Austria
Well. My first ever solo international tip was far from boring. I travelled on October 15th from Ottawa to Toronto, where I had a wonderful man help figure out my bags, because lord knows I was stressing. As we landed in Toronto, there was one lady who fell while trying to reach her carry-on. Then another lady had thrown up as we proceed to get off, I thought maybe the worst was over.
I had to use the bathroom so bad, but I only had an hour layover, so I knew I had to race to my connecting flight, but the thing about Toronto airport, is that it has such long hallways. I didn't dare stop at the bathroom all the way because I didn't want forgot the directions I had been giving. Finally, I knew I was close to the gate so I was able to use the bathroom, then I had to push through the crowd in order to get to my gate. The crowds of people, just so happened to be on the same flight... We had a full flight, and I ended up calling my mom to check in with her before I left on a 7 hour plane ride to Frankfurt.
Frankfurt was... well... very interesting to say the least. Thank god there were people who knew who to speak english, because as soon as you got off the plane, (and on to the tarmac I might add), you are lost. I knew I had to go through passport control, which is like customs, but I couldn't even find that. I finally found found it, and I started praying that my gate would be on the other side, I wasn't that lucky.
Passport control went fine, I got through with no issue, then came security. Which caught me off guard because I had already gone through security in Ottawa, I know it was because it was international that I go through it again. I had one very nice, and very cute, German man help me, because I think he could tell I was freaking out just a tad. I was on a time crunch. I got to security, and had to be patted down, I also had to take my boots off, which after running in cowboy boots it was not the best smelling thing in the world. What was I to do? I got the okay from the security lady, and went to grab my bags which had been pulled aside.
The guy said he had to search through the bag which I was fine with, but worried, not because I had anything dangerous in there, only that it went through just fine in Ottawa, but I suppose it was just to be on the safe side. Once he realized my kindle was safe, I was good to go. I never knew I could run that fast, I think I may have asked everyone and their twin brother where to find my gate, and why do they not have maps in this airport?
As the sweat poured off of me, I know that's not really what you want to hear about, but this is all about the good, the bad, and the ugly. I finally found my gaate with 5 minutes to spare, only to find out my flight had been delayed by 20 minutes. I felt defeated, that I had run all that way, only to have to wait, but I wasn't the only one who did the same thing. We then boarded a bus and were taken to the tarmac. About an hour later, we landed in Innsbruck, and I was so excited to see the baggage claim was right next to the exit, it was a easy and simple walk.
Once I met with my friend, we went to her beautiful apartment, and I had to take an immediate shower, airport germs. The first day we didn't do too much, which was easy for me. I met her horses, and dog, and went to the supermarket, very nice day after being on a plane for 12 hours.
The second day, I woke up with a sore throat, a fever, and a headache... Wonderful, just what I needed... To be sick on my vacation... I had been so focused on not getting sick before the wedding I photograph 4 days prior, but didn't focus on the trip. I didn't let that stop me, we had gone to her friends place and rode horses. I love riding and I love horses, but he, the owner of the horses, decided to welcome to me to Europe by taking us into the town with the horses. Cars were mere feet from us, and we even stopped at a supermarket to get the horses bananas. Who knew horses liked bananas? Mine definitely don't. We had dinner, and tentatively made plans for the next day, if the weather was nice and clear we would head to Grossglockner High Alpine Road.
By morning, I felt a lot better, we had gone to the pharmacy, which here it's called the apothecary, or apotheke in German, the night before. I had my own pharmacy that seemed to be doing the trick. However the weather wasn't the best so we head to place called Bad Gastein. While the name doesn't sound appealing, I learned that any word that has 'bad' means bath. This was a town that was made for thermal baths and spas. While we didn't go into one of them, it was still beautiful to experience. We went on long walk down by the waterfall, and it was beautiful, but the further we walked down, the more I realized we'd have to walk back up.
I was clearly out of shape because once we got back to the car, I drank the last of my water, and had to sit for 5 minutes just to be able to breathe. I need to exercise more. However, I figured sweating was good for me to get this cold out, so I made due with it. We had hot chocolate and this chocolate dessert, man was it ever good. By that time, it was time to head home.
I think my highlight for this particular day was finding rare crystal on the side of the road. We had brought Ludwig with us, he was my friend's dog, and he ended up getting car sick, so as well pulled over to clean up, and stretch our legs I noticed there was a pile of something white, and shiny. And you know how I like shiny things. So, I went to investigate and there were these beautiful crystals that I had never seen before. We collected some, and brought it home.
On October, 20th, there was a really bad wind storm, trampolines were running down the street, cushions were flying everywhere. It was kind of scary to be out there. But we decided to stay close and just go to the city, Innsbruck, for a little shopping trip. This was also the first time I've ridden a city bus. The winds were a calmer down in the city, and it was quite pleasant to be walking around. The bus ended up stopping in front of a candy, which if you know me, I have a sweet tooth and had to go in there. There had these little gummies in black jars, and each had a different label on it. One was from Borgin and Burkes, which is from the Harry Potter universe. Safe to say that one came home with me and didn't last 3 days...
We went to MacDonalds for lunch, which was a 2 story restaurant, and compared to Canada, they definitely have better food. Sorry Canada... We also went to this beautiful cathedral and it seemed like the only word I knew how to say was 'wow'. Honestly, if you in another country, I highly recommend going into others churches and taking a look. Especially the ones in Europe, they are stunning. A little after 4:30pm, we headed back to the apartment and prepared for the next couple of days.
On October 21st, we headed to Germany to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. Also known as the Cinderella Castle. There is more information about this in my pervious blog on the spooky stuff. We listed to an audio guide and walked into a few rooms it was pretty interesting. As we walked down the large hill to the car, it started to rain. I honestly didn't care if I got wet, but I more worried about my camera and passport, so, under the sweater they went, safe from the rain. We made it back to the car, and headed home where we had a quiet evening.
October 22nd, we went to Verona, Italy. The setting of Romeo and Juliet, and the Two Gentlemen of Verona. I did see Juliet's balcony, but it was too crowded for my liking, I mean there wasn't an inch between each person. So, while I would've like to go on top of the balcony and see her house, I knew I had to leave as my anxiety sky rocketed. Once we got out of there we walked into the city square, where there was a huge colosseum looking building, which was call the Arena. Again, the line was way too long so we decided to look around and try again before we leave to get in. I enjoyed the architecture of Verona, and loved the deep history of each of these buildings.
We found a place for lunch, many places shut down between lunch and dinner and all the places were packed, I guess it was a busy day. But we finally found one, and I wasn't sure if I would even find something I'd like. I gotta say, I am a bit of picky eater, I am often opposed to trying something new, but I did try one new dish, I figured it would be okay since it was made with butter, egg, and flour. It was called gnocchi, and it was so good, and I had creme brulee for dessert. Between that and a beautiful rose wine, I was set for food. We walked to the river that ran through Verona, and the setting was beautiful, I'm so excited to get these photos edited!
We also visited two beautiful cathedrals, St. Anastasia, Duomo di Verona, I absolutely loved those, there was one... Well, again you need to go read the halloween edition of my spooky travels. While it was very beautiful, I was still very stressed. I was able to calm down a bit once we got into the Arena, we went up to the top and could see the most beautiful buildings of Verona. We left shortly after, and I ended up falling asleep in the car, that tends to be the normal thing for me on vacation. However, I was awoken to find out we a took a detour to this beautiful little Italian village on the cusp of a lake.
This village called Torri Del Benaco, is what I imagine Italy to be like, it was very calm, and picturesque, and just absolutely beautiful. So, we got ice cream and walked around a bit, I was in love. It was golden hour, and the water calm, there mountains on the far side, a photographers dream! Don't worry, I took many photos, so much so by day 3 my storage ran out on my phone. Whoops. As we drove on we on top of a mountain and you could see the whole lake and the mountains, it was breathtaking.
On the ride home, I did manage to stay awake for a good while, I stayed busy with writing this blog, it's a good thing I don't get car sick. Monday we had a quiet day and took another trip to Innsbruck for more snacks, we attempted to go on the gondola up to the top of the mountain but it was way too late. So, we took a walk through the gardens, where it was very calm and peaceful. Ludwig decided he was going for a swim and jumped into the pound, surprised us both, but he seemed to enjoy it.
October 24, we took a trip to the Maple Tree grove called Grosser Ahornboden, while the leaves were mostly off the trees it was still a beautiful site to see. The Great Maple Floor is surrounded in a hidden valley, by the Karwendel Mountains. There is a small alpine pasture village at the very end of the valley, called Eng Almdorf. It was so pretty, unfortunately they were spreading manure at the same time we were there, and my goodness the smell was something else. Normally, I'm fine with manure smell, but that was intense.
October 25th, we went back to Innsbruck to climb the mountain. Well, to let the gondola do the climbing. Hafelekar Peak is the Top of Innsbruck, 2,300m-high. While we got out of the gondola building at the top, I looked up to where the peak. Thinking, it will be no big trek to get up to the peak, man was I wrong. Again, I'm way out of shape. But I did see a group of young girls walking up a head of me, so I figured if they could do it, I could too.
And I certainly did, it was a really rewarding experience to be on top of mountain. Even though I didn't walk all the way up the mountain, and just did a short little trek, I still did it. Now, I can say that I stood on top of a mountain. Unfortunately, it was very cold, and my TMJ started to act up so I was in pain, but that didn't stop me from getting lots of photos.
Stay tuned for the rest of my adventures!