Split: A pleasant surprise!

When I arrived in Split, I had not read anything about it, so I was expecting a basic, boring beach town.  Kind of like Destin, Florida, where I have spent (too) many summers.  Yeah, beaches, pretty, ok.  Yeah, surf shops, woo hoo.  This was the reason I almost didn't visit the coast of Croatia at all.  But eventually, with a heat wave following me across the continent I decided that if I had to be hot, I may as well be hot on a pretty beach.

Welcome to Split!  

Munich's Englischer Gartens as a postcard

The Englischer Gartens in Munich were originally built by the royal family for their own exclusive use, but now they are open to the public and are a perfect place to go for a walk, a bike ride, or a swim.  I loved them so much when we went through on my bike tour, that when I came back to Munich for a longer visit, I spent an entire day just hanging out at the park.

Top left: There are actually waterfalls you can play in in the middle of the park.  There are also signs warning you will possibly die by doing so, but, you know....

Top right: Chilling at my spot by the man-made river through the park.  

Bottom right:  It's basically like the Lazy Miami at King's Island.  Except frigid.  I'm not even kidding -- people use it to chill their beers in the middle of the sweltering Munich summer.

Bottom left: Just a pig.  A pig who think's he is hot stuff.  Sexy pig pose.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein is supposedly where Walt Disney got the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland.  More exciting -- to me at least -- is that it is the castle is where Chitty Chitty Bang Bang landed.  You know, when they get into the castle designed as wind up dolls?  No?  Ok, here, look at my pretty pictures on the hike to the castle.

Adventures in Interlaken, continued

My new friends Susy and Michael left for Italy today and I am awaiting my white water rafting trip this afternoon before setting off for Berlin on the night train tomorrow night.  Interlaken has been simply ah-mazing.  Gorgeous.  A blast.

Top left: just a friendly game of giant chess where I obsessed over the "ponies"
Top right: Susy and I walked to the eastern lake (Interlaken = between lakes) and marvelled at the gorgeous colors of the water and immensity of the mountains...but were not brave enough to get into the frigid waters
Bottom left and middle: The three of us went on a hike to Schilthorn Mountain and stopped to see some waterfalls along the way
Bottom right: one of the magnificent views over one of the many lakes on the train ride into Interlaken

Interlaken: Outdoor adventures by day, party underground at night.

For the first time I met girls to hang out with!  YAY!!!  As soon as I entered my dorm room Susy was asking if anyone wanted to take a train up a mountain Friday and I was like "Yes!!" so that is the plan for tomorrow.  She also showed me the supermarket so I got to make my own food for the first time since leaving Romania (God I missed non-mass produced deliciousness), and introduced me to her friends Jill and Scott.  At dinner we also met Shannon and Michael.  Yay for meeting people!!!

The theme at the hostel bar the first night was "beach party."  Half price drinks if you were in your bathing suit.  Susy and Jill were lucky enough to score free shots, I just settled for my half-price hard cider.

Today I went on my canyoning trip: rappelling, zip-lining, jumping off of cliff edges (flash backs of Angela's accident kept me from trying one high jump), and sliding down nature-made slippery rock slides for a couple hours.  And then a nice picnic of bread, cheese and veggies (and beer, of course, I may actually come back to the States a beer drinker at this rate!) at the foot of the Alps.

Now, a walk around the eastern lake, a trip to buy wine and chocolate, and then more partying in the underground bar (the hostel's way of taking care not to break the Swiss law saying no loud noise after 10pm).

Willkommen in München!!!!!

I took the train from Zagreb to Munich today.  First class baby!  (Because I am an old woman so I don't qualify for 2nd class passes)

I had the entire compartment to myself: six seats and they all could lie flat.  After spending the last couple nights in a stifling hostel with seven guys, one of whom sounds like he is actually sawing logs when he snores: this air conditioned compartment was heaven.

After we crossed into Slovenia, and thus went through my last passport check while in the EU, I took a long nap and awoke in the middle of Austria:

Greetings from Plitvice National Park

Camping at Shawnee National Park in Scioto, Ohio

As promised, my camping adventures from last week!  It was cold, it stormed, I got so bored that I packed up camp at 11pm and came home.  Lesson learned: next time bring people.

All packed up!

Adjustments

Anyone who has ever been on any trip at all knows they call for all sorts of adjustments.  This one was no exception.

First my down comforter, even when compressed in a vacuum bag, took up about three times as much space as I had budgeted. It didn't even fit in my backpack.  At all.  So plan B: bring my large fleece I had with me on my last camping trip.  It only took up the entire main compartment, relegating my Camelbak bladder to its own pack.   *sigh*

Then I got to the address listed online for the backpacking trail only to find that it was actually the address for the camp office, which is of course closed for the winter.  Even with my maps I couldn't find the entrance to the trail head.  I had noticed a gorgeous lake on my drive over, so I quickly gave up on my plan to find the trail head and settled for a spot near the lake, even though they were your typical campsites.  Typical, maybe, but still completely vacant!  Score!

Winter camping

Today I am setting out on a nice one day winter camping/hiking trip.  I'll be testing out some new gear, most excitingly my new Brooks Nightlife LSD III ultralight jacket.  It's super soft, super light, and supposedly windproof and water resistant *crosses fingers*

Here is what I'm carrying for my overnight trek into the wilderness: