Venezia!!

So day 3: Wake up and go to the train station. It's starting to be a theme. We were all so tired and our feet hurt so bad, I'm sure we were all a little tempted to just take a train all the way back to Vienna. But I'm SOOO glad we didn't! Venice was my favorite place of the three. Well except for the part where I forgot a cute little watercolor in the train station that I bought for Nina and Grandpa Joe. It was of Florence and I really liked it :( I almost cried on the train I was so sad.

But anyways, it's remarkable to step right off the train and be literally a few yards from the Grand Canal. It's really something. There really are no roads or cars to speak of. Everything has to be done by hand or hauled around on a boat. I really noticed it with all of the street cleaners. They had only huge bristled brooms and little hand carts. Anyways, we got out of the station and bought tickets for the Vaparettos. They're like the city bus, but on water. So therefore more expensive. But it was great to have a mini-tour of the city while just riding the boat. We motored for about 45 minutes through the city gliding by gondolas, old crumbly houses, piers, bridges, and water taxis. It was crazy when the boat stopped to let people on and off--the captain would run from the cabin and throw ropes around moors and then yank the boat over to the dock. Usually we would make it with a huge THUD and everyone would kind of topple over on each other from the impact. You could definitely tell the seasoned travelers from the newbies :)








Our main stop was St. Marco's square. It had the big cathedral and the Palace. It was so packed and full of tourists, which makes sense because it's the biggest square in all of Venice. A natural place for everyone to stand around. We waited for about an hour just walking around all of the tourist booths and small little streets and bridges waiting for the cathedral to open. When it did it was amazing. So beautiful. I was only able to snap one photo because no cameras were allowed. But the place was huge and literally covered in gold. All of the domes and everything were golden. Put a lot of other cathedrals to shame, haha.








Outside there were a TON of pigeons. Apparently they are world famous for pretty much attacking you if you had bread. So of course I borrowed some bread from Robin and smushed it in my hands. Here was the result:



Pretty sweet.

Next we ventured into the Doge Palace and toured the rooms of the ruling family of Venice. It was pretty cool, but if you've seen the Royal Palace and the Schoenbrunn in Vienna, this really isn't anything new. We eventually started jogging through the palace just trying to find the prison and the Bridge of Sighs. The Bridge of Sighs is the little bridge that connects the palace to the prison. Apparently the prisoners being led off to a life in prison would sigh as they crossed the bridge as they caught their last glimpse of Venice. Romantic :)








After the palace we milled around the square for a bit, hunting for souvenirs. I bought a cute Tshirt for Kenzie as we made our way back to the water taxi/bus thing. We decided enroute to visit the Peggy Guggenheim Modern Art Museum that was nestled right up on the Grand Canal. It was a well stocked little private collection of Pollacks, Picassos, Miro, and lots of others. I really liked it, especially the ridiculous little statues out on the porch (if you could even call it a "porch" since it opened out literally onto the canal). It was so cute even getting to the museum. We had to walk around little neighborhoods and shops and walkways that lined gorgeous little canals. It was here that I really felt like I was in Venice. Tall houses tucked against lazy little canals. Sleeping gondaliers resting in their boats with their straw hats pulled down over their faces. Faded buildings whose only occupants were bright little flower boxes. I love Venice.









Later we stopped of course by the Rialto bridge and walked over it. It was cool, but not terribly interesting to those who have no idea why its that important :) The rest of the day was spent wandering little backstreets, gawking at the stands selling inappropriate ties with naked women on the backs, and wandering in and out of churches we found. We saw the garbage collectors with their big brooms and hand carts and wondered how in the world garbage collection is done without any roads or trucks. It's done entirely by manpower I guess. I also really wanted to visit an old church that had its original Titian pieces still hanging in it, but it closed before we can find it. Oh well. I loved the little streets and the wandering anyways :)







With one last gelato and a Bellini toast to Venice on the docks of the Grand Canal, we left Venice and Italy on one of the longest, smelliest, and most cramped train ever. With 4 of us and some poor unfortunate Italian all smooshed in one tiny car trying to sleep. We ended up pulling all of the seats out and sprawling while this guy just tried to sit and sleep against the window. I'm pretty sure Anna's feet were in my face about 90% of the night. We all thought that each car was this way, but nearly every other car had only one or two occupants. And of course we found this out around dawn :)



A great ending to a great trip. Italy: 3 cities, 3 days. This was amazing.

Firenze!

In the morning we dragged ourselves out of bed around 8:00am (well SOME of us, I accidentally got up at 5am because someone called the phone I was using as an alarm and I thought it was the alarm going off) and hauled our stuff to the train station. We caught the 9am bullet train to Florence which was sooo expensive, but at least we got there ok. I was the only one not traveling with a Eurrail Pass (it gets you about 10 days of travel for around $500), but since the others didn't know they had to reserve a seat it cost them nearly as much in fees when the conductor came around.

We arrived just after 10:30am in Florence! I was so excited to be here because I know how much Nina said she loved it and wanted to visit. We found our hostel, the David Inn, and actually got our own room to ourselves. It was so nice and peaceful for a change. We were also only 1/2 a block from the Accademia with Michaelangelo's David!

We started off our morning going to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. It was AMAZING. The entire structure is made of this greenish type stone with all sorts of interesting designs. It was spectacular. And not only that, it was HUGE. It was an entire block all by itself. No kidding. This was the cathedral that Michaelangelo was inspired by to build St. Peter's in the Vatican. It was just amazing. We waited for about 2ominutes in line--well Robin and Myles waited while Anna, Laura, and I scampered off to find 3 Euro calzones. They were soo delicious! Definitely the best lunch so far :) Inside the cathedral was a little lack luster, not a whole lot going on. There were some beautiful windows and a neat 24-hour clock, but other than that the place just felt a little empty. The neatest part was the dome and it was blocked off from being able to walk underneath it. Oh well.

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore.

Inside.

Part of the golden door on the outside.

The huge line trying to get in.

When we left, Myles and I wanted to climb up the dome but no one else was really feeling like it. I think it was something like 463 steps. Yikes. So instead we opted for going to see Basilica di Santa Croce. It was only a few minutes walk away and I guess I had been appointed the fearless leader/navigator. I did pretty good too :) The church was also beautiful, with a large white facade and a long brick body. Inside were the tombs of soo many famous Italians. We saw the tombs of Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Donatello (at which point I turned to Anna and said "Wait I thought that theses guys were all turtles...haha"), Machiavelli, Dante, and a ton of others. It was neat. Not to mention the church was beautiful! There were fresco's everywhere and neat little chapels. Not to mention the floor was covered in tombs and headstones that had been worn down by centuries of church goers. They had the occasional grave roped off so no one could walk over it. All and all it was a really cool experience.

Basilica di Santi Croce.

Me in front of the huge door!

Tomb of Leonardo DaVinci.

The sweet floor with all of the tombs you can walk over.

After that we walked over to the Accademia for our 2pm appointment to see the David. We had heard that getting a reservation a few weeks ahead of time was a good idea even if it cost a little extra. We had heard that the lines to get in would sometimes be up to 2 hours long. So we played it safe and bought tickets ahead of time. Turns out the line was only about 1/2 and hour long. Oh well, I think it was the poor weather forecast that turned people away from travelling that weekend. We got inside, saw a few other works of art and then turned the corner to see the David. It was HUGE. At least 10 feet tall. I never thought it would be that big. And it was amazing. You could walk all the way around it. There were no photos allowed, but we all covered Myles while he used his iPhone to snap a picture :) Besides the David there wasn't a whole lot else to see there. There were a few other unfinished Michaelangelo statues, but that was about it. At least we got to see the David. It was worth it.

Some excellent gelato

A sneaky illegal photo of the David.

Next Anna and Laura went off to nap and Robin, Myles and I went to go climb the dome of the big cathedral. It takes you to 3 different levels. It was really funny to see people dropping back like flies. You would round the corner and someone would dart up past you, and then a minute later you would see them taking a breather a few flights up. But the first main stop was in the actual dome. There was a gang plank that you walked around and could see all the frescoes up close. They were actually really funny! Most of them depicted what would happen to you in hell. There were three-headed monsters gobbling down whole people, demon dogs chasing poor guys, and and devil casting others into fire. Just the scenes you would want to see while at mass. Oh the catholics. We walked up another big flight of stairs on the outside of the dome (between the dome and the wall) and ended up on the roof. It was gorgeous!! You could see all of Florence in every direction! The dome was the tallest building in the entire city. It was magical :)

Climbing up the crazy staircase. Me, Myles, Robin.

Yeah, we climbed up these.

The awesome damn-you-all-to-hell fresco.

The view!

Looking out at the bell tower and the city.

After the ridiculously long walk back down we took a little siesta. We set out in the pouring rain to search for food. We ended up at a terrible restaurant for dinner :( I was kinda sad that our last dinner in Italy would be so bad. Kinda like going to the Spaghetti Factory. Oh well, it kinda dampened our spirits a little.

Then we wandered around and saw a replica of the David standing where it used to be and a bunch of other statues. We wandered past the Uffizi and to the river where there was a really cool covered bridge. We all took lots and lots of pictures and Laura got semi-molested by and Italian man who made her a bracelet. She told him she wouldn't pay, so he kissed her. Urrm, awkward. We then headed back to town, got a few drinks, and headed to bed.

One of the many David copies.

The Uffizi gallery.

The sweet covered bridge that has a name I don't remember.

Silly Italy building.

Drinks!

Florence, check.

The Chelsea

The other night Michy, our adorable Austrian friend, took us out! We went to near the Red Light district (haha) and had a few beers at a neat little bar under a bridge playing some crazy trance music or something. We sat and watched a few girls and the occasional guy get up and just kinda dance crazily to the music. Always eyes closed, head down, arms swirling around and around. Pretty entertaining.

We moved on after about an hour to the Chelsea. It was a fun club with lots of music, most alternative like the Killers, and definitely all American. We got up and danced for at least 2 hours. I had the time of my life! It's so much more fun to jump and dance around to this kind of music than the rap and stuff they always play at home. Around 3am I joined the first party to leave and on the way out received a rather nasty cigarette burn :( Stupid smoking in clubs people. After hunting down night buses, we made it home just as the sky was lightening.

Roma!!!

We just completed a 3 day crazy adventure in Italy. It was tiring but so amazing!!! It was pretty debatable whether or not we should have just spent 3 days in one city, but I'm so glad that we didn't. I saw so many things, and you can see a lot in a city in one day. Even Rome. Anyways, here is my Roman Holiday:

Thursday night Myles and I headed to Vienna Airport and caught an evening flight to Rome. (P.S. flying is wonderful. I'm really glad that's what we do in the U.S. Trains are awful, especially when you're poor and can't afford a sleeper car. More on this to follow.) So we zipped on down to Rome in about an hour and twenty minutes give or take. Meanwhile Anna, Laura, and Robin spent 14 hours on an overnight train. Suckers.

After paying 11 Euro for a one-way airport train we found ourselves in Roma Termini train station and walked only a couple blocks to our hostel--Chianti Hostel, very fitting. We met some really nice Americans who were just beginning their summer europe trip and gave us directions to find Trevi Fountain. We walked precisely 1/2 a block before I made Myles stop so I could buy some gelato. When in Rome...


Side Note: Its amazing just how much there is to see in Rome. Within a few blocks of our hostel, which isn't even in the main part of Rome, there were so many amazing buildings and ruin-y looking things. It is so different than Vienna, which as a historical district for sure, but you can hardly say the entire city filled with important buildings.


Anyways, after many twists, turns, and flat out wrong decisions we ended up at Trevi Fountain. It was pretty neat, especially at night even considering all of the obnoxious street vendors pushing roses in your face about every 30 seconds. We sat and bought a bottle of wine to split and nearly drank it all. Not bad. It was even a Chianti, in honor of our hostel :) We chatted, laughed at the tourists posing in front of the fountain proudly displaying their dozen roses and caricatures and slice of pizza, and before we knew it it was nearly 3 am. Good first night in Rome.





We woke up early the next morning and booked it to the train station to meet Laura, Anna, and Robin. Their train was exactly on time and we were off for our day's adventure. We started at Vatican City. IT WAS AMAZING. The museum was pretty interesting, but the best part where most of the tourists were flocking to was the Sistine Chapel. That was beautiful, but not at all like I imagined it. It was a large rectangular room with only a few doors and a flat ceiling. You had to search a little to find the famous fresco of God and David. But it was worth it. It was also fun to watch everyone milling around in this gigantic room looking straight up and bumping into each other and then filtering out the back door. Hehe. We stopped and looked and I played bodyguard while Anna and Myles snapped forbidden photos and incurred the wrath of God. After that I made everyone search the museum for the Raphael Rooms. Well worth the search though :)

Next stop was St. Peter's Square and the Basilica. The square was beautiful and lined with amazing pillars in a strange circular shape with St. Peters' on one end and another piazza directly across from it on the other. We made our way to the Basilica, double checked our dress code, and funneled our way inside. Honestly, it was one of the most incredible things I had ever seen. The scale was just out of this world. The ceilings were huge and lead into at least 3 or 4 domes. There were tombs and statues literally everywhere, and all of them gorgeous. The main alter was behind the tabernacle that rose at least 3o feet and covered the sacred ground where St. Peter is supposedly entombed. I still can't believe how amazing this place was. It took at least 20 minutes to just walk around it, not to mention actually look at anything. Just amazing.

Outside we visited the catacombs of the old Popes. Said a little hi to John Paul II and stopped to look at the room under the tabernacle where St. Peter is. Pretty amazing.

Next stop: Pantheon. We took the subway back to the city center and then took the tiniest bus imaginable towards the Pantheon. It was hysterical, especially because we had NO CLUE where we were going and no clue which stop was which. The bus ride itself was pretty funny because it was just zipping along, dodging traffic and pedestrians. The door often swung closed and smushed whoever was trying to get off the bus. It happened to a woman who then gave a particularly ugly look to the driver and slowly walked off. Our driver then slowly followed her with the bus and made some particularly Italian hand gestures to her as we drove past. A funny american (?) guy helped us, but then also got us incredibly lost. We wandered through Piazza Navona and eventually made it to the Pantheon via some ridiculous winding (and at parts confetti-filled) alley ways. But it was well worth it. The Pantheon is a circular building with clusters of Roman columns out front that formed a triangle style arch. Inside is this amazing round room that was converted into a church. The most amazing part was the ceiling which came together in a large hole, that supposedly would make the dome collapse if it was filled in. Other than the structure itself, the Pantheon wasn't particularly amazing, although it did contain the tomb of Raphael.

From there we walked toward the Roman ruins and the Colosseum and grabbed some lunch. We learned the hard way that lunch costs more if you sit inside to eat it. Oh well. We did have a nice view of the ruins. We walked to the Forum, bought a dual ticket for that and the Colosseum (thanks for the tip Rick Steves) and walked straight into the Colosseum. No line. Interestingly enough, we never really ran into any of the famed gigantic 2 hour lines. In any city. Strange.

The Colosseum was so amazing. I must sound like a broken record, but everything we saw was truly amazing. No kidding. It was a little smaller than I had thought, but it doesn't matter because the interior was the crazy part. You can hardly believe that something this amazing was built that long ago. The best part was being able to look down into the maze underneath where the original floor was and see where they kept the gladiators and the lions and stuff. Pretty cool. My favorite part was walking along the top, and waaaay over on the other side we saw this guy stand up on the stone wall and shout "IS THERE NO ONE ELSE!?!" from Gladiator. It was so funny, especially since nearly everyone in Rome seemed to be American and probably knew exactly what he was talking about. Anyways, we had a good chuckle all around. We also found an old pillar and mimicked being Roman statues. It got a little creepier when an older American man walked over and said "You know, Roman statues are usually nudes..." CREEPY!

After the Colosseum we walked over to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. We walked around for quite a bit and saw lots and lots of ruins, but we never really found the forum. We followed all of the signs, but the final path was a little blocked off. Oh well, we still think that we kinda saw them. The ruins were pretty awesome though, its incredible that they're still there. As we left we visited the Mamertine Prison where Peter the Apostle (and Paul?) where supposedly imprisoned. We went down into a little tiny room underground where there was a small depicting St. Peter baptizing the prisoners. There was even the well that miraculously sprang from the floor for the baptisms. It was a pretty moving experience...even if you don't believe it, it was pretty powerful.

After that we went out in search of St. Clementine's church. Anna's monk friend told her that it was the most beautiful church that he had seen. We had to walk back through the ruins and along the colosseum, where I purchased my souvenirs and Laura (once again) got free stuff. She bought an Italia jacket and got some boxers with depicting some rather, uhh, intimate parts of the David on them. Hehehe they're really funny. Anyways, we ended up finding the church and even hearing parts of mass in Italian. Pretty neat stuff.

Also boobies.

At about this time we were pretty much dead from all of the walking. After some rest and relaxation we grabbed some delicious delicious dinner at a cute little outdoor cafe. I had white sauce pizza with prosciutto! It was soooo goood!! After that we met Anna's friends at midnight and proceeded on a 2 MILE hike through Rome to get to Campo di Fiori for drinks. It was so ridiculous. I want to say it was worth it, but I really don't think so. Especially on the walk home. SOOO far at 3 am. But I guess the 4 shot Long Island Iced Tea helped :) Definitely took the edge off.

And that friends, was Rome.

Hundertwasserhaus

I love this house! It was created by Friedensreich Hundertwasser (literally means Hundred Waters) in the 3rd district. It was built in 1983-86, has 52 apartments, and 250 trees and bushes growing within it. Pretty neat huh?

Visit from the Eltern

Just a few pics from Dad and Sandy's visit!

Lipizzaner Stallion Arena, the most beautiful arena in Europe :)

We saw most of the show from the middle section, but snuck down to the bottom for pics.

Listening in on a concert in St. Stephen's.

Mass at St. Augustine's on Sunday morning. Music by Schubert.

Schönbrunn Palace

Getting ready to go into the mazes

Sandy led the first attempt. Didn't work out so well :)

The Gloriette

Dinner out at Ribs of Vienna

Desert at Sacher Cafe!

Drinks at a very strange Mexican Restaurant.

Haha my favorite bathroom, you can see back and forth through this fish tank.

Salzburg Day 2!

Day 2 began with a visit to dear Deutschland. I found it really funny that we were going to spend the morning in Germany. I mean really, who does that? I think I'll pop over to Bavaria for a bit, be back by lunch. Haha. Anyways, we embarked to Berchtesgaden, a little Bavarian town that housed the area's most famous Salt Mines. After several bus trips and much confusion we found our little salt mine and went in to take a tour.

On the road to Germany. This will actually be my only trip to Germany! Haha 3 months in Austria, 3 hours in Germany.

Beautiful Scenery

We made it to the salt mines!

This was easily the most fun we had on the entire trip. Not only did we get to go on a guided tour of the actual mines, but they gave us these STUNNING outfits to wear. They were like one piece workmen's coveralls. We had so much fun just laughing and trying them on taking loads of pictures. Then they loaded us all on a little train and took us down the mine shafts. We got out a little while later and just walked everywhere, looking at the equipment and being guided in German. It was a lot of fun! We even got to ride a boat across a subterranean salt lake. At the end our tour guide gave us each a little salt shaker. Haha. I now take it with me everywhere, just in case :)

Putting on our super attractive salt mine suits. Ganz attracktiv, as we would say.

Group pic! Me, Anne, Anna, Winona, Laura.

Haha, Laura and I are looking sooo good!

We got to slide down these old wooden slides! You can see it on the left side of this picture. They are actually surprisingly fast and produce a considerable amount of friction.

Yes. The walls were very salty.

Salt Lake! Underground and slightly unnerving. We got to take a boat ride across it though and then drink some of the water.

Everything is cooler when there's a lazer show involved!

On the train through the mines!

Outside the mines. Soo beautiful.

When we finally got back to Salzburg we headed straight for the Modern Art Museum. It was actually pretty cool, it was on the top of this huge hill with a sheer cliff face. We took up an elevator and had a gorgeous view! The museum was really interesting. There was quite a bit of work by an amazing Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. We also had lunch at Afro Cafe. It came recommended by Rick Steves. Yeah...

View from the top of the elevator in front of the Modern Art Museum.

One of the photographs in the Museum by Sugimoto. I loved his explanations for his art. This one was to capture different shades of shadow.

I thought these were cool. He would go into a theater and keep the exposure open for the entire movie. The result is a white screen. The detail in the theater is remarkable.

View from the hike down.

Our tablecloth from the Afro Cafe.

Next we just started to walk around and hit up random churches and cathedrals. We even saw a huge wedding in one of the squares. We went into the church after everyone had left and it was so beautiful! There were still all of the wedding decorations up. There were white flowers everywhere and even entire birch trees. I couldn't even imagine how much it all must have cost. It was really something. We also went around back to the St. Peter's Cemetery. There were hundreds of graves everywhere, but it was peculiar because most of the graves were recent. Some of the older ones I saw were only from the 1950's. It was really strange. But beautiful at the same times. I was really impressed how well kept they all were. Each was like a miniature garden. Beautiful. Laura and I each paid a euro and went up into the Catacombs which were built into the cliff face above the cemetery. It was neat and even though there wasn't a lot there we still managed to find stuff to take pictures of :)

View inside the Franciscan Church.

In St. Peter's Church, where the wedding took place.

Domplatz.

St. Peter's Cemetery and the beautiful graves.

The catacombs in the cliff face.

Sneaking a peek with my camera through a door hole.

Inside the first room of the Catacombs.

By now it was getting a little late, so we decided to hit up the Mirabell Palace and Gardens. They were beautiful, but I think that the ones in Vienna are prettier. We did see the Pegasus fountain that the Von Trapps danced around in The Sound of Music :) That's us, always on the lookout for Sound of Music sights. We also watched a guy wade around in the fountains looking for loose change. That was a little troubling, especially since these gardens are one of the big attractions in the city. But at least it was entertaining! We all just kinda kept looking at each other and stifling laughs. Hey, you do what you gotta do.

Recognize this from any movie?

In front of Mirabell Gardens.

The Pegasus.

After that we found a brewery, tried some Weissbier (the local specialty), and had the most AWKWARD chinese dinner ever! It's almost too hard to explain, but the waiter kept doing the strangest things. We would ask for chopsticks instead of silverware, but instead he would take away someone's plate and bring the tiniest bowl ever. And then 5 minutes later bring some chopsticks. And then Laura was busy shredding the tabs from her water bottle and he kept trying to clean up her little pieces. But she was so embarrassed and wouldn't let him touch them! She kept hiding them in cigarette dishes and things. Maybe you just had to be there, but I literally thought I was going to pee my pants from laughing! It was like the awkward interactions in a Jane Austin novel or watching the Office. Sooo funny.


On the way back to the hostel, the craziest thing happened to us. We were waiting for the bus by Mirabell gardens and decided to go walk through the park rather than sit and wait 20 minutes for the next bus. By now it's pretty dark out and there aren't a lot of people around. We walk into the garden, and there standing in the middle is this tall cloaked figure. He's kinda far away, but it was so eerie regardless. And then all of a sudden a blindfolded girl is led up to him. They take off her blindfold and the cloaked guy (we called him "Voldemort") took off his hood and walked with her to the fountain (the same fountain we saw the guy wading in earlier). They kinda look like they were talking and then they bend over and he starts baptizing her or something! It was weird and made weirder by the circle of other people standing around the fountain holding candles/torches. A few of them were even crying. Yeah. CREEPY. So Voldemort finishes baptizing (or whatever) this girl and then just walks back to where he was. And then another blindfolded person is led out. In the meanwhile I had decided to follow him around and try to get some pictures. In retrospect, it may not have been the smartest plan, but there were some other people around so I didn't see the harm in it. So yeah, that was the time that we saw Voldemort in Salzburg. Pretty strange.

Voldemort!

Lots of people with torches. Creep? I think so.