Krysti's Big Adventure!

Gidday mate!

Well woops it's been 3 months since I've been back home in Australia, so I thought I better quickly finish this off so this blog will be done and dusted. It is very strange thinking back on my trip now and the whole year in general, as it all seems like some kind of wild fantasy I concocted in my imagination. I had such a fantastic year, it really does seem so unreal to look back on. So anyway, Christmas is now around the corner and I'm off to New Zealand next week, so I won't go into too much detail (or I'll be here forever!). So now to finally end- with my time in Rome, Venice and Munich.

Aah Rome, I was so excited to be back there again. Unfortunately we had a classic- literally the day before crisis in the form of an email telling us our hotel we had booked months ago (nice and close to the Colosseum) had flooded and all the rooms were destroyed.... It could have been a total disaster as we had to then frantically search for hotels with availability, but of course now being Summer and ONE day away- everything was booked or way too far away or heinously expensive. But, thanks to my experience with AirB&B I checked there and found we could book out our own fully furnished apartment- for less than the price of our original hotel!
It wasn't as centrally located as we would have liked, as in we couldn't walk everywhere, we had to rely on public transport. But it wasn't too bad, only a few stops to the central train station on the tram. So we made do and it was quite a cool apartment on the 7th floor with a balcony with a nice view overlooking the streets of Rome.

Classic margherita

We flew in late at night so we just went to a nearby local restaurant and got a massive pizza each along with obligatory red wine. The good thing about staying in the suburbs was that it was more authentic- the waitress barely spoke English, the food was good and the price was even better.
The next day my friends had booked a full day Vatican and Colosseum tour, and as I had already done those in April this year I got to sleep in (aah) and then I went to meet my sister Nicky who had also come to Rome to join us for the remainder of our trip, on the beginning of hers.

We went to admire the Colloseum from the outside, and then went for a nice pasta lunch from a place I had been to last time which I knew was very good. I got the lasagne and had a cianti of red wine mmm. I love Italy.
The rest of the day we walked around and explored, had two lots of gelato, espressos, got rained on and late afternoon went back to our apartment to wait for the others and had a few drinks before all going off to dinner together. We all had nutella pizza for dessert and it was a-ma-zing.

The next day we explored some more together around the centre of Rome, had fun at a limoncello tasting (I bought two bottles), went to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and then had lunch (gnocchi). We walked through the forum and said hi to the Colloseum again before going back to the apartment for beers. We then had dinner at a local place we keep walking past called, wait for it- Bitch. I'm not kidding! It was actually really good.

Next up was a full day tour to Pompei. We climbed Mt Vesivius (the volcano that blew up and destroyed Pompei) in the morning which had amazing views over Naples, and then we had a pizza lunch before exploring the ruins of Pompeii in the afternoon. It was a cool day and I will definitely have to come back to Naples now, it was such a beautiful city and I had no idea it was so huge. Although the volcano is predicted to blow up again in the next 20 or so years, so maybe not...

The next day we had to check out but we still had a full day in Rome. We left our suitcases at a storage place in the central train station and then we all went to the Spanish steps to have Tiramisu for breakfast- our tour guide told us this place that supposedly made one of the best in Rome. And oh my goodness- he was not lying. I was in food HEAVEN. Best tiramisu of my life! I think it is now ruined for me; I can never have it again save for when I return in the future and come back to that one shop.
Then we went to Altare della Patria for the great views over the city. My sister then left as she was getting a different train to Venice than us (we were getting an over night one). My friends and I explored some more and then had dinner. I had the ravioli which was freakin amazing. We finished our Rome trip with a gelato in front of the Colosseum all lit up in the dark which was spectacular. We then caught our train and had a very rocky half-sleep to the north of Italy.

We arrived at 5 am, pitch black with nothing open. It took us over 2 hours to drag our suitcases to our hotel on the other side of the island because we got so lost and there were so many stairs and bridges, it was pretty sucky.
But once we arrived and showered- we were so excited! No roads and cars! We could open our window in our hotel room and look straight down into a canal with gondolas passing by! Venice is so incredibly beautiful. We set off to explore the many streets and alleyways and got lost continually, but it was such an enjoyable first day. We got massive slices of pizza on the street and plenty of espresso. We went in loads of cool shops filled with Venetian masks, handmade crafts and all sorts.

On our second day in the morning we had bought a skip the line entry into Saint Mark's Basilica. That was a very impressive church, both outside and inside, and the square it was in was enormous.
In the afternoon we did an obligatory gondola ride which was super fun. I brought a beer on board with me and really enjoyed myself. The canals and bridges and houses with flowers spilling over the balconies are mesmerisingly gorgeous. The half an hour ride went very fast though.

In the afternoon some of us did a walking tour which I'm really glad I did. We got to see so many hidden gems for example where Marco Polo lived, and this amazing bookstore which is on the list for top bookstores in the world- it had a gondola in the middle of it filled with books and the best part was the owner had like 6 cats that hung out in there and you could pet them and love them, it was the best bookstore ever.
And of course we got to learn a lot about the of history of Venice on the tour and some really cool facts, 3 hours went real quick! At the end the guide also gave us suggestions for great places to eat near by which we jumped on- I had a really delicious penne. (My ultimate mission in Italy was to have one of every type of pasta- just in case you were wondering...).

The next day was an early start as we had an excursion booked. It was a boat tour to three different islands of Venice- Murano, famous for glassblowing, Burano, famous for lace and their painted houses, and Torcello, for their Byzantine churches. I really enjoyed watching the glassblowing demonstration, it is so skilled to make a glass horse out of a blob in under a minute. The painted houses of Burano were really beautiful, it was such a pretty island. It was an enjoyable outing and good to see a bit more of Venice and not just stick to the main island.
The rest of our time in Venice was just spent exploring some more, browsing the cool shops, eating and drinking. We left in the late afternoon the next day for the airport to our final destination- Munich!

I was so happy to be back in Germany again and how poetic for it to be my last hoorah. Checking into our hostel however was nothing short of a nightmare- due to it being the very beginning of Oktoberfest- the line to check in was out the door. It took us over 2 hours... we finally got to bed very late which wasn't very good because we had to get up at the crack of dawn the next day for the opening! I think I only got 3 hours sleep. Never mind- adrenaline kept me wide awake the next day.
I got all dressed up in my vintage 80's dirndl I had purchased from a German flea market, and we all set off for the Theresienwiese grounds. We arrived at about 8 am which was pretty early considering the halls didn't even open or start serving beer until 12 pm. But this was the grand opening and we were determined to make it into the main beer hall to watch the traditional ceremony of the Mayor cracking open the first keg.
Alas, as we were already waiting in a very long line and when the doors opened it was a frenzy of people running to get seats and sadly we missed out by a long shot. Defeated, we just sat outside at a table but that was fine. After a very long wait indeed, pretty cold and tired we were snapped back into excitement when we could hear the band and singing of people inside start up, and the countdown began for 12 pm. The tables outside were now packed as well and everyone started chanting and then cheering when the first lot of servers came out to us with their arms hugging litres and litres of beer.

It was a very merry afternoon full of countless steins, good food, and talking to random people that had joined us at our table.
A bit later on we took it in turns to go for a walk and explore the massive grounds- which was pretty much my wonderland. Beer, and food and theme park rides- it was simply crazy and awesome! My sister and I went on a giant ferris wheel just because.
When we had had our fill of beer we stumbled back to our hostel to recuperate for another full day of festivities the next day.
The next morning we started with a doner kebab for breakfast (standard), and headed straight back to Oktoberfest. We were wandering the roads and looking around the stalls when the official parade started. There were tens of thousands of people, all dressed up in different traditional eras of German wear, it was really entertaining. I enjoyed many more litres of beer and currywurst and picked up a few souvenirs as it was my last day. Towards the end of the day we tried to get into a beer hall, but again they were all full. We did find one though that everyone was standing on the tables (already) so we just walked in with our beers and stood around and enjoyed the atmosphere for a while (until we got sick of the really drunk people).

So, Oktoberfest was really really awesome. I had such a great time and I think it was made more fun by the fact that I dressed up, and I loved seeing so many other people dress up too. It really was a fantastic way to end my European adventure and I will definitely be back again one day!
The next day I said goodbye to my friends and sister, they were all also going their separate ways, and I said goodbye to Germany and Europe. The flights weren't too bad, but I barely got any sleep as they were broken up with two stopovers to Dubai and Singapore. I really didn't care though, I just wanted to get home to see Gareth (my fiance). My trip was so fantastic but I was very ready to go home after months of living out of a suitcase and sharing rooms and public transport!
I can't believe it had been 6 whole months that Gareth and I were apart, in hindsight it wasn't too hard for us because we were both so busy. But it was a great feeling to be home with the cat and all the creature comforts I had forgotten about (slippers!).

Thank you to everyone that has followed my journey and read my blog. I really enjoyed writing it and it's quite amusing going all the way back to the start of my first one when I first arrived in Konstanz- I was like a deer in headlights then. I don't think living in Europe has changed me as a person, I would just say I have grown and learnt. I did enjoy studying psychology in Germany but I still always wonder what I'm doing with my life- what do I want to do? And I still feel so lost.
All I have ever wanted to do was travel. And now that I have done that, at least in Europe, I'm left wondering- what next? I certainly have the travel bug and my only real desire is to travel more. I feel really really fortunate that I was able to do that this year, like I said, I still can hardly believe it. Anyway I'm starting to ramble now and this was only meant to be a short post. I'm just reflecting that's all.
Time to sign off. Thanks again everyone, last but not least- a few pics below!

Adios!