Milano- No Cookies, Just Pizza

Duomo

Friday September 14th- Tuesday September 18th, 2012

After our on a whim decision to stay in Venice for a day, we headed to our next destination: Milan. We didn't know much about Milan other than it is one of the fashion capitals. We were pleased to encounter a lot of beautiful architecture, good people (thank you couch surfing hang outs) and of course, PIZZA. I am sure that we had nothing but pizza for most of our stay in Italy (maybe some bread, cheese, fruit and wine). We did try to make it to a variety of pizza places- including some top notch. We missed one in the afternoon after they had already started cooling down the oven and I'll admit I cried. A lot. (I was pretty hungry). But were able to try pizza at one place called Pizza OK (think Los Angeles hip food place with exotic yet simple menu complete with techno music hits) and one of the guys working there was kind enough to give Alex a button from the place.

Our stay in Milan was a bit strange as we weren't able to connect with anyone to stay with, so spent most of our time in cheap hotels deemed "hostels" with just the same limited amount of thrills. Though we were definitely overcharged, it was nice to have a space of our own and to move at our own pace (and to recover a bit from all the train hopping).

CS picnic

shopping cooridors

The weather was fantastic, allowing for all sorts of biking around the confusing streets (lots of inner and outer rings) and a picnic on Sunday with lot of people from Couch Surfing. We were lucky enough to be in Milan for the 6 year anniversary of CS there, so we joined in on the celebration. There were both travelers and locals, tons of food, beer, wine, games and high fives. We even hit up some sort of delicious buffet which was free with the purchase of a drink.

fountain outside of train station

We had planned to leave Milan on Monday morning (as in 5am-ish) so we crammed in a few sights Sunday evening, including the magnificent church, the Duomo. The architecture there is quite stunning, though at times the storefronts within the old facades are a bit distracting. Even the train station was outstanding to encounter. With our Sunday having been jam packed and our train time looming in the early hours, we decided to stay an extra day, eat some extra pizza and see some extra(ordinary) sights. There were some old palace grounds that had been converted into a park (as these old cities seem to do)  which made for lovely last day in Italy.

Alex got me this old castle. He's da best!

Venice? Why not!?!??

Thursday, September 13th- Friday, September 14th, 2012

That's Amore!

With our second bike trip under our belts, we proceeded West to explore Italy. We decided to head to Milan as it was not too far south in the boot. Because we had not yet connected with anyone on couchsurfing in Milan, we decided to reserve a hostel. This is the only time we made a reservation and it ended up counting against us.
From Vienna we had to take three trains to Milan (all regional)- one to get to the border of Austria, another to cross Italy and into Verona, and a third to Milan. All was well on the first train, we arrived at the station and boarded onto the second train. The second stop on this train was a bit longer than most, so I decided to use the bathroom. This proved to be a bad time for it was a stop for the Italian border patrol to inspect the train and I had Alex and my passports on my person. I was in the restroom when all I hear is Alex shouting "She's in the restroom. She has my passport. Passport? Do you understand passport?!??" (probably omitting some expletives in there). From his account, the border patrol officers had come through the car and made a bee-line for him, demanding his passport and not understanding when he told them where I was with the passports. They were attempting to escort him out of the car while he was attempting to escort them to the bathroom. When just outside the restroom, I swung the door open, with my pants unbuttoned and his and my passport in hand. I'm sure that a bit of color rose in the cheeks of the officer closest to me. They looked at my passport and handed it back immediately, while writing down information from Alex's on some sort of list. I was asked to go back into the bathroom to finish my business, which I did quickly so as not to leave Alex with the officers who may or may not have decided to throw him off the train (this is the part where we realize how much Italian really isn't so much like speaking Spanish) We finally return to our seats, relieved to still be on the train, and pretty pissed at our terrible welcoming into Italy.
We spent some time talking with other people on the train and found that most were headed to the end of the line which was Venice. With no real rush, and a need for adventure, we decided to skip our train connection in Verona and go to Venice for a night. We ended up eating the cost of our first nights stay at our hostel in Milan, but it was well worth it.

city on the water

We arrived in Venice a bit confused at how to figure out a place to stay for the night, so we went to the tourism office. Help from them came in the form of a bad photocopy of a list of hostels and hotels. We decided to head out to find a cheap and available one. Upon exiting the train station, we realized that Venice is not a place for bikes. It is not a place for wheelchairs and it is not a place for strollers. Venice is stairs, small walkways and canals, and thats what makes it so beautiful.

mmmm pizza

Alex was quite the gentleman and offered to lift my bike as well as his up and down the stairs. He was in need of good massaging after that. We tried our hand at finding one of the hostels but wandered around the same streets for 20 minutes to no avail. We finally asked a woman at a small coffee shop who walked me to the place we were trying to find (it was listed as the wrong street number). We went back to the coffee shop to ask for another suggestion close by. I walked (Alex stayed with the bikes) and found a decent hostel that had cheap student rates and had space for us to store our bikes and our things even after we checked out the next day. When we were all settled we asked the very charming and well dressed receptionist (he is Italian after all) where we should go to get good pizza (of course). He pointed us in the direction of one not too far (so we couldn't get lost) and we indulged ourselves in the first of many pizzas in Italy. After that, we walked around and got lost for a bit, exploring the narrow corridors and deserted plazas. We returned to the hostel after a short while ready for sleep.

Pizza tricolore- ricotta, tomato, pesto

The next day was absolutely beautiful. It was also positively crowded. But with bright blue skies, deep blue-green waters, and glittering buildings, it was easy to see why everyone goes or should go to Venice. We didn't use a map, preferring to get lost and flow with the ever increasing tourist crowd. We bought food from a grocery store and had a picnic out in the sunshine. Venice was extremely expensive (1.50 euro for bathrooms, 80 euro for a gondola ride- we skipped that one) but well worth it. We were definitely glad to have chosen the adventure.

love it

jump right in the water's fine

glittering buildings

Vienna- land of divine sunrays behind buildings

Sunday September 9th- Thursday September 13th, 2012

heavenly sounds

sunset behind one of the museum buildings

Vienna! What a beautiful city... by the landscape and sunsets alone you can tell why people used to think themselves touched by God (or God themselves if you were a ruler of some sort). We were pretty pleased to find it such a bikeable city too. We were lucky enough to stay with two cycling enthusiasts, Edwin and Gerti, who were able to point out some things to do and see while there. They had a lovely flat in an apartment complex complete with a little garden where they grew some of their own veggies (and made excellent salads! mmmm!)

garden from back of palace

tree archways

Vienna is set up in districts (similar to Prague) with the main buildings in the center (district 1) and the rest in rings moving out. We didn't get to it all, but we spent a great deal of time at the Schonbrunn palace which is a palace with huge garden grounds behind it. There were tree archways, several bodies of waters, statues everywhere and even labyrinths (which alas cost money). 

oh! that lipstick is all wrong!

palace view from end of garden

We also stopped at the public library (the nerd that I am) just to scope what its like. Older cities usually have public libraries and also National Libraries which are for students and other specified individuals. I am a big fan of what spaces are like that are used by all. The public library was above one of the metro stops and had a great deal of steps which allowed us to have a good view of the city. 

view from top of library

library stairs

statue with the mayors house aglow

We had the good fortune of running into Max (previous blog post- the bike tour guide who got us to our meeting place with Edwin) again while exploring the city. He was posted up by a statue watching some kids skate off random things in a parking lot and invited us to go to a bar later that evening with friends. It happened to be the night of the Austria v. Germany futbol game which always gets people in Austria in a twist. Germany is a great team and each time Austria plays them, they are adamant about winning (but haven't done so in a while). Needless to say the spirit is there (the proof was in the amount of beer spilled that night- mostly on Alex) and Austria put in some excellent effort, but Germany swiped up that win. 

Falalalalafel

The next day Edwin took us to get falafel and check out a bike shop near by called FixDich (which means fix yourself in German, but looks very close to f-you in German too). The guy running the shop, Danny, was super chill so we hung out for a while (it was also raining a bit). We got to talk bikes with him and a few others who stopped by the shop, and picked up a ton of stickers to rep our travels.

H&A and Erwin and Gerti cuddling up for a movie

We spent some good time with Gerti and Edwin- eating at a traditional style Viennese place (outdoor beergarden-like seating) with seasonal pumpkin dishes (yum!), making food for each other (we made pizza- Alex saved the day when I forgot  to buy the dough), and having good conversation on bikes, politics, food and movies. Unfortunately their bikes were stolen while we were staying with them (!!!!) but their insurance covered the bikes so they weren't completely SOL (but still, as a cyclist, we know that it takes time to get over your stolen ride). They helped us to the very end of our stay-
Edwin speeding us on our bikes to the train station Thursday so we wouldn't miss our train into Italy.

The Austrailan bike plan to Vienna

September 9th, 2012 Sunday

We woke up feeling excellent thanks to plenty of water the night before and the extra hour of sleep we let ourselves have. We got in another shower, packed up our tent and stopped at probably the only open coffee shop for some stale bread and expensive orange juice served by a girl who seemed peeved to be at work (I guess I would be too if the whole town was partying the night before into the morning and I had to be at work to serve them all). 

lake and walking area behind our camping place

And then we were off again! Taking the last bit of map trail to the outskirts of Vienna. Less than an hour into our travels we bumped into an Australian couple, Maia and Jeff, who were also taking the trail into Vienna. Turns out Jeff is a professor on sabatical in Vienna, and he and Maia were in the midst of many travels all over (including to Los Angeles some months before). We decided to tag along with them the rest of the way and had excellent conversation as we went. They had minimal baggage compared to us, so we put our rears in gear to keep up with their excellent pace (as well as minimal stops).
For lunch we went a km off the cycle path to a small town that was having their own traditional wine festival, complete with attire, traditional music, and food. Unfortunately for us, we got there just as it was ending and missed out on most of the food options. We still were well fed, and ready to hit the trail. The map indicated that this day of travel wouldn't have too great of variations in the elevation levels, but we were fooled into thinking we would not hit any hills at all. We kept at it (me, sometimes walking) and eased our travels in some rolling hills into an eventual flat path on the way in.

fields of flowers

At last- Vienna! We made it in great time thanks to Maia and Jeff, and even had enough time before meeting up with our hosts to grab a bite to eat and a drink- a traditional Austrian soda called Almdudler (light, refreshing lemon bubbly tea taste).

We made it! No honking please.

Thanks Jeff and Maia!!!!

With that, we said our goodbyes to Jeff and Maia, and began our seemingly more difficult trek into the central part of Vienna. Lucky for us we stand out, because we caught the eye of a roadie passing us. He asked us where we were from and where we were headed and told us to follow him through the city to get to our destination. The roadie, Max, turned out to be a bike tour guide of the city of Vienna (what are the chances?) He sped us through the city with ease, only to get a flat just 500 meters from our destination. He pointed us in the right direction and bid us goodnight as he headed home just down the way to patch his flat.

In front of the mayors house. yes seriously, the mayors house.

We then waited near a subway station in the center of Vienna to meet up with our host, Erwin. He met us by bike and gave us a quick tour of some of the more prominent buildings in the center. We headed back to his flat that he shares with his girlfriend, Gerti. She made us some pasta and salad, and we talked about bikes until we started to get sleepy then headed to bed.

All lost in the Czech Republic or pass the sturm in Poysdorf

September 8th, 2012 Saturday

The next day we awoke to gobbles and strange thumping noises which both came from our turkey neighbors. We loaded up and decided to get some food from a grocery store in the next town over. After the staples of bread and cheese, we got going on our trail. This would be our last day of biking in Czech, as we would soon cross the Austrian border. The biking was mostly flat and enjoyable, and with less km to cover that day, we stopped for a leisurely lunch of an amazing appetizer of warm goat cheese with honey, balsamic, and tomatoes, and pizza for our main meal.

The lovely bikeways of Czech, until next time!

Alex almost gets eaten

our lunch destination

We set off to the last few km in Czech with some lovely rolling hills only to come to a crossroads where the numbered trail we were on went both ways. Huh? Another cyclist stopped and told us that we had gone way out of our way in the wrong direction. We could either continue on the path to our right to cross the Austrian border and figure out how to get to the town near out camping place, or backtrack. Seeing as how we didn't have ANY maps of Austria except for what was shown on the trail map (we weren't even on the trail map anymore) we decided to backtrack. I refrained from reminding Alex how the town we went through was in a valley, and the downhill we coasted down before would soon be our uphill.

The rolling hills of... wait, we went the wrong way didn't we?

Helloooo Austria!!!!!

FINALLY we reached the Austrian border, took pictures, and cursed the signage and map way that led us astray.

good bye, Czech you later!

We were tired and frustrated an still needed to put in a few more km before we reached our campsite in Poysdorf (the same one that Beth had recommended to us a few nights before). We raised our heads in appreciation for the wonderful sky veiws and made it into town just as it was getting dark.

We were welcomed warmly by the campsite owner who gave us a key to the restrooms and told us where to set up. We knew we were in a different country because the showers weren't timed! Yay! After a good long shower to decompress we headed into the main part of town. Before we ended up anywhere to eat, we were distracted by the tons of people in traditional Austrian garb, old AND young people, headed in the same direction. We worked up some of our German which was getting rusty (if it was ever there in the first place) and asked if anyone spoke English. They did and told us they were headed into the towns major festival for the wine season. The town is normally around 700 people, but everyone from the neighboring cities and towns come out for the food, the people, the traditonal music, and the Sturm. What is Sturm you ask? Well it is a drink that is in the middle of its fermentation process, inbetween being juice and wine, which means sweet and delicious, which means it will get you drunk quick. Everyone who told us about it told us to be careful, and we were, drinking tons of water at the same time. Everyone around us... not so much.

Our new friends in traditional dress

2l of strum for 15€

We had excellent conversations about American and California life vs life in Austria. Differences in healthcare (ie the reason ciggarette packs have those smoking kills messages is because healthcare is free in Austria aka it is taken out of taxes aka if you get lung cancer from choosing to smoke, everyone is paying for it) smilarities in "democracy" (corruption is getting to everyone everywhere), and even ID cards. We all talked for a while until the Sturm started to hit everyone else pretty hard and conversation dwindled to unintelligble jabber and German. We walked around, tasting the different foods and treats, then headed to a big tent party close by. We joined a party train through the tent for a few rounds, watched people on the carnival rides (which seemed like a bad idea to get on after drinking), then headed back to the campsite for a good sleep.

Morning climb or We didn`t sign up for a nature walk!

September 7th, 2012 Friday

Woop Woop so after Jan convinced me to embark on this tree top adventure (after the bottele of vodka) we woke up around 8 and started around 9. Since Katbear told us to climb everything, we did! It was the most fun, we had a blast and got to work on our upper body strength GerrRRrr! Pictures are self explanitory.   After that I had a most excellent lunch complete with potato pancakes with chicken inside. Hanako got the chicken schnitzle and we both got the most amazing garlic soup in all the Czech republic! It had fresh pieces of fried bread and cheese on top. MMMMmmmm! So with a vigourous work out to jump start are morning we were off in the early afternoon.  Little  did we kown that the great nature walk of 2012 awaited us!

Jan gets me strapped

Ya'll ready for this??!!?

My cutie gets strapped in too!

This rope net was probably the hardest part

Go, Hanako, Go!

A regular Tarzan over here

sliding tree to tree!

Here she comes! Right into my arms!!!

Getting unclipped

The whole course, starting from 15 up to 20 or so feet in the air

The best soup ever!

We started biking and remembered that we were on trails around a mountain, so it was already a bit hard to begin with. We saw some signs with a lovely flower on it marking our trail and we thought it was going to be an easy breezy beautiful covered trail for the day. But it wasn't. Crazy steep ups and downs awaited us, on dirt and gravel paths. Incline after incline we walked our bikes up the trail. We passed some small ponds along the way, but it was pretty shitty in terms of bikeability with our loaded up bikes. But then again it was pretty amazing to be surrounded by so much beautiful nature, lush trees, and sunshine peeking through. We eventually came to a clearing which gave us one of the most amazing views in the world. In my life I've seen a lot of great views, and this topped a lot of them. It was quite amazing, we were pretty high up.

Nailed it!

Boner!!! Times 5!!!!

The trail down had a sign with an exclamation point and a walk your bike sign, so naturally I hopped onto my bike and sped down it as fast as I could. Not the best trail... but an amazing downhill, almost a straight shot with a few curves. We made it to a clearing of several vineyards as well as some tourist information about the area. We stopped to take a photo and to assess the next leg of travel. Yes thats right, the worst road in Czech Republic. Large bumpy road half cobblestone half dirt. Luckily it was only half of a kilometer.

Me and my honey with some helmet hair

Worst Road. EVER.

We treked on and finally made it out of our nature walk. The rest of the way was well paved and flat.

To all my fallen Czech companions (old bunker)

We finally got into town with less than an hour of sunlight left. We camped in what seemed like some ladys yard, and the rest of the residents seemed to be part of a hunting club. We caught an amazing sky before we headed out into town to the local pizzeria... which ended up being a shitty dive bar for the local folk and young drinkers. I was super pissed cuz the sign above the bar said Pizzeria and the bar wenches shirt was in English but she didn't speak any. Some drunk dude walked us down the street to the only restaurant open, which was part of a hotel in town. He asked me for some crowns for his efforts so I gave him a few, and went to eat. Unfortunately it wasn't pizza or anything I wanted for that matter. Still hungry but exhausted we headed back to our tent and bid goodnight to our neighbors, the turkeys.

I heard you like amazing sunsets, Czech it.

Our neighbors for a night