Thoughts of Here and There Pt. 2

That last post unleashed some sort of writing frenzy in me, so I suspect that this blog of mine will be updated much more frequently from now on.

I left off with me waiting at the train station in Budapest to go to Zurich, Switzerland. So, without further ado:

• It is impossible to sleep on night trains if you are poor and have opted not to pay the extra buck for a sleeping car. On the route from Budapest to Zurich we had to stop and switch trains in Salzburg, Austria. At 3:20am. Until 6:00am. So we sat in the "Waiting Room" which was really just a white cubicle with florescent lights and hard plastic chairs. There was this clump of long, dark hair on the floor that someone undoubtedly pulled off of their hairbrush and disgustingly left on the floor for someone else to deal with that I kept staring at. We turned off the garish lights because sitting in the dark seemed like a much better idea, but then felt like creeps when other people came in and were surprised at our presence due to the lights being off.
• Stared excitedly out the window as we started to approach the Alps. Mussed up hair, bleary eyes, aching back and an unshakable feeling of greasiness all over. Sat in front of some obnoxious British youths whose every other unfortunate utterance (literally) was the F-word.
• We decide that we don't really care to see Zurich, a decision which is exacerbated by the foul weather, so we hop on a train to Lucerne, where I buy a small cup of coffee at a Starbucks because we couldn't find anywhere better for the equivalent of $7 dollars. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Switzerland.
• Upon arrival, we found out that our hostel in Interlaken had upgraded us to our own room since they didn't have too many guests. So I got to sleep in a real bed and we had a couch and TV and bathroom and little patio. Cool except that the whole place was reminiscent of the 1970s (pea soup and burnt orange wall paper included) and Stanley Kubrik's The Shining.
• I learn how to take a shower without a towel.
• I eat an entire bar of milk chocolate with hazelnuts in approximately 20 minutes because I am left to my own devices. My travel compatriots decided it would be a good idea to pay 145 SF to be taken to the top of a mountain.
• Train to Rome through the picturesque Italian countryside. The woman sitting next to me was with her daughter and they had a massive suitcase that did not fit in the overhead compartments, so it sat awkwardly in the aisle. Almost nobody could get through without a struggle and exasperated glare mistakenly pointed in my direction because I had the aisle seat.
• Wow is advertising in Italy sexual! Italian men like to stare at you if you are female (I suppose that's a whopper of a heteronormative statement, but you know what I mean..) I find the hostel alright, and later meet up with Emily, my new travel compatriot and fellow Smithie. The following day we walk around Rome and see what we can without paying for anything. Pizza with prosciutto and arugula for lunch at a little neighborhood pizzeria. Later, heavenly tiramisu for dessert. Emily feels really American for asking the people dining next to us if they minded if she smoked. Note: it seems that no one asks such a question outside the USA.
• And now here is a story of true adventure: Emily and I have separate flights to Athens, hers at 6:40am and mine at 11:00am. There is a shuttle bus service to Fiumicino Airport for 8 euros, and a train for 14 euros. We both feel that the cheaper option is best. So Emily gets up at 4 and leaves and I wake up somewhat leisurely, have a cappuccino and croissant for breakfast, then make my way to the pick-up point. After about 10 minutes on the bus we encounter Rome traffic and I immediately have the sinking feeling that I am going to miss my flight, though I try to be positive and tell myself otherwise. The minutes tick on, I am silently pissed off at all of the mopeds and scooters zipping about, making the traffic that much worse, and we finally pull up to the airport at 10:40am. The line to check-in has about one thousand people in it and I stare at the computerized black and green clock in helpless despair: 10:56... 10:58... 11:03... 11:12... I almost don't know what to feel because I have never missed a flight before. I sort of feel like crying but I suck it up and find the Aegean Airlines help desk, where I am told that in order to book the next flight to Athens I am going to have to pay 128 euros (my original ticket cost 45 euros.) So I do it and then find an internet access point to email Emily so she knows what's up . I proceed to sit in Fiumicino Airport for 5 hours and spill cognac from the cognac-filled chocolate bar Emily has given me all over my shirt and lap. It turns sticky and crusty. After what seems like an eternity, I am 30,000 feet in the sky on the way to Athens happily munching on the baklava that has come with my meal. The flight attendants keep asking to refill my coffee cup so I say yes.
• Athens looks like a a metastasized tumor spreading with nothing to stop it from the air. An urban sprawl like I have never seen before. I worry that we are going to land on red dirt and olive trees but then the landing strip appears. I am disappointed because no one stamps my passport. I ride the X95 bus into the city center where, according to the directions the hostel has provided, I am to catch a tram. I have written the names of streets and tram stops down, but alas, have failed to realized that everything in Athens is written in, surprise, the Greek alphabet! I somehow find the right tram, but it is so crowded that I am unable to wedge my way up to the driver to ask for help. I end up getting off at a stop at random after it seems like I have been on the tram for too long. There is graffiti and closed up shops in every direction, both of which look so much scarier at night (by this time it is 9:30pm.) I walk for a bit, come across a fight which involves multiple people and a whole crowd and quickly decide to get a taxi. My cabbie doesn't speak any English, but does listen to hardcore metal. He shoves a cell phone up to my ear and I speak to some lady who knows English and can translate for me. We get to the address where the hostel is supposed to be, but see no hostel. We drive around, I am freaking out ("Can this day get ANY worse?") and the cabbie stops random people on the street asking if they know of the hostel. We drive around again, real slow, and all of a sudden I spot the Hostel World logo next to a quiet and unassuming door. It was the correct address after all, but superbly well hidden. I throw some money into the cabbie's hand and stumble into the hostel where I find Emily, who has just come inside from looking for me. We hug and I tell her what happened because I am not sure if she has gotten my email. AS IT TURNS OUT, Emily missed her flight as well! I scream at this ("NO WAY!!!") because it is such a crazy coincidence. Apparently her shuttle left late because the driver was chatting up some girl at 4:30 in the morning. While she was rescheduling her flight to the 11:00am Aegean Airlines flight, the one I was supposed to be on, the woman at the desk said she could have a seat right next to mine. When the plane took off at 11:00 and I wasn't on it, Emily knew right away that I had missed my flight.
• I take a shower, begin to relax and talk to the girl we are sharing a room with who has been traveling for several months by herself. I am way impressed and ask a million questions when she tells me that she has traveled to Patagonia, a place I am dying to see. She shows me her her pictures and they are beautiful.
• So although it was The Worst Day of My Life, it thankfully ended in high spirits and good company. We went to sleep prepared to wake up at 5:30am and to make our way to the island of Kefalonia.

Switzerland:

I am excited at mountains and want to take a picture!

Seven Dollars.

Pure angst. In other views the water looked exactly like blue Kool-Aid.

A Good Morning Switzerland! from our patio.

Breakfast on a bench, don't mind if I do.

Right?

Clearly I am humbled and introspective in the presence of such natural beauty.

Rome, Italy:

Emi won't get up.

This picture really doesn't do justice to how beautiful the light streaming in made the room look.

Big Whoop.

Athens, Greece:

Emi was forced to buy these outrageously priced tampons at the airport so we figured we should document it (9.30 euros if you can't see.)

Look! An orange tree! This was before we realized that orange and lemon trees cover Greece quite densely.

On an unrelated note, I am listening to Iron Maiden because that is just what my iTunes happens to be playing and I can't be bothered to change it since I'm writing, and it is totally and completely bringing back memories of running on the treadmill at Smith in the winter, boring holes into Sage Hall with my stare of otherworldly concentration and intensity that I tend to adopt while running.

... and I still have quite a bit to cover, so I'll leave you with some Elvis, my latest musical obsession (the reason for which will be explained in the next post, don't you worry!)