I was able to get a slot to go on mid tour leave for some R&R and as a last minute kind a thing planned a trip through Europe. I was going to hit 11 cities and 4 countries in 15 days and who do you think was crazy enough to go on this adventure with me….none other than my special friend Verna. Verna and I traveled the Philippines together a few years back which eventually lead to us dating. The dating thing lasted about a year, but we have remained great friends since and who knows what our futures hold!!?? We do know that we travel well together and what good is exploring if you don’t have someone to share all the experiences with, so she was game! The plan was to meet in Pisa Italy, but through some unforeseen circumstances, Verna flew into Milan, which worked out since she has family there and I ended up going to Pisa. The adventure started on 6DEC for me as I had to fly into Kuwait first and that is where all my travel coordination took place. I was very fortunate and was able to get in and out of Kuwait in less than 24hrs. I touched down in Pisa on 7DEC and had reservations all set to stay at Camp Darby, an Army base in Italy. My stay there was short lived. I was planning it to be my base of operations, however I landed late on a SUN and everything was closed, plus I was informed that MON was an Italian holiday so most things probably would be closed then too. I was planning to rent a car, but I did not want to wait 2 days, nor did I want to go back to the airport and try to rent one from there...good thing, because it all worked out for the best. I got a hold of Verna and decided to meet her that night, Milan was just a 3 hour train ride away. So I check out of my hotel and made my way to the train station. Of course the train I was suppose to take, the tracks were under construction, so I had to hop a bus and go to another station where with a little help from the locals I was able to get on my train and off to Milan I was!! Really having no idea where I was going, I got off at the wrong station, but good thing I was quick to realize the wrongs of my way and I was able to catch the next train to the Milan Central Station. After arriving 45 minutes later than I expected, I was able to make a phone call and miraculously hook up with Verna and her uncle. Verna had already arranged a hotel for the evening so I didn’t need to worry about that, a pleasant surprise, so we were off to meet some more family, then off to our hotel to get a good night’s sleep so we could tackle the morning early to take in all the sights.
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The next day we got up, had our complimentary breakfast, met up with Verna’s uncle and away we went. We started with the town square and Cathedral. We tried to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” painting, but the place where it is kept was closed, Italian Holiday. From there we left to go to the Christmas market and see other cool buildings, side note, I will be using the term “cool buildings” a lot as I cannot remember everything we saw, and I do not have the time right now to research it, so bear with me….ok, where was I, oh the Christmas Market, there we met up with one of Verna’s cousins. This is where I had my first beer, a Heineken, and some kind of Italian sandwich. This was the first beer of many to come that night. After all the sights were taken in, we were off to meet more cousins. We ended up partying the night away, enjoying beer and some good authentic Italian pizza. We eventually escaped to go and see another one of Verna’s uncles where I was introduced to balut…enjoy the video:
From Milan we caught the train to Zurich, Switzerland. We spent one night there and when we arrived it was raining. We did not know where are hotel was, we booked it right from the train station, they have this huge wall with all the hotels and you just pick and call. We got directions for the one we choose, but somehow I think they got lost in translation. A kind gentlemen out strolling his baby kindly directed us to our hotel, there would have been no way we would have found it otherwise, well of course I would have found it eventually, you know being in the Army and all. After we checked in and got settled, we asked for a recommendation for dinner and the gentlemen point across the street there was a nice family owned restaurant. We said perfect and ran over. This would be our first sit down and relax meal. It was delicious; I had a Swiss beer and something to eat.
The next morning we were off to see the sites, check out the pics. Switzerland is very clean and very beautiful. There is an old part of town and a new part and they are divided by a river.
From Switzerland we were off to Garmish Germany, It was a 3 hour train ride through the Alps, beautiful! Upon arriving at Garmish train station, we hailed a cab and we were off to Edelweiss Resort. It is a gorgeous get away located on an Army base; It was nice to see people that speak your language. We checked in, got our room, arranged our stuff, and then went off exploring the Hotel. The hotel had all the amenities, awesome pool, a neat outdoor hot tub, a couple of restaurants and a bar. It is getting late and we were hungry so we quickly changed and made our way to the restaurant where I had an awesome T-bone steak and some German beer. The next day we planned to go skiing/snowboarding, and then get a massage later that night. We weren’t able to do any, the weather although nice, in the mountains it was foggy with zero visibility, there went snowboarding in the Alps (1 of the 100 things I want to do before I die), I guess I will be going back to Europe again. As for the massage, we didn’t reserve in time, and all slots were full. Didn’t matter, we adjusted plans and went exploring the little town of Garmish.
Garmish to Munich to Prague, oh my!! On our way to Prague, we had a couple of hours to kill before catching the train so Verna and I went and explored Munich. Munich is where a kind lady educated me that although German’s love their beer, it is more of a summer drink and they prefer to drink hot wine in the winter. I said, “That sounds great too, as long as I am here in Germany I am going to have a beer, then I will try the hot wine, thanks!”
Homeland, here I come! It was a 6 hour train ride to Prague, we left right around dusk so we did not get to take in a lot of sights on the way, instead we choose to rest, relax and catch some zzzzz’s where we could. Upon arriving in Prague, we were greeted by my friend Tomas. Tomas and I met while I we attended Signal Officer Basic Course at Fort Gordon, GA. He was the most gracious host; he put us up in an apartment and offered to be our personal tour guide. My friends Mike and Amanda from London flew in for the weekend too, so Praha, look out here we come. The major mission in Prague was to find some kolachies and dumplings – mission accomplished, see the pics. Praha is beautiful, the St Charles Bridge, town square, the castle, peeing statues, Christmas Market, the beer, what a great time. We even took in some night life, check out the video.
We had a blast in the Czeck Republic, but it was time to head off to Salzburg, Austria. Watch for Eurotrip 2008, Part Duo - Coming soon to a Blog near you!
