Lands of My Ancestors - Part 2

I feel that I should start off by clarifying the title of these posts.  My family is mostly German, but I traced our lineage to an area of southern Germany very close to the Austrian border.  For all I know, way back in the day my great great great great great great.... well you get the picture... could've been from what is modern day Austria.  Also, my mother tells me that her father's side of the family had some Italian in them, though no one knew quite how.   Either way, I'm claiming both Austria and Italy as "Lands of My Ancestors".  Now that we've cleared that up, on to Italy!

My "First Class" Seat on the Train

Lets start with that fun 4 AM train ride from Villach.. you can't make this stuff up!  So we catch a taxi to the train station which is halfway across town from the one we arrived at the night before.  The place was completely deserted when we got there; no signs indicating when the next train was arriving or IF there was a next train.  When the train finally did arrive, we discovered that it was a fully booked sleeper train, so there were people standing, sitting, and sleeping in the gangways.  The only free space was outside a bathroom, so I tried to get comfortable for the 3 hour ride on my suitcase.  What we didn't realize was that the area was free because one of the passengers had gotten sick (a little bit in the hallway) and was holed up in the bathroom, and it was a little smelly and messy in that little area.

When we got to Venice, I once again lucked out because the first taxi driver I approached spoke English.  I probably got robbed on taxi fare, but we made it to our hotel in enough time to shower, grab some free breakfast, and take a quick nap (it had been a long night).  The view from our room probably wasn't much to most people, but I thought it was so cool.  If you've played the more recent "Assassin's Creed" games, you'll understand. 


Once we'd gotten a little rest, we wandered Venice.  I loved the architecture... my brother was less impressed after his trip to Spain he said.  I guess there's a medieval cathedral or castle on every corner or something (note to self: visit Spain!).  We walked over the Grand Canal and got harassed by street peddlers.  I walked through a couple museums, but we mostly window shopped.  The coolest things were the masks that they sell there.  I bought a few really gorgeous, elaborate masks, but since I didn't think to snap a picture, these are just examples.


One of the things that I really like to do when traveling to other countries is to sample the local cuisine. We stopped at a little restaurant for a dinner of lasagna, spaghetti, and vino!  I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't all I thought it would be.  The spaghetti kind of tasted like it came out of a can, but the wine was great.


The next day, we were on a mission since it was our last day in Venice.  I wanted a gondola ride, my brother wanted to buy a mask for his girlfriend (hopefully she doesn't read my blog or has already gotten the mask), and we both wanted to hit the hard rock cafe.  The gondola was great, and the gondolier was a wonderful tour guide. 


Third day in Italy we went to Milan - one train ride that went perfectly.  A few doors down from our hotel was a sushi restaurant, so we spent a good few hours there just eating, drinking Sapporo, and talking.  Good times.  The rest of that day was pretty much a lazy day.  We went back to the hotel for naps and later that evening we headed to another "Italian" restaurant for some pizza and tiramisu... Olive Garden and home cooking, you ruined real Italian for me.

The next morning we planned to do some sight seeing since it was our last day in Italy.  We thought about taking the city bus tour, but once we got to Duomo di Milano, aka Milan Cathedral, we realized there were really only two things that we really wanted to see while in Milan.  The Duomo di Milano (right), and of course Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper". The cathedral was one of the most beautiful ones I've seen.  The high windows made the main parts of the cathedral glow with sunlight.  If you're ever in Milan, I definitely recommend visiting.  Entrance to the cathedral is free, but security is tight.



The Last Supper was somewhat more of an adventure.We walked half the city looking for the monastery, Santa Maria delle Grazie where it was painted. During World War II, the monastery was heavily damaged and at one point, the room where the painting is was being used as a stable!  So, needless to say, after all the restoration that had to be done on the building and the painting, they're very strict about how many people can be in the room with the painting at once, photography, etc.  You have to buy tickets in advance, either online or at the front desk, but if you pick the front desk, be prepared to wait a bit for your tour.


Time to go back to Vienna.  On our way back through Venice, we had a matter of minutes to catch our bus to Villach, and we missed it.  We waited for the next bus in the train station McDonalds for 3 hours; drinking Heineken and watching the store manager walk around watching customers like he was afraid they were going to steal their trays - that was surprisingly entertaining actually (the beer probably helped).  We finally did get onto the bus, but it was fully booked, so we had to sit on the stairs and the floor.  We were just glad to be on our way back to Austria. 

Next time: Will we make it back to Austria in time for my brother to go to school the next day?? Thanks for reading!