Haida Whales and Wine Rats

It's so strange to be traveling after being away from Canada for a year. I find myself looking for things that remind me of home, rather than the opposite as most travelers do. Don't get me wrong, I'm still enjoying the differences, but when I see something that makes me think of Canada I give an extra pause to enjoy it.

In the heart of Verona Justin and I came across a store called 'Canadiens' - A high end winter clothing company from Italy. Everything was super nice and had our maple leaf all over it. There was even Haida art in the store. It made me happy.



Overall Verona was really beautiful. Quite touristy. Lots of high end shops and restaurants. Lots of people making out for a really long time everywhere. Our campsite was in the botanical gardens of Castle San Pietro overlooking the city. It was amazing and unforgettable for the view and the site... but the toilets and showers were holes in the ground and there were lizards and 'wine rats' (as dubbed by a camper sitting next to us on  the terrace) which scurried over ledges and in the olive vines above us. This adds to the 'unforgettable' part I guess.

The Gourmet Camper

On our last night there I went all out at the Supermercato and made a creamy pesto gnocchi and bruschetta at our campsite. With 2 beers and wine it worked out to be about a €20 meal which was quite a lot by our standards, but much less than dinner out would have been.

We are in Venice now (Punta Sabbioni actually - a ferry boat ride to Venice) and leaving tomorrow. We will head down the east coast without really a plan from here until Sicily. 




A couple random things I wanted to document so I don't forget them:

Almost all of our campsites have offered fresh bread for an extra nominal charge in the morning. It seemed strange at first but it actually quite nice now. In Brugge there was a bread vending machine that was filled every morning. In Innsbruck the receptionist at the campsite game me flash cards of every different type of bread they offered. Most sites just have a store or restaurant you can go buy it from.

So far we haven't paid for laundry; we've been doing it by hand. Most campsites have a laundry sink that we have been taking advantage of if we know the weather will be warm enough to dry it. The first time I washed everything I was next to a German lady doing  the same and I watched what she was doing and learned a lot about handwashing. Seems like a simple task but there is a method to it.

On our last night at Lake Como the lady at the bar gave us free Limoncello shots. It was icy cold and soooo tasty, and really sweet of her. Well, she didn't speak English at all so I gathered they were free...   

Anyways that's my muddled blog post today. Hope you are all well and I'm really looking forward to seeing you soon.

Genevieve

International Stump

Anyone unfamiliar with the game stump must not know me at all, and has been living a less fulfilled life. You can learn a bit from this Wikipedia page although our rules slightly differ in a much more awesome way.

As soon as we landed in London I was missing stump, but as the English cut down all their trees hundreds of years ago I knew acquiring an adequate stump was a lost cause. I did keep my eyes peeled on every drive we took, hoping, but it wasn't gonna happen.

I brought my hammer from work on this trip thinking I might be luckier in Europe, and when we passed a house in Belgium that had recently cut down and bucked up a couple trees I knew that was my chance. We went back later and swiped the perfect little stump to put in the back seat for the rest of our trip.

Now I figured once we found a stump nails would be the easy part. Granted we passed through Germany before I really started looking. In Italy I assumed if I kept my eyes peeled I'd notice some kind of building supply store on our drives but after 2 days I gave up. I looked online and found out that Italians aren't big on DIY home improvement. They strongly believe in the importance of individual trades and when something needs fixing they call Tony from down the street. I did however find the word for ironmonger (hardware store in Canada), which was 'ferramenta' and a google search of that came up with a few results.

The first mission was to a small town near our camp ground but my address was an apartment building and no ferramenta in sight. I now know not to fully trust google maps in tiny Italian villages.

The next day we went to Milan and there appeared to be a few there. We walked in to one only 5 minutes from the Duomo in the very heart of Milan that was a tiny cluttered shop with a random assortment of home improvement stuff ranging from screws to towels to cutlery. Luckily they understood my request for 'chiodi' and we went to a bin of assorted nails. I pointed out the big ones and said I wanted 50 and this poor kid dumped them on the ground and started sorting. He got to 35 and that was enough. They ended up being a ridiculous €8,50 but after all that trouble I was happy to pay.

We had mentioned our game to the German couple we met and they said it sounded familiar. Looking at the Wikipedia page I saw a link to a game called Hammerschlagen that's similar and a couple hundred years old.

We haven't gotten to play with anyone else yet, but tossing a hammer in the air has caught a few eyes, so it's only a matter of time.

-Justin

Lago di Como

We're on our fourth night at our campground on Lake Como. It's in a little town called Abbadia Lariana on the east side of the lake, not far from the town of Lecco. We really wanted to spend some time in the area so figured we would get comfortable here for 4 nights. Couldn't be happier we did.

The campground is right on the lake, and Lake Como is absolutely beautiful. We are just on the southern edge of the Alps so it's still mountainous an incredibly scenic. We did a drive around half the lake the other day that went through a bunch of cool villages perched on the hills around the lake. Lots of sketchy narrow roads and crazy drivers again. Should note the Micra rolled over 100,000 miles on that drive. While most of them weren't us I still feel better that the car can die more fulfilled having used every digit on the odometer.

Yesterday we did a day trip to Milan, which is about an hour by train and only €10 return. First glimpse at a very convenient and efficient train system here. It was great to see the Duomo and wander the fashion district, but it wasn't my favourite city. An aggressive gypsy lady was our first encounter, "helping" us buy our metro tickets by frantically pressing buttons we didn't want and then trying to take our change. The African men in the centre trying to sell shitty string bracelets were also way more aggressive than anywhere else we've been. Not that it means much but did leave an impression. I think Milan is a city you'd need to spend at least a few days in to enjoy the nightlife and maybe have some money for shopping because for a rushed day it's not heavy on sightseeing. On our way back our transfer train in Lecco was delayed an hour and a half due to an accident and we had some trouble finding out what was going on and how to get back as it was all in Italian. Luckily someone else stranded spoke a bit of English and translated the broken information he got, but it was a helpless feeling before that.

Our campground has a bar right on the water that has hosted an event every night. It's definitely the most happening spot in the area and it's been an amazing time being around so many locals in a small town party spot. A pizza for €5 and a litre of wine for €8 doesn't hurt. We met a really nice German couple who are in the area for rock climbing and got to drink and chat with them the last three nights which was really fun.

We're off to Verona tomorrow for 2 nights. I'm actually a little disappointed because its been so nice to settle in somewhere so beautiful and so much fun. If anyone ever has a chance to visit Lake Como do it, it's absolutely awesome.

-Justin

Pizza and Schnitzel

We made the 2 hour drive from Innsbruck to Bolzano in Northern Italy yesterday no problem, the views of the Alps were amazing. We set up camp and then departed on a drive I had read about through the Dolomite Mountain range. Perhaps a little cocky with our car but my thinking was if we didn't do these drives we may as well have taken trains.

I expected it to be a drive like going through the Rockies, steep in places but mostly fine and breathtaking. I also expected the 200km round trip to be around 4 hours. Well this drive was more than I bargained for. It quickly became like driving up a ski hill over and over again, which it was. We did countless hairpin turns up mountain sides, countless as in multiple hundred not dozens. We drove through so many beautiful ski villages, each one would make for an amazing week in the Alps. The views were second to none an something we will never forget, but the road was too much for the car.

After 4 hours we reached halfway and I was stressing a bit, really hoping we wouldn't have to go back that way. We did find a slightly easier return, but still over 2 hours and with plenty of steep climbs and descents. When dark hit in the middle of the mountains we really knew a breakdown would be a real shitter. Long story short we made it back to our site after 6 hours of emotional highs and lows. After sleeping on it I of course feel like it was worth it, but the brakes now squeal and the tranny made some new noises, warning light flashed a bit too. Poor little car.

As more well read people than myself will already know, this area of Italy was part of Austria for 700 years up until the end of WW1. All the signs are in German and Italian, all the villages we drove through were very German looking, and everyone at our camp ground speaks German. The menu last night had only pizza and schnitzel on it. It's very strange to think about an entire region with so many people changing hands less than 100 years ago. The signs of how recent it is are very obvious.

Personally I'm glad it's Italy because if it were still Austria they'd probably charge me another €128 for 40km of autobahn driving through a country that was just in my way. Bastards.

-Justin

Awww, Austria!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. No, really today has been much more good than bad. The highlight for me being seeing mountains for the first time in almost a year. This might not seem all that exciting to you spoiled Canadians out there, but England has NO mountains. Zero. They have some large hills, granted, but the south west of Germany and now Austria have proper big rocky jagged beautiful bountiful mountain. Ah, it has made me feel so at home.

The past two days in Munich (Munchen) have been really great as well. We booked a 15 bed room in a hostel and ended up having a 4 bed room with ensuite for both nights to ourselves. We drank 1L beers in a real brew haus called Hofbrauhaus, where we made friends with a few Americans and an Aussie. We walked around a beautiful park; I had no idea Munich had so much nature. And drank at a few more biergartens along the way. We both really enjoyed the city, and I found both Cologne and Munich to be very liveable places. I really liked Germany. Go there.

Also a major highlight so far has been visiting the Neuschwanstein today- it's probably the most impressive castle I will ever see. It's rumored to be the one Disney based all their cases off of. Pretty romantic. Justin had been wanting to see it for a while and we got to do a proper hike up to it which felt really good. It was better than a picture, well maybe just our pictures, can portray.

And then we entered Austria and got pulled over by the police and fined €120. So our budget is blown for a while. To be honest, we knew there was an €8 road tax in Austria, and were fully prepared to pay it, but we thought it would be like a toll booth. Apparently not. You have to buy it at a gas station when entering the country. Stupid tourists.
Anyways our campsite here in Innsbruck is lovely; mountains on one side and a city view on the other. Probably not worth €150, but hey, who's keeping track. (me).

Love you all.
Gen

Made it to Munich

We've just arrived from Cologne and the Micra actually survived another 600km, despite 2 hours of bumper to bumper transmission abuse on the motorway. It's fine when we're cruising along but coming to a stop is a nerve racking clunk and grind as it down shifts. Anyone's guess how many more of those it takes to kill it.

I've been dreaming of driving the autobahn longer than I've even been driving, and in none of those daydreams was I putting along in the slow lane at 100km/h in a car on its last breath. It was pretty intense timing when to pass a lorry without impeding a high end sports car doing 200. I guess I can't cross everything off my bucket list this time around. I'll be renting a Porsche on my next trip down the autobahn.

Cologne was not on our short list of must visits but it was conveniently located on our way and made sense to stop. I'm really glad we did. Our campground was only 7km and a short tram ride from the centre of the city, with it's amazing cathedral and numerous brewpubs. The Rhein river ran past our campground and through the city, and was just beautiful, countless sandy beaches and treed areas perfect for an evening beer and sunset.

I hadn't expected to skate much, but did bring my board and Cologne happened to have probably the best skate plaza I've ever seen right on the river which was a nice surprise and some well needed time on the board.

We met a couple of very entertaining Germans at our campground last night. They were in their 40s and celebrating their anniversary with a weekend in Cologne and a lot of wine. They insisted we drink with them and enjoy an evening of broken English, local knowledge and palm reading. It was memorable to say the least, but they were both great and it was awesome to socialise with some locals.

I picked a metro station arbitrarily outside of Munich to park the car and head into the city to our hostel which worked out great. Free parking right outside and avoided all traffic. Now we've got a couple days to see what Munich has to offer.

Oh, and if anyone isn't sick of our photos we've both been using instagram a bit if you're on there and wanna search our names.

-Justin

You Say Cologne, I Say Köln

Well the little Micra made it to Gremany. We are camping for 2 nights along the Rhine river in a little suburb outside of the city and then will head to Munich on Saturday where we have booked a hostel for another 2 nights. That will be the first time we attempt to find parking outside the city and train in. Should be exciting?

Already I can tell the language barrier is a bit more serious here than the other countries we have visited. We followed our campground's directions to get into the city (where we currently are using wifi for as long as we can) but it was more by fluke we made it here. I can only imagine what the coming days will bring.

Now off to look up some common German phrases before wifi time is up!

Gen