NEW POSTS!!!

Hey guys...we´re in Vienna now and have caught up on a lot of our posts so far. MAKE SURE when you go to read the new ones, go back to Madrid as that is the first of the new posts. Another thing to keep in mind...for some reason, Florence is out of order, and should be after Rome and before Interlaken. You might want to read it that way...it will make the most sense. Anyway, we have to catch up on Lucerne and Munich, but that´s it...so stay posted. Again, we love when you comment, so please let us know what you think. We love you lots and miss you so much! Ten days left...

Love,
Ashley and Liana

Firenze (Florence)

Well, as you can see...Ashley was VERY excited about our train from Rome to Florence. Maybe Jen would appreciate the seemingly Harry Potter style of our cabins on our train. A full room, with three seats on either side, sliding glass door, and personal snack cart...too bad there weren´t any Chocolate Frogs.

Upon arriving in Florence, we thought the humidity and heat was unbearable. So instead of sight-seeing, we relaxed in the air conditioning and then decided wine night would be a good idea...bad idea. Two and a half bottles of wine each later, we found ourselves dancing and eventually one of us (we won´t say which) taking a little nap on the bathroom floor. Needless to say, we weren´t in the mood to wake up early the next morning. When we did, we went to the grocery store and made ourselves some delicious sandwiches. We were so excited about them, in fact, we took quite a few pictures. At this point, we feel we might have been delusional.

That whole day was a day of relaxing as well as some preliminary planning for our sight-seeing the next day. The next day came very quickly, and we found it interesting that it was actually quite possible to see most of the sights in Florence in one day.

First we made our way to Pisa on a one-hour train...and it really was fascinating. It was...leaning. A lot. We took some really fun pictures. Some of our prolonged photo shoot is shown below.



Later that day when we got back to the city, we decided one of the most important things to do is to make the grueling hike up to Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sun set over the city. On our way, we saw the duomo and rubbed the wild boar´s nose for good luck...you all know we needed it.

The sunset was incredible. It was the best view by far of the city...at the best time of day to see it. In the distance, you can see the Ponte Vecchio...the one bridge not destroyed by Hitler during WWII because of its beauty. Today, it´s a bridge filled with shops and vendors.

The only sight we knew we NEEDED to see before leaving Florence that we could not fit in the day before was the Statue of David. So we woke up early, checked out, and made our way over to the museum where David is held. Though it is a statue of a naked man, the idea that it was carved so intricately and the actual size of the statue is monumentous, we were taken aback. We did have a plan, however, knowing that it was completely against the rules to take pictures (there were very serious guards on duty watching out for tourists who felt they were above the rules), Ashley kept watch while a tourist distracted one of the guards, while Liana took not one, but TWO pictures of David. Quite an experience.

That afternoon we hopped on a train, and rode through the mountains to Interlaken, Switzerland.

Interlaken, Switzerland

When we got to Switzerland, we knew right away that this place was going to be different than any of the other stops we had. We walked out of our train station, went to cross the street, and you´re not going to believe this! But people stopped to let us cross the street. The clean, quaint, small-town feel of Interlaken was just what we wanted. When we left Italy, we thought it couldn´t get any better...well, we were wrong. Just look at this place.


We arrived at Balmers - the most well-known hostel in Interlaken. The design of the hostel was so nice in itself because of the old-fashioned Swiss feel, complete with its own beer garden in the back. Ashley was very excited about the water...the fountain had the coldest, freshest, alpine water.

Upon checking in, we decided to book our canyoning trip for the next day. Then we went up to our private room, which reminded us of a cabin you might go to at camp when you´re younger: hard wood walls and floors, slanted ceiling, and our own skylight (that part was a little modern). We were excited to check out the happy hour in our beer garden (they have two a night!) and so we got ready and made our way downstairs. We grabbed our two-for-one beers and sat on the wooden picnic benches outside. Almost immediately, we met a pretty fun group. The two Canadian girls broke the ice with a deck of cards, offering to bridge both sides of the table with a fun game of F**k the dealer. Definitely broke the ice, and we became a group that would stay very close for the remainder of our stay.

The next morning we woke up, grabbed some breakfast, and got ourselves mentally prepared for our canyoning experience. We have to admit, we were a little bit nervous at first, mainly because we didn´t know what to expect. But mostly more excited and curious than downright scared. We jumped in the van and made our way to the Outdoor Interlaken base, where after we signed our lives away, Stanford (one of the dudes on the youtube video) briefed us on what to expect, and had some of the other guides help the group get our gear together. This included wetsuits, wetsuit jackets, helmets, life jackets, and booties (Liana was very excited about these.) Each of our helmets had different names on the front so our guides could identify and call out to us...they meet too many people every day to learn all of our names. So...Liana was COOL!! and Ashley was Paris! There were some other interesting names as well we stayed away from...among them - Shocker and Schlong.

After all our gear was together in our bundles, we hopped in the van for a 45-minute scenic ride through the mountains known as Grimsele Pass. It was beautiful. Our two main tour guides for the day were Stanford and Tim, who quickly became known as DJ Tim as he provided a great soundtrack up the mountains.

We were dropped off on what was pretty much the side of the road. We noticed there was nothing more than a steel bar separating us from a 160 meter rock cliff...a little unnerving, especially when our guides hopped over and told us THAT was how we were getting into the canyon. The two of us decided we were going to try to repel down this cliff at the same time. So they hooked us up through a carabiner and rope, Ashley guided by DJ Tim and Liana by Stanford. We got about 10 meters down when they told us to stop and pose for a picture.

Once we got over the initial worry about trusting the equipment and leaning back, it really wasn´t that bad. It was really a lot of fun...by the time we got to the bottom, we were confident that we could trust our guides and we could let loose. We knew we got to the bottom when our feet were in the water - freezing cold glacier water...thank God we had the wetsuits. But the day itself couldn´t have been any better. In fact, our guides said it was perfect for canyoning.

We made our way through the water, climbing over rocks, jumping off of cliffs of all hights into the white water, sliding down natural waterslides and freefalling, zip-lining, some minor rock climbing and even swimming at times. All the while, we enjoyed the most unbelievable views of the Swiss Alps and the Jungfrau (the glacier covered mountain you see in the back of the pictures.) We even really enjoyed our group. We canyoned with 8 of us, and by the end of it, we were all very close and helped each other out whenever possible. Unfortunately, the only names we have for them are the ones on their helmets...Bambi, Mr. Park, Rambo, etc.

When we came out of the canyon, we were sad that it was over, but anxious to get our wetsuits and gear off because it was very warm. We were met with bread, cheese and cold beer. The perfect ending to a great time.

That evening, it was decided we needed to celebrate Ashley´s birthday at midnight. We were happy to see that the group we hung out with the night before was excited to celebrate her birthday with us. We started the evening with a large group card game, where Renae (one of the Canadian girls) started coming up with funny names for everyone. Being teachers, Renae and Charisse (sorry about the spelling) decided alliteration would be the best way to remember each others´names. By the end of the night, Renae was Wrecked Renae, to give you an idea of where the night was heading. And it all started with our drinking card games that began the fiasco. Among many other things, the night included a minute-by-minute birthday countdown, tequila shot for Ashley at midnight (she didn´t learn her lesson the first time,) after which Dirty Dave pulled her hair back in preparation for what could have been a disastrous evening, and 25 birthday spankings compliments of Jackass Jordan.

Apparently, this particular hostel is where everyone (even locals) come to hang out. We were psyched to see Stanford, our canyoning guide show up to join in on the fun. There really isn´t much else to do in Interlaken as far as nightlife is concerned.

The next day was reserved for relaxing in the sun in the beer garden, and catching up on some reading in the "hangover recovery room," also known as the hammock room. Renae and Charisse joined us after their canyoning trip in the afternoon. We had a pricey, but satisfying dinner with the girls.

The next day, at the top of our list was to walk downtown with the girls, shop a bit and try the Rosti, a traditional Swiss dish pretty much made up of potatoes, cheese, bacon and onion. Not exactly the most healthy meal, but absolutely unbelievable.

We were so sad to have to leave Interlaken, but we slowly and grudgingly made it to the train station to head off to Lucerne. Our farewell from Interlaken was a scenic train ride through the mountains...what a way to remember such a gorgeous place.

ROMA!

We get to Rome in the most disgustingly hot train known to man. Thankfully, our hostel was just down the road (we made a quick payphone call from the train station). When we got to The Yellow (our hostel) and were checking in, a boy was asking about the opera at the desk downstairs. We got our room keys and went upstairs. One of our roommates (Rich) was there and we all hit it off quickly. The kid from downstairs (we later learn his name is Dave) opens the door and is a character from the first second. We throw stories back and forth and decide to go on the pub crawl that night as a group...as "Team Chestari" (don´t ask)...but Rich had the fabulous idea that we wouldn´t have to pay. So we trusted our new friend and followed his lead.

What made this particular pub crawl so cool is that it started off with an hour walking tour. Our tour guides were young and absolutely hilarious. First stop was Piazza Barberini, where the Triton fountain is, but also, as highlighted in our tour, the Bee Fountain, known for being Bernini´s slap in the face to Pope Urban. Basically, the pope envied Bernini and his freedom to be a little famous playboy (he was one of the most famous and talented sculptors of his time), and asked him to create a small, simple, sculpted fountain much below Bernini´s talents. Well, Bernini insulted by this, dug up some dirt on the pope´s family, and designed a fountain as a tribute to Pope Urban´s "less than honorable" neice...in other words, the fountain looks like a woman´s legs spread eagle, with the pope´s family symbol (the bee) where the clitoris would be...and even better, the water pouring out of the fountain makes it look like she is peeing on the streets of Rome. I guess you could say Bernini was a little pissed.

Next stop...the Spanish Steps. They were cool, but they were steps - the most important thing about them is that they´re a great place for guys to hang out and pick up girls. If you are interested, check out this website to find out the history.

Last but not least, the Trevi Fountain. If we regretted one thing about Rome, it would be that we didn´t just spend hours staring at the incredible beauty of this fountain. The main idea is to throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain. This is said to ensure that you will return someday to Rome and if you throw TWO coins, you will fall in love in Rome. We each threw one over our shoulders. We don´t need any Italian men falling in love with us...they do that without the coins. What we never would have known about the fountain, or even recognized, is the window in the upper right hand corner, which is not really a window at all, but rather cement, painted to look like a window. That window is the basis of a really interesting ghost story. Long story short, the young playboy of a son to the family who owned the mansion on which the fountain was built, was found dead in the fountain. The pope declared it a suicide, even though the man´s fingernails were bent back and showed signs of struggle. He was a nuissance to the family, thus suicide was an easy scapegoat. After years of people claiming they saw the ghost of this man falling out of the window, the window was finally boarded up and then cemented over and painted to look like a window. To this day, no one is allowed in that particular room.

We ran into the Panheon on our way. Rich was right. We didn´t have to pay for the pub crawl. We just sort of followed along, and drank when we could. After the walking tour is when the real drinking began. We went to three bars as well on this pub crawl (pretty standard). We actually got the opportunity to do a lot of dancing and Team Chestari grew really tight bonds. Lots of drinking, dancing and laughs followed throughout the night and Team Chestari grew. Ben was added and so were Caitlin and Joey, who spent the next few days with us. David only became funnier and more interesting as the night went on. We knew we would keep in touch with these people much longer than our stay in Rome allowed.

The night continued in a "Polish bar," which wasn´t Polish at all...David deemed it as such when he thought the bartender looked Polish. The hat photo shoot with Ashley is partly shown here, but went on for about 10 more pictures. And the night didn´t end there. Back at the hostel, events included a pillow fight, chocolate wafers on the piazza (our own private balcony), David skateboarding in the security bin, David´s toe injury compliments of drunk Ashley (but don´t worry, David had a bleach pen to save the day haha), and many more laughs.

The next day it was decided it was time to venture into Vatican City. We knew we were there when we reached St. Peter´s Square, a place we both knew well thanks to Dan Brown´s Angels and Demons. After cooling off at the fountain (very hot day to be sight-seeing) we got in line to see St. Peter´s Basilica. Thankfully the line moved quite quickly, and we were inside in the air conditioned church in no time.

After walking through hallways filled with the most ornate tombs of late popes, we made it into the actual church. You couldn´t take the whole thing at once...it was far too detailed and beautiful...not to mention, the church is one of the most influential places in the entire Catholic religion, so the experience of being there was humbling in itself. But after about an hour of exploring the different alcoves and chapels, and especially "St. Peter´s Tomb" we were ready to make our way over to Michelangelo´s Sistine Chapel...another extremely well known beauty of Vatican City.

So much for not taking pictures at Sistine Chapel. We were there for about 15 minutes, snapping shot after shot, BEFORE the announcement came on informing us that we were not allowed to speak or take pictures...quite a challenge for us. Good thing we had already taken 50 pictures and a five-minute video by that point. It really is amazing. Somehow a photograph of the artwork can´t capture the beauty of being surrounded by it...left, right, above, behind...all around. To see something painted in the 15th century and it still looks look brand new stops you in your tracks.

That evening, Team Chestari decided it was time for an authentic Italian meal...translation: two hours of eating, drinking wine, talking, and relaxing. That´s exactly what we did.

We made our way to an Italian Pizzeria. We sampled white wine, zucchini flowers, mozerella balls, potato croquettes, and pizzas of all kinds. You don´t understand how great it is to sit at a table and relax and talk without the waitor throwing the bill on the table, hurrying you out the door. It is just a normal thing to have dinners lasting hours at a time.

After dinner, we walked down to the Tiber river for a festival of sorts. On our way, we ran into tons of vendors, a singing performance and gelato stands everywhere. We decided it was time for a different kind of photo shoot...HATS! There are tons of photos of us in hats of all colors, shapes and sizes, but we decided this one is probably the best one to show you guys.












The nex part of the evening we found extremely enjoyable. We grabbed a table by the side of the Tiber River adorned with pillows to sit on atop a wall overlooking the bright lights reflecting on the water. We drank some more wine and had really great discussions with Caitlin and Joey...and of course David.

We didn´t have much time the next day since we were heading to Florence, but there was no way we could leave Rome without seeing the Coliseum. We were lucky that David had already taken the tour and along with getting us to the front of the line quickly, he gave us some pretty interesting tid bits along the way...our own personal tour guide of sorts. Thus ends our stop in Rome...but we both decided it would not be the last time we would come to this gorgeous city.

To the Beautiful Island of Capri

So our tale begins when we get off the ferry at Marina Grande. We didn´t quite get a chance to appreciate the beaty at first because the bus situation was a little bit confusing for us...but that can´t be too surprising for you. Long story short, we waited in line for over an hour, entertained ourselved by taking some pictures, until we caught the bus and unknowingly walked the long way to our bed and breakfast. Now THAT is a story unto itself.

We were so relieved to arrive. The place was breathtaking. Flowers everywhere. The most adorable welcoming us with homemade sweet tea. Villa patio with a view of the ocean and the surrounding islands. Private room with a double bed (sans bunkbeds) and great bathroom. We were speechless and so excited to finally be there...minus a bag haha. We just sort of looked around in awe at the paradise we were in.

We took the recommendation of Sabrina (the cute woman who greeted us and ran the bed and breafast along with Luciana) and had lunch at Cafe Michelangelo and walked around Anacapri (above Capri) for a while. During our walk after lunch, Liana met some new friends. They loved her just as much as she loved them. Ashley sat giggling in the background taking pictures while she gave them a snack of their own.

Next, we decided to follow another recommendation of Sabrina´s and check out Monte Solaro, which is basically a chair lift to the top of the island. Really, just an individual wooden chair connected to a wire, rope and pulley system. A little nerve-wracking at first, but once we were on our way, the view took our minds off of any fear of heights we might have had.

Little did we know, when we got to the top of the chair lift, we were able to get off and explore the top of the island, seeing a 360 degree view. We were so excited, we had to commemorate the occasion - what better way than a glass of Capri´s famous limoncello? Two glasses actually. It burned going down, but left such a sweet taste in our mouths...perfect. While we were taking pictures of everything we could, hopelessly trying to capture in pictures the beauty we knew we never could, we asked a local to take a picture of us. Little did we know, he would get really into the idea of playing photographer, and would lead us all around the area on what we like to call our Capri photo shoot.

Believe it or not, a little tipsy off our limoncello, we made our way down the chair lift right before it was closing. The view going down might have been even better than the view going up. When we got down, we grabbed some lunch at a little cafe at the bottom of the chair lift. Had we known what we would pay for our panini, small quesadilla-like sandwich, french fries, and water, we probably would have gone hungry...but hey, that´s Capri for you.

That night we decided to lay low and enjoy our gorgeous bed and breakfast. All we could think about was looking at the sunset and relaxing and reading...after all, our bed and breakfast was called Il Tramonto (The Sunset)...and let me tell you, it didn´t disappoint. When we thought our evening couldn´t get any better, Sabrina comes out to the patio where we were reading and says in her thick Italian accent, "Would you girls like some limoncello??" We looked at each other, back to her, and simultaneously said, "Sure!" A few minutes later, she came out bearing gifts...ice cold limoncello...mmmmm.

Day two, where we should be checking out, we were eating breakfast under a terrace draped with jasmine. Yeah...one day was definitely not enough. So when Sabrina offered, "Would you girls like to stay a second night?" we said..."SURE!" Satisfied with fresh juice, coffee, toast and jam, we set off back down the mountain (on some of the scariest buses ever) to Marina Grande. So by scary, we mean the road down the mountain was a series of hairpin turns that the bus driver took at 60 miles an hour, and the scariest part is how narrow the roads are. Buses came within inches...no, milimeters of hitting each other every trip we made.

Down at Marina Grande, we got tickets to the Tour of the Island by boat. We had no idea exactly how incredible and absolutely worthwhile it would be. Just to let you know, there´s no way we´ll be able to describe the experience. We left the port and began tour of the complete perimeter of the island with a humorous English-speaking tour guide. Along the way, we encountered the Grotta Bianca (White Grotto), the Grotta Verde (Green Grotto), the Faraglioni (three rocks featured in a picture above), Sophia Loren´s and Georgio Armani´s villas, the natural arc, the past residence of Mussolini, and the Grotta Azzurra (Blue Grotto), which much to our dismay, was closed due to high tide. The weather was...perfect. Cool enough that we never felt hot, but warm enough that we were standing there in our bathing suits taking picture after picture without thinking twice.

After our tour, we had our first pasta dish in Italy...cheese, pasta, tomato, fresh basil...so good. Then it was off to the beach to lay out and catch some rays. The most interesting thing about this beach is that there was no sand. Where there would have been sand was an area completely covered by smooth gray rocks. We soaked up some sun, cooled off a little in water that if it had been any warmer, would not have been refreshing, and decided to head back to get ready for dinner.

For dinner, we went to Materita (yet another suggestion from Sabrina) and had a delicious vegetable pizza, adorned with zucchini, eggplant, peppers, onions and mushrooms. The service was great...and handsome. Guido was his name, and although he invited us out that night to join him at the club, our plan was to buy some provolone and wine...and to have a romantic evening watching the sunset (again...it doesn´t get old) and relaxing under a blanket on the patio, catching up on our reading.

Before that, we grabbed our first gelato in Italy. Capri was a place for a lot of firsts. Ashley grabbed pistacchio and stracchiatella (chocolate chip) while Liana got Panna Cotta, which in Italian means "cooked cream." It doesn´t sound good, but it´s delicious and tastes a lot like a better version of whipped cream.











So as we planned, we stopped by the grocery store, grabbed some provolone, crackers and wine...also some breakfast food for the next day...and made our way back to Il Tramonto. The sunset rivaled the one the night before, as we enjoyed it, book in hands. Then Sabrina comes into the picture and asks, "Would you girls like some limoncello??" You know the answer. Biscottis came with our ice cold glasses this time. We were so comfortable and so happy, we could have stayed there forever.

Unfortunately, we had to check out in less than 10 hours. We felt that we truly enjoyed and appreciated our stay in Capri. It was exactly what the doctor ordered after the baggage debaucle and the numerous sleepless nights preceeding.

Our ferry back to Naples the next morning was quick...still no bags to be found at our Naples hostel. So we changed the address and went on our way. There were better things to experience in Rome.