Grecia!!

I’m on the train back to Rome, from what turned out to be a lovely week in Greece! My ferry arrived in Bari this morning at about 9.15, and I took the first train available (not til 1.44, lol). Despite the boredom, I had a fantastic time, and am really happy I changed my plans at the last minute and decided to go.

Originally I had booked a plane ticket for Bari, way back in November, when I was planning to spend a week or so traveling in the south, to see some places that you normally don’t hear about, like Lecce or Taranto. As time went on and I tried to plan the trip, it got shorter and shorter as I did research on locations and found them not worth visiting or without accommodation, or other issues. Then two weeks ago I spend the weekend in Venice (which was gorgeous! I loved it), and met a girl who had been traveling for a while. While I was there, she booked a place and left on a ferry to Greece. My roommate from first semester did the same last summer, and once Bonnie told me her plans, I found myself really, really wanting to take a ferry ride (turns out they’re not that great. Cheap, but that’s about it). So instead of the south, I used my plane ticket to connect with a ferry on Jan. 15, which then placed me in Patras, on the top of the lower peninsula, on Jan. 16. This was actually not the plan, as I had intended to end up in Igoumenitsa, further northwest, and start my trip on Corfu Island. So I spent an extra day getting to the island, but the long bus ride just allowed me to see more of the country. I had a great time, quiet and relaxing, in Corfu. I was there two nights, in a hostel maybe 100 yards away from the beach and with the sea visible from my room. It was much quieter than I had anticipated, since part of the reason I like to stay in hostels is the chance to meet different people, but it was fun to talk to the family who ran the establishment. I also made friends with the Russian/Spanish girl who worked there, and if I can, I might go see her in Barcelona in the spring!

Corfu

After Corfu, I had planned to go to a town called Kalambaka that my roommate had mentioned, where there was a mountain bordering the town, and it was popular for hiking and visits to the monasteries built on the peaks. Traveling is kind of a pain is Greece, however. They don’t have an easy train network like in Italy and elsewhere, that can get you pretty much anywhere in the country easily. There are only a few train lines, and none in the west, where I was. So I had to take different buses all day, from Igoumenitsa to Ioannina to Trikala and finally to Kalambaka, where I stayed in a little B&B at the base of the mountain. The town was really adorable, small, navigable and quiet. Way different from Patras and the other places I’d stopped thus far. The morning after, I took the trail up the mountain. Now, I am not a nature girl. But I had such a wonderful time that day. At first, I thought I was going to die, going up the initial trail. But I reached the part that connected with the natural road going through the mountain, and everything changed. I visited one monastery (where they made me wear a skirt over my jeans), and just spent the entire afternoon walking and thinking and admiring the view. I took a ridiculous amount of pictures, I’m sure, and took a break about every ten minutes to just watch. I’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather, and the only days where it was even questionable, I was on trains or buses. That day and the day I went to the acropolis, especially, were beautiful.




My third and final destination was Athens. I hadn’t intended, at first, to go, since I’ve heard all about how nasty and cliché and so on it is, but I felt it was my duty as a history major, former Latin student, Greek mythology buff and classics enthusiast (so basically, I pretty much had too) to go. I’m glad I went, though getting there was much more difficult than I anticipated. For some reason, the main road into the city was closed that day, and though I was able to get a bus (trains aren’t much better, apparently. I was advised not to take the train), it had to go through alternate routes, adding several hours onto the trip. I finally made it at about 10, and had to take a taxi to my hostel, because of the late hour and distance. So the taxi driver is like, oh, that area, 20 euros! And I was like, you’re kidding, right? But he wasn’t backing down and I needed to get to the hotel, so I agreed to 15. Then I got into the car and realized I was out of money, and only had 8. I told him and he laughed, and took it. But when I got into the hotel and mentioned it, the receptionist told me the fee probably should have been closer to 3 or 5! You see? This is why I hate taxis. Glad I spent all my money ahead of time, though, lol.

I only had one full day in Athens, during which I planned to do all the traditional sightseeing. It worked out perfectly, actually; I left the hotel about 11 and made it back about 5.30, and saw everything I had wanted to, plus some new things, and was able to talk to some people and see what the city was like. The metro system there, apparently redone for the Olympics in 2004, is excellent, and I got around on 2 euros all day. In London, a single trip, one place to another, is 4 pounds! Robbery. I went to the acropolis first, which was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, as I said (I left my coat at home for the first time since October. The locals said it was cold, though, lol), and the monuments looked like they were moving against the sky as the clouds passed. I finally saw the Parthenon, which, despite the scaffolding and damage, is as impressive and powerful as everyone says. The view from the acropolis of the city is amazing. It just keeps going, as far as you can see! I had no idea Athens was so huge. Apparently half of Greece’s population is there, 5 of 10 million. I also went to the agora, and saw a few more famous pieces that have survived. I won’t go too much into detail, since a lot of it I hadn’t even heard of, but I thought one piece was kind of funny. There’s a temple that was begun by King Theseus, but not finished for 6 hundred years, when the Roman emperor Hadrian had dominion over the city. There’s an arch near the temple that says on one side ‘This is Athens, the city of Theseus.’ On the other side, it says ‘This is the city of Hadrian, not Theseus.’ Oh, the Romans…




I left Athens early the next morning for Patras, to catch my ferry back to Bari. I had to suffer through more rain, but I made it on board and was able to upgrade, very cheaply, to a cabin! On the way to Greece I had an airplane style seat, and slept on the floor in the lounge. Believe me. Get the cabin. We arrived this morning in Italy, and here I am, on the train! Taking up all the outlets near my seat as I charge the computer and my phone. Lol. Hope everyone’s doing well! Ciao!

Xmas 2008 (and, you know, Europe)

Hi everybody! I know it’s been a while, I’ve had a lot going on, with a few days of constant sleep thrown in. But I’m actually sitting in Bari right now writing this, getting ready to board a ferry this evening for Greece! Long story, lol.

But I’ve left out a lot over the past month or so, so let me catch up. I finished the semester with IES and said good-bye to everybody the week of Dec. 17, and started getting ready to meet up with my family in London for Christmas. I said good-bye to my roommate Kelsey, which was really sad (and now there’s nobody to shame me into getting up at a decent hour in the morning, among other things), but was excited to get to London and see Mom, Dad, Alissa and Andrew again! I don’t think I did anything that weekend but run around trying to pack ridiculously early, watch online TV (right after exams – I think I deserved it!) and eagerly anticipate Tuesday, December 23, when I could fly to London and meet up with everyone at Gatwick airport. Well, it didn’t exactly go according to plan. I stayed up the entire night with Kelsey before she left early on the 22nd, partly because I wanted to keep her company and partly because I really wanted to watch Heroes, and when I returned from the airport with Ermete after dropping her off I could already sense a cold coming on – headache, sore throat, sinus issues. It sucked. Then, while trying to sleep for roughly 24 hours to fend it off, I got in contact with my parents, on their way from St. Louis to Cincinnati to London to meet me the next day. Over time, their flights became more and more delayed to the point where when I turned off the light for the last time, I knew I would be spending the first night of our vacation in a hostel waiting for them to arrive.

Annoying as it was, I did find a decent hostel and got a good night’s sleep waiting for everyone on the outskirts of London, getting up at the crack of dawn on Christmas Eve to try Airport Meeting Take 2. This worked out, thankfully, and despite the exorbitant amount of luggage we lugged across London (NOT blaming anyone, lol) and the holiday closures (really annoying), we had a really good time. Our Christmas dinner consisted of sandwiches and organic sunflower seeds, but was still silly and fun while we exchanged gifts set below the hand-drawn Christmas tree I’d made in Rome. As I said, a lot of things were closed (including public transportation), but we still did a nice walking tour that included Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, the houses of Parliament (with Big Ben, right, Andy?), the Thames (That’s TEMS, Dad), Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park. I think one of my favorite memories might be Dad walking out into the street while the guards were riding towards us on their horses and getting yelled at. Also Andrew’s very tall hat, ala Joey from Friends. Oh, and Mom accidentally knocking into the open DVD player and breaking it, and upon reporting this problem to the hotel, being told that ‘none of the rooms have DVD players.’ Oh, and I have to mention, for Mom, that we stumbled upon Westminster Cathedral on Christmas day and were able to attend mass there. I know she was really excited about it, and even Dad behaved! Sadly, I don’t have a lot of pictures of London, since I was there a few years ago and took enough pictures for a small army of photographers. I left that to everyone else.

On the 26th we headed from London to Paris, via international train. I don’t mind trains (I actually enjoy the excuse to sleep in the middle of the day), but apparently this wasn’t the best train experience for my travel companions. Something about the air pressure in the tunnel under the English Channel? Perhaps. Lol, but we made it to the station (Oh, also we found the point at King’s Cross between platforms 9 and 10 where Harry Potter boarded the train, Platform 9 ¾. Yes, there’s a sign. Very popular with silly tourists like us, lol), onto the train, and to Paris. I wasn’t really prepared for how large and confusing Paris’s main station would be. It took a while to get out of there, but after about 2 or so hours of again dragging luggage through a major European city, we made it to the hotel, which, despite the slightly annoying receptionist (No one was with me on this, but he drove me crazy!), we all loved and was very nice. It was in a lovely area, within walking distance of the Arc de Triomphe and Concorde Street (the famous one with the trees that is about 2 miles long). I think we all enjoyed Paris the best, at least partially because there were buses and trams to take and things were open!

Once I found my bearings and a map of the city, Paris was easy. All the main sites are in the same area (generally the case, which is why London was doable without transportation), and in one day we found the Louvre (the building! The Louvre deserved an entire day), the Tuileries gardens, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, and really fun Eiffel tower key-chains. We had a bus tour that took us to some lesser known, more difficult to find monuments, but I think it worked out perfectly, with our wandering first and seeing what we liked and having it reinforced afterwards. On our second day (we had two and a half days, not counting the day we arrived), we took a train out to visit Versailles, the old palatial home of France’s royalty. Marie Antoinette ruled from here with her husband, and it was from here that she and her family were captured and taken to Paris as prisoners until her execution. It was a lovely day (though cold. France is very cold.), and we were able to see the exquisite apartments of the royal family and the extensive gardens. The following day, the day of our evening departure for Rome aboard an overnight train, we spent at the Louvre. Pretty self-explanatory, I’m sure, but it was excellent. I couldn’t believe the amount of pieces I had studied in school, without even realizing their location. It was well worth the cost and time required, and everyone enjoyed it. Even Dad and Andrew, who took quite a few photos of the weapons, armor and the like on display. We saw the Mona Lisa! And were smashed into the railing with the hundreds of other people attempting to photograph it with their phones and such. After the Louvre, we found our way (again, with the luggage. It was such a remarkable accomplishment, I feel, carrying everything across Europe, that it merits repeated mentioning) to the station once again, and departed Paris at about 7 pm for Rome!

Little boy running at the pigeons outside Notre Dame. I think the extremely old cathedral adds to the effect. Don't you?

The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Among other things, this was the location of Marie Antoinette's wedding.

I really feel the overnight train is such an experience to deserve at least a mention, so here goes. It was kind of fun, like camping, but I would much rather be camping (and that’s saying something)! The cabin, when we found it, appeared to be too small for three people, let alone six, and once all the beds were pulled out I felt like I was in prison. But once we were asleep the ride went pretty quickly, so I guess for what it is, it’s fine. It was pretty funny, though, watching everyone try to climb into bed and get ready to sleep (since most of the bathrooms on board were, for most of the night, locked. Turned out that was a blessing in disguise. I still shudder to think of those bathrooms!). In comparison with a day trip (13 hour day trip), this was much preferable, considering the reduced cost and inevitable boredom.

So finally, we made it to Rome. After the train, it took a while to recoup, but overall in Rome we covered a lot of ground. Since I know where I’m going pretty well, I think we saw pretty much every one of the main sights, plus a few things that I’ve grown to like while I’m here. We did the Vatican of course (well, St. Peter’s Square. Long lines.), the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, some very famous churches, and more I can’t even think of. We actually covered all the monuments listed in Angels and Demons (prequel to The Da Vinci Code) by Dan Brown, if anyone’s familiar. It was really nice to be back where I was comfortable and knew what I was doing, and could speak the language. We also were able to spend time with my host family as well! They had a party for New Year’s and we attended. It was pretty hilarious, and strange watching Mom and Dad especially try to eat the unknown food, all the while being polite (I have that problem a lot. Sabrina and Arturo, the parents, like to experiment with cooking). But we all danced and had a fantastic New Year’s Eve.

The Friday we were in Rome, two days before everyone left, we took a day and went to Florence and Pisa. Now, this is difficult, since there are three different train speeds you can take to get to Florence: slow, medium and fast. However, the price rises about 12 euro with each speed. In order to make it affordable with five people, we woke up at 5 to make a slower train that would still arrive fairly early in the city. It worked out, and we all spent time sleeping on yet another train. Florence, despite our limited time there – roughly three hours – was lovely. I absolutely loved it the last time I was there, and I was happy to have an excuse to go back. We did a quick sightseeing tour – the duomo, the Arno River, the Courtyard of the Uffizi – and arrived in San Lorenzo market, where we all had a great time looking around the stalls (I also greatly enjoyed this shopping portion on my last trip to Florence. Who wouldn’t?). At about 1.30 we tore ourselves away from the market and caught a train for Pisa. Now, there’s not much in Pisa (No one listened to me when I told them this beforehand. Apparently the Leaning Tower is up there on tourist lists, with the pyramids or something. Completely trumps the colosseum, lol.). I was kind of skeptical about going, but I was majorly overruled, and I must say, while I still don’t quite get it (They could fix it! But they would lose money), it is a lovely building. It’s in a field called the Campo dei Miracoli (the field of Miracles), and there’s also a church and, I believe, a baptistery. Like the duomo, they are all, even the tower, beautifully decorated and lovely to behold. So I enjoyed myself. I think even if they hadn’t screwed up building the tower, the field would have been somewhat famous, since it really was lovely. So go see it! Lol.

There it is. Leaning. Like it's trying to creep around and get in the front of the picture.

Overall, I think everyone enjoyed the food in Italy the most. The pizza is amazing, and I think we had it at least once a day (we went to one restaurant twice, because Mom and Dad really liked it. They remembered us. It was really embarrassing.). Oh, and I think for the first time I witnessed Mom eat ice cream. Or gelato, actually. I guess Italian gelato is just superior! Haha.

I’m typing this in Bari waiting for my ferry to leave for Greece, and it’s about 2000 words, so I’m going to wind it up. I hope everyone had a great holiday season! Happy New Year! Ciao!

Sicily

Happy Immaculate Conception! Do you say that for December 8? No idea. Lol. It's kind of exciting, because I haven't had Catholic holidays off since high school, and all of the sudden, they're back! It's crazy, three years ago today I was off school, my senior year, and Mom and I went to Mizzou on a college visit. And it snowed like crazy and I SWEAR I almost lost a hand to frostbite. And here I am...lol. I just returned this morning from Sicily, which is the little country (technically part of Italy, even if many of them won't claim it) that the boot is kicking. Love it!

Sicily is absolutely stunning. Every one of my posts starts out that way, but I just couldn't believe it! And no one goes there. It was impossible to find a hostel; we just had to stay in cheap hotels. I, sadly, met no mafia members, but there's always next time! I got to see a lot of older, Bourbon era art and churches (Sicily was once a part of the Bourbon empire, ruled by France. Also previously ruled by Spain, the Byzantines, the Romans, the goths, you name 'em. It was kind of strange. Palermo, the first place I went, with my friends, is a lot like Napoli, I thought. Except cleaner and somewhat safer. Though I was only in the town center. Saturday I went to Trapani, on the west coast, and visited this old Greek-founded town on a small mountain, Erice. It was gorgeous, with amazing views of the sea on three sides. That night I stayed in Trapani, and tried the next day to go to another historical location, called Selinunte, further south on the coast. Sadly, I got to the city which accesses Selinunte, and the buses weren't running there. I was upset, but there was nothing to be done. So I was stuck, and ended up taking trains for most of the day to get back to Palermo. Technically somewhat of a waste of a day, but I got to see the lovely countryside and the coast, all along the north. There were people surfing! And Mom says it was 16 degrees at home this weekend. Blows my mind!

One of about 50 attempts to document my visit. There's got to be an easier way, lol.

The countryside from the hill. It was amazing, waiting at the train station the next day, I could see the valleys sloping up and then the hills. It was like this, just in reverse.

The coast from Erice. The town was excessively small, to the point where I covered it in about an hour and a half. Perfect for a day trip!

Ringraziemento all'italiano

Oh, and I didn't mention it before, but we had a Thanksgiving party here in Rome! My host mom, Sabrina, decided to throw it (she loves parties) because of Kelsey and I. We had the most traditional meal I've ever seen (I'd never even seen half the stuff. And people kept asking me about protocol and eating it and such.). Some friends from IES came, Grace and Arturo, and my friend Sara Burnworth from home came. And half of Rome, it seemed like. All the boys' friends, and Sabrina's and Arturo's (host dad) friends. Then all the Americans had to make a speech about Rome and what they're thankful for. Our poor guests had not been informed of this, but they did a bang-up job! Kelsey's speech kind of made me cry, while at the same time took all the stuff I wanted to say! So I just said it again. Lol. Oh, and I discovered that I like pumpkin pie! I ate my first piece last Thursday. I still miss pecan pie, though... Kelsey and I decided to make one. I just can't go another whole year without it! Sob!

We're getting down to the clock now! Three weeks til I'm done with classes, and 23 days until I meet the family in London!

Oh, and the title means Thanksgiving Italian Style, and is a pun off a film called Divorzio all'italiano, or Divorce Italian Style. Great film. Morbidly funny, lol. Love you all!

Ciao ciao...

Oh my goodness, I haven't updated in ages. I've actually been to Naples and Florence since I last wrote, and sat down to blog about each trip, but just wasn't in the mood. Now it's the last day of November! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. The family actually had a Thanksgiving party because of Kelsey and me, and it was fun. We had all this traditional Thanksgiving food (more traditional than I've ever actually eaten, lol) and a ton of people came over and we cooked for two days. Well, they cooked for two days. I helped. I sliced and peeled apples! And did a bang up job, if I do say so myself. Lol.

Yeah, so I went to Naples for an IES sponsored field trip, with a big group of people. It was pretty cool, though we really didn't see much of the city. It has a reputation for being dangerous, and I think that's why they only kept us there for a couple of hours in the daylight, and then carted us outside of the city to the hotel. We did see some lovely churches, but it was very quick. We stayed both nights in Sorrento, a slightly bigger town along the Amalfi coast. The second day of the trip, we did the coast, going to several towns (one with a beach! awesome!) and going to a limoncello tasting. It was a lot of fun, and there were some absolutely gorgeous views. Lol we went to a paper factory, which was excellent! And Sunday we went to Pompei, the old Roman city that was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius. As far as ruins go (and I've seen quite a few at this point), they were pretty cool, really well preserved. We actually saw some plaster casts of individuals who were caught by the eruption and died, which was really an experience, I felt. One of them, a little boy, was so well-preserved you could see his facial features.

Naples

Me at the beach in Positano

View of the Amalfi coast

Mount Vesuvius from the ruins of Pompei

I don't really have pictures from Florence, or Firenze, since most of the stuff I saw was in museums and such. But it was a really nice trip, really relaxing and pretty. Cold, though. The city is fairly small, and really pretty. It was quiet, but not boring. Kind of a nice break from Rome. I actually didn't want to leave Sunday! I saw the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia, which included the David. And the duomo was really lovely, pink and green and white Tuscan marble on the facade. I think the duomo was honestly one of my favorite things. Oh, and there were all these open markets, with stalls and guys selling stuff illegally. It was so funny, the cops would show up and they would grab their stuff, in one swoop, and take off running. But they would be smiling, and so would the cops. Shopping in Firenze was fun! It's famous for leather, and I got some really nice gloves. I as a rule don't go shopping crazy, so it was fun to treat myself with something.

This is one of the few half decent pictures of the duomo I managed to get. It's honestly too big to photograph well. I really think that to really see it, you need to be there. But I tried.

Obama 2008!

Oh, so I forgot to comment on the week's events! The election was insane here. It almost seems like Italians were more excited about the whole thing than we were. My host-mother was freaking out, and wanted us to stay up all night and watch the TV. Needless to say, I went to bed, and we set our alarm for 5 am. It went off and I was all confused, but Kelsey checked her phone right away and gasped. I initially thought McCain had won, but she assured me the opposite, and we turned on the TV to catch the end of McCain's speech and then Obama's. Wednesday it was crazy, because everyone (including me) was exhausted from staying up/waking up for the results, but everyone was so excited! There were all these articles in the paper about people staying out all night and such. I got to work late, but my supervisor just said "It's okay! Be happy today! Be happy tomorrow!" Like I said, crazy. Anyway, it's definitely an interesting experience, seeing foreign reactions to an American election. And in four years, I'll see the other side of the spectrum!

Svizzera e Germania

So, I've been a bit lazy about updating. Last Monday evening Kelsey and I arrived in Rome at about 8, and I've been at class, work and sleeping since then. But fall break was amazing! I arrived in Geneva October 24, to meet Kelsey (she had no exams Friday and flew out the night before). Geneva was very pretty, though a bit more modern than I expected. We walked around the city, and the next day we went to the Red Cross museum, which was very cool and really interesting. Kelsey left Geneva a few hours before I did, so I could wander around a little in the daylight. In all I think Geneva reminds me a little of a sports complex, for some reason, since it's so clean and sparse. There are definitely some really beautiful older areas, though, like this cathedral that I saw and the area where Jean-Jacques Rousseau lived. The streets are winding and cobblestones, and the buildings interceded on each other charmingly. The river was lovely and clean, and in Lake Genéve there is a fountain called the Jet D'eau, that throws water 50 feet into the air. Saturday after Kelsey left I just walked around along the river for a while, and met a Swiss women who spoke English and Italian to me, and a man from Cameroon, in Africa. That's what's remarkable about being in Geneva, I think, that it's so international and historic.

The Jet D'eau at night. After I arrived and we ate, we walked in the parks along the river. I think the fountain is significantly more impressive at night.

The cathedral from below

Anyway, so after Geneva I met Kelsey in Bern. Bern is actually the capital of Switzerland, possibly the most understated capital in Europe, I think. It was absolutely darling. It's extremely well-preserved from the Middle Ages, to the point where it's been declared a Unesco World Heritage site. It was so cute though, with all these old carved fountains and men in the park playing with giant chess sets. On the way down to our hostel there was the loveliest view over the lower residential town, with snow-covered mountains in the distance. The first night we were there we ran into a guy from Australia, Tim. He was traveling alone, and came to dinner with us and out afterwards. We all had such a great time, even though the so-called excellent Bern nightlife mostly consisted of older people, and this not very attractive woman in a bar who took her top off. We definitely missed backpacker season, though, so that probably explains it. The second day we just wandered around the town in the daylight, and ended up eating dinner next to the river near the hostel. It was absolutely gorgeous, though rather cold (I was pretty much frozen the whole week). But we saw a group of Swiss jump into the river in bathing suits! It was crazy. They floated down and then climbed out, completely nonplussed, and marched back up the bank to get their clothes. I was simply amazed. I'm to used to warm weather, I suppose.

The lower city

Playing chess in the park. I wish I could play!

The city street in Bern


Carved fountain with a ogre eating babies! Awesome.


The lower city the morning we left. The fog had lifted, so the mountains were visible in the distance.

So after Bern we headed to Lucerne, or Luzern, as the Germans call it. It's a smaller city in a mountain valley, and is absolutely gorgeous. While we were there we climbed the old city wall and got some amazing shots from above the city. Besides the scenery and two 14th century covered bridges, there honestly wasn't a lot to do. We enjoyed the calm day, but I think a day was the perfect amount of time to spend there.

The view from the beach on the way to the town from the hostel

The covered bridge, dated 1333

View from the old city ramparts

Part of Kelsey's and my photo shoot on the walls

I think more than anywhere else, Lucerne really felt like Switzerland to me. Even more than Geneva.

So the morning after our explorations, Kelsey and I departed Lucerne for Basel. Unfortunately, it rained as we left and rained the entire time I was in Basel as well. Basel, or Bâle in French, was actually a lot of fun. It was wet and freezing, but we wandered around and were silly and took tons of pictures. That evening, looking for a fountain mentioned in Kelsey's travel guide, we accidentally found this festival that was going on while we were there. There were all these little carnival booths selling crafts and clothes and toys and such. We spent a long time just wandering, before heading back to the hostel to get warm and to hang all our clothes up to dry. Quite literally! The next day we found the fountain before catching the train to Germany, and though it was still raining, I'm glad we saw it in the daylight. It was really neat, with all these machines scooping and tossing and spraying the water. But we parted at the train station, Kelsey heading to Freiburg to visit her friend Lisa, and me to Tübingen to see a friend from school. Of course it rained and actually SNOWED in Tübingen, so I didn't get to see much of the town, though we did go out, which was excellent. I did drink an entire beer, for the first time! I guess I only like beer from Germany, lol. I don't feel too bad about that, honestly. It's starting to seem that I only like wine from France as well, strangely enough.

The old Rathaus, or town hall, in Basel. It's really fantastic, and I love the intricate tile design on the roof! That seems to be a common German architectural trait, as I saw it later on as well.

The painted courtyard and garden of the Rathaus

The awesome fountain in Basel! Kelsey took a video, and I actually ran her camera out of battery playing it over and over (She has a rechargeable battery though, so don't feel bad). But it was so cool!

So after I left Tübingen, Kelsey and I met up again in Bamberg. The first night we were there we just sat around and talked with people at the hostel (who were really nice and funny), being exhausted from the constant traveling. Then Friday we set out to see the town! It's also a Unesco World Heritage site, and has some really gorgeous architecture. There's a monastery and gorgeous cathedral, and Bamberg has canals that cut through the city. There's actually a location along one with little gondola-like boats, that they call Little Venice. We wandered around and played with some ducks and a swan by the river (quite literally), and would have gone to bed early, had we not realized that it was Halloween! So we dragged ourselves out, for the sake of tradition, intending only to have a quick drink and then back to the hostel for sleep. But we met some German guys at a pub, and ended up staying out until about two, having a fantastic time. They were natives of the town, and told us about it and the culture and such. And bought us drinks. Ahem. The next morning we met up with one of them, Andreas, and we went to a castle (fortress, more like) outside the city with a lovely view of it and the countryside. Then we caught the train to our final destination, Munich!

Along the canal

Our winged friends, by the river

Bamberg from above, at the fortress

So that Saturday, November 1, we arrived in Munich. Honestly, I was not much impressed with Munich. I've spoken with others who've visited it, and they didn't feel the same, so maybe we missed out on something. But it just seemed rather industrial and common, with the exception of a few buildings, the history and some excellent food. I had schnitzel, just like in The Sound of Music, the first night we were there (I kept singing songs from that movie the whole week. Especially when I had tea, tea with jam and bread, every morning for breakfast). Sunday we visited Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp. I wouldn't call that visit fun, quite, but it was very interesting and I'm glad we went. That night we wandered around Munich for the longest time, looking for food. It was freezing, and I was starving. We finally just threw in the towel and had Chinese food (which was excellent). The next morning we went to the town square, Marienplatz, to see the Glockenspiel do its musical performance. Then on to the airport, where we caught our flight to Napoli, and took a train to Rome. Whew. It was a fantastic trip, though very cold, and I'm so glad to have been able to go. I really like the whole hostel dynamic, getting to meet people and the low prices, lol. I think I'm going to try traveling in southern Italy over Christmas break, the third week in January, probably.

The Rathaus, at Marienplatz. You can see the little figures in the Glockenspiel in the middle of the main tower (outlined in green).

The entrance to Dachau, that the prisoners saw. The visit was very sobering, but overall I think a good experience.