Happiness is…

…a grandmother-esque travel agent providing a written description in Greek of an immersion boiler to a tourist in search of a cheap way to make coffee on overnight ferries.

…paying 1 euro and 20 centimes for a pita sandwich with extra tzatsiki and eating it in view of the Acropolis lit up at night (and having garlic breath the next day no matter how many times the teeth are brushed).

…two bottles of red wine, good company and the Trevi Fountain on Valentine’s Day.

… laughing at just how much the tower in Pisa is indeed leaning.

…boats, trains, buses and the hope of ending up in the right place on time for the next leg of the journey.

…spending the night on the floor of a quiet room that does not smell like cigarette smoke.

...returning from vacation to care packages, valentine's cards and love letters.

…adventure, friendship, learning, living, exploring and eating an entire bag of microwave popcorn while reflecting on the past two weeks.

Friday, February 12th

Day 1.




Snacks packed (two bags worth), to-go mug full of coffee and we were off. The first few trains were uneventful until about hour 8 of the journey when Germany stares from the food bag she has been carrying, to me and then back to the bag asking me if “Vagina” means what she thinks it means. I assure her that yes, yes it does. Somehow, by luck of the draw, she ended up being the pack-mule for my Vagina Monologues sack full of our snacks while I was carrying the non-descript red and orange striped food bag. Side-aching laughter ensued (and she become so found of the bag throughout the duration of the trip she insisted on carrying it).



9:26 pm – deeply engrossed in finishing The Time Traveler’s Wife I am drawn from my reverie to see a man in orange yelling in Italian at Germany who looks like a confused hot air balloon about to take off. I finally make out the word “Genova” and I figure he is trying to find out if this is the train going to Genova so I continuously repeat “Genova, yes, yes, Genova” till my laughter preventing any intelligible words from escaping my lips.

We spent the evening in a freezing overnight train from Genova to Rome with positively disgusting toilets… but WE WERE IN ITALY!



Saturday, February 13th

Day 2.

Around 6 am, we arrived in Rome. Physically worn out, but WIDE AWAKE after 2 euros well spent on two café americanos (a shot of espresso with hot water poured in). We made our way to our hostel – conveniently located a five minute walk away from the train station. What a glorious, glorious feeling it was for the front desk worker to allow us to not only leave our bags for the day even though check in is not until 3 pm, but also to enjoy showers AND free breakfast before heading out into the eternal city (maybe we smelled and looked hungry, maybe he was just very kind – either way, success).

The first thing we did, like the true tourists we were, was head straight to the Coliseum. It was amazing to be walking along and then – “ah, off in the distance, the Coliseum…”



We spent our time meandering about inside trying to block out the other tourists and tap into the energy and history of the place – imagining (to the best of our creative powers) what it must have been like.

We ventured around ancient Rome a bit, enjoyed another round of café americanos and headed to the Campo dei Fiori for one of my favorite European experiences – the market! The colors, sounds, and smells were all remarkable and bursting with life – the spice stands tempted my coin purse and Germany walked away with some authentic noodles.



Making our way through Roman streets – eyes peeled wide trying to take it all in – we headed to the Piazza Navona, showered in confetti from the Carnival celebrations and packed with art dealers, a theatrical performance, and musicians scattered throughout, we indulged in our first Italian pizza by the slice and soaked up the sunshine and our merry surroundings.

Following the Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps were our goal and en route we visited the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain.



Upon reaching the Spanish Steps we found our legs a bit tired but our ambitious minds were set on scaling the steps and taking in the view.

We headed back to the hostel where we checked in and agreed on a bit of an afternoon nap, followed by window shopping, visiting a nearby church, venturing to the supermarket and enjoying some Sangiovese, pizza and loads of laughter with a gal from Canada we met at our hostel.

Sunday, February 14th

Day 3.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Breakfast, showers and off we were to Republic Square, followed by a visit to the Teatro dell’Opera, loads of window shopping and entering into gourmet food stores, then we found ourselves in a random park with an enormous statue followed by the Quirinal Palace, where we knew nothing about the place, but had choices – to stand in line and visit it, or not to stand in line. Oh a whim, we lined up and it was a well-made decision! Before entering the palace there is some pretty tight security – metal detectors and x-ray machines with big signs showing swiss-army knifes as a no-no… as luck would have it, Maren was carrying her swiss-army knife in her purse… we again had two choices, back out of line… or cross our fingers. Fingers crossed and we were through! We visited the Italian equivalent of the White House and it was amazing – from the art and sculptures to the massive clocks (all made in Paris!) or the oriental art, what sights we saw!

We then wound our way back to the Piazza Navona to take in the music, art and inspirational surroundings a bit more, followed by a walk towards the Castel Sant’Angelo, enjoying calzones along the way (cheese, olives, artichoke, asperagus and garlic in a wonderful doughy crust!). The Castel Sant’Angelo had amazing views of the city, and we even saw a bridal party crossing the bridge below!

Upon exiting the castle we walked along the river and saw the Palazzo di Glustizia, the Mausoleo Augusto and made our way up the major shopping street (like the Rue de Rivoli in Paris) to the Piazza del Popolo where we climbed up Montmartre-esque steps (and were sprayed by Carnival lovers with silly string). After soaking up the view, we made our way to the metro and what do you know – down the escalator we went, and I was playing with my ticket along the side of the escalator when it stuck in the rut between two metal pieces and down we went, while up it seemed to go and I grabbed it back just in time (imagine explaining that to the metro police if they caught me without a ticket!).

We returned to the hostel for afternoon snack, instant coffee and relaxation before heading out to see Rome at night!

Valentine’s evening was a girls night out with our new Canadian friend, we started at the Coliseum to see it all lit up, then made our way through the eternal city to the Trevi Fountain where we drank wine out of plastic cups, enjoyed pizza and gelato and witnessed two proposals! We ended the evening merrily (even though I missed my love something fierce)!

Monday, February 15th

Day 4.

Monday was Vatican day, an entire day reserved for exploring the depths of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica. The initial line was intense, but the student discount made us happy campers as we soaked up the lavish and overwhelming works of art surrounding us on all sides! Raphael, Michelangelo – and no I do not mean the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! The Sistine Chapel knocked the wind out of me. Germany was overwhelmed by the massive crowds and rude tourists sneaking photos, and I was overwhelmed by the passion, dedication and legacy staring down at me from above.

We wrote postcards and used the Vatican post before heading to St. Peter’s – where security seemed to be paying attention to the monitors and we were quite glad Germany’s swiss army knife had sat this one out. It was remarkable, the most massive church I have ever seen. I could not believe it.

I am better at describing meals and crowds than sights, but words fail me in detailing the overwhelming presence and energy of St. Peter’s.

We picked up some provisions from the supermarket and had the not-so-pleasant (but hilarious) experience of realizing I had locked the key for our lock in our locker at the hostel. A saw, lock-cutter, and Taiwanese guy insisting he help because he is a man later (grrrrrr)…



Tuesday, February 16th

Day 5.

Off to Bari we go (to catch our ferry to Greece!). An uneventful train ride, followed by losing each other as we separated to search for information about getting from the Bari train station to the port later, we were aboard the number 20-slash bus and soon encountered 4 ticket controllers who scared poor Germany even though our tickets were perfectly valid (apparently, someone has a history with the German ticket controllers). Upon finding the port we checked in for our ferry and searched for food, resulting in the most amazing pasta meal of my life, fresh noodles in a delicious pesto sauce with a fishbowl of red wine. We walked around for a bit, enjoyed some coffee and were taught in a rather wicked downpour as we wandered around the port figuring out exactly where one gets on the boat.



We were the first two people in the Air-Seat section of the boat and settled in for our journey. The best moment of the ferry journey was being awake around 5 am, splurging for coffee, and taking in the spectacular views from the deck in perfect solitude.

Wednesday, February 17th

Day 6.

Our SuperFast Ferry was late getting in Patras – hungry and dirty, we found the train station, reserved our tickets to Athens (or so we thought) and ventured out for pita sandwiches and French fries with aioli. I adore Grece, but one thing I am not sure I will ever get over was the lack of synchronization for the train station clocks. I do not mean a matter of ten minutes difference; I mean that none of the clocks in the station were even on the right hour. With the time difference between Italy and Greece, some serious fatigue issues and general confusion about what time it was, we were in a state of sheer confusion. A few deep breaths later, we were on our train where I dozed in and out of slumber with the warm sunshine pouring onto my face and either views of the sea, mountains, or lemon trees greeting my eyes whenever I pealed my eyelids back long enough to take in the sights. Ah, to sit back and relax until Athens, what a pleasant, pleasant thought.

Reality soon set in as Germany poked me awake and the conductor was yelling and making hand gestures that meant absolutely nothing to either of us. Conversing in French and trying to figure out what the heck was going on, the world sent us a helping hand in the form of an elderly Greek man who explained in broken – but understandable- French that we have to get off the train, get on a bus, then get another train to get to Athens. Dear lady at the train station who helped us reserve our tickets, a bit of warning would have been nice. Bustling off the train we were faced by two buses, stashing our bags below one of the two buses and piling on all we could think was “please let us get there, please les us get there…”



A bus ride, another train, and two metros later we found our hostel – a steal at 12 euros and 50 centimes a night for a private room with bunk beds, our own bathroom, and breakfast. After washing away layers of dirt from trains, buses, boats, buses, trains and metros, we ventured out to Monastiraki – right by our hostel, where we ate delicious pita sandwiches for 1 euro and 20 centimes and stared up at the Acropolis all lit up at night. It seemed to be welcoming us to Greece!

Thursday, February 18th

Day 7.

Waking up it seemed to take me forever to find the strength to climb out of bed – a bit of a cold or sinus infection from all the traveling I suspect. After a wonderful hostel breakfast, morale was back about where it should be we decided to spend the day figuring out the rest of our time in Greece. We reserved tickets to get back to Patras for our boat to Italy, we grocery shopped, we explored options for visiting islands or Delphi, I made a massive amount of trail mix in a gallon sized ziploc bag, and we eventually made our way to the tourism office and a travel agency where we booked a ferry to visit Aegina, a nearby island. Given limited funds, we decided to spend most of our time exploring Athens and not burst our budget by trying to do too much.

While at the travel agency, we were helped by the loveliest, grandmother-esque lady. Inspiration knocked me upside the head, and I inquired if she knew where we could find an immersion boiler (only I did not know the name even in English and so I did my best to explain that I wanted a coil that heats up one cup of water). The wonderful woman not only wrote me out a description in Greek so I could show it to shop keepers, she also drew a picture (like she knew I am artistically challenged!).



We explored, shopped, showed my little piece of paper to workers at a bagillion stores, ate pitas, soaked up the sights, bought proper tennis shoes for Germany whose feet were a bit sad and in need of comfort, purchased souvenirs and the ended the evening with strawberries from a fruit stand, pitas, Greek wine and the glory of hanging loads of handwash up around our room (promising clean clothes in the near future).

Friday, February 19th

Day 8.

Bright and early we rose, and off we went to the Acropolis. We wound our way through small side streets, taking in the Ancient Agora and the sights and sounds of Athens waking up. It was amazing. There were hardly any other tourists up at such an early hour, so we were able to meander, reflect, and take in some of the very things we had each studied in high school history. I had numerous flashbacks to 9th grade and was amazed by my surroundings.



After getting our fill of the sights, we headed to the Acropolis Museum where our reflections and experiences of the Acropolis were complimented by exhibits and facts. I liked having the time to ponder and reflect what could have been, soaking things up and then approaching the museum armed with my own notions and observations.

We had a bit of afternoon down-time and then headed out, exploring markets, searching for an immersion boiler, and wandering in and out of interesting looking shops. We found a strike in front of Syntagma Square, where we were to take a bus from the following day to get to the port city of Piraeus so we decided not to chance it and use the metro. We shared the most delicious piece of baklava, picked up dinner supplies from the supermarket and then ventured out for some ouzo – and a second round of baklava at the neatest café right by Monastiraki. It was an excellent girls’ night on the town, and ouzo tastes like alcoholic licorice.

Saturday, February 20th

Day 9.

Sandwiches packed, we were off to the metro to head to Piraeus. Ah, Greek public transit, where sometimes one is left with no choice but to blindly follow the masses as they exit the metro, wind through streets and markets, board a bus, travel to a different metro stop, and eventually end up in the right place (Piraeus, a port town not far from Athens).

I had left my little piece of paper about the immersion boiler at our hotel, but Piraeus seemed touristy, and we had a bit of time before our ferry and what do you know – we found an immersion boiler, only it was bath tube sized and 14 euros so not OUR immersion boiler, but it was reassuring to show Germany that we were after did exist. As the people in the shops kept telling us – “You have to search for it.”

The weather for our island day was dreary with a side of overcast, so our decision to not break the budget on a several-island tour seemed well justified. Amidst the cloud cover, we enjoyed our time exploring the ancient ruins on Aegina, winding our way around the island, seeing olive groves, lemon trees and cactus plants. We sat along the sea and read our books, enjoyed a proper meal at a restaurant and found baked goods from a local bakery to eat alongside the sea. With a bit of time left before our ferry, we did a bit of shopping and, on a whim, tried a couple of shops for our immersion boiler. Our final attempt was at a store with no name, run by a mother and daughter who had a SELECTION or TWO different immersion boilers. Euphoria. When we explained we had searched all over Athens, the mother took great pride in plugging it in and showing us how quickly it heated up. I shall never forget the feeling of hilarious relief when we found ourselves an immersion boiler.



Sunday, February 21st

Day 10.

Our final day in Athens was spent at the local flea market, Hadrian’s library, the Temple of Zeus Olympic, the National Gardens, and eating baklava and spanikopita while writing postcards or reading our books beneath the beloved Greek sunshine. We even wrote a postcard to the Alençon train station, thanking them for helping us make it all the way to Athens! We ended the evening with the daunting task of making everything fit in our bags, but challenges can be good – they make us stronger (and the weight of my backpack promised to strengthen my back muscles).

Monday, February 22nd

Day 11.

Showers, 2 metros, 2 trains, random snacks and one bus ride later and we were in Patras, ready for our ferry back to Greece. Now, on our first ferry, we did not know there would be showers available, thus we packed strategically, ready to shower the following morning and feel less gross after the whole experience. AH, alas, no two ferried are created equally. Tragically we did not even have Air Seats, rather we were destined to spend the evening in the lounge, which opened down to the bar which turned into a disco at night (including drunk soccer players chanting “Olé, olé, olé…”and buckets of cigarette smoke wafting its way up promising headaches and stinky clothes). My beloved Germany lasted till midnight, when she marched her way through the bar to the reception desk and demanded a cabin because she had “booked a ferry, not a disco!” We spent the rest of the evening asleep on the floor of the Air Seat room – which, for some reason, was not for passenger use but the kind SuperFast worker happily opened it for us following Germany’s rant at the reception desk.




Tuesday, February 23rd

Day 12.

We started our day with immersion boiler instant coffee in the seclusion and quiet of the Air Seat room where Germany explained her nighttime exploit to use the toilet – the fastest she had ever peed in her life because she had to leave a shoe in the door of the Air Seat room so as to not be locked out and was horrified that someone would come and attack me during my deep sleeps – ah, true friendship.

We happily saw the Italian coast, and off we were, to find the Ancona train station. A bus ride later, we reserved our tickets and what felt like half a day later we arrived in Florence. Ah, Florence, where our hostel had listed an address and directions that… did not match up. An hour later, we had seen all of Florence, walked nearly entirely around the Duomo (MASSIVE Cathedral) and found our way to our hostel, where we enjoyed a free dinner and ventured out to explore a bit before calling in an early night.

Wednesday, February 24th

Day 13.

Art. We started our day by seeing two exquisite masterpieces – Michelangelo’s David (who stole Germany’s heart) and Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. We began our day at the Galleria Academia, soaking up the sculptures and enjoying the heck out of the history of musical instruments exhibit, where we saw the oldest known pianoforte! We then ventured through the enchanting streets of Florence to the Uffizi Gallery, covered by staunch religious art, and them like a breath of fresh air, The Birth of Venus. We studied paintings by DaVinci and were once again taken aback by our surroundings. Minds full of beautiful paintings and fascinating sculptures, we ate salads for dinner (craving the fresh produce) and wound our way through market-lined streets to the train station – and off to PISA!

The leaning tower of Pisa sure is leaning!



Back to Florence for pasta dinner (when in Italy!) and a quite evening of dark chocolate, red wine, and loads of laughs!

Thursday, February 25th

Day 14.

UP and out in search of our favorite travel companion (other than Theodore!) adventure, which we found along the oldest bridge in Florence – lined with jewelry shops! We followed our good friend adventure throughout Florence, in food markets where we bought noodles, wine, & spices… through street markets where all sorts of items tempted us from every direction. Adventure showed us the love locks along the river – people had taken padlocks and closed them along the river throwing in the key – it made us think of the tragic fate of our poor padlock in Rome!

Before long, the time had come to say farewell to the enchantments of Florence and head to Venice. Finding our hostel was an adventure which ended in me standing in the middle of six intersecting streets shouting to Germany what we were looking for while she dodged around craning up and reading all the signs to no avail and a grandfather-esque Italian man walked passed, looked back, and then doubled back speaking rapid fire Italian and eventually leading us to our hostel. Germany was incredibly weary of following some random man in a dark overcoat, I had faith and voila – we found it! Sometimes faith is the best option when we have used up all the potential of our capacities.

Our hostel was the worst and most expensive of our travels… ah Venice! After dropping our bags, we headed out, bought two beers, and perched ourselves on a little dock along the Grand Canal where we watched all the boats (and the waterbuses) go by. It was the perfect Venetian moment.



We, naturally, got lost exploring the evening away, eating calzones for dinner and loving every minute of it.

Friday, February 26th

Day 15.

Our final day started out rather… well… wet. Downstairs we went to head out for Venetian exploration and STEP-PLOP-SPLASH-SCREAM into six inches of freezing standing water – the building was flooded. It was a wet, wet day. Toursit shops were selling these wild boot cover contraptions...



Meandering about on raised sidewalks the city was still incredibly magical. We wandered, took photos, explored, found San Marco, went inside, explored, shopped, ate delicious bakery treats, wandered, explored, and meandered. The best part was truly walking in every which direction. We returned to San Marco once the waters had receded a bit – it was a very different experience without the flood! We purchased some provisions at a grocery store, explored markets, shops, churches and the likes, eventually ending the day on our special dock with our special drinks



before we ate one last slice of Italian pizza and headed to the train station for our overnight train to Paris. Along the way we locked our friendship to a bridge over the Grand Canal and through away the key.

_

Sometimes friends become more like family than we could ever have predicted. Ours is the story of a German and an American who speak French and have one heck of an amazing connection.

The night train was to pass through Switzerland so the conductor took our passports, which felt a bit weird but he said it was in order to not have to wake us at the Swiss border because Switzerland is not part of the schengen zone. The weirdest part was the orange lock installed on our compartment (which we were sharing with 4 other people) door. The conductor told us to be sure and lock the compartment and one of the women in our compartment explained that there have been troubles with people boarding the train while it is stopped at the Swiss border and stealing things (comforting… yet I still passed out around 9:30pm). And what do you know, around 1 a.m. I am awoken by some serious commotion in the corridor and exclamations of “valises… billet… voler, pourquoi voler?” (luggage, ticket… steal, why steal?). Yes, yes I do think some thief was aboard the train. Germany soon thereafter ventured off to the toilet (love that girl) and the police were shocked to see her and told her to be sure and lock the compartment. AH adventure!

Saturday, February 27th

Day 16.

PARIS! Where we had a full three hours to wait at the train station for our next train. While I was off pricing out coffee (I was nervous about using the immersion boiler in the station), Germany made a friend while watching a broken toilet door for some lone traveler. Germany then proceeded to get her towel out of her bag and set herself up a little nest on the floor by our bags, complete with a crumbly sandwich from the “Vagina Activist” bag. When I returned to ask her is she had any small change for the coffee machine, she handed me 90 cents from the corner of her towel. Yes, yes the woman from the toilet had watched her set up camp and given her some money. Germany tried to refuse it, but apparently the woman was very insistent. Words fail me on this one.

And here we both are, one week later, still laughing, still friends, and showing off our immersion boiler to our (jealous) roommates!