The ICE train was great.. I didn’t bother converting km/hr to mph, but it was really fast. At this point in the day it was still dark out so there wasn’t much of a view, and our cabin was really empty. By the time we got to Köln the sun was starting to come up a little and the train station was starting to get busy. It was hazy outside but right when we got out of the station the Dome Cathedral was right there in front of us. It was breathtaking! I couldn’t see to the top through the mist. It was a little before 7,00 and my dad and I had to catch the 9,15 train back to Frankfurt so we were a little pressed for time. We went into the cathedral, which is a huge tourist attraction, but luckily because we were so early there was no one else there, besides a few people lighting candles or saying prayers. My dad and I said a few prayers and started to walk around. We saw the tomb of St. Christopher, the miraculous portrait of Mary, a ton of stained glass windows, and the statues of the three Magi and their gifts. Then an older woman came up to my dad and I and told us that mass started in the chapel off to the side at 8, but she obviously mistook us for natives because she spoke to us in German. We had no idea what she said but we just nodded politely and said dankhe (thank you). We would have stayed for mass but we had to have an authentic German meal before we caught our train back to the airport. We went to a restaurant called the Früh and were seated by a waiter who spoke very little English. It was a good thing the breakfast menu had pictures. We soon found out that they did not serve bier//beer until 10,00 so we didn’t get to try their famous local beverage- Kölsh. But my breakfast was excellent: two sunny-side-up eggs over potatoes and some sort of sauce and vegetables mixed in. We weren’t sure if we were supposed to tip the waiter so we left him 10%.. we later found out that tips aren’t expected, but it was worth it. And little did I know but I would need a good meal in my body for the long day ahead.
We made it back to the airport in Frankfurt, and found out that our flight to Venice (Venezia) was delayed 3 hours.. so we could have stayed in Köln and had our Kölsh after all! I was completely exhausted by the time our flight finally took off. We flew Lufthansa, which is operated by United Airlines in the US, and it was pretty funny to see seat-belt-oxygen-mask-emergency-exit in German and Italian. Nearly everyone on the flight was speaking Italian, and some German. English was definitely the minority. This was a smaller plane, and on my left was a seven or eight year-old little German girl and on my other side was an 80 or 90 year-old Italian woman and neither of them spoke a word of English. I just wanted to sleep, but I guess it’s a good thing that I didn’t, because the scenery of this flight was gorgeous. The Italian woman was very talkative, we conversed for the entire hour and a half flight- in Italian! I found out that she has lived in a city in Italy called Treviso her entire life. She stopped working 40 years ago and has been traveling ever since. She was on her way back from a two-week-long trip to India, and in a month she is going to Dubai. She was telling me about her travels to Africa, South America, a ton of US cities, in addition to every country in Europe. I’ve got to believe it must be hard for her to get around in all those foreign places not knowing the language and being alone (she was never married). She gave me some good advice about visiting cities in Italy. It was almost like having a tour guide on the flight because as we were flying over the Alps she was pointing out the major cities and lakes as we passed. I got a picture with her after we got off the flight and got her address to send her postcards or to stop and say “ciao!” if I ever happen to be in Treviso.
My dad and I got our luggage without too much hassle, we thought my huge snowboard bag was lost, but just as we were in line to file a report- it turned up. It probably would have been better if it actually was lost and later mailed to us though, because our bags were already so heavy. I had two huge rolling duffle bags (filled with winter and summer clothes for 5 months) and my backpack.. which totaled over 100 pounds I think. My dad had my snowboard bag, his carry-on, and his rolling luggage. It was hard getting around Venice, luckily the Marco Polo Airport is on the main land because I cant imagine navigating the canals with all that luggage. We had to take a 20 minute bus from the airport to the train station. The bus we needed didn’t show up on time so we ended up waiting a while, as the line for the bus got longer. When it finally showed up we piled on with everyone else, and by the time we got to the train station it was almost dark. The train station was a lot dirtier than those in Germany, and a lot more shady characters. We bought train tickets to Trento, but unfortunately we were too late to get a direct train so we would have to switch trains in Verona. In order to cross the tracks to pick up our train we had to go down two flights of stairs and back up another two flights. There was no elevator and I was wondering how people in wheelchairs managed. It was really crowded and nearly impossible to drag everything up the stairs. I couldn’t leave one bag and come back for it or else it definitely would have been stolen. I was exhausted and almost didn’t make it.
It was dark for the trip to Verona and there were a couple homeless guys that kept walking back and forth so we couldn’t take our eyes off our luggage. In Verona we had to go down and up the stairs all over again, and we found out that we just missed our train to Trento. My dad decided to stay with the luggage while I went to change our tickets for the train that left in 10 minutes. Of course there was a line at the ticket office, and when I got to the front I found out (in Italian) that it was 34 euro, and I only had 30.. so the man explained if I wanted to get on the train that left an hour later it would only be 8 euros, so I agreed on paying that. I then ran to the platform and the early train to trento was already waiting so my dad and I threw all of our bags on the train literally just as the doors were closing.
Not long after, the conductor came around to validate tickets, and we were in a little trouble because we paid for the late train but got on the early one. But I did my best to play dumb and explain to the conductor in Italian that we were confused, so we avoided being fined. At about 22,30 on Valentines day my dad and I finally made it to TRENTO!! The train station was really nice compared to the one in Venice, and I was so glad we finally made it. We had to wait a little while for a cab from the station to our hotel, but when we got there the people at our hotel, Villa Madruzzo, were very nice and told us that they would keep the kitchen open for us if we wanted a hot meal.
I only had eaten a nutrigrain bar since our German breakfast, so my dad and I decided to put off sleep a little longer and have dinner. It was a really fancy hotel and restaurant so we had to put on some nice clothes, but dinner was worth it. The menu was completely in Italian, and I didn’t understand most of it. I knew salmone was salmon so I had that as an appetizer, and I ordered homemade potato gnocchi for my main course. Its basically expected that you are going to have a red wine with your dinner, or in some cases white, so we followed suit and got the red house wine. Each region is very proud of their wine, so its polite to try it, and it was very good. I’m no wine connoisseur yet, but maybe I will be after a few months :) I thought it would be less expensive to have water with dinner but in Italy they don’t automatically bring out ice water. You have to order it, and its usually mineral water in a .5 liter glass bottle, and you also have to specify non-carbonated (acqua senza gas) or you might get sparkling water. I found it interesting that mineral water is about 2,50 euro, and you can get a glass of wine for about 1,10 euro. Dinner was delicious and I could not finish it all. We ordered caffé after we ate, which is not your typical American after-dinner bev. Its "ristretto" which means that it is espresso and produced using the least amount of water possible. It is very strong, and addicting. And it is very easy to come by, there are caffés on every corner, and vending machines that sell little 3 ounce plastic cups of the caffé for 30 cents. It's great. Anyways after dinner, we were exhausted and found our way to our room in the hotel (through a long winding narrow corridor with very tall ceilings) and fell right asleep.
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