Naples

The train ride to Naples(Napoli) was nice. It included the usual vineyards and wineries but also had some picturesque waterfront towns. It was a comforting feeling to see the ocean, as we had been landlocked for close to a month.

We arrived in Naples and it was quite dirty, I heard somewhere that the garbage picker-uppers went on strike a while ago and it is pretty evident when you walk around a bit. Okay it wasn't REALLY dirty, but it was comparable to some places in Asia. I think it was just a big shock coming from Rome, Florence and Venice, especially the latter two. We ate dinner at a little sidewalk restaurant and ironically enough, the dishes were dirty. It was a good dinner though, I had a tasty pasta with olives, capers and tomato sauce.
The next morning we headed out to the train station at 8am to get on the train to Pompeii. Once we arrived we bought a book for navigation and info, before getting tickets and entering the site. Wow! Pompeii was amazing, one of the coolest things I have seen! Pompeii was a thriving Ancient Roman city, that got coved in volcanic ash, in 79AD. The ash did a very good job of preserving the city, because 2000 years later there is still very clear evidence of civilization. Like I said the city was completely buried by ash, so in 1741 they slowly but surely started to uncover the lost city. Still to this very day there are many big restoration projects underway. We wandered around the ruin for about 3 hours, peeking into houses, temples and public buildings. Some areas contained incredibly intact floor mosaics and wall frescos. We went and saw the huge amphitheatre which was used for a similar purpose as the Colosseum in Rome. It wasn't as big or complex as the Colosseum, but it was looking pretty good, considering it survived a volcano erupting on top of it. And it could sit an audience of around 20,000. The most moving part of the whole site were without a doubt the bodies. They made some sort of plaster mould around the buried skeletons where the flesh used to be and then pulled them out of the rock and ash. The bodies were all making gestures that they were covering their faces from the falling ash. It was kinda eerie seeing the bodies on display. After a great time in Pompeii, we went to go have lunch and a birthday gelato. Haha, ooops I forgot to mention that it was my birthday! I'm 14 now! We then hopped on the train back to Naples.

That evening after we were rested up, we headed down to the waterfront to check it out. Wow, is all I have to say! It was honestly like a totally different city. It was all clean and there was a nice walkway and a pedestrian area and a harbour and a castle...I could just keep going on and on. All in all it was gorgeous and a great place to spend the evening. We went up the castle/fort thing and got a great view of the surrounding area. Once our appetites were getting big we sat down at an atmospheric sidewalk restaurant called Regina Margherita. We had a big plate of mixed cheeses to share and my dad and I split a seafood pasta and a pizza with buffalo mozzarella. While my mom had a pasta with tomato sauce. We also ordered some wine and I got a bit because it was my birthday. The wine and cheese tasted absolutely supreme together, an unrivalled combo that's for sure. The dinner was spectacular and huge, we had to bring half of the pizza and some cheese back to the hotel with us. The location of the restaurant was great, it was fun to watch all the people walk, run and bicycle by and the view of the castle/fort and harbour were nice. We hauled ourselves back to the hotel stuffed and happy. I had a great day, I couldn't have asked for a more special birthday.

The next morning we woke up still full from dinner and got on the bus to the airport. Unfortunately our flight to Munich was delayed by an hour and a half so we had a lot of waiting.

Rome

The train ride to Rome(Roma) was absolutely gorgeous! We passed through endless fields of cheery sunflowers, soaking in the golden rays. And of course since the train ride was a lot in Tuscany, there were many wineries and vineyards. But those beautiful sunflowers were definitely the highlight.

After a bit of wandering around and talking to some people we finally hunted down a good hotel. Still nothing yet has compared to that drop-dead-gorgeous room in Venice. Our hotel was called Palladium and was very centrally located. About a 3 minute walk away from the train and bus station and only a 15 minute stroll away from the Colosseum.
So that's just what we did the next morning. We had a nice little walk down to the Colosseum before hopping into the queue for a little while. It was really amazing, just the sheer size of it all. And the age, we mustn't forget about how old it is...2000 years it's been sitting there! It was really neat that the floor was rotted away, so you could see the underground level where the animals were kept. If you don't already know, the colosseum was a huge stadium, used for bloody battles between gladiators and wild animals and just about anything else they could come up with. It could house about 50,000 spectators. After we were done at the Colosseum we headed over to Palatine Hill, Ancient Rome's poshest neighbourhood. Once we were finished looking at the ruins of Rome's richest we dragged ourselves over to the Roman Forum, in the blazing sun. The Forum didn't disappoint, I couldn't believe how intact some of it was, we even got to see a monument dedicated to Julius Caesar, I think his ashes were there. For 2000 years old, lots of these ruins are looking very good, they sure knew how to make things last!

I bought a nice dress on our way back to the hotel, from a sidewalk shop. We had a great rest once we got back to the hotel, as we were tired from all the walking.
The following morning we made our way up to the bus station bright and early, so we could get on bus 40 to the Vatican. It was definitely a good idea to come early, because there was no waiting at all to get into the church. When we came out, the line to get in was massive. Wow! St. Peter's Basilica was definitely the most beautiful church I have ever been in (I haven't been in a whole lot...but still). There was so much to it, all the frescos and paintings and statues and separate places to pray. I definitely can't leave out the dead Popes in glass cases. I think they were replicas and the real guys were underneath the church. But my oh my, they looked real! They were all grey and shrivelled up. I'm not sure how many of them there were but I saw at least 4 of them. After we finished looking around the awe inspiring church we checked out St. Peter's Square. I still can't grasp that the Vatican is it's own country, complete even with it's postal service and military. Vatican City is the smallest country in the whole world. I think there was pretty much only enough room for a church, a museum, a square and a fancy house for the Pope to live in.

We caught the bus back to the main station grabbed our bags and got on the train to Naples.

Florence

The train to Florence(Firenze) was very scenic as well. Winery and winery after vineyard and vineyard, is really quite picturesque.
We easily tracked down a hotel, within walking distance to everything. I was very surprised how compact Florence's centre is, it only took minutes to got to where you needed to go.
My mom and I walked to the Uffizi Art Museum, shortly after we arrived. The queue was rather daunting but it only took about 40 minutes, a short time compared to the 4 hours I read about. Wow, there was A LOT of art! The second floor was positively teeming full of marble statues and painting. Even the ceilings were wonderfully frescoed. There was a large main hallway full of statues with loads of interlinked rooms containing paintings branching off. The paintings varied in size enormously, some were smaller than the size of your hand while others stretched from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. Many of the paintings were religiously themed on Roman Catholicism. Some of the big names in the Uffizi included, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli. The paintings and sculptures were all VERY OLD, most dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries. I think it's incredible that all the art has lasted that long and still looks in great shape. After our visit to the Uffizi was done we wandered into the Piazza to see Michelangelo's famous statue of David.

The next morning we hopped on the train to Rome just in the nick of time.

Venice

The train to Venice(Venezia) was very scenic. The German and Austrian part was mountainous with gorgeous Chalets nestled into the hills. They were white, with red roofs and red flowers lining the windowsills and verandas. They were just so picture perfect, like out of a storybook. There were many old castles perched up on hilltops, staring into the horizon and lands below. As for the Italian part- vineyards ruled the land. They also looked as they should appear in an alter reality, rolling hills covered in rows of grapes with some brick Italian homes and wineries popping up on the edges.

The train station in Venice was right on the canal, so pretty much when you walk out of the train station it's just an instant wow factor. We crossed the bridge and found a hotel without too much difficulty. But we had to face the facts...If you want to go to Venice you gotta buck up! And that was just what we had to do, we ended up paying 150€ ($205) for a room! It was an absolutely gorgeous room though, one of the nicest I have ever stayed in. It was small but beautiful. From the gold gilded decor to the flower pots on the window sill, everything was spic and span. All the hues harmoniously complemented each other and the wood beam ceiling was a nice touch.

We ate dinner at an Italian trattoria and had some amazing seafood pastas. The next day my mom and I took the boat (sea bus they call it) down to Piazza San Marco. We took a little spin through the extravagant Basilica San Marco before attempting a walking tour back to our hotel.

The walking tour that was written in our Lonely Planet Guidebook was very complicated so we gave up after a little while. My mom bought an Italian leather purse and some murano glass stuff. I bought a tapestry bag, murano fish pendant and an Italian leather change purse.
For lunch we stopped and got an amazing slice of pizza each followed by some tasty gelato. For dinner, pasta it was!

Since we were short on time, two days was all Venice was rationed, so we could squeeze lots in. Venice was a magical city, all the winding canals and the hundreds of bridges.

The next day we hopped on the train to Florence.

Munich

Our flight from Delhi to Munich was great, we flew with Lufthansa. The plane was massive, one of the biggest I have ever been on (I have been on LOTS)! It was an Airbus A340 and you had to actually go downstairs to go the bathroom, where 5 of them were located. The breakfast was pretty good and also really huge. I think my favourite part was the drinks, the stewards and stewardesses came around close to 10 times handing out drinks! The flight a lot longer than I had anticipated, about 7ish hours.
Once in Munich(Müchen) we caught the S-Bahn(metro) into the city. We got off at Hauptbahnhof, it's the central station, near the town centre and where our train to Venice left from the next day. After a fair bit of looking we found a pretty good hotel with a shared bathroom and breakfast for 80€ ($108). It was a huge price difference from Asia, but we were expecting it.

For dinner we took the S-Bahn to nearby Marienplatz to get some dinner. Munich is totally famous for it's beer so we headed to Munich's most famous beer hall-Hofbrauhaus. My dad got a huge 1 litre mug of beer, while my mom and I ordered other drinks. For dinner we got yummy sausages and sauerkraut (and really good mustard), an amazing pork knuckle and some tasty German bread.

Back on the S-Bahn we went and headed back to Pension Central (our hotel). The following morning we wandered our way to Karlsplatz and the surrounding shops after an great breakfast of cold cuts, cheese and buns. There were some great (and pricey) souvenir shops around where we walked to. They sold absolutely gorgeous cuckoo clocks and beer steins, along with lots of other beautiful German souvenirs. The cuckoo clocks were my favourite, but came with a wallet-draining price tag. After a morning of gazing at cuckoo clocks we headed to Hauptbahnhof and got on the train to Venice.

Delhi

Wow! Delhi is a crazy, crazy city! I really can't describe it-hectic, chaos, mayhem, they all kinda suite the title, but still don't do it justice. The traffic plays a starring role and one word that comes to mind is honking. Lots and lots of honking! And what leads to all this honking, you ask? Impatience, that is a key word. They ALL have a lack of patience, it's not the majority, it's EVERYONE. I swear it must be in their genetics, it's gotta be! Probably also mob mentality, 'if those people in front of me aren't gonna wait, then why should I?'. Another key factor is their parents, if your parents drive like maniacs and your parents parents do as well...etc, etc, etc, they are lead by example.

We had a VERY hard time finding a hotel with clean sheets and wifi. The wifi was pretty important because we were flying to Germany the next day and really were quite clueless. Finally after finding a place with wifi, the sheets were dirty, so we had to ask for them be changed . What do you know, after they said they would fix the wifi, it still didn't work. After shower problems and room changes we pretty much gave up expecting things to work. Since there wasn't a whole lot to do in the hotel room we wandered around the market before greasing up at our first McDonalds in India. We were pretty happy to leave Delhi and head to Munich the next morning.

Manali

The drive to Manali a a long one, we has to stay overnight in Keylong on the way. The drive was gorgeous though! You really can't fully take it all in unless you are there. The mountains are just so huge and majestic, just so darn impressive! The scenery was quite varied, even just from looking on your right and then to your left you could see two completely different kinds of rocks. Sheerly sliced shale on one side and crumbly dry sandstone on the other.

We were really excited to sleep in a tent in Keylong, we thought it would be a neat experience, just like camping back at home (which we do lots). We were VERY sorely mistaken! The tents were in a hotel parking lot! As for an atmospheric camping setting, you can't get much worse than that. We were so disappointed by the tents that we went inside and booked an overpriced, not-so-clean government hotel room. I can't complain about the buffet dinner though, it was pretty good, just the usual Indian fix- roti, dal, curry, rice. Breakfast was nothing to rave about, just some really greasy roti things and curry. After another day of scenic driving we arrived in Manali.

We were surprised by how similar the climate and vegetation were compared to home. There were even some of the same wild flowers, we notice while hiking in BC. We had a look around that day and the next day we did some shopping. There were so many power outages in Manali, several hours per day there is no electricity and it's at totally random times too. Leh was really bad for power outages too. I got a poncho sewed for me and of course, while the guy was sewing the power went out. Since it is totally normal, the guy sewed the rest by spinning the wheel manually.
Once we were all finished our Manali shopping we waited in the hotel until 5pm and got on the night bus back to Delhi. I'm sad that we are finished with all this wonderful driving in the Himalayas, but at the same time I'm glad that all this driving-on-the-edge-of-cliff-constantly is over. It was always worrisome being up so high on such a narrow road. At one spot we looked over the cliff and there were three trucks turned into piles of rubble laying on the valley floor below. They had all driven straight off the side of the cliff, probably due to bad road conditions...the roads up there are only open for 4 months per year, due to excessive snowfall in the winter.
Those mountains have some serious skiing potential, but there is pretty much no infrastructure here in the winter, because of the mass amounts of snow. Speaking of all this coldness, we stopped in a town called Drass, in between Srinigar and Leh for a tea break. There was a sign there that said Drass was the second coldest inhabited place in the world.