One week ago, I took a train from Florence up to Venice. I was supposed to stay in a room at some Chinese hostel, but the man who owned the place didn’t speak a word of English and wouldn’t give me the address of the place so I ended up checking into a one-star hotel for the first night. The next day, I moved to a nice camping resort/hostel about 20 minutes away from the island of Venice. The day I got there, it was about 102 degrees and I spent the whole day in and out of the pool to keep cool. Later in the evening, I went into Venice with a few British people that I met at the hostel. We walked around for a couple hours, got dinner, and then went back. The next day, I took the shuttle from the campsite to Venice and spent the whole day there.
There happened to be a crazy heat wave passing through Italy at the time, so it was about 100 degrees the whole time I was there. Fortunately since I spent a month in Ghana during their hottest month of the year, I think I’ve become slightly more tolerant to crazy heat. So I wore my lightest clothing and spent a couple hours walking around Venice (well more like getting lost in Venice). The streets wind around everywhere and half of them are dead ends so it’s almost impossible not to get lost there. Luckily, it was very pretty so it wasn’t too bad when I had no clue where I was.
I did have to take a couple gelato and pizza breaks to get out of the sun but overall it was a good and very long day. The next day I also spent relaxing at the pool because it was really too hot to spend a whole nother day walking around Venice. Besides, it’s so small I’m pretty sure I covered the entire island in a day and a half.
Saturday morning, I got on a train to go to Interlaken, Switzerland which I was very excited about. I was staying about 40 minutes outside of Interlaken in a beautiful mountain village called Meiringen. I rented a room in a lovely couples’ apartment and had an incredible view from my bedroom window. The day I arrived, I spent a couple hours walking around the town and taking in the beauty of the mountains. The next day, I started very early and got on a cable car to get to the top of a 4,000 foot tall mountain. Unfortunately it was a very cloudy day and by the time I got to the peak of the mountain, I was literally standing in a cloud so I could barely see 100 feet in front of me. I made my way back down the mountain slowly and took lots of pictures. It was really an amazing sight to see.
Once I got to the bottom, I got on the train and went to the next town over called Brienz. Brienz is on the lake and is a small traditional Swiss town with amazing views of the lake and surrounding mountains. I spent a few hours walking around Brienz and finishing a very good book I’ve been reading. Later in the afternoon, I took the train back to Meiringen and took it easy the rest of the evening.
The next day, I took the train to a small town called Zug. My mom has an old English teacher from high school who lives in Zug, and she has remained somewhat in contact with him over the years. She emailed him a couple months ago telling him I was coming to Swizerland, and he offered to show me around Zug and host me for a night. We spent the day on a boat tour on the lake and walking around the town.
I would have loved to stay in Switzerland longer but it is a VERY expensive country and since I’m at the very end of my almost 5 month long trip, I couldn’t afford one more minute in Swizerland.
I’m now on my 4th train of the day coming from Zug and on my way to Amsterdam. I’ll be staying there with a friend for 3 nights and then I end my journey and go back to Paris :(
I know I’ve said this before but I’m honestly in shock that my journey will be over in less than 2 weeks. It has been a crazyyyyyy 4.5 months and I can’t believe I’m actually going home.
There happened to be a crazy heat wave passing through Italy at the time, so it was about 100 degrees the whole time I was there. Fortunately since I spent a month in Ghana during their hottest month of the year, I think I’ve become slightly more tolerant to crazy heat. So I wore my lightest clothing and spent a couple hours walking around Venice (well more like getting lost in Venice). The streets wind around everywhere and half of them are dead ends so it’s almost impossible not to get lost there. Luckily, it was very pretty so it wasn’t too bad when I had no clue where I was.
I did have to take a couple gelato and pizza breaks to get out of the sun but overall it was a good and very long day. The next day I also spent relaxing at the pool because it was really too hot to spend a whole nother day walking around Venice. Besides, it’s so small I’m pretty sure I covered the entire island in a day and a half.
Saturday morning, I got on a train to go to Interlaken, Switzerland which I was very excited about. I was staying about 40 minutes outside of Interlaken in a beautiful mountain village called Meiringen. I rented a room in a lovely couples’ apartment and had an incredible view from my bedroom window. The day I arrived, I spent a couple hours walking around the town and taking in the beauty of the mountains. The next day, I started very early and got on a cable car to get to the top of a 4,000 foot tall mountain. Unfortunately it was a very cloudy day and by the time I got to the peak of the mountain, I was literally standing in a cloud so I could barely see 100 feet in front of me. I made my way back down the mountain slowly and took lots of pictures. It was really an amazing sight to see.
Once I got to the bottom, I got on the train and went to the next town over called Brienz. Brienz is on the lake and is a small traditional Swiss town with amazing views of the lake and surrounding mountains. I spent a few hours walking around Brienz and finishing a very good book I’ve been reading. Later in the afternoon, I took the train back to Meiringen and took it easy the rest of the evening.
The next day, I took the train to a small town called Zug. My mom has an old English teacher from high school who lives in Zug, and she has remained somewhat in contact with him over the years. She emailed him a couple months ago telling him I was coming to Swizerland, and he offered to show me around Zug and host me for a night. We spent the day on a boat tour on the lake and walking around the town.
I would have loved to stay in Switzerland longer but it is a VERY expensive country and since I’m at the very end of my almost 5 month long trip, I couldn’t afford one more minute in Swizerland.
I’m now on my 4th train of the day coming from Zug and on my way to Amsterdam. I’ll be staying there with a friend for 3 nights and then I end my journey and go back to Paris :(
I know I’ve said this before but I’m honestly in shock that my journey will be over in less than 2 weeks. It has been a crazyyyyyy 4.5 months and I can’t believe I’m actually going home.
Venice
My last amazing pizza in Italy :(
The view from my bedroom in Meiringen
What it looks like to stand in a cloud
The town of Brienz
Incredible scenery from the cable car
The beautiful lake Brienz is on.. along with a statue that spits out fresh potable water straight from a waterfall