My poor bro hopped off the airplane and onto a train from Rome to Venice. No time wasted! We Couch Surfed in Venice for a couple days. It was foofy but BEAUTIFUL! We did just as the guide book recommends, and got lost in the winding streets, bridges and waterways. We spent time goofing around at Campo del San Marco, people watching and being attacked by pigeons! THE FOOD WAS GREAT! *Dill and I averaged a pizza a day for the 3 weeks we were there!* Our second day we went to Murano (one of the many islands making up Venice) and watched them blow glass...very impressive. We took the boat "taxi" up the Grand Canal and enjoyed lunch with our host.
When we felt not foofy enough for Venice we moved on to Verona where we saw Juliet's house and the Colosseum (not THE Colosseum) where they sill hold plays, operas and concerts. It is the 3rd largest in Italy and was beautiful. This is also where we discovered the wonderful world of Italian pastry shops. We would go in and get 2 or 3 each and share them... Verona was beautiful but small so we went on to Florence.
I had a GREAT time in Florence...mostly because we were in such great company. We Couch Surfed with Davide and he was a great host. He had 2 other visitors and his roommate had 3 visitors so were were practically in a hostel with a bunch of locals! We had some great Sicilian food (the best cheese I have ever eaten) that Davide brought back from Sicily and drank endless amounts of red wine. We cruised the city; the Duomo is UNBELIEVABLY HUGE. We went to our first museum/gallery where we saw the statue of David. Absolutely stunning, the size, detail, accuracy, all out of one piece of marble. New years was brought in with friends, wine and fireworks by the river... We did a day trip to Piza, not all that much there but the Leaning Tower in the Piazza s. Marcoli, but we had a great lunch, took the cheezy photos and had great weather.
From Florence Dill and I headed to Siena where we were a bit more off the beaten path. We stayed in a nice hostel and wandered the city, found a random water pool (old water storage or for bathing, we weren't sure as it wasn't on the map we had!) Food was great (it was great everywhere we went) but it was one of the first places that had a main street with "real" shops, not foofy, designer shops. Siena is small and our time there was short, but we were ready for Rome
Rome was where we were the real tourist. We stayed in a nice hostel near the Vatican. We spent our first day at the Vatican Museum where we saw teh beautiful Rafael paintings and of course the Sistine Chapel. We went to the top of the St. Peter's Basilica Dome and the view of the city were great. The Pope sure has a great pad! We power toured central Rome: Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Piazza Nuovo and met up with friends. We had a great bread, cheese, and wine dinner on Giancolo Hill with views of the city lights and found some funky bars in Campo di Fiori. The next day we toured teh Colosseum and Roman Forum. VERY interesting. We saw a few more sights and had a great meal. Dill and I also toured some catacombs and did some shopping.
We went for a few days south to Naples...where it was pouring rain so we didn't do much sight seeing, and to Pompeii and Herculaneum, where we had gorgeous weather. They were so well preserved...painting still vibrant, mosaic tile work everywhere, pottery and architecture practically untouched, and 1930 years old! Although Pompeii was amazing, the highlight of this part of the trip was the food. Naples is the birth place of pizza and we were sure to eat plenty of it! We went to a famous pizza place and had one of each of their pizzas: marinara and margarita! AMAZING! But the next night we splurged and went to a nice place and had the most delicious seafood. Dill had homemade pasta with a white wine, clam, artichoke heart sauce and I had homemade ravioli in a tomato seafood sauce...with fresh fish, muscles, clams and calamari! We also had a buffalo mozzarella cherry tomato pizza. As much as we wanted to hit up another pastry shop, we were so full that we didn't, but it was the best food EVER!
Dill and I had a great time...we got along, ate REALLY well, and saw tons of the country. It was like a party some of the time and like a hands on history lesson other times. Now I am back in Switzerland and Dill back in Boulder, looking forward to my next adventure.
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Rest of my Euro Winter Holiday
So my initial plan was to update my blog every few days, when I went to a new city. Well, it turns out that when you finally get a break while traveling for 29days straight, you don't want to spend a break on the computer. So needless to say, I will condense the rest of my trip.
After Berlin I went to Poland. Warsaw was very interesting. It is still a city recovering from Communism; the city was destroyed during the war and they are attempting to rebuild and restore what is important to the city's history. There was a great museum all about Warsaw's role in during the war and beautiful buildings within and around the city. The palace of art and science was very beautiful and had GREAT Christmas lights. From Warsaw, I continued south to Krakow where I felt like I was living a flash back.
Krakow has the commonly visited Wawel Hill, an area with a huge castle and chapel, that has been growing for hundreds of years with each new ruler. I stayed in a great hostel where I made friends with one of the young women working there; we headed out for drinks and some awesome bars...I felt like I was in a time warp to the 1970's! My trip on Krakow also included the revolting tour of Auschwitz-Brikinau. As disturbing as the sight was, I have a huge appreciation for life, diversity, and government!
With trains on strike in Hungary, I had an interesting journey getting to Budapest, but when I arrived, it was AMAZING! The city (which used to be 2 cities on opposite sides of the river, Buda and Pest) was so full of culture and life. I spent the first day with a woman I met on Couch Surfing and we had Hungarian fish soup for lunch and went to a really interesting museum. I Couch Surfed with a really nice woman and she took me to some of the funkiest bars...in caves, live jazz, Janis Joplin cover band. I explored the Buda Castle, underground caves, local markets, but the best part was the thermal pools. There were tons of pools, large and small, some with jets, some with currents, as hot at 105 and as cold as 52. Lots of saunas and a fun place to meet people. I could have spent the entire week there!
From Budapest I went to Vienna, where I spent Christmas. I Couch Surfed there with a really cool young woman and she had 2 other surfers at her place from Italy and Brazil; we had a great time wandering the city, cooking, and drinking together! I also joined her family for Christmas dinner...cheese, bread, veggies, fruit, wine. AMAZING! While I was in Vienna, I spent a day in Bratislava, Slovakia...what a dud of a trip. The city was closed for Christmas (they celebrate the day before Vienna so we didn't know it would be a ghost town!). I met some other travelers who were also greatly disappointed, we found the only open restaurant and tried all the different types of Absinthe...I guess it was still a good Eastern Europe experience!
From Vienna I took the night train to Rome to pick up my brother Dillon and continue on exploring Italy...
After Berlin I went to Poland. Warsaw was very interesting. It is still a city recovering from Communism; the city was destroyed during the war and they are attempting to rebuild and restore what is important to the city's history. There was a great museum all about Warsaw's role in during the war and beautiful buildings within and around the city. The palace of art and science was very beautiful and had GREAT Christmas lights. From Warsaw, I continued south to Krakow where I felt like I was living a flash back.
Krakow has the commonly visited Wawel Hill, an area with a huge castle and chapel, that has been growing for hundreds of years with each new ruler. I stayed in a great hostel where I made friends with one of the young women working there; we headed out for drinks and some awesome bars...I felt like I was in a time warp to the 1970's! My trip on Krakow also included the revolting tour of Auschwitz-Brikinau. As disturbing as the sight was, I have a huge appreciation for life, diversity, and government!
With trains on strike in Hungary, I had an interesting journey getting to Budapest, but when I arrived, it was AMAZING! The city (which used to be 2 cities on opposite sides of the river, Buda and Pest) was so full of culture and life. I spent the first day with a woman I met on Couch Surfing and we had Hungarian fish soup for lunch and went to a really interesting museum. I Couch Surfed with a really nice woman and she took me to some of the funkiest bars...in caves, live jazz, Janis Joplin cover band. I explored the Buda Castle, underground caves, local markets, but the best part was the thermal pools. There were tons of pools, large and small, some with jets, some with currents, as hot at 105 and as cold as 52. Lots of saunas and a fun place to meet people. I could have spent the entire week there!
From Budapest I went to Vienna, where I spent Christmas. I Couch Surfed there with a really cool young woman and she had 2 other surfers at her place from Italy and Brazil; we had a great time wandering the city, cooking, and drinking together! I also joined her family for Christmas dinner...cheese, bread, veggies, fruit, wine. AMAZING! While I was in Vienna, I spent a day in Bratislava, Slovakia...what a dud of a trip. The city was closed for Christmas (they celebrate the day before Vienna so we didn't know it would be a ghost town!). I met some other travelers who were also greatly disappointed, we found the only open restaurant and tried all the different types of Absinthe...I guess it was still a good Eastern Europe experience!
From Vienna I took the night train to Rome to pick up my brother Dillon and continue on exploring Italy...
Monday, December 15, 2008
Berlin: Art, Architecture and Symbolism
I have spent the past few days in Berlin, a city of war and revolution. What I wasn't expecting Berlin was the best history course I have ever taken! I took a great free guided tour with a young woman who whirlwinded us around the city, pointing out all of the historical important sights, as well as a few of the funny ones! I didn't realize how much history Berlin holds until our "quick" history lesson to bring us up to date with the beginnings of WWII. Ten minutes we were getting the rundown on Paritsa Platz and were on with our day.
I saw so much that I could bore you with all the details and lose you in all the history, but I was really intrigued by three places.
One of my favorite places was the Reichstag: the government house. The history of this building is the roots to much of Berlin and Germany. The house of Parliament was here prior to the beginning of Hitler's reign; the night it was burned down, he acquired power. It was here that it became a place for German "government" but Hitler was doing all of his dictating from somewhere else. It was rebuilt after the fire but during the attacks on Berlin during WWII the dome was damaged and not rebuilt. It stood on the West side of the wall for years, home to the non-Communist government and when the Wall came down it became the symbol for how things were to be run: the dome was rebuilt and opened to all people. From the dome you look down to Parliament, on to the decision makers, above them. In perspective, the law makers look up to a mirrored form showing the people watching them, time 100 from the mirrors, reminding them who has the power and who they are representing. Pretty powerful stuff!
Another one of my favorite places was the Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe. This remarkable piece of art takes up hundreds of square feet with stone pillars of all heights. In perfect rows they are open for interpretation; none was given by the artist. Some say they are to represent the massive amounts of graves the Holocaust created, but many argue that it is symbolic in different ways. Possibly a 3D bar graph of the rise and fall of anti semitism, others say it is there to create just one particle of the uncomfort that Jews felt before they were murdered. You get to walk through the pillars and it is haunting; you don't know who is near you, around the corner, or where you are going. Very thought provoking, but even more so it where the memorial is. Just around the corner is the former site of Hitler's bunker. With only a simple sign explaining the logistics of the actual bunker, nothing else was put there. It is in the car park for apartments; oddly enough, these apartments have menorahs and the star of David in some of the windows!
The most interesting place I thought was the Bebelplatz sight of the Book Burning. On May 10 1933 Humbolt University's library, just across the street, was emptied of all "controversial" books; books, journals, and reports written by Jews, about Gypsies, or anything else that Hitler didn't like. Although this wasn't the largest book burning, it has become the most famous because Hitler was there. I think that the memorial is very powerful: a room in the ground with 4 walls of empty bookshelves. There is no door; we can replace books but we can not go back in time and replace the quote by poet Heinrich Heine (in German translated to) "where books are burned, in the end people will burn." His quote is from 1820!
With all that said, I went to all the famous sights of Berlin:
~Brandenburg Tor...and the plaza
~Rathhaus Berlin...and the Christmas market
~Berliner Dom
~Berlin Wall...and the Topographies of Terror Memorial
~Check Point Charlie...over rated but there for visitors
~Reichstag...great views from the dom
~TV Tower...a modern built icon but a bit silly
~Schloss Charlottenburg...old Prussian palace
My photos will have little bits of history about all the places I visited and random things that I saw! That's all for now!
I saw so much that I could bore you with all the details and lose you in all the history, but I was really intrigued by three places.
One of my favorite places was the Reichstag: the government house. The history of this building is the roots to much of Berlin and Germany. The house of Parliament was here prior to the beginning of Hitler's reign; the night it was burned down, he acquired power. It was here that it became a place for German "government" but Hitler was doing all of his dictating from somewhere else. It was rebuilt after the fire but during the attacks on Berlin during WWII the dome was damaged and not rebuilt. It stood on the West side of the wall for years, home to the non-Communist government and when the Wall came down it became the symbol for how things were to be run: the dome was rebuilt and opened to all people. From the dome you look down to Parliament, on to the decision makers, above them. In perspective, the law makers look up to a mirrored form showing the people watching them, time 100 from the mirrors, reminding them who has the power and who they are representing. Pretty powerful stuff!
Another one of my favorite places was the Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe. This remarkable piece of art takes up hundreds of square feet with stone pillars of all heights. In perfect rows they are open for interpretation; none was given by the artist. Some say they are to represent the massive amounts of graves the Holocaust created, but many argue that it is symbolic in different ways. Possibly a 3D bar graph of the rise and fall of anti semitism, others say it is there to create just one particle of the uncomfort that Jews felt before they were murdered. You get to walk through the pillars and it is haunting; you don't know who is near you, around the corner, or where you are going. Very thought provoking, but even more so it where the memorial is. Just around the corner is the former site of Hitler's bunker. With only a simple sign explaining the logistics of the actual bunker, nothing else was put there. It is in the car park for apartments; oddly enough, these apartments have menorahs and the star of David in some of the windows!
The most interesting place I thought was the Bebelplatz sight of the Book Burning. On May 10 1933 Humbolt University's library, just across the street, was emptied of all "controversial" books; books, journals, and reports written by Jews, about Gypsies, or anything else that Hitler didn't like. Although this wasn't the largest book burning, it has become the most famous because Hitler was there. I think that the memorial is very powerful: a room in the ground with 4 walls of empty bookshelves. There is no door; we can replace books but we can not go back in time and replace the quote by poet Heinrich Heine (in German translated to) "where books are burned, in the end people will burn." His quote is from 1820!
With all that said, I went to all the famous sights of Berlin:
~Brandenburg Tor...and the plaza
~Rathhaus Berlin...and the Christmas market
~Berliner Dom
~Berlin Wall...and the Topographies of Terror Memorial
~Check Point Charlie...over rated but there for visitors
~Reichstag...great views from the dom
~TV Tower...a modern built icon but a bit silly
~Schloss Charlottenburg...old Prussian palace
My photos will have little bits of history about all the places I visited and random things that I saw! That's all for now!
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