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As we approached Salzburg the clouds parted and the sun came peaking through, signaling that a good day was ahead of us. In one of the travel guides there was an interesting youth hostel alongside a casino. I knew from my last visit to Salzburg, that the hostel had to be on the cliff overlooking the old city. Once our train arrived we headed straight toward a phone and contacted the hostel to see if rooms were available. Good news but we had to be quick because they did not take reservations. …
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I woke up with a serious problem. I don’t know if it was the combination of the exercise the other day, the consumption of alcohol or both but my arms had stiffened to the point where I could not extend them beyond a forty five degree angle. I tried carried my bags first in one hand and then the other using the weight of the bags to help stretch out my muscles, very scary. …
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We rose early and spent the entire day wandering the pedestrian streets and central squares popping in and out of small cafes and trendy boutiques. That’s right, trendy boutiques. The young ladies that gather in these places are quite attractive. Carlsberg and then followed the tree-lined avenues to the harbor.
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It was a perfect day for drinking beer. We found shade within the Hafbrouhaus. While we downed a few beers alongside a couple of pretzels, our waitress dropped a hand full of mugs behind me and they shattered on the floor. A few pieces of glass had jumped up and cut her ankle. Since I’m a man, it was my job was to rescue her. I picked her up to the humming of the crowd and carried her into the kitchen. They brought Jim and me a free beer. …
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The storm passed through very quickly. When the sun rose I gathered up my things and without even saying goodbye I headed down the volcano like I was escaping. I had just come out of a sulfur cloud, was coated in mud and must have smelled like shit. I sure felt like shit. When I finally made it back down to the residence below they too were cover in mud. I’m glad somebody could laugh at this. The first two people I saw were in the process of shoveling themselves out of the mud. …
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I rose early to get a head start on the tourists and encountered a thief with a taxi. Once we reached Pompeii he tried to double then rate we agreed on. I wouldn’t give him a dime more so the argument continued until I was imposing on his next victim. A few impolite gestures and more than a few choice works as he sped off. I looked around and noticed I was the only person wandering about the ruins but it was still early in the day, which was kind of a weird feeling. After about an hour or so I saw another individual and then two young men wandered up to me and inquired if I had any hash to sell. …
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This world was filled with small narrow roads hidden by hedge groves, secluded lakes, isolated rivers, hills to climb and valleys to explore. Tracking down a castle, graveyard or whatever we had earmarked on our map of antiquities was like our very own secret treasure hunt. Then at the end of every one of these little adventures, we found ourselves staring again at a wonderful pint of local ale, in a small pub in the center of whatever it was the center of. …
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We charted a bus north up the coast into Split where I was able to see the beautiful coast line. One of the advantages of traveling in baby steps is that we could stop at those beautiful places and not neglect the details that make each special. When we reached Split we headed through the walls of the old city seeking a room for the night. We either were appalled at the high prices for a room or they didn’t have any available. Since our budget was deflating I posed an option to Jenni. …
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When I woke I could not shake that dirty feeling. I had felt cleaner waking up on the floor of train stations. It was early. The sun hadn’t come up yet and Jenni was planning on sleeping in, so I headed off to the ruins of Ephesus. That trek started out as a long dark walk. Luckily I eventually hitched a ride. When I reached the front gate the sun began casting long shadows but it was still very cold. …
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We entered a compartment that could be best described as humorous. There was a young lady traveling by herself, who had spread her clothes from one end of the compartment to the other. This was orchestrated to persuade us to look elsewhere. We just laugh since this was a technique we often used to maintain our privacy. We found it amusing to watch her reaction to our comfort. She acted as if her mother unexpectedly allowed her new boyfriend into her unmade room. …
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I had earmarked a hostel on the outskirts of Siena but the travel guide didn’t provide a good description of how to get there. I asked a young lady who was sitting across from me on the train if she knew the best way to reach this destination. She made a few attempts to explain but probably the combination of her hearing herself and the expression on my face persuaded her to just show me, so I followed her off the train. …
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A trip to Zermatt was next on my agenda, so the next day was nothing but train travel. When I finally reached Visp I hit a fork in the road and needed to make a decision on whether to fork out an extra nineteen dollars for a round trip train ticket or to thumb my way into Zermatt. The rail to Zermatt was a private railroad and not covered under my rail pass. I looked around and since there was not a single car heading in that direction my decision was made easily. …
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We found ourselves a small room above a bar not far off the main square of Brugge, claimed ourselves bed, dropped off our stuff and hit the local canals for a little sightseeing. We roamed among the flower vendors, chocolate shops, lingered behind a cup of coffee and smoked a cigarette while standing on a humped-backed bridge. I enjoyed the mood of the weeping willows and gazed endlessly at the reflections painted by the water. …
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Our train ended in Karajevo where we were left to wait for a bus. There was nowhere to hide from the cold so we all had to move around a lot and it seemed like the bus was ever going to show. We had scattered moments of sleep, moving here, moving there, trying to forget how cold it was. That was one bad night. The bus eventually showed up late and wasn’t scheduled to enter Dubrovnik until around breakfast. I just dazed out looking past my reflection at blackness that was the sea passing by in a blur. …
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I was intrigued with the works of Escher and understood there was an exhibit in the Hage, so I persuaded Jim to board a late train out of Luxembourg. We arrived in to Rotterdam even later. There didn’t seem to be anybody but the two of us, the streets were virtually empty. We wandered toward the lights advertising vacancies and pounded on doors until one finally opened. The price the gentlemen in pajamas requested was outrageous. …
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