Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Cinque Terre and the Alps
Another quick update from my hostel that has a long line of people waiting (at 8am, I know...)
I spent the rest of the day in Firenze wandering the streets and visiting the Uffizi, which was ... just amazing. I met a really nice German guy (who liked guys I think) and we sat outside discussing art, poetry, and religion. It all seemed so very perfect for some reason. Streets of Florence, deep discussion over a beer... you get the idea.
Anyway, took a train to the Cinque Terre, which in my mind has the most beautiful coastline in Italy, and perhaps the world. Again, I met an extremely nice German man traveling with his 12 year-old son Mario. He helped me in the search to book a hostel in the middle of high season, and after a fruitless search, he let my leave all my stuff at his house while I went out for the day to swim in the Mediterranean and walk the path between the 5 towns. I met some crazy Canadians and we all jumped off bridges into the sea and that sort of thing. That night, I laid out my sleeping bag on the only patch of grass in the 5 towns and slept on a peninsula surrounded by the sea under the stars. What a night! my best so far by leaps and bounds.
He also told me of a place in Stresa where I could get a free bed for the night (free is good), but when I got there, nobody would answer the phone, so I was left stranded. Turns out that it is a resort town much similar to Tahoe right on a lake, and there are NO hostels whatsoever in the region. I wound up getting a room in the cheapest hotel in the city which was only 20 euro, with the bathroom down the hall and a leaky faucet in the room.
Leaving as early as I could, I made my way to Gimmelwald, Switzerland to the Mountain Hostel. Oh. My. God. Best hostel ever, nesteled a tram ride up the Swiss Alps, no joke.
Anyway, my time is up, but I'll write more about the hostel tomorrow if I can.
