I know I’ve been MIA for about two weeks, but we had one of
Kevin’s friends in town and we were out and about. We did a lot of traveling and saw some new places, but it’s nice
to be home now.
Brian got here on April 10.
He flew into Venice and we went there to meet him. It just so happened that we also had family
friends in Venice at that time so we all got together for a day of
sightseeing. We did a tour of the
Jewish Ghetto (something we’ve never done), checked out St. Mark’s Basilica,
walked around the markets, had pizza, and drank Spritz. We thought about trying Bellinis at Harry’s
Bar, the home of the first Bellini, until we saw the price. £16.50 (about $22) for a 6-ounce
Bellini! That price made us all get out
of our seats quickly and hit the streets for the next best thing…gelato.
Pizza break with Emma, John, Cathy, Brian, and Kevin
That night we made our way to Verona where Brian, Kevin, and
I were staying over. It was already
late so we checked into our hotel and then went straight to dinner. After a bottle of wine and a few beers, we
were exhausted so we called it a night.
We woke up the next morning to rain.
I’m not talking about a light sprinkle either. This was a downpour.
After a few hours of walking around in the rain, checking out the Roman
Theater, and rubbing Juliet’s boob, we decided it was time to head back to
Vipiteno.
Kevin got a quick boob rub in for good luck.
After a day spent in Innsbruck and a day in Vipiteno, we
made our way to Florence. We decided to
drive since we were only staying two nights and it made more sense money
wise. We don’t have a GPS so we figured
Google Map directions would work just as well, but we ended up getting lost a
few times. It took about an hour longer
than it should have to get to our hotel.
We were actually parked illegal in a place we weren’t even supposed to
be driving and started running around asking people if they knew where our
hotel was. Turns out, it was about 40
meters from where we were parked and the parking garage was just around the
corner.
Our first afternoon and night in Florence was rainy. We had drinks, then dinner, then more
drinks, and then called it a night. The
next day, we had scheduled a ½ day trip to Pisa and were bummed when we woke up
to rain. But as we started driving away
from Florence, everything cleared up.
We got a guided tour of the main square in Pisa and then had a few hours
to ourselves. We spent most of this
time holding up the Leaning Tower and snapping stupid pictures.
Piazza del Duomo, Pisa
I'm just holding up the Leaning Tower for a bit.
That afternoon we had a few more hours of no rain in
Florence and took advantage of it. We
checked out the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, and walked around until
dinnertime. For dinner, we checked out
a cute little place that had a pasta sampler.
It was served family style so you could just take what you want. Everything was delicious, including the
three bottles of Chianti that we took down.
The Piazza del Duomo in Florence
The Ponte Vecchio
We finally woke up to a clear sky on our last day in
Florence. We walked the 460 steps (give
or take a few) to the top of the Duomo, where the view was breathtaking. Then, we headed over to the pizzeria where
the cast of the
Jersey Shore worked (please don’t judge). In started to rain a little so we decided we
should probably just head home.
Luckily, since I was in charge of the directions, we made it out of
Florence and home without getting lost once.
It should be noted that I was with two directionally challenged
men.
The Last Judgement (on the left) is painted on the ceiling of the Duomo.
Kevin and I at the top of the Duomo.
Yep, we ate where the Jersey Shore cast worked.
After two days to recuperate in Vipiteno, we made our way to
Munich. Our first stop was Dachau
Memorial Site, which I would highly recommend to everyone. It was depressing, yet educational and some
of the stuff that happened there is unbelievable.
The gate prisoners passed through when entering Dachau. The inscription means "Work Brings Freedom."
Once we made it to Munich, we walked around the Marienplatz area
and then heading to the
Hofbräuhaus for
dinner and a big beer. One turned to
two and then two turned to three. And
by the time we left there, we had each consumed three liters of beer. Well, maybe not me…I was having trouble
drinking the third one so I kept pouring it in the boys’ beers when they
weren’t paying attention. On our way
home, we got so lost because somehow the map had gotten torn and the important
part was nowhere to be found.
The Marienplatz
Round one of beers at the Hofbräuhaus.
That next morning was rough for everyone, but we wanted to
get an early start because Kevin and I were heading out that afternoon to come
back to Vipiteno. We checked out the
Viktualienmarkt, where I had a big pickle and a coffee and Kevin had a foot
long sausage on a 6-inch bun for breakfast.
After doing some shopping and checking everything out, we headed to
lunch where we all had a Wiener Schnitzels that were bigger than our
heads. Needless to say, none of us
finished it. Kevin and I said our
goodbyes to Brian (since he was staying to fly out the next day) and we headed
back to Vipiteno.
I might have found the cure to hangovers.
You can't visit Germany without getting a Wiener Schnitzel.
Yesterday morning Kevin left for Asiago. He will be there for the next 8 days working
as the goalie coach for the Italian National Team. It is a huge honor especially for a first year coach and I’m so
excited for him. I’m here in Vipiteno
and have decided to spend my time alone getting back on a schedule. I need to hit the gym hard and get back to
eating like a normal human being. Once
Kevin gets back we’ll have a little less than 3 weeks here and we’re hoping to
get to a few more places before returning back to the States.
