Exploring Europe

[/b]Ok, so again, it´s been a while since the last update. For that I apologize, but to my credit, I did spend 25 hours on the train on Wednesday through Saturday, so it wasn´t like I had much free time. I think I left off after Venice... So I´ll pick up with our subsequent destination: Florence, better known in Europe as "Firenze."

• After checking into the hostel, we saw Michelangelo´s "David" at La Accademmia
  
• We took a stroll down the riverbank toward Ponte Vecchio with all the gold and silver jewelry shops on the bridge over the river. Obviously couldn´t afford anything but the view.
  

• Musei dell´ Uffizi
  
• Palazzo Vecchio and Musei Fiorentino
  
• Santa Croce Cathedral
  
• Duomo: we didn´t have to wait more than an hour to get in, which was nice -- and the interior was absolutely amazing (again, pictures will help describe)
  
• We took another CitySightseeing bus tour, which took us about 25 minutes outside the city up to Fiesole -- an expensive sort of resort town in the hills with a fabulous view of Florence and even better food! We had dinner at the Etrusca Bar -- probably the best meal so far.
  

• Piazza Michelangelo: on Sunday morning, Jenny dragged me across town, across the river, and uphill for 20 minutes to reach the plaza -- the view made the work worthwhile, we had an awesome panoramic of Florence and the Duomo stuck out like a sore thumb atop all the other rather level rooftops
  
• After we wrapped up in Florence, we hopped on a train to Pisa. I do have to say, that had they not built the tower so crooked, then there would be nobody visiting that town, ever. It was rather humorous to see the failed engineering and the attempt to build a large structure atop marshland -- hopefully they´ve learned their lesson in that town
  
• We then went back to the station and spent an inordinate amount of time to get to Rome -- something like 6 hours -- ridiculous
  

• First up on the agenda was the Vatican Museum and Sisteen Chapel -- despite battling a line 5 city blocks long, and too many tour groups to count, we made it in to see the fabulous frescoes on the ceiling -- it was worth the hassle
  
• We then made the short walk over from outside the wall of the city into the Piazza and Basilica de San Pietro, where, of course, it started to downpour as we waited to get in. We did get to see the enormous basilica, and even went down to the crypt (morbid, I know) to see the late Pope John Paul´s tomb -- it was busy down there
  

• Last day in Rome we spent checking out the ancient ruins and stuff. We started with a guided tour of the Colosseum (inside) which was pretty neat -- glad we got some of the historical background and information. Made things more meaningful I think. We then headed over to the actual Palentine Hill and walked around the ruins and took some pictures, making sure to dodge the huge groups of Chinese school kids everywhere.
  
• After another short bout of rain, we hiked over to the historic Circo Massimo to see where they used to have the epic chariot races -- the site was totally overrated -- I think that my backyard at home was more interesting, and at least the grass there is greener.
  
• We ended up doing another Pub Crawl (don´t tell Grandma), this time with a much bigger group of people, and I met a couple fellow Minnesotans: Austin from Hopkins and Robin from Red Wing -- fun times with them.

The next day, Jenny left me and I had to strike out on my own to get to Madrid and spent about 25 hours on trains the rest of the week to get to Madrid.[/u][/u]

So we did make it to Venice, thankfully. Though our train arrived promptly in the afternoon, we did have to wait for the Actv Ticket Booth (public transportation via boat-bus) to reopen to get our tickets and be on our way. Thankfully, the weather was gorgeous -- sunny and at least 80 degrees. It was a welcome chnage from our last couple of countries.
We made it to the "hotel" without problem -- though we had to dodge plenty of tourists near between Rialto and San Marcos Piazza -- but the digs weren't too bad. We had a nice balcony one floor up with a nice view of a (usually) quiet canal.
Thursday August 18
First up on the agenda was the Palazzo Ducale (or Doge's Palace) in San Marcos Piazza. It comprised the Doge's family apartments in earlier centuries, as well as gathering rooms for the senate and wealthy community leaders. We also walked across the "Bridge of Sighs," crossing a canal from the Palace to the Prison -- where the incarcerated would get their "last view of freedom." It was a bit eerie, but pretty cool.
After that we went next door to stand in line for Catedral San Marcos. The wait was only about an hour or so, but in the blazing hot sun out on the square it seemed like forever. Once inside the cathedral, with sparkly gold mosaics decorating the inside, we walked up to the top to get a better view of the mosaics outside and the piazza below. It was really pretty inside, and there must have been millions of tiny little tiles comprising all the mosaics both inside and out.
After a lunch break, we took a private boat out to Isola Murano, which was sponsored by a private glass blowing factory. Once we got to Murano, we got to see a demonstration (which was neat), and toured the family's shop. The work was gorgeous, but was totally out of our price range.
Later that evening we took a "romantic gondola ride" (ok not so romantic because it was just Jenny and me with 3 other passengers, plus 5 other full gondolas) through the Grand Canal and some smaller canals -- serenaded in Italian with a real live accordion player too! It was a bit toursity, but fun (except for when I spotted a rat, but I won't go into that).
We had a nice dinner after that and called it an "early night" to catch another train to Florence the next morning.

Ok so it's been a bit since I last updated y'all with our latest activities... mostly due to a lack of access to or connection with the real world.
SATURDAY
We got a train from Berlin to Prague (Praha) and arrived late Saturday night -- our first mistake (mine, probably). Most everything at the station was closed, and what wasn't definitely had no information in English. We only had €s for money, and couldn't get change to but a metro pass. But there was a cab driver nice enough to take us across town for our €s instead of the Czech Crowns. After checking into the hostel (no telephone available), trekking up 4 flights of stairs with our bags, we got to our room: cozy, since there were like 10 beds or something. There were also a couple of "hazards" in the ensuite bathroom on the floor -- most likely from water from the shower saturating the floor and then leaking through. Awesome. Other than that not too bad.
SUNDAY
We started the day on a quest to find either an ATM or money exchange place. After a lot of running around and not much guidance from the locals, we found an ATM and had to buy some junk from a convenience store to break the 1000 and 2000 Crown bills the machine gave us. Needless to say the woman working hated us. Eventually we had enough change to buy metro tickets and made it to the city center. We hiked up like a million stairs to Prague Castle (when it started drizzling): we visited the Toy Museum with a huge Barbie display, as well as Golden Lane (some homes built into the wall of the castle) where Franz Kafka lived and worked. They love their Kafka in Prague. After battling the crowds and seeing some of the awesome buildings within the castle, we headed back down and across the Charles Bridge -- littered with little kiosks of stuff. We also passed this sort of jazz/cabaret 5 member band playing at the end of the bridge -- they were pretty good!
In the afternoon we wandered around Old Town Squre and the Jewish Quarter... it rained some more and we got wet again. When the rain let up, we decided to take a little boat cruise on the river. It rained again, and we learned about the huge flood in 2002 -- really encouraging. At least we weren't staying near there. But we did see this huge metronome sort of moving sculpture up on a hill above the river. Our guide told us that some art students designed and built it to replace the massive Stalin statue at the end of the Communist era. That was pretty cool. Back in Old Town Square we went to a little Jazz concert in an underground basement beneath a restaurant -- it was pretty interesting music -- the band on the bridge had inspired us to try it.
MONDAY
When we woke up Monday, it was raining -- harder. So we decided to wrap things up in Prague and head to Vienna. Sure enough, the rain followed us along the four hour train ride. It took us about an hour and a half to find the hostel when we got to Vienna, mostly because their transportation system was pretty confusing: an underground train system, which was not the same as the actual metro/subway system, and some above ground trams. By the time we got to the hostel we were pretty exhausted and just had dinner at a restaurant around the corner.
TUESDAY
First up on the agenda, after cursing the rain of course, was the Schonbrunn Palace and the surrounding complex. We took a tour of the great palace rooms decorated by Maria Teresa in the 18th Century. She had something ilke 16 kids, including the ill-fated Maria Antonia (Marie Antoinette who married Louis XVI of France), which is pretty ridiculous. So there were an infinite number of portraits of similar-looking people all over the palace. Outside the palace there was a sort of amazing garden complex, with fountains, flowers, a hedge-maze, conservatory, and a zoo. It was pretty, even with the rain -- which may have worked to our favor in keeping the crowds away.
We subsequently made it to the city center to see the Kaisergruft, or Imperial Crypt, where pretty much all Maria Teresa's family and other royalty were. It was a bit eerie, but kinda neat. The building reminded me a bit of the morgue, sort of sterile looking I guess.
Since it was still raining on and off, we decided on an indoor-activity consisting of a Johann Strauss Waltz concert. Aside from the obnoxious and rude tourists nearby, I really enjoyed it.
When we got back to the hostel at around 11:30 PM the desk receptionist told us we had to change rooms... it would have been nice to have more notice since we actually had to be out of there by 5:30AM to catch our train to Venice. So we spent about an hour packing and moving and remaking beds before trying to get to sleep. That sucked. But we did make our 6:30AM train to Venice the next morning, so all was not lost.

After the headache in Paris... we took a fantastic train ride to eastern Europe -- Berlin, more specifically. We made sure to get reservations for a "couchette," since the train left at about 8:45 pm and arrived no less than 12 hours later in Germany -- we thought we'd try to get to sleep. Well, as luck would have it, we were stuck in a small room (and I mean small), with 6 beds (3 on each wall stacked up on top of one another with about 24" in between. Awesome. Actually, not awesome. It was hot (not to mention putrid) since there was marginal ventilation and we had the pleasure of a true Frenchman riding in our car. Sick. Next time I think we'll just go for the seats.
Once we arrived to Berlin, exhausted, we dropped our stuff off at the hostel and decided that since we had the whole day ahead of us we might as well make the most of it. In the last two weeks we'd spent more than our fair share on bus and walking tours, emphasis on the walking part, and thought it was time for a change. So we met a group for a 5 hour bike tour of the city. That did turn out to be pretty awesome since we got to see almost everything important in the city, and didn't have to walk anywhere (Thank God). I guess what surprised me most was how modern everything was -- and our guide told us that the government has been pouring money into East Berlin since the Wall came down in 1989 -- there are still cranes everywhere because of all the construction.
We visited Tiergarten Park area, a section of the Wall still standing, Reichstag (which we went in to see the next day), Checkpoint Charlie, the newly opened monument to the "Murdered Jews of Europe," which just so happens to be meters away from Hitler's bunker. Overall the bike tour was a blast and a great way to see the city.
Our guide assured us that although the Neo-Nazi Party still had support in recent elections, it was nothing to worry about. But on Friday evening, Jenny and I witnessed a Nazi/Skinhead/Punk/Aryan extremist march right along the street from the comfort of our hostel. While non-violent, it was disturbing enough to encourage us to leave the following day.
I am glad that we got to see Berlin, and experience a bit of what it really was and is, as hard as it is to conceive of "modern Communism" for a democratically-biased American. No doubt the divided city built character for the citizens and community alike -- it's neat to see Berlin rebounding from the years of oppression. Makes me hopeful for the situation in Northern Ireland.

Where to start explaining my latest adventure...
We caught up with another Haggis tour on Thursday morning: this one took us to Northern Ireland (part of the UK). Tour guide for the trip was Jerome, and driver was Doogie (or Dougie, depending on your pronounciation).
Day One
On our way out of Dublin, we passed the infamous "Millennium Spire" -- finished in 2002 -- that actually serves no real purpose other than earning some colorful nicknames from the locals. Stop number one took us northwest of Dublin to Meath County: to Trim Castle. Ironically enough, some scenes from "Braveheart" (the Scottish movie) were filmed in and around this castle in Ireland, and the Irish Army also served as extras in the film. Our second stop were the ancient tombs in Loughcrew ("lock-crew"). We hiked up to the top of this huge hill (or tiny mountain) called Carnbane East, atop which was the 5000+ year old tomb. The carn in Irish literally means "pile of rocks" -- and that's exactly what this tomb looked like from the outside. A guide actually took us inside the ancient tomb (in groups of seven at a time because it was so small), to show us how intricately designed and engineered it was. The tomb was specially built to line up with the sun on the summer and winter solstices -- the sun would shine in from the opening and light up the rough carvings at the back of the tomb in a certain order. It's hard to explain, but it was amazing to see, and I hope that the pictures I took will help. We then drove through two towns after we passed the border from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland (UK): Einskillen and Omagh. Both of which were cites of IRA bombings in the "modern troubles" that started in 1969. By the end of the day we made it to a city with two different names depending on who you talk to: Derry (the original name) and Londonderry (changed in honor of the English businessmen who came over and helped "establish" the city in the 18th Century). After checking into the hostel in the smaller college town by the river Foyle, we met a guide for an historical walking tour of the city. The Catholic-Protestant conflict is too complicated to get into, and I can promise I don't know nearly enough about it. But what we saw in this city was amazing -- and not in an inspiring way. Derry is one of the prime examples of a fully-walled European city. The English built this wall during their "plantation" to protect them from the Irish-Catholics that they were displacing. The wall still stands around the city, though the gates are open, but it serves as a constant reminder of the division between the two groups. The population living inside Derry is 97% Catholic, and just 3% Protestant (British Loyalists) -- whereas outside the wall it's nearly 50/50. As we walked on the wall, our guide showed us the Protestant section of the city, home to 300 people -- several city blocks with red, white, and blue painted curbs, the Union Jack flag flying, surrounded by a 30' high "peace wall" to segregate the groups. We also saw the local police station/compound (also surrounded by a huge wall) with a tower of CCTV cameras pointed every which way in the city -- which had been de-militarized just two days earlier. He also took us down the hill outside the wall to show us the "Free Derry Street Murals" commemorating the loss of innocent lives, protests, monuments that serve as daily reminders of the violence. Though I cannot adequately explain the feeling of being in such a historically turbulent and foreign environment, what I learned and saw moved me to tears.
Day Two
The second day of the tour was a lot less depressing, thankfully. After leaving Derry, we spent about an hour or two exploring Giant's Causeway -- or the 8th wonder of the world, as our guide explained. I thought that this crazy rock formation was much more amazing than what I saw at Stonehenge -- since it is nearly impossible to tell how it could come about. Pam was keen on finding the "Wishing Chair," and the three of us did get to make a wish. The guide there informed us that it would only come true if we followed the 5 rules:
1. Cannot wish for money
2. Cannot wish for love
3. Must wiggle your butt three times while wishing
4. Only allowed one wish per day
5. Cannot tell anyone what you wished for
We'll see if mine comes true
After this we had a more brief stop at White Bay Park -- which was a gorgeous white sand beach in the middle of the huge green cliffs. After that we headed over to the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. The bridge connected the mainland to an island just off the coast about 50' that the locals used to access the waters where the fishing was better. The challenge to walk across the swaying 56' long rope bridge was complicated by the height: 90' above the ocean below. I won't lie -- it scared the crap out of me -- and the deal was you actually had to cross it twice in order to get back home!!!! But I did manage to make it there and back without falling, throwing up, or passing out. We drove the rest of the way to stay in Belfast, Northern Ireland's capitol and largest city.
Day Three
We started the morning with a "Black Cab Tour" of the more historic streets in Belfast. We saw some murals in a Falls Road (Protestant area) neighborhood memorializing dead Protestant freedom fighters. They took us to Shankhill Road, where evidence of the previous night's conflict was still visible: remnants of broken glass bottles and rocks in the street, left from dueling youngsters. This was right near the huge peace wall dividing the Catholics from the Protestants: it had to be nearly 60' of cement, iron, and chain-links. On top of the murals on the walls were several coats of graffiti. On the other side of the wall, in the Catholic neighborhood, was a small monument dedicated to the members of the community who'd lost their lives (some killed by Protestant radicals, others by the police or British Army). One of the driver also showed us the rubber and plastic bullets that the soldiers were using (with government approval) to dissuade conflicts: all three of which have killed and maimed countless victims. The bullets, though, would not even fit all the way in my hand: I could wrap my fingers around it, but they would still stick out the sides -- in other words, these suckers were HUGE. And the Royal Army only uses them in Northern Ireland. Interesting. The Irish apparently used to refer to the police and soldiers as the "British Death Squads." This was another really enlightening part of the tour. After that, we stopped in a pretty sea-side town called Newcastle -- right next to the Mourne Mountain range. It was very pretty. And outside of Dublin we stopped at the Monasterboice to see the high celtic crosses that the monks built to help the Pagans understand Christianity -- I'm not exactly sure how they helped, but they were quite intricately designed. The last two stops really just paled in comparison to Derry and Belfast.
I would have to say that overall, this has been the most meaningful part of my trip. I'm so glad that we had the chance to come up to Northern Ireland, and I got so much out of the tour that I surely would have missed on my own. So that's another fact-filled update on the recent travels. We're off to Paris tomorrow, and who knows what after that. Wish me luck since I don't speak French!