Bumps in the Road

Hey everyone! (if anyone is still reading this...)

We are in Vienna, Austria right now and it is pouring rain! Milan was really cool, we met up with Katie's friend Giovanni who lives in Como (yes, the same Lake Como where George Clooney has a house!) and he showed us lots of Milan and then met us in Como and showed us all over there the next day! We got lots of sun and gelato, mmm! The Cathedral there was amazing and we could even see the small gold Virgin Mary on the very top of the Cathedral from a light house in Como over an hour away! We went up the mountain in Como and could see snow capped mountains in the distance- Giovanni told us we were looking at Switzerland!! Then we got a train to Venice and were very surprised to step out of the train station and be looking a canal! There are no streets really, only canals and boats instead of cars! We had to call the hostel lady to meet us with the key, but the directions she gave me were in a really thick Italian accent and when I sounded confused she just said "And-a then-a you just-a ask-a the Italian people", haha. We did ask the Italian people, every 2 minutes for a half hour and finally found the piazza we needed. We got the key, checked in, and then finally went to eat. I was feeling a little under the weather so after a few glasses of wine we decided to call it a night.

The next day was the easily the most beautiful day we have seen n Europe! Warm sunshine, cool breezes, and not a cloud in the sky. We walked around Venice and LOVED it. I wish we had another couple nights there, but we definitely don't have any complaints! I can't wait to show everyone the pictures...

That night we got on an overnight train from Venice to Vienna. We were in a compartment with 6 seats but it was only us and one other girl so we thought we were golden. Then at one of the stops these 2 other (very loud) people got on and had actually bought the ticket for the night before so they were going to have to move cars, but we jumped up and volunteered to move because we knew there were empty compartments and wanted to get away from them! I didn't sleep much, maybe 2 hours, but at 5am there was a knock on our door: another ticket check. I groggily sat up to get it out of my bag and realized my bag was not at my feet anymore... And thus begins the last 2 days from hell. Someone had stolen my bag, we're pretty sure around 4 am because there was a stop in Salzburg at that point, so they probably took it and jumped off. It had my passport, credit card, debit card, mine and Katie's Irish debit cards (and we each just got paid that morning!) my jewelery, and my travel journal that I have been writing in the past 4 months, among some other smaller things. We did not know what to do, basically had no money, I had no ID, thankfully Kate had our Eurail passes and my camera... I filed a report with the train people and checked every garbage on the train, finding only someone else's purse :( Next we spent an hour at the police station, who thankfully spoke English, and canceled all of our cards. Whoever stole my bad didn't waste much time: there were already charges on my debit card from somewhere in Salzburg! The next couple of hours we spent at the American Consulate getting me an emergency passport. Thank goodness for kind people like the lady who runs our hostel. She let us pay by credit card and forgave a whole night that we should have paid for because we booked the hostel for the wrong date!

After an exhausting day we met up with Katie's friend Maureen who is studying here and she made us dinner! Today it is raining but Maureen is going to show us around Vienna so it is not a total loss. I am still bitter about everything being stolen but Katie made the best point last night: for that one really terrible person we have encountered on this trip, we have met SO MANY more good people. And it is for realizations like that that I know I could not have done this trip with anyone but Kate. It will be fabulous to see the Wenninger clan tomorrow but we just can't believe our trip is really coming to an end!