Napoleon's Capital for Europe

I am officially alone in Europe. My family has left me. No, no, it's not near as bad as it sounds. However, the rest of the family has unfortunately had to head back stateside. Mackenzie will spend the last few weeks before school begins again in Ketchikan, Alaska with the grandparents and surprised the parents with plane tickets to do the same. While those three are up in the last frontier, Nathaniel and Curtis are blazing their way around the base of Mont Blanc. They will hike through France, Switzerland and Italy during the 12-day trek, before flying home out of Geneva. This all happened just over a week ago when the family trip ended and we separated in the Dublin airport.

And where am I, you might ask? I have taken refuge in Poland. I am currently writing from Kasia and her family's beautiful living room. Kasia is a friend of mine whom I met studying abroad in Würzburg, Germany a few years ago. She lives in Kobylnica, her and her whole family are absolutely amazing poepole, and they and Poland are the subject of my next blog post. First, I want to tell you about Paris.

Mom, dad, and Mackenzie flew off on eagle's wings from Dublin. But Nathaniel, Curtis and I flew back into Paris after our time in Ireland. Our plane touched down at around 16:35 and the boys' plan was to then catch a train from the airport with direction eastern France, where they would start their hike the next day. I was torn (Paris is extremely expensive), but decided that since I was already in Paris I should stay a couple of days.

Power napping like a boss

 We were met with a little surprise in Dublin when we went to rush to our gate and found this...a huge closed door that said, "If your flight leaves from gates... through... and the door is closed, please wait here." Except our flight was supposed to close boarding in 10 minutes. But where else were we going to wait? We ended up having a gate change and the horde swarmed to a gate outside of the safe zone.

Contrary to what everyone says and the stereotypes that we have, I did not meet a single rude Parisian. The city was vibrant and alive and the people seemed just as passionate and welcoming as the sights I was there to see. I got to my hostel that night at around 19:30. It was a shared dorm with 4 beds. Since there was no curfew and I only had one full day there, I decided to go for a little night tour. I walked along the bank of the Seine and hit most of the major sights, making it all the way to the Eiffel Tower. I would see a tall, important-looking building that seemed close, walk to it, then see another. This leapfrogging turned out to take me much farther than expected, however, and I ended up making it back to the hostel around 3:00 a.m.

Gael Monfils, a famous French tennis player, has taken over the metro with his healthy drink

There are signs on bridges saying that the tradition of 'locking your love' on the Parisian bridges is causing permanent damage to them and their structure. There is a plan to remove all of them and then cover the sides of the bridges with a clear Plexiglas sort of material within the year

The Eiffel at night

I was amazed at how huge the tower actually was. It is hard to appreciate until you are under its mass of iron

The lights sparkle every so often, for all you Nicholas Sparks readers...

The Pantheon

Notre Dame

Notre Dame from the bank of the Seine

The next day I bought a day pass and took advantage of the metro. I made sure to hit the Sacré-Coeur and then made my way back along the Seine from that direction. A pleasant surprise was my visit to the Louvre. I wasn't planning on it, but found out from a couple ladies in my hostel that entry is free after 18:00 for anyone under 26. I jumped on the opportunity and had my brain scrambled by an absurd amount of great art in a ludicrously large building.

Sacré-Coeur

An awesome zoo advertisement

Arc de Triomphe...turns out you can go to the top for a really good view.
 I didn't do this, but a friend of mine did.

The Louvre with its famous pyramid

There is a huge mall area underneath the Louvre's plaza with a pyramid of its own

Winged Victory...the featured exhibit of the Louvre

My favorite hairdo Jesus

Yes, Mona Lisa in all her glory

The halls of the Louvre were overwhelming...

This was the free breakfast included with the hostel :]

Zweimal Österreich, bitte!

Another dose of Austria and another dose of the Eggers! Lucky us...especially the rest of the Pavlik clan, who ended up making the cut this time! From Venice we traveled northward through Switzerland to Wagrain, Austria, where we would spend 2 nights in a vacation home that would rival Lucca's. We were originally slotted for departure from Lucca a day later, but due to a little Chronos-concocted confusion we ended up zipping off a day early (unknowingly). We made the best of the day by going on a gorgeous hike to the Tappenkarsee (lake). 

However, some huge credit must be given to the outstanding Egger hosts, who gave the recommendation to hike Tappenkar in the first place. On our first day in Wagrain (after just arriving in the evening the night before) we explored the surrounding area via a walk that turned into a hike. Pavlik definitions concerning the two are loose, and many would not be satisfied with the amount of grey area present in the defining process. Long and short of it, the walk was longer than expected, involved transporting ourselves up the literal side of a mountain (without switchbacks), and ended up having a time deadline that resulted in a very fast pace...resulting in promotion and the attaining of "hike" status. If you will be so kind as to follow me back to the beginning of the paragraph, the Eggers. 

Post-hike we met with the Eggers for a delicious meal of Wiener Schnitzel. The restaurant is family owned and is the only place Hans (father Egger) will eat the dish, so we felt good about the situation. We also had Stiegl beer. Hans informed us that it is the oldest of Austrian beers and, "When you see a 'Stiegl', you have to drink it". I did my duty. After dinner we went on another little walk and then settled down for some coffee, cake, and cards before Johanna and Johannes had to leave. I must mention that Katha (Johanna's sister) made both of the two cakes we consumed that evening and they were to die for, Austrian specialties fabulously put together! 

Guest house at Wagrain, we have the second floor

First, unintentional, hike

Austria is know for its dairy

A quick spritz before heading to dinner

Hunting tower

Post-dinner hike, in an attempt to burn off a few Wiener Schnitzel calories and make room for some cake!

On the way to Tappenkar See, intentional hike

The goal/destination of every Austrian or German hike should be a hut...they are very common and serve outstanding food, always serving to inspire perseverance 

The lake

The hut. We had beer, goulash, a type of pancake soup, and a delicious blueberry dessert

  

We finished our weekend off with a trip to Augustiner Brewery and Monastery

First you were welcome to purchase food from vendors

...before choosing your size. 1L or 1/2L 

The Five Lands and the Sinking City

Our last excursion from Lucca merited separation from the others, due to its impressiveness. The final trip we made out from Lucca was to Cinque Terre. As you may have guessed from the title of this post, it translates from the Italian into "five earths" or "five lands". This area of Italy consists of 5 towns that are all along the Mediterranean, over to the north of La Spezia (in northwest Italy, for those of you with maps). In order from south to north Cinque Terre is composed of Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. These gorgeous coastal towns are connected by hiking paths, as well as train tracks. We began at Riomaggiore and ended with Monterosso. I must confess, I joined my parents taking the train from Vernazza to Monterosso...but the younger generation (I am old now) continued and finished the last leg on foot as well. 

Riomaggiore

The steps on on the first leg of the hike (from Riomaggiore to Manarola). This part was literally steps up a mountain and then down the other side of the mountain

View from the top of the mountain, Manarola down ahead

A parting view of Manarola

It is worth mentioning that there are usually, or at least supposedly, at least two separate routes for hiking the Cinque Terre. One is a seaside road that is relatively flat and very similar to a boardwalk. However, due to rockslides this route has been closed for renovations, and I overheard one tourist couple talking about how it had been closed for years. So, if you do plan on visiting the Cinque anytime soon and are not feeling up to the step-ridden mountain routes, don't let that stop you! Take the trains. And when you get off in Manarola make sure to buy some of the Calamari cones that are sold as street food all over the town!

On the hike from Manarola to Corniglia. This was easily the most beautiful of the hikes and passed through vineyards on the mountainside and stretched along the cliff

We were guessing these were nets that were stretched out during harvest time and used to catch olives.

Entering the town of Vernazza

A view of Vernazza from the harbor area where we went swimming

Limoncino, or limoncello, is a traditional lemon liqueur that is normally served after dinner. It is a digestivo....you can imagine what it is meant to do

 On our last day in Lucca we toured the town a little bit more and attended a Jazz festival performance going on in the town square.

View from atop the tower of Lucca

Shamelessly attempting to make my blog cuter with a picture
of a cat that I found guarding a car in Lucca

The festival

 From Lucca we left for the coast, the other coast. We shot off to Venice for a quick day within the sinking city. The town was originally created in the way it was in order to discourage barbarians from attacking the city. It worked. And Venice flourished and became one of the largest and wealthiest cities of Renaissance Italy. Nowadays, though, Venice is experiencing a slow and constant decrease in population, as people leave behind the economy completely centered on tourism.

This is a horse created by a glassblower in Murano. He created it in less than a minute. Murano is a small island off of Venice and is known for its glassblowers. 

The Doge palace at night

The bus ride back to the train station was pretty packed, but the Pavliks prevailed

Venice was our last Italian destination before continuing northward into Austria...