News17 Jul 2008 02:01 am
Greetings from Interlaken, a beautiful small town nestled between two enormous lakes and surrounded by mountains. I am couchsurfing with a local journalist named Bettina who met me at the train station yesterday. She went to work, and it’s raining this morning, so I decided to post some photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/eurodave2008
Some hilights from the last week or so:
- Eating the best pizza in the world, in Naples, from a pizzaria that has been open since 1870.
- Hanging out in a plaza in Naples late at night with a girl Giovanna that works at the hostel and could translate Italian for me. Making several Italian friends who gave me lots of travel advice.
- Wandering through the ruins of Pompeii, an ancient city which was frozen in time when it was buried under a blanket of ash and lava in 79 AD following the eruption of Mt Vesuvius.
- Taking a night train from Naples to Riomagiorre, the first of five coastal towns that comprise the “Cinque Terre”. Sleeping on the street, right next to the ocean, until the hostel opened up.
- Breathtaking views of coastal towns and cliffs, hiking on the Cinque Terre footpaths
- Playing my aluminum djembe (which I bought in Naples) on the beach at night.
- Cooking dinner for a group of eight in Cinque Terre. First good serving of veggies in quite a while. Pasta with mushrooms, spinach, garlic, and peppers served with the finest local boxed wine. Check out a video that my friend Hunter made, documenting the occasion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHZ-WJiSCxY
- Italian espresso and gelato every day
- Arriving in Interlaken, Switzerland, marveling at the nature, the physically-fit older people, and the bilingual small children
- Being greeted by my incredibly kind couchsurfing host Bettina who is a local journalist. Cooking dinner together, learning about all of her favorite mountain hikes (which I will explore once it stops raining).
Still trying to decide if I should splurge on skydiving or bungee jumping… hmm…
Dude awesome pics so far!! Do send me a postcard at 1800 Bridge Parkway
Your nighttime pics in particular are amazing. Great camera work there!