Day 25 & 26

Day 25

We arrive in Lausanne (if youre wondering why that might sound familiair its where the olympic committee is) around lunch time. We couldn't get into our rooms until 3 pm so Tim waits behind for Mariel while Kate goes out to the grocery store to get some food and walk around. Kate ended up on the hunt for the tourist office which made her walk a little longer then expected (Tim started to go out to look for her) but did come back with some snacks (and she didn't even get lost). Mariel had arrived and we checked into our room and hopped on a train to visit a 13th century castle right on the coast.

The castle was well restored and were able to learn about how life was like back then--even sat on their latrines (don't worry, they've been cleaned and are no longer in use). Tour guide Tim role has now been transferred to Mariel, which has been great. We make it back to Lausanne, starving and looking for somewhere affordable to eat. We walk into McDonalds and a Big Mac is 12.50 francs. Not even able to afford McDonalds, we find some slightly cheaper street food and take it back to the hostel and jet-lagged Mariel goes straight to bed, Tim and Kate not far behind.

Day 26

We get up and head out to the Olympic museum (which is actually closed, but the gift shop is still open of course). The garden is full of sculptures of athletes and Tim wanted us to take a picture of him next to a sculpture of a runner with great calves.

Our plan for the day was to head to Lutry to walk around the vineyards. We were all under the impression it would be a nice walk there from Lausanne, but after about 30 minutes of walking along a road with empty office buildings, we hop on a bus, hoping it will take us to where we think we want to go. We get off the last stop and are in a never ending neighborhood...of course on a steep hill. We make our way towards the water, all walking down steep roads, and about 45 minutes later finally come across a grocery store. We got bread, meats, and cheeses (which now is the only thing Tim wants when he's hungry) and ate near a small marina by the water, where we watched what looked like 5 year olds from a sailing camp get in tiny sailboats by themselves out into what was pretty rough water (don't worry they all made it safely back).

We never really found the vineyards and needed an afternoon nap so we headed back to the hostel. There was a cultural festival going on so we headed to old town Lausanne that night. On our way we stopped at the train station to book our tickets to Nice. What looked like a 12 year old at the ticket desk, told us unless we wanted to buy full price tickets the only way to Nice would consist of 5 train and an 11 hour journey starting at 4:20 am. Having no other option, we made the reservations.

On the outskirts of the festival we found a fairly inexpensive pasta restaurant, thinking we got a deal until we walked into the festival which was full of cheaper food stands. It was a rainy night but we managed to see some odd dancing and a Bob Marley wannabe.

Day 23 & 24

Day 23

We got up early to catch the train to interlaken, Switzerland. Tim was moody during the train ride, but immediately as we got off the train in Switzerland, saw the beautiful mountains and clean, cool air, he was in a much better mood. Kate was relieved but reminded him every time were in a bad mood we can't just take a trip to switzerland to get out of it.

We were always warned at how expensive Switzerland was and we quickly found out they were not lying. A regulars dinner at a restaurant was at least 30 francs, which is about $32. So we hit up the grocery store before catching the boat to our hostel, which was in a small town of Interwald and right on a lake in the valley of the Alps.

That afternoon we hiked to a waterfall where a small bridge was built so you could walk underneath it. On the way back it started to get dark and clouds came in. It was all downhill, but like really steep downhill, so Tim sprinted off, Kate trying to keep up behind him, as we finally arrived to the hostel, but soaked from the rain.

Since the hostel was a little isolated and eating out was so expensive many people stayed in at the hostel at night. Eating our dinner of nutella, peanut butter, and bread (sorry mom no vegetables) we met a young couple out of grad school from LA who were just beginning a 3 week trip throughout Europe. They told us about their canyon jumping experience that day which seemed a lot of fun, but like the food prices, all of the extreme sporting activities were expensive...plus we had to leave some things to do for when we come back.

 

Day 24

We got up and ate breakfast provided by the hostel. It was a little lean, but it had really good bread (up to Kate's standards). We took the bus to Interlaken where we had planned to take a train up into the alps to do the Eiger trail. When we went to pay for the tickets (eurorail only gave a 25% discount) round trip for both of us would have been $150. So, we settled on cheaper to tickets to Grindelwald---which happened to be Kate's moms favorite place when she backpacked Europe.

We found a what was supposed to be a 5 hour hike through the Alps and back so we set out with our grocery store lunch, beer, and water. Eight hours later we finally make it back to Grindelwald, starving and thirsty and missing those baths in Budapest. The views were amazing, but it was definitely a steep hike. And we also realized walking down a steep hill is no faster or easier then walking up it. On the way back we passed a hotel that rented scooters to fly down the mountain into Grindelwald. Kate says we never really considered renting them while Tim says Kate claimed she didn't want to ride them down--but nevertheless it would have made the walk back a little easier.

Upgrading from our dinner of bread and nutella, we bought microwaveable dinners for that night and went to bed early and exhausted to get up early to take the train to Laussane to meet Tim's sister, Mariel, who will be joining us for the last part of our trip.

 

Day 21 and 22

Day 21

We get up early to take the train to Rome, where we planned to meet Tim's two friends from high school Judy and Megan. We make sure we have our reservations this time and find our hostel. Tim's friends weren't arriving until later that night so we drop our clothes off at the laundromat and make our way to St. Peters to try and catch the 5:45 pm mass. Kate needs an Italian Catholic Church appropriate dress so we stop at a street dress stand where Tim makes her bargain with the guy to get a cheap dress. We get it and make it just in time for Mass. St. Peters is breathtaking and huge. The mass was in the back and while there weren't a ton of people there, it was a cool experience being with people from all over the world. After mass we walk to the Spanish steps and then back to the hostel where we meet Judy and Megan.

Tim was so excited to see his friends and we all go out for a late dinner (dinner number 2 for Tim and Kate). We try to go out after but after one drink we all are exhausted and head back to get a good nights sleep for a full day in Rome.

 

Day 22

We were out of the hostel by 7:30am and Kate made it known immediately that she needed a cappichino pronto. So, after a quick stop at the local cafe we were en route to the Vatican a few subways stops later we we were in St. Peter's again. Well we did have a small hickup at security as Judy got nailed for showing her knees in her dress, but nothing a scarf and Tims gym shorts could not fix.

After walking the Basilica for a half hour we headed up to the viewing platform of St. Peter's. This was going to a be quite the trip..rivaling the hike in Trogir. Even through it was only 9am the stairs were steaming hot and seemed never ending. Finally we made it to the first level which over looked the inside of the Basilica which was stunning and there was also a place to fill up our water bottle which was great. But, we still werent all the way to the top so we climbed the single file, hot, curved stair case...let's just say Tim could have really benefited from brining a second shirt. From the top we had a birds eye view of Rome well worth the climb and the 5 Euro entrance fee. By 9:30 am the line was huge to get into St. Peter's so please take the advice that Tim's Aunt Gretel gave to go early or late to the Vatican.

We flew down the stairways and went to try to check out the Vatican Museum but the line stretched for blocks. Tim by this point was not doing well with the heat so once back in Rome slipped off his pants and put on the gym shorts in the middle of the street. Now with the proper air flow in the Rome heat, Tour Guide Tim was in full effect and Rome didn't stand a chance, and hitting the major sights before one pm and then headed over to the Colosseum for a guided tour. After the tour we headed to the hotel...Tiur Guide Tim was losing his touvh a little but, leading us in one circle but we made it back in once piece by 4 in the afternoon. Sunburnt and exhausted naps were necessary for all of us.

At 6 Meaghan, Kate, and Tim headed to the train station to get reservations to our next cites. We planned on this being a 20 minutes project at max....was not the case and two hours later and literally 300 people ahead of us in line we got a ticket agent. When we got to the ticket agent he broke the news to us that the 8am train was booked and we needed to take the 7am train, bad news but we could live with it until he told us we had 20 Euro ticket reservation. Kate came very close to losing it, thinking its ridiculos to pay such huigh reservation costs after spending a lot of money on a eurorail pass. To try to make Kate a little happier, Tim did ask to see how much the ticket would have been without he euro rail and it was 170 Euro each, we could live with the 20 Euro charge.

Now after 8 we went back to the hostel to pick up Judy and go to dinner. After and hour of waking and after Tim and Judy admitted they were lost, Megan quickly turned on data for her phone and the blue dot saved us and got us to our planned restaurant...which would have been great, expect it was closed. Luckily we had plenty of options so we grabbed dinner then time tried to grab a cab to go to a bar after dinner. On his second cabbie he was able to communicate enough to get us to the right neighborhood. By one we made back to the hostel but sleep was short we had to leave in six hours.