Rome

Italy!!

            Our first day in Rome was one of relaxation, a nice change of pace.  However the next day it was right back to the grindstone.  This means trying to survive Rome’s metro, which is not bad except it is extremely humid, quite a few people, and hot.  The metro is probably warmer than it is outside, or at least more humid.  So it was the metro to the Coliseum and the nearby Roman Forum with Palatine hill.  All of this was tons of walking in an extremely hot sun and hardly any shade, particularly in the Forum.  We saw so many tourists and I have begun to think of myself as a different kind of tourist, hopefully one that doesn’t stick out as much as these people, but the backpack does not help.  Anyways, the Forum was my favorite.  It has so many old temples and while most do not know what each temple was for, unless you had the audio guide, they were usually labeled with the deity that was worshipped there.  After this very warm morning and part of the afternoon we stopped by the Bocca della Verita or Mouth of Truth, the myth goes that if you were to tell I lie will your hand is in the mouth it will shut on your hand.  Do not know if it is true, definitely did not try it.  That evening was one of steps and fountains.  For we went over to the Spanish Steps to watch more silly tourists, look at the obelisk at the top, and check out the fountain at the bottom.  I had never realized just how much water Rome really has, and it seems like any time there was even a small natural spring, they put up a fountain.  Check out my facebook pictures of all the obelisks and fountains and you will get a small idea. Otherwise it was a night of sitting by the Trevi Fountain (threw in two coins) and eating gelato, then heading over to the Triton and trying some cheap wine.   All in all a great start to Rome.

            The Vatican museum was our next stop.  I got there early and only had to wait 10 minutes in line and right away headed to the Sistine Chapel.  There was hardly any one there and it was still very quiet, a nice time to enjoy all of the beautiful artwork.  However I had to go through everything that I had missed by skipping ahead to the chapel, thus I had to go back, look at everything and then go through the chapel a second time.  This time it was packed and everyone was talking and taking pictures.  Normally this would horrible and guards would be everywhere, but everywhere you looked there was a camera and guards were just watching, not saying a word.  I was extremely happy I had been in there previously.  Later that night I headed to the Pantheon and found more obelisks (three) and some amazing fountains (fountain of the four rivers by Bernini).  Then it was a quick metro stop at the Coliseum to see it at night, this was a bit of a disappointment, and the lighting was not the greatest.  The next day we were back at the Vatican to see St. Peter’s Basilica and Square.  There were no lines and while inside we were the only ones for quite some time, making it extremely quiet and easy to relax and take in the splendor.  Outside was another obelisk and more fountains and then we tried to find some catacombs, did not work out exactly.  But I did get to stop at San Giovanni’s Piazza and see the tallest obelisk, which ended my tour of Rome. 

            The train ride to Naples was extremely hot and uncomfortable, air conditioning did not work.  And then we had to get on a smaller local train to get to San Agnello which is close to Sorrento.  But details of that part of Italy will be coming soon. J

~DH

Berlin

Germany!
*Note: this is 3 of 4 about Germany

Berlin may have been one of my favorite cities I have ever visited. There was so many museums, monuments, restaurants, and people that I enjoyed visiting, and therefore I will break up this post into those catagories.

Museums: Berlin had amazing art, architexture, and information. There was old master museums, galleries, and even buildings (sorta). In one museum they had reconstructed old gateways, alters, and fountains. The museum contained pieces from Assyria, Rome, and Turkey. We walked around many museums and were unable to see enough, even while doing this for about 3 days. The German history Museum took a day, and I do not even really look at everything! The various galleries had some beautiful paintings. There was the fountain of youth, conquering love, and a madonna. Also the nice thing about Berlin museums is when you buy some of their tickets you get in to many museums and get free audio tours :)

Monuments: Berlin does not really do flashy monuments. In fact when a local was showing us around the city they took us to many places we had already been. There was a place to honor people who had demanded their husbands back from the police, the square where the Nazis burned books, and a small building that was for unknown soldiers. Everything was just out of the way and unless you knew exactly where to look you would walk right by, which we did about two or three times.

The restaurants we went to the normal person might not consider. For one thing I am a vegatarian, which our guide knew, but decided to be more cultural and ate meat. The other being that one was completely in the dark. The first one I refer to was Austrian. It had tons of meat dishes and amazing drinks. This meant that I had veal, something I rarely ate when I did eat meat. But it was definitely culture food. And the second place was as I said quite blinding. You are told to turn off anything that remotely emits light. We then pick our menu, well it is actually a poem about our food. I think I only guessed one item correct and that was the dessert. It had been labeled as drunk smurfs sledding, and was of course blueberries w/ cream and a bit of liquor. Our server was blind and quite helpful. But the whole experience was fantastic. When you can not see your food you almost enjoy it more. It made me try to picture things but also go with texture too. And though you keep waiting for your eyes to adjust, they do not. So you pour wine in the dark, eat in the dark, and talk to each other, never knowing what anything really looks like.

The people that we stayed with were wonderful. They helped us pick the right museums and brought us to the said restaurants. They also made the most wonderful breakfast in the world. I really do not know the name of what it is I ate, but it is like a mixture of whipped cream and cheese. Unfortunately you can not get it in the states, stupid FDA anyways. And thus I am ending this chapter on Berlin, thinking back on my wonderful breakfast.