Europe - Day 5

The other day in Interlaken I had 6 free minutes of internet time. I sat here for enough time to leave a quick message on facebook and then I pounded out a quick blog. It looks as though the blog did not make it which is no surprise to me. Something went wrong at the end.

It is evening now in Florence. We are done for the day as it is after 9 p.m. Our hostel here has 2 computers and we have free internet usage for 45 mins and if there is no line then we may log on again. It is payday for me, so I decided to come online and check my bank accounts to make sure I am not draining my checking account! I fully planned on writing down every interaction as I went along, but it has not happened that way. Thank goodness for the ability to manage accounts online from overseas!

We landed without problems early Tuesday morning, after a very long and noisy flight. Neither one of us slept and we had a long day to look forward too. We immediately found a Dayroom at the airport and reserved it for our last night in Zurich instead of booking a hostel. We will be able to shower and sleep there and get ready for our early flight home. Then we went to the train station across the street and secured our train reservations. We ran into problems booking them from home but we had no problems when we arrived to secure them. We finishd up with only 4 minutes to spare and caught our first train.

We went straight to Interlaken and the view along the way was incredible! It was rainy and chilly, but still breathtaking. We got a little bit lost on the way (like 45 mins lost) but with the help of a very cute Swiss lady we were able to find it. We checked in, regrouped, and went out exploring. We were hungry and must have had the best pizza EVER. Just saying. When we stopped to window shop or to orient ourselves we got so very tired. We just kept moving. And moving. And more walking.

We could not get into our room until 4ish and when we finally did we decided to shower, eat dinner and we were in bed by 8. By that time we had been awake for 32 hours and we slept for 12 hours. It was delightful.

Paragliding turned out to be too expensive, so we canned that idea. Instead we decided to explore Interlaken. In the morning we went for a 2 hour hike along one of the lakes. We were in search of castle ruins. It was a lovely time and I am so in love with those rivers and lakes. We had a picnic back at the Hostel and then rented bikes for the afternoon. We toured the other lake and slowly made our way back to the Hostel. It was a 2 hour bike ride. For dinner we splurged and had fondue. OH MY WORD. So good. Ben was our server and he was a very smooth flirt. With the encouragement of Kerri I flirted back. Such a great night.

Thursday we woke up at 6ish and caught a 7 a.m. trian to Milan. Milan was overwhelming. We were at the far end of the city and carrying our backpacks so we could not walk far. We found a delightful cafe and camped out there for about 2 hours, as is the European way! I ordered the BEST EGGPLANT EVER. It is hard to avoid my food allergies here, so I am trying to be careful, but am not worrying about it for this trip. Seriously, the eggplant was cooked perfectly, the sauce was no overpowering, and the cheese was melted just right. Every bite was a bit of heaven.

We caught our next train from Milan to Florence just a few hours later and in the late afternoon we arrived in Florence. We immediately found our Hostel, checked in, and went in search of food. Our dinner was again outside on a piazza and I was able to order a white pizza. It could have fed a village. YUM, and I took half home for breakfast.

Last night we slept for 11 hours. This morning we toured the 3rd largest church in Europe, the Duoma of Florence. We took 463 steps to the top and could see the entire city. Amazing. We had gelatto for lunch and then caught a bus to Greve in Chianti to visit a winery. We had a fabulous time Wine Tasting and walking around a very cute Italian city. We caught the bus back, and went in search of another amazing meal. No matter where we eat, we are never disappointed! Tonight I had pasta tossed in what must be the freshest pesto ever. Amazing.

Lots of pics are being taken, I promise!