Florence, Italy

The grounds of Camping De Michelangelo slowly come to life as the visiting denizens make their way to the showers, sit and admire the view and wait for espresso to begin their day. The bells from the cathedrals of the city below ring out their Easter morning greetings and mix pleasantly with the songbirds busily flirting from tree to tree in their early morning ritual.
I passed the evening with the Minnesota kids and another couple on holiday from London. We shared bottles of wine and swapped stories of our travels into the wee hours of the morning and all had a pleasant, relaxing night. Today I plan on heading into the city center though I do not expect much to be open, I suspect the city itself will provide an entertaining afternoon. It was cold last night and still quite nippy this morning.


Ah, Bonjeorno Italy! The best cappuccino I have had yet! Italian espresso simply can not be imitated. In Italy, coffee is an artform as sacred and respected as the works of Da Vinci and Michelangelo. From the time they are but young boys, Italian men are schooled in every aspect from the perfect grind of the bean through the gentle but firm tapping of the creama to the perfect tilt of the pitcher for the final blend. When you have a cup of hand-made Italian cappuccino you drink hundreds of years of meticulous trial and error culminating in absolute perfection.

Florence, Italy

Stopped at the market and bought some olives, cheese, bread and wine and am enjoying them on the campground's hillside terrace. I just can not get over how incredibly gorgeous it is here. The views are absolutely breathtaking.
I walked up to the Piazzale Michelangelo this evening and the view it offers of the city defies description. If I do nothing else in Florence other than drink of the delicious scenery I will be satisfied with my stay.


As the sun sets over Florence I am treated to an exquisite view as soft pink and purple hues effortlessly shade into the bright grey of dusk. The fire-orange lights from the city below singe the the skyline and cast a ghostly shade upon the suburbs sprawling throughout the rolling hills. Further still, shadows of the distant mountains; Their peaks rising far above the line of vision as if a throne awaiting its king to sit atop and survey his charge. As darkness settle in further the slithering black snake of a river is visible only through the absence of trees along its winding path as Florence sleeps.

Florence, Italy

I am going to try and book a similar style campground in Rome. I have already booked one in Venice. They are basic tents with a bed but good security and facilities and they are about 14 bucks a night. You can't beat the price.
There is a slight chill in the air but I am comfortable in shorts, t-shirt and sandals. This being Easter weekend I really do not know if I will get a chance to visit any museums or anything but I am sure I will be satisfied just wandering the streets and watching the people.
I just had a conversation with a guy and two girls all from Minnesota. The two girls, Heather and Kelly, are doing a three-month Europe trek and the guy, John, is going to University in London and traveling over his Easter break. The girls are headed to Corfu next week so I might run into them again. They both said they loved Prague and Austria.

Florence, Italy

I arrived in Florence a few hours ago. I am staying at a campsite this time. They provide the tents. It is pretty much a large camping facility on the outskirts of town. The city bus stops and picks up right at the site and the view is absolutely incredible. I was only going to stay here one night but I decided to book tomorrow night as well. Something about traveling and trying to find things open on Easter in Italy just did not seem to be too bright a move.
The night train experience was fine. The bed was actually a lot more comfortable than I expected and I was able to get a good night's sleep and wake up refreshed and ready to go in the morning. Now I've had a shower and I am about to go out and see if I can experience some good Italian food.

Gare de Bercy, Paris, France

Well, trying my luck with the night train to Florence didn't work out. I am sitting at the Gare de Bercy station waiting on a 2220 train to Milano where I will change trains in the morning for an 1140 arrival in Florence. In retrospect this is probably a better train since by the time I have boarded and gotten settled it will be 2300 and should not be too tough to fall asleep. Then I will arrive in Milano at 845 and board for Florence at 900 leaving me with a 2 hour trip to wake and have a cup of coffee. I just wish I would have planned it this way so I could have avoided the 3 hour wait at the train station. I also forgot my book at home so I will have to see if I can pick up something to read in Italy.
I got a couchette for this trip... my first (and probably only) night train experience.


My thoughts on Paris...


Paris is considered a required stop on any European extravaganza. As well it should be. The Louvre alone is worth the stop. And Notre Dame is remarkable. Even a simple stroll through the busy streets is an event laden with optical feasts of architecture and Parisian street life. Passing a few lazy hours over espresso and a croissant at a sidewalk café is also and experience not to be missed.
Though I have had but a small taste of Paris and I enjoyed myself immensely I feel no strong yearning to stay longer. Certainly there is enough in the city to occupy a visit of a few weeks and were adequate accommodation available without biting into a huge portion of my travel budget I might well have stayed another day or two. Alas, this is the major downfall in Paris. The hostel situation is dismal at best and downright dangerous per the norm.
Movement throughout the city is a breeze as everything is meticulously posted and large maps dot the city corners like streetlights. The metro and busses are cheap and run every 5 to 10 minutes to anywhere you want to go in the city. Even the cabs are reasonable (though not easy to hail).
In summery, Paris is a wonderful city. Once you have gotten over the hump of finding a decent place to stay the money you spend is up to you. You can spend a little or a lot and enjoy yourself in either case.
I found the people friendly and helpful though unless you do not mind being surprised at dinner a rudimentary command of French is a big help. I got by on a phrase book but even some introductory French would have helped me in a number of situations.
So take an intro to French 101, go to France and enjoy the sights. Immerse yourself in the rich culture and history but set aside at least one day to do absolutely nothing but laze through a three or four hour breakfast, walk the streets aimlessly and relax through a four hour diner.


Some of the best sights in Paris cost little more than a few cups of coffee at a sidewalk café!

Paris, France

Having morning cafè in a small spot right by my hotel. My plan for the day is to head back to the hotel, pack, let my bags with reception and then head to Notre Dame. I am staying in a fairly tourist-heavy area, about 5 minutes from the Louvre, but it somehow manages not to come off too touristy at all.
Absent are the multitudes of bicycles dominant in all the other European countries I have visited. Parisians seem to prefer motor bikes and scooters of which there are scores parked in every conceivable nook and cranny of the city. Paris is an interesting city; There is a constant hustle and bustle to the city streets and yet a laid-back atmosphere abounds, seemingly around-the-clock.
The denizens with which I have co,e into contact have been shockingly friendly and quite tolerant and understanding of my butchery of the native tongue.
As in the other European countries I have visited there is a large Asian population and Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, Cantonese and Japanese eateries abound throughout the city.
The prices are on the upper-end of reasonable and a bit of hunting can land a cheap yet filling and delicious meal for dinner or espresso and a pastry for breakfast. You will pay an average of 30 percent more to enjoy your order at an outside table. There is a 3-tier pricing structure at work throughout the city with the cheapest option being a seat at the bar, a table inside in the middle or the most expensive option being a table on the sidewalk. Same food. Same wine. Same portions. You pay for the atmosphere.
As I walked the streets last night I could not help but conjure an image of Hemingway sitting at a sidewalk cafè with a bottle of wine (and most probably a bottle of rum as well) taking pencil to notebook to carve out a literary masterpiece amid the strangely relaxed hustle and bustle of the city streets.

Paris, France

I decided to try to find one of the restaurants listed in The Rough Guide, Cafè Justine, for dinner. It was absolutely wonderful. I had studied my phrase book and was all prepared to order the daily special in as decent French as I could muster when a conversation with the bartender (well, sort of a conversation, it was a labored effort for both of us) revealed the daily special as a Mexican dish. I was not overly crazy about Mexican food when I was in Mexico, I certainly did not want it in Paris. So with guidance fro, the bartender I ordered off the menu explaining to him that I wanted something traditional. He tried to steer me towards the steak tartar but I turned the wheel closer to something that had shared at least a few minutes with a heat source.
I really have no idea what I ordered but they brought me an overflowing plate of mashed potatoes and London broil in a red wine sauce. It was divine. I apparently ordered a bottle of wine instead of a glass however (as should be obvious from this lengthy rant).
It should stand as a testament to the public transportation system in Paris that after consuming an entire bottle of wine (well I was not going to waste it!) I had no trouble at all navigating the metro back to my hotel (to include switching trains twice). I grabbed an ice cream on my way back to my room to complete the experience.
This is the most serious language barrier I have come up against so far, though I have not experienced any of the rudeness attributed to the French in my wanderings this afternoon or this evening.

Paris, France

Arrived this afternoon in Paris. My train was an hour late but it worked out well because it gave me time to find my hotel and get checked in while still making the Louvre by 1515hrs (reduced entry after 1500). So this afternoon was spent with the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and countless other incredible works of art. I surely would not want to do another museum on the same day as the Louvre... you would suffer sensory overload for sure. Of course the museum itself is a work of art to boot. Tonight I plan on finding a reasonably priced dinner and wandering the streets of Paris. I will go see Notre Dame tomorrow.
France has about the most irritating keyboard layout I have come across yet. In each country the computer keyboards are set up just slightly differently to adjust to the native tongue... this one is so completely different I not only have to look at the keys but I am finding it easier to type with two fingers.

Hutchenhousen, Germany

Ready to head for bed. I have an 0824 train to Paris tomorrow morning. I should be getting in about 1300. I'll probably do the Louvre museum tomorrow afternoon and then spend the evening wandering about. The Rhine today was really gorgeous. When I finally got into Boppard I realized they don't run a lot of late trains out of there so I figured I'd better get a train back while I still could. I was really hungry and had about 10 minutes until my train left so I ran across the street to an imbis... I ordered a bratwurst on a bun and true to German form received a currywurst and fries (I know my German isn't that bad) but I was hungry and in a hurry so I took it happily and caught my train.
I'm all packed again and ready to get back on the road.

Rhine River

Rolling across the Rhine on a steamboat. The views are absolutely fantastic and hopefully the pictures I'm taking will come out well. This ship goes as far as Boppard. On the weekends it continues on to Koblenz. I think I will have some diner in Boppard and then catch a train back home or I might check the steamer times and head back to Bingen on the water. The Rhine is a busy river. Along with the many tour boats (I'm currently on the K/D Line but there are about 4 other steamer lines as well) there are a lot of coal, oil and transport barges. There's also a castle about every 2km. The robber barons used to occupy the castles and charge tolls to the trade ships running the Rhine. It was normal for a trade ship to have to pay as many as 16 tolls for a 40km stretch of the river. Most of the castles along this strip were constructed between the 11th and 13th centuries.

Back on the Rails...

On a train headed for Bingen, Germany to pick up the Rhine River Steamer to Boppard then I will hop a train back to K-Town and take off again in the morning, bound for Paris. Pam booked a night for me in the Louvre Richelieu Hotel as part of my birthday present. I am only going to spend one night in Paris though. The evening of the 18th I plan on catching a night train to Florence, Italy and spending a night there before moving on to Rome. I had to sacrifice Barcelona. I only have the time and money for one Beach... and so I decided that Greece would be my beach time for this trip. I decided that Spain is actually somewhere I'd like to come back to someday and spend some time... since I speak much better Spanish than German maybe they'll get my orders right in the restaurants.

Kaiserslautern, Germany

I was going to do the Rhine River cruise today but the scheduling didn't work out. I am going to try and do it first thing tomorrow morning. I am having a rough time booking a room in Paris that doesn't put me too far over budget. The hostel situation there, from all reports, is pretty bad so I may end up having to spring for a real hotel room. But I'm also considering doing Paris as a day-trip from here. That would save me a night's lodging... I just have to figure out if it makes sense as far as travel goes. I'd like to be in Barcelona by Friday.
I've also decided to add Greece back into the trip. I was considering skipping Greece due to the time it takes to get there and back but a few days on the beach in Corfu is really sounding nice. It's a fairly cheap country as well, which most definitely fits my requirements. I'm probably going to skip quickly through Italy, just touching Rome and perhaps Florence before heading to Greece.
I want to be in Venice (coming from Greece) no later than the 28th. My rail pass will expire on the 29th so I want to head into Austria with the tail end of my pass. Then my East Europe pass will take over and get me to Poland and the Czech Republic. Then I can head for Munich, Germany and then on back to Kaiserslautern.


I almost wish I would have taken this trip when I first got here. I am finding some nice places I would have liked to spend more time (like Osnabruck, Germany and Groningen, The Netherlands). All in all though, I am having a great time and learning a lot about the various European cultures. It was nice to be home for a few days but I'm ready to get out on the rails again and see the rest of Europe (or what I can of it, anyway).