Molto bene!

A few weeks ago, off I set for the train station to get to Frankfurt. I had one changeover but that all went swimmingly, I got to see some German countryside and read all about the life of the Wicked Witch of the West in my new favourite book, Wicked.

Once I got off to Frankfurt airport, I had to find my way through the labyrinth to check in. Since Mum set up my ticket and emailed all the details to me, all I had was an intinerary which I had to magic into a boarding pass. Oh, how I hate machines. It took me a good ten minutes and many muttered curses but I figured the stupid thing out with tonnes of time to spare. I cruised around the shopping and bought a Calvin and Hobbes book I hadn't seen before, which kept me occupied for the remaining hour until takeoff.

The flight was only an hour, so it was a little plane, though bigger than the tin cans we fly in from Blenheim to Wellington. I had chosen a seat right up the back which was right behind a large group of rowdy German businessmen who were flirting outrageously with the flight attendant, who wasn't exactly discouraging them... In-flight entertainment and language practise!
After landing, I was quickly reunited with the family which was lucky because there had been a wee miscommunication about who would be where when but it all worked out. We caught a train from Milan to Lake Como and had a moment of indecision regarding said train so we hopped on and off twice before deciding to see it out. It was the right one. After a few hours, we got onto a very crowded and non-air conditioned bus which was rather uncomfortable. I kept wanting to say things like "Excuse me" or "Sorry for standing on you" but, not knowing any Italian, my automatic reaction was to speak German..

We made it eventually to our little house right by Lake Como. Italians like stairs. Boy was it hot. What a pleasant combination.

We spent about a week by Como which was awesome. The lake was gorgeous, though we didn't see George Clooney. Staying just down the road were some family friends so on multiple occasions we swam down to their house for games of cards and very late dinners. The swimming was brilliant, but the cooling effect of the water was ruined by the inevitable climbing of a billion stairs to get out of the water.

We went to a nearby little tourist town and did some shopping. Us Binnies took a ferry to the other side of the lake for an explore; the others had a car with air con. Trying to squeeze seven grown-up people into a normal sized car was a tad tight, but still better than a bus which we found to be a little unreliable. We kept seeing the same lady who would tell us the buses were on strike, or they weren't going for some other reason. She was very nice but we started to dread seeing her.

Como was very relaxing, it was great in the water. It was almost too hot for walking.

After a week or so in Como, we got a train to Vicenza. We went for an epic trek through the main shopping area directly under the midday sun, dragging all our bags. We got a little lost and we later discovered we went in a big circle all around our hotel without seeing it. Sigh. We got gelatos to cool ourselves and tempers. The room Davy and I shared in this hotel was hot but at least our weak little ceiling fan worked, Mum and Dad's did not. Poor buggers. Davy and I did not offer to switch rooms.

Since we'd had enough of the heat, we went to the pool. It was pretty full but Mum was thoroughly entertained by the big inflatable kid's climbing thing. After less than 20 minutes in the water, it started to rain. So many people left so quickly, we thought the pool was closed. Nope, they just didn't want to get wet... We went from being four amoung a few hundred to four amoung nine. It was grand. Luckily it cleared up by the time we were ready to leave, since towelless drying is difficult in rain. We got a bus back to the hotel but we thought it would go to a different stop and ended up at the end of the line. The bus driver clearly thought we were idiots.

A day trip to Venice! I don't mean to go on, but it was rather hot. We strolled through the streets of Venice which was really neat. Before going there I hadn't fully comprehended that there are no cars because there's no place for roads. The water isn't exactly pure but it was nice and cool- Mum and I dipped our feet in at someone's little port. We were lost and noone was around so it was ok. There was a big crab right by Mum's foot. Thank Zeus Dad knows how to read a map because Mum, Davy and I would've been completely lost on our own.We roamed around for most of the day, looking at touristy things. Mum and I went into the most divine smelling bakery in the Jewish Ghetto. The air con was so good, it was actually cold. I didn't want to leave, but we had to once we'd bought our goodies. Yum. We made it to St Marcus Square which was pretty but we didn't go into the cathedral because of the immense crowds. We got a boat-bus back to the train station which was a fantastic idea. Much cooler than walking, and quicker.

We got a sleeper train from Vicenza to Kassel, but it left at midnight so we had the entire night to waste. We went into the square just by our hotel where we saw three stags nights- the stags were dressed as a caveman, a stag with a quiver of arrows and a gimp. The caveman's friends were particularly mean to him, they had him in a bamboo cage and were accosting all nearby young ladies to try and get them to throw peanuts into his mouth.

There was also a group of people who appeared to be student dancers. They got everyone's attention by standing in the square and doing warmup stretches for an hour while a man we called Tape Man put tape very precisely on the ground in a noughts and crosses grid pattern. When they finally got around to doing anything it was not what one would call "good." It looked like they were making it up as they went and all they could come with was swaying to the static they were using for music.

I'd never been on a sleeper train before. It was air conditioned. But still not an especially good night's sleep what with all the jerking to a halt. After a train change in Munich, we made it to Kassel! We spent the day hanging out with the Apells.

The next day, I showed my family all around Kassel. Turns out everything is shut on Mondays. I see now that research probably would've been a good idea. We had a good wander about anyway. The next day I went back to school and met the family for lunch after and escorted them to the train station. They went off to get their plane to Bangkok and I went home. The Apells went on holiday on the same day so now I'm guarding the house all by myself, and cooking for myself just like a grownup. Love it!