Rome, Italy

Going to Rome This is my only train ride that’s in second class and on a completely full train. I’m sitting on a 4-seat contraption with three other people. And they’re all really nice! The man sitting opposite me keeps trying to peddle his cookies onto us to stop himself from eating the whole box,…

Verona, Italy

As I leave Salzburg on an very comfy ÖBB train at 11am, I’m ready for a 6 hour long journey. I am young and innocent and naive. When I left you yesterday, I was stranded right outside of the Salzburg Hauptbahnhof station. We were brought back to the main station after three quarters of an…

Salzburg, Austria

I will spend slightly less than 48 hours in Salzburg, the last city I’m truly excited about – Trento and Bolzano are nice enough but they’re mostly stops along the way to Milan, as I talked about in my last post. My hotel, Markus Sittikus, is really lovely. After a flight of stairs, you get…

Munich, Germany

The train ride between Berlin and Munich is long. I didn’t book my tickets in advance, as I wasn’t sure when I’d get up, and it’s very hard to find a seat – but when I finally do, it’s a smooth and comfortable ride all the way. The pilgrimage It is absolutely freezing, and the…

Berlin, Germany

I stayed in Berlin for one more day to see friends and recover. Tuesday The sleeper train cabin was a nice experience and I slept decently well, although I woke up too many times to count this as a full night. On arrival, I’m tempted to go back immediately: over the span of my 12…

Budapest, Hungary

The arrival I get off the train at 11pm after a really nice and smooth ride and only 20 minutes late, which is much better than what everyone has led me to expect from Eastern European trains. From the train station, I make my first terrible mistake: I hail a taxi instead of using an…

Good Enough

This month’s IndieWeb Carnival topic, "Good enough", is very, very interesting, and I feel like I could write an entire series based on this simple prompt. But since I’m traveling, I’ll try to take it easy and "only" write a two-part post. I hope it will be good enough, hehe. Life isn’t good enough Enshittification…

Zagreb, Croatia

Going to Zagreb The train from Bled to Zagreb, by way of Ljubljana, is extremely slow. It’s also incredibly beautiful (you might be sick of me calling everything beautiful, but it’s not my fault, everything really is!!). The railway follows a perfectly turquoise river for a solid hour. At one point, the last stop before…

Slovenian lakes

Arrival The Lesce-Bled train station has two quays and you go to the second quay by walking over the first one, which is something I hadn’t seen in a decade and a half. I love it. The walk to the hostel is short, if you don’t get lost. My walk to the hostel includes a…

Ljubljana, Slovenia

As I arrive, exhausted and dehydrated, in Ljubljana, I expect to have the worst possible time going to the train station. Instead, I stroll to the hotel in a 5-minute walk and the first thing that really hits me is the smell – at this hour, without any cars and in empty streets, Ljubljana smells…