Well the time has come, I officially have a month until returning to the States. That's right - thirty-one more days and there'll be about 4000mi less between you guys and me! I suppose the only downside to coming home on July 26th is that my whole "365 Days" concept has to be scrapped since it will really be "326 Days of Solitude" (not great but it does has more of a ring to it than "365 Days, Minus 39" don't you think?). I figure it's either change the title or I can voluntarily go into solitary confinement for the extra month and a couple days once I get back to Colorado for the sake of the original.
If I've lost you at this point, don't worry because the point I'm attempting to make is that originally it was of great symbolic importance to me to stay away for a year. I'm not sure why, but looking back I think it was just the easiest (lengthy) unit of time for me to explain what I was planning. You must admit, it does make a lot more sense than telling people "Oh, I imagine I'll try and stay away for ten months and twenty-six days." Them responding "Why the extra twenty-six?" Me counter responding "Well you know it's two times thirteen, which is a prime number and one less than my favorite number." And then "Right....." See? It's just simpler to say 'a year'. Alright back on track - while I've said 'a year' this entire time, it was probably around January that I realized that it no longer mattered to me that I go back on exactly the 4th of September. I think this is largely because I've realized that there are just as many things I'm excited about doing and seeing back in the States as I am over here. And while the idea of perpetual travel held great allure for me after finished up with school, the idea of being home is just as wonderful and attractive after being on the road for this amount of time.
To bring this conversation back around to my original point - will I be revising the title of the blog since it is no longer is aligned with my original idea? The answer to that is a simple 'no'. The reasons being: 1) That is what all of it was - an idea. And like most things I thought I had figured out beforehand with this trip, it had an incredible propensity for keeping me on my toes and not working out at all like I had planned, which is a wonderful thing too because most of the time it far exceeded what I did expect. 2) Changing the URL address at this point would be a total bummer.
Now that the business portion of the blog has been taken care of, I can move on to more of the regular topics, such as what I've been up to since the last post! After leaving Norway, my mom brother and I spent time in Vienna, before heading to Prague and then Florence, where we met up with Mark and Brent. It was great to be seeing two more friends over here! After three days there, we split off with them while they went to the coast and we rented a car and terrorized the Tuscan backroads (I was going to be meeting back up with them in a weeks time in Austria). First it was off to Riparbella, where Chuck and I spent a couple days on the olive farm back in December with Sigismund and Ursula. Then, we took "the back way" or as I like to call it "the lost way", or if you prefer like my mom and brother "the dirt road way", to Montalcino where we met up with Bob Bertie and Lucila. I had the most incredible time between imbibing in Brunello di Montalcino and discussing photography with Bob. It was very exciting for me getting to discuss photography and traveling with a person who has literally been all over the world and worked in a variety of photographic mediums. Having never been in a darkroom before, I was particularly excited when he offered to show me around his. After our stay in Montalcino, we drove up to Lucca, although this time we took the autostrada, having exhausted our taste for the dirt roads of Tuscany. It was a quick stay there of two days (during one of which we saw Mario Cipollini ride past us on his townie bike) before continuing up the coast towards Piemonte, with a short stop for lunch in Cinque Terre. A few hours there does not in any way do it justice but we figured that since it was on our way and we were hungry there couldn't be a better spot to eat. Our reason for heading to Piemonte was that my mom had read an article last year about Italian beer that is being produced in this region and because of the three of ours' interest in good beer we figured it would be worth checking out. Of course, anyone we met along our trip through Italy and told our plan to thought we were insane since Italy is a wine country, but I can honestly say the Baladin beers we had were some of the best I've ever tasted - so maybe all those people are crazy for not giving beers a chance too! I still have yet to visit Belgium, so I'll reserve comparison to those for later, but they are giving German beers a run for their money. (Sidebar: I am currently now in Belgium and while I must admit it is the best beer that I have ever tasted, hands down the Baladin is right up there with them - they must be doing something right in Piemonte!) Mom, Chuck, and I then made the short trip to Torino where we spent three days doing not much else but enjoy wonderful food and wine! I was able to see Flavio and Anna again and this time I was able to introduce my mom and brother which was great. Just like the past two times I've been to their place in Torino, my Italian skills were given a run for their money, but we had a fun visit with a lot of laughs and hand gesturing to figure out what everyone was saying.
At this point, I split off from my mom and brother and took a train to Salzburg to meet back up with Mark and Brent. We had planned to spend a few days there, but when I arrived we changed plans almost immediately because after having already spent a day there, the two of them felt they had exhausted all the interesting things Salzburg had to offer. Instead, we decided to head to the Innsbruck area to a small mountain town called Fulpmes where they had been for three days prior. While they were there they had stayed at "Doug's Mountain Getaway" and lucky for us there were rooms available this time as well. If you are thinking "wow, that sounds like a total ski-bum, party house, bro-out spot" you would be correct. It was a pretty sweet setup that Doug had going though - he was english and had come to Austria on a ski trip and never really left. Him and his friends had purchased this place and fixed it up as a hostel and now it operates year round as Austria's most friendly and comfortable hostel! This isn't an exaggeration either - Doug and his friends were great, it honestly felt more like staying at a friend's house than anything. On top of this, Fulpmes was the perfect place for the three of us to be due to incredible weather and great outdoor activities. I charged Mark and Brent with the responsibility of getting me into shape for July when my dad is here and we're following the Tour de France on bikes. They took my request to heart because I was solidly in pain for the large part of the hikes that we went on. Nothing like having two of the most in shape people you know come kick you around the Austrian Alps for a while!
That doesn't quite get me up to date with where I am at this point, but for now it seems like a good stopping point. Until next time!
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| Beautiful Vienna. |
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| Ah yes, Vienna - concert halls, Wiener schnitzel, parks, and..... cross fit with car tires? |
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| Stopping to smell the roses - quickly it would seem, or at least too quickly for capture without motion blur. |
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| Silhouettes at sunset. |
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| These are the weirdest columns I've ever seen. |
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| Cool store entrance. |
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| The Belvedere Gardens in Vienna. |
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| At the top of the hill at the Schönbrunn Castle Gardens. |
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| The Prague Cemetery, which was actually one of my main reasons for wanting to come to Prague. It is the title of a book by Umberto Eco which I read last year and fascinated me with the description of this old cemetery. It was one of my favorite "sights" that I've seen on this trip! |
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| The Prague Cemetery #2. |
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| The main square in Prague, complete with the famous "astronomical" clock on the left. If you're ever in Prague, don't wait around for the hour to change. We did and there was a huge crowd and all that happened was a skeleton on the clock face "pulling" the bell tower rope. Riveting stuff! |
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| Sadly, it was rainy the entire time we were in Prague. We couldn't believe how much water there was and it wasn't until the day after we left that we learned it had started to flood. |
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| Someone threatened to take away Mark's wine.... |
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| Welcome back to Florence! |
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| That looks like Italy! Much less gothic architecture. |
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| And much more elaborate ceilings! |
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| Chilling outside the Pitti. Or maybe I should say 'roasting' because it was incredibly hot. |
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| I bet they're all three thinking "I can't stay here if it's this hot". |
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| Back in Riparbella with the olive trees. |
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| But this time we brought our mom with us! |
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| The four corners.....of Montalcino. |
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| The entrance to Bob and Lucila's. |
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| The Abbey of Sant'Antimo just south of Montalcino - we were able to hear some gregorian chanting when we visited! |
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| Quiet day in Castiglione d'Orcia. |
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| Another one of my favorite Fiats! |
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| Me and Mom at the roman baths. |
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| Ahhhh, time to cool off! |
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| Chuck was busy eating bread, but we got him to enjoy the baths too. |
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| One of the churches in San Quirico d'Orcia. |
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| Another retro Italian car. This one was about double the size of the Fiats - must be the Cadillac of Italy. |
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| Pretty ornate (and unique) columns on an otherwise standard façade. |
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| Quarter celebration in Montalcino, complete with accurate dress from the medieval days. |
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| Start to a day of driving around the Montalcino area. |
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| Creepy, creepy... |
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| Tuscan weeds. |
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| In amongst the Brunello grapes. |
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| Lots of poppies lined the fields and roads that we drove past. |
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| Vines at Castello Banfi, which was the first Brunello I ever tried. |
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| What's this?! Yucca? |
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| Tuscany on a cloudy day. |
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| Us lost in a tiny village looking for a place to eat - perfect time to start taking pictures of doors! |
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| St. Michael's cathedral in Lucca. |
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| Eye really enjoyed the Lucca street art. |
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| Looking out from one of the many Luccan towers. |
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| Hello down there! |
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| This is a picture of the mosquito palace of Lucca. |
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| Pitstop in Monterosso della Mare. |
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| Walking around Cinque Terre after lunch... |
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| .....still walking.... |
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| ......and finally back at the parking lot with this alien-looking flower. Now onto Piemonte! |
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| Post-beer tasting at Baladin. |
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| The mountains above Fulpmes - almost made me think I was in Colorado! |
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| Brent and Mark at the top of the hike - you can't see but I wasn't smiling at this point, too hypoxic. |
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| No words... |
