adventures in italy! ( & a few other places)

I realize it has been QUITE some time since I have updated-- so I apologize! Innsbruck has become my home so I've settled into a routine and tend to forget to write here! This past month has been full of hiking, trips to the lake, dinner parties, (and a little studying)....But on April 19, my wonderful mom and cousin Alison came to visit!

Austria/Germany
They didn't arrive until late Friday night around 1 am... I waited in the lobby reading a book just in case they couldn't work the intercom system. I heard a van door shut and voila! There they were! After 2 months of being away from home and my family, it was AMAZING to be able to see them! My mom looked like she had seen a ghost... she definitely misses her (favorite) daughter and roommate (hehe Lindsey!) I got 2 extra mattresses from my dorm and placed them strategically around my room so we had pathways to walk through. It was a preeeeetty tight squeeze (3 adults in one dorm room) but we made the best of it and HEY, it was free!

traditional Austrian

The next morning, I played tour guide and showed them around the town. We had apple strudel for lunch, and then continued to explore the city. For dinner, I took them to a traditional Austrian restaurant called Stifskeller. We enjoyed soft pretzels, wine, and traditional Austrian plates. On Sunday, we decided to rent a car and drive to Fussen, Germany, where the castle Neuschwanstein is. I hadn't been in a car in 2 months so it was such a tease! [side note]--- I miss my beautiful little Honda, and going wherever I want, whenever I want... here I have to either walk or wait for the bus/train at the times it is running.. not to mention everything here closes at 7pm and isn't open on Sundays!--- We visited the castle, took a tour of the inside with an........ "interesting" tour guide... he was extremely, extremely odd and creepy. Then we took a horse-drawn carriage back down to our car and drove to Mittenwald, Germany on the way back to Innsbruck. We stopped for some photos, and then continued driving home. We were pretty hungry after a long day of driving, so we went to one of my favorite restaurants (flo jos) and got burgers... good old taste of home! Monday (22nd) I had class all day, so mom and Alison went to the Swarovski crystal world and walked around the city while I studied. I wanted to introduce my family to all of the AMAZING friends I have met here, so we all met up for dinner at Vapiano! I am very blessed to have met some of the best friends here!

Neuschwanstein Castle!

Italia

Venice
Early on the 23rd, we woke up to catch our train to Venice! ( and I mean EARLY... 4 am to be exact). We took a train to Brenner (the Austrian-Italian border) for our first connection. None of us have ever really used the train system before, as I had only been on one train to Munich! We weren't really sure how it worked... and so our first few rides were very stressful, hilarious, and interesting. We arrived to the train station in Brenner at about 6:15 am... I'm not sure you can even call it a station. It was deserted, grungy, and frankly, looked like somewhere we were all about to get jumped and robbed! All the trains were littered with graffiti, and we all thought, "What the HELL did we just get ourselves into?!" No one spoke any English so we are pretty proud that we got on the right train!... the train from Brenner to Verona was less than beautiful, but luckily we all slept for a good portion of the ride. Once we arrived in Verona, we were ecstatic to see our next train! Beautifully new, clean, and spacious.... that's more like it! Also-- the scenery from Verona to Venice is stunning! Random castles everywhere, littered with wineries and sunshine! Once we got off the train in Venice, we walked to the exit and bee-lined towards the absolutely gorgeous canals!!![ Words cannot explain how blown away I was by Venice... We lucked out with incredible weather-- warm and sunny!]

our water bus port

We next hopped on a "water bus" to get to our hotel! It was so much fun! You just hop onto the bus and it stops at docks all along the canals. Our hotel was quite far away so we even got to ride on the main canal! We got off on our stop and walked through the Piazza San Marco... our hotel just happened to be on a small canal RIGHT next to it! Perfect location! We walked around for most of the day and then decided to have some wine and champagne at the hotel... we had an incredible view.. a tiny little table sitting over the canal where the gondola port was. After wine, we left the hotel to see Venice by night!

view from our hotel table

It was beautiful but so very easy to get lost! While walking, we were stopped by a gondola man. After haggling a bit with prices, we decided we would give it a whirl! It is a must-do in my opinion. You get to see all parts of the city that you cannot see by walking! There were also gondolas playing beautiful music as they floated by and it was so surreal.

my bff hot kath! what a hot date <3 td="">

what a character..

water limo, holla!

Venice by far had the best gelato that I have had so far, too! MMM take me back! But we were really tired from our extremely early morning so we went to bed to be rested for our next day of travel. Our hotel had scheduled us a (free) tour to Murano island to see where all the Murano glass work is made! I am the clumsiest person alive so I was a little nervous I'd trip in the gallery and walk out owing 1.7 million dollars in broken goods. Luckily I made it out with all my pennies. We had a guide and free water taxis (or limos as I call them) taking us to and from the island, which was really fancy! The weather was absolutely perfect too, sunny and 70's, so we definitely lucked out.

Florence

We arrived at the Venice train station mid-day on Wednesday, and were relieved to see that we had a luxury train again... never underestimate these! Cherish them. It was only a 2 hour ride to Florence, but I was still a little bummed we didn't have much time to spend there... guess I'll just have to make a trip back! Our hotel was within walking distance to the train station, and it was my favorite hotel of the entire trip! So cute and authentic... and free breakfast! We dropped all of our things off in the room and then headed out! We got to see a good portion of Florence's main sites like Basilica of St. Mary, and a bunch of other historic buildings that I can't remember the names of! My favorite was this really old, cute bridge called Ponte Vecchio. We went at sunset and caught a gorgeous view of the scenery overlooking the river. 

Alison and I sitting on Ponte Vecchio

We were pretty hungry after walking around, so we stopped by this little market of stands selling food from all over the world. I got something that I would compare to... a lettuce quesadilla. Right up my alley but everyone else seemed to think I was crazy. We were eating dinner outside at these tables in a plaza area, and some homeless man came up and started pointing at us... I had no clue what he wanted so I tried to hand him my crumbs and plate... (dumb but I was confused).. then he points to my mom's BARELY eaten sandwich... and she hands it over to him! hahaha what a nice lady, I do not give away my food! (fat girl problems?) 

Best of Tuscany Tour 

where the races take place in Siena

The next morning we woke up very early to enjoy the free breakfast, packed up, and went to get on our tour bus! We had a pretty full bus but somehow getting on last allowed us to have our own rows :) we made friends with the other tourists, mostly from Australia and England. Our first stop on the bus was to Siena! A tiny medieval town that hosts the Palio horse race twice every year. The way Siena is set up is into 17 sections, all with their own mascot. Each year these districts race against each other and there is a huge rivalry between the entire town because of these divisions. It was fascinating! For this tour we had to wear our "whispers" which were these lanyards with an audio guide and an earphone attached so we could hear our guide talking... totally touristy but so helpful actually. 

heyoooo tourists are coming!

the winery we toured

 Next, we got back onto the bus and hit the road to our winery tour!!! (my fave part). We arrived at this small winery on the outside of San Gimignano. We got a tour of the area and the process, and then headed inside for our tasting and 3 course lunch. We tried 4 wines all together, one being a dessert wine. We were served bruschetta, pasta, and then salad with meat. The dessert was biscotti. All very yummy! I enjoyed my wine and the unreal view of the Tuscan countryside... looks just like I had seen in pictures, only better.

ahhh, yes. this is for real.

 Next stop was just down the road: San Gimignano, AKA Medieval Manhattan, as you can see below!

outskirts of san gimignano

We explored there for a while and then got back on the bus to go to our final stop: Pisa! The field of miracles, as they call it, was stunning! A huge grassy plaza with the leaning tower of Pisa as well as a few other gorgeous buildings. We took our MUST HAVE cheesy holding the tower pictures, and then had to book it to the train station to catch our train to the Cinque Terre!

judge me.

 This tour was definitely worth it, seeing as we packed a weeks worth of stuff into just one day! It was perfect for us and we loved it! So all three of us dragged our luggage through the massive crowds of tourists in Pisa and tried to find the train station... it was becoming a wee bit sketchy so we were nervous that we weren't going the right way. Not to mention, we had about 6 minutes before the train left and we hadn't even gotten our tickets! I almost did the #1 no-no and jumped across the tracks to get to the ticket stand in time but luckily my mom is fast as a fox and made it in time. The train was another "Brenner" situation (lol) but we made it to La Spezia, and eventually Vernazza with the help of a sweet Australian couple. 

Cinque Terre (Vernazza)

Upon arrival in Vernazza, I was immediately blown away by it's beauty. It is SO QUAINT! Tiny little cobblestone streets with colorful buildings, Italian flags hung everywhere, and littered with Italian restaurants and gelato shops... we continued down the one street they had which lead us straight to... the Mediterranean!!! 

the restaurant linked with our room!

 The street we were on opened up into this plaza lined with restaurants and colorful umbrellas. From every seat you have the gorgeous view of the Sea surrounded by towering cliffs. We had to go to this little restaurant to get our room key, as we booked this little apartment room. The restaurant owner was this old Italian man who was just the sweetest thing in the world. I wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home! We walked back up the street we came down on and found our apartment... little did we know it was up 4 flights of literally vertical stairs... so it was a challenge with all of our luggage! But the room was gorgeous and we all fell asleep right away.

our apartment ( top floor with window open)

The next morning, we woke up early and got our breakfast included at the restaurant linked with our room. We had omelettes and foccacia bread! Dressed in our best hiking gear, we finished breakfast, put on our backpacks, and started our hike to Monterosso! (little did we know how challenging this hike was going to be....) Somehow, it was stairs, uphill, the entire way. I'm not too sure how that even works, but it was. Stairs on stairs on stairs for 2 hours and 15 minutes... our asses are hard as rocks now, you better believe it! Luckily, the view was enough to distract me from the burn! If you look behind you you see the aerial view of Vernazza, and ahead of you, Monterosso!

  It was a win-win! Along the way, we found a random picnic table with a sign in Italian that said "please feed these unloved and homeless cats"... how sad!!! There was a barrel of cat food in the rocks so I obviously opened it and fed the kitties! (how random, right?) Eventually though, after the rocky narrow paths, vineyards, lemon tree gardens, streams, and yes, more stairs... we made it to Monterosso! We can now say we hiked from one town to another! Monterosso was a lot bigger than Vernazza, but so beautiful and authentic. We stopped and had a little Italian lunch and then took the train back to Vernazza. 

lol, where the cat food was...

 We then decided we were exhausted, so we went to a restaurant/bar on the water and ordered a few glasses of wine and some bruschetta. (ahhh, the good life!)

what a babe!

literally to die for

We found out that Vernazza was the birthplace of Pesto.... so obviously we had to try some while we were there! We trekked just a little bit up the road and went to a small restaurant recommended to us by the bartender. Our pasta was amazing and it was the best pesto I have ever had!! We spent the rest of our trip in Cinque Terre just relaxing and enjoying the magnificent views. I found a wifi hotspot and paid to sit outside and use the internet... first world problems!!!

night view :)

my best friend <3 td="">

The next morning we had to wake up and head home :( Alison had to leave early on Sunday (boo! we missed her!) The rest of the trip mom was pretty much on her own during the day as I had full days of classes and projects. We did, however, go all the way to the top of Nordkette ( the very tip top of the alps) by gondola, and came back down to the middle town of Hungerberg, and had lunch!We cooked dinner together one night, watched lots of Prison Break episodes (which she is now hooked on) and just hung out! The night before she left, my dorm threw a massive party. The party room just so happens to be directly next to my room, so there was no escaping the noise. Hopefully she got some sleep because I sure didn't! And in the morning it was basically a combination of the aftermath of a frat party and a hangover. Disgusting!

 I am so happy that mom and Alison got to come visit, it's so nice to have people from home... so if either of you are reading this: thank you and I love you! So far Italy is #1 on my visited list :) Can't wait to keep traveling! Although I miss home, I am definitely making the most of it, only 8 more weeks til I head back to the states, so crazy!

miss you all... xoxoxoxoxox

ps... my mailbox is very lonely!! i would appreciate some cards, letters, sour patch kids... you know, the usual ;) so here is my address:

CARLY ANSTINE
Höttinger Au 34 zimmer 001A
INNSBRUCK, Austria 6020