The European Extravaganza!

Steph & Laura: 1; Weather: 1

In order to make our train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen on time, we had to get up at 4:45 am as our train left at 6:11. And this is supposed to be a vacation? When we woke up -- after thinking it was a cruel joke -- we realized it was still raining with a vengeance. Hoping that the stormy skies were localized to Austria, we went left the hostel... but not before checking out. We had been told that YoHo had 24-hour reception, but when we got downstairs, there was simply a sign on the desk saying that if you wanted to check in you should go into the bar. As we had not gone to the bar (not even to celebrate Canada Day the night previous), we didn't really know where that was. A group of kids were loitering outside the hostel ringing the night bell. Laura began asking people if they worked at the hostel, and one of the guys went inside and began yelling at a man passed out on a bench in what we assume is the bar. He then came back into the lobby and told us apologetically that the guy was out cold. We both rushed into the room, but I sent Laura back outside to "look after the stuff". As soon as she had left the room (I did not want any witnesses), I began shaking the guy and yelling "GET UP!!!" at him. He started out of his drunken stupor and began to trudge over to the desk. Meanwhile, Laura was screaming in the lobby at anyone she saw, "Do you work here? Who works here? Does anyone work here?!?". It took the guy a little too long to find our room, after Laura had ordered him behind the desk and told him to get our safety deposits, so Laura also pointed it out for him on the reservation sheet. At one point, he said, "I am not stupid, you know," to which Laura was tempted to reply, "Wellll...." But she didn't. Too bad.

Finally, with €5 bills in our hot little hands, we made off for the train station to catch our train to Munich. The ride was innocuous, but we arrived with only 12 minutes to catch our connection to GP (after debating as to whether we should get off at the Ostbahnhof station or the Hauptbahnhof station... we chose (correctly) the latter). We were on platform 9, and had to somehow get to platform 32. Or so we thought. As we began making our way to the very end of our platform so that we could walk along and find the other platforms, I stopped briefly to check the Departure schedule. I found our train, but found that it was leaving from platform 28. I began shouting this at Laura, as I began running! With a pack on my back. Laura followed suit, and people began to stop and stare at us, as we doubled over with the exertion, we barreled through the station. It was an effort worthy of winning the Amazing Race, as we made it onto the train with only about 2 minutes to spare. Let us to tell you: Munich is a blur. All we can say is that the station is far too big and the platforms are far too long.

Oh, but for all of those people who are still betting against us? I think we just raised the stakes again. Also, this just goes to prove that the itinerary really cannot be denied.

We made it to GP with no further adventure in the interim. We made reservations for our night train that evening when we reached the station (we decided to just get seats rather than a sleeping compartment as this was cheaper... only €4 for that night's accomodation! But was it worth it? Read on and find out!), and found a locker large enough to stow a couple bodies for our packs. We then made our way to the Zugspitze station, where we bought our ticket for the cogwheel train and cable cars that would take us to the top of Germany's highest peak (at 4962 m!). In true European style, we ate our lunch on a bench in the station, slicing up the meat and cheese and bread with Laura's handy and extremely frightening Husky knife. One passerby remarked that our meal looked very good. She was right!

We got on at the very front of the train, along with a huge group of Japanese tourists. The ride up was amazing, as the scenery just got nicer and more impressive the higher up we got. At one point we passed the Ebsee lake, which was ridiculously blue (it looked tropical! and like it was from a movie) and every one oohed and ahhed as they scrambled to get their cameras in time.

Once we got to the first transfer station, things changed, as we were already so high up that there was a good deal of snow on the ground. Unsurprisingly, it was freezing! We didn't leave Canada just so that we could experience winter in July! Also, neither of us was really equipped to deal with subzero temperatures, despite bringing several layers of clothes and having read in advance that we would stop at a glacier. Yay for research and advanced planning! Imagine what might have happened if we had not planned ahead... Scary.

Things did not really improve when we reached the summit, as there continued to be snow (having only gone higher), but there was also vast quantities of fog. Or maybe we were just smack dab in the middle of a cloud. Either way, the visibility was non-existant, and our 4-country view was depleted so greatly, that we couldn't even see Germany which we were standing on. So, on the one hand, we didn't let the weather stop us from ascending to our destination. But, on the other hand, Taryn and her negative thoughts made it such that our enjoyment at the top was somewhat lessened. Well played weather. Well played. Regardless, we still get to now crow that we have been to the highest mountain in Germany, which is a pretty cool deal, no matter how you slice it. And, that is what postcards are for.

When we descended, we stopped at the lake we had seen on the way up and took some pictures. We also got to experience an Oriental woman decked out in biker apparrel screaming at her paramour in German. Surreal.

When we got back down to the village proper, we stumbled upon the best grocery store ever. It was massively discounted, but the quality was good. It was like a Costco mated with a Loblaws. We picked up some cherries, some nectarines, rice pudding, and our staples: odd-flavoured chips (tzatziki!), and chocolate! We decided not to go on the gorge walk because of the weather and the dearth of buses going to Olympic Ski Stadium, and instead worked on getting some postcards mailed out.

We then hopped a train to Innsbruck where we would catch our night train. We had several hours to kill before our train arrived, so we wandered out into the city, completing the hatrick of Austrian cities recommended by my travel book. We ate our hodgepodge meal by a dragon fountain while a man had a nervous breakdown on a bench nearby. We then went and saw The Golden Roof, the one cool thing to see in Innsbruck (and we just happened to stumble upon it during our wanderings). Then we ambled through a park where there was a concert going on where women dressed in traditional bavarian costume served people shots of something out of hip kegs. We want hip kegs! (Note: these are not "trendy" kegs, but rather tiny ones affixed to your hip). I was really enjoying the music, but we soon got into a laughing fit when it stopped and I asked, "What the hell is going on here?" Also, a father told his child that climbing on a nearby tree was "verboten" and she started to apologize... to the tree! Because we were laughing, and Innsbruck is the city with no laughter, people began to stare at us. We think that they believed we were drunk tourists who could not hold our hip-keg liquor.

As we left the park, we saw a large group of younguns sitting in the bushes drinking from 2L bottles of Coke. Scandalous! Next, we wandered through a "Rastafair", where reggae music was played at high volume while people played hacky sack. We never wondered what happened to those two things, but it's nice to know that they are well and alive in Innsbruck.

Having wandered around the entier city in 2 hours, we returned to the station and awaited our train. It is strangely freezing in Austria at night, so we shivered out on the platform. We were happy to find that our reserved seats were in a compartment of 6 seats, but that there were no other people in the compartment (I guess everyone else went with the couchettes that provide sketchy pullout bunks that are super embarassing to get onto when people are watching you through the window... as we did). Laura got a little frustrated when the door to the compartment jammed and would not open. We thought that there might be someone in there who had locked it, but it turned out the door was just sucky. Or was it? Read on to find out!

In fact, the sucky door saved the entire evening. We ended up sharing the compartment with a woman who alighted at 1:30 am, but for the entire 6 hours we were on the train, people would walk by when they go on the train and try to get into our compartment. Because the door would not open, they would jerk at it for a while, and then give up and move on. This meant that we got to have a private compartment and could stretch out on the dirty seats and actually lie down. Take that neck kinks! We were particularly thankful for our safety door, when a group of loud Italian men got on the train and rather violently and loudly attempted to make their way into our compartment. We would both have been too terrified to sleep had they succeeded, so thank goodness they did not! Crappy door prevails!

Although it was certainly not a restful night, we did both manage to get a solid 4.5 hours of sleep(more or less), so we are greatful to crappy door for that. That being said, we will check into how much a sleeping compartment costs for our trip from Fort Williams to Inverness.

To hear about our adventures in Florence, scroll upward.

posted by Steph @ 6:34 pm