Rest Days... so much fun!

Alex and I were pretty beat after climbing in Switzerland for a couple weeks. Upon saying goodbye to Christina, we packed our EuropCar and headed south towards the Italian border. Our plan was to meet up with Lex, one of Alex's friends he knew from studying abroad in Germany. Apparently, Lex grew up in Croatia and happened to be vacationing on Krk off the main coast of Croatia for a few days and it worked for us to meet up. Along the way, we would go through Milan and Venice and sample some of the touristy things each place had to offer.

Duomo di Milano - 5th largest cathedral in the world and it took nearly 6 centuries to complete!!!

Our first stop was Milan! We heard that this city in Italy didn't have many tourist attractions. It's Italy's financial, commercial, and industrial center with a population of over 5 million! The one thing that we did want to check out though was the Duomo di Milano, apparently the 5th largest cathedral in the world. Luckily, we were driving through on a weekday so while everyone was at work, we could drive the streets with very little traffic. :)

We took our slew of photos, both inside the cathedral and in the main square just outside, and headed to a place for lunch. There I made sure to get some italian gelato and an espresso! So tasty! By then it was nearly 2pm and we needed to get going. The freeway that would take us to Croatia passed right next to Venice. I fortunately had been there once before with my family but Alex had never been so we made a short pitstop there around dinner time. We headed straight for the Piazza San Marcos after parking our car in the zoo that was the main parking area once we got there.

The Grand Canal in Venice, Italy

Since we got there during the late afternoon hours, the sun was creating quite the array of colors during our time there. The grand canal, the giant clock tower, all the gondolas floating in the water, everything seemed to glow. We walked the streets, looking in the different shops; I definitely tried on a jacket that cost more than anything that I own!!! We found a small little restaurant to eat dinner before heading back to our car to finish the drive to Croatia. Multiple stores were selling masquerade masks which looked super fun so we bought a couple. Who's gonna host the party?!

The view from our accommodations in Croatia; thanks Lex for helping us out!

The drive to Croatia took quite a long time due to the fact that we took back roads through Slovenia to avoid having to pay tolls for the highway. Apparently the navigation system on our phones took way more 'back roads' than was necessary according to Lex. We didn't show up on Krk until 2am!!! We were super fortunate that the lady who owned our place that we were renting actually got up to let us in and give us the keys! Luckily, we had a huge bed and got a great night sleep. When we woke up, we headed down to town center to get some lunch. There we met up with Lex and headed down to the beach for some swimming and to meet his family.

View from town across the coastline of Krk.

Lex informed us that a true beach according to him was one with rocks that you could jump off of. Being from sunny southern California, I definitely objected! Although it was awesome having rocks to scramble on and jump off of, it was pretty tough to lounge without a spike of limestone sticking you in the ribs through your towel. Regardless, the water was super calm AND super warm. The limestone sometimes jutted right out of the water so we were able to climb up the cliffs. The rock was super sharp though so we had to climb delicately if we didn't want to shred our hands and feet. We brought Bavarian beer with us to drink while lounging; always a great rest day activity.

Lex, Alex, and I chillin' along the coast of Krk

We met Lex's father, sister, and her boyfriend at the beach that day. We had dinner with them at a pizza place they all recommended. It was super legit; thin crust with lots of toppings and not overloaded with cheese, something that I can't stand! In general, the food in Croatia was great; everything from seafood, to pizza, to noodles, to soup... it was all great. The portions were perfect too. You never were left wanting more or feeling too stuffed at the end of your meal. I definitely could see coming back here at another time; everything was super cheap!!! Once they join the Shengen countries though, we'll see if that remains the same. Our next stop would be Frankenjura, the famous climbing area in Germany so we headed back late after 2 great days relaxing.

Luckily, Armin has many conveniences near his flat so we were able to do our laundry and get cleaned up before heading to Frankenjura. While our laundry was going, we headed to the Hirschgarten, a great place to drink beer and eat great Bavarian food in the middle of a park. They even have a pen full of reindeer! (random I know...) We got an entire fish to split including some giant bretzen (pretzels) and liter beers. After hanging out here for awhile, we went back to get our laundry, then headed for Frankenjura. Let the pockety fingery climbing begin! Luckily, Armin came out for a long weekend to climb with us AND David Lam flew out from the States to climb with us for over a week as well!

Sponsorship shot... Petzl & Black Diamond gear, and Edelrid clothing

Armin new of some cool places for us to check out since he lives close to the area compared to us. The climbing was so different than anything else that we had climbed before. Super pockety, not super intuitive at times, and spaced out bolts. We definitely took our time warming up and working up in the difficulty of climbs. Alex and I only planned on staying here a week or so because we planned on meeting his parents in Paris so our window was short. The thing that boggled my mind when we showed up was that I didn't see a single rock on our way to the region of Frankenjura, near Nuremberg. There was nothing to see except rolling green hills and groves of trees. Our GPS told us we had reached our camping area but it had to be wrong since there wasn't anything visibly to climb on right?!... WRONG! The crags in Frankenjura are super hidden, in the groves of trees, behind the rolling hills, etc. It was super magical feeling walking through the bright green forest wondering what the crag would look like right around the corner.

Armin about to head up into a 5.12 classic

On Sunday, David flew into Nuremberg so I drove the van to pick him up from the airport. Even though he was jetlagged, we went straight to the crag to climb. In between passing out inbetween climbs, we were able to get him on a few starred routes. It took him a couple days to snap out of the jetlag phase. Armin had told us of the place to camp where there were free showers (awesome!) and a restaurant right nearby that served amazing food for cheap! Armin told us that we had to try the pork shoulder that they serve, apparently on thursdays and fridays. Since we were there for the full week, we would be lucky enough to try it.

David crushing a hard 5.11 overhanging route in Frankenjura

Our last day in Frankenjura, we chose a crag that was nearby our campsite to aid in a speedy departure towards Paris. The crag had LOTS of overhanging climbs, including one that Alex chose which should have been an 'easy' 5.12 but turned out to be much harder since a hold broke. Some local climbers told us about it and still unphased, Alex went up to try it out. Unable to move through the crux, he let me take a shot at it. After taking at the crux, I was able to find a way through to the easier section above; easy 5.12 my butt!!! The route was in a beautiful setting though; a slightly overhanging wall, beautiful green trees around, with excellent movement for the top 2/3rds of the climb.

Easy 5.11? NO WAY! A hold broke making this climb mid-5.12's... CRAZY move...

We also saved some time to check out Action Direct, the worlds first 9a (5.14d). It was insane not only to see how overhanging the climb was, but how small the holds were. Mono to a dyno, to multiple more monos on a wall that's 45 degrees overhanging. It was crazy just thinking about all the famous climbers who had walked the trail to this exact spot, clipped the same draws, and sent such a hard route. Alex, David, and I then headed back for the car, packed away our ropes and harnesses, and headed to Paris. We were meeting up with his parents the next day and with Camille, a girl Alex and I met down in South America.

Tons of thanks to Armin for letting us crash at his place regardless of the time that we show up at his place, and Lex for organizing such a great time in Croatia. Currently, we are having a great time experiencing everything that Paris has to offer, not to mention some difficult and unique climbing in Fontainebleau!!! Tune in next time to see what goes down!

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