- suggests jokingly that we drink and run. We toast this idea just as a big truck drives by hiding our patio location from view of the restaurant and evil waiter. To which I say, that would have been the perfect cover! Just as we lament our lost moment, a garbage truck stops right in front of us -cough,fate, cough- we look at each other, chug our beer and run for it. Fugitives that we are, we made it to a little side street unharmed and to this day jump at the sound of sirens. The end.

Tomorrow I'm heading to the Maritime Museum for an exhibit on Leonardo Da Vincis inventions, then to the beach, followed by grocery shopping for my really long boat ride. I'm taking the boat from Barcelona to Civitavecchia in Italy, leaving tomorrow at around 7 and arriving on the 29th at around 4. Then it's off to Roma by train and thus will begin my great exploration of Italy. Rome, Pompeii, Capri, Naples, Florence, Milan, Trieste, Venice, Verona...HERE I COME.

Off to pack and find hostels in Italy,
Cheers all,
Keep Commenting! It motivates me!
Petra

Obrigada Portugal!

Thank you Portugal! On my last day there I went to Sintra (not far by train from Lisboa) where it seems the royalty liked to come out and play quite often because the hills of Sintra (I say "hills" and not mountains because they peak at 600m - which I climbed of course!) are filled with palaces and elaborate gardens. An utterly surreal fairy-tale. And paradoxally so, it feels like no matter where you are in town you're nevertheless always walking uphill.

The night before in Lisboa I went to a Fado show with a few others, and Fado (for those not sure) is this deeply passionate heart-felt music much resembling a balad. Very emotional, powerful stuff. Everyone sang, including random people off the street who heard the fado, and the cook (who had two solos)... what a night. So naturally following this up with Sintra just made Portugal that much more incredible.

On one of the grounds a very wealthy doctor who had owned them created this enchanted forest where all was supposed to be in balance, so there were symbols for paradise and hell interwoven everywhere and it was all connected (one of the underground labyrinths of "hell" ended up in the highest spire of the church). I nearly got lost in the maze of underground tunnels because first, its a maze and second its pitch black. So cool.

Today I'm in Mardid (and have actually just said bye to Bridget who kindly put me up for the night), and last night we walked around the center area and had dinner on this beautiful terrace overlooking the city, then drinks (naturally) and in short a jolly good time. Ahhhh, Sangria. Otherwise though, Madrid was a little less impressive than some other places, too shopping oriented although the two museums I visited were amazing. I saw Guernica, the real Guernica by Picasso! It's huge, and when you're standing in front of it, you can really feel the emotion radiating.

Tonight I'm off to Barcelona for three days and then, who knows! (Diana, if you would hurry up and call me maybe I would know! Hint!) but likely Italy via boat (because that would be a beautiful boat ride between the Italian islands and Corsica, clearly much nicer than train.)

Cheers for now,
Petra