I promise to be more Italian in the future.

Just as I could tell the three shirtless girls on the trail how far Corniglia was in broken Italian, it is time to move on. We were both itching to move on even if we still had a few locations we wanted to visit (Venice and an Alpine lake).

Italy was one of the countries we were least excited about and we have certainly fallen in love with the people. Almost everyone was willing to help us even if we couldn't really communicate. They go out of their way to help those who are lost. I already talked about this but again we were suprised. On the train to Milano a lady had a pretty heated talk with the ticket guy to let us stay in our seats rather than move to our assigned seats a couple cars away (we didn't get reservations until we got on the train: more on that later). He eventually gave in and all I could do was smile and nod to her. I think we both learned that even a small gesture can help a whole lot. We will certainly be back in Italy before we return to Greece.

Our transit to Frankweiler was Epic. As most of you know, I loved trains and the prospect of taking 7 in a day would have made me faint at the age of 5. But heavy backpacks kinda make it different... Here is how the day went in: (7:27) Riomaggiore - La Spezia - Genova - Milano - Brig - Basel - Karlsruhe - Landau (20:37). We had to pay a few supplements but the most expensive one was the short run to Milano. We saw many train stations and many views out the window we would like to revisit. In the alpes Switzerland was like a storybook, exactly as we had imagined it to be. I caught myself saying Gratzie to germans a few times and our connections at each station never exceeded 30 minutes (if the trains had all arrived on time and that only happened in Switzerland and Germany). In Italy we had a few connections where we ran from one platform to the next.

We had a good time firguring out the payphones and eventually managed to get picked up by Dasha's aunt and had nice showers and food before bed. Its really comforting to be back in a home and not always be on the run. We are always warmly welcomed by Dasha's relatives.

Next on the list was going to be Vienna and Switzerland before meeting up with my parents in Versailles. However while on the trains we learn that Eurocup 2008 is being played from June 7th until the end of the month in Austria-Switzerland so I doubt we will find accomodation there. We may just tour Germany instead, apparently we may be able to stay in Dresden... We will see what unfolds over the next few days but we will certainly keep you posted!

Janelle, we have stayed in hostels but the double rooms keep us pretty isolated. Not that we mind that.
I'm glad you enjoy reading the blog Uncle Steve just wait until you see our thousands of pictures.
Tonello thank your people, they were great! However Dasha ate all the pasta for herself, I probably ate enough for you though.