xYang travel diary: European Whirl

April 15^th

Vienna …Hotel Honnecker

This was my last chance to eat the delicious baked cheese-ham sandwich, the last day in Austria. We drove across the mountain where the film “The Sound of Music” was shot. Everybody in the bus sang the “yuulloleiyoo” song ^.^

At midday we across the Italian border, a plank that has the name ITALIA on it ^.^ Then we drive through the Dolomite mountain, which claims to be the most beautiful mountain in Italy. We arrived at a restaurant somewhere in mount Dolomite. It’s a very beautiful restaurant with warm wooden atmosphere, and a tower that made from wood and glass, with mechanism pendulum in it … no idea what it used for. It’s not cold though the sky turned gray and snows covered the mountain. I didn’t need to wear my coat … see! ^.^

Then we moved again … to Venice! Since there’s a new regulation that says any bus cannot enter Venice before 6 pm, Kristy decided to give us extra trip - Triste. It was a harbor city, with the biggest piazza in the whole Italy. We only had 45 minutes to stroll along the harbor, not enough time to check out that piazza. Here, I had my first gelato, Italian ice cream.

We arrived Venice, our first campsite for the whole trip at 6:30; just on time for dinner. Of course the meal was an Italian meal – salad with crackers and wine, Pizza, pasta and spaghetti plus bread, chocolate cookie for desert. This campsite has a different place for Internet, a bus! We had to book in advance before using it, 3 Euro for half an hour. It’s quite a big campsite along the harbor; Fusina, not Venice. Contiki has its own area here, 2 rooms cabins with 4 beds that keeps on shaking; the whole cabin will shake as soon as a person make a movement, no matter how slightly it is. Imagine how to do certain ‘business’ inside such a cabin ^.^ Bathroom and other facilities were placed outside … quite torturing to walk in the middle of the night just to do the ‘pee-pee’, it’s very chilly at night ^.^ People went to the bar after dinner, socializing. That’s a problem for me, I can’t drink, and I hate smoke. But Fren said, she found out that it’s the only chance to know each other more, “Having a wine on your hand give you more self confidence while talking to people. Using the same ashtray also another way to socialize for those who smoke, you know, the feeling of circling and doing the same thing.”

Well … maybe … but I decided to live healthily, like strolling in the beach enjoying the sunset after having such a big feast ^.^