bumps in the road

i was supposed to leave interlaken on monday afternoon...that didn't happen but first i'll tell you about what happened up to that point.

i got to interlaken relatively easily, that is i knew all the transfers of trains that i needed to make and successfully did so. the only hitch was that the train spent 24 kilometers in austria and my rail pass doesn't cover austria...cost me 9 euros! i'm still a little bitter about it...the pass cost me 528 euros and i can cover untold kilometers but they won't let me slide for a measly 24 kilometers! oh well. got to interlaken and if i can give one piece of general travel advice it's to not travel on sundays if possible. it's not all that bad the issue is with the public transport to and from train stations. the number 4 bus that runs from right infront of interlaken station to right infront of the hostel doesn't run on sundays so off on a 15 minute walk...not all that bad but had it been any other of the days of the week i could have had door to door transport for a euro. again, oh well. i really can't say enough about the beauty of the alps and i've lived in vail, co, climbed mt. rainier and seen most of the "big" natural sights out west...the alps have it beat.



i got to town around 3 and walked for a while marveling at the sights and trying to get a good picture of all the paragliders. like a lot of places in europe the restaurants don't serve food from 3 to 5 or 6 which was of particular dismay to me as i was pretty hungry. i waited and actually had a pretty good meal a thai restuarant next to the hostel and then back to the room for a bit of a nap. interlaken is still far enough north that the sun goes down quite late...still a good deal of light at 10. i was up from the nap at 8:30 or so and decided to go for a run. it was a great run...about 5 minutes on a road, anouther 5 minutes on some fairly hilly, rocky and rooted single track trail and then a wide gravel path that varied from flat to uphill to downhill. there was a loop that was probably a 1.5 to 1.75 miles that i ran twice before heading down. when i first came to the gravel path i was sure to take a stick and prop it up against a tree in case i wasn't sure where to turn off to get back down...it worked. i wish that i had taken a camera on the run because about half way around the loop there was a great view of the valley and the glaciered peak beyond it and while it was cloudy out the sun was shining a horizontal path across the middle of the mountain.

the next day my plan was to rent a mountain bike and go for a ride. what a ride. the ride was uphill of varying degrees on the way out. my goal was to get to the gondolas about 12 miles away take the gondola up about half way (it goes up to 3 different altitudes) have lunch up there and ride back. i took the gondola up to about 5000'. had i taken it all the way up i would have been where they filmed an old james bond movie and in fact the gondola company doesn't let you forget that. by lunch time the skies had cleared and it was quite the view. that first is me just after getting off the lift. after lunch i walked around a bit and then headed down. at first i was on a gravel downhill path. i was told of two ways to go down one being a bit harder than the other. that was the one i thought i took but apparently there is a third "nearly impossible on a mountain bike" option. i ended walking my bike down for about 75 minutes (not sure of the distance but it was about 500 vetical meters). while doing this i was passed by 3 sets of two riders on full suspension top-of-the-line mountain bikes with full helmets and crash gear...screaming down the mountain. they had to be either excellent riders, completely insane or suicidal as there were many sections that a fall off the trail would not only lead to death but they probably wouldn't recover your body. i was walking the bike down the ridge that was a good way above this cliff. i kept passing over these creeks that become the waterfalls like the one just left of center in this photo. plain and simple it was a bitch to get down but my only concern was that it would take too long and that i was going to miss my train out of town. i made it down and the rest of the ride was easy gently rolling almost all downhill gravel path. and i made it back with time to spare...cleaned up a little in the bathroom put on some clean clothes and got the next but to the train station (as it was not a sunday) here's where things go bad...time was tight, i made it on time but i made it. the train must have started there in interlaken because it was sitting there with 10 minutes to departure. i get on and i started to check the itinerary that i had on my computer...due to a few errors on my part i got OFF that train thinking that i wanted the one that was leaving in about 45 minutes...let me repeat that...i got off the train that was now leaving in about 3 minutes. back inside the station i realized my mistake. it was a biggie too as that was the last train out of town that day unless you count the night trains which i was about to find out were all booked except for a private sleeper for 170 swiss francs which even with the good exchange rate is $158...back to the hostel it is! normally i don't think that i would have minded but two things it was avoidable and the hostel was basically a frat house...which at one point of my life would have been jim dandy but today...not so much. the one silver-ish lining was i got to shower, do laundry and i met a couple on there honeymoon who get this...are both flying trapezee instructors. we talked for quite some time...so not a total loss.

i made it out on the first train to florence the next day. i didn't get much sleep that night but for one of the legs of the ride i was on one of the older trains which actually have their advantages. as i am over 26 years old my rail pass had to be a 1st class ticket. on the older trains 1st class is a bunch of 6 seat cabins instead of the newer all one cabin 2 seats on one side 1 seat on the other side arrangement. so far when i've been on these trains i've had the cabin to myself. so while i lose a bit of interaction with fellow travelers i gain quite a bit of comfort and can stretch out, close the curtains and door, turn off the lights, and nap away!

i've actually had nice weather the whole trip, not too hot and while there has been a fair amount of rain it's been mostly in the evenings and not for too long. now that i'm a bit more south and it's a bit later in summer it getting hot. florence is hot. it probably doesn't help that i don't think that i've seen a blade of grass here. it's pretty much buildings, about 14 inches of sidewalk that slopes into street of varying width from normal to you gotta be kiddin' they drive cars down this thing.

without being overly judgmental of florence...it's a bit dirty and at times sort of smells. that said, the people are very nice and there are some great sites. the uffuzi gallery with it's great works of art from the 13th to the 18th centuries, acadameia with michaelangelo's david, the duomo and more are all worth a visit. more than any other place yet i feel like i have to be extra-vigilant of pick-pockets and general neer-do-wellers but so far so good. i think it's really just a matter of always being aware of your surroundings. don't spend too much time looking up at some sight...the thieves love that and don't be affraid to turn around and look to see who is following you...the thieves don't love that.

so since i got here a day later than planned and since time...believe it or not...is running short i am skipping venice (those and a few other reasons) and heading to rome tomorrow. i'm leaving early in the morning and making a stop in orvieto for 7 or 8 hours on the advice of my friend, annette, who lives in rome.

so a few bumps in the road...whether the bumps are literally there as in the bike path down the mountain or figuratively as in my getting of the right train...eh, no big deal...it makes for good stories.

happy trails,
dan