Train troubles

The traditional trip to Innsbruck was on today's agenda for those who wanted to go. It wasn't a compulsory activity as there were people who had been before and it was a 2 hour journey by car. Id been told earlier that morning that the city wasn't anything special but i wanted to check it out to say id 'done it.' Two full car loads headed out of the car park at 10am. Unfortunately for myself and five others we would be forced to catch the train as there were not enough seats for us all. What i thought would be a simple affair of buying the tickets at the station and hopping on turned out to be a bit of a calamity. On arriving at the ticket office we were abit surprised to see a long line of people. Maybe what wed been told told today about it being busy was true...four of us had eurail passes and therefore didn't have to face the prospect of waiting in line approx 5 minutes before the train was due to arrive. Pam being the seasoned traveller that she is duly exclaimed to us that we could buy our tix on the train but warned it would end up costing more. How much more she did not know. With the second's ticking by i made the decision to line up despite feeling it was a lost cause. A couple of anxious minutes later and my instincts told me to check the track and there it was! Immediately the adrenaline kicked in as i sprinted for the stairs to get to the far platform. where K. Jumping down the stairs, almost rolling my ankle, down the tunnel dodging, turning and up another flight of stairs. Phew! Made it. I looked around and there was Kay, Pam, Kyle and her parents urging me on before we hurriedly got on the nearest carriage together. Having found some seats i caught my breath as we waited for the ticket inspector to come to discuss our situation.

Pam played the role of interpreter while i sat eagerly awaiting what wed have to shell out for the journey. After a lengthy discussion she relayed to us the bad news was that it would cost Kay and i ~40 euro due to it being an international route. The lady suggested an alternative route that involved getting on another train before the border with Austria but it sounded like a hassle and we wouldn't get to Innsbruck until around 1pm. The frustrating part lay in the fact that had i had time to buy a ticket in Bressaone it would of cost a meager 8 euro! I summed up the pro's and con's and decided it wasn't worth the money. It wasn't an easy decision but i figured that it wasn't worth the money for a only few hours enjoyment. I think Kay for the most part agreed with me, either way he came with me! :P Anyhow it was a slightly abrupt and disappointing way to start the day...Our location was approx 10km down the valley from camp which left me in a dilemma as to what to do next. I forgot to mention earlier, Kay comes from Germany (see pic) and is the boyfriend of a lady from the same country who has been coming along for a few years. He spoke a little English so i could could strike up some conversation which was some comfort. Its times like that i wish i spoke another language *sigh* Kay inquired when the next train would be coming and it was over an hour away! I suggested we walk as i wasn't to keen on sitting around doing nothing. Thus began the long walk back to town in the hot midday sun. Meanwhile the crew that hadn't gone to Innsbruck (All the italian saints and a few others) were heading back to the Platzer's house for the day. The next while saw kay busily organising a way out of this mess for the both of us. On our travels we stumbled across a sign on the side of the road advertising a fair. Pr Alf had previously mentioned that today was an Italian national holiday and people celebrated all over the country by getting together, eating food and other frivolities. I wanted to check it out just for the sake of it and see what was going on. A ten minute walk up the hill later and we found quite a large group of people enjoying themselves eaintgfood, drinking and even a few kids rockclimbing. It was a short stay though as a few minutes later Kay told me Sabina was going to pick us up! Yay, good news. WE gratefully got in the big van which wound its way in the opposite direction to where we had come towards the city of Bolzano. The Platzer's house was about half an hour out of the city, perhaps a little bit smaller then Launceston in terms of size. Everyone was relieved to get out of the car as it was a really hot day. I lazed on the deck chair for a while then had a hit of table tennis with Andy before the heat took its toll and i gave up from lack of energy. There was also a few games of fuzeball had where the ball more often off the table then not. Alessandro (see pic above) enjoyed flinging himself on the flying fox while Darren and i took some pics of him in action. Lunch time was a selection of pasta together with some interesting grape juice. Everyone chilled out, some more then others (Pr Pino fell asleep on a deckchair) before we got in the cars once more to check out a local lake for a swim! As soon as i heard the plan to go swimming i regretted not remembering my board shorts, however there was no way it was going to stop me getting wet. The lake was a lot larger then i was expecting and had a couple of decent sized swimming pool just above it where the locals flocked in numbers. Along the side of the lake there were some quite large Paddle which fit about 6 people. They looked like the best way to get around and they were heaps of fun with three of them speeding around for an hour. I thought the water would be really cold but it was really nice and refreshing. Unfortunately once exiting the water i would have to deal with another problem associated with wearing wet clothes, ouch :( Every night i got the feeling when i went to bed that the days were disappearing really quick. Talking to people there I think everyone agreed it was a pretty full on week while on the other hand i think its good being occupied. Tomorrow would be the last full day before we all went our separate ways...*sigh*. Nevertheless it involved some more spectacular views and a cool ten minute ride up a chairlift. Dont forget there's lots more pic's here. Hopefully ill get to writing about Venice soon as in two weeks ill be heading off to Germany! woohoo