Florence

What an amazing difference there is between Florence and Venice. Florence in in the Tuscany region of Italy and is considered the "birthplace" of the Renaissance. It was refreshing to be in a city with wide streets (compared to Vencice)! Our first visit was to the Duomo, a huge domed cathedral (aka Santa Maria Fiore). Pictures do not do the cathedral justice as it is made from both white and green marble with intricate details all over its exterior.

The River Arno runs through Florence with multiple bridge crossings. The most famous of which is the Ponte Vecchio with a multitude of jewlery shops built along its edges. Supposidly there used to be other more "undesirable" shops along the bridge but a long time ago those merchents were kicked off and replaced by jewlers. Fun fact: the Ponte Vecchio is also the only bridge along the Arno that survived the Second World War.

We were staying at probably the weirdest hostel I have been to yet. It was chosen due to its inexpensive nature and the fact that they offered a "free sangria" night on the weekends. This should have tipped us off before we booked as good hostels shouldnt have to offer free booze to get business. There really was nothing wrong with it but the people staying there were a very odd crowd. Quirky is almost the right word...

Our second day in Florence was very productive: laundry, David, stamps, dinner. That is a lot for us backpackers to do in one day! Laundry is usually an all day activity (though it only takes an hour or so) with the rest of the day spent lounging in the sun or something like that. Anyways, clean clothes then off to find David! The museum he is in was built specifically to display him and it is quite obvious. The rest of the museum is a bunch of small rooms with the walls crammed full of religious paintings and busts from the 17-1800s, all of which are of no interest to me. The busts are all of semi-rich people who loved themselves too much.

Turning the corner from one such room, you enter a long corridor with four of Michelangelo's unfinished carvings ('Prisoners'). At the end stands David in all his glory atop his pedestal. It was the first statue of David in which he is not holding a weapon or any indication of the giant. To put it quite bluntly, David is the most amazing statue I have ever seen (so far). He is incredably anatomically correct except for some minor details like him being much to thin back to front in relation to his height, huge hands, creepily large head, and his weird heart shaped pupils. The David had already been started by another sculptor before Michelangelo got to him. The piece of marble had been started then stopped and sat outside for 25 years before Micky started on it. He is a must see for anyone that travels through Italy, as far as I am concerned.

Lunch was interesting: pizza by weight. You tell the person which pizza you want then how much you want in grams.  

Stamps: pretty straight forward... we bought stamps.

Dinner: fresh pasta (the real stuff) with pesto sauce. I died, it was so amazing. So amazing in fact, we made another batch the next night, the pasta waas a different shape though. Best meal of the trip so far without a doubt. Simple yet amazing.

Day 3 in Florence was Pisa! To sum up our day in Pisa... long walk to a leaning bell tower then gelato. Not much else there. The best part was laughing at all the tourists "holding up" or "pushing over" the bell tower!  See the picture below: classic!

Photos: These are of Venice

 Tourists at Pisa:

 These are of Florence (including the one above):

 I call this one "fake David" because, well, its not the real one. It is a copy and is standing where the real David stood for over 200 years before moving inside.

 Pisa again:

 Back in Florence, this time at night:

Venice

They say even the locals get lost in Venice. This was not a good thought for us as we rode the train past Milan on our way to a city of multiple mini islands with a total population of 60 thousand. Venice is of course the city of cannals and the story (according to wikipedia) goes that in the summer when Venice is crowded with tourists, many of the little alley ways and side streets become flooded because of all the extra weight on the "islands". Wikipedia also said not to talk to the locals about Venice eventually sinking, bit of a soft spot for them.

Speaking of getting lost, the first time we got lost we weren't really lost. More like got off the train one stop too early. We exited the train to a beautiful view of a old Italian city but it was clearly not Venice. No gondolas, glassware, theatre masks, or WATER for that matter. Our Aussie friend made that last point quite clear to the rest of us. Back on the train. This time we knew we were in Venice because all of the above clichés where right out the front entrance of the train station.

The second time we got lost was about 10mins after leaving the train station. Well, thats not entirely true as at the time (and for about another 45mins) we thought we knew where we were going. The directions to the hostel seemed simple enough: "take the water bus to _____ stop". Pffft the water bus would have cost us €6.50 each so we choose to walk to the specified bus stop instead. Lovely walk, beautiful stores, and tastey looking food... Well we walked and walked amnd walked then asked 5 different shop owners for directions, each one telling us to head in a different direction. They also all said they weren't entirely sure where the address for the hostel was.

We were getting hangry so stopped for pizza ("when in Italy...."). The plan was to borrow the restaurant's phone to call the hostel but the waiter wasn't allowed to lend the phone, but he came back with his cell phone! What a guy! We tipped well.

Turns out the hostel was around the corner from where we ate dinner! Of course. Gelato time! Amazing!

The next day we left the map at the hostel and decided to wander the "streets" without one. Turns out it wasnt very difficult to find our way around in the day time, as long as you knew where the Grande Canal was most of the time, you were fine. The streets are only as wide as 2 people walking side by side, 3 people down some streets. I can't imagine what its like in the crowded summer months!

We came across an interesting flea market selling neat old stuff. It literally was just "stuff" but unlike our garage sales, all of it was neat stuff: old glass perfume bottles with the little 'poof' handle, old skeleton keys, black and white family photos from the 1920s, gaudy jewlery... sorry if I cant spell (not like I can normally), seems my brain is stuck in 'French mode' from a week of learning. It actually took me a few tries to spell perfume correctly in english.

Anyways, back to Venice... We ate more pizza and pasta that day as well as sampled some cannoli (singular- cannolo) although we were not entirely satisfied with the ones we had. It may have had something to do with the fact that we were attacked by pigeons while trying to enjoy the cannoli. Oh, fun fact about cannoli, they originated in Sicily and are more popular in the USA than they are in Italy... ie TLC's Cake Boss, which is where I first heard of them.

The following day, two of us headed for the train station while the others stayed behind in Venice for another day. Florence time! I wasn't extremely excited for Florence, more excited to be done with Venice. It was boring, great for people over 50 or couples looking for a 'romantique' holiday (French coming out again...). Dont get me wrong, I am glad I went but probably wont go back (well maybe for my 55th birthday if the city hasnt sunk yet!).

Oh the pictures of Venice are amazing! I cant wait to post them!

Is it sad that I screamed (inside my head) when I saw a Starbucks while on my way home from class yesterday? Maybe. Today is Friday to I treated myself to the most expensive coffee I have ever bought. Picture the menus at your local Canadian Starbucks now replace the dollar sign with the euro sign. Yup, I paid the equivalent of $6.25 Canadian dollars for a Tall Mocha Blanc (so €4.50). Yicks. Unlikely that will happen again.

Kylie

Monaco

Monte Carlo in Monaco is quite the city! Picture old ladies wrapped in fur coats (+25 degrees that day too) walking mini dogs while slathered in layers of makeup (the old ladies, not the dogs) as very expensive cars drive by the clear blue sea on their way to the casino to gamble away money they have clearly no other use for. The harbour was packed full of yachts inside bigger yachts tied beside even bigger yachts. Did that make sense? It was quite the day. As we sat having lunch at the harbour we played "which yacht will I buy when I grow up?". There were maybe 6 sail boats total in the harbour and of course they were massive like all the other boats.

We got our passports stamped at the tourist office which was pretty neat as Monaco is the second smallest country in the world (rivaled by Vatican City), then went into the casino. There are hardly words to describe how ornate the interior is. No pictures allowed of course. One surprising observation was the contrast between the interior of the mens and womens washrooms. The womens was 2 stalls, painted wooden doors, one sink, and an air hand drier. The mens on the other hand had 10+ stalls with marble doors and walls, 6 marble sinks, and a man in a suit handing out towels. Dont ask me how I know this. The guys I went to the casino with took home a couple chips for souvenirs. They were the fanciest casino chips I have ever seen.

Pictures: The first is a line up of yachts in the harbour. You can see the size of them compared to the little cars parked behind them. I think the people are too small to see.

Second picture: Monte Carlo Casino

Third: My new cars.

4th: The famous hairpin turn in the Monaco Grande Prix.

5th: More yachts!!

Sorry if the formatting is a little different than usual. I am on a French keyboard and its very different than I am used to. Anyways, lots more posts to come as I am on a 2 week stop over in Lyon to learn some French!! I spent 2 amazing weeks in Italy just recently and will be able to catch up on posting due to my classes ending at about 2. Basically I have signed myself up for the most intense French course imaginable. About 30 hours per week for 2 weeks plus after school studying for 2 hours on average so far. Yicks!

But Italy was amazing... I can see myself going back in the next 4 months as there is so much more I want to see. So many desserts in Italy! I need to pull out those running shoes these next few weeks. My favorite dessert was an amazing key lime pie. Not cake, I know, but I also had bowls and bowls of gelato... but more on that later :) You may be happy to know I am no longer in +25 degree weather anymore. Lyon is sunny and +8 today...bit of a shock for me!

love and miss you all,

K

ps. if anyone can fed-x me a Tims coffee (large, 2milk 1sugar) I would be forever in debt to you. As much as I love espresso, I am sick of it!! Its impossible to find "american" coffee and if you do, it tastes like dog barf.

France!!

Ok so a lot has happened since my last post. I will say sorry in advance for spelling errors as I am typing on a French keyboard but someone changed the format so its in english format... so the letters on the keys dont match what somes out when I type. Very strange.

Went to Paris to meet Tanya and Cam and spent 3 days touring the city seeing all the typical Paris sites. Beautiful city!! I was glad to have gone back (last time was in 2004... or was is 05?). We then said good-bye to Cam and headed south to Lyon to meet up with some extended family. Dad's cousin's husband's brother and his family. So connected through the NZ side of the family. To sum up Lyon: best food I have ever eaten. All home cooked meals, all French cuisine, all into my belly. One night they served 7 different types of desserts! Yes, I tried them all. We went on a wine tour and had some "samples"... more like full glasses of which we of course spared no drop. That same afternoon we toured small French villages in the area. All the little houses and buildings are made with stones from the local mountains so they are all bright yellow with orange roofs! So beautiful! 

The French Alps were next! Our Lyon family suggested we stay in Annecy which has a huge lake, lots of good shopping, and lovely walking paths around the lake. Tanya and I checked off each one of those on our list of things to do in Annecy :) We took long walks around the lake, had picnic lunches, and shopped in the afternoon... big spenders (NOT). It was a romantic little vacation. 

I said good-bye to Tanya as it was her turn to head back home. I had planned to head to Italy but the wee little town I was going to had floods and landslides the morning I was going to head out so plans changed and I am now in Nice! What an amazing French city! I can see why celebs like this part of France although this is a good time for me to be here as all the prices have dropped (off season now) but its still sunny and hot hot hot! I have been running almost every morning while I have been here followed by a swim in the sea then sitting on the beach all day long! So far this is the best part of my trip mostly because of the beach and hot weather. My tropical kiwi blood is happy again! 

Plan for tomorrow is Monaco! Its a short bus ride away. Dont worry Mom, I wont gamble ALL my money away in Monte Carlo :) The pictures are me in Nice, Annecy France, and Nice without me in the picture.

K

 

 

Strasbourg, France - October 19th

It would be impossible to be a veggitarian here! Not that a variety of veggies arent available, but the meat in the Alsance region of France is so good! I was pondering this over my dinner consisting of a fresh bread roll, soft cheese (dont know what it is), and some sort of amazing meat (also dont know what it is, though I know the label said "100% beef"). Practically in heaven right now, the only thing that would make this meal perfect would be a nice piece of cake for dessert. When I was picking up dinner from the supermarket I spied a pile of skinned rabbits at the meat counter. Their eyes were covered with little cardboard sleeping masks. From what I could see, it looks like rabbits have lots of fat on their ears. I didnt buy one as I have no way of roasting it (not actually the real reason).

I have been reading a lot of books on this trip mostly because of all the train travel but also becuase I actually have time. Once I left Germany it has been difficult to find english books for a decent price. I am reading an interesting book Brendan lent me (he said I only have a week to read it as he wants to read it after me) but I also happened to stumble upon a little english book store (book stores are called "libraries" here) that is closing down so everything is 50% off! I may have to go back again tomorrow and stock up, although carrying a load of books around in my pack isnt the best idea.

The hostel I am currently staying at runs off bookings from school groups (mostly German kids) and tours groups (mostly American collage students) so the place is packed. I managed to snag a room with only one other person, a lady from Isreal. She is a lawyer who is fascinated with the German culture although she made it clear "but not what they did to us during the War". She gave me lots of great tips if I head into Switzerland and we shared a dinner similar to what I had tonight.

I was quite proud of myself yesterday when I ordered take away lunch completely in french! Its all coming back slowly but surely. Vanessa lent me a French phrase book which I have been reviewing and I am evesdropping on converstaions to hear the proper pronounciations. I have found many words that we learn in Canadian french classes are different and the French form sentences differently. I did know this before but its a little confusing right now. More practice is all I need.

Today calls for rain. I saved all the museums for today because I am smart.

Ticket to Paris for Thursday was either 1) get up at 4:30am, swtich trains twice, travel for a total of 5.5 hours, and pay 65€ OR 2) train at 10:30, switch once, arrive by noon, and pay 3€. Why did the ticket lady even give me the first option? Do I look like I am willing to get up at 4:30? I am not on a deadline here, I paid the 3€.

Two pictures...I broke down and bought a "mini" gingerbread cookie; the view from my hostel room yesterday morning.

K

Ps. I discovered a snack...imagine the puffy cheesies except not cheese flavour...peanut butter flavour. Talk about weird textures :s

Germany pics

Noordwijk is a lovely little town. I can see myself staying there for much longer but it was time to move on. I am currently in Strasbourg, France attempting to type on what I think is a German keyboard (yes, I am in France) so all the letters are in different places, very frustrating to please excuse the spelling errors.

This post will mostly be photos so the next one will actually have content. Tried to upload more but that will have to wait.


Nurnberg:

 Holocaust memorial in Berlin

 Brussels!

 This box only cost me €1000... jk i didnt buy it.

Bonjour Brussels!

How lovely it is to be able to understand a language again! Thank you French teachers of my childhood. Being able to communicate with people and reading signs/directions again is refreshingly awesome. Ya, most Germans can speak english but reading signs etc was not enjoyable in Berlin. Then again, once people in Belgium hear my accent, they switch to speaking english which is no fun for me.

Brussels: amazing little city but I'm glad I didnt spend anymore time then I did there. Day one was awesome...waffles for breakfast and chocolate for lunch and dessert. Let me expand:

Raining like mad in the morning but I adopted an umbrella from the hostel so it was all good. I checked out the Grand Place (main square) and the old building there (see panorama pic). I caught word of an authentic waffle house near by so decided to check that out. How to describe it...well its located smack in the middle of the most expensive shopping street in the city however the meals are inexpensive. This is clearly evident when I walked in as it was full of old ladies! I ordered a cafe a l'Italianne et une "waffle" avec bannane et chocolat chaud. Amazing. The waffle was warm and fluffy, banana perfectly ripe, and chocolate was dark and hot. Heaven.

More site seeing: had to see the European parlament (Brussels is the capital of Europe) and of course Manneken Pis. Manneken Pis is a famous fountain of a little boy peeing. The chocolate shops around that square all have chocolate status of him peeing chocolate! Did I mention I was staying right beside the Godiva chocolate factory? "Kylie and the Chocolate Factory"!!

I spent a few days in Bruges. It is a lovely little Midieval style city with canals and bridges and more chocolate! Not at all like the movie "In Bruges". A friend I met described Bruges as "almost boring". Very true. Not sure what I would have done in Bruges for more than the 2 days I spent there though I did enjoy my time, and the beer, immensely. This new friend I met in Bruges has come with me to the Netherlands. It wasn't originally on my list of countries to visit but I am so close, why not? Right now I am staying in a seaside town called Noordwijk. Its about 40min drive from Amsterdam and is known for surfing, wake boarding, kite surfing, and skate boarding. I plan on catching some waves tomorrow! Who would have thought I would be surfing in the Netherlands?!

Again, not sure what order the pictures will upload.

K

Berlin Continued...

Long day of walking all around Brussels today but I sure saw a lot! More on that later... first of all though, my inner nerd was in such delight as I satisfied its craving with another museum. This was of course the Pergamon Museum in Berlin which (as I am sure you are all aware) houses the reconstruction of the steps to the Pergamon Alter. The friezes on the alter depict the fight between the Greek Gods and the Giants. It was incredible to see it in person as it is an iconic example of relief carving of that period.

There was an amazing exhibition describing the excavation and trade agreement between the Germans and the Turks which pretty much stated that the Germans could take whatever they wanted as long as whatever piece/carving they found fit together with another piece. Weird but awesome for the Germans who more or less cleared the place out!

The Pergamon Museum doesn't just house the Alter, it also has a nearly complete recontruction of the Market Gate of Miletus INSIDE the museum! Blew my mind. It is incedibly ornate for being just a market gate where people did their daily shopping.

Imagine how awesome my day was when I walk through the maket gate to find the stunning Ishtar Gate and Processional Way of Babylon! Unexpected at this point in the museum tour as I thought it wasn't for a bit further along.
The pictures I took on my phone do none of these amazing structures justice at all but still so incredible. Not sure what order the pictures will upload but the Ishtar gate is the blue one and the Pergamon Alter is the one with all the stairs. I dont seem to have taken a picture of the Miletus gate with my phone but fear not, all is documented on my Nikon.

Only one thing could have made this day better...chocolate ice cream! Yeah! Also in the mix of pictures on this post are the funny walking food venders selling bratwurst cooked right on their get-ups in front of you and the Berlin Bubble Guy. He had huge wands which attracted hords of giggling children (the bubble guy, not the bratwurt guy)! Very entertaining.

K

Ps...I am no longer in Germany so you should be able to comment again.

 

 

Good-bye Berlin, Hello Brussels! 

Sachsenhausen

I've been feeling much better the last couple days (in case you were wondering) and have therefore managed to leave the hostel! Yeah! First thing I did was a 3.5 hour free walking tour of Berlin. It was an amazing way to get an introduction to the city and touch on places that I will go back to for a better look later in the week. One example is the Holocaust memorial down town and the Pergamon museum (on my 'must see' list).  The tour guide was helpful in giving tips on how to jump the queue for the Pergamon by purchasing tickets about 2 blocks away at a small corner store... little known fact as the queue snakes around the building and down the sidewalk a fair ways.

The walking tour covered almost 700 years of Berlin history which was a bit overwhelming to say the least. One particular part of history I had no real previous extensive knowledge about is the Berlin Wall and the political situations that lead to it being built and the destruction of it. In all my high school history classes it was mentioned but never really covered to any degree (I also had no interest). From what I have since learned as far as the reason for its falling was a poorly prepared press conference. Essentially it came down to one man being very unprepared for the press conference as he missed the briefing meeting prior to. The conference was more about the lifting of the Iron Curtain and the unrest surrounding that however he accidentally said that the Berlin Wall would also be coming down, that very night. Oops. Not what was planned at all. Anyhow thats the very abridged version but fairly stupid on his part.

Speaking of 3.5 hour walking tour, about one hour in some silly tourist managed to sprain her ankle while walking on the cobble stones down the side walk. What a mess. She was limping the whole time and wouldn't stop complaining the rest of the tour. You will never guess who that tourist was. It was me. And I wasn't complaining out loud, it was all in my head... but agony! It is just about impossible to find ice for sale (or for free) in this city. I still haven't managed to find any. But wait, it gets better...

Today I was feeling even better (as far as the cold goes) so off I go to visit the Sachsenhausen concentration camp about 20mins north of Berlin. It is less well known than Auschwitz or Dachau but its what the Nazi's considered the 'model' for all the other camps. It wasn't the first to open but it also was the headquarters where the SS were trained how to run the other camps. In this post, you will not find any pictures of Sachsenhausen as I did not take any. For me, taking pictures of a place where tens of thousands of people where murdered just didn't feel right. I also think it is something each individual person must see and experience for themselves as just being at the camp and standing on the grounds has an atmosphere of its own. Its easy to look at pictures of concentration camps in textbooks, information books, or on the internet but until you are actually there and physically see where it happened, a true understanding cannot be reached. I was there, I saw it, I still don't understand how or why but I am a step closer to understanding.

I will try to put into words what I saw and give a bit of a background about Sachsenhausen. I did a paid tour of the camp as I felt it was the best way to visit it. We all met up in Berlin and took the train north. We got off the train at the same stop the prisoners would have and walked up the same street to the camp as well. This camp was a labor camp meaning the prisoners either died from working until exhaustion, malnutrition, or disease. This is compared to one such as Auschwitz which is classified as an extermination camp. The prisoners at Sachsenhausen were required to test the soles of different Nazi army boots by walking continuously on a rocky path while carrying 50lbs sand bags all day. If a prisoner was assigned to this task, his life expectancy was less than 12 days meaning that if he came into the camp and started this task, he would only survive for 12 more before he died from exhaustion. There were many similar tasks but the main production coming from this camp was bricks for Nazi buildings in Berlin and for other concentration camps across Europe. Anyhow, this could go on and on but I'll spare more detail. Most of the original buildings were destroyed in the early 50's as the thought was 'why would anyone want to see a place such as this'. There has been a fair amount of restoration work done on a couple of the barracks but most buildings within the camp walls were left where they fell. One building that was almost untouched and has been restored was the infirmary. This is where the medical experiments were carried out by 'doctors' on the prisoners. 

Sachsenhausen was liberated by the Soviets in 1945 however it continued to be utilized by the Soviets for their prisoners of war for a further 5 years. It also held Nazis before they were trailed at Nurnberg.

It took about an hour longer to get back into Berlin than expected as the 2 of the train systems are down. This did not bode any better for said sprained ankle that by this point in the day is the same size as my upper thigh from even more walking. Why, might you ask, didn't you, an Athletic Therapist, tape your ankle before going on the tour today? Well my friends, I did not pack any tape. WHAT?!! Ya, I am S-M-R-T. The thought crossed my mind as I was packing my bags in Calgary however, in the mad rush to go on vacation for 6 months... I forgot. For some reason, the part of Berlin I am staying in doesn't seem like the type of place that would have tape of any kind... but more on that in a few days.

I am in Berlin until Wednesday morning. Tomorrow (Monday) is October 3rd meaning its Reunification Day. This means its been 21 years since the East and West have come together to become one. Huge events going on all over the city so that's what I will be up to all day... and night. I met some Americans on the tour today so we may see the city together tomorrow. Some how the topic of baseball came up (if you really know me, you will know I LOOOVE the Dodgers so it really isn't strange that the topic came up...). Anyhow, one guy was a pitcher who was drafted right out of high school. He was with the team for a year before he went back to college (part of the contract... another story all together). This wasn't because he never played, it was because his house got broken into while he was home so he grabbed one of the robbers and started beating on the guy when robber number 2 grabbed his arm and dislocated it. Long story short, no more baseball for awhile so he decided to travel for a few months before school starts again.

Ok, I think that's long enough of a post.

K

PS. I wrote this on Sunday but am posting it on Monday...

Berlin.

This picture goes with the above post. Its of the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). Aka Disneyland in Berlin. This is because of all the people dressed up in random costumes to get tourists to take pictures of them for money. I saw a teddy bear, star wars storm trooper, Nazi SS, Nazi SA painted silver...the list goes on. You can see the latter 2 in this photo, though it was not my intention.