Obviously,
I decided to take a short break from blogging. I figured I would combine the
week spent with my parents into one post. Our journey from Prague to Munich
where we met them was, of course, an experience. I think I now have a feeling
of what it is like to be a cow on one of those trains where they are carting
them to their impending slaughter. Or maybe just how it feels to be a soldier
on a transport train. There was no room. Luckily, we did book a seat; however,
it took us more than 30 minutes of squeezing around people and their luggage to
get there. If I wanted to go forward, the person in front of me was certain to
want to go backwards. It also didn’t help that all the train announcements were
in German once we got into Germany. No more English. I guess the Germans also
have a thing for “If you’re in my country you’ll speak my language!”
The next
day, we set out for a 2-hour car trip to Salzburg. Unfortunately, it was
raining that day, and as a result, there wasn’t much to see. However, we did
all frolic around the fountain used in The
Sound of Music while singing “Doe a Deer.” OK, maybe Mom did with Hannah in
tow, but I decided a long time ago that I would not condone any Sound of Music activities while in
Salzburg. (For those that want to make your brain bleed out your eardrums, I
did find a singing Sound of Music
tour that you can go on where the guide sings to you.) After getting that out
of the way, we stopped by Salzburg castle and after eating a lunch of schnitzel,
we went to Mozart’s house.
The next
day found us going to Neuschwanstein Castle. Many of you might recognize this
castle as being the inspiration for the Disney castle seen in every Disney
movie. It didn’t look like much from a distance, but the closer we got, the
more spectacular it appeared. My favorite view of the castle was probably one
from a hiking trail nearby. Since it is up in the mountains, it had a nice
overview of the valley and lake below. I definitely recommend visiting if
you’re in the area. After stopping there, we headed down to Innsbruck which is
a small town surrounded by the Alps. Since we only spent a night there, it’s
hard to say what the city is really like, but I could see myself going back
there someday.
From
Innsbruck we traveled to Florence. I’ve never seen so much marble anywhere else
in the world as I did in Italy. Trying to think about how they built such
impressive structures gives me a headache, and I’m sure lots of people died in
the process. We saw a copy of the famous David statue by Michelangelo, and also
saw one of the most impressive cathedrals of the trip to that point. I felt
like an ant standing next to it as I was realizing that the marble bricks used
were bigger than I was. Words can’t really describe it. The Duomo in Florence
is just something you really have to see for yourself.
Now, we
get to the highlight of my trip: Rome. I had been looking forward to this since
we started planning our trip back at the beginning of the year. Well, I’ve
probably been looking forward to it ever since I was a little kid playing Age
of Empires on the computer. I could build Rome in a day on that game, but the
city was no comparison. Everywhere we turned, there was some extravagant marble
building, some cool fountain or statue, or some very old building or relic. We
got into the city around sunset on the first day, and it was gorgeous. If you
are ever in Rome, I highly recommend climbing to an observation point of some
kind to watch the sun go down over the ancient buildings and domes of the city.
It’s something you won’t soon forget.
On our
second day, we took a tour of the Vatican. Before the tour, our guide was
explaining about how you can spend weeks in the museums there, and I have to
say I really didn’t believe her. Minutes in a museum is enough to rot the flesh
off my skin, but I was wrong. There is so much history there including statues
dating back to the 1st century BC! Everywhere you looked, there was
history in the form of art. I’ve really never considered myself an art person,
but I would enjoy going back to those museums to just look at some of the
ancient statues. Of course, we passed through the Sistine Chapel, and it does
live up to its hype. You don’t really realize how big it is until you are there
yourself looking up at the ceiling and wondering, “How on earth does someone
have the patience to paint this for 4 years?” Our last stop on the tour was a
visit to the largest cathedral, St. Peter’s Basilica. The opulence is
mind-blowing. Looking around, I can only imagine what the reformers must have
been thinking when battling the church. They were going up against vast wealth
and power beyond description. I guess one good thing about the church’s greed
and corruption back then is that we now have a lot of preserved history and art
as a result.
From the
Vatican, we wandered over to the Pantheon (which was converted into a church
later on by some jerk pope. I think it would’ve been SUPER cool to see the
original statues of the Roman gods in there, but instead there were statues of
saints and Biblical figures. Like there aren’t enough of those already.) I
think the coolest thing about the Pantheon was the dome. It is super huge, and
again, I can’t figure out how they must have built it. Those Romans were some
pretty smart dudes. From there, we went to the Spanish Steps. I’m really not
sure why these are famous… maybe it’s because it’s in Italy, built by the
French, and sits below the Spanish embassy. Or it’s just a bunch of marble
steps with a good overlook of Rome. Either way, been there done that.
Our last
day in Rome was spent touring the Colosseum and Forum. Both were really cool,
but again, the church had to go and do its thing. Apparently, a lot of the
marble used to build the buildings was repossessed during the Middle Ages to
build opulent churches. History is destroyed to create new history, and the
cycle continues. The ruins are still spectacular though. The amount of
engineering and architecture that went into designing the Colosseum is
spectacular, and the grand scale of the Forum and surrounding buildings is
mind-blowing. I can only imagine what it looked like back when all of the
buildings were standing WITH their marble exteriors.
I was
also able to cross off something on my bucket list: eating gelato on a cobble
stone street in a Roman plaza while people watching. Don’t ask me how this got
on there. Maybe it’s cause that’s what I always see cool people doing in
movies. Maybe it’s just cause it is in and of itself cool. Either way, eating a
gelato on the steps of the Pantheon: check!
Our last
day was spent driving up to Milan. We made a stop in Pisa to see the tower:
check! Got a picture of me pushing the tower over (onto Hannah): check! Had a
guy offer to watch the car if we bought something from him… OK, that one wasn’t
on my list, but it made for an interesting experience. Upon arriving in Milan,
we went out for a bite, and then Hannah and I made the 40-minute walk to the
Duomo in Milan. It was probably the coolest exterior of a cathedral I have seen
on this trip. (We couldn’t go inside cause it was closed.) The doors were huge
(probably made of brass) and contained different Biblical scenes. All around
the outside of the church were different people (some dying). We’re guessing
that they are martyrs or saints. Gargoyles at the top with cool
pointy-roof-thingies (to use the technical term). It was all marble!
We are
currently waiting for a plane to our last stop before Chicago: Istanbul!
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