Well to wrap up things in italy, what better place than venice? Venice is just beautiful. We booked 6 nights in generator hostel, which is just across the river from st.marks square. If you are a bit unsure as to which square that is, I always think of it as the one with all the pigeons. And yes, of course I fed them and got my picture taken. Afterwards I found out it is actually illegal to feed them, so I am pretty much a rebel... back to the hostel though. We booked 6 nights for the reason of our interail and eurail passes. Matt and I needed an address to have these passes sent to because there wasn't an option to get them at the station. We paid for 2 months of continuous rail travel throughout almost every european country. A bit pricey, but we hope it will be worth it. The good news was, mine arrived way sooner than planned. Matts came a day early as well. The bad news was, we were now stuck in venice. However, being stuck in venice really isn't that bad news afterall. We did all your typical touristy things, fed the pigeons, went on a gondola ride and visited some of the islands. There are 409 bridges in venice, according to our gondola man.. we probably crossed 50 over the 6 days. Our gondola ride was a little less than romantic because we shared it with four fellow travellers. Because we did this, we only had to pay €13 each. I am all for a good discount. The tour through the canals was very cool though, and an interesting look into how venice functions.
We stayed in a place called Generator hostel & it was probably the best facilities we have had so far. We booked a 7 share room, for 6 nights this cost us €100 each. When we arrived, we were put in a 5 share, which is always a bonus. They had separate sex bathrooms, with awesome hot showers. The living room of the hostel had a bar, menu for food and a photobooth. The hostel was on the right track for a great stay. Most hostels only allow 18-30 year olds, for the reason of everyone having the same interests, with a close enough budget. This hostel, was not the same. It completely missed the boat on the friendly atmosphere. It was far from welcoming and we found the staff to be rude. On our 2nd night, a group of 50+ French students all aged around 13 years old, showed up and just completely took over. What little friendly backpacker atmosphere there was, was ruined. There are signs at the entrance saying not to bring food or drink in, because they have a bar and menu. You wouldn't bring animals into a zoo. This is absolutely fair, and makes sense. However, when this march break field trip showed up, 50 of them opened up a packed lunch. The menu at the hostel was cheap compared to venice prices, however not cheap for a backpacker, and certainly not quality food. When I spoke to the receptionist, she was about as useful as chocolate teapot. (Matts description) The hostel was more about money making, then creating memories for each, individual traveller. For this reason, I would not recommend staying here. Matt and I really enjoyed venice overall, in fact it is probably my favorite place in italy. It is definitely worth a visit, just roll out the sleeping bag elsewhere.
We pretty much lived off of pasta from a place called alfredos. Matt and I ate here at least 8 different times over the six days. As you can probably imagine, venice isn't the cheapest place in the world. We came across alfredos on tripadvisor when myself and some of the girls we met were looking for a cheap place to eat or drink. Alfredos reviews were all fantastic. The one bad review we came across had an hilarious response from the owner, this was not an experience we wanted to miss. They had about 9 different pasta options, as well as 5 different noodles to pick from. My personal favorite was probably 'viagara' with a fusilli noodle. And yes, you did read that correctly. The customer service was unbelievable, and the pasta... to die for. So to sum up venice, I'd say a trip here isn't complete without a gondola ride, and some of alfredos pasta.
Now that we had our rail passes, we planned on heading down to Greece. The night before we were due to check out of venice, we found out that international trains to and from greece were on strike. Nothing like a strike to ruin your itinerary. We had to give up our day for Verona, to sort out a new plan. I will just have to wait until next time to touch Juliets right breast for good luck!
Our revised plan was Switzerland. Any plan of a budget, you would just want to throw that straight out the window. Unfortunately, tossing a budget away was not one of our options. We were torn between Geneva and Zurich. Zurich worked out to be cheaper, and closer to our next country. We booked for 2 nights in City Backpacker Hostel costing us a whopping €70..EACH! We had been robbed. This was the most expensive hostel we had paid for. To put it into perspective, you can get a private room in Portugal for €10 each. We paid €100 for 6 nights in venice... but zurich took €70 each and to top that off, we were in a 6 share. The train ride from italy to Switzerland was absolutely breathtaking. If you have a choice to fly or use the rails, I would recommend taking the train. Granted, it is a bit longer, but its absolutely stunning. On the train, I had already accepted that everything was going to be expensive, if we wanted to enjoy zurich we would need to just accept that and be smart about how we spend our time and money.
When we arrived at the hostel we walked up 4 flights of stairs to the check in desk where we recieved no information at all, except our keys. Most hostels when you check in, give you a map, show you some cheap restaurants and tell you what the must sees are in the area. We recieved nothing of the sort, and headed two floors up to our room. The room had 3 sets of bunks, and 6 small lockers, just enough for passports and electronics, the rest of our stuff was just left free in the room. The room had one plug socket, for 6 people to fight for. The wifi only worked in the reception area which had room for a maximum of 12 people. Our floor alone would have had 24 people amongst four rooms, sharing 2 showers and 2 toilets. There was four floors, and the main living area only had room for 12 people. Let me remind you, we paid €70 for this so called hostel. Oh and at three am I was woken up by what sounded like a hibernating bear snoring. Safe to say, I was happy to move onto the next hostel.
Zurich itself is so beautiful. Even prettier than venice. It is so rich and clean. The air is so fresh. Its worlds away from London, thats for sure. Since our budget was so tight, we opted for the free bike rental outside of the train station. We spent the day riding all over zurich. We went from the lakeside, to the main shopping strip, all the way to the redlight district. It was a beautiful day out and a great way to save the pennies. We went to sternen grill, which was in my lonely planet guidebook. It was a tad on the expensive side, but mine was definitely worth the 14 swiss francs. I had a schnitzel sandwhich. It was breaded veal with veggies, cocktail sauce and a fresh crunchy bun. Matt tried the currywurst which is sliced sausage with curry seasonings and tomato sauce. Zurich, although expensive was definitely a great day out and a culture very different to the others that we have experienced in europe so far. Next stop, berlin germany.
As I write this, I am now 11 hours into my travel day. We booked for the 9am train from zurich to basel. No problem, arrived in basel with 20 minutes to grab a pretzel and head to our platform. From basel we were now heading straight to berlin. About 40 minutes into our journey at the next station, a message was said that someone had jumped infront of a train 10km down the track and that we need to get off the now cancelled train. Long story short, we met a nice german lady trying to get home to berlin to tuck her kids in before bedtime. If anyone had a determination to get to berlin fast, it was a mother. We waited for 2 and a half hours at this station to get the next train heading north. We had to stop and change again, but at least now we are only a few hours away. About 2 hours ago we should have been sat in the hostel having a beer, but oh well. Shit happens. Alright, thats it for now. Next blog will have Berlin and possibly even Prague!
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