Two Week Break (Pt 2)

Plitvice National Park, Slovenia:
This has undoubtedly been the most beautiful place I have ever seen. This type of natural beauty must be completely unique to this region. I didn’t even know lakes and waterfalls like this existed. We spent a day in the park, but probably only walked around half of it – and that’s with keeping to the trail 90% of the time. One of the themes of this trip seems to be, “Gee, it would have been nice to spend two or three days here.” The owner of our bed and breakfast took us to a small market where I got to buy some eggs. Great travel food. In fact, just a great food in general. Alaina and I went to a restaurant that was supposed to serve traditional Slovenian food. Britney Spears was playing on the radio.

Naples, Italy:
I was much more scared to arrive here than I should have been. Guide books made this place out to be the most uncivilized, dangerous, pickpocket haven on Earth. The town was a bit run down, but the people were extremely friendly. We couch surfed here and our host stopped to talk with at least three people on our short five minute walk to his flat. He directed us to an amazing pizza restaurant. Super cheap and super tasty. Our visit to Pompeii ended up not working out after we took the wrong train which then stalled on the tracks for an hour. Luckily, two older Italian women and a younger Italian student helped direct us to where we needed to go. That night we had more traditional food, and I began to really understand why Italians are known for being so familial.

Florence, Italy:
Bought an amazing leather jacket yesterday at the market. Apparently it’s one of the top ten things to do in Italy. It fits great and seems legitimate. I also bought two pairs of sunglasses. Those aren’t legitimate, but they are fun to have. When we first got here I bought a trolley to remedy my suitcase’s broken wheel. I had completely forgotten how nice it is to not have to carry a forty pound bag around when you’re in a hurry. Went on a pub crawl where we met some more Americans and got close with two girls from England. Had a bit of trouble getting home, but that’s half the fun. Woke up at seven today after getting less than four hours of sleep. Made it to the train. Somehow.

Venice, Italy:
Trip is drawing to a close, and I don’t think we could have picked a better place to end it. This city is beautiful. Hands-down, this is the place which most needs more than one day spent in it. We went to Murano, one of the cities many outlying islands, to look at the blown glass which it is famous for. We got there at six and most things close around seven or eight. This turned out to be bittersweet. There was so much to see that if we had gotten there earlier I’m sure we would have spent our entire day looking and the amazing blown glass and would have forgotten to visit the rest of the city. Street vendors are everywhere. It’s impossible to cross a bridge without being offered a counterfeit Gucci, Louis Vuitton, or Prada bag. The vendors seem to work together, because we saw a large group of them get on a bus boat together at the end of the day. Night-life here is non-existent. Probably because this place is the definition of a tourist town, and there aren’t enough locals to support any clubs.