I'm glad my stuff didn't get stolen

We finally made it to Rome after a day in Interlaken and another entire day spent on trains from Switzerland to the Eternal City. I probably can't devote as much time and impart enough detail in this entry as I would like, but here goes anyway.

Interlaken, nestled in the mountains of Switzerland, has some very striking scenic views, when there isn't a tumultuous thunderstorm almost causing flash flooding. We stayed indoors for most of the day. Our hostel was called the Funny Farm. The name is curious only until you realize that your room is in a converted barn that lacks modern comforts, like locks on the doors. The front desk repeatedly warned people upon checking in not to leave anything valuable in the barn and to instead leave it in an open room by the hotel lobby. Fortunately, we were lucky enough to have a latch on which you could padlock the door shut. Our neighbors were not quite so lucky and had their stuff rummaged through and their valuables taken. Prescription eyeglasses, for example. ("Sweet guys, I scored some glasses! Let's go read!")

Interlaken bills itself as the extreme sport capital of Europe. This reputation is well earned as each hostel has an Adventure Desk where you can book all sorts of crazy things to do including skydiving, ice climbing, hang gliding, etc. It's too bad that we didn't get a nice weather day there as I really wanted to go zorbing. Ever wanted to roll down a big, grassy hill while in a bubble that looks like it was designed for people with terrible, infectious diseases? You should try zorbing.

The extreme(!) sports offering attracts a lot of young Americans. We couldn't go anywhere without bumping into a few of our countrymen. Will have to come back here for both the zorbing and the atmosphere.

We made an early departure from Interlaken onto our first of four trains for the day on the 21st. The ride through the Alps offered some gorgeous sites. Unfortunately, I can't imagine going to any of these places without wads of hundreds bulging from my pockets. It's also funny to note that absolutely none of our trains up to this point were late until we got into Italy. We had a minor delay on one train in Germany and the voice across the loudspeaker profusely apologized for running 5 minutes late. We barely made our connecting train to Rome in Milan (yes, we had to run through a large train station in abou 5 minutes) and eventually arrived 1 hour late in Rome with no mention of any tardiness from the Italian train meisters. Life is beautiful, yes?

We had a long dinner outside our Rome hostel which made all the bad train memories disappear. For what they lack in punctuality, the Italians certainly made up for it in cooking a good meal. A little bruscheta, some cannolli, some wine, some after dinner drinks. The restaurant also provided caca gratis, or free shit, in the form of a bottle of champagne. Please note to all you cookers of food out there that I will always call your meal good if you provide free bottles of alcohol for my consumption.

We explored the Colosseum and Palatine Hill this morning and aim to have a seven course meal this evening.

I'm too lazy to tag all these photos right now so I'll just point to Travis' flickr page for your viewing enjoyment:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/reallifeonhold/