In Roma!

Hello again, everyone. I'm sorry we haven't been keeping up the blog as much as we had hoped, but honestly, I'm sure our only readers are our folks and relatives reading to make sure we're ok, and my roommates, hoping we have met an untimely end so that they get the house to themselves. So really, we're probably not letting many people down. But, today we have an earful, as we are currently sitting in the AC in an otherwise boiling Rome suburb. We'd like to see the sites, but there is a city-wide mass transit strike or something. More on that later. So, lucky you! Here is what we've been up to . . . hope you enjoy it! (Also, sorry if my typing seems less than perfect . . . their keys have some funky symbols on them here; or that's my excuse, anyhow.)
I think we left off somewhere in Germany, where we were lamenting the loss of the Germans to the Spanish in the EuroCup2008. The day after the game (I think it was a Monday, but when every day is Saturday, it's tough to keep track), we hopped a train for Konstance, Germany. Konstance is on the Bodensee, a large lake on the border of Germany and Switzerland fed by the Alps. It's a touristy place, but we quite liked it. After we arrived at the Konstanz station around 8pm, we each looked at each other and realized we had nowhere to stay. But we've been traveling for nearly three weeks in this same fashion, so we had become quite used to the feeling. We started wandering through the streets until a nice lady came to our aid while we were obviously quite confused, trying to decipher a map that was in some foreign language. I think it was German. Anyways, we finally found our way to a Youth Hostel she had mentioned, only to find it was booked up. So much for last minute plans . . . I guess reserving ahead has its benefits. However, because of my lack of planning, Becca and I are much more fit, as the nearest camping site, as the hostel receptionist told us, was a good mile or two away. Off we went, with our packs which seemed to get heavier by the step. As luck would have it, we found the simple, yet quite nice campingplatz and decided to stay two nights.
While we were there in Konstance, we took in as much of the lake as we could. It seems that most of our routes and destinations either took us to or at least alongside some body of water. What can we say . . . we're water folk. Sadly, we were not able to chat up conversation with any keelboat captains, but we WERE trusted with a plastic paddle boat for an hour. A glorious hour! Since Konstance is a city on the border of Switzerland and Germany, we were actually able to paddle across the border. Very exciting . . . especially with a line of thunderheads rolling along the Alps. And, with any good boat trip, we enjoyed some good, cheap wine. Possibly the best wine of the trip.
From Konstanz, we got a GREAT Swiss rail deal; we bought tickets that were good for traveling all day for 20 Euro. We got our money's worth. So, we took off for Lucern, also another Alpine lake city, another excellent city, but we didn't have time to explore, as we were planning on taking a boat (also public transit) from one end of the lake to the other . . . probably a 30 mile ride. Probably the coolest boat ride since the paddle boat. Seriously, it was breathtaking. And, we even saw some windsurfers near the boat's last stop, so ofcourse I needed to scope it out. If we had more time (and much more money), I would've stayed for sure. I think I might have been able to convince Bec to stay, too. Anyhow, from this little Swiss town, Fluelen, we headed across the Swiss Alps to Locarno (also a lake town, go figure). Another awesome ride! Again, we arrived in the town late and without any reservations, but started off in the direction of the nearest campsite. It was a nice spot, on the lake, but we had a slight misunderstanding of the price. When it came time to pay and leave, I was informed of the ridiculous rate they wanted me to pay for a tent site. Stubbornly, I finally struck a deal (after hearing the word Policia in the receptionist's native conversation with the manager), but I don't think I made any friends. Probably not going to visit there again.
We wanted to push on to get to Lago di Garda before we got to Rome since it was highly recommended, and also since it was pouring buckets and a dry train was quite welcoming. After buying our tickets to Brescia, we needed to spend our last CHF (swiss money), so we splurged on panini's, local beer, and Becca's signature frozen cocktails. I think she's on a mission to sample those moorish drinks from every city! Once we got to Brescia (bye, Switzerland!), we tried to figure out how to get to the North end of the lake (where the windsurfing is rockin!) but we could only, and barely, find our way to Desenzano, a large-ish town on the very South of the large lake.
**side note: English isn't nearly as common a language in Italy, so our Italian handbook, grunting and pointing, and oddly enough, my German came in quite handy. I actually used my basic German skills much more here than in Germany or Switzerland, because in those places, everyone knows English (and they don't have much patience for my broken German). In Italy, though, it was the only language we had even slightly in common. My german, however, is nothing that Herr Goff would be proud of, but it sure beats grunting and pointing. end of side note**
In Desenzano, we found ourselves at a bus stop near a quaint, yet hopping town center that was right on the lake. A beautiful spot, missing only a tourist information desk. Or signs for camping. Or hostels. Or anyone who spoke English, save for a couple out-of-towners who were there for a wedding and wanted us to take their picture. Again, though, this was nothing new, and we no longer felt the pangs of frustration or helplessness that we had earlier in our unplanned trip. So, as always, we started walking in the direction opposite of our intuition, for some stupid reason. And, we kept walking. Eventually, we got wind of a campsite some ways down, luckily, in the direction we were walking. The fellow who mentioned it (a guy at a hotel reception), said it was too far to walk, but then again, he didn't know us, we thought. If only we had listened . . . After walking a ridiculous distance with our enourmous bags on our backs, we started giving in to temptation, stopping at any hotel we could find. Finally, when one had vacancy, we cringed at the rate. But luckily, the guy there gave us hope by mentioning the campsite was not too far down. Not too far down to a guy in a nice suit who drives a Mercedes and works in Air conditioning means something different than not too far to a pair of dead tired backpackers, but our cheapness won out, and we eventually dragged our exhausted selves to the park. Again, my german came in handy as I asked if they had a vacancy and what the rate was, but we would have paid anything they asked at this point. Long story short-ish, it turned out to be a great place, and we ended up staying two nights to rest our tired selves. We didn't do much sight-seeing here, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves by relaxing in the lake and sharing plenty of wine at a lake-side hut watching the kite-boarders and reading The Da Vinci Code (I figure I should finish the book before we travel into Rome, as this might not be popular reading material in the center-city of Catholicism). Again, a great spot. Too bad we didn't have time to truck it to the North were the windsurfing is excellent, but we can save that for another trip. And, by the sounds of it, when we're employed, too.
On our third day at Desenzano, Italy, we left to spend the day in Verona before we caught a night train (the cheap one) in Rome. Verona was a neat city in which Shakespeare based Romeo and Juliet. We didn't hit any of the Romeo and Juliet tourist trap stuff, though, but instead toured a castle and walked through the city. I had not yet acclimated to the hot hot hot weather, so I was a bit tuckered out, but Bec seemed to be born for the heat. Hopefully I'll get used to it, as Rome and Athens are sure to be hotter. The night train was interesting, mainly for our lack of being able to communicate, and also because I had wrongly thought I would be able to get some sleep. At least it was cheap. Once in Rome, we easily made it to our Camping Village Roma, where we are staying currently. We had a very pleasant evening out on the town yesterday, but today has been somewhat of a forced lock-in, as the entire mass transit system has seemed to go on strike for the day. But, we have a great spot here with volleyball, a pool, internet, etc., and our tour, which starts tomorrow, will likely show us to all of the sites of interest in town.
That brings us to today . . . I hope I haven't put you all to sleep, though I'm sure you all are hoping that Becca updates the blog next time!! We'll write again, though we don't know when, as our 20 day bus tour starts tomorrow. I hope this finds you all well, and thanks for reading and for your comments! (Sorry we don't have pictures this time) Take care,-Andy and Becca