Trains!

Goodmorning everyone, my name is Hamish and this is another story about my trip overseas. Been VERY busy the last few days. Busy As in training it from the Netherlands down to Italy in 3 days. 4 countries, 3 days. That might sound pretty boring and I'm sure for the locals on the train it was, but for me looking out the window of a train especially at the Alps between Austria and Italy was better than any city sightseeing tour.

We walked around Frankfurt when we were in Germany and I'm not sure weather I'm beginning to take foreign cities for granted or weather Frankfurt really just isn't that special. I didn't have an unpleasant time there but nothing really seemed interesting about the city.

As we headed south to Austria the mountains began to take shape and things started getting interesting. To be honest I never really liked the thought of Austria, I always thought the country was trying to rip off my countries name. But Austria changed my opinion of it in the 24 hours I was there. The two best things about Austria from what i saw were 1. The scenery and 2. McDonalds.
I've eaten mcdonalds in probably 10 countries and it's a pretty similar experience everywhere in the world, that's why people like it, they know what they are going to get when they go there. The only exception ive found was in Germany where the communist maccas didnt have free internet, and i really needed it. But the mcdonalds in Salzburg is my favorite in the world, easily. Curly fries, crumbed prawns, magnum flavoured mcflurrys, free drink refills, including ice tea.....Nestle ice tea on tap, free refills. They're just a few of the endless joys of mcdonalds in Austria.

Then down to Italy. It took no time at all to get across Germany many thanks to the highspeed trains that boost along at 300k's an hour. And before we knew it we were on a train bound for Venice. Salzburg to Venice was a train trip I can highly recommend. Waterfalls, mountains , castles, castles on mountains, tunnels, bridges, villages, everything. Everything looked amazing as we travelled between and through the mountains and I'm very glad I took Elisa's advice and went to Austria. I would definitely go back. 

As you may remember after I went to Venice 3 weeks ago for the first time i said you could easily spend a few days there and not see it all still. I spent another full day there and still didnt see it all. But I did get a price on a gondola ride which I thought was pretty funny. $130AUD. Maybe one day.

And now I sit on the train next to an italian lady who just offered me one of her apricot tarts. "No Grazie." Approaching Bologna station which is a little sad but nothing 3 nights in Rome won't fix.