Thursday, January 31, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
italy trip day 2 (dec 27th)
last night got to brescia alright but the website i used to reserve a room did not reserve it for me. so i had to pay full price to get in luckily the hotel still had vacancy. the check in guy did not speak english or german. some how i still managed to get a room.
after checking in i walked out to a castle and sat on the upper walls for a while. i tried to take pictures but my camera hates the dark. had ritz crackers for dinner took a shower and went to sleep early.
woke up and talked to the check out guy (who spoke english) and had breakfast. ( a roll with jelly and chocolate milk and a pastry of some kind) i walked to the train station and bought a ticket. but the maschine said error ticket not valid go see a ticket office person. so i went to the ticket office and asked if he spoke english he looked at me funny. so i wrote "CREMONA 9:30" on the previous ticket and held it against the window. he nodded and gave me a ticket. (it looked the exact same as the one the machine claimed to have messed up. now i'm on the train to cremona. (9:25)
i'm glad im a genious. i took pictures of my computer screen when i looked up maps for how to get to many of the places i need to get to like the strad museum and the davinci museum. i couldn't print them out and now i have all the information on my camera.
the plan today is the strad museum then florence.
non pablo italiano the one italian phrase i know well. it has come in handy so many times already.
its foggy out today. i think it has somthing to do with mornings and me being on trains.
museum was more modern than i thought it would be. i was expecting a preserved workshop maybe with an exhibit explaining it. but it was just a museum with all the forms and tools he used in desplay cases.
it looked like there was a section that was hands on. but i was not gonna touch any thing your not aloud to touch things in museums thats the rule.
to get to the forms and tools i had to walk through a great deal of paintings and art. which i was not intrested in.
the museum it self was harder to find than i thought. even with a map i had a hard time finding it.
after the museum i walked back to the train station and wanted to buy a ticket to florence. i looked for a ticket machine. there wern't any. so i had to talk to a ticket person. the problem was i was not sure how to say florence in italian. i knew it was not florence and was something like ferenzi but not sure. i looked in the dictionary andrea gave me, not there. looked at a mapp in the dictionary, it was in english. eventually i just walked up to the youngest of the clerks and asked pablo engles? she said alittle. i was releaved. florence please she gave me a ticket. i thanked her and sat in the warm waiting room. the ticket had no platform number on it. so i was not sure were the train would come from. looked at the big board and it said the train to piacenza (my first stop ft at the time i wanted it to) was on platform "1 tronco ovest" i figured out ovest was west so i probably ment the west part of the platform which was labbeled. but tronco? does that mean some other platform 1 or is it just a extra word. when the time came the platform changed to just platform 1. which helped alot.
on the train to florence now. happy with my trip so far there have been no major problems.
italian fast food pizza is not great i think i prefer vienna fast food pizza (1:50 pm)
its foggy out still.
the italian phrase book andrea gave me has been invauluble. i just look up the phrase i need write it down and show it to italians.
ok on the 2nd train now. sitting in the hallway (it was a cabin car set up) because 2 italians decided to stand out in the hallway and not let me through. 3:08 pm its still foggy
bought pringles for a possible dinner. italian trains run smoother mechanically than austrian trains. but austrian trains run smoother in every other way.
its colder than the website said it was gonna be.
a brief over view of italy.
its alot like mexico
the houses are all mostly large properties with outer walls and a house inside.
the lanuage is very similar.
the people are jerks (but so am i so i doesn't bother me)
things aren't maintained there are houses with colapesed roofs, the trains are ugly, seems like a very "abuse it till it breaks then get a new one" kinda culture.
stucko houses every were
although there is grass and trees, its fall so every thing is dead looking kinda like a dessert.
(the lack of snow makes it worse)
even its placement on the contenent is similar.
(this is gonna sound very presumious and maybe rude, but i have noticed that the nothern europeans tend to be hard working (like northern USA) and the southern europe seems to be less work oreintated (lazy)(like the southern USA and mexico) and the very high north europeans don't really mater (like canada) ) i have also noticed that the west sides of cities tend to be the more worse off sides. i think there is somthing about people that makes them go certain directions based on there type. (i know its far more complicated than that i'm just making an observation)
4:00 pm the sun is setting gonna get to florence at 5:30pm luckily the hotel is close to the train station.
got to the hotel after walking around the church plaza twice. the streeet i was looking for was under construction so i could not see the street sign. the manager was quite happy to see me. he explained every thing in english slowly for me and then gave me my old skeleton key. (1 tumbler, that just screams security) luckily the floor is tile and i have wood funtiture so if any of that funitutre were to slide across the floor i would wake up imediatly. so i put a chair infront of the door. (i was thinking of putting the table infront of the door and have the chair percariously balanced on it so it would fall down but it would take me forever to get out of the room then.
saw the dome (a big ugly church) and bough my ticket to the next city
had spagehitti the inside was full so i ate out side. felt wierd (10.90 euro)
its 9:00 i'm going to bed.
after checking in i walked out to a castle and sat on the upper walls for a while. i tried to take pictures but my camera hates the dark. had ritz crackers for dinner took a shower and went to sleep early.
woke up and talked to the check out guy (who spoke english) and had breakfast. ( a roll with jelly and chocolate milk and a pastry of some kind) i walked to the train station and bought a ticket. but the maschine said error ticket not valid go see a ticket office person. so i went to the ticket office and asked if he spoke english he looked at me funny. so i wrote "CREMONA 9:30" on the previous ticket and held it against the window. he nodded and gave me a ticket. (it looked the exact same as the one the machine claimed to have messed up. now i'm on the train to cremona. (9:25)
i'm glad im a genious. i took pictures of my computer screen when i looked up maps for how to get to many of the places i need to get to like the strad museum and the davinci museum. i couldn't print them out and now i have all the information on my camera.
the plan today is the strad museum then florence.
non pablo italiano the one italian phrase i know well. it has come in handy so many times already.
its foggy out today. i think it has somthing to do with mornings and me being on trains.
museum was more modern than i thought it would be. i was expecting a preserved workshop maybe with an exhibit explaining it. but it was just a museum with all the forms and tools he used in desplay cases.
it looked like there was a section that was hands on. but i was not gonna touch any thing your not aloud to touch things in museums thats the rule.
to get to the forms and tools i had to walk through a great deal of paintings and art. which i was not intrested in.
the museum it self was harder to find than i thought. even with a map i had a hard time finding it.
after the museum i walked back to the train station and wanted to buy a ticket to florence. i looked for a ticket machine. there wern't any. so i had to talk to a ticket person. the problem was i was not sure how to say florence in italian. i knew it was not florence and was something like ferenzi but not sure. i looked in the dictionary andrea gave me, not there. looked at a mapp in the dictionary, it was in english. eventually i just walked up to the youngest of the clerks and asked pablo engles? she said alittle. i was releaved. florence please she gave me a ticket. i thanked her and sat in the warm waiting room. the ticket had no platform number on it. so i was not sure were the train would come from. looked at the big board and it said the train to piacenza (my first stop ft at the time i wanted it to) was on platform "1 tronco ovest" i figured out ovest was west so i probably ment the west part of the platform which was labbeled. but tronco? does that mean some other platform 1 or is it just a extra word. when the time came the platform changed to just platform 1. which helped alot.
on the train to florence now. happy with my trip so far there have been no major problems.
italian fast food pizza is not great i think i prefer vienna fast food pizza (1:50 pm)
its foggy out still.
the italian phrase book andrea gave me has been invauluble. i just look up the phrase i need write it down and show it to italians.
ok on the 2nd train now. sitting in the hallway (it was a cabin car set up) because 2 italians decided to stand out in the hallway and not let me through. 3:08 pm its still foggy
bought pringles for a possible dinner. italian trains run smoother mechanically than austrian trains. but austrian trains run smoother in every other way.
its colder than the website said it was gonna be.
a brief over view of italy.
its alot like mexico
the houses are all mostly large properties with outer walls and a house inside.
the lanuage is very similar.
the people are jerks (but so am i so i doesn't bother me)
things aren't maintained there are houses with colapesed roofs, the trains are ugly, seems like a very "abuse it till it breaks then get a new one" kinda culture.
stucko houses every were
although there is grass and trees, its fall so every thing is dead looking kinda like a dessert.
(the lack of snow makes it worse)
even its placement on the contenent is similar.
(this is gonna sound very presumious and maybe rude, but i have noticed that the nothern europeans tend to be hard working (like northern USA) and the southern europe seems to be less work oreintated (lazy)(like the southern USA and mexico) and the very high north europeans don't really mater (like canada) ) i have also noticed that the west sides of cities tend to be the more worse off sides. i think there is somthing about people that makes them go certain directions based on there type. (i know its far more complicated than that i'm just making an observation)
4:00 pm the sun is setting gonna get to florence at 5:30pm luckily the hotel is close to the train station.
got to the hotel after walking around the church plaza twice. the streeet i was looking for was under construction so i could not see the street sign. the manager was quite happy to see me. he explained every thing in english slowly for me and then gave me my old skeleton key. (1 tumbler, that just screams security) luckily the floor is tile and i have wood funtiture so if any of that funitutre were to slide across the floor i would wake up imediatly. so i put a chair infront of the door. (i was thinking of putting the table infront of the door and have the chair percariously balanced on it so it would fall down but it would take me forever to get out of the room then.
saw the dome (a big ugly church) and bough my ticket to the next city
had spagehitti the inside was full so i ate out side. felt wierd (10.90 euro)
its 9:00 i'm going to bed.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
italy trip day 1 (dec 26th)
sorry for the lateness of this post but i have been busy not doing any thing (break)
i wrote all these blogs on my palm pilot but i forgot to install the software that i need to make the palm pilot and my laptop talk to each other. so i have to retype each of them.
ok... woke up this morning at 5:00 AM and got ready to go. had spaghetti for breakfast and went to the train station.
here is the plan for the entire italy trip.
1 Venice
2 directly to brescia (a city close to cremona)
3 sleep
4 cremona (Stradivarius museum)
5 florence
6 sleep
7 vinci (da vinci museum)
8 florence
9 direct to venice
10 venice
11 sleep
12 venice
13 vienna (late evening)
the train is just starting to move. the annousments were in both german and english. the conductors english was so bad i understood the german better. still no snow in vienna, it did not feel like christmas yesterday.
i have been thinking about this trip since the second week in germany. but i only planned this trip yesterday and the day before.
packed extremely light for this trip, no cloths or computer. just what i need to survive.
not sure what to expect in Italy. i've gotten pretty good at being a dumb American. that will probably help me alot. andrea gave me a Italian phrase book / dictionary. i should try studying that.
tried to withdraw money this morning. but since its yesterday in america still, and my card has a daily limit of how much i can take out. and i withdrew money yesterday. it would not give me money.
i have a seven hour train ride with 2 italian teenagers sitting across from me. there is no leg room. the seats are set up so that every other row is facing the opposite direction. so we are all facing each other. which makes things awquard for me. there is little leg room because there is a person there. it is dark yet so i can't watch scenery go by.
several hours latter.......
its to bright out. and the snow on the ground out side is making it brighter (it has snowed every were around vienna just not the city.
saw mountains (both smooth and pointy (smooth = granite pointy = chalk (learned that in history class))) also saw a broken (looks like it might have caught on fire and exploded (or bust open at the seems)) any way there is foam (like garage door insulation foam) coming out of the openings. looks like some kind of automatic fire supresion system.
4 hours to go
in italy now
boarder patrol just glanced at my passport and gave the 2 italians across from me the 3rd degree. i guess no one likes having italians in there country. (austria will not let you buy a train ticket into austria with out a ticket out of austria when italy is concerned)
one of the italians accidentally kicked my foot and said "enschudi.... sorry... scussi" (excusse me... sorry... sorry" i laughed.
2 hours to go
not sure how to get train tickets in italy. i hope there are machines that speak english like in germany. although i guess if there is a ticket office every teller will likely speak english. i just don't wanna deal with people.
in venice (finally)
found a ticket machine got a ticket. sitting on the train now. problem is i'm not sure its the right train.
the platform # was not made clear. this is the only train leaving at the specified time so im sitting on it. if its not the right train i'll get kicked off at the next stop and i can get another train.
when got to Venice. i walked out of the train station and saw the main canal. and the buildings and breathed in and said "ahhh..... venice" (i ment to say that when i got there. i was just so impressed with how pretty the city was that i said it unintentionally) the city s beautiful Saturday (when i come back and stay all day) will be fun. i kinda wish i brought my laptop so i could plan out my trip in venice but my shoulders will be glad i did not.
the loud speaker just said i'm on the right train.
day one seems to be going smoothly. looks like i'll get to brescia before sunset. then i can find my hotel and explore the city some.
i wrote all these blogs on my palm pilot but i forgot to install the software that i need to make the palm pilot and my laptop talk to each other. so i have to retype each of them.
ok... woke up this morning at 5:00 AM and got ready to go. had spaghetti for breakfast and went to the train station.
here is the plan for the entire italy trip.
1 Venice
2 directly to brescia (a city close to cremona)
3 sleep
4 cremona (Stradivarius museum)
5 florence
6 sleep
7 vinci (da vinci museum)
8 florence
9 direct to venice
10 venice
11 sleep
12 venice
13 vienna (late evening)
the train is just starting to move. the annousments were in both german and english. the conductors english was so bad i understood the german better. still no snow in vienna, it did not feel like christmas yesterday.
i have been thinking about this trip since the second week in germany. but i only planned this trip yesterday and the day before.
packed extremely light for this trip, no cloths or computer. just what i need to survive.
not sure what to expect in Italy. i've gotten pretty good at being a dumb American. that will probably help me alot. andrea gave me a Italian phrase book / dictionary. i should try studying that.
tried to withdraw money this morning. but since its yesterday in america still, and my card has a daily limit of how much i can take out. and i withdrew money yesterday. it would not give me money.
i have a seven hour train ride with 2 italian teenagers sitting across from me. there is no leg room. the seats are set up so that every other row is facing the opposite direction. so we are all facing each other. which makes things awquard for me. there is little leg room because there is a person there. it is dark yet so i can't watch scenery go by.
several hours latter.......
its to bright out. and the snow on the ground out side is making it brighter (it has snowed every were around vienna just not the city.
saw mountains (both smooth and pointy (smooth = granite pointy = chalk (learned that in history class))) also saw a broken (looks like it might have caught on fire and exploded (or bust open at the seems)) any way there is foam (like garage door insulation foam) coming out of the openings. looks like some kind of automatic fire supresion system.
4 hours to go
in italy now
boarder patrol just glanced at my passport and gave the 2 italians across from me the 3rd degree. i guess no one likes having italians in there country. (austria will not let you buy a train ticket into austria with out a ticket out of austria when italy is concerned)
one of the italians accidentally kicked my foot and said "enschudi.... sorry... scussi" (excusse me... sorry... sorry" i laughed.
2 hours to go
not sure how to get train tickets in italy. i hope there are machines that speak english like in germany. although i guess if there is a ticket office every teller will likely speak english. i just don't wanna deal with people.
in venice (finally)
found a ticket machine got a ticket. sitting on the train now. problem is i'm not sure its the right train.
the platform # was not made clear. this is the only train leaving at the specified time so im sitting on it. if its not the right train i'll get kicked off at the next stop and i can get another train.
when got to Venice. i walked out of the train station and saw the main canal. and the buildings and breathed in and said "ahhh..... venice" (i ment to say that when i got there. i was just so impressed with how pretty the city was that i said it unintentionally) the city s beautiful Saturday (when i come back and stay all day) will be fun. i kinda wish i brought my laptop so i could plan out my trip in venice but my shoulders will be glad i did not.
the loud speaker just said i'm on the right train.
day one seems to be going smoothly. looks like i'll get to brescia before sunset. then i can find my hotel and explore the city some.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
