After getting home at 2am on Thursday morning, we woke up early on Thursday and had to go buy groceries. I needed basically everything. Then I had to de-bed-bug my bag. I washed some things, dried everything else, washed my shoes, and put my bag in a garbage bag until I can deal with it. Otherwise I've spent the last two days sleeping and recovering.
My camera is still deleting my pictures so I stopped taking them the second day of our trip. It's ok though because Jan and Stacy took enough for ten people. I have posted albums from our trip at http://picasaweb.google.com/brianacoles
I have finals beginning on May 11 until the end of the month. My mom is coming at the end of May! We are going to hang out in London for a week. This is good because I haven't really seen London. Between trips out of the country and schoolwork, I've only been to London twice, even though we are 20 minutes away. So, we will see some of the English sites. Then we are going to go to Barcelona, Spain for a week and a half. I have to come back to check out of my room at the university and then it's home for a few days before heading off to New Hampshire. A year ago I would not have seen my life following this path, because I have NO idea where it's taking me.
Friday, April 24, 2009
4.18 Rome/Roma
"Roaming around Rome"- Jansher
We arrived at the Termini train station, which is the main station in Rome. Thanksfully our hostel was only a two minute walk from the station. Once again we lucked out, we had a four person room, with just us three. My first impression, this was the land of the Vespas and Smart Cars. About 50% of the vehicles were Smart Cars, they were everywhere! I remember when my mom came back from Italy, she wanted one. Now I want one. We decided to walk around and find some dinner.
We found the Colosseum and were shocked to find that it was surrounded by stuff. We thought it would be more like Stonehenge, out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a field of grass. That's not the case, it's surrounded by restaurants and stores. We found a restaurant for dinner. We ordered a green salad which is apparently just week-old lettuce on a plate. Granted, we weren't eating at expensive places, but they weren't really cheap either. It would be the equivalent of eating at PF Chang's or something, and you can expect good food there. Not at this place. After realizing that you make your own dressing using oil and vinegar, and eating almost my whole salad, I found a snail in my salad. Stacy, a vegetarian, started freaking out. She doesn't touch anything that has even been around meat, and yet I'd found a snail in my salad. I was unappetized as well because I don't eat snails and I don't like surprises at all but especially where food is concerned.
Then they brought out our pasta. Bad. Whoever said Italy is famous for its food, lied. Or maybe you just have to spend an arm and a leg to get decent food. I had tortellini. My plate consisted of about seven of the noodles and the rest was just sauce. Immediately after dropping 15 euros on the meal I was like I'm starving. However, Jan ordered something amazing, cacio y pepe on noodles. Cacio is some kind of strong cheese from southern Italy and it is served with pepper to bring out the flavor. Stacy liked it too. We should have ordered that.
The next day we woke up and went to the Colosseum. Without the Internet, we had no idea what the weather was going to be. There were a ton of people there. I was commenting about this when a tour guide came up and told us that entrance was free because that week was Rome's birthday and most of the stuff was free. We decided to spend extra and pay for the tour, though. Without it, we would have just been looking at the structure, which could pretty much be summed up in one glance.
Interesting facts about the Colosseum from the tour guide:
*That is not the original name, it was originally Flavian Ampitheatre
*It only took eight or nine years to build with slaves
*Right after it was built, there was 100 day party with free festivities to attend at the Colosseum
*Although it seats 50,000, it could be filled in ten minutes- as the staff used incentives (whips and canes) to get people to their seats faster
*Rumors of religious issues are unfounded, only one religious man died there, and it was because he jumped in to save someone
*700,000 people died in there plus at least one of every exotic animal and tons of other animals, however, this was still considered "family entertainment"
*It originally had a canvas covering to block from sun, but it had to be opened a few times a day because the stench of so many things dying was unbearable
*The south side fell down due to an earthquake
*There is no floor which allows you to see the gladiator "locker rooms" and passages where animals were kept underneath
*Gladiators were not usually volunteers, instead they were slaves, forced to train at the training facilities which were much like prisons
*Half time entertainment includes: woman vs. midget or dog vs. porcupine
*It was free... until 1990, when they started charging for admission
*At some point the Romans began stripping it for building materials, in that way, the Colosseum is technically all over Rome
While on the tour it began pouring rain. As in like street flooding, almost washing away the Colosseum rain. I had no umbrella and was quickly soaked. Since I was already starting to get sick, I started coughing and sneezing and shivering. I left early and went back to our hostel where I took a nap. I guess I was knocked out because Stacy and Jan said they came back and turned on the light and I didn't even know.
Later that night, we met up with our friend Julia who studies at University of Hertfordshire and is originally from Rome and two girls from Mexico that are also in our program. We met at the Piazza di Navona. It was useful having Julia because she finally took us to a good restaurant, where Stacy and I promptly ordered Cacio y Pepe for dinner. After dinner we walked to the Trevi Fountain, Fontana di Trevi in Italian. It looks amazing at night. Stacy, Jan, and I made a wish and threw in a coin. Then we saw a bride getting her wedding photos with her groom taken there. It was a whole affair with tons of cameras. Julia told us that it was good luck to see a bride and that in all her 22 years there, she'd never seen one. Lucky us! The fountain takes up the entire side of a building. It is huge. It is significant because it is at the junction of three roads and originally marked the terminal point of the aqua duct, Aqua Virgo.
The next day we were supposed to meet up with the girls and go see the Vatican. I was excited and didn't know what to expect. Julia told us that the lines were going to be hours and they didn't want to wait, and we were indifferent about waiting. So, we decided to meet up at the unfortunate hour of 9am. What do you know? The girls weren't there. Jan called them and they were still asleep and we were at the Vatican. We decided that since it was such nice weather, we'd just see the outdoor sites and do the Vatican the next day.
The first stop, the Spanish Steps. It is the longest and widest staircase in Europe.
I didn't think it was that sensational the night before when we'd seen it because they had removed all the flowers. However, in the daytime, they put out pretty pink flowers and since the steps overlook the Piazze di Spagna, you can people watch. I found out later that the piazza was divided into two parts, the French Square at the top of the steps and the Spanish Square at the bottom. The steps came to be called Spanish Steps because foreigners that trespassed into the Spanish Square were all of a sudden recruited to be soldiers in the Spanish army.
We returned to the Trevi Fountain in the daylight. I liked it better at night. Then we were off to the Pantheon. Everything was pretty close and we ended up walking a lot. It's so funny because I think of the Romans in the sense of the "Roman Catholic Church," but I forget that they were originally polytheists. The Pantheon was to honor the highest gods in the Roman religion although there is a dispute as to who they are. After the Roman Catholic Church came to power, while destroying all things non-Catholic, they decided to preserve the Pantheon. I was somewhat confused because the outside is so old, the brick is disintegrating, yet, the inside has marble that is fairly new but made to appear old and cracked. It also has a hole in the roof/ceiling. Julia explained to me that this is some kind of advancement in architecture for the time. It allowed the roof to be made of solid concrete, and without that circular piece at the top, the ceilings of buildings could be constructed much higher and more elaborately. However, I've read that some also believe the hole was made to be a sundial or an astronomy viewing point.
The next day was really the Vatican. At this point, I am really unhappy with the weather in Rome. Purse contents:
sunscreen
gloves
umbrella
sun glasses
ipod
coat
book
Who knows what weather today will bring. Must be prepared for anything. We didn't have to wait in line at all to see St. Peter's Basilica, which is basically just a huge church. It is also the site of many former Popes' tombs. You can go downstairs and see their graves. Some of them are actually up in the church as well. Like most of the Catholic Churches I've seen, there are alters for the saints, pews for service, a huge alter in the front, and paintings on the ceilings. What I hadn't seen before was that there were about thirty confessional booths. A large area of them were closed off and you could only confess certain hours. It was so amusing that above all the Latin writing on the confessional both it would say "English" or "Italian" or whatever languages that priest could understand. I heard that the Pope makes public speeches on Wednesdays but we were leaving Wed morning so I didn't think I'd be able to see it.
Then we went to the Vatican Museum which the Sistine Chapel is part of and the Vatican Museum is a part of the Apostolic Palace, residence of the Pope, and the Palace is part of Vatican City. It's confusing as to what is what. We didn't really want to see the religious art throughout the ages as we were fairly museum-ed out. However, you have to walk through an 1+ long maze to get to the Chapel. Luckily, we did get the half-price student discount to get into the museum.
After walking through about 100 rooms and down and least six flights of stairs and back up again, we finally arrived at the Chapel, expecting to see God reaching out to a man (you know that famous painting) covering the entire ceiling. We get in there, it is a huge panting on one of the short walls, and several smaller paintings covering the other three walls and the ceiling is covered in several rectangular scenes. It's almost an overload of sensations. There are just too many paintings to look at each individually, and yet when you find one and you are looking at it (and you start to get light-headed from looking up so much) and look away for a second, when you look back you have to find it again and refocus. The God/man picture is the center of the ceiling, but still, it is only a piece of the collage, so why is it so famous? We left feeling unsatisfied, why is that so built up. I mean ya Michelangelo painted it.. but still. Only later would I become interested in the Chapel.
We, then had the most expensive, and hilarious lunch... kinda. We were starving by the time we left the Vatican, we hadn't expected to take a huge hike to see the Sistine Chapel. We jumped in the first restaurant we found. We had promised to pay less for food and find a grocery store, but after Berlin, we hadn't been able to find a decent grocery store, so we were stuck eating out. We all decided to go with the meal for 11 euros where you pick a pasta plate, a main dish with salad (we all know how that went over last time), and fruit platter for dessert. Like other restaurants, no tap water served, so we were forced to order Coca Cola. Then our Waiter brought us bread. We were all starving so Jan and Stacy immediately snatched up bread. It was hard so I didn't want to eat more than a bite. But as I put the piece back into the basket, I saw mold. We examined the bread and realized that it was moldy and didn't eat anymore. Then he brought the pasta. I have never had such low quality food. Actually I have, in the cafeteria in elementary school. It was like canned tomato sauce on week old pasta. Then they brought my "main course" which was three, paper thin, post-it sized pieces of pork roast with plain lettuce on the plate.
At this point, even though we were starving, we were over the food, so we asked him to bring out the fruit platter for dessert. He actually brought us a small plate with a whole red apple, a green apple, a tiny orange, and a butter knife. No pre-sliced melons, no fruit salad, it was actually household fruit on a plate... with a dull knife. We were so over this restaurant that we demanded the check. "The check" is apparently some lady who just comes over and tells you your total verbally. Somehow our bill 51 euros. We ask to actually see our bill. So she whips out a pad and starts writing (how professional.) 2 euros for bread, our food, our drinks, and a 15% service charge for eating in the restaurant. We were shocked. He brought us bread without us asking and then charged us for it, and it was moldy at that! We left in a huff. That was a $22 meal per person, in America you could get a lot of good food for that much money.
This was clearly a place for tourists. Not only were we ripped off with the bread, but also, they didn't have to make the food quality because they knew we were never coming back anyway. I guess that's what you should expect right next to tourists attractions. Later in our guide book, we read that it is illegal to charge people for bread, but that beware as tourists because they sometimes do it anyway and you have to ask them to take it off your bill. Live it, learn it. I learned, don't eat in Italy! Bring a suitcase of your own food. It is expensive and not good. We also wanted to go shopping. I wanted a dress from Italy, however we weren't able to find anything. The stores were either designer, and really expensive, or really cheap clothing. Oh well.
After re-packing for our journey home, we wanted to at least attend one of the events in celebration of Rome's birthday. We decided to go see Elena Borelli e la New Band in an outdoor concert. On the walk there, we saw the Colosseum at night as well as the ruins at Palentine Hill. The concert was great. It felt like one of the few things that we had done that was truly Italian. The entire concert and commentary was in Italian so we had no idea what was going on. We stayed for awhile and then left.
On our way home, we stopped at the book store. While Jan and Stacy looked at books, I glanced at one about the Sistine Chapel. It had the paintings separated and talked about each one. Upon realizing that the pictures told a story, I was extremely interested. I want to make it my goal to do more research on that artwork.
The next morning we woke up early and took a train to Pisa. We hung out there all day and ended up going to Bazeel for a second time. Then, we got on our flight, took a bus from the airport and got back to Hatfield on Thursday morning at 2am, exhausted, and with memories to last a lifetime. I'm making sure mine last a lifetime by writing them down otherwise, knowing my bad memory, they wouldn't last five minutes.
We arrived at the Termini train station, which is the main station in Rome. Thanksfully our hostel was only a two minute walk from the station. Once again we lucked out, we had a four person room, with just us three. My first impression, this was the land of the Vespas and Smart Cars. About 50% of the vehicles were Smart Cars, they were everywhere! I remember when my mom came back from Italy, she wanted one. Now I want one. We decided to walk around and find some dinner.
We found the Colosseum and were shocked to find that it was surrounded by stuff. We thought it would be more like Stonehenge, out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a field of grass. That's not the case, it's surrounded by restaurants and stores. We found a restaurant for dinner. We ordered a green salad which is apparently just week-old lettuce on a plate. Granted, we weren't eating at expensive places, but they weren't really cheap either. It would be the equivalent of eating at PF Chang's or something, and you can expect good food there. Not at this place. After realizing that you make your own dressing using oil and vinegar, and eating almost my whole salad, I found a snail in my salad. Stacy, a vegetarian, started freaking out. She doesn't touch anything that has even been around meat, and yet I'd found a snail in my salad. I was unappetized as well because I don't eat snails and I don't like surprises at all but especially where food is concerned.
Then they brought out our pasta. Bad. Whoever said Italy is famous for its food, lied. Or maybe you just have to spend an arm and a leg to get decent food. I had tortellini. My plate consisted of about seven of the noodles and the rest was just sauce. Immediately after dropping 15 euros on the meal I was like I'm starving. However, Jan ordered something amazing, cacio y pepe on noodles. Cacio is some kind of strong cheese from southern Italy and it is served with pepper to bring out the flavor. Stacy liked it too. We should have ordered that.
The next day we woke up and went to the Colosseum. Without the Internet, we had no idea what the weather was going to be. There were a ton of people there. I was commenting about this when a tour guide came up and told us that entrance was free because that week was Rome's birthday and most of the stuff was free. We decided to spend extra and pay for the tour, though. Without it, we would have just been looking at the structure, which could pretty much be summed up in one glance.
Interesting facts about the Colosseum from the tour guide:
*That is not the original name, it was originally Flavian Ampitheatre
*It only took eight or nine years to build with slaves
*Right after it was built, there was 100 day party with free festivities to attend at the Colosseum
*Although it seats 50,000, it could be filled in ten minutes- as the staff used incentives (whips and canes) to get people to their seats faster
*Rumors of religious issues are unfounded, only one religious man died there, and it was because he jumped in to save someone
*700,000 people died in there plus at least one of every exotic animal and tons of other animals, however, this was still considered "family entertainment"
*It originally had a canvas covering to block from sun, but it had to be opened a few times a day because the stench of so many things dying was unbearable
*The south side fell down due to an earthquake
*There is no floor which allows you to see the gladiator "locker rooms" and passages where animals were kept underneath
*Gladiators were not usually volunteers, instead they were slaves, forced to train at the training facilities which were much like prisons
*Half time entertainment includes: woman vs. midget or dog vs. porcupine
*It was free... until 1990, when they started charging for admission
*At some point the Romans began stripping it for building materials, in that way, the Colosseum is technically all over Rome
While on the tour it began pouring rain. As in like street flooding, almost washing away the Colosseum rain. I had no umbrella and was quickly soaked. Since I was already starting to get sick, I started coughing and sneezing and shivering. I left early and went back to our hostel where I took a nap. I guess I was knocked out because Stacy and Jan said they came back and turned on the light and I didn't even know.
Later that night, we met up with our friend Julia who studies at University of Hertfordshire and is originally from Rome and two girls from Mexico that are also in our program. We met at the Piazza di Navona. It was useful having Julia because she finally took us to a good restaurant, where Stacy and I promptly ordered Cacio y Pepe for dinner. After dinner we walked to the Trevi Fountain, Fontana di Trevi in Italian. It looks amazing at night. Stacy, Jan, and I made a wish and threw in a coin. Then we saw a bride getting her wedding photos with her groom taken there. It was a whole affair with tons of cameras. Julia told us that it was good luck to see a bride and that in all her 22 years there, she'd never seen one. Lucky us! The fountain takes up the entire side of a building. It is huge. It is significant because it is at the junction of three roads and originally marked the terminal point of the aqua duct, Aqua Virgo.
The next day we were supposed to meet up with the girls and go see the Vatican. I was excited and didn't know what to expect. Julia told us that the lines were going to be hours and they didn't want to wait, and we were indifferent about waiting. So, we decided to meet up at the unfortunate hour of 9am. What do you know? The girls weren't there. Jan called them and they were still asleep and we were at the Vatican. We decided that since it was such nice weather, we'd just see the outdoor sites and do the Vatican the next day.
The first stop, the Spanish Steps. It is the longest and widest staircase in Europe.
I didn't think it was that sensational the night before when we'd seen it because they had removed all the flowers. However, in the daytime, they put out pretty pink flowers and since the steps overlook the Piazze di Spagna, you can people watch. I found out later that the piazza was divided into two parts, the French Square at the top of the steps and the Spanish Square at the bottom. The steps came to be called Spanish Steps because foreigners that trespassed into the Spanish Square were all of a sudden recruited to be soldiers in the Spanish army.
We returned to the Trevi Fountain in the daylight. I liked it better at night. Then we were off to the Pantheon. Everything was pretty close and we ended up walking a lot. It's so funny because I think of the Romans in the sense of the "Roman Catholic Church," but I forget that they were originally polytheists. The Pantheon was to honor the highest gods in the Roman religion although there is a dispute as to who they are. After the Roman Catholic Church came to power, while destroying all things non-Catholic, they decided to preserve the Pantheon. I was somewhat confused because the outside is so old, the brick is disintegrating, yet, the inside has marble that is fairly new but made to appear old and cracked. It also has a hole in the roof/ceiling. Julia explained to me that this is some kind of advancement in architecture for the time. It allowed the roof to be made of solid concrete, and without that circular piece at the top, the ceilings of buildings could be constructed much higher and more elaborately. However, I've read that some also believe the hole was made to be a sundial or an astronomy viewing point.
The next day was really the Vatican. At this point, I am really unhappy with the weather in Rome. Purse contents:
sunscreen
gloves
umbrella
sun glasses
ipod
coat
book
Who knows what weather today will bring. Must be prepared for anything. We didn't have to wait in line at all to see St. Peter's Basilica, which is basically just a huge church. It is also the site of many former Popes' tombs. You can go downstairs and see their graves. Some of them are actually up in the church as well. Like most of the Catholic Churches I've seen, there are alters for the saints, pews for service, a huge alter in the front, and paintings on the ceilings. What I hadn't seen before was that there were about thirty confessional booths. A large area of them were closed off and you could only confess certain hours. It was so amusing that above all the Latin writing on the confessional both it would say "English" or "Italian" or whatever languages that priest could understand. I heard that the Pope makes public speeches on Wednesdays but we were leaving Wed morning so I didn't think I'd be able to see it.
Then we went to the Vatican Museum which the Sistine Chapel is part of and the Vatican Museum is a part of the Apostolic Palace, residence of the Pope, and the Palace is part of Vatican City. It's confusing as to what is what. We didn't really want to see the religious art throughout the ages as we were fairly museum-ed out. However, you have to walk through an 1+ long maze to get to the Chapel. Luckily, we did get the half-price student discount to get into the museum.
After walking through about 100 rooms and down and least six flights of stairs and back up again, we finally arrived at the Chapel, expecting to see God reaching out to a man (you know that famous painting) covering the entire ceiling. We get in there, it is a huge panting on one of the short walls, and several smaller paintings covering the other three walls and the ceiling is covered in several rectangular scenes. It's almost an overload of sensations. There are just too many paintings to look at each individually, and yet when you find one and you are looking at it (and you start to get light-headed from looking up so much) and look away for a second, when you look back you have to find it again and refocus. The God/man picture is the center of the ceiling, but still, it is only a piece of the collage, so why is it so famous? We left feeling unsatisfied, why is that so built up. I mean ya Michelangelo painted it.. but still. Only later would I become interested in the Chapel.
We, then had the most expensive, and hilarious lunch... kinda. We were starving by the time we left the Vatican, we hadn't expected to take a huge hike to see the Sistine Chapel. We jumped in the first restaurant we found. We had promised to pay less for food and find a grocery store, but after Berlin, we hadn't been able to find a decent grocery store, so we were stuck eating out. We all decided to go with the meal for 11 euros where you pick a pasta plate, a main dish with salad (we all know how that went over last time), and fruit platter for dessert. Like other restaurants, no tap water served, so we were forced to order Coca Cola. Then our Waiter brought us bread. We were all starving so Jan and Stacy immediately snatched up bread. It was hard so I didn't want to eat more than a bite. But as I put the piece back into the basket, I saw mold. We examined the bread and realized that it was moldy and didn't eat anymore. Then he brought the pasta. I have never had such low quality food. Actually I have, in the cafeteria in elementary school. It was like canned tomato sauce on week old pasta. Then they brought my "main course" which was three, paper thin, post-it sized pieces of pork roast with plain lettuce on the plate.
At this point, even though we were starving, we were over the food, so we asked him to bring out the fruit platter for dessert. He actually brought us a small plate with a whole red apple, a green apple, a tiny orange, and a butter knife. No pre-sliced melons, no fruit salad, it was actually household fruit on a plate... with a dull knife. We were so over this restaurant that we demanded the check. "The check" is apparently some lady who just comes over and tells you your total verbally. Somehow our bill 51 euros. We ask to actually see our bill. So she whips out a pad and starts writing (how professional.) 2 euros for bread, our food, our drinks, and a 15% service charge for eating in the restaurant. We were shocked. He brought us bread without us asking and then charged us for it, and it was moldy at that! We left in a huff. That was a $22 meal per person, in America you could get a lot of good food for that much money.
This was clearly a place for tourists. Not only were we ripped off with the bread, but also, they didn't have to make the food quality because they knew we were never coming back anyway. I guess that's what you should expect right next to tourists attractions. Later in our guide book, we read that it is illegal to charge people for bread, but that beware as tourists because they sometimes do it anyway and you have to ask them to take it off your bill. Live it, learn it. I learned, don't eat in Italy! Bring a suitcase of your own food. It is expensive and not good. We also wanted to go shopping. I wanted a dress from Italy, however we weren't able to find anything. The stores were either designer, and really expensive, or really cheap clothing. Oh well.
After re-packing for our journey home, we wanted to at least attend one of the events in celebration of Rome's birthday. We decided to go see Elena Borelli e la New Band in an outdoor concert. On the walk there, we saw the Colosseum at night as well as the ruins at Palentine Hill. The concert was great. It felt like one of the few things that we had done that was truly Italian. The entire concert and commentary was in Italian so we had no idea what was going on. We stayed for awhile and then left.
On our way home, we stopped at the book store. While Jan and Stacy looked at books, I glanced at one about the Sistine Chapel. It had the paintings separated and talked about each one. Upon realizing that the pictures told a story, I was extremely interested. I want to make it my goal to do more research on that artwork.
The next morning we woke up early and took a train to Pisa. We hung out there all day and ended up going to Bazeel for a second time. Then, we got on our flight, took a bus from the airport and got back to Hatfield on Thursday morning at 2am, exhausted, and with memories to last a lifetime. I'm making sure mine last a lifetime by writing them down otherwise, knowing my bad memory, they wouldn't last five minutes.
4.14 Naples/Napoli
Despite the earthquake in Italy recently, the places we were going were unaffected. We got to Naples after a 7 hour train ride at about 8pm. As we have found in general in Europe, everything closes at 6pm or before. We are exhausted and starving. We found a really good pizza place and ate there. This is sort of where my trip plateaued. I was just exhausted from traveling. I started to get sick. My nose was still peeling and my boil popped which was really attractive. We did enjoy the free Internet at this hostel though.
We also found that a "traditional Italian breakfast" is a stale croissant and drink like juice or coffee, but their coffee is different too. Whereas you'd expect a full cup, they use espresso shot cups for any kind of coffee you order. It's not cheaper of course, but you only get about three sips. It's so strange. There aren't even tables at most coffee shops. As opposed to France, where they give you a normal cup of coffee and it is a social event, you sit and drink it with friends. I thought Italians were famous for their cuisine, so how do they eat such a nasty breakfast?
That night, at the hostel we watched Bridget Jones' Diary with about 12 other Americans. When you live in England, things that make fun of English people are ten times funnier. You realize that the English really do those things!
4.15 Capri
The day before, a girl at our hostel told us that Capri was an all day trip and that there were two parts of the island, the beach- Capri, and the historical area- Anacapri. This day did not start out right and that should have been a sign. We meant to wake up early so we would indeed have all day. None of us woke up to the alarm. After waking up late, we pack up swimclothes headed out to the train station. We really wanted to go to the beach. I mean we are in Italy, where three sides are surrounded by water. Guess what? We took the wrong train after directions from the man who sells the tickets. At this point we are getting tired of people and their erroneous advice. We'd be better off figuring it out for ourselves. We had to get back on a train and go back where we had to get on another train and go to the port at Sorento. Naples' train system is strange, all the trains take off from one point and then they all run parallel so if you get on one line and want to go to a stop on another line you might have to travel 20 minutes back to the main station and get on another train to go to your destination. Naples, as we were informed, is not a very nice place, and apparently there is a lot of crime.
We finally got to Sorento where we have to take a ferry to the island of Capri. We are really excited even though the ferry cost 30 euros! We got to Capri and we are thinking small island with just beaches everywhere. As Jan said "like in Castaway." That was not the case at all. We had to search for a beach. When we found it, it was a small one with rocks. Not small pebbles but actual golf-ball-sized rocks which dug into your back if you laid down. There wasn't a cubic inch of sand to be seen. I was content with it, sunblock in hand, but Stacy and Jan are originally from California and expected to find better beaches than their home beaches. Someone else had told me that European beaches were rocky, so I wasn't surprised. I was happy that it was something different. However, we didn't stay long. We decided to check out the "historical" (as we had been told) part.
This involved taking a death defying bus ride on a road that had 2000 foot, shear drop off into the ocean with only a 1.5 foot plastic fence to hold us back. All this was taking place on a 1.25 car-width-wide road at about 45 miles per hour on the curviest road you've ever seen. It was a harrowing experience. No joke, these two old ladies crossed themselves and then they prayed for the entire ride! We were freaking out. And often, especially while in England, I find myself thinking WE ARE GOING TO DIE but I look at the buses and see that they are old and yet there isn't a scratch on them and then rationalize that the drivers must just be that good at what they do. So I looked at our bus we were on in Capri and all those from the same company and not one was in good shape. They all had huge sideswipe marks on both sides and deep gashes. I started to freak out. And the plastic fence with a cliff into the ocean, ya that fence was ripped and torn and the poles were bent, clearly it had been hit a ton.
We got to Anacapri and there was nothing historical at all. There were little shops but they close for three hours for lunch. Nothing was really open and it was just streets and apartment style housing. We didn't have a map or anything because we thought it was just a little island and would be easy to navigate but that was not the reality. We thought you'd just show up and there would be beaches, we werent really planning to see any sites. Instead it was more where you go and see things but with the weird busses and one windy road we couldnt figure out how to get to those things once we were there. There also wasn't a ton of food choices on the island so we decided to head home.
When we got back to our room we found out that we had a new roommate, Kevin from California. Well, origionally from Oregon, which I loved because I feel like those in the Pacific-Northwest have something in common and I find that I don't always have that in common with Californians who might as well have their own country. He goes to school at USC and is studying in London. Once again, small world. He and Jan hit it off. I think Jan was tired of hanging out with us girls. They talked about weight lifting and sports and manly things. We invited him to come with us to Pompeii the next day because that was on his list of things to do too.
We used the free internet to look for Rome hostels only to find out that they were either booked up or really really expensive. Hostels are supposed to be cheap, some were almost $100 a night for just a bed! We started calculating and a week in Rome was beginning to look pretty expensive. We were also just exhausted from traveling and we were supposed to get back at about 2am Sunday morning only to start school on Monday. We decided to look into leaving earlier and found that we could leave out of Pisa on Wednesday night for a reasonable price. We decided to do that. Now, knowing that we were going to go home a little earlier made us perk up some.
4.16 Pompeii
When Vesuvius errupted in 79 AD (there is evidence it had errupted many times througout history) it covered the city of Pompeii in 60 feet of ash and sediment. Recently, this site has been excavated and it uncovered some architecture that was fully intact and some that was worse for the wear. The city was composed of many temples, as the Romans were pagan. The town was origionally composed of Etruscans, which is why there is a huge wall surrounding it to defend against the Romans. However, after Pompeii was annexed by Rome in 89 BC, the wall was obsolete. The other main feature
We thought we would just go and have a look. We didn't realize so much of it would still be standing. However, after awhile, without furniature, artwork, appliances, or anything else to differentiate the rooms, it was hard to tell what was what. Even the statues they recovered were moved to a separate museum. Imagine taking all the buildings in your neighborhood and subtracting everything but the walls, this includes removing the floor and roofs. Pretty soon it is hard to tell the difference between houses, stores, and businesses. They all look the same. We didn't realize that the ruins are huge, it is literally an entire city for a population of 20,000 and covered at least a square mile of solid architectural structures. The first two hours was really interesting, minus having to have an audio tour. But after that, the structures got somewhat repetative. They had several temples, several ampatheatres, and much of the city was composed of huge houses where many families would live along with all the slaves and servants that it took to keep the houses running.
The audio tour was difficult because there wasn't much to see so imagination was 95% of the tour, and whoever set up the audio guide didn't label the structures very well. While we were listening to something about the temple of Venus and the audioguide would tell you to notice the pillars and statue, we would realize that we were looking at a fountain. Then confusion would ensue and there was limited signage and no posters that you could just read concerning each site. Luckily our new friend Kevin decided to come with us and we had our own fun just guessing what each thing was.
While touring Pompeii, we saw a lot of construction. It rubbed Jan and I the wrong way for two reasons. 1. You want to just think about what had happened, focus on the audio tour, observe the strange little details of the ruins, and ponder what life was like in that time. However, the sound of a jackhammer and yellow caution tape everywhere does not really allow for that to happen. 2. At some point, if you replace everything that is crubling, you will have replaced the entire city. I mean they are called "ruins," should the city really keep repairing things that are beyond repair? Jan and I had a hard time telling what was old and new. For example, the door frames were starting to collapse, so they put concrete reinforcements in, but, like most archeaological reconstruction, they did so in a fashion to mimick the origional somewhat. However, the origional door frame was wood. Since there are no markings to distinguish what was a necessary addition and what is origionally part of the ruins, I found myself asking if they had also discovered concrete way back then before I realized that that was a new addition because they had disguised it to look old. This happened many times with things that they had tried to reinact or mimick. My conclusion was that obviously the city needed to do some things to preserve Pompeii and reinforce structures to ensure visitors' safety, but at some point they need to let the ruins fall and just prohibit visitors.I would rather read about it in a text book than go somewhere where they have just recreated the scene but none of it is actually real. That negates the whole point of seeing something unique.
4.17 Naples
I woke up in the morning with bed bug bites! Bed bugs are not a myth and are no joke. Different people react to the bites with varying intensity, and I, unfortunately, get huge, red welts wherever I am bitten. I know so much about bed bugs because we had a huge problem with them in our apartment in San Jose last semester and ended up doing a lot of research before the manager finally called the exterminator. The hardest thing with them is transmission. They lay eggs too small to see on anything and a bed bug can live for up to two years without having bit someone. They could hide in things we had with us like our clothing, shoes, and bags. They are almost impossible to get rid of short of calling the exterminator, so it was really important to me to be sure not to bring any back to Hatfield and certainly not back to the US.
I had begun to develop a cold, had huge, itchy welts, and just didn't really feel like going out to see Naples. Of course we find out from our Italian friend when we are leaving that Naples is not a good area, especially where we were staying. The trio and Kevin went out to see the port. We could see Mnt. Vesuvius from there. It was relaxing watching the mountain and listening to the water. After hanging out there, the boys went to Herculeum, which is a lesser known site of ruins affected by the volcano. Stacy and I went back to our hostel and watched movies and slept. We hated to waste a day, but without taking this day of rest, we would have ended up only half-heartedly doing the last few days. The next morning we woke up, packed, and had a short train-ride to Rome.
We also found that a "traditional Italian breakfast" is a stale croissant and drink like juice or coffee, but their coffee is different too. Whereas you'd expect a full cup, they use espresso shot cups for any kind of coffee you order. It's not cheaper of course, but you only get about three sips. It's so strange. There aren't even tables at most coffee shops. As opposed to France, where they give you a normal cup of coffee and it is a social event, you sit and drink it with friends. I thought Italians were famous for their cuisine, so how do they eat such a nasty breakfast?
That night, at the hostel we watched Bridget Jones' Diary with about 12 other Americans. When you live in England, things that make fun of English people are ten times funnier. You realize that the English really do those things!
4.15 Capri
The day before, a girl at our hostel told us that Capri was an all day trip and that there were two parts of the island, the beach- Capri, and the historical area- Anacapri. This day did not start out right and that should have been a sign. We meant to wake up early so we would indeed have all day. None of us woke up to the alarm. After waking up late, we pack up swimclothes headed out to the train station. We really wanted to go to the beach. I mean we are in Italy, where three sides are surrounded by water. Guess what? We took the wrong train after directions from the man who sells the tickets. At this point we are getting tired of people and their erroneous advice. We'd be better off figuring it out for ourselves. We had to get back on a train and go back where we had to get on another train and go to the port at Sorento. Naples' train system is strange, all the trains take off from one point and then they all run parallel so if you get on one line and want to go to a stop on another line you might have to travel 20 minutes back to the main station and get on another train to go to your destination. Naples, as we were informed, is not a very nice place, and apparently there is a lot of crime.
We finally got to Sorento where we have to take a ferry to the island of Capri. We are really excited even though the ferry cost 30 euros! We got to Capri and we are thinking small island with just beaches everywhere. As Jan said "like in Castaway." That was not the case at all. We had to search for a beach. When we found it, it was a small one with rocks. Not small pebbles but actual golf-ball-sized rocks which dug into your back if you laid down. There wasn't a cubic inch of sand to be seen. I was content with it, sunblock in hand, but Stacy and Jan are originally from California and expected to find better beaches than their home beaches. Someone else had told me that European beaches were rocky, so I wasn't surprised. I was happy that it was something different. However, we didn't stay long. We decided to check out the "historical" (as we had been told) part.
This involved taking a death defying bus ride on a road that had 2000 foot, shear drop off into the ocean with only a 1.5 foot plastic fence to hold us back. All this was taking place on a 1.25 car-width-wide road at about 45 miles per hour on the curviest road you've ever seen. It was a harrowing experience. No joke, these two old ladies crossed themselves and then they prayed for the entire ride! We were freaking out. And often, especially while in England, I find myself thinking WE ARE GOING TO DIE but I look at the buses and see that they are old and yet there isn't a scratch on them and then rationalize that the drivers must just be that good at what they do. So I looked at our bus we were on in Capri and all those from the same company and not one was in good shape. They all had huge sideswipe marks on both sides and deep gashes. I started to freak out. And the plastic fence with a cliff into the ocean, ya that fence was ripped and torn and the poles were bent, clearly it had been hit a ton.
We got to Anacapri and there was nothing historical at all. There were little shops but they close for three hours for lunch. Nothing was really open and it was just streets and apartment style housing. We didn't have a map or anything because we thought it was just a little island and would be easy to navigate but that was not the reality. We thought you'd just show up and there would be beaches, we werent really planning to see any sites. Instead it was more where you go and see things but with the weird busses and one windy road we couldnt figure out how to get to those things once we were there. There also wasn't a ton of food choices on the island so we decided to head home.
When we got back to our room we found out that we had a new roommate, Kevin from California. Well, origionally from Oregon, which I loved because I feel like those in the Pacific-Northwest have something in common and I find that I don't always have that in common with Californians who might as well have their own country. He goes to school at USC and is studying in London. Once again, small world. He and Jan hit it off. I think Jan was tired of hanging out with us girls. They talked about weight lifting and sports and manly things. We invited him to come with us to Pompeii the next day because that was on his list of things to do too.
We used the free internet to look for Rome hostels only to find out that they were either booked up or really really expensive. Hostels are supposed to be cheap, some were almost $100 a night for just a bed! We started calculating and a week in Rome was beginning to look pretty expensive. We were also just exhausted from traveling and we were supposed to get back at about 2am Sunday morning only to start school on Monday. We decided to look into leaving earlier and found that we could leave out of Pisa on Wednesday night for a reasonable price. We decided to do that. Now, knowing that we were going to go home a little earlier made us perk up some.
4.16 Pompeii
When Vesuvius errupted in 79 AD (there is evidence it had errupted many times througout history) it covered the city of Pompeii in 60 feet of ash and sediment. Recently, this site has been excavated and it uncovered some architecture that was fully intact and some that was worse for the wear. The city was composed of many temples, as the Romans were pagan. The town was origionally composed of Etruscans, which is why there is a huge wall surrounding it to defend against the Romans. However, after Pompeii was annexed by Rome in 89 BC, the wall was obsolete. The other main feature
We thought we would just go and have a look. We didn't realize so much of it would still be standing. However, after awhile, without furniature, artwork, appliances, or anything else to differentiate the rooms, it was hard to tell what was what. Even the statues they recovered were moved to a separate museum. Imagine taking all the buildings in your neighborhood and subtracting everything but the walls, this includes removing the floor and roofs. Pretty soon it is hard to tell the difference between houses, stores, and businesses. They all look the same. We didn't realize that the ruins are huge, it is literally an entire city for a population of 20,000 and covered at least a square mile of solid architectural structures. The first two hours was really interesting, minus having to have an audio tour. But after that, the structures got somewhat repetative. They had several temples, several ampatheatres, and much of the city was composed of huge houses where many families would live along with all the slaves and servants that it took to keep the houses running.
The audio tour was difficult because there wasn't much to see so imagination was 95% of the tour, and whoever set up the audio guide didn't label the structures very well. While we were listening to something about the temple of Venus and the audioguide would tell you to notice the pillars and statue, we would realize that we were looking at a fountain. Then confusion would ensue and there was limited signage and no posters that you could just read concerning each site. Luckily our new friend Kevin decided to come with us and we had our own fun just guessing what each thing was.
While touring Pompeii, we saw a lot of construction. It rubbed Jan and I the wrong way for two reasons. 1. You want to just think about what had happened, focus on the audio tour, observe the strange little details of the ruins, and ponder what life was like in that time. However, the sound of a jackhammer and yellow caution tape everywhere does not really allow for that to happen. 2. At some point, if you replace everything that is crubling, you will have replaced the entire city. I mean they are called "ruins," should the city really keep repairing things that are beyond repair? Jan and I had a hard time telling what was old and new. For example, the door frames were starting to collapse, so they put concrete reinforcements in, but, like most archeaological reconstruction, they did so in a fashion to mimick the origional somewhat. However, the origional door frame was wood. Since there are no markings to distinguish what was a necessary addition and what is origionally part of the ruins, I found myself asking if they had also discovered concrete way back then before I realized that that was a new addition because they had disguised it to look old. This happened many times with things that they had tried to reinact or mimick. My conclusion was that obviously the city needed to do some things to preserve Pompeii and reinforce structures to ensure visitors' safety, but at some point they need to let the ruins fall and just prohibit visitors.I would rather read about it in a text book than go somewhere where they have just recreated the scene but none of it is actually real. That negates the whole point of seeing something unique.
4.17 Naples
I woke up in the morning with bed bug bites! Bed bugs are not a myth and are no joke. Different people react to the bites with varying intensity, and I, unfortunately, get huge, red welts wherever I am bitten. I know so much about bed bugs because we had a huge problem with them in our apartment in San Jose last semester and ended up doing a lot of research before the manager finally called the exterminator. The hardest thing with them is transmission. They lay eggs too small to see on anything and a bed bug can live for up to two years without having bit someone. They could hide in things we had with us like our clothing, shoes, and bags. They are almost impossible to get rid of short of calling the exterminator, so it was really important to me to be sure not to bring any back to Hatfield and certainly not back to the US.
I had begun to develop a cold, had huge, itchy welts, and just didn't really feel like going out to see Naples. Of course we find out from our Italian friend when we are leaving that Naples is not a good area, especially where we were staying. The trio and Kevin went out to see the port. We could see Mnt. Vesuvius from there. It was relaxing watching the mountain and listening to the water. After hanging out there, the boys went to Herculeum, which is a lesser known site of ruins affected by the volcano. Stacy and I went back to our hostel and watched movies and slept. We hated to waste a day, but without taking this day of rest, we would have ended up only half-heartedly doing the last few days. The next morning we woke up, packed, and had a short train-ride to Rome.
4.12 Pisa
We left Venice at about 6:30 pm and took two more long trains to Pisa. At this point Stacy was really sick from sun exposure. I actually had a sunburn so bad on my nose that I got a boil. We had no energy and got into Pisa at midnight, exhausted. At the hotel we had to climb 5 flights of stairs to get to our room. Stacy couldn't even make it. I took a much needed shower and we passed out. We had to wake up early and change hostels. We went to look for sunscreen. We ended up paying 15 euros for a 100ml bottle of sunscreen and that was the cheapest. We got it from a skin specialty store. Do supermarkets not carry sunscreen? We couldn't find any. So from then on I used the sunscreen like crazy.
Our second hostel owner's name was Giovanni and he was really cool. We knew origionally that there wasn't much to do in Pisa, but the way the trip worked out, we ened up spending three nights there. We figured it would be good because if there was nothing to do, we wouldn't feel like we were missing out on anything and we could just have a day to relax. Our first full day there, we, of course, saw the leaning tower. It's only at a 5 degree angle but it really looks like the tower is about to fall over! We also had amazing pizza in Pisa. Lame joke, but it's still funny.
The next day we took advantage of the free internet and decided to plan the rest of our trip. At this point, we had planned to go from Pisa to Rome. However, we expected to only spend five days in Rome, but at this point we still had 11 more days of our trip. We still can't figure out why our time schedule was off so much. We had to work it out with our two remaining travel days on our Eurail pass, though. It doesn't seem that difficult but it took us several different ideas before coming up with the final plan. I know because I emailed my parents about ten different times telling them each new plan. We decided to go to Naples because then we could go to the beach at Capri and see the ruins at Pompei and see Naples all in one stop. Then we would go to Rome for a week, which still seemed like too long.
We talked to Giovanni for a long time. He suggested we go to a bar nearby called Bazeel for dinner. He said they do happy hour by having drinks full price still, but they have a buffet. Well he somewhat exagerated about the buffet, after all it was free. We went and had a drink. The buffet had six rice and noodle dishes. They also had pizza and cheeses. For the 3 euro price of a drink, I had several small plates of food.
Now this entire trip Jan has been going off about motorcycle racing which he and his friends are in to. But it's not big in the U.S., apparently it's huge in Italy though. Valentino Rossi is one of the biggest superstars of all time. Well a race Jan wanted to watch the previous day came on TV at the bar. Turns out that it was cancelled due to weather and was on tonight. While watching, he told us about the sport. I learned something new. In addition, there is nothing more real than watching an Italian superstar in an Italian bar in Italy, and then going to get gelato. I liked this because it was more of a local thing rather than touristy. We were hanging out with the Italians watching the race. We slept like rocks that night.
We got up and got on the train to Naples in the morning.
4.12 Venice/Venizia
Italia! Italia!
In Venice, we paid another euro to use the bathroom at the train station and change. No shower but we wiped ourselves down with handy little facewipe and we were on our way, exhausted. At this point, I am so tired of tourists. Tons of people taking tons of pictures. You do not need to take a photo of every single thing! Venice was a very romantic city. Couples making out (again) and feeding each other gelato. Most of the shop owners spoke English and Italian, but preferred Italian.
Everyone there had a tiny dog. The dog went poop on the sidewalk, because that's all there is, and then tried to cover it up by scooping up fake dirt. It was so funny to watch. No one cleans up their dog poop either, so you have to watch where you walk. It's gross. There isn't a lot to do in Venice, that's why it's a day trip. We thought a gondola ride would be really expensive, so we didn't take one, but actually it wasn't. We didn't use a map, we just walked, took in the scenery, ate gelato and pizza. It is a really beautiful city and there are no cars. There are no roads, everyone just has boats. It is literally built on water. Even the ambulance is an ambu-boat. There are bridges everywhere with no handicap access. The biggest problem seemed to be for moms with strollers, they had to carry the stroller up and over each bridge. Imagine if you had to carry a stroller over every single cross street. They are either sorry they moved to Venice or they are in very good shape, or both.
Here was the beginning of my gelato sampling. By the time I left Italy, I had tried over 10 flavors of gelato. For a girl that only likes vanilla ice cream, I was proud of myself. If there are only two things I've learned from studying abroad, it would be that I am fine on my own because I can figure out how to navigate and that I like a lot more foods than I thought.
4.10 Vienna/Wein
We got off the train and it was at least 85 degrees in Vienna. By this time I am completely sunburnt, actually painfully sunburnt. We had been on the hunt for sunscreen but everyone we asked said that usually it's not that hot in their country so they don't carry sunscreen. Grrreat. While being completely lost, as Austria doesn't have as simple/easy transit system as the other countries, we ran into a marine who turned out to be from San Jose named Steve. Once again, small world. However, he didn't seem to understand the "backpacking" factor of our trip. He said we were staying in a sketchy area of town once we told him our hostel address. I asked if it was unsafe, or just not that nice? He said just not that nice and suggested several hotels downtown. He wondered why we hadn't planned out our whole time in Vienna and why we were only staying two days. He clearly didn't get that we were students and didn't have money for a hotel. He gave us directions to our hostel. Then Stacy asked him where we could see mountains (like from the Sound of Music) because Austria is famous for its countryside but we didn't know how to get there. He suggested a place and she specifically asked if there were mountains there and he answered "ya, you'll see a lot of that"(remember this because it comes into play later).
We finally found our hostel after lugging our bags in direct sunlight for probably two hours. This is due to the hostel making up their own address. They list it as 9-11. The city is in blocks 1-16 and each of those blocks has suites 1-20. It is logical to think that it was on block nine, suite 11. Oh no, it's on block 16. There is no 9 or 11 at all in the address. After finding our hostel we walked around downtown and didn't really see as many of the sites as we would have liked but we were only in Vienna one night and the next day was reserved for the countryside.
We paid 9 euros for a train and the lady at the train station specifically asked why we were going to whatever town Steve had suggested. She pointed out that there was literally nothing there. Taking Steve's word over hers, we said we would like to see for ourselves. Haha! What a joke. We got off the train, there was a tumbleweed blowing across the tracks. When she said nothing, she meant nothing. As in no mountains, embankments, stairs, terrace farms, foothills, a butte, a steppe, or raised ground of any kind. The town wasn't even quaint. At this point we are furious at Steve because it's 12pm and it's too late to restructure our day. Jan suggested that he saw some hills at the stop before this so we got back on the train and went back a stop. And we arrived in Parma, Idaho. Well not exactly, but this town had the same kind of a feel. Stacy was really disappointed but we tried to make the best of a bad situation.
Talk about country. We had to walk about a mile on this path beside the road (which had no lines). There were deer leaping through the farm fields. There were rabbits the size of a medium dog munching on the crops. We saw maybe one car but at least four tractors in the time that it took us to get to the first neighborhood. Well by first, I mean the only neighborhood. The sun was beating down on us. We decided to climb the hills which were basically foothills (Stacy referred to as little humps). We walked through the neighborhood and came to a path leading up a "hump." Needless to say we weren't calling it a hump as we were gasping for breath and sweating profusely while trying to walk up it. The path led through a vineyard, a patch of trees, and to a field with a huge power windmill in it. I loved it. This was my second favorite place of the entire trip. It reminded me a lot of Honey and Grandpa's old farm where you might be on someone else's property, but they didn't care. You could just run around exploring and there was never and end to the things you could discover. It's great freedom and you can never get bored. I don't think the other two were as ecstatic about open land as I was.
We went back to the train station. Well station is an overstatement, went back to the bench beside the tracts. We waited an hour in the beating sun. For a train that is supposed to come every 20 minutes, there was no train. A ton of cargo trains had passed, but no speed train. So then we get this brilliant idea. Stacy says that she saw on the Girls Next Door (a show that follows Hugh Hefner's girlfriends) that you could put coins on the track and when the train runs over them, they become flattened. Well since there was no sign that said stay off tracks, we decided to try this. As the saying goes "idle hands..." We made Jan go down and put three coins on the track as Stacy and I kept watch for trains. Soon a train came and indeed the coins were gone and there was a little mark on the railing of the track. Stacy and Jan went down to look for the coins but never found them. So then we decide to put more down, as if this idea wasn't bad enough the first time. This time we put 10 dispersed between tracks going each direction. After two trains we looked for them. Jan found only one coin. Indeed it was flat! Instead of paying 51 cents to use those machines at the zoo to flatten pennies, we decided to do our own. Wouldn't suggest it again, but it was fun. Our train didn't end up coming for almost two hours.
We went back to downtown Vienna and walked around the City Center. We picked up our luggage from the hostel which was nice enough to store it and went to the train center. We had to change into our PJs in the bathroom in preparation for the night train. We had to pay 50 cents for the bathroom. This wasn't the first time either. I probably spent about $25 using bathrooms. You have to pay for all of them, even in some restaurants. Anywhere from a small donation to 1 euro.
The train ride was an adventure and a half. We ended up being in a box with 2 older Austrian ladies on a day-trip to Venice. They were likely a mom/daughter. The box had 3 chairs facing three chairs all inside a little plastic box. We were so cramped, suddenly 12 hours was looking like forever. The experience was just like in the Harry Potter movies. You are in the box, the snack cart drives by. It was surreal. Two things happened that still have Jan, Stacy, and I laughing right now.
At about midnight, we had reclined four of the chairs and made a bed for Stacy, Jan, and I. Now these ladies had taken quite a liking to Jan even though we didn't speak the same language. We were getting comfortable and readjusting. None of us had blankets since that wasn't the priority in packing. I had my jacket over my legs and I was freezing. The younger Austrian, while explaining herself in German, leans over all of us as I'm furthest from her and snatches my jacket off my legs without even looking at me, proceeds to wad it up, leans over, lifts up Jan's head, and puts it under. Then waves her arms as if she is so proud of herself for providing him with a pillow. I'm still in shock that she just snatched my jacket without asking to make Jan more comfortable. We didn't want to be rude so Jan just kept my jacket for a few hours, and I just froze for a few hours. We were all looking at each other and trying to keep from laughing. As we tried to sleep, Stacy, Jan, or I would just have random bursts of laughter that we couldn't control.
Oh no, the story gets better. This is sort of a you-had-to-be-there moment but I'll try to explain. We stopped somewhere and a ton of people got off. Stacy, Jan, and I were hoping to move to another box so we went and sat in the empty one next to ours until more people got on. We look outside and see that the younger lady (who still has to be at least 50 and is on the hefty side) was out there snapping pictures of the older lady. The old lady is just waving and smiling like look! I'm on a train. And then we hear "Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! Snap" the doors closing. And the train starts moving backwards in a hurry. The younger lady outside is just clicking away until she sees the train start moving and then she throws her camera and starts chasing after the train.
The look of shock and horror on her face was priceless. We are sitting in the box watching this unfold thinking, no way is this happening. The older lady is freaking out and she's so feeble that we try to figure it out. You can't call the captain, you can't push a button and open the doors, you can't warn someone. But then, the train switches tracks and goes forward again. The lady is bawling on the platform. Then we go back again. Jan goes forward in the train to try and figure out if he can open a door up there. The train goes forward to a different platform. Jan is able to pry open the hydraulic door just enough the lady can squeeze in. Her hair is crazy, her cheeks are wet with tears, and her face is flushed and she kissed us all on the cheeks saying "danke" (thankyou).
Here we are trying to reinact the photo, her realization that the train was leaving, and chasing it down...
And what do you know, people got on the train, and we had to move back into the box with them. We slept maybe two hours that night. We got to Venice in the morning still laughing about these women.
We finally found our hostel after lugging our bags in direct sunlight for probably two hours. This is due to the hostel making up their own address. They list it as 9-11. The city is in blocks 1-16 and each of those blocks has suites 1-20. It is logical to think that it was on block nine, suite 11. Oh no, it's on block 16. There is no 9 or 11 at all in the address. After finding our hostel we walked around downtown and didn't really see as many of the sites as we would have liked but we were only in Vienna one night and the next day was reserved for the countryside.
We paid 9 euros for a train and the lady at the train station specifically asked why we were going to whatever town Steve had suggested. She pointed out that there was literally nothing there. Taking Steve's word over hers, we said we would like to see for ourselves. Haha! What a joke. We got off the train, there was a tumbleweed blowing across the tracks. When she said nothing, she meant nothing. As in no mountains, embankments, stairs, terrace farms, foothills, a butte, a steppe, or raised ground of any kind. The town wasn't even quaint. At this point we are furious at Steve because it's 12pm and it's too late to restructure our day. Jan suggested that he saw some hills at the stop before this so we got back on the train and went back a stop. And we arrived in Parma, Idaho. Well not exactly, but this town had the same kind of a feel. Stacy was really disappointed but we tried to make the best of a bad situation.
Talk about country. We had to walk about a mile on this path beside the road (which had no lines). There were deer leaping through the farm fields. There were rabbits the size of a medium dog munching on the crops. We saw maybe one car but at least four tractors in the time that it took us to get to the first neighborhood. Well by first, I mean the only neighborhood. The sun was beating down on us. We decided to climb the hills which were basically foothills (Stacy referred to as little humps). We walked through the neighborhood and came to a path leading up a "hump." Needless to say we weren't calling it a hump as we were gasping for breath and sweating profusely while trying to walk up it. The path led through a vineyard, a patch of trees, and to a field with a huge power windmill in it. I loved it. This was my second favorite place of the entire trip. It reminded me a lot of Honey and Grandpa's old farm where you might be on someone else's property, but they didn't care. You could just run around exploring and there was never and end to the things you could discover. It's great freedom and you can never get bored. I don't think the other two were as ecstatic about open land as I was. We went back to the train station. Well station is an overstatement, went back to the bench beside the tracts. We waited an hour in the beating sun. For a train that is supposed to come every 20 minutes, there was no train. A ton of cargo trains had passed, but no speed train. So then we get this brilliant idea. Stacy says that she saw on the Girls Next Door (a show that follows Hugh Hefner's girlfriends) that you could put coins on the track and when the train runs over them, they become flattened. Well since there was no sign that said stay off tracks, we decided to try this. As the saying goes "idle hands..." We made Jan go down and put three coins on the track as Stacy and I kept watch for trains. Soon a train came and indeed the coins were gone and there was a little mark on the railing of the track. Stacy and Jan went down to look for the coins but never found them. So then we decide to put more down, as if this idea wasn't bad enough the first time. This time we put 10 dispersed between tracks going each direction. After two trains we looked for them. Jan found only one coin. Indeed it was flat! Instead of paying 51 cents to use those machines at the zoo to flatten pennies, we decided to do our own. Wouldn't suggest it again, but it was fun. Our train didn't end up coming for almost two hours.
We went back to downtown Vienna and walked around the City Center. We picked up our luggage from the hostel which was nice enough to store it and went to the train center. We had to change into our PJs in the bathroom in preparation for the night train. We had to pay 50 cents for the bathroom. This wasn't the first time either. I probably spent about $25 using bathrooms. You have to pay for all of them, even in some restaurants. Anywhere from a small donation to 1 euro.
The train ride was an adventure and a half. We ended up being in a box with 2 older Austrian ladies on a day-trip to Venice. They were likely a mom/daughter. The box had 3 chairs facing three chairs all inside a little plastic box. We were so cramped, suddenly 12 hours was looking like forever. The experience was just like in the Harry Potter movies. You are in the box, the snack cart drives by. It was surreal. Two things happened that still have Jan, Stacy, and I laughing right now.
At about midnight, we had reclined four of the chairs and made a bed for Stacy, Jan, and I. Now these ladies had taken quite a liking to Jan even though we didn't speak the same language. We were getting comfortable and readjusting. None of us had blankets since that wasn't the priority in packing. I had my jacket over my legs and I was freezing. The younger Austrian, while explaining herself in German, leans over all of us as I'm furthest from her and snatches my jacket off my legs without even looking at me, proceeds to wad it up, leans over, lifts up Jan's head, and puts it under. Then waves her arms as if she is so proud of herself for providing him with a pillow. I'm still in shock that she just snatched my jacket without asking to make Jan more comfortable. We didn't want to be rude so Jan just kept my jacket for a few hours, and I just froze for a few hours. We were all looking at each other and trying to keep from laughing. As we tried to sleep, Stacy, Jan, or I would just have random bursts of laughter that we couldn't control.
Oh no, the story gets better. This is sort of a you-had-to-be-there moment but I'll try to explain. We stopped somewhere and a ton of people got off. Stacy, Jan, and I were hoping to move to another box so we went and sat in the empty one next to ours until more people got on. We look outside and see that the younger lady (who still has to be at least 50 and is on the hefty side) was out there snapping pictures of the older lady. The old lady is just waving and smiling like look! I'm on a train. And then we hear "Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! Snap" the doors closing. And the train starts moving backwards in a hurry. The younger lady outside is just clicking away until she sees the train start moving and then she throws her camera and starts chasing after the train.
The look of shock and horror on her face was priceless. We are sitting in the box watching this unfold thinking, no way is this happening. The older lady is freaking out and she's so feeble that we try to figure it out. You can't call the captain, you can't push a button and open the doors, you can't warn someone. But then, the train switches tracks and goes forward again. The lady is bawling on the platform. Then we go back again. Jan goes forward in the train to try and figure out if he can open a door up there. The train goes forward to a different platform. Jan is able to pry open the hydraulic door just enough the lady can squeeze in. Her hair is crazy, her cheeks are wet with tears, and her face is flushed and she kissed us all on the cheeks saying "danke" (thankyou).
Here we are trying to reinact the photo, her realization that the train was leaving, and chasing it down...And what do you know, people got on the train, and we had to move back into the box with them. We slept maybe two hours that night. We got to Venice in the morning still laughing about these women.
4.07 Prague/Praha
Czech me out!
Prior to the trip, we bought Eurail passes. These are passes to use the trains that connect the countries. We did four countries and five travel days. This is important because it becomes very important while restructuring our trip. We decided not to reserve hostels (which ended up being a good and bad thing) because, although we had a rough estimate of how many days we wanted to spend in each place, we didn't want to restrict ourselves if we wanted to stay longer, or limit ourselves if we wanted to leave earlier.
We took the train from Berlin to Prague. It was about 4.5 hours travel time. My first impression was not good. The train allows you to see the countryside a bit more. What I saw was scary. Old houses with the brick was literally discintigrating, and they had broken windows and graffiti everywhere. Really, buidlings that should have been condemmed, but it was almost as if the country was too poor to demolish them, so they remained, wasting away. This was not the only place graffiti was prevalent. In Naples, they had graffiti that had a date of 1987 that the city had yet to clean up. Everything that wasn't moving in Berlin was graffitied. It's like the city knows that people will keep tagging stuff if they fix it, so they just don't even try to clean or repaint the walls and trains.
When we got off the train, I found myself wondering if the Czech Republic was a second-world country. Unlike everywhere else we went, the signs were not in both English and Czech. Their language is so different that you can't even guess what the signs meant. We found our hostel which was decent, and huge. There must have been at least 50 rooms of 8 people each. We met an English soccer (football) team which was cool. While introducing ourselves, they mentioned that someone else was at our hostel who was also studying in Hatfield from America. Turns out that is was a group of guys we knew! Small world. Spencer, Zac, Adam, and Nick who are part of our same exchange program. We hung out with them and the soccer team and went to a small club which cleared out. The DJ ended up just playing really American rock songs to entertain us.
The next day, we met up with the boys we knew and decided to go to the street fair in Old Town. We went wild eating the vendor food. It was amazing. There was pikle which are mini churros and trdelnik which is traditional cake that they cook in a spiral on a spit and then you can get it with stuff in it. Speaking of traditional foods, Europeans LOVE their Nutella. It comes on everything: waffles- Paris, their version of funnel cake- Czech, gelato-Italy, donuts- Germany.
Jan, Stacy, and I walked through New Town looking for a grocery store. This is where clubs and shopping and the more recent establishments are. While there, there were a group of monks singing and dancing, so we joined in. Now we tell everyone we were in a parade. We wanted to take a bike tour of the city. As we were at the bike shop, we looked outside and it was raining heavily. It had also done this on the first night, apparently Prague is subject to sudden weather changes. We ended up having to hide out at a pub. Although our friends told us stuff was so cheap in Prague because they use crowns, it turned out not to be true. There are about 20 crowns in a dollar and stuff was proportionally priced. Dinner would be abotu 200+ crows at their equivalent of Chillis, so it didn't end up being cheaper at all. At many places they also accepted euros, yet Czech Repub won't just switch to euros even though they are in the EU. Must be some political thing going on that I am missing.
We wanted to experience some of the nightlife so we went home and got out of our wet clothes and at night we came back out with the boys we knew from school and went to a Cuban restaurant. It was a happening place, I loved the atmosphere. They had live music and live girls doing salsa dancing. The boys got Cuban cigars, I got ice cream. Then we went to the casino. There were surprisingly a lot of them. However, they aren't as big as the casinos in Vegas. They are just small establishments. The boys played Blackjack, Stacy and I watched.
The last day, we went back to Old Town where the historical buildings are. We saw the Clock Tower, Charles Bridge, and the Prague Castle. On Charles Bridge, we saw a bunch of people rubbing a certain place on a statue. The paint was clearly worn off there, so these weren't the first people to touch it. We asked people why they were doing that and no one seemed to know. So... like true tourists, we did it too and even took pictures. Finally one lady was like I think it's for good luck. This just goes to prove the point that you can get a few people to do anything and tourists will follow thinking that it's something important. My philosophy is that I didn't care about so I just stood to the back until our group was done observing. If I didn't know anything about the history of something, I didn't act like it was lifechanging just to see it. 1/4 of learning is to see or tour a site, but 3/4 of it is knowing the significance of that site. But we started thinking that it might have really been good luck because Stacy, the only one who half way believed it, found 200 Budapests within five mintues of rubbing the statue and 400 crowns within 30 minutes, both on the ground. Makes me wonder....
We went to the Prague Castle next. It was beautiful! We sat in the courtyard for at least an hour just dozing off and relaxing. Then we saw a bunch of media standing around and realized that there were secret service cars and a ton of guards. Once again, like true tourists we were like something important must be happening. So we stopped and waited for a few minutes. In fact something very important was happening. We found out later that Jan Fisher had just been appointed Prime Minister http://www.euronews.net/2009/04/09/interim-czech-pm-appointed/ and that all those crews had shown up just to see him exit from the building. So, I have seen the new Czech Prime Minister from about 40 feet away. He waved to the cameras, and just like the US media, they were shouting questions at him but he just got in his car and left.
This night we were in seach of traditional Czech food and we found it at a restarant named Kelt. It was a little hole-in-the-wall and they serve food by weight. You order 200 grams of chicken and 20 grams of butter and so on. I got a baked potato with cheese and chicken steak smothered in ham, cheese, and some gravy. It was amazing!
The next morning we got up and got on a train to Vienna, Austria. At this point, I'm beginning to adjust to living out of a bag, walking at least 8 hours a day, and always being on the move. I have also noticed that all these countries have rivers. But instead of the river bank having trees and being set apart from the city, these cities just make the rivers into canals and build right up next to them. Also, people will make out in public, they take it way past kissing. This has been the case everywhere but Britain so far.
4.04 Berlin
Berlin, Germany was our first stop of our break. Stacy, Jansher (who is male and we refer to as "Jan" pronounced John so don't get confused) and I pulled an all nighter before catching the bus to the airport at 3am Saturday morning. We were half pumped up with anticipation and half exhausted, and half still packing... well thats 1.5. It was like the night before Christmas! We kept yelling "We are going to Berlin" randomly.
We got on the bus at 3am and caught our flight at 650am. Me and 35 pounds of my life in a rolley bag (that's as heavy as our luggage could be). We always have the same bus driver, he drives the bus like it's a Ferrari or something so we call him Captain Hugh because he always gets you to your destination about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. When he saw us again he said, "Wow you guys have too much time on your hands to be traveling so much." Of course, we spent the entire bus ride fearing for our lives. Our flight landed just past 9am at Shonefeld Airport in Berlin. Now I was fairly lucky in my packing, seeing as I have to self-adjust my body temperature a lot, even though the weather was supposed to be cold, I brought quite a few tank tops along with several kinds of sweaters to wear over them. Unfortunately, Jan and Stacy brought long sleeves, scarves at coats. Just our luck, it was about 70 degrees everywhere we traveled except one day in Rome. The heatwave hit us right out of the airport. Thank goodness for Jan, he ended up doing most of the navigating. We found the train pretty easily, and took it to our hostel. On the train (which luckily we bought tickets for) a lady who was wearing a NASCAR jacket and some other interesting clothes comes up to me and starts, what to me seemed like, yelling in German and holding out some card. I just looked up at her with big scared eyes because I thought she was going to attack me or something. Stacy was like I think she wants to see your ticket. As soon as the lady heard Stacy speaking English she said "ticket please" in a very pleasant voice. We laugh about it now but it was traumatizing for our first hour in a new country.
Our hostel was really nice. As we look back over the trip, we didn't think the first one was that nice at the time, but after staying in some other interesting places, we decided it was actually really nice. We had an eight person room with just the three of us in it. It had big windows and really comfortable beds, which we immediately took a nap in upon arrival. The staff was friendly and spoke English, hot showers, TV for Jan and I to catch up on our world news, and everything was just really updated.
We got up and walked around downtown Berlin. We went to what's left of the Berlin Wall. Of all the old buildings/statues/other things we saw on the trip, this moved me the most, it actually stands for something, and something scarily recent. Perhaps because it is the event that I had the most background in. I don't know, but I do know that the wall made me feel triumphant. Not because I had anything to do with it coming down, but it gave my cynical self a tiny bit of faith in humanity. I was proud of the people that said no, this is not right. I even bought a piece of the Wall at the official Wall information booth, it was my one and only souvenir from the trip. I literally posess a piece of history. I smiled about it all day until we looked at the junky souvenir shops to find they all sold pieces of the wall. Somehow it made it less unique because everyone else can have a piece too.
Then we passed the Holocaust Memorial (http://www.holocaust-mahnmal.de/en) which I didn't know about. Everyone says to go see the Wall, but everyone should see this as well. It's a series of raised rectangles. It's hard to describe, but really powerful to see. There were 2,711 of these rectangles to comemorate the 6 million victims. Even if there was only one victim for each grave-sized block, the visual representation shows you that that would be a lot. Then imagine how many victims there really were, their graves would have probably covered the whole country of Germany.
The second day we set off to the Berlin Zoo. On the way, the only road we could take was blocked off because at least 30,000 people were running a race. We waited for five mintues, and looked back down the road to find that it was still solid people. So Stacy came up with a good idea, if we can't beat them, join them.. well not quite. Since we couldn't just walk across because people would run straight into us, we decided to go down the street a block and start running with the people and make our way to the other side of the road. So that is just what we did. Our out of shape behinds, me with my huge purse, made it to the other side of the road huffing and puffing. To this day, we tell people that we ran the Berlin Marathon. It's little adventures like these that will bond Stacy, Jan and I together forever. Of course, my goal at the zoo was to see my favorite animal, an elephant! This is where we got our first taste of how the Europeans line up... there is no line, everyone just rushes the ticket counter. If you aren't pushy and demanding to the ticket seller, you'll never get into the zoo. Good thing we had Jan.
This is also where we got a taste of how laid-back parenting is in Europe. First of all, it is clear they aren't sue happy here, because I've seen plenty of things that the U.S. would have codes and regulations about. For instance, there was a patch of picnicing grass leading to a steep hill leading down to a pond. Instead of a large, metal fence, or trees that you would likely see in the U.S., there was simply a 6 inch high, tiny rope. And what would you know, there was an 18 month old baby climbing over the rope while her parents had their backs turned. I don't know what ended up happening to her. We also saw a four year old boy who had climbed onto the other side of the fence around the hippo cage. He was hanging about 15 feet above ground inside the cage. I was standing there shocked, and look and see his parents about 100 feet away, glancing at him occasionally. There were many more instances of kids running amuck in a dangerous fashion and parents being very nonchalont about it.
Next we went to the Olympiastadion- Olympic Stadium, where "Hitler's Olympics" in 1936 were held. The stadium was nothing too special, it was just that Hitler is such a touchy subject, it was odd that the world would support having the olympics in Germany. You notice little things like the entrance to the sports center origionally had everyone involved in the project's names, including Hitler and some of his associates. A tiny sign stated this and said they were removed sometime later. I still haven't decided if you should change history like that. It seems like that's how these kind of things are forgotten, if you erased everything about Hitler and what Germany did, then you are just giving those that say the Holocaust never existed more amunition because the proof is erased. I think that they should have left Hitler's name up to let that be a lesson to all, his people thought he was so great at the time, building a huge stadium, making Germany a strong country. One day a hero, next day evil, so we should alway be suspicious of our leaders, even if they are doing great things right now.
On our third day in Berlin, we walked by the Parliament building. At this point, traveling fatigue had bebun to set in a bit. We didn't want to move from the sunny steps. Then we went to the German History Museum. While Stacy, a history major, was interested in the stuff from WWII, I was more interested in the acient history. Thanks Mr. Arnold for teaching me Western Civilization. Vocabulary such as patricians, lords and vassels of the Feudal system, came in handy. There were some interesting things that made me ask a lot of questions. There was a 14th century bone saddle, they used saddles back then? 1338 gold coin with the emperor Ludwig IV on it, they had money back then? I thought they just traded goods. Diet of Worms banned Martin Luther's three publications, however, there were already a half million (HAND WRITTEN) copies in circulation. Hand written? Get out. 1579 Ortelius began making maps, how is that possible without topography? I also learned of old medical practices. In 1600/1700, during the plague, doctors wore masks shaped like beaks covered in herbs or with a vinegar soaked sponge to filter the air.
I wondered how the museum got all this really old, random stuff. I was also asking myself, how are there enough artifacts to go around? There seem to be a lot of museums, with all their artifacts combined, it almost seems like you could put civilizations back together. After the museum, we went and sat on the lawn of the Berliner Dom Cathedral http://www.aviewoncities.com/berlin/dom.htm. This seemed to be the central park. Here is where you learn the most about a culture, people watching. Then we happened upon the U.S. Embassy. We only noticed it because there was a U.S. flag and a bunch of protesters from Sri Lanka who were angry at Barak Obama for not giving them aid and stopping the genocide in their country.
I, yes I the pickiest eater of all time, had Greek food. Jan's suggestion and it was amazing. I had lamb chops and Greek baked potatoes. We learned another thing, you have to order a drink. At one restaurant we asked for tap water and the lady said that it only comes when you order something else to drink. But yet it's rude if you don't have anything in your glass at all, and if you ask for bottled water, it's usually the fizzing, sparkling kind. We made all of these mistakes. What is worse than having to pay for bottled water? Realizing that it's fizzy when you get it so you don't end up drinking it at all, and still paying for it. At this particular Greek place, we asked for tap water and the guy brought bottled water anyway, other restaurants said they "don't have tap water." After paying 2.50 Euros every time we ate, we finally decided that if we were going to be charged one way or another, we'd just order soda (which doesn't come with free refills). So I ended up drinking a lot of soda over the course of the trip.
Stacy went to be really early every night, and Jan and I got quite fond of staying up and watching CNN World news. Due to this and all the other experiences in Berlin, I started feeling quite in touch with the world. After coming back home and reflecting over the trip, Berlin was by far my favorite city. I would definitely go there again.
We got on the bus at 3am and caught our flight at 650am. Me and 35 pounds of my life in a rolley bag (that's as heavy as our luggage could be). We always have the same bus driver, he drives the bus like it's a Ferrari or something so we call him Captain Hugh because he always gets you to your destination about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. When he saw us again he said, "Wow you guys have too much time on your hands to be traveling so much." Of course, we spent the entire bus ride fearing for our lives. Our flight landed just past 9am at Shonefeld Airport in Berlin. Now I was fairly lucky in my packing, seeing as I have to self-adjust my body temperature a lot, even though the weather was supposed to be cold, I brought quite a few tank tops along with several kinds of sweaters to wear over them. Unfortunately, Jan and Stacy brought long sleeves, scarves at coats. Just our luck, it was about 70 degrees everywhere we traveled except one day in Rome. The heatwave hit us right out of the airport. Thank goodness for Jan, he ended up doing most of the navigating. We found the train pretty easily, and took it to our hostel. On the train (which luckily we bought tickets for) a lady who was wearing a NASCAR jacket and some other interesting clothes comes up to me and starts, what to me seemed like, yelling in German and holding out some card. I just looked up at her with big scared eyes because I thought she was going to attack me or something. Stacy was like I think she wants to see your ticket. As soon as the lady heard Stacy speaking English she said "ticket please" in a very pleasant voice. We laugh about it now but it was traumatizing for our first hour in a new country.
Our hostel was really nice. As we look back over the trip, we didn't think the first one was that nice at the time, but after staying in some other interesting places, we decided it was actually really nice. We had an eight person room with just the three of us in it. It had big windows and really comfortable beds, which we immediately took a nap in upon arrival. The staff was friendly and spoke English, hot showers, TV for Jan and I to catch up on our world news, and everything was just really updated.
We got up and walked around downtown Berlin. We went to what's left of the Berlin Wall. Of all the old buildings/statues/other things we saw on the trip, this moved me the most, it actually stands for something, and something scarily recent. Perhaps because it is the event that I had the most background in. I don't know, but I do know that the wall made me feel triumphant. Not because I had anything to do with it coming down, but it gave my cynical self a tiny bit of faith in humanity. I was proud of the people that said no, this is not right. I even bought a piece of the Wall at the official Wall information booth, it was my one and only souvenir from the trip. I literally posess a piece of history. I smiled about it all day until we looked at the junky souvenir shops to find they all sold pieces of the wall. Somehow it made it less unique because everyone else can have a piece too.
Then we passed the Holocaust Memorial (http://www.holocaust-mahnmal.de/en) which I didn't know about. Everyone says to go see the Wall, but everyone should see this as well. It's a series of raised rectangles. It's hard to describe, but really powerful to see. There were 2,711 of these rectangles to comemorate the 6 million victims. Even if there was only one victim for each grave-sized block, the visual representation shows you that that would be a lot. Then imagine how many victims there really were, their graves would have probably covered the whole country of Germany.
The second day we set off to the Berlin Zoo. On the way, the only road we could take was blocked off because at least 30,000 people were running a race. We waited for five mintues, and looked back down the road to find that it was still solid people. So Stacy came up with a good idea, if we can't beat them, join them.. well not quite. Since we couldn't just walk across because people would run straight into us, we decided to go down the street a block and start running with the people and make our way to the other side of the road. So that is just what we did. Our out of shape behinds, me with my huge purse, made it to the other side of the road huffing and puffing. To this day, we tell people that we ran the Berlin Marathon. It's little adventures like these that will bond Stacy, Jan and I together forever. Of course, my goal at the zoo was to see my favorite animal, an elephant! This is where we got our first taste of how the Europeans line up... there is no line, everyone just rushes the ticket counter. If you aren't pushy and demanding to the ticket seller, you'll never get into the zoo. Good thing we had Jan.
This is also where we got a taste of how laid-back parenting is in Europe. First of all, it is clear they aren't sue happy here, because I've seen plenty of things that the U.S. would have codes and regulations about. For instance, there was a patch of picnicing grass leading to a steep hill leading down to a pond. Instead of a large, metal fence, or trees that you would likely see in the U.S., there was simply a 6 inch high, tiny rope. And what would you know, there was an 18 month old baby climbing over the rope while her parents had their backs turned. I don't know what ended up happening to her. We also saw a four year old boy who had climbed onto the other side of the fence around the hippo cage. He was hanging about 15 feet above ground inside the cage. I was standing there shocked, and look and see his parents about 100 feet away, glancing at him occasionally. There were many more instances of kids running amuck in a dangerous fashion and parents being very nonchalont about it.
Next we went to the Olympiastadion- Olympic Stadium, where "Hitler's Olympics" in 1936 were held. The stadium was nothing too special, it was just that Hitler is such a touchy subject, it was odd that the world would support having the olympics in Germany. You notice little things like the entrance to the sports center origionally had everyone involved in the project's names, including Hitler and some of his associates. A tiny sign stated this and said they were removed sometime later. I still haven't decided if you should change history like that. It seems like that's how these kind of things are forgotten, if you erased everything about Hitler and what Germany did, then you are just giving those that say the Holocaust never existed more amunition because the proof is erased. I think that they should have left Hitler's name up to let that be a lesson to all, his people thought he was so great at the time, building a huge stadium, making Germany a strong country. One day a hero, next day evil, so we should alway be suspicious of our leaders, even if they are doing great things right now.
On our third day in Berlin, we walked by the Parliament building. At this point, traveling fatigue had bebun to set in a bit. We didn't want to move from the sunny steps. Then we went to the German History Museum. While Stacy, a history major, was interested in the stuff from WWII, I was more interested in the acient history. Thanks Mr. Arnold for teaching me Western Civilization. Vocabulary such as patricians, lords and vassels of the Feudal system, came in handy. There were some interesting things that made me ask a lot of questions. There was a 14th century bone saddle, they used saddles back then? 1338 gold coin with the emperor Ludwig IV on it, they had money back then? I thought they just traded goods. Diet of Worms banned Martin Luther's three publications, however, there were already a half million (HAND WRITTEN) copies in circulation. Hand written? Get out. 1579 Ortelius began making maps, how is that possible without topography? I also learned of old medical practices. In 1600/1700, during the plague, doctors wore masks shaped like beaks covered in herbs or with a vinegar soaked sponge to filter the air.
I wondered how the museum got all this really old, random stuff. I was also asking myself, how are there enough artifacts to go around? There seem to be a lot of museums, with all their artifacts combined, it almost seems like you could put civilizations back together. After the museum, we went and sat on the lawn of the Berliner Dom Cathedral http://www.aviewoncities.com/berlin/dom.htm. This seemed to be the central park. Here is where you learn the most about a culture, people watching. Then we happened upon the U.S. Embassy. We only noticed it because there was a U.S. flag and a bunch of protesters from Sri Lanka who were angry at Barak Obama for not giving them aid and stopping the genocide in their country.
I, yes I the pickiest eater of all time, had Greek food. Jan's suggestion and it was amazing. I had lamb chops and Greek baked potatoes. We learned another thing, you have to order a drink. At one restaurant we asked for tap water and the lady said that it only comes when you order something else to drink. But yet it's rude if you don't have anything in your glass at all, and if you ask for bottled water, it's usually the fizzing, sparkling kind. We made all of these mistakes. What is worse than having to pay for bottled water? Realizing that it's fizzy when you get it so you don't end up drinking it at all, and still paying for it. At this particular Greek place, we asked for tap water and the guy brought bottled water anyway, other restaurants said they "don't have tap water." After paying 2.50 Euros every time we ate, we finally decided that if we were going to be charged one way or another, we'd just order soda (which doesn't come with free refills). So I ended up drinking a lot of soda over the course of the trip.
Stacy went to be really early every night, and Jan and I got quite fond of staying up and watching CNN World news. Due to this and all the other experiences in Berlin, I started feeling quite in touch with the world. After coming back home and reflecting over the trip, Berlin was by far my favorite city. I would definitely go there again.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Los tres amigos are off on an adventure
I'm going to be gone April 4-25 on Easter Break. Yes.. they really give us a three week break. Jansher, Stacy, and I will be traveling to four countries. We are flying to Berlin, Germany. From there we are taking the Eurail train to Prague, Czech Republic. No one was that excited about it when we were making these plans a month and a half ago. In fact, I had to demand that it be put on the itinerary. For some odd reason I just really wanted to go there. Since then, many of the exchange students have come back and said that it's amazing! So now we are all really excited to go. We plan to spend about three days in each of these places. Then we are off to Vienna, Austria. The reviews have said it's not so great and there isn't much to do there, so we will probably only stay 1.5 days or so. Although, that is the beauty of having an open train ticket and not pre-booking hostels. If we like one place, we can stay as long as we want, if we don't like somewhere, we can move on. We have no itinerary, just our maps and cameras!
Then we are going to Venice, but we've heard it's a romantic city. Too bad Stacy and I will only be there with Jansher! Haha. We'll stay there a few days. We are going to make a day stop to Pisa to eat PIZZA and see the Leaning Tower. Then we are off to Rome, where we hope to have about five days. One of the girls we've met here is Italian and she lives in Rome. We are hoping to meet up with her and have her show us around a couple of the days. Also, she suggested restaurants and stuff for us. That's great to have a native tell you all the great little, and often overlooked, spots. We fly out of Rome on Saturday to come back to Hatfield
At first I wasn't that excited. We were making plans and it was very matter-of-fact. I'm still contemplating on how to fit clothing for all four seasons for 21 days in a bag that I can carry for indefinite amounts of time... perplexing. Then as the trip was only days away, I was getting supplies, and thinking omg! I'm backpacking through Europe. When people graduate from high-school, they often say they are going to do great things such as this, but never get to it. I mean in 14 hours I will be off on a trip BACKPACKING THROUGH EUROPE!!!!!!!!!!! By myself, well not by myself, but certainly not with one of my parents. Luckily, Stacy and I are bringing with us 200+ pounds of our own, personal body guard. We'll be safe. It will be an adventure. Right now I feel like it's Christmas Eve, you are so excited you can't sleep, but if you don't sleep, it will seem like forever until Christmas day. Well at 3am begins "Christmas."
Then we are going to Venice, but we've heard it's a romantic city. Too bad Stacy and I will only be there with Jansher! Haha. We'll stay there a few days. We are going to make a day stop to Pisa to eat PIZZA and see the Leaning Tower. Then we are off to Rome, where we hope to have about five days. One of the girls we've met here is Italian and she lives in Rome. We are hoping to meet up with her and have her show us around a couple of the days. Also, she suggested restaurants and stuff for us. That's great to have a native tell you all the great little, and often overlooked, spots. We fly out of Rome on Saturday to come back to Hatfield
At first I wasn't that excited. We were making plans and it was very matter-of-fact. I'm still contemplating on how to fit clothing for all four seasons for 21 days in a bag that I can carry for indefinite amounts of time... perplexing. Then as the trip was only days away, I was getting supplies, and thinking omg! I'm backpacking through Europe. When people graduate from high-school, they often say they are going to do great things such as this, but never get to it. I mean in 14 hours I will be off on a trip BACKPACKING THROUGH EUROPE!!!!!!!!!!! By myself, well not by myself, but certainly not with one of my parents. Luckily, Stacy and I are bringing with us 200+ pounds of our own, personal body guard. We'll be safe. It will be an adventure. Right now I feel like it's Christmas Eve, you are so excited you can't sleep, but if you don't sleep, it will seem like forever until Christmas day. Well at 3am begins "Christmas."
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