Day 34 – Verona

We really aren’t suited for hitchhiking because we were still so tired this morning after yesterday. The chheck out time was at 12pm and we knew we had a while in Verona before getting the train on to Munich so we took a ‘cheeky’ lie in. You would do the same when this was the first really comfortable bed we had since home! Because of our laziness, we missed breakfast and so we ventured across from the hotel to a cafe/bar.

Already there were men having pints and 4 cyclists had stopped for a quick coffee break, still all in their lycra gear – I think they were actually cycling towards one of the mountainous races in the Tour de France (bit far though from Verona). Despite the amount of food they had on offer, we both opted for a cold pasta dish as it was already ridiculously warm today.

This time, we got tickets for the bus and got ourselves into town after lunch. This was the first time that we walked around a city centre with our bags and it was such a hassle. I was so glad we took smaller and lighter bags, even if it was only for this day. We saw the mini colosseum that was just as boring and uninteresting as the one in Rome before seeing ‘Juliet’s Balcony’. Even though this was a fictional balcony from a fictional story, the place was rammed full of tourists, who were just as excited as my girlfriend was and our bags were really causing a problem now. Aside from the fact it was all a publicity stunt, boiling hot and packed full of tourists, the walls were also covered in chewing gum (used for sticking the love notes on the walls) and like all those bridges with the padlocks covering them, they ruined it.

We then got another bus to the train station and we had forgotten to validate our tickets again. We gave them to a couple who were walking towards the buses and would need tickets, whether the used them or not. I don’t think I would in that situation as inagine they were already used or expired and you got caught? Inside, we finally managed to get tickets to Berlin. It wasn’t without hassle though as we just got the last two seats in the train, but we would be in our destination at at last, albeit 2 days later.

Due to the good news, I rang up our Berlin hostel to change our staying date to tomorrow. However, they wouldn’t let me change because it might have been a prank from one of my friends. I had stressed that it really was me but they wanted me to put it in writing and email them, taking a few days to get through the system. After explaining that I had already changed it a few days ago, anyone could email you and write the exact same (as a prank), the fact that we needed to stay tomorrow night and just being so insistent, they finally allowed me to change it.

The first train we needed to get to Munich was so packed that there were no seats. All seats were reserved at some stage so on the trip so instead of sitting somewhere and having to move at every stop, we opted to sit in the restaurant carriage and felt obliged to buy something. The waiter was very nice and said we didn’t have to buy anything, but just incase somebody asked, we got a couple of soft drinks and got comfortable for a long journey to Munich.

My girlfriend started reading her first book outside school (without any fancy pictures in it) and I think she was surprised by how much she was actually getting into it. She also drew a terrible portrait photo of me during one of her reading breaks. I later got really hungry and ordered some vegetable curry. It made me feel like one of the posh and rich people on trains who always go to the restaurant and eat something, as well as buying a seat on the train. We wished that we didn’t have to worry about money and could buy all the fizzy drinks or water or food that we could.

We were sat beside a storage cupboard and we witnessed men, who had clearly not paid for tickets, hiding in here. Although we saw many of them walking up and down the train, 3 of them had squeezed into the room and sat down. You could still see their hands on the persplex door trying to keep it closed so they wern’t hiding really well.

In one instance, the waiter had opened it without knowing they were in there and they just exchanged looks without talking. They would get caught by the ticket inspector eventually and said inspector had actually rounded up around 30 of them before this find, marshalling all of them to the back of the train where they would be kicked off. They were all laughing and probably would just get on the next train anyway.

Munich train station had so many restaurants and shops to pick from and we had quite a hard choice choosing which one to go to. After a while, we picked a ‘noodle bar’ and although my girlfriend was given hers in a take away box and mine on a plate, we sat in and I thought I had grasped chopsticks – obviously I hadn’t yet and just used my fork, much to the unsatisfaction of the staff and myself.

We didn’t have to wait too long for the train and we waited at the platform, watching a lot of drunk people getting off trains. They were singing and dancing and shouting, some of them were still drinking and spilling beer everywhere! When pur train arrived though we waited no longer and got in the train so we could get asleep.

Our bed for the night was a recliner seat. It was actually really cute looking and was so big that you felt that you were secluded in your own bubble. There was even a hammock above us our our bags. There no plugs by our seats though and we needed to work our how to get to our hostel tomorrow. The only thing I could do was to stand in the toilets and charge my phone with the shaver socket, taking ages to recharge.

When it did, I wrote down the directions and we both settled into our seats, probably for a very uncomfortable night ahead. The man in the seat infront had changed into his pyjamas and was wearing 3 hoodies to cover his face – he has obviously done this before.