Back to the EU

After the monster train ride from Kirov to Moscow, we caught another ride on the Metro and then hopped back on the train to Domodedomo airport "in" Moscow (:45 min outside of the city). Justin took a separate flight then me. All the athletes were scattered around the airport and looked like zombies walking around, aimlessly looking for some rest and a way out. I caught a flight through Brussels and had a great dinner on the plane, the finest airplane food ever.

Justin and I met back up in Milan, Italy after a series of delays in flights. After a good night sleep in a hotel room and a hot shower, we had a hot breakfast then hit the road. We took a bus to the train station. The bus driver performed some impressive road rage on a small passenger car complete with finger throwing and a full-on attempt at running the car off the highway. I was sure the small car would pull out an Uzi and finish the deal, but we somehow successfully made it to the train station without any gun fire or grenades going off.

It was easy enough to buy a train ticket for 8 Euros, but the 50 Euro fine for "not validating the ticket" was more than enough to pull my trigger. I paid our fee and we got off the train at Brescia. I immediately went to the "Customer Care" department and attempted a civil approach in explaining our case that we were foreigners and that we were sorry for our misunderstanding since we have traveled in a lot of trains and they are all different. Some have it so that you pay up front and get on, some have you scan your ticket when you get off. They're all different. Since the lady started talking over me, increased her tone, shortened her interval between words, and didn't want to listen to my case (not to mention the language barrier - Spanish and Italian are two different languages), I got heated up a tad. Those who know me know that it could have been a bad scene, but I was able to keep the extent of the explicates to a minimum and was able to have them write out my case in Italian on a "beg for forgiveness form."

The bus ride out of Brescia and into Vestone was quite impressive. Loads of old architecture, fields, and marble/travertine quarries had me thinking about my dad. He's an architect and I've grown up with an appreciation for architecture, something I haven't seen much of lately. The amount of industry along the valley is impressive. There's also a large cross section of races and backgrounds among the Italian people. For the most part, they are helpful and friendly. I think the train manager should move farther north (or maybe to the East Coast of the USA) to fit in.

We got a flat for 50 Euros and settled in for the evening. Justin broke out some tunes on the iPods and we tapped into the internet to check on friends, family, and what the status of the next competition will be. Our room has a 3 story bouldering wall right out the back window. We might be able to get a good workout on it tomorrow, who knows ?

We both feeling a lot better today and I think the jet lag might be going away for good. One more good night sleep, and I'll be a happy traveler.

We've been on the road and up for so many days, it's hard to remember what day it is. In fact, Justin had a different day on his watch than me, so we couldn't really figure it out until later tonight. One nice thing is that the sun is present and is about 3 times as high as it was yesterday!