My Trip to Europe Day #16

08/28/2022 Rested and cleaned up, I ironed my shirt and somehow got a very nice ticket out of Milano to Canada. The flight out of Milano was wonderful.

My Trip to Europe Day #15

08/27/2022 I caught a train to Milano.

Milano is a very nice city.

Small cars make the most of parking in tight areas of Milano, something I am surprised they haven't started doing in downtown San Francisco. Maybe parking tickets are more lucrative?

It was nightfall before I got close to my hotel. The surrounding area was very nice and I found myself wondering what a night at the Hotel Cardano would have cost as I walked by.

I grabbed a pizza at a pizzeria and checked in to the Best Western Cavalieri.

My Trip to Europe Day #14

08/26/2022 I found another Airport hotel, this one was called the "Star Hotel Airport Verona." It was just on the other side of the highway and next to a large market where I was able to buy a large bag of ice and dinner.

The market pizza wasn't as good as the pizza from the night before but the hotel was very nice and had a huge bathroom. It must have been designed for airline workers and other professionals. I used the day to ice my foot and study the requirements to bring a puppy on board the flight with me. It seemed that there was some sort of temporary ban on traveling across the Atlantic Ocean with puppies in the cabin. This seemed a little strange to me and then it hit me... From my reading, a flight to Canada was not considered a Transatlantic flight! I would fly to Canada and find my way home from there.

My Trip to Europe Day #13

08/25/2022 I woke up to a strange situation. Someone had poked holes in my shirt, done small damages to the room and gone to work on my feet. The masochist podophiliac had litterally burned my feet to make it look like I was developing a foot fungus.

I shrugged it off and rushed down to the cafe so I wouldn't be late for check-out. The cafe had amazing views and the owner's son brought me a cup of coffee.

I made my way back to town and caught the train to Verano. The strangest thing happened at the Bolano train station, it was as if I was shot with an ultra-sonic weapon and I was knocked down. I got back up, furious... and decided it was just a little elf at the end of the rainbow.

By nightfall I finally made it to Verano where I stopped at a small rock concert on the way to my hotel. I saw another Church, grabbed a pizza and calzone, and checked in to I believe it was called the Gato Pardo Hotel.

My Trip to Europe Day #12

08/24/2022 I arrived in Bolzano, Italy just south of Venice the next morning. A cool, but strange little town. One fellow was walking around with ski poles and lots of people on bicycles.

None of the cafes had WIFI so it was difficult booking a hotel. I finally managed to book a room at a great hotel and took a scenic bus ride through the Italian countryside.

I met the hotel owner and his family. They run a little restaurant and bar which overlooks the countryside. There was one rough scrawny fellow with a nose that had been broken one too many times, maybe a trained fighter, who worked in the kitchen making pizza dough. I wonder if he is the one who snuck in my room that night. The glass doors to the hotel rooms open into a private but communal back yard.

Regardless of the mid-evil tortue the burglar two doors down the hall put me through in my sleep, the pizza was good. So good, I ordered a second dinner from room service. The Italian spaghetti was even better.

My Trip to Europe Day #11

08/24/2022 I decided to visit a veterinarian because I was getting so much mixed information from the airport about bringing the puppy on the plane. The veterinarian was little help and gave me a note which I could not read, but it did make me suspicious, especially when they started questioning me about where the dog came from and then wanting to know which city I got the dog in.

I found a beautiful canal on my way back to the hotel.

The hotel was running out of rooms and prices were going up. I was also a little paranoid about all the veterinarian's questions. I decided to head North towards Slovenia/Croatia.

My Trip to Europe Day #10

08/23/2022 I went back to the airport, but was still not allowed on a flight. The puppy also seemed to have fast breathing and increased heart rate. Back to the Rome Airport Hotel...

My Trip to Europe Day #9

08/22/2022 It became clear that I needed to elevate my foot so I moved to the top floor with a balcony.

My Trip to Europe Day #8

08/21/2022 I checked back in to the Leonardo Mercure Hotel in Rome and let the puppy explore.

My Trip to Europe Day #7

08/20/2022 The next morning or the morning after, astonished by the presa canario's temperament at only 6 weeks old, I found myself talking to the puppy with a slur similar to Flynn, AKA Walter White Jr., from Breaking Bad. I was over planning my return and trying to think of a name for the puppy. I temporarily named the dog, "Kobe." The name was two syllables, sounded good and my prime piece of Kobe beef was going to be the next Kobe Bryant once we got back to the USA.

I was finally able to get better information on the type of bag needed to carry the baby puppy on the plane. It had to be mesh with certain dimensions.

I found one at the Diszallat Kutsera pet store near the airport but it had awkward wheels to roll it around, which also would make fitting the bag under my seat difficult. The shop owner lent me some tools and I went to work on the bag's feet. Sleep deprived and nervouse about getting on my flight, I felt like an Al-Qaeda as I frantically cut through the metal frame and snapped the wheels off. I had to remind myself that I was an American in Europe with allies. I paid for the modified bag and headed back to the airport. If I stopped in Switzerland on my way back to Rome... only God and Forrest Gump know. I vaguely remember the words, "Fly Forrest, Fly..."

Back in Rome... what probably happened is another night in the airport before being told that I could not bring the dog across the Atlantic Ocean.

My Trip to Europe Day #6

08/19/2022 I made it to the airport somehow, but one of my credit cards had been stolen, the one I used to reserve my second rental car. I was able to work something out with my backup credit card and Hertz gave me the rental car. I made it to my Breeder friend's house and he was very hospitable with a great selection of adult dogs. He had champion bloodlines from all over, Serbia, Romania, etc... He made me amazing coffees which were too good. I met his family and friends. He had a litter of black pups and 2 fawns. The female fawn was aggressive but the male had a better build. I chose the male. My friend suggested I take both of them, I squinted at him thinking what a devil. There were two rough Serbian looking men laughing together (they may have been twins). The breeder offered to let me stay the night but I drove back to the airport where I experienced the repercussions of a smart decision (purgatory). I knew I couldn't feed my barely 6 week old puppy too much because he was just under the weight limit for travel and we had a long trip ahead of us.

Between not being allowed on a flight for having a dog, to having a flight cancelled which I was still charged for, to having to buy a special bag for my dog at airport security which was still not suitable for travel...

I finally found myself wandering the streets of Budapest again, but with a special backpack which it actually turned out I needed. I lost track of the days at this point.

My Trip to Europe Day #5

08/18/2022 I spent the night on the train to Hungary. I took the opportunity to rest my ankle which was starting to swell.

I arrived downtown a stone's throw from my hotel.

On my way to Hotel Mediterranean I noticed that my dog breeder friend, Erzsebet, had the same name as the city! Was this some sort of hoax or was I on a real scavenger hunt?

I limped to my hotel where I got ice for my foot. They rationed it out like caviar, but the Hotel Mediterranean was nice. I was starting to look like a hobo. My left leg had lesions from taping my cash around my shin and my right leg was swollen from my fall.

I had come this far though and knew that my puppy was only a short drive from the hotel. I decided to check out some real estate listings and pick up dinner at the market.

My Trip to Europe Day #4

08/17/2022 Waking up in Switzerland was painful, as mentioned. I fell out of my capsule and it locked behind me. After entering my code several times it finally openned. I limped to the bathhouse and set out for a walk through Zurich, Switzerland. Switzerland was beautiful, but the items were ridiculously overpriced. It was interesting to see the stores and banks. Nothing negative to say but they made it too time consuming to open a bank account... The town was build with money, but the stores were full of fool's gold. It was nice to see them however and be welcomed in all their establishments. I also learned a little about the canton banking system.

Everything is nice in Switzerland, even the train station.

I don't remember if I Ubered to or from the Capsule hotel, but I caught one at some point. As I visited the banks and baceame acquainted with the financial system, I was turned off by the grossly overpriced designer stores selling knock off rolex's and gucci jewelery. I decided to have a vodka coffee with complimentary nuts before making the midnight run to Hungary, my final destination.

My Trip to Europe Day #3

08/16/2022 Back at Roma Train station (Roma Termini?) the kiosks would still not sell me a ticket. I finally managed to buy one headed to Switzerland with a stop in Milano. I paid the gringo prices, but I was happy to have a way out of town! Milano Station was quite a site.

The ride from Milano to Switzerland was beautiful. Switzerland was on the list for many reasons. It was on the way, a cool place to visit, and I hoped to store the cash strapped to my leg in a numbered bank account. The USA banks told me they no longer sold traveler checks so I had only cash with me and I wanted to put it in a Switzerland bank. In Switzerland I managed to find a "capsule hotel" practically in the airport. Prices were obscene in Switzerland and my capsule was almost $100, but still worth it. Other than almost breaking my ankle when locking all my cash in the capsule when the door "malfunctioned" (they must be remote controlled by the front desk), the stay was uneventful.

My trip to Europe Day #2

8/15/2022 I think I lost a day somewhere due to the time change. On day two my problems with buying tickets for public transit began, but I was able to catch the bus/train back to the airport terminal. I had a cup of coffee at Roma Termini waiting for my rental car reservation. I only had internet at airports, cafes, etc...

The rental car company would not give me my car unless I paid extra money and filled out a foreign driver passport. I had already paid for the rental car and was apprehensive about the foreign passport thing so I decided to go back to the airport to contact the reservation company and check my emails. I seemed to have things worked out with the booking agency and caught the shuttle back to the rental car location.

They STILL would not give me my car nor would they refund my prepaid reservation! I shuttled back to the airport a second time and went back to the train station. This took all day and there were no trains leaving until the next morning. I made the most of the situation and explored Rome on foot all night long. They had real estate listings, rental scooters, a soothing chapel and an inconspicuous police station. I found a cool Turkish cafe where I drank beer and had a Turkish Kebab/Schwarma. A couple groups of strange people stopped in to join me. One skinny fellow tried to sell me a laptop. I wondered if it was stolen.