Bonjour from Paris! Being able to travel is one of the most liberating and exciting things to do in this great big world of ours, and one of the most exciting parts is staying in hostels! As I have said many times before, one of my favorite things about hostels is the opportunity to get to meet so many people! This past week or so, I have done just that, and it has been making me very nostalgic about the week and a half I spent at hostels during my spring break. Then I realized I never wrote anything about that time like I meant to! So here we go, the middle of April, somewhere in Europe...
Well, it started in Vienna, Austria to be exact. Our eventful two weeks began with the school group taking a bus to Vienna, where we went to the palace, and saw the Crown Jewels, and the National history museum, and a fancy white horse show! Unfortunately, im not going to expand too terribly much, because honestly, it just was not my favorite! A lot of people I talk to say they adored Vienna, but through my travels I have learned that even though you go in really wanting to love a city, sometimes you just don't feel the magic. Maybe it was the weather, or bad restaurant choices, or random rude encounters, but anyway the magic just was not there for me in Vienna.
Next stop though, was Venice, Italy! We were still on the school bus, and I have to say that the drive from Vienna to Venice was one of the most beautiful ones I probably will ever take! The mountains were spectacular! By the time we actually arrived in Venice, I was already blown away. We then had to take a train (over water!!!) from the main land to the island, and then we were in the beautiful heart of Venice. It is famous for a reason. The water was beautiful, the sunsets are beautiful, the buildings are beautiful, the square was beautiful, the boats were beautiful, and the people were nice. And beautiful. Also, the whole "getting lost in Venice" myth is completely and utterly real. I usually am pretty fair at finding my way around new cities, but this one was hopeless! Even with a map, or the GPS on any of our phones! At least it's an island and at some point, you hit water and you know to start over. We went on our normal cathedral/castle/museum/treasury/Jewish quarter educational excursion, and at the end we all stood there and kind of looked at each other, and Martin says, "Well, you're free to go! See you in Olomouc next Monday!" And that was it! We were on our own for many of our first real small group independent travel, and some of the best couple weeks of my adventure to date!
From Venice, three other people and I took a boat to the airport, which was a first, and flew to Naples, Italy. We arrive at this huge, dirty city, and we weren't sure what to think. Then we get out of the dirty old subway, and we are even more unsure. Then we walk down this dodgy little alley to our hostel, and we all want to turn around. Then we haul our luggage up five flights of stairs (I think Lauren was almost crying at this point) and into what seems to be someone's apartment, and I think we all were so confused and disappointed with what we had seen so far, we didn't even know what to do! Then this little older man comes out, introduces himself as Giovanni, and hands us all a big glass of water for the walk up, and tells us to all have a seat. All of our worries quickly turned to excitement as this man starts to lay out all of the many many options this town that he loves has to offer, and we choose our itinerary for what we quickly realize is going to be a much too short stay of only four days. This talk lasted about a half hour, and it looked like it was straight out of a movie, he would reach down for a book and turn straight to the page he wanted and point to the word before the book was even opened all the way, then reach behind him and grab a map, then push up his glasses, then go to google earth on the computer and zoom exactly from one place to another all around the city, explaining how it was built, and the real beauty of it once you know how to look for it. The he would take our passports, told me I had a bit of an Eastern European face, saw "Vlach" as one of my names, then "of course your Czech, I should have known that!" And do the same for the other three.... All I could think was that this man was amazing. Then we put our bags in our assigned room, and walk out to a homemade meal of Italian gnocchi in his special red sauce, and I think I could have cried. Then we met our other roommates, a French Canadian named Charles, and a girl from Mexico who had been studying in France for 8 months named Paula. We hit it off so well, that we all spent the rest of our time in Naples doing everything together, and it was with this group that we explored this town that I am now completely in love with, even though it is very rough around the edges. With these people that we and explored the roman ruins and the whole underground city beneath it, climbed to the top of Mount Vesuvious, and even Pompeii was made an absolute blast (which I realize is pretty morbid, because so many people died there, and I am very aware of that and understand the severity, but really I think I laughed more in that ancient city than I have anywhere in the world.. Oops). Looking back, I know it was this hostel that made all the difference. When I talk about a city having magic, I think of this one, and it breaks my heart to think of the things we would have missed out on had we not stayed at Giovanni's, and meet the people that we did!
We then said our tearful goodbyes, and boarded the plane to Barcelona, Spain. This town was amazingly beautiful also, but I wish I could have taken it a different time, because everything for a while kind of paled in comparison after Naples. Besides that though, this mosaic covered town was amazing. With a hostel just a couple blocks from the beach, and Charlie (the French Canadian we met in Naples!) actually joining us from Rome, It was quite the experience also!! We were a bit worn out from sight seeing, so this town mainly consisted of the white sandy beaches, and the famous nightlife. I did enjoy the chance to brush up on my Spanish though! By the time Monday rolled around, I caught myself thinking, "I'm ready to go home and sleep in my own bed.." But then I though it was funny, because I realized "home" was Olomouc, and "my own bed" was the three-inch thick mattress I was used to sleeping on, and I got a good chuckle out of it. It didn't stop me from doing the ole' drop my bags and flop on the bed when I got back though!
Really, moral of this story: I love hostels!!! There is a difference between hostels and hotels, the S! S stands for social, and that is the best thing about them. I learned that last night. In a hostel!!! 😁
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