On Wednesday, while walking with Professor Braun after scheduling my classes, I found a crumpled up 5 euro bill on the ground. This is one of many of the things in Würzburg making me bowled over with joy this week.
Monday I had my first class, an illustration course with Professor Nikoli Sarafov. Max, a fellow design student, told me on my first night here, “if you picture an old man, it will be Sarafov.” He is a round old man with a big smile and a very relaxed approach to teaching and life. People were shocked I first saw him sans-pipe, since he smokes them often despite the fact no smoking is allowed in the building. I later found out his office doubles as a clandestine pipe smoking refuge, where I sat and looked through old student projects while he smoked and read a newspaper.
Monday night there was a welcome dinner for the exchange students, where we ate Franconian and Würzburg specialties, onion cake and Fieder Weisen. (“white feather” in English, it is a very sweet wine and juice mix) It’s hopeless for me to remember everyone’s name, but some of the girls from Taiwan and I agreed as long as we are very happy to see each other, we don’t need to remember.
My first studio course was yesterday morning with Professor Chris Barth, former head of the German branch of Leo Burnett. I was nervous for this, since Denise told me there were many older and very talented students in the course. One of the students, Julia, was a finalist in the 2007 International Adobe Creative Awards. Since the course is in German, Professor Barth met with me afterwards to explain the course and agreed to meet with me each week so we can really discuss my project. The name of the course is “Attacke!” and the basic prompt is to find a problem you think is unacceptable and make a strong visual statement. I have lots of brainstorming to do, since the topic and media are completely open. At FH (the shortened name of my school) they emphasize the thinking behind a project, and push their students to think of innovative solutions, which I’m thrilled about.
All in all, this week has been a preview of the oodles of things I will learn while I’m here, inside and outside the classroom. I have been feeling very young, ignorant, and immensely fortunate to be here. I know I will be grabbing at knowledge and experience, and I can only hope my energy can keep up with the opportunities I’ve been given. Tomorrow morning, I hop a train to Hannover for a design exhibition and company party being held tomorrow night. Claudia and Denise both have projects in the exhibition, and I’m spending some of tonight translating a magazine Professor Barth gave me explaining the other projects. Hopefully I’ll learn enough to say things like, “yes, that concept is very interesting,” or “I agree, this solution is reminiscent of the designs of _______” auf Deutsch.
Donnerstag, 11. Oktober 2007
Freitag, 5. Oktober 2007
Donnerstag, 4. Oktober 2007
Laura goes to Germany. . .
We finally got back to Berlin on Tuesday, September 25. We played house with our gracious hosts Juliana and Beno, who took us to the grocery store and made us a delicious pasta dinner. After we spent one night crashing in Beno’s apartment, I wandered out to Potsdam to visit the design students studying there. I’m hoping to get a more thorough visit in during Thanksgiving, but I was anxious to settle in Würzburg and stop lugging my bags around.
Laura goes to Würzburg. . .
Last Thursday, I got to Würzburg in the afternoon. My roommate Rebecca, who studies political science at another University here, met me at the train station. She also plays handball, which I found out is nothing like the handball we play in the U.S. Here, it is basically like indoor soccer, with two goals, two teams, and lots of running, but you use your hands. On Friday, I met some of my classmates, Claudia, Denise, and Max along with some of their friends. Claudia made dinner and afterwards I went out for the first time in Germany. I learned “hammer” is the best way to say something is awesome in German. Everyone here says they are embarrassed about their terrible English, but I am amazed and grateful that they all speak it so well.
It seems I am fated to be here, since I am in the Sanderau district, on Sanderring street, right near the main road, Sanderstrasse. It's all a little eerie, and sometimes I feel I will wake up and find out I have just been dreaming what I think study abroad would be like. My flat is adorable and full of IKEA, and I have a balcony that looks out on the park across the street. Its also about a minutes walk from the school, a cool supermarket “tegut,” and the main road that goes through town. So far, I’ve spent a lot of my time in tegut trying to figure out what things are and how I can cook them, since I had trouble with this in English grocery stores.
My first meeting with the dean here, Professor Uli Braun, was on Monday. He took me out on the balcony of his office to show me the gorgeous view of the city. While he was explaining things, I rested my hands on the wire on the railing, something I guessed would be harmless. I quickly found out it was actually electric wire when large shock went through my hands. I was embarrassed by my stupid first impression, but Uli joked with me and said in the morning when he doesn’t have his coffee, he will come outside and do the same thing. The professors I have met so far seem like they are very interesting and will all have different things to offer me.
Last night, I enjoyed my first night at the German cinema watching the new Jodie Foster movie in German. Luckily, there was enough action that I could basically figure out what was going on. I’ve decided I just need to watch several predictable movies in German to pick up on the language. Another strategy Rebecca and I have come up with is labeling everything in the apartment in English and German in post-it notes, and that way we can learn from each other. Everyone is telling me how easily everyone picks up German, so I’m just hoping I’m not the slow one that breaks the trend.
Laura goes to Würzburg. . .
Last Thursday, I got to Würzburg in the afternoon. My roommate Rebecca, who studies political science at another University here, met me at the train station. She also plays handball, which I found out is nothing like the handball we play in the U.S. Here, it is basically like indoor soccer, with two goals, two teams, and lots of running, but you use your hands. On Friday, I met some of my classmates, Claudia, Denise, and Max along with some of their friends. Claudia made dinner and afterwards I went out for the first time in Germany. I learned “hammer” is the best way to say something is awesome in German. Everyone here says they are embarrassed about their terrible English, but I am amazed and grateful that they all speak it so well.
It seems I am fated to be here, since I am in the Sanderau district, on Sanderring street, right near the main road, Sanderstrasse. It's all a little eerie, and sometimes I feel I will wake up and find out I have just been dreaming what I think study abroad would be like. My flat is adorable and full of IKEA, and I have a balcony that looks out on the park across the street. Its also about a minutes walk from the school, a cool supermarket “tegut,” and the main road that goes through town. So far, I’ve spent a lot of my time in tegut trying to figure out what things are and how I can cook them, since I had trouble with this in English grocery stores.
My first meeting with the dean here, Professor Uli Braun, was on Monday. He took me out on the balcony of his office to show me the gorgeous view of the city. While he was explaining things, I rested my hands on the wire on the railing, something I guessed would be harmless. I quickly found out it was actually electric wire when large shock went through my hands. I was embarrassed by my stupid first impression, but Uli joked with me and said in the morning when he doesn’t have his coffee, he will come outside and do the same thing. The professors I have met so far seem like they are very interesting and will all have different things to offer me.
Last night, I enjoyed my first night at the German cinema watching the new Jodie Foster movie in German. Luckily, there was enough action that I could basically figure out what was going on. I’ve decided I just need to watch several predictable movies in German to pick up on the language. Another strategy Rebecca and I have come up with is labeling everything in the apartment in English and German in post-it notes, and that way we can learn from each other. Everyone is telling me how easily everyone picks up German, so I’m just hoping I’m not the slow one that breaks the trend.
The Travels
I realize the point of a blog is to regularly update to keep people informed, but instead I thought it would be more fun if I did one big SUPER POST to catch up at the end of my travels. So if any of you are still very curious about what we did, here it is!
ATHENS, August 30 – September 2
On September 2nd, we flew into Athens. We got into our hostel, Athens Backpackers, around 10pm. Here we encountered the first, but certainly not the last, big group of Australians.
After seeing the Acropolis from the rooftop bar, we found a nearby restaurant called “Smile.” The owner sat a table away smoking her cigarette and chatting with us while we had pita kebab, musaka, and kalamari. The highlight of the evening was when an old greek man, claiming to be her nephew, snapped and danced around the restaurant before riding his motorcycle inside to put it away for the night.
The rest of Athens included beaches (using the mini towel I packed as a beach towel was quite a challenge), ruins, and a long dinner at the Plaka.
SYROS, September 2-4
Two lessons we learned on our ferry ride to Syros:
1. Sitting behind the section of rail where the car ramp folds up in front of does not provide a nice view.
2. If you sit out on the deck packed with smokers and grease smells from Goody’s, you will get sick and/or ashed on.
Any troubles on the ferry were forgotten once we arrived at Kosmos, the hotel run by Mary and Tony, family friends of Dan. We also got to meet Franco (“Frankie Boy”) Dan’s award winning donkey that lives in a field across the street from Kosmos.
Tony took us to rent scooters, and it was a rough start. (I had a bit of a run in with a stone wall at Syros, and later fell over in an intersection in front of another oncoming bike) The house we were staying in provided a gorgeous view of the island, but also included many windy, winding mountain roads that forced me to be scooter savvy very quickly. On our second night ride, singing any song I could remember enough lyrics to loudly remedied the feeling of impending doom I had with each sharp turn. After I accepted being the slow one out of the three of us, I could appreciate the view and actually became fond of our scooter rides.
Our last night in Syros, we watched the sunset from a mountaintop restaurant. The waiter (the only other person with adult braces I’ve seen in Europe) brought us complimentary Ouzo and ice cream and the end of our meal. The night finished perfectly with a second dinner of Ouzo and Octopus with Tony and Mary. (and plenty of “yamas!” the Greek “cheers!”)
Seeing the sun rise over the ocean from just outside our room is one of my most beautiful memories of the trip, and a perfect end to our time in Syros. Tony came to pick up our backpacks and we took one last ride down the mountain. Luckily, I missed a turn on the way back so I didn’t see the dramatic end (Dan slide braking between two cars) to Charlie and Dan’s last race.
Tony and Mary gave us Syros shot glasses and bouquets of Kosmos flowers before we left. Their overwhelming hospitality (our last night they told me I should stay and be their daughter) made Syros a very special place. Mary told us that now we are traveling, but someday we must come to Syros and vacation. Syros is a favorite place of this trip, and I hope that someday I will be able to come back and spend more time there.
MYKONOS, September 4-5
The ferry ride to Mykonos was much more pleasant, since we learned to sit away from smokers and fast food. Although Mykonos is known as an exapensive party island (I heard it described as a floating San Francisco) we had a relaxing day on the beach and in the pool of our place. The T.V. in our room presented Smurfs in Greek, and the first English news we had seen since we left. An English infomercial also incited the ongoing discussion of women and body shapers.
NAPLES, September 5-6
Our stay in Naples was brief, but we stayed in the Hostel of the Sun, which was our favorite of the trip. The night we were there, they had free pasta and wine for all the guests. We also experienced our first actual Italian pizza in Naples. After a travel book warned, “do not leave your belongings out in the open in a car or they will get stolen. This goes double for Italy, triple for Naples,” we were happy to leave with all of our things still with us.
SORRENTO, AMALFI, POSITANO, September 6-7
On a crowded street, a little girl ran into me and I responded, “scuzi!” but it looked much more like I arm checked her. This marks the birth of the “scuzi arm,” a term we used often in crowded Italian situations.
On the way to Amalfi, I was amazed at our giant bus’ ability to wind around mountain roads that I wouldn’t attempt on a scooter. Sometimes, when it seemed only space for one car, two buses would pass each other.
In Amalfi, I enjoyed “COOKIES” gelato (Dan and my favorite kind) while we overheard some entertaining American couples discuss their espresso. “That’s the smallest coffee I’ve ever seen.” “Well, honey, it’s a shot of espresso.” “A shot? More like a Mormon shot.”
We were only able to see Positano from the bus window, since the buses became more and more crowded as the day went on. We could best describe our fellow tourists as aggressive, pushy, British zombies as they all heaped up against the sides of the buses chanting, “Positaaaaaano, does this go to Positaaaano?” It was definitely a time for the scuzi arm.
It rained in Sorrento, so we spent the night playing cards in our hostel, Mami Camilla, and enjoying a four-course dinner cooked by the people there. Mami Camilla runs a world-renown cooking school where students from all over come for externships. Our room was mostly cooking students from Chicago, so we felt a lot like we were crashing in someone else’s dorm.
POMPEII, September 7-8
Once we got to Pompeii, we spent a good chunk of time wandering around with our backpacks trying to find our hostel. We were misdirected by the tourism office, and then told by a travel agency “go to this church- here, they will tell you how to get there.” Our mystical hostel-locating journey finally ended with an old man at a newsstand telling us the final location. This hostel didn’t have co-ed rooms, so I ended up having a 12-bed suite all to myself.
We spent a gorgeous afternoon wandering around the ruins of Pompeii. They were out of audio guides, so we became information scavengers-hanging around various English speaking tour groups gleaning whatever information we could as we pretended to take a photo or look the other way.
ROME, September 8-10
The aggressive, threateningly youthful nature of the Yellow Hostel made us all smile. Some excerpts from the paper we got with our keys are “Free Internet? Fuck Yeah!” and “If Mr. T and David Hasselhof got into a tag team battle with Chuck Norris and McGyver, then made up for it after an embarrassing night fueled by alcohol – their offspring, would be this shot.” (A description of the Yellow Bar’s signature shot, the Chuck Norris round house kick to the face, available at a “fucking awesome price.”)
Rome is where I really began to notice what I believe is travel-induced narcolepsy. Whenever I sat down in one place too long, whether it be on a plane, train bus, or in a bar watching football, I would fall asleep. This-along with a terrible sense of direction, are just some of the reasons I was glad not to travel alone.
The first highlight of Rome was the crypt of the Cappucians, a five room crypt that is decorated with lamps and wall hangings made out of the skeletons of over 4,000 people. Despite the beautiful monuments we saw, some of our favorite sights involved the people there. We saw a couple, both dressed in all white and approximately 18 years old, groping each other at the Trevi fountain. The place was packed, and unsuspecting tourists were sitting next to them getting pictures with the fountain as the guy mounted the girl, pretending to describe the fountain to her for a more stealthy groping experience.
Despite multiple warning about gangs of child thieves at the Termini train station, it only provided us with free mini Coke Light (Diet Coke) cans and the sight of a middle aged, heavyset woman nonchalantly wandering in sans any pants or underwear. We were all grateful we saw her, and just as grateful we only saw her backside.
Our last day in Rome, we took a tour of the Vatican. The Sistene Chapel was full of guards sternly commanding, “no cameras! shhhhh” and people trying to sneak flash pictures in a dim room and not shushing. The most breathtaking part of the Vatican was St. Peter’s Basilica, especially Michelangelo’s Pieta.
VENICE, September 10-13
On the train to Venice, Charlie and I taught Dan how to play the card game Oh Hell and eventually ended up playing with a very nice Romanian around our age. She was a an Aveda hairdresser and off to visit a friend.
We arrived in Venice at night, which made the place all that more mystical when we wandered through the streets. It was slightly spooky, but we joked that, considering the setting, it would be more likely for us to get mugged by a gang of old timey pirates than anything else. The bizarre atmosphere of Venice continued when we found Clara, who led us to the Residenza Maddelena.
When I picture Clara, all I can see is a cloud of curly brown hair, large glasses, and scurrying. The hostel was also memorable. There were little notes everywhere, including, “open gently” on the shower curtain and “please close” on the inside of the toilet lid. Our breakfast snack was a pre-wrapped ten to a pack pastry with something that tried its best to be apple filling and three mini mugs of coffee. The doilies on the pink night tables and Dan’s child sized teddy bear blanket made it feel as if we were staying in a grandmother’s house that had triplet girls stay in our room many years ago.
Venice also had things to offer outside the wondrous Residenza Maddelena. We happened to be in town the same night Ennio Marriconi, a composer of famous music for western films, was having an outdoor concert. So, as we leaned against the outside gates (we were too cheap to buy real tickets) we were engulfed with epic western music in San Marco’s Square.
Our trip to the glass blowing island of Murano gave us a chance to ride a waterbus, aka vaporetto. The hard knock life of the vaporetto includes crowds, slow transit, and being judged by the high brows willing to drop 80-100 euro for a gondola or water taxi. Luckily, my favorite part of the Murano, a glass blowing demonstration in which the guide explained, “the little man is the master” was free.
FLORENCE, September 13-15
Florence was chocked full of museums, and within the first few hours we were there we got to see Michelangelo’s David, my favorite sight in the city. A close second would be the topless street fight we walked by on the way to the Uffizi the next day. We aren’t sure if the woman’s shirt was ripped off in the fight, or if she took it off for more effective fighting. However, we do know that the Florence never moves with more alacrity than when responding to a topless fight.
PISA, LEVANTO, CINQUE TERRE September 15-17
We spent about a half hour in Pisa looking at people pretending to hold up the tower before heading for the beaches of Levanto. Tired of using mini towels for beach blankets, Dan decided the blanket in our room was also giant beach towel. So begins the legend of moldy blanket.
The next day, we took a gorgeous hike between the towns of Cinque Terre. This was definitely the sweatiest day of the trip, and I think I may have climbed more stairs here than in my life thus far. However, any soreness was well worth the view. Plus, this is where I encountered the prize winning bathrooms my mom warned me about: two footrests and a hole.
NICE, September 17-19
The first full day in Nice we had a few train issues, landing us in at a train station that we think might double as purgatory. After we found our way, we had our last beach day of the trip in Cannes. This was the most beautiful beach we visited, and also had some super tan old people to make me feel better about my powder skin. That night, we went to Monaco to feel really poor and ogle at yachts with helicopters on them.
ARLES, September 19-20
Arles, (after spelling it out to the ticket person at the train station we found out its pronounced ARCGHKH-la) was quaint and lovely. In contrast to the general feel of the town, it is home to the most post cards featuring boobs I have ever seen. We joked about the art direction behind the classy, “boobs wearing mini sunglasses” postcard photograph.
PARIS, September 20-25
Paris was amazing, and too much to describe. Some of the highlights were:
-Watching Rugby on a big screen in front of Hotel Deville.
- Our tour-guide Andy. After making us play the name game, he slowly walked in front of a car trying to run a red and flipped them off, and yelled things at the gypsies like, “Diablo! Diablo! The Gypsies have rabies here!”
- The museums (the best of the entire trip, and so plentiful it was a bit tiring)
- Throwing the Frisbee with what we believe to be a French white supremacist in front of the Eifel Tower (Frisbee brings all people together)
- Our hostel floor that we made seem like a sandy beach with all the cookie and chocolate chip muffin crumbs we covered it with (favorite thing said in the hostel room: “watch out for that muffin chunk.”)
ATHENS, August 30 – September 2
On September 2nd, we flew into Athens. We got into our hostel, Athens Backpackers, around 10pm. Here we encountered the first, but certainly not the last, big group of Australians.
After seeing the Acropolis from the rooftop bar, we found a nearby restaurant called “Smile.” The owner sat a table away smoking her cigarette and chatting with us while we had pita kebab, musaka, and kalamari. The highlight of the evening was when an old greek man, claiming to be her nephew, snapped and danced around the restaurant before riding his motorcycle inside to put it away for the night.
The rest of Athens included beaches (using the mini towel I packed as a beach towel was quite a challenge), ruins, and a long dinner at the Plaka.
SYROS, September 2-4
Two lessons we learned on our ferry ride to Syros:
1. Sitting behind the section of rail where the car ramp folds up in front of does not provide a nice view.
2. If you sit out on the deck packed with smokers and grease smells from Goody’s, you will get sick and/or ashed on.
Any troubles on the ferry were forgotten once we arrived at Kosmos, the hotel run by Mary and Tony, family friends of Dan. We also got to meet Franco (“Frankie Boy”) Dan’s award winning donkey that lives in a field across the street from Kosmos.
Tony took us to rent scooters, and it was a rough start. (I had a bit of a run in with a stone wall at Syros, and later fell over in an intersection in front of another oncoming bike) The house we were staying in provided a gorgeous view of the island, but also included many windy, winding mountain roads that forced me to be scooter savvy very quickly. On our second night ride, singing any song I could remember enough lyrics to loudly remedied the feeling of impending doom I had with each sharp turn. After I accepted being the slow one out of the three of us, I could appreciate the view and actually became fond of our scooter rides.
Our last night in Syros, we watched the sunset from a mountaintop restaurant. The waiter (the only other person with adult braces I’ve seen in Europe) brought us complimentary Ouzo and ice cream and the end of our meal. The night finished perfectly with a second dinner of Ouzo and Octopus with Tony and Mary. (and plenty of “yamas!” the Greek “cheers!”)
Seeing the sun rise over the ocean from just outside our room is one of my most beautiful memories of the trip, and a perfect end to our time in Syros. Tony came to pick up our backpacks and we took one last ride down the mountain. Luckily, I missed a turn on the way back so I didn’t see the dramatic end (Dan slide braking between two cars) to Charlie and Dan’s last race.
Tony and Mary gave us Syros shot glasses and bouquets of Kosmos flowers before we left. Their overwhelming hospitality (our last night they told me I should stay and be their daughter) made Syros a very special place. Mary told us that now we are traveling, but someday we must come to Syros and vacation. Syros is a favorite place of this trip, and I hope that someday I will be able to come back and spend more time there.
MYKONOS, September 4-5
The ferry ride to Mykonos was much more pleasant, since we learned to sit away from smokers and fast food. Although Mykonos is known as an exapensive party island (I heard it described as a floating San Francisco) we had a relaxing day on the beach and in the pool of our place. The T.V. in our room presented Smurfs in Greek, and the first English news we had seen since we left. An English infomercial also incited the ongoing discussion of women and body shapers.
NAPLES, September 5-6
Our stay in Naples was brief, but we stayed in the Hostel of the Sun, which was our favorite of the trip. The night we were there, they had free pasta and wine for all the guests. We also experienced our first actual Italian pizza in Naples. After a travel book warned, “do not leave your belongings out in the open in a car or they will get stolen. This goes double for Italy, triple for Naples,” we were happy to leave with all of our things still with us.
SORRENTO, AMALFI, POSITANO, September 6-7
On a crowded street, a little girl ran into me and I responded, “scuzi!” but it looked much more like I arm checked her. This marks the birth of the “scuzi arm,” a term we used often in crowded Italian situations.
On the way to Amalfi, I was amazed at our giant bus’ ability to wind around mountain roads that I wouldn’t attempt on a scooter. Sometimes, when it seemed only space for one car, two buses would pass each other.
In Amalfi, I enjoyed “COOKIES” gelato (Dan and my favorite kind) while we overheard some entertaining American couples discuss their espresso. “That’s the smallest coffee I’ve ever seen.” “Well, honey, it’s a shot of espresso.” “A shot? More like a Mormon shot.”
We were only able to see Positano from the bus window, since the buses became more and more crowded as the day went on. We could best describe our fellow tourists as aggressive, pushy, British zombies as they all heaped up against the sides of the buses chanting, “Positaaaaaano, does this go to Positaaaano?” It was definitely a time for the scuzi arm.
It rained in Sorrento, so we spent the night playing cards in our hostel, Mami Camilla, and enjoying a four-course dinner cooked by the people there. Mami Camilla runs a world-renown cooking school where students from all over come for externships. Our room was mostly cooking students from Chicago, so we felt a lot like we were crashing in someone else’s dorm.
POMPEII, September 7-8
Once we got to Pompeii, we spent a good chunk of time wandering around with our backpacks trying to find our hostel. We were misdirected by the tourism office, and then told by a travel agency “go to this church- here, they will tell you how to get there.” Our mystical hostel-locating journey finally ended with an old man at a newsstand telling us the final location. This hostel didn’t have co-ed rooms, so I ended up having a 12-bed suite all to myself.
We spent a gorgeous afternoon wandering around the ruins of Pompeii. They were out of audio guides, so we became information scavengers-hanging around various English speaking tour groups gleaning whatever information we could as we pretended to take a photo or look the other way.
ROME, September 8-10
The aggressive, threateningly youthful nature of the Yellow Hostel made us all smile. Some excerpts from the paper we got with our keys are “Free Internet? Fuck Yeah!” and “If Mr. T and David Hasselhof got into a tag team battle with Chuck Norris and McGyver, then made up for it after an embarrassing night fueled by alcohol – their offspring, would be this shot.” (A description of the Yellow Bar’s signature shot, the Chuck Norris round house kick to the face, available at a “fucking awesome price.”)
Rome is where I really began to notice what I believe is travel-induced narcolepsy. Whenever I sat down in one place too long, whether it be on a plane, train bus, or in a bar watching football, I would fall asleep. This-along with a terrible sense of direction, are just some of the reasons I was glad not to travel alone.
The first highlight of Rome was the crypt of the Cappucians, a five room crypt that is decorated with lamps and wall hangings made out of the skeletons of over 4,000 people. Despite the beautiful monuments we saw, some of our favorite sights involved the people there. We saw a couple, both dressed in all white and approximately 18 years old, groping each other at the Trevi fountain. The place was packed, and unsuspecting tourists were sitting next to them getting pictures with the fountain as the guy mounted the girl, pretending to describe the fountain to her for a more stealthy groping experience.
Despite multiple warning about gangs of child thieves at the Termini train station, it only provided us with free mini Coke Light (Diet Coke) cans and the sight of a middle aged, heavyset woman nonchalantly wandering in sans any pants or underwear. We were all grateful we saw her, and just as grateful we only saw her backside.
Our last day in Rome, we took a tour of the Vatican. The Sistene Chapel was full of guards sternly commanding, “no cameras! shhhhh” and people trying to sneak flash pictures in a dim room and not shushing. The most breathtaking part of the Vatican was St. Peter’s Basilica, especially Michelangelo’s Pieta.
VENICE, September 10-13
On the train to Venice, Charlie and I taught Dan how to play the card game Oh Hell and eventually ended up playing with a very nice Romanian around our age. She was a an Aveda hairdresser and off to visit a friend.
We arrived in Venice at night, which made the place all that more mystical when we wandered through the streets. It was slightly spooky, but we joked that, considering the setting, it would be more likely for us to get mugged by a gang of old timey pirates than anything else. The bizarre atmosphere of Venice continued when we found Clara, who led us to the Residenza Maddelena.
When I picture Clara, all I can see is a cloud of curly brown hair, large glasses, and scurrying. The hostel was also memorable. There were little notes everywhere, including, “open gently” on the shower curtain and “please close” on the inside of the toilet lid. Our breakfast snack was a pre-wrapped ten to a pack pastry with something that tried its best to be apple filling and three mini mugs of coffee. The doilies on the pink night tables and Dan’s child sized teddy bear blanket made it feel as if we were staying in a grandmother’s house that had triplet girls stay in our room many years ago.
Venice also had things to offer outside the wondrous Residenza Maddelena. We happened to be in town the same night Ennio Marriconi, a composer of famous music for western films, was having an outdoor concert. So, as we leaned against the outside gates (we were too cheap to buy real tickets) we were engulfed with epic western music in San Marco’s Square.
Our trip to the glass blowing island of Murano gave us a chance to ride a waterbus, aka vaporetto. The hard knock life of the vaporetto includes crowds, slow transit, and being judged by the high brows willing to drop 80-100 euro for a gondola or water taxi. Luckily, my favorite part of the Murano, a glass blowing demonstration in which the guide explained, “the little man is the master” was free.
FLORENCE, September 13-15
Florence was chocked full of museums, and within the first few hours we were there we got to see Michelangelo’s David, my favorite sight in the city. A close second would be the topless street fight we walked by on the way to the Uffizi the next day. We aren’t sure if the woman’s shirt was ripped off in the fight, or if she took it off for more effective fighting. However, we do know that the Florence never moves with more alacrity than when responding to a topless fight.
PISA, LEVANTO, CINQUE TERRE September 15-17
We spent about a half hour in Pisa looking at people pretending to hold up the tower before heading for the beaches of Levanto. Tired of using mini towels for beach blankets, Dan decided the blanket in our room was also giant beach towel. So begins the legend of moldy blanket.
The next day, we took a gorgeous hike between the towns of Cinque Terre. This was definitely the sweatiest day of the trip, and I think I may have climbed more stairs here than in my life thus far. However, any soreness was well worth the view. Plus, this is where I encountered the prize winning bathrooms my mom warned me about: two footrests and a hole.
NICE, September 17-19
The first full day in Nice we had a few train issues, landing us in at a train station that we think might double as purgatory. After we found our way, we had our last beach day of the trip in Cannes. This was the most beautiful beach we visited, and also had some super tan old people to make me feel better about my powder skin. That night, we went to Monaco to feel really poor and ogle at yachts with helicopters on them.
ARLES, September 19-20
Arles, (after spelling it out to the ticket person at the train station we found out its pronounced ARCGHKH-la) was quaint and lovely. In contrast to the general feel of the town, it is home to the most post cards featuring boobs I have ever seen. We joked about the art direction behind the classy, “boobs wearing mini sunglasses” postcard photograph.
PARIS, September 20-25
Paris was amazing, and too much to describe. Some of the highlights were:
-Watching Rugby on a big screen in front of Hotel Deville.
- Our tour-guide Andy. After making us play the name game, he slowly walked in front of a car trying to run a red and flipped them off, and yelled things at the gypsies like, “Diablo! Diablo! The Gypsies have rabies here!”
- The museums (the best of the entire trip, and so plentiful it was a bit tiring)
- Throwing the Frisbee with what we believe to be a French white supremacist in front of the Eifel Tower (Frisbee brings all people together)
- Our hostel floor that we made seem like a sandy beach with all the cookie and chocolate chip muffin crumbs we covered it with (favorite thing said in the hostel room: “watch out for that muffin chunk.”)
Donnerstag, 30. August 2007
First few days
I hope everyone can access this easily. When I made it, the website was only in German so there may have been some things lost in translation. I am pretty terrible at writing mass emails, so if anyone who is reading this would like to be included in updates other than the photos and such on here, please give me your email address! I head to Athens this afternoon, and will be travelling through italy and france with very little internet access, but I will be able to communicate pretty easily once I get back into Germany in the beginning of October. Please feel free to spread this site/my email around. There are lots of people I want to keep in touch with but just haven't had the time.
I have make sure I have everything packed for the backpacking trip right now, so I'll leave with a few quick updates:
My first day in Germany I stepped in dog poop.
Our second day in Germany, Charlie and Dan both stepped in dog poop.
I am addicted to dönner kebobs (2 euro for a full meal!)
I touched the Berlin wall yesterday.
They have copious amounts of graffiti here.
The Berlin public transportation system is a wonderful thing.
I have make sure I have everything packed for the backpacking trip right now, so I'll leave with a few quick updates:
My first day in Germany I stepped in dog poop.
Our second day in Germany, Charlie and Dan both stepped in dog poop.
I am addicted to dönner kebobs (2 euro for a full meal!)
I touched the Berlin wall yesterday.
They have copious amounts of graffiti here.
The Berlin public transportation system is a wonderful thing.
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