Day 22 - 200 friggin feet off the ground

For our second day in Vienna, we took it pretty easy. We just climbed 200 figgin feet off the ground at a gym called Kletterhalle Wien. That's pretty much it.

Both of us have been climbing for a while now, but we're used to climbing like 12 feet in the air. We walked in, completely intimidated by the size of the walls. Aaron guessed it was around 200 feet. Pretty close. 60 meters. We only climbed easy stuff, but we were totally pumped. After 3 routes, Aaron couldn't really close his hands anymore. Also, most people were lead climbing. It's a different kind of rope climbing than we're used to. Kaylea's certified, but Aaron's only done it once or twice. We stuck to the little top rope we could find. It was a little disappointing that the climbs were so difficult, but that doesn't cross your mind when you're 200 feet in the air. All you can think when you're that high is "I'd really like to finish this route so I can come down."

On top of that, the gym seemed to be pumping out prodigy climbers. There were kids everywhere, and these kids were amazing climbers. Some of them were wearing blindfolds while climbing. Did we mention that they were 200 feet in the air? These kids were ridiculous. It was unnerving to watch a 12 year old girl dangle from a rope 90 feet above a concrete floor, completely relaxed. These kids put us to shame.

We left feeling a little defeated. Aaron had to remind Kaylea that while it's true that we didn't lead climb, and the easiest stuff was incredibly difficult, we successfully climbed 200 friggin feet off the friggin ground!

Comments

Day 39 Vatican City

We decided to wake up early this morning and make our way to the Vatican: Home to the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. Since it's famous for it's long lines and wait times, we wanted to make sure we got there super early. We planned on waking up around 7:30, getting ready, making some sandwiches, and riding the metro to the holy city. We managed to do all of that except wake up early. We woke up late, but we had read online that there was usually a lull around lunch time. So, we decided to hit up the Vatican shortly after 1. The metro ride was the most crowded either of us had ever experienced. We've never been touching that many people at the same time. Like everyone on that train, we felt a little violated, but it was good training for the swarms of people we were about to have to deal with. We arrived at the outer wall of the Vatican and saw the line. It looked massive, but we weren't too disappointed. We had mentally prepared for the lines, and on the ...

Days 37 & 38: Ryanair sucks and When in Rome, its Hot has Hell

Ciao! We made it to Italy! But of course, not without incident. Remember our early morning train? Well it randomly stopped 6 stops too early. Then it shut down. We spent about two minutes panicking, 5 minutes looking for a connecting train, and 30 minutes waiting for it. Not to worry. We still made it to the airport extremely early. But Ryanair sucks, so we were 't relieved. The whole check in, baggage check, and re-check in process was disorganized and confusing. We made it though. After the longest bus ride ever (traffic here is asinine) and a hot subway ride, we made it to our hostel. We were not out of the woods yet. The hostel is okay, but the main receptionist is the worst. First we had to wait 20 minutes to check in while she printed flyers, then she refused to charge Kaylea's credit card stating "It would be better for us if you paid in cash". Aaron had to walk a few blocks in the heat to find an ATM. It was out of order. When he returned, the woman begrud...

Day 9 : From Skye to Loch Ness

On a lot of these roads, there is no speed limit. It seems like people take that to mean, drive as fast as you can. Nobody seems to mind that there are no lines on the road, or the road is made of dirt, or you can barely fit one car on the road. There are plenty of signs saying “Blind Turns”, or “Slow”, or Aaron’s favorite “Oncoming vehicles in middle of road.” There might as well just be a bunch of signs saying “Fingers Crossed”. Well after another butt clenching drive, we made it to the Fairy Pools of Skye Island. It was probably our favorite hike so far. It had crystal clear ponds and waterfalls, and tons of rocks to climb on. There were plenty of people swimming in the pools, unfortunately, we didn’t have our swimsuits handy. But we climbed around. We took it all in. Eventually, we made our way out. On the way to our next stop was yet another castle. Eilean Donan Castle was a castle from the 13th century that had been destroyed, then rebuilt in the 1930’s as...

Beauty and the Beard:
Bound to Wander

Search This Blog