Munich 22/7

Munich 22/7 - Rohannas couch

Woke up on the comfy couch and had breakfast with Rohanna on her balcony, I also washed my stinky clothes, and charged all of my tech. Roh had to go to university, so I roamed the streets of Munich, buying myself a replacement belt, compass, a fresh haircut and on the way home; all the ingredients for me to cook them spaghetti bolognaise, to surprise and thank the two for their hospitality.
I Masterchef’d up the bolognaise with Rohanna and had dinner with her and Felix over a few wines and some highlights of my adventures so far.

Munich 23/7 - Rohannas couch

Roh and I had breakfast, then I borrowed Felix’s bike to ride around town. I rode along the Isar river up to the Englischer Garten and borrowed a parked bikes hand pump to top up his tyres.
After exploring the park for a bit Rohanna freed herself up and came to meet me for lunch at the beer garden. I had an amazing pork knuckle, my first for the trip, and a few Weiss beers.

We then rode up around the top of the city, then noticed her tyres were flat, so in my attempt to pump up her tyres at a car servo, I actually completely deflated her front tyre as the nozzle was different. Feeling like an idiot we walked around for 15minutes or so, and out of the 50+ chained up bikes, only one had a hand pump, which after a few solid pumps I ended up breaking it.

We opted to chain the bike up and she took the metro, texting each other of our location along the way to this music festival she recommended highly. 20 solid minutes of riding in the heat, I got to the show grounds only to realise the festival had finished a few days earlier, as they were removing all the fencing and signs.

Roh recommended the castle, another 15minutes ride away, as I waited for her on a park bench it soon dawned on me I was getting attacked by an entire colony of little hyperactive ants. My day wasn’t turning out the best.
When she arrived we walked over around the front gardens and lakes of the castle, to see that the castle I had in mind wasn’t actually a castle but a big mansion on a huge estate, built by a supposedly crazy king.

15minutes into my 30minutes sweaty ride I stopped by the Beer garten and skulled a beer as I was that knackered. Eventually got back to hers and dropped my bike off, leaving hers chained up near the servo. I showered, dressed for dinner and then we caught the metro to meet up with her friend Alex, a journalist for a local paper.
We finished our dinner and headed to a nearby busy bar in the University area, several Long Islands later, I was well wasted and Rohanna was hilarious knocking her last drink off the table. She left Alex and I there drinking, which was probably a bad idea, as I don’t remember much after that.

Zurich to Munich and SkyDiving in Interlaken 21/7

Zurich to Munich via SkyDive Interlaken 21/7 - Rohannas couch

I woke up early, had breakfast, packed up my gear and checked out. Took the tram to the train station and caught the earlier train to Interlaken, which took 3hours. I arrived in Interlaken and a little while later the taxi came to pick me up for skydiving. 

At the office they informed us we had to wait until 1pm to jump because the locals complain the chopper is noisy during their lunch break. The jump itself was 430CHF about 500AUD, and I was told I couldn’t use my own GoPro, for ‘safety reasons’, so I forked out another 200 Swiss Francs.
Switzerland was easily living up to its reputation for being expensive, but at least Zurich was a prettier version of Melbourne city, I’ll give it that.

I was then told I had to go later because the 3 stupid Egyptians hadn’t informed them of a cancellation and they wouldn’t fly me solo. But thankfully the company favoured me and gave a hard time. Eventually we were driven up to the helipad on the hill, all suited up, but only to have to wait for a couple of Germans wanting to a scenic flight over the Jurgenfrau.

20minutes later and it was time to jump. We took off and climbed rapidly up the face of steep mountain, then bank through a valley between the alps, and up further when the farm on the top look like little models. In a matter of minutes we went from the bottom of the valley to above the peaks of the majority, where we could see the endless array of snowy covered Alps. Then it was time to jump, Beat my tandem master, slid open the door and a brief moment of ‘oh shit’ factor came over me but soon settled as I had done this before. I then stepped out onto the footstep of the helicopter, looking down on the small towns below and tiny mountain farms, I put my head back and leaned forward, waiting for that feeling of weightlessness and incredible acceleration to termination velocity, it’s a rush like no other, different to the bulls fear and adrenaline, but equally as exciting. The freefall was for about 45seconds, then he pulled the parachute and it quickly deployed and slowed our decent. I took my goggles off and properly took in my surroundings; the two blue lakes and the steep rocky green mountainous cliffs. We landed in a paddock close to the office and I ran back to check the train time tables, the price differed by 100euro so I managed to ditch the Egyptians and got to the station in time.

7hours, two change overs and 157CHF later, I was in Munich. Got off at the Platform No. 26 and saw Rohanna waiting for me, I snuck up amongst the sea of people leaving the train and scared the crap out of her. We then took a train to stations to her apartment, in a very nice place just off the river. Her and her fiancé were both very accommodating, which I was very thankful for.

Zurich 19/7

Milan to Zurich 19/7 - Single room Comfort Inn Hotel

Woke up a little hung-over again and checked out. Unlocked my bicycle that I had chained up inside the hostel because there was no spots left on the BikiMi rack outside the hostel, and went for a ride to Piazza Duomo. Found the square alright using Google maps, took a few photos and then realised my rear tyre was flat, so I swapped out my bike at the Duomo bike point, only for it warn me that I can only use a bike for 2 hours at a time, whoops.

I ate some hangover Maccas, bought some cold’n’flu tablets, and found a Barclays bank to withdraw some cash. Which I did, but it ended up eating my card as it gave me the cash first and then I got distracted. I freaked out a fair bit, before quickly reframing my mindset and talking to the security guard. Knowing I could do nothing about it, I rode on and found a massive Fort in the centre of Milan, surrounded by park land and a big Arch way after that, which were both very impressive.

Rode back via the Square and returned my bike. Then decided to try and get my card again, had to wait about half an hour for them to get back from lunch, then a lady from the bank appeared said she could give me my card as long as my bank gave them permission, after a lengthy amount of times and costly Telstra phone calls, I had my card cancelled, and then another one half organised because they couldn’t post it out to me as I had no permanent address. Once I realised I was getting nowhere, I spoke to the lady and saw my card, there, on her desk stapled to a bit of paper. I could of begged her, used my usually successful charm, recited my card number along with my passport, that surely would have been enough. But it was useless, as my card had already been cancelled, I slumped to the ground in front of her, knowing I had been defeated, thanked her and left the Bank.

I returned to the hostel, grabbed my gear and jumped on a tram to the station after I agreed to meet Isabelle in Zurich at 9pm. 

As I got off the train with my full backpack and I checked my phone, then seconds later to be greeted by a scream and Isabelle throwing herself onto me. I did surprisingly well to stay upright, it was so good to see her after my relatively shit day.

She took me to the hotel her Mum had organised, freshened up and went out for dinner at what I thought was an expensive restaurant, but 49CHF was the going price for a Rib-eye steak, which was amazing by the way. After dinner we went on a pub crawl, one drink, one bar, and started at a gay bar for a laugh. Both pretty intoxicated and it being 1am she had to catch a train, we agreed to meet up the next day for breakfast. I got back to my room and passed out immediately.

Zurich 20/7 - Single room Comfort Inn Hotel

I woke up several times in the small space of 6 or 7 hours, thinking I had overslept but I hadn’t. I got up 2 hours early anyway, and did a few push-ups, lunges and dips. Then went downstairs and found out I had buffet breakfast included.

I went back to my room and used the Wi-Fi for a while before Isabelle knocked on my door, we decided to go for a walk around Zurich and down the river to the lake via some clothing stores and a supermarket. We bought her some breakfast as I forgot we had agreed to have it together, and a bottle of red wine for the picnic by the lake.

Found a spot under a tree and laid down in the shade, intermittently passing out shortly after, an hour or two later I had a swim in the lake. It was surprisingly warm, but a struggle to swim in as I couldn’t float in the fresh water too well. I got out and we went to the Chinese garden, which was pretty cool, then went to a kids play park that had a rock climbing wall, and I obliterated that in a minute or two.

We headed back to the Comfort Inn as I couldn’t find any other reasonably priced hostels or hotels, I had a quick shower then we went out for dinner and had yet another expensive dinner, but it was a delicious Mexican meal. 

After dinner we went on another pub crawl, but ended it after the first bar as we couldn't find anything happening that early, so we went to the supermarket and bought some cheap vodka and orange juice. We finished the bottle over an hour or two by the lake, and listen to music. As I planned to skydive the next day we called it a night and said our farewells.

Milan 18/7

Massa to Milan 18/7 - 6bed dorm Zebra Hostel

Woke up pretty hung-over, and Evan had slept in. I showered, packed up my gear and went down stairs to the lobby. Sat on the couch for a good 2-3hours restoring my iPhone and organising my trip to Milan. Eventually I made my way out of the hotel after having a free hotel buffet lunch, and bussed up to the station. I had to wait a good half hour as I just missed the train, so I listened to my Italian audio tapes.

It was close to a 7hour journey to Milan, but once I arrived I witnessed a lot of Milan’s beauty straight away, everything was big with high ceilings and artwork. The station alone was pretty amazing.

I found my way out of the station to the subway, where I found a tram map and roughly worked out which tram I needed. However, I didn’t know where it started. A lady told me to jump on this old heritage listed tram that should have been on a rubbish dump. With my iPhone having internet now I straight away confirmed my suspicions and was headed the wrong way… a compass would have done the same thing *sigh* (RIP Compass).

But as I was starting to freak out again, I saw the No. 9 tram I needed to catch, ran back and caught it to the right stop, near my hostel, with the help of almost every Italian on the tram.

I checked in and met some Poms in my room, then I showered and went to get some dinner with a hire bike that a girl in the hostel told me to book online for the next day’s exploring.
I had my first Italian pizza and freaked about my hire bike being stolen the whole time.

When I got back to the hostel there was 3 girls, all dolled up, standing out front of the hostel to the right of the entry where there was a bar/club.

I spruced up and went out the front of the club, and said hello to the girls. They immediately realised I was Australian and lost their minds. The Swede, Stella, said I should come in for a drink, which I did, then after a few minutes chatting to both her and Margherita, she invited us up to her apartment for a swim in her pool. I couldn’t refuse, so Margherita, Stella and I, left the club and went upstairs, even though Marge should have been working. 

The pool was a blue blow up pool like the $80 one I bought years ago, but I didn’t mind. Stella insisted we drink more, although she was already way drunk after being caught stealing drinks from behind the bar downstairs, and somehow managed to steal a beer minutes later, somehow not getting kicked out.
We drank the champagne, and played mini table football back in the bar. I let Margherita win, whilst Stella kept losing the ball on the floor and proceeded to hit on this Canadian guy Carter. The bar soon closed at 2am and I had an early rise the next day so I went back to my hostel room and found the pommy guys already passed out.

Cinque Terre & Massa 15/7

Nice to La Spezia 15/7 - Twin share room L’ancore Hotel

Woke up hungover, omelette for breakfast with Dani, check out of hostel and we trained it for 5 hours. Brushed up on my Italian. Got a fine for not validating the ticket I had just bought. Smelly, old, hot and sweaty train – Welcome to Italy.

Bus’d up the massive windy hill with Dani to her hostel, that didn’t have any spare beds for me, so after she checked-in we caught a bus down to Riomaggoire, I managed to find a nice room for 70euro, then we went and had dinner by the water. Dani caught the bus to her hostel, and I wandered around by myself for an hour taking photos then went to bed.

Riomaggoire to Massa 16/7 - Twin share room Hotel Scandinavia

Dani woke me up and we took the train to Corniglia, then hiked all the way to the top of the town and through it past vineyards to a kiosk where we bought tickets to the national park walk.

We started on our trek in the heat through some greenery which eventually faded into drier scenery, we randomly bump into Jane from our hostel in Nice on the first night. After an hour or so of trekking and sweating we relaxed on the beach of Montorosso. Bumped into Jane again at the station, and caught the train back to Riomaggiore where I parted ways with Dani.

Arrived in Rio, because I had checked out of my accommodation I had to use a public toilet on the street… which was a porcelain hole in the ground for japs, with little light and no toilet paper. I used my damp jocks from swimming and threw them in the bin. I felt pretty disgusting, from the sweat and sunscreen.

Caught the train to La Spezia then to Massa, was going to catch the bus, but an Italian guy Marchello, said he would walk with me, had a good broken English/Italian conversation with him and walk for around 2 kilometres, until he got where he needed to be and instructed me to catch the bus.
I waited for 10minutes and caught it to the nearest stop.

The hotel receptionist seemed to know Evan well, when I mentioned his name, he gladly gave me a key to his room and free wifi. I found his room, showered, and messaged Evan to let him know I was there. When he got to the room he rushed me to the next hotel as we were to meet up with his work mates Geoff and Adam.

We had a few beers at the hotel bar, and exchanged stories of travel, work and conquests. Geoff was almost like an identical me only 10 years older. His connections in offshore Oil and Gas were huge, he was a great bloke to meet.
We went out and had dinner and a few more drinks where he told more almost unbelievable stories, but because of his money and personality you knew they were all true.

Massa daytrip to Pisa 17/7 - Twin share room Hotel Scandinavia

Evan took me downstairs to a quick buffet breakfast, then I got a lift from Geoff to catch a train to Pisa. Whilst I was waiting for the train I bought some Vanilla cigars and brushed up more on my Italian.

Arrived in Pisa and caught the right bus to Piazza Pisa, I roamed around and took a lot of photos, but the ticket queue for the climb the tower of Pisa was a 3hour wait. So I bought some lunch and a jet lighter and chilled out on the grass by the Tower.

Caught the train and bus back to Massa where I practiced my l’italiano on an Italian hotty on the bus, for the most part it worked too. I went for a ride down the main beach road, and after a few kilometres I stopped and checked out one of the hotels on the beach… it was a family hotel, so I bailed and rode back up to the hotel to put some swimmers on. The whole beach was like Sorrento in summer, but nothing but teenagers, families and the occasional young couple. Strolling up the beach after a swim didn’t change that.

So I rode up the street and eventually found a Harvey Norman Italian equivalent, and bought a sim card for my phone for 20euro… only to discover my phone had not been unlocked when I had it replaced. FML

I got back to the hotel and piss farted around with a live chat Telstra operator who unlocked it, but then it meant I had to back it up and restore to factory settings. After an hour or so it was time to go out for dinner, so I just used it as a blank phone with internet and sms.

Evan, Geoff and myself went out for dinner in Forte dei Marmi, about a 15minute drive away, I helped Evan buy an expensive shirt for the Beach Club in Massa. 

Geoff didn’t have a belt so I gave him mine, we then met other Australians from Geoffs hotel and had more beers with them. Geoff and that must have left as they had work the next morning, but Evan was keen to keep drinking. Found Evan at the bar talking to some Russians. I found some Italians and then we ended up leaving on Evans bike, where I was dinked the entire 20minute ride home on the handlebars. Danergous, adventurous and entertaining night.

Nice 11/7

Marseille to Nice – Aux En Provence day trip then to Nice 11/7 12bed dorm - Villa Saint Exupery

Tagged along with Dani to see some big flower plantations north of Marseille, we found the tourism centre and were informed that they were a good hours drive away. Hiring a car was too expensive, so we opted to just walk around town. There was a market on, selling mostly female clothing.
We returned to Marseille and had lunch in Vieux Port, which was pretty amazing.

Arrived in Nice later in the day, and stayed at a very nice hostel Villa Saint Exupery Beach. Immediately knew I’d like Nice, so we decided to stay a few days. After a late dinner and drinks we got back to the hostel and I solo missioned it on a pub crawl.

Nice 12/7 4bed annex - Hotel Belle Meusiere

Checked out of the nice hostel as there wasn't any rooms left, and had a quick gym session, very minimal, but worked up a sweat. Spent most of the day on Nice beach after the fruit market, then booked the new hostel for a few nights.

When we arrived the hostel had double booked, so Dani stayed in another hostel, I had to cram into a shitty annex like room on the side of the hostel. I showered then went out and met some cool Swedes in the courtyard of the hostel. Made myself a ham cheese and baby spinach baguette, which was amazing, and I also bought two bottles of red that we all got into. 

Amongst all the drinking Luke introduced himself and we wandered off looking for a pub crawl, we found one and talked the party bus guy down from 30euro to 15.

The party bus took us into Monaco, to party it up there, which we did… shortly after arriving at the first bar, already on my way, we grew impatient with the bars poor service, so I swiped a fancy looking bottle of champagne and shared it around. 

30minutes later the empty bottle was found by bar staff and they went around sniffing and inspecting peoples drinks, funnily enough after some heated discussions with bar staff I weaselled my way out of paying the 90euro for the bottle, but was forced outside, and finished off my other drinks outside.
We went to another club, and I danced my arse off. Caught the bus back, what a night.

Nice 13/7 4bed loft - Hotel Belle Meusiere

Dani, Luke and I took the train to another beach along the coast 20minutes away, Villefranche Sur Mer. We met an Estonian girl who lives in Talinn, we exchanged details for when I go to Talinn.
We had lunch then returned to our hostel and freshened up.

Took the train back to Monaco and saw the ridiculous amounts of money that been spent on yachts, boats and cars. Had dinner at the beer garden where I had danced the night before. We missed the train back to Nice and had to wait an hour for the next one at 1130. I decided to have a night off and went to bed.

Nice 14/7 4bed loft - Hotel Belle Meusiere

Went to the big rocky beach again, but this time we bought some li-lo’s and had an awesome day floating around on them and sunbaking until 4pm when Luke saw Gilda, the chick he had hooked up with at Calvi on the Rocks festival.
We had dinner for Bastille day at an Irish pub then returned to the hostel where the hostel worker Robert, an awesome German guy, came through with his promises of booze, pizza, and a few joints.
I drank almost 2 bottles of red to myself and a few shots of the Czech spirit, then ran down to see the firework show on the beach. I stumbled back drunk by myself to the hostel after the fireworks.