The trip up to Paris from Lucern was a long and tiring journey as we had to travel via Stuttgart in Germany to pick up Monique's backpack at her aunt Dugmar's flat there. We got to Stuttgart at around midday and met up with Dugmar's friend Ruth who had already collected our bag for us and so welcomed us in to her house for lunch instead! Unfortunately we were on a tight schedule so we couldn't stay :-( so after a quick pass by the apartment to double-check we h...

Our train journey up from Rome was really stunning - we travelled through snow covered mountains and past turqoise lakes. I guess it's true what they say about the punctuality of the Swiss as our train pulled into Lucern main station in the late evening on Saturday 15 December, right on time. It was a cold and drizzly evening so we quickly got our bearings and walked the short distance along the river to our CouchSurfing host's house. As we walked we kept thin...

Maybe the old saying "All roads lead to Rome" still holds true... we began our trip way back in February heading in completely the opposite direction and with no concrete plans to visit the city - and yet here we were. Our train pulled into Roma Termini station, one of the largest stations in Europe, in the early evening of Tuesday 11 December. Our hostel wasn't far so we ended up walking and, after quickly unpacking, we headed into the old part of town (in Ro...

The journey from Germany down to Italy was really quick and comfortable (even though we had to go around the Alps,) with our last leg on the Trenitalia cruising at over 400km per hour in a quiet, air-conditioned leather seat - ahhh, the joys of first-world public transport. We pulled into Venice station in the afternoon on Saturday 8 December and were greeted with sunshine and blue skies - a pleasant change from snowy Germany :-) It really is quite unlike any p...

We arrived at Barbara's house on the afternoon of Wednesday 5 December to find it quite covered in snow, which was great! We unpacked our things and relaxed for a short while, and then caught a ride into town where we just browsed around while Barbara ran some errands. We all met up later that evening for another delicious traditional meal and then wandered around the streets a bit before heading home - we just happened to pass the house where Beethoven was bo...