Slept in

Being pretty tired, we decided to sleep in a bit the third day of Madrid.  Don’t fault us, traveling is hard work.

Number one: El Rastro

We went to Madrid's oldest flea market, just outside the La Latina metro stop.  It was huge!  This entire part of town was closed down for vendors, and the streets were shoulder-to-shoulder full of people.  Sarah bought her mom a gift (that later broke) and herself a scarf.  Joe looked at man purses but decided the one he liked looked cheap.

Number two: Anillo Retrato

As we were walking along from the Atocha train station, we discovered what we deemed a community “get fit” day.  We passed thousands of people practicing karate, dancing, bicycling, and some colorful aerobics.  People of all ages and fitness levels were working out—some of them, clearly, had known about the event, planned accordingly, and arrived ready to work out.  Others randomly hopped on stationary bikes in their civies and joined in the fun.  We think the message was supposed to be, working out can be fun, and anyone (and everyone) can and should do it!  Joe remarked that he could envision a similar event taking place in Seattle.  Sarah particularly liked the enthusiastic Spanish aerobics instructor with his “Camina, Camina—vaminos!  Y Quatro, tres, dos, uno!”  (Translation: step, step, let’s go!  And four, three, two, one).

(The caption in the picture, below.  "Anillo Prado" -- The Anillo outside the Prado Museum.  "Juegos Olimpicos para Todos" - Olympic games for all).

Number three: Retiro Park for Picnic

Most of the cities we’ve visited have vast parks where people just congregate.  We think the US should get into this phenomenon, because it’s just nice to have a big park in which to seek shaded seclusion or throw a Frisbee!  We were lucky to be in El Retiro on a Sunday, because the park was buzzing with activity.  And the activity is mostly locals, since a park isn’t super touristy, so it was such an enjoyable, authentic experience.  We brought food to make turkey sandwiches and had a nice picnic in the shade under some very interesting trees. Joe also had fun feeding the birds.  Sarah sported her new scarf.

(Crystal Palace hosts catered events and that day had a free art exhibit.  Sarah showing her scarf off at the main lake.  A typical, shaded walkway in the park.  A cool statue whose meaning we don't quite understand.)

Number four: Puerto del Sol

After lounging in the park, we headed over to the Puerto del Sol to do a little more shopping.  We didn’t do much of this though, as Joe found out about a Flamenco show happening via a flyer.  He asked the ladies of the shop we were in if it was legit, and they responded that it was quite good and that there was going to be a rather famous dancer in the show that evening.  So, we decided to cut our shopping short to go buy tickets. 

On the way to the plaza, we passed by two human statues that were very good.  We gave them 20 cents so we could take their pictures.  The running joke in Europe is that every tourist site has a human statue -- typically a mummy or silver man -- that just stands there expecting you to pay them.  We had a policy of ignoring them since any fool can stand "still" for an hour with a mask on.  These guys, on the other hand, posed and didn't blink for at least 60 seconds that we saw.  They also attracted a crowd, and we think are very deserving of hard-earned money.

  

Number five: Saw Flamenco

The dancing was wonderful.  Very impressive.  And we had heard that seeing a flamenco show outside southern Spain (where it originated) can be quite the touristy experience, but we didn’t find that at all.  It was just an enjoyable show.  Obviously, we don’t have any pictures of the actual performance, but Sarah snuck one during the encore.

Number Six: Dinner at oldest restaurant in the world

Just after the show, we went to dinner at the oldest restaurant in the world, Sobrino de Botin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobrino_de_Botin).  It was a very nice place, and we ate very well.  For being the oldest in the world, it's not too expensive.  Inside it's a formal dining experience where we could tell they discriminate against obnoxious tourists (not a bad thing :).  Apparently, the King of Spain really likes eating at this restaurant, so that’s kinda cool.  We both ate salads, Joe ate a chicken dish and Sarah ate a lamb dish.  We shared a pitcher of sangria.  It was great Sangria and cheaper than the Plaza Mayor's sangria.  We were clearly the youngest people in the room, and the lady next to us kept eying Sarah as her husband played with his blackberry and iPhone.  Joe left a very nice tip.

Number seven: Churros

Of course, we had to enjoy some more churros before we left Madrid, so we went back to the place we had eaten with Flo.  This time, Sarah ordered in English, one order of churros (we weren’t too hungry after our good meal) to avoid confusion.  But they still brought two cups of chocolate and about 18 churro sticks, and charged us for two orders.  We couldn’t really figure that one out.  But we certainly ended our time in Madrid on a sweet note.  ;)

Tomorrow we're off to Barcelona!

Adios,

J+S

Today we toured Madrid with Flo and Allac.  We met at Plaza del Sol at an early 10:30 am and ventured onward!

Number one: Royal Palace or Palacio Real

The Spaniards have royalty like much of Europe, and today the Spanish King and Queen are figure heads much like they are in the UK.  Like all good royalty, they have a large palace on a hill.

The gardens outside, with the newest groundskeeper, Joe:

 

Notice that the outside looks French...

 

That's because this line of nobility is!  Their French ancestors somehow took power from the ruling Moors and set up their own monarchy.  One of the results is much of the architecture in Madrid, and especially the palace, are done in the French style.  Sarah remarked at certain points on the street how Madrid resembles Paris.

The large courtyard.

   

The view of the royal park.

 

We couldn't take pictures inside, but Sarah remarked how the palace was more intricate and ornate than Versailles.  According to wiki, it is also the largest palace in Western Europe.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Palace_of_Madrid

We were very happy we took time to see the Palace and definitely suggest it to other travelers, especially because it only costs 3.50 EUR per person.  The cathedral on the other side of the Royal courtyard:

 

Number two: Lunch at Plaza del Mayor

After the palace we went to Plaza del Mayor for lunch.  We knew this was a tourist trap, but we hoped for moderate Paella.

The plaza reminded us of Grand Place in Brussels or the plaza outside St. Mark's in Venice.  How cool is it that we can make such comparisons today?  It is basically a square with square buildings and windows all around it.

One building, owned by the city, was done nicely in paintings.

We ate our lunch, and the waiter tried to tell us that he had "forgotten" to put the "bread charge" on the bill, so we had to pay that part in cash.  Plus, the sangria cost 15 EUR for a small pitcher (75 cl, we think... it wasn't on the menu...).  We said sure, signed the credit card receipt, and left.  No tip and no bread charge for that guy.  Sheesh!

Number three: Museum Reina del Sofia

Flo had researched online that we could get into the Queen Sofia Museum for free on this particular afternoon.  We took the metro there and explored the Museum.

Joe didn't know this going in, but this museum was full of Dali and Picasso (one floor was surrealism+cubism and related, and the other floor was modern art).  It had other famous people too, but there were entire rooms dedicated to these two artists.  More impressive, this museum had Guernica.  Joe studied this painting in Sra. Elizondo's Spanish class in 10th grade at Jasper.  He was tickled pink at seeing it in person!  What a pleasant surprise.  Good job Flo!

Obviously no pictures, so here are wiki links and pictures of paintings we saw:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_(painting)

His woman in blue (from his blue period):

And from Dali, El Gran Masterbador

All-in-all, a very cool museum.

Outside of the museum, a dance class was giving a recital on the plaza.  We stopped for a bit to watch.

 

Number four: Museum del Prado

Flo had another trick up his sleeve: another free entrance at Museum del Prado later in the day.  We went to this museum, as well.  It had classical Renaissance-like paintings including a large Goya exhibit.  Goya was talented, yes, but he basically spent his career painting portraits of royalty since his wife's dad was important in the King's court.  So all of Goya's works except for a few are portraits, which aren't that interesting to look at after a while.  We experienced the same sensation at the Uffizi a week earlier.  Again, pictures are from wiki.

Of note, the museum has one of the two majas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_maja_desnuda):

It also had the famous commentaries on war.  The 2nd of may (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_of_May_1808):

The 3rd of may (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_of_May_1808):

Again, very cool!  Good job Flo!

Number five: La Latina district for Tapas

On a tip from wiki, we sought out the La Latina district to find some good tapas.  We succeeded!  We found a place that was reasonably priced, and had food that all four of us could eat.  For those that aren't familiar, tapas is a genre of Spanish food that really means appetizer.  A person can order just one with a drink as a snack, or a group of a couple to make a meal.  They vary greatly in size, ingredients, and quality.  After dinner, we said goodbye, Joe hoping to meet up with Flo again soon in another random country.

Fried calamari tapas

Joe and Flo in front of the restaurant.

 

Adios,

J+S

Sorry guys, we accidentally posted the first day of Madrid before finishing Rome.  So, with our sincere apologies, here it is.

The final day in Rome.  Our two main objectives today were to arrange transportation to the airport and to see the Catacombs.

Number one: Arranging Airport Transport

Rome is the only city we visited without public transportation to the airport.  Every other city has either a metro stop, a bus line, or a nice train.  Remember out comment earlier about Rome's bad public transport?  Anyway, the private line we chose only cost 8 EUR each, which isn't enough to complain about.  However, the experience took much longer than we wanted.

We were told that the company had a store in the main Rome train station (just next to our hostel).  We went to the train station but could not find a sign or the company's name.  We asked a few people (magazine sellers, ticket agents, the information desk), but no one knew.  So we walked back to Mabri.  He told us the place is in a coffee shop on the side of the station with a slightly different name than we had been looking for.  So we walked back to the train station to find this "Terravision."

The ticket agent was quite rude and required us to show a confirmation email or ticket in order to purchase transportation.  Joe asked why, and the ticket agent said snootily "because we're not public transport," and Joe responded "that doesn't make any difference."  She wanted us to go across the street, use a public computer to access our email, pay to print off the email, just to get tickets to the airport.  Sarah suggested we show the email on the computer instead.  She agreed.  We walked back to the hostel, grabbed the computer, and returned.  Joe showed her the "email," which she didn't even bother to read, and she issued the tickets.  She then wouldn't take credit card and demanded cash.  In Italy there is no trouble using credit cards except for places that do business under the books.  The whole experience was more aggravating than it should have been.  We lost two hours on this endeavor, and it still pisses Joe off that she didn't bother to read the email that she so desperately needed to see.  It turns out, we actually showed her something that was not a confirmation email, but rather the EasyJet screen of terms and conditions.  Grrr.

Number two: Campo di Fiori market

After that fun adventure we went to a market that Sarah read about on wiki.  It was touted as a very large market in the center of Rome.  It turned out to be yet another, small produce market that also sold other trinkets.  We left quickly and Sarah was disappointed.

Number three: Piazza de Navola

We walked across the street north to yet another Plaza.  Yes, our impression of plazas has waned having seen so many.

 

One interesting picture: notice the statue's demeanor towards the papal seal.  The other one has a similar demeanor towards a papal seal on the church in the middle of the plaza.  (Sarah thinks Joe is reading too much into this one).

Number four: Roman Baths and Catacombs

We then wanted to se the Catacombs.  These were mentioned in our guide book, but the book failed to mention exactly where they were and the site was not listed on the map.  So we had to guess.  When we got off the closest metro stop, we walked past the Roman Baths or Baths of Carcala.  Pretty impressive complex.  We inadvertently took the scenic route around the baths by going up the hill along the backside.  This allowed us to see the structure without going in or paying money.

From here we got a little lost.  The reason is because of the poor map and not having a good idea of where to go.  The signs in this part of town were not as helpful as we had hoped.  We think we eventually were heading down the right road until road construction closed the sidewalk and there was no way for us to continue on foot.  So we turned around, had lost another 2-3 hours and 5 miles of walking, and we headed back, again disappointed, because this was the first sight we were unable to locate entirely.

Us, being sad for not finding the catacombs.

Number five: Bush!

No, not your favorite house plant.  On the way back a certain Cadillac motorcade passed us by.  Dejected and on our way back to the hotel, Sarah spotted a cop on a motorcycle pull someone over and commented that someone was getting in trouble.  Joe quickly corrected her as he saw two more motorcycle cops pulling people over and yelled to Sarah it was a motorcade, and not much longer we saw a caravan of Escalade and the styling Cadillac limousines.  We took pictures, naturally.  President Bush was in Rome at the time, however, as you will note, these limos did not have the proper flags or seals on them.  We don't know whether that means the President wasn't inside (we can see arguments for both cases).  Whoever it was, they had good old American security.  If you look closely enough, you can see the secret service agents giving Joe the stink eye for taking pictures.

This picture is pretty scary when you think about how good special forces are:

Bush also flew out of Rome Ciampiano Airport the same day we did.  At the airport the following day the press corps departed from the gate next to us (this is their bus).

And our plane was parked next to Air Force One (we were on the other side of the aisle):

How cool!

Number six: Met up with Lauren Schreitmueller

That evening Joe and Sarah trekked to a hotel just outside the city center to meet up with Joe's friend from middle school, Lauren Schreitmueller.  It was good to catch up and swap stories.  Lauren was on a summer program from her University studying art and design in Italy.  She and her program were traveling together through Rome on the same days we were.  It's a small world!

Well, that's it for Rome.  Tomorrow we fly out to Madrid.

Ciao,

J+S

Number One: Hostel

On the way to our hostel, we were stopped on the corner trying to decide which direction to turn onto the street, and a nice man asked if we were looking for the hostel.  We replied, yes, and he pointed us in the right direction.  Lovely!

Our hostel, Albergue Juvenil, in Madrid was great, another commercial beauty.  We've decided that they just know what they're doing and they get things right.  Staying at some guy's hostel run out of his roommate's brother's apartment is charming and all, but with a commercial place you just get that legitimacy and assurance that you'll be getting exactly what you paid for.  Plus there's a nice credit card receipt should a dispute arise.  We even got lucky and got put in a 4 bedroom when we had paid for a 6 bed, and the first night there were no other roommates!  Peace and quiet was much appreciated.  We've learned that give a 6-person room, there will two of the three conditions: at least one person who comes back late, one who gets up early, and one who snores.

Number Two: Lunch

Our hostel informed us of a free walking tour, departing from the hostel in about two hours, so we quickly showered, and headed to a restaurant on the corner to eat a quick lunch before the tour.  Not having our trusty multi-lingual phrase book with us, Sarah didn't know what Merluza was, but decided to be adventurous and order it anyway.  It turned out to be some kind of fish, and she spent the next five hours being sick in the room.  Joe didn't like his chicken dish either.  Way too greasy.  We both were disappointed with what should have been an easy lunch.

Terrible Tour

While Sarah slept miserably, Joe went on the tour, hoping to get a lay of the land in Madrid.  He's going to vent about this tour now.  You may safely skip to the next section if you are allergic to rants.  The silver lining to the story is that Sarah was sick, so she didn't have to suffer along as well.

If you'll recall, we had taken two free walking tours prior to Madrid in Amsterdam and Berlin.  Both of these tours were organized by the company "New Europe tours," and they were very good.  In both cases we got a young, recent college grad looking to put a history degree to use.  We learned something from both tours.

This tour, in Madrid, was organized by a local Madrid company.  Right from the beginning Joe noticed a significant difference in quality.  First, as these are tip-based tours, obviously the tour guide has to set the expectation of tips right away.  The previous two tour guides did so in classy ways, mentioning the word tip exactly twice in each of their tours: once at the beginning and once at the end.  This tour guide mentioned the word tip six times in just the introduction... not good.

This tour guide was not a college grad, and definitely not a history major.   She was originally from Australia, but about 4 years ago decided to move to the UK.  After about 2 years she decided the UK was not for her and moved to Spain.  She started the tour gig about two months ago because the pay was better.  She didn't speak Spanish or know much about Spain.  For her the tour was a script to read, and Madrid was just another city with hours to work in between her massive parties.  Joe isn't passing judgement, but whereas the Berlin and Amsterdam tour guides interjected interesting history trivia in-between sites (and also at sites), this tour guide was more interested in talking about her personal life.  For instance, Joe now knows that she has rent problems, money problems, family problems, and problems at her bartending job at night.  Was that part of the tour?

Anyway, back on track.  She didn't know her stuff, didn't know the history or significance, and was not worth listening to.  Fine.  The tour itself was pretty bad.  It wandered around too much and stopped at random buildings with minimal significance to the city.  At least in Amsterdam where Agnus has little content we still stuck to the main areas.  This tour had us walking through random alleys and counting windows.  Stupid.

In the middle of the other tours we stopped on the lunch hour for a quick, 30-minute lunch.  In both cases the tours took us to cheap places with a wide-appealing selection of food.  One was a cafeteria for nearby workers and the other was a Schlotsky's.  They made it clear there was no obligation to buy anything and the bathrooms were free.

In the Madrid tour we stopped at a no-name bar for tapas at a random hour (this was not lunch or dinner).  You were expected to buy alcohol (a strong Sangria or a large beer) and to buy tapas.  Joe told the waiters four times (in English and Spanish) that he didn't want any food.  He then had to refuse food and drink that was set "mistakenly" in front of him.  The price was 7 EUR for the tapas and 10 EUR for the drink.  Even for Madrid this was overpriced.

We then stayed at the tapas place for an hour where Joe conversed with girls from Quebec.  It was a nice conversation, but the stop was a complete waste of time.  They were very friendly, but Joe surprisingly had a hard time communicating with them... because they didn't speak English.  Two people from Canada didn't speak English.  Surprising.

Oh yeah, this was the first tour Joe saw where people left.  Three people left after 45 minutes.  They just walked in to the nearest bar without saying anything to the guide, and Joe believes it was because they too had seen the much better tours in other cities, and a beer sounded better than continuing to listen to the inane ramblings of the "tour guide".  After the bar with tapas four more people left, who were very unhappy with the price.  They also did not give the guide a tip or warning.

Joe stayed with the guide for two more sites before he saw a metro stop.  It was shortly after the spot where he should have corrected her about Goya's relationship with the academy... anyway, he at least told her he was leaving and gave a 5 EUR tip.  Why tip?  Even though she was a terrible guide, she still oriented Joe with the city and he did get a good feeling for where the important sites were.  That was valuable.  She did plead with him to stay on for just a little longer until the proper end, but Joe kindly refused and walked away.  Had the tour ended when she suggested it did, the ending would have been 30 minutes after drinking a strong sangria or a liter of beer, in both cases the person would start to feel the effects of alcohol.  It just happened to be perfect timing for her to ask for tips.  Joe's not saying what they did was dishonest or sleazy -- Joe's just remarking on the coincidence.

An interesting note, at the restaurant Joe saw her filling out a tour report form.  She recorded everyone's nationality and hostel.  She also recorded referrals, whether it was online, the hostel, her friend on the street, or word of mouth.  Joe specifically told her he was referred by the hostel, but she put her friend anyway.  In fact she marked her friend for all of the referrals... Also of note are the fields for number at the beginning of the tour and number at the end.  We started with 16 and ended with no more than 8... 50% loss is pretty bad.  Was the timing of alcohol really a coincidence?

Our advice is don't waste your time with this tour company now.  Maybe when they mature and can hire better guides it'll be recommendable, but not in its present state.

Number three: Plaza del Sol

Joe came home, four and a half hours later, to a Sarah feeling better, and we decided to venture out together.  We headed toward the Plaza in hopes of doing a little shopping and people watching.  We were met with a crazy amount of people pouring through the streets, unlike anything we have seen yet in Europe.  We came to find out there was a big football game on that night (and by football we mean soccer) and that contributed to the masses of people.  Although to be honest, Madrid was kind of just bursting with people the whole time we were there.  It is certainly a town with a lot of energy and vibrancy.  The Plaza itself is nice, but the more notable feature were the hoards of people there, out and about.

Three different days at Plaza del Sol:

Friends are in town!

We had just located the H&M and a similar store when a friend of Joe's called Sarah's cell phone to say that he and his roommate were in Madrid!  We quickly made plans to meet up at the fountain and discuss hanging out that evening.  Since they had eaten, we decided to part ways so that Joe and Sarah could eat dinner and then meet up again to do a little night sight seeing.

Joe's friend Flo was a foreign exchange student at UNL in the fall 2007 semester (last fall).  The two of them were on the same programming competition team.  Flo is originally from Germany, and sadly just missed Sarah and Joe when they ventured through Frankfurt.  The other guy, Allac, is Flo's roommate in Germany.

Number four: Ate at Cafe and Te

After the unpleasant lunch, and a crunch for time, we sought out a safe place to eat.  We came across a chain called "Cafe and Te," and went inside.  Sarah and Joe thought they ordered two Paella dishes, but the waitress only brought out one.  The food was good, and the two of them were satisfied with the dish.

In the background a table full of Americans caught our eyes.  It's funny, the 18-20 year-olds stand out in Europe.  They almost always buy a mixed drink and a burger.  Cool.

Number five: Reunion

We met back up at Plaza del sol and headed towards the large fountains on the east side of the city.  We talked, took pictures, and had a pleasant time.  Below are some of our pictures we took, but Allac had a much cooler camera, so we can only imagine how his turned out.  The route is marked as the letters A through E.

Flo (left) and Allac:

Number six: Churros!

After making it back to Plaza del Sol, Joe took the group for a midnight snack of Churros.  And by midnight, we literally mean midnight.  Citizens of Madrid party till dawn, and this particular night we were snacking from midnight until 1am and didn't return home until about 2am.  At the cafe Joe ordered in Spanish for 2 churros per person.  The waiter understood literally, but as we'll discover in our later visit, did not bring what Joe wanted due to malice. 

Apparently at this restaurant one churro is an order of 8 churro sticks and 1 cup of melted chocolate to dip.  In the states and in Mexico, one churro is just one stick.  So while Joe thought he ordered 8 churro sticks and 4 cups of melted chocolate, the waiter brought 64-80 sticks and 8 cups of chocolate.  It would have helped if the place had a menu.  Anyway, Joe was embarrassed, naturally, but it really wasn't his fault...

No, we didn't finish the churros.  Flo and Allac took the remainder back for breakfast the next morning.  But they were so good!

A picture of people dancing in the street at 1:15am.  Just dancing, randomly.  People like to party in Madrid!  But differently from Amsterdam and Prague (the two cities where most Europeans escape to in order to gave a good weekend, so to speak) we didn't feel unsafe or uncomfortable here even though we were out very late.  Everyone was just out, having a good time.

Afterward we parted for sleep at 2 am, very early for Madrid.  We passed dancing in the street and people having a generally classy time.

Adios,

J+S

Unlike yesterday at the Vatican, we did wake up relatively early to start our adventure of the Roman Ruins.

Number One: Roman Forum

The Roman Forum was the center of political, social and religious life during the ancient Roman epoch.  The ruins that remain are impressive and give a good image of what life must have been like over 2,000 years ago.  And the remaining structures are even more impressive given their age.  We chose, at this venue, to rent an audio guide first because of a suggest given by one of Sarah's travel friends that without the context, the ruins basically look like a bunch of piles of rocks.  To our dismay, this was yet another example of poor Italian exhibition.  There were not the standard sign markers with numbers that correspond with the number on the audio guide, so we spent half our time trying to figure out which number to play and then to which building the audio guide was referring.  Next, the content of the guide was very poor, we would have learned more just from reading wiki.  And finally, the "mapped route" made absolutely no logical sense, and for some reason, was split into two routes that didn't intersect, and could have been completed with just one circle.

Additionally, we got the chance to see August Caesar's house.  We think.  There was no information on our audio guide, the house was not on the map, and we only found it because of the signs pointing to the queue.  Once "inside," it was four rooms with restored red paint.  No information about what the rooms were used for.  In fact, there was no information at all regarding this structure.  SO it was pretty much pointless.

So one might wonder, how cold all these buildings possibly still be standing?  One thing we did learn from our audio guides was that the the only reason any building was saved was because the church funded it.  When the pope conquered Rome, he chose which buildings he liked, turned them into churches, and voila, the buildings were saved.  Except for those that he didn't pick, which rotted.  So naturally, the pope chose the buildings in all the historically important, well situated places.  The Roman Forum, Piazza Navona, the Colosseum, the Pantheon (which is still a church to this day), and the island Tiber.  Basically, every Roman tourist attraction fits into this category.

Nevertheless, we did have an enjoyable experience at the Forum.  We have a few travel tips that helped make our day better, and would improve anyone's experience.

1. If you're in Rome, you will be planning on going to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum.  A tourist buys one ticket, and it allows him/her entrance to both.  But, the line at the Colosseum to purchase the ticket is ridiculously long, an hour to two hour wait.  So save yourself the time, do the Forum first, and walk right into the Colosseum without waiting at all.  (There is generally little to no line at the Forum).
2. Arrive at the Roman Forum early.  Shoot for 9:30-10:00.  This way, you'll avoid the large tour groups that cluster and prevent good pictures of the ruins, and when we went at 10 there was literally no line to buy a ticket. 
3. If you want to see Caesar's House, get in line by 10:50.  They only let in 5 people at a time since it's so small.
4. The audio guides are only lent for 2 hours.  Keep them longer, and they charge you 4 EUR a minute.  So, another reason to get there early, when you don't have to wait for ever to take pictures of everything.

A photo of where Julius Caesar was assassinated.  This is actually not a part of the Roman Forum, it's a random city block that they dug up by mistake.  They tend to find a lot of ruins underground, which the Romans actually despise, because it prevents the expansion of mass transit, which produces a huge amount of overcrowding on the metro stops they do have.

There are fountains all over the city that spout water from the aqueducts.  Romans actually drink from these.  Regularly.  We saw it many times and made the "eek" face every time.

Number Two: Roman Capitol

After our time at the Forum, we began searching for the Synagogue, got off course, and stumbled upon the Capitoline Hill.  There are some really steep steps up to this hill (which is quite logical)...and it was created by Michelangelo.  Today it is the headquarters of the mayor and municipality of Rome.

Number Three: Jewish Synagogue

We visited the synagogue, and learned a bit about the Jews of Rome.  First, there are 14,000 Jews in Rome today, after the war, only 5 survived.  There are also 12 synagogues (all orthodox) and different from other Jewish communities, Jews are a member of the general community, and can therefore attend any synagogue they choose.  They each contribute to a general fund which supports all the synagogues and services.  Unfortunately, we couldn't take any photos of the inside of the synagogue, but it was quite pretty. 

We also learned about how Jews were treated differently by different popes.  One of the popes (we can't remember which) said it was "ridiculous and absurd" that the Jews live alongside the Christians, and created the ghetto.  We learned about the curfews and other restrictions placed on the Jews throughout history.  Today, the ghetto does not exist, but the Jewish community still occupies the same region of Rome, which makes sense because all the synagogues are still there, etc.

Number Four: Colosseum inside

Another advantage of buying your ticket at the Forum is that you have 24 hours to enter the Colosseum.  So a few hours after we did the Forum, we returned to the Colosseum.  Sarah was very impressed by the structure and reflected on how many Christians were killed here.

It was a little hard to distinguish between the 5 levels of seating.  People  were seated at the arena according to their social standing, with the poor up at the very top, the wealthy and politicians right at the foot of the action.  Much like a Huskers game actually...As a structure, it's what you would expect: large, impressive, and much like a current day football stadium.

We tried to show the height here, but it's hard to put it in perspective.

This is a block of seating that has lasted in good enough condition to distinguish it.  Very wealthy people sat here.

Number Five: Spanish Steps and Plaza de Popolo

Fairly self explanatory, the Spanish Steps are a very large staircase leading from a beautiful Bernini fountain to a large church at the top.  We don't know why they're called "Spanish," but they were pretty.

 

This is the area of Rome with trendy shopping and major designers.  We walked around, saw yet another Dolce and Gabanna store in Italy, gawked at the things we can't afford, and that was about it.

We walked along Del Corso to Plaza de Popolo.  The Plaza houses an obelisk and not one but two churches.  In fact, they're twin churches.  The running joke of Europe is that all you see are churches everywhere, and this is even more true in Rome.  From this plaza you can view the Vittoriano at the other end of Corso.  We also remarked here why the Vatican was so infatuated with Egyptian obelisks.

 

Number Six: Great, family-run dinner

For dinner, we were in search of a place recommended by wiki, but stumbled across this great family run place, which is nice because Joe informed Sarah during the dinner that they were lost.  Not lost in the sense that we couldn't get back to our hostel, just that we had no idea where we were on the map.  Tip: arrive with a good street map of Rome.  Many that are sold either fold out with a hundred pages and scream tourist, or they only label about half the streets.  We might have already mentioned this, but it was a constant headache in Rome for us.

We had some fantastic pasta, and you could tell they had just made it fresh for you, because each person got their dish whenever it was ready -- no warmers here.  It was charming, the owner was in the back watching soccer as we ate.  We enjoyed ourselves much at this place. 

Metro Adventure

We stopped for gelato after dinner, and headed to the metro around 10:15.  Arriving at the nearest stop, we saw that it was closed.  Thinking this was odd, as it was only 10:15, we remembered that that earlier in the day the metro had skipped over this particular stop, and reasoned that it must be under construction.  We headed to the next closest metro stop, back to the Spanish Steps, went underground, and were notified that it too had closed.  In fact, all of line A had closed for the night.  This was at 10:50.  Sarah was infuriated.  It is just not acceptable to close a whole metro line (outside of natural disaster or security reasons) without previewing it to the paying customers.  We had purchased day passes, and factored into our purchase that we would be able to use those passes until midnight, when the metro closes.  Had we known it was going to close, we would have adjusted our schedule accordingly. 

So we were forced to walk home.  Joe estimated it would take about an hour.  Sarah was not happy at all, and Joe tried to cheer her up (the nice guy that he is) but she was intent on remaining angry.  After all, this was an injustice.  In the end, it only took about forty minutes, but Sarah retains her position that the Rome transit authority should have informed customers of the early close.  They put up signs the next day, as we were leaving.  Joe remarks that it could have been much worse than a 1.5 mile walk.

For perspective, here's a map... unhappy face is where we started, and happy face is where we ended.

Ciao,

J+S

We'd like to apologize for the major and numerous grammatical errors from our recent Italian posts.  While we may have been tired, it does not excuse mistaking simple words like site and sight, and so on.

Also, we'd like to let everyone know that we safely arrived in Besancon (Sarah's University) last night via the free train from Geneva.  We went to sleep and today we're frequenting a cafe with free wifi.  We will go to Paris tomorrow to stay in a hotel and fly back to the states on Sunday.  We chose the hotel approach to minimize the number of moving pieces the day of our return flight.  This is the home stretch.

Also, we over-simplified the history of the Italian Unification.  It's true that then end wars were between the pope and Italians, but it was much more complex than that.  Please read the great wiki article on the subject.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_unification.  We wonder, why does any priest need an army?  Some may appreciate the depth of J. Michael Straczynsk's writing in Babylon 5 (yes, Joe is a nerd).

Other than that, we're going to go back and majorly pack Sarah, write some more blog posts (we have days 3 and 4 of Rome, Spain, and Geneva left), and see you all soon!

Au Revoir,

J+S

While there may not be as many headings as in previous posts, today was a full day at the Vatican!

Above, one of the many Vatican seals.  We saw a bunch of them -- we think each pope makes his own to display who built which building.  The main reoccurring elements are the 3-tiered crown and the 2 keys.

There are two schools of thought for visiting the Vatican.  One, you get up at 6:00 in the morning and try to be the first to see it.  Two, you wait for all of those early birds to go through and show up around lunch time.  We originally planned on the first since, well, we are go-getters.  However, after seeing the lines thin in Florence during lunch and hearing from three people (including Mabri) to go with door number two, we decided to sleep in for once.

Arriving at 11 am, we experienced crowds of people, but we waited in line no longer than 15 minutes.  The longest, in fact, was the original line to go through security at St. Peter's Basilica.  Sure we walked with a large crowd at a large crowd's pace, but we never just stood still.  So, our experience tends to confirm that the people waking up too early are counter-productive.  Err, we mean, you need to go early to see the Vatican.  Then leave so we can see it.

Last bit of advice, we did take the metro to the Vatican using our 3-day tourist pass.  The metro stops 3 blocks away from the Vatican Museums and 8 blocks from the square -- perfect for us.  All along the way we had people soliciting us to "beat the lines" and go on a "guided tour."  As we just mentioned, we saw no lines, and we later saw the quality of those "guided tours."  Don't waste your money or time -- they're pretty worthless.  However, we did see some awesome tour guides who looked like college students giving private tours.  They seemed to be arranged ahead of time, and we even saw the same guides giving tours to the same clients on different days at later sites.

Oh yeah, the Vatican is basically free, which is nice.  You only pay to go up to the Cupola or to go inside the museums and the Sistine Chapel.  The main Basilica is free.  Also, there are really nice student discounts for the museums -- 8 EUR instead of 14 EUR.

Most of the Vatican is inaccessible to tourists.  You can't just walk around and see some shops.  All of the gates are guarded by the famous Swiss Guard.  For those of you who don't know, the Swiss Guard are carefully chosen Swiss boys (ages 18-22) of good moral character and pleasing appearance that protect the pope.  Think mercenaries.  Originally they were used by the pope to wage wars, but in modern times they simply guard gates and look good for tourists.  We thought all of the guards we saw were very young and very pleasing.  Sarah also postulated that this long-standing arrangement between Switzerland and the Vatican (500 years, we think) is why the Swiss have historically been politically neutral.

The gate guard:

The basilica guard:

The map.  Our hostel is way off the map on the right side.

 

Number one: St. Peter's Square

The square is as large as you think it is.  There's not much to say about it other than it can hold a lot people.  There are security checkpoints in between the columns for when the pope speaks, but otherwise it's a large square.

On top of the columns are the saints.

On top of the basilica are the apostles and Jesus in the middle.

Number two: St. Peter's Basilica

We first walked through the crypt below the basilica where past popes are buried.  We saw the tomb of the most recent pope, John Paul II, which had a roped-off area for people to pray and cry.  There also were collection boxes laid next to the recent popes (the last four).  Obviously we didn't take pictures of them.

We did, however, take a picture of a random nun.  Also, here's the crowd.

Next we walked through the main sanctuary.  St. Peter's is the largest house of worship in the world, and so as you would expect, it's huge.  Overwhelmingly huge.  Joe read that the Statue of Liberty can fit inside the cupola.  Similar to most other churches, we were unable to take clear pictures because of the dim lighting, and it was very difficult to capture the sheer size of the church.

Different from the other basilicas we've seen, every square inch of St. Peter's has a beautiful piece of art work.  There are statues throughout the walls.

This is the alter built on top of St. Peter's tomb.

 

The dome is also pretty cool.

 

While the artwork looks like frescos (paintings), they actually are entirely mosaic tiles.  Each tile is irregular and about 1 square inch.  We saw this up close when we climbed up the cupola and stood inside the dome.

 

BABIES!!!

For those who don't know (like us), St. Peter's basilica was built over the tomb of the apostle Peter.  He was considered to be the first Christian by some, and the pope made announcements in the 1950s or 1930s (we don't remember exactly) that they proved scientifically it really was Peter in there.  The curator for the basilica kept someone's remains in his office, supposedly to protect them, that other people believe came from Peter's tomb.  After the curator died, these remains were shown to be from the correct time period, and people drew the conclusion that this must be Peter.  However, as we later learned, St. Peter's basilica was built on what used to be a graveyard.  The remains could be anyone's.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter%27s_tomb

In fact, the Catholics destroyed the graveyard, leveled the hill, and built the original basilica there.  Then a few centuries later they rebuilt the basilica to ensure it was the largest in the world.  Every pope has thus been charged with beautifying the Vatican in some way.  Some popes added more statues to the basilica, some added more to the outside, etc.  We don't know what John Paul's contribution was, or if it's a strict tradition, but just as Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was this basilica.

Read more on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter's_Basilica

Number three: St. Peter's Cupola (main dome)

Finally we went up to the top of the basilica dome, labeled the Cupola.  In every city except Amsterdam thus far we've gone to the highest point.  We've climbed our fair share of stairs.  In Florence, for instance, the Duomo had 414 stairs.  The Eiffel tower had 700.  The sign at the entrance said the Cupola was 320, and we said "Eh, sounds easy."

The first part was easy.  We walked around a wide ramp that spiraled the elevator you can pay 2 EUR to take up instead.  This ramp and its 320 steps only took us to the roof, though.  From the roof we had to walk up a remaining 200-300 stairs (we're not sure since it didn't say anywhere).  Even worse, the walk up to the Cupola wound us inside the dome walls, which slanted inward so far and were at most 2 feet wide you had to walk leaning to the right.  We wish we had gotten a picture, but the experience required more attention to walking.  Let's just say, if you have problems walking stairs or are wider than 2 feet, don't go to the top of the Cupola.  You'll get stuck (literally), and there's no way down.

This isn't the narrow part, just the inside of the base of the dome.  But it was pretty narrow too.

At the top we could see a good portion of Rome from the west side of the city.  We couldn't quite see the Colosseum, but we could see the Vittoriano.  Pretty cool.

 

Number four: Vatican Museums

The other main tourist attraction at the Vatican are the museums.  The Vatican walls on the way to the museums entrance.  Apparently they're pretty famous for being un-climbable. 

The museums are really just one museum in different buildings with connecting hallways.  You buy one ticket and follow around in a linear path.  There's a lot of statues and other "liberated" artwork here.  We didn't explore the museum that much since we wanted to go to the Sistine Chapel.  One cool thing was this metal globe in the middle of one of the courtyards:

 

Also, we noticed how there were MANY kiosks and desks selling souvenirs throughout the museum.  We'd never seen that before.  One gift shop at the entrance, sure, but one every 100 meters?

Number five: Sistine Chapel

(All the pictures are from wiki, and notice that they aren't usual wiki quality... which means somebody snuck a few shots!)

The main event.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel  The Sistine chapel is at the end of the museums.   In many ways the museums are organized like a Disney ride: the line leading up to Space Mountain has a lot of gimmicky and thematic exhibits that are nice but you can easily overlook.  You have to walk through most of the museum to get to the chapel, and then once you leave the chapel, you're at the exit.

The Sistine Chapel is pretty cool.  Michelangelo painted the walls and ceilings, and he left the 12 frescos for other artists including Raphael (we didn't know multiple people worked in here).  We weren't allowed to take pictures, so we can't show you anything other than a recreation from the guide book.  One comment is that you really strain your neck looking up.  Also, try to get a GOOD guide book that correctly walks you through the sequence.  Our book was adequate but was confusing to follow since nothing is labeled in the chapel.  Also, the guards yell "no photo" every 3 minutes and "shhhh" every 5 minutes, which really gets old after a while.  At least at Space Mountain you can scream.

Surprising to Joe, the iconic finger-touching image is not at all prominent as a fresco.  In fact, if you weren't told all your life how amazing it is, you probably wouldn't find it more remarkable than any of the other frescos.  We had expected it to be a major mural or otherwise centrally positioned.

Even racing through this museum it took us a good 3 hours.

Number six: Trevi Fountain

After the day at the Vatican, we went to the Trevi Fountain.  The Trevi Fountain is one of the largest fountains in Rome (which says something), and it was full of people, by the way.  Full on tourist stop!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevi_Fountain

At the Trevi Fountain a professional photographer offered to take our pictures for free.  Joe didn't believe the guy that it was free, but sure enough, it was.  We should have tipped, but prego!

 

Number seven: The Pantheon

We then walked to the Pantheon, Rome's oldest theater.  To our disappointment, today the Pantheon a church.  We'll comment more about this phenomenon in Rome Day 3 after visiting the Roman Forums. 

 

We ate a touristy dinner near the Pantheon and then went home.  Touristy implies cheap in both price and quality.

Ciao,

J+S

Number one: Hostel

Ok, so.  We're pretty sure our hostel in Rome is run by the mob.  No, this isn't a bad joke because we're in Italy.  We're straight up serious.  So we get there, to the "hostel", which is actually the location of a laundromat and internet cafe.  We are enthusiastically greeted by someone who looked like she was just doing her laundry.  She proceeds to give us a 20 minute schpeel, including several "recommendations" for local establishments.  These establishments, upon hearing the key word "Mabri" (the owner's name), would give us substantial discounts.  The hostel's free breakfast consisted of Mabri giving us a slip of pink paper with his name on it.  We then took the pink paper to a cafe around the corner, where we got a free croissant and cappuccino.  There was no record keeping, and they even greeted us very warmly, as if to impress Mabri.  Eyebrows were raised at this point. 

Even more important, we were a little hesitant about sleeping above a laundromat, so we asked to see the room before we paid (we learned our lesson in Amsterdam).  She hesitantly agreed, and took us down the street and over one block to an apartment building.  We saw the room, a simple room, in a regular residential apartment.  It was clean, quiet, and fine.  Of course, though, they only took cash.  Oh yeah, we forgot to mention, when we arrived and said we were looking for the hostel, we were asked, "which one?"  And we came to understand that the infamous Mabri owns several.  We think that he runs the cash through the laundromat, if he even bothers to report it.  Italy is infamous for underreporting on income taxes.   It might even be a cover up for drug money, because later in the week we saw two of the "employees" and Mabri transporting suspicious laundry bags out of the place.  We've never heard of a laundromat that delivers.  It would be just so convenient as a way to transport drugs.  Just a thought.

Just a quick description of Mabri.  (Sorry if it seems as if we're obsessed with this, but we got a kick out of the whole thing).  We never were in any trouble since we paid our bills and Mabri wants good reviews on HostelWorld.com.  They were very adamant about helping us plan our travels, and honestly, their suggestions were spot on.  Nonetheless, he was thug with pimped out sunglasses nonstop, big jeans, and bald.  He was also Mediterranean, like hardcore tan.  The rooms:

Number two: Colosseum

So we emerged from the metro in search of food, and got off at the stop Colloseo.  One note about the metro, it was crowded.  Really crowded.  Think rush hour crowds throughout the entire day.  People just pile in.  We'd never seen anything like it before.  A Roman on our Madrid flight confirmed that public transportation is a major problem for Rome.  For instance, the metro is 1-2 km away from anything important beyond the Vatican and the Colosseum.  They simply can't dig underground without finding ruins.  It's against the law to destroy ruins.  We calculated it, and we walked 5-10 miles each day.

Anyway, we get to the metro stop.  Sarah was babbling on about something unimportant, and all of a sudden Joe stops talking and walking.  It took Sarah a good minute to realize why he's done this, as she's returning the metro tickets to her purse and rummaging around.  She looked up, and BAM!  There's the Colosseum right in front of her, just hanging out like it's no big thing.  Outside the metro stop.  Crazy.  We also walked down the main road that leads to most everything in Rome, past a whole bunch of ruins.  We have little to know idea what these are ruins of, but they're pretty cool, and really old.  The second picture shows the juxtposition of a new, modern road (courtesy of Mussolini) with the old ruins.

Number three: Italian Unification Memorial

This is an impressive building that symbolizes the Italian victory over the Pope in 1870, and it also houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Prior to 1870 the Vatican ruled Rome, which is why, as we later discover, all of the major plazas and ruins have the papal seal.  The site, called the Vittoriano, is the center of the major inner city arterial roads.  You can look out from this site to most of the major plazas in Rome.

Number four: Walk across Tiber river and saw one of the oldest bridges

There is one island in the middle of the Tiber river, and we liked the two bridges connecting it to the banks.  The island today is owned by the church, we're not sure for what purpose, but we liked the bridges and took pictures.  Later over dinner we read that these are some of the oldest bridges in the world, with one dating from 56 BC. We thought the Charles bridge in Prague (built in the 1300s) was old, but 56 BC!  We were floored when we heard that.

Number Five: Old church with face of truth

There was a cool old church in Old Rome, and we were told we had to put our hand in the Face of Truth... but we couldn't find it, and didn't feel like hunting it down.  So we had a cocktail that Sarah had been eyeing ever since we arrived in Italy (it's got rum, soda, some kind of pink juice, and an orange slice and it's very popular.  Joe thought it was disgusting).  Our drinks came with a lovely appetizer for free.  We felt very grown up and sophisticated , getting before-dinner drinks.

Number Six: Old Rome for dinner

Then we were hungry, as individuals don't eat until 9 in Italy.  We were going to venture far, but ended up finding a perfect place just on the other side of the church.  And it was filled with Italians, which is always a good sign.  Sarah got the most delicious fettuccine she'd ever eaten.  We're definitely going back next time we're in Rome ;)

Then we went back, got some nice sleep, and prepared for a big day at the Vatican.

Ciao,

J+S

Number nine: Bike tour

We're sorry to be so behind on posting, if only for that we haven't been able to share the pictures from this event with you.  On our second day in Tuscany, we headed out on a day long trip through the countryside.  We were picked up by two hilarious Irishmen and, accompanied by about 20 other eager travelers, were driven to the region of Chianti, about 45 minutes from Florence.  For context, here's a map of the starting point of the bike tour, 10 miles from Florence:

We arrived at a 900 year old castle, where a count and countess live and continue production of olive oil and wine.  We toured the castle, had a tasting of the wine and oil, and then were able to purchase products.  We stocked up.  Then we began the biking!  We biked for about 45 minutes and then stopped for lunch at a family run restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious Italian meal--wine, salad, pasta, dessert and coffee.  Then we biked for about an hour and a half more, and then drove back home.  That's the nitty gritty, base details.  Please enjoy the following plethora of pictures, which we hope speak for themselves, because we're not captioning all of them.

The road sign to the castle

Our hilarious guide Andy

Joe in front of the enormous barrel to age wine.  This one holds wine for up to 25 years, and holds 4,400 liters of liquid. 

 

This is the press where they make the olive oil, which goes from tree to bottle in under 24 hours, so it's ridiculously fresh.

The view from the top of the castle.

 

A view of all their wines on display.  Sarah took this photo and then about ten people followed her lead.

Us enjoying the tasting.

 

 

The castle, viewed from far away.

Number ten: Arches and dinner at "safe bet" Italian

Our guides had created a map with all their favorite restaurants, bars, and nightclubs that they distributed at the end fo the tour.  Perfect timing, because we were a a loss for a good place for supper.  We found four that were all located within a block of each other, and set off in that direction.  Three of the four either did not exist, or we just couldn't find them.  So we found the fourth and final option that they described as a "safe" bet for pizza and pasta.  Sarah interpreted this to mean it was nothing special.  But the pasta we ordered was delicious.  Simple, good food. 

Number eleven: Museum of History of Science with Galileo's telescope

We had a couple hours before we had to jet off to Rome, so we decided to check out one last museum--the one that houses Galileo's telescopes.  It was pretty cool, and Joe got a chance to show off his knowledge of physics.  There were no photos allowed here either, but Sarah may or may not have snuck one when the guard wasn't looking.

 

Number twelve: Climbed the Duomo tower

Following our tradition of climbing something monstrous everywhere we go, we climbed to the top of the Duomo's tower to see all of Florence.  It was pretty sweet.

Ciao,

J+S

Number one: Hostel and Laundry

We both agree that Florence is one of our favorite cities.  It has its touristy parts full of Americans, but like Venice it's fairly easy to get away and see the real city.  We didn't explore too far outside the touristy parts, because one block usually made all the difference.

Here's the map for all three days of travel in Florence:

Please note that placement is approximate since we can't find the tourist map to double-check.

We're making a habit of talking about our hostels, so why not stop?  We stayed at Hostel Archi Rossi, a corporate hostel just two blocks from the train station.  The rooms were fine and clean.  The hostel was laid out in a resort style with individual 6-person rooms opening to a common courtyard.

Of note, we did our laundry here since it was relatively cheap.  They even gave us detergent for free.  Anyway, for those who've done laundry at UNL, do these look familiar?  Yeah, they have the exact same washers and driers as Neihardt.  Go figure.

 

Number two: Duomo

Florence has its own Duomo, or massive cathedral.  It is the third largest cathedral in the world, only behind the cathedral we saw in Milan and one in Sevilla, Spain.

On the inside we noticed that no chairs were set up.  All of the other churches we've been to show signs of actual services, while this church was empty on the inside save the hoard of tourists.

The main cupola had a beautiful mural painted with various religious themes and stories.

Outside and in front of the main entry way is the baptistery.  It is a separate structure that at one time was where all Florentines went to get baptized.  The doors to the building are famous.  This is also the sight where Dante was christened.

The front view of the church:

A side view of the church.

The door of the church:

(Sarah took this during one of the few moments when no tourists were around... so Joe had to take up the slack and jump in front of the photo).

The door/ "gates" of the baptistery.

 

Inside the church:

The impressively painted ceiling.

   

Number three: Dinner at Piazza de Republica

The first night we ate dinner in one of the many plazas we had wandered across.  It was a very pleasant Italian meal.  In Italy it's traditional to order two courses.  The first is a pasta dish, like Spaghetti, Lasagna, Penne, or Ravioli.  We've found you get more food if you don't order Ravioli or Lasagna.  The second course is a a meat dish, which was exclusively chicken for us.  We actually sat in the plaza under a covered canopy -- it was very cozy and pleasant.

We later found out that this random plaza we chose to eat in was actually the birthplace of the city of Florence, and aptly called Plaza of the Republic.  Julius Caesar established Florence as a retirement community for honored soldiers.  This plaza was modeled after one in Rome at the time.  Today it's a modern plaza with shops and the central post office.  Pretty cool.

Number four: Academia

Sarah's primary goal for art in Florence was to see the David statue by Michelangelo.  Italy, from what we've seen, is littered with marble statues.  In most cases the statues were usually assembled using multiple chunks of marble, which is why you often see armless or headless figures with clean cuts.  Michelangelo sculpted the David statue from one large chunk of marble that had been discarded in a church construction project.  The statue is at least 15 feet tall and 5 feet wide.  It's also one of the most famous and recognizable statues in the world.

We woke up at 7:00 am to stand in line to see the David.  Lines to get in to museums in Italy are notorious for 2-3 hour waits.  A one-hour wait is considered lucky:

Much to our dismay, we later found out that the only two things worth seeing (The Academia is a very small museum) are actually replicas, and in addition, there are exactly similar replicas located outdoors, to be viewed for free, in the sculpture garden in the center of town.  So we wasted 6.50 EUR each and an hour.  Great.  How do we know?  The official guide book shows the picture of the damaged large toe:

When we visited we specifically looked for the damage and found none.

Oh, and one more thing.  You're not allowed to take photos in any of Italy's museums, so no pics for this section except of the postcard we bought:

Number five: Plaza outside Uffizi

This is where the other replicas of the David and Rape of the Sabines is located, in addition to many other statues.  We sought refuge here during one of the many brief but heavy rain showers during our stay in Florence.

Rape of the Sabines

The David.  It's hard to tell just how big he really is from the pictures.

Number six: Uffizi

Here we did the usual Florentine museum wait of two hours.  Joe had to trek to find food to curb our hunger as the lunch hour approached.  Joe was happy that the line grew longer behind us...

The Uffizi was fine museum showcasing Renaissance art from Italy.  We can summarize the works as follows: 30% portraits of random nobility (not organized by family or name), 50% Jesus paintings, 10% Adoration of the Magi, and the remaining 10% of church scenes with gold rings around people's heads.  While many of the artist names are famous and impressive, the museum itself has little variety or depth.  Additionally, only 60% of the works were labeled with the remaining 40% lacking a plaque or "under construction."  Of the labels, only a small few (less than 10%) had information in english.  Luckily we had bought the official guidebook in english for 10 Euro so we could follow along.  At the end of the museum we thought it was pretty ridiculous that we needed that book.

It was nice to see the museum, but we don't have a burning desire to go back.  Just know you need the guidebook.

Number seven: "The bridge": Ponte Vecchio

The bridge here is just like the famous one in Venice, there are residences and shops built onto it, making it very crowded.  It's also pretty old, we think, but our heads are crammed with dates at this point, and we can't remember.

Number eight: Pitti Palace and Barboli Gardens

This palace is pretty cool.  Apparently there's another museum inside it, and you can see the royal chambers and stuff, but we were a little museum-ed out.  So we opted to see the gardens.  Good choice.  We strolled around for a couple hours enjoying the sun, beautiful landscaping, and gorgeous views of the city of Florence and the Tuscan countryside.

The well-groomed gardens that every good palace should have.

The very old wall (one of the original of the palace) has a modern security camera affixed on top.

 

A fountain on the roof since the courtyard one was note enough.

 

From the back entrance, we walked up the hills and into the Barboli gardens.

These gardens are littered with statues, so many you quickly start overlooking them like billboards.  Here's neptune over the smaller fountain.

 

At the top we had a view of Tuscany countryside:

 

And of the old castle wall:

 

On the other side of the park we had a good view of downtown Florence:

 

Afterward went to the sculpture garden plaza, got caught by light rain in sculpture garden.  We headed back and ate dinner a few blocks from the hostel.

Ciao,

J+S

 

Number one: Train Station

Nothing too remarkable about the train station, although we did see cruise ships on the way in to the island.  This number is more of a marker on the map than an actual site to talk about.

A random picture of Venice

Number two: Hostel

The directions to the hostel were very bad.  So bad in fact we wandered from number one to the innards of Sestiere de San Polo instead of correctly going to number two.  This is partly because navigating Venice streets is difficult and also because the directions were "cross two bridges and look for the house number before crossing the third."  Even more, the hostel didn't have a sign on its front door -- you had to know where to go and get up the nerve to knock on a random residential door.  This place only dealt in cash, which we are learning is a sign of "off the books" business.  Also, Sarah overhead the owner (a 30-something woman) tell another guest how the hostel isn't exactly legit.

The door on the left end of the bridge is the door to our hostel.

Nevertheless, the hostel had clean sheets and served a decent pasta dish for dinner.  We had a chance to socialize with fellow student travelers, which was really nice.  We finally got that "hostel" experience, where travelers come together, share a drink, and tell stories.  A sociology major from Iowa State asked Joe what his plans were after graduation.  We played coy, and the Iowan responded, "all of the graduates I've met traveling in Europe don't have jobs."  We're not sure what to take from that statement, but it seems either people without plans travel more or people like us aren't comfortable bragging in front of strangers.

Sarah leaning out from our balcony.

Number three: Wandering through the city

The following morning we wandered through the city.  It's quite easy to do since there is no grid.  You just follow the sometimes obscure signs pointing to one of the five landmarks.  We denoted the furthest south we made it using number three, although you can guess our path by tracing a squiggly line from number two through number one and down to three.

The city is what you would expect: a mashup of buildings from various time periods of various sizes crowding very narrow streets (what we would otherwise identify as alleyways).  Every 300 or 400 meters we would cross a small bridge where the canal runs.  People have boats tied up everywhere in the city, and it seems the only reliable way to transport any goods is by boat.  There are no cars or scooters in Venice, only foot traffic and people carrying really heavy loads on luggage carts.

Along the main or grand canal people drive boats like they're walking -- they just wiz by each other as they go.

We stumbled on one of what we later discovered are many workshops showing off models of DaVinci's inventions.  Inside the old church interactive models showed off the physics principles DaVinci used to solve common problems.  DaVinci is credited with many modern inventions: bicycles, ball-bearing joints, helicopters, and self-supporting bridges.

Here's an example of DaVinci's most famous invention, the bicycle.

At the southernmost point we found a battery where we could see much more port traffic and distant islands.

Number four: St. Marks Basilica

From the southernmost point we walked east towards St. Mark's Basilica (San Marco in Italian).  This is a very large square (especially given how much of a premium real estate is) with a very large Basilica.  It's among the largest in the world, though smaller than the one we saw in Milan and the ones we will see in Florence and Rome.

In the square there are tons of pigeons.  One of the touristy things to do is hold bread on your shoulders to get the birds to sit on you.  We both agreed that touching those birds was disgusting, so we took pictures of other people.  In some places of the square there are so many birds you don't see the ground.

Different from the other basilicas we've seen, there was no stained glass in the church.  Instead the inside was lined with what looked like gold-covered mosaic.  The gold would have made the inside glow had there been any light.  We weren't allowed to take pictures :(.

Number five: Rialto Market and Bridge

After getting gelato at San Marco, we walked back to the hostel through the Rialto Market (number five).  This market is famous because the bridge featured shops.  Today it features the usual tourist fare in Italy.  The bridge was otherwise remarkable; although it likely is the view you've seen in post cards.

On the whole we liked Venice, although we felt we saw most of the city in one day.  The novelty of the canal system wears off after 2 hours of navigating maze and having seen other canal cities (Brussels and Amsterdam).  St. Marks is pretty but yet another Basilica.  We're happy we went, but we're even more happy that we budgeted the right amount of time.

Ciao,

J+S

We were in Milan for less than 24 hours, so this blog will be pretty short.  Not a ton to do in Milan, but it was so exciting to arrive in Italy.  We are ready to consume mass amounts of pasta and gelato and sightsee until our tails fall off.  Here we go!

Dinner

We arrived in Italy, starving, after our long break from normal-sized meals.  We were totally jonesing for some good pasta, and we asked for a recommendation.  Unfortunately, the great place that the hotel recommended was closed.  So we found somewhere else, thinking they'd have pasta (we're in Italy for crying out loud, right?) but they didn't.  Instead we enjoyed a nice chicken dish with salad and looked forward to pasta another time.  We did, however, indulge in some wonderful Italian gelato.  Sarah got three scoops...needless to say, we were pretty full.  

Duomo

Another cathedral!  Yea (they bleat somewhat sarcastically).  This one had some pretty cool stained glass though, very realistic, due to its completion in the 19th century.  And these windows displayed a new feature--individual scenes within each pane.

Galleria

Adjacent to the Duomo is the Galleria, a fancy shopping center with all of the big name designers.  Milan gets its shopping reputation from here and another nearby street.  Oh yeah, there also is a McDonalds in case the overpriced restaurants are too much for you.

Lunch at family-owned Italian Restaurant

After being stingy in Prague, we had a little extra wiggle room in the budget, so we splurged on a nice lunch in Milan.  The hand-made pasta was just delicious, and we had some great wine, and Sarah fell in love with Lemoncello, a gift from our lovely waiter.  This was the perfect place to have a first bite of authentic Italian pasta.

Castle

We're not really sure the story behind this castle... but we saw it on the map, had an extra hour, so we saw it.  And that's that.

 

Ciao,

J+S

Sorry, for some reason the Prague map got cut off in our previous post.  Here's what it should be.  Click on the picture for full-size.

Like the Berlin post, we're including a map for the reader to follow along.  These maps are also useful for us when we return to these cities and would like guides of what we've seen.  Anyway, the map.  Apologies for its width:

The answer

Sarah was standing next to a bust of Lenin in the Communist Museum.

Impressions of Prague

Joe had forgotten that Czech was the model communist state during the Cold War until he arrived.  We saw examples of the long standing communist regime everywhere, and will be including them as we go along.  Our hostel was adequate, quaint, fairly unremarkable except for the owner, who was hilarious.  Joe is convinced he's ex-KGB because of his quite impressive English capabilities for his old age and no-nonsense attitude, but that's up for debate.  It's hard to get in writing, but Sarah does a wicked impression of him, so ask her next time you see her.  "There is room over there.  For smoke, if you smoke, I don't know, it's there."  Sarah does it better than the web.  Ask her.

Check out what Joe believes are Communist tiles in the very old building:

Now check out the exposed plumbing.  The building was so old, it wasn't constructed with indoor plumbing.  So they just burrowed in the walls and didn't bother to cover it up:

Finally, the metro, which is at least 1 km below ground:

We were completely unprepared for the cultural differences between central and western Europe.  They are many, and we had underestimated them.  We felt like we were being stared at pretty much everywhere we went (everywhere that wasn't a ridiculous tourist trap, that is).  Contrary to what Sarah had heard, the English abilities of Czechoslovakians was not up to snuff, and if you haven't tried it, Czech, being a Slavic language, is a pretty difficult language to pick up.  Sarah tried, but only managed "thank you" and "I don't speak Czech" which is more than we can say for Joe ;)  Additionally, Czechoslovakia is either not a customer-based society, or we got swindled because we look like tourists, but we had more than one negative consumer experience while in Prague.  We'll detail later down in the post.

Czech Currency

Last, we had a major issue with money in Prague.  The Czech Republic doesn't use the Euro yet and won't for at least ten years.  It uses the Kc or Crowns.  We knew going in that the money would be different, but we didn't know how different and difficult it would be to get the money.  We needed 20 crown coins to get a metro ticket from the train station to the hostel, however the ATM machines gave out 2000-crown notes.  Before you think we took out too much money, realize that 18 USD = 1 Kc.  Eating out in Prague cost at a minimum 300 Kc per plate.  With the tourist trap premium, in most places you'll spend 1000 crowns for two.

We tried changing the notes at a change counter, but they wouldn't do it.  We then looked for a bank or a staffed transit counter, and again no luck.  Joe went in to a McDonalds (we saw 10 while in Prague) to change the bill, and they told him he had to buy a cheeseburger.  Without any other option, Joe bought the cheeseburger:

 

No, we didn't eat it, although Joe did offer it to our hostel owner.  It ended up in a Prague trash can (would you have eaten it?).

But back to the money.  We saw more "change" or "currency exchange" counters in Prague than we did McDonalds -- which says a lot.  They lined the streets offering "no commission" transactions.  There are two reasons we can envision why they don't charge commission.  First, the commission is included in the exchange price.  However, the market was so saturated with these places that prices had cleared to the point that all exchange rates were about the same.  There wasn't room for the exchange places to skim off the top.  So a second idea is that the exchange places tended to buy foreign currencies much more than Czech Crowns (remember, we stayed in a tourist trap area).  So, the exchange places were getting strong Euros for weak Crowns.  The exchange places could be betting that the value of the Euros will increase by the end of the week relative to the crown and effectively increase their real purchasing power.  (Hint: Joe thinks the currency valuation strategy is the real reason).  As evidence of this strategy, we saw many places offering drinks and menus in both crowns and euros.

Purchasing things in Prague was a real hassle with the foreign currency, not to mention things were overpriced as it was.  Oh yeah, Prague also has a big problem with counterfeits.  In addition to making slightly different versions of the Czech money, apparently there is a problem with people trying to sell Hungarian money to unknowing tourists, which is much less valuable than even the Czech currency.  Banks post signs about all of the confusingly similar notes:

Can you tell the difference?  Should you have to?

Number One: Old Town Square

We arrived in Prague in the late afternoon, with not a whole lot of time to sightsee the first day, so we decided to do something fairly low-key, and get a lay of the land by exploring the 'Old Town" and the adjoining famous square.  We saw the town hall, a pretty cool statue, some nice architecture, and lots of tourists milling about.

Number Two: Dinner

After some wandering, we were starving, so we looked for a place to eat dinner.  We noticed as we were looking for places to eat that most places, we would have to drop 1,000 crowns for dinner while our hostel owner had advised about 200 for the two of us for dinner.  We realized that it was most likely the influence of the location that was driving the prices up, but we didn't know how far we'd have to wander and so settled on a restaurant that seemed marginally less expensive and said it was located in the oldest cave in Prague, so that was pretty cool.  We ate in a 1,000 year old cave!  The dinner was quite good, and there was even live entertainment!  We got the bill though, and they charged Joe double for his coke.  We normally would have said something, but with the language barrier... we decided it wasn't worth it.  But 120 crowns ($8) is a lot to pay for 40 centiliters of coke (4 shots)!  One of the primary ways the Czech restaurants make their money is by charging a ridiculous amount for all beverages, we came to find out over the course of our time in Prague.

Joe enjoying the live music!

Joe's chicken dish on the left, Sarah's lamb on the right.

 

Number Three: Grocery Store

We spent a lot of time here and you'll understand why in a bit after we've ranted a bit more about the restaurant business in Prague.  "Albert," it's called.  Joe wanted to remark on the impressiveness of the structure.  It's underground, and not only is it underground, but there are two floors underground so that the lower floor is about 1 km below ground.  It was pretty cool.

An example of Czech prices at their best.  149 Crowns ($10) for a pint of ice cream, sheesh.

Number Four: Jewish Museum

We woke up the next morning to explore, what we thought would be, the bustling Jewish Quarter.  Unfortunately, there are only 1,700 Jews left in Prague after World War 2 and only 5,000 in all of Czechoslovakia.  Before the war, Czechoslovakia had the highest population of Jews of any country in the world.  Even more, we found the "Jewish Quarter" to be a huge tourist trap.  In fact, the whole time we were visiting the museums and synagogues, we were eerily reminded of Hitler's plan to save the synagogues in Prague and create museums to remember what Jewish life was like, after they had all been removed from the planet.  It was pretty creepy.

That said, we were also disappointed to not be allowed to take photos in any of the sites.  Sarah snuck a few covert shots though.  It's really too bad that we couldn't take too many pictures because the synagogues themselves were beautiful.  So, if you know someone who can change this silly rule, please get it fixed.  Pictures only spread buzz about a place.  The actual information wasn't too impressive, as it mostly focused on what Judaism is and how it is practiced.  A subject both Sarah and Joe are fairly familiar with.

 

Number Five: Spanish Synagogue

The Saphardic synagogues are more ornate and decorated traditionally, and this was no exception.  Every inch of the interior walls were covered in decorative painting in deep green, red, blue and gold.  This synagogue also had an organ, signaling it's classification as a reform synagogue.

Before you gloss over these pictures, remember that Sarah sneaked the inside ones since they were forbidden.

Number Six through Nine: Remaining Jewish Sites

There were a couple more synagogues, a ceremonial hall, and the oldest European cemetery that made up the remaining part of our Jewish Quarter experience.  The cemetery was also quite unsettling, as it appeared that the Nazis had perhaps just gathered every headstone written in Hebrew that they could find and crammed them into this one old site.  The cemetery was in complete disarray with headstones nearly on top of each other, three or four in the place where only one should have stood.

Number Ten: The restaurant for lunch

After seeing the Jewish Museum, we were hungry.  It actually was past lunch and around 2:00 pm.  We went in, got a menu, looked for poultry, and were happy to find a grilled turkey dish.  Sarah pointed the dish out on the menu.  We then waited for a good 45 minutes for our food to come out.  The people around us, who ordered the same time we did, already had their food.  Remember, we were hungry, and this place wasn't anything special.  In the mean time the waiter brought us bread and ketchup.

Finally the waiter brought out our food.  Only problem is he brought out cordon blue (a fried ham dish), which wasn't anything like what we ordered.  The waiter walked away.  We looked at the food, conferred, and agreed it wasn't what we would eat.  Sarah confronted the waiter.  She said, this isn't what we ordered.  He responded by barking, "No. No. No."  How many of our faithful readers have ever had a waiter tell them they were wrong?  How about in a very rude manner?  We can both now say yes to those questions.

Sarah asked to see the menu again, and pointed out the correct dish.  The waiter shrugged his shoulders to say "sorry, too bad."  Sarah asked for our original dishes, and the waiter said no at first, and then conceded it would be a 1 hour wait.  We left.  They probably would have spit in a second dish anyway.

This experience turned us off completely of the restaurant scene in Prague.  The first waiter swindled us, and the second waiter got the order wrong and didn't want to fix it.  The good news, from our side, is that we didn't tip the waiter or pay for what would have been an overpriced, bad meal (the portions of cordon blue were half what you would get in the states for the same price).   Most restaurants have a "table charge" they claim is for brining out ketchup and bread.  It's on the menu in fine print, so it's completely legit.  Then again, sometimes it's not on the menu and therefore not legit at all.  Needless to say, we refocused our culinary budget to the grocery store and lived off bananas and bread for the next couple days.

Number eleven: Communism Museum

This museum chronicles the relatively short life of communism in the Czech Republic.  It is a quaint, charming museum that has a good mix of source documents, exhibits, and information.  The funniest thing about the museum is it proudly advertises that it's located above a McDonalds.  The museum is one floor, about half the size of the Anne Frank house museum.  It starts with the rise of communism, talks about the lies and constant shortages, and then shows video footage of the final protests in the Czech Republic.  The protests took place in the same squares we visited as tourists.

Sarah's favorite picture: for more information about Communism, read one of chained the books.  Isn't it ironic that information about a regime that controlled information is locked down?

Joe's favorite picture: the caption reads

"War hysteria, amongst other measures, served to frighten the population through civil defense dills in factories and other locations. From the point of view of propaganda, the most powerful tool was the exercise of defense against weapons of mass destruction. The instructors painted an image of perverted enemies who wouldn't stop short of dropping atomic bombs on schools and hospitals, spread epidemics of deadly diseases, and pollute the atmosphere with poisonous gases or contaminate the drinking water. The horrific appearance of gas masks and other means of anti-chemical warfare played on the public imagination of apocalypse supposedly in preparation by Western powers against communist regimes."

In case you got confused, this exhibit was about communists in the 1950s.  In all, we appreciated the story the museum told of communism in Czechoslovakia. 

Number twelve: Main drag towards museum

There is a main pedestrian shopping center that ends in the famous Museum.  Not much more to say than there were 3 McDonalds along the street, two H&Ms, and a warning about pickpockets.

The museum building was pretty.  We think it's a natural history museum.

Number thirteen: Monday Morning Services

Joe wanted to go to services in a foreign country to see if they really were the same everywhere.  Since we've been traveling most Saturdays, Joe settled for a Monday morning service in Prague.  He figured there would have to be something because of the extensive Jewish museum.  Anyway, services are held in the "real" or "working" synagogue that you can't see as part of the Jewish Museum.  To enter, you have to know which door to go in to, and it is guarded by very well armed police (the best armed we've seen in all of Prague), a bouncer, and a security guard inside.  We told the bouncer we would like to go to services, walked through the metal detector, and led around two corners and up stairs to a small orthodox schul.  It was a traditional orthodox shacharit service.  There were 11 people total at the service, including Joe.

Afterward we talked with some of the members.  They mentioned that there are no good kosher bakeries or restaurants in Prague, and that the two we saw were for tourists.  We got the sense that the Prague Jewish community is close-knit but struggling with its 1000 members.  One of the men lived in Quebec for 30 years and spoke French with Sarah.  Another man was from Israel and gave directions and suggestions for our sight-seeing later that day.  On the whole the experience was positive and the community was very welcoming.

Number fourteen: Czech Senate

The Czech Republic's senate meets in a beautiful building just below the Prague Castle.  Outside the building is a public garden.

We only found out about this because we followed one of many french tour groups through some random gates.

Number fifteen: Prague Castle

The Prague Castle is home to the longest-running governmental headquarters of any people.  It is a large complex sitting on top of a hill overlooking the rest of the city.  This is the place Hitler came, Stalin had his huge monument, and tourists take snapshots.  The castle complex has St. George's Basilica, the "old palace," and "gold street."  The changing of the guard:

  

Gold street is marked as the footprint on the map.  It is a touristy shopping street with expensive trinkets that you pay to get in (which should be a hint about how well the merchandise sells).

One of the houses dates from the 14th century on the street, and another is the smallest in all of the Czech Republic.

The old palace is where the famous picture of Hitler looking over Prague was taken.  You actually can go on the same balcony today, which is a bit unsettling if you think about it too much.  The place is so old that you can see the imprecise measurements of the frame -- the room is not square.

The Basilica has a long line to get in, it wraps around the whole building.

But if you go in through the exit, there is no wait and no one to stop you :).  Silly tourists.

The main hall:

Some of the stained glass:

There is a tower with one spiral staircase to the top.  When we ascended, people stopped often in the cramped space.  We think they got confused by the two-way traffic on the narrow stairs:

The river running through Prague:

The old square:

The Charles Bridge:

Number sixteen: Mala Strana Park

This is a large city park just south of the Prague Castle.  It features a smaller replica of the Eiffel Tower.  Having seen the real thing, we just walked around.

A view of the Castle:

Number seventeen: Charles Bridge

Charles bridge is one of the oldest bridges in the world, built in 1375, and a must-see sight while in Prague.  The bridge was lined with vendors and tourists taking pictures.  It also was under construction.  We felt like it had been hyped up for nothing.  Ok, cool that a bridge survived for almost 700 years...now what?

Well, that's Prague for you.  On the way to the airport, on the metro, we got checked for our tickets.  We weren't sure we had bought the right tickets, but the man smiled and everything seemed ok.  We like turn-styles better.  Joe realized during the experience that the real reason why a community picks controllers over turn-styles: the relative costs of labor and capital.  In a place like Prague labor is cheap, so it's cheaper to hire people than it is to put in gates.  It's simple economics.

Nashledanou,

J+S

Different than Amsterdam, we feel we budgeted too little time for Berlin.  Anyone who thinks (i.e. us) they can do Berlin in a day and a half is painfully wrong.  We underestimated the historical significance of this city for the time periods before the world wars, during them, and then after during the cold war.  We would have loved the extra day to spend more time getting to know the city.

The following is a map roughly in the order of sites we visited (the one exception is that #15 should be before #9, but we were too lazy to fix it).  The numbers are sites we actually visited and the letters are sites we would like to see.

Number one: Train Station

We arrived on a quick 1.5 hour train from Hamburg at Hauptbahnhof (German for Central Station).  Joe wanted to point out the train station because it was, in his humble opinion, the most impressive he's seen yet.  The station is clearly new within the last 5 years, very clean, and it is a great motivator to talk about the city in general.

Over 90% of Berlin was destroyed in the second world war.  Then during the cold war sections were built and re-built quickly to show off to the other side.  For instance, we walked past pre-fab apartments that the Soviets built along the border to entice west-berliners to come over. More than just the buildings, though, it seems that the German culture was devastated during the war and rebuilt using the Soviet and American cultures as models.  Now with the fall of communism, and reunification, the city has adopted the American culture nearly exclusively.  This may be why we saw Starbucks/McDonalds/Burger King/Dunkin Donuts/Schlotsky's on many corners and SUVs driving around.  It's safe to say that Berlin is still developing its identity.

The interior of the station just as we left:

The front entrance facade from the Europe Plaza where we picked up the bus.

 

Number two: Berlin Circus Hostel

Following the trend from Amsterdam, we'll spend a moment to talk about the Berlin Circus Hostel.  Different from Amsterdam, we liked this hostel.  It was new for the 2008 summer season, and for less per night we had a 5-person room.  There was free wifi, clean showers and toilets, clean sheets, amenities, and very friendly staff.  The staff walked us through the policies at check-in and then asked us how we liked it at check-out (a hostel first).  As an example of their confidence, they ask guests to see accommodations before paying.  In Amsterdam they charged us the full amount at time of reservation with a no-refund policy.  Hmmm....

Anyway, one funny story about the hostel.  The hostel purchases monthly transit passes and rents them out to guests for a per diem fee less than an all-day pass costs.  It's our understanding in most other municipalities this is not exactly legit.  In fact, it's probably illegal, but we saved 4 EUR.  So we're all about it.  (e.g. Next time look for the "non-transferable" fine print).

While we're on the subject of mass transit -- Berlin's transit system is by far the most illogical and difficult to navigate thus far.  Like Hamburg, they have an S-train and a U-train for surface and underground.  As far as we can tell, there is actually no difference between the two.  And, at some stations, you go below ground to get on a surface train and above ground to get on an underground train.  Additionally, multiple lines arrive at the same platform, and they don't always use the terminal station to indicate direction.  Perhaps German engineering like this is an acquired taste.

Oh yeah, they don't actually check your transit ticket anywhere.  It's all on the "honor system," so in theory we could have gone without purchasing transit tickets the entire time.  Our host family in Hamburg told us that there are plain-clothed controllers who randomly check people's tickets (although we never saw any, we think).  We hypothesize that after years of secret police randomly asking for your documents, the natural tendency for Germans is to rely on controllers over automatic turn-styles.

Number three: Cupcakes!

We walked the kitschy neighborhood, Prenzlauer Berg, just north of the hostel.  Sarah enjoyed popping in and out of unique boutiques while Joe waited patiently on the street.  We did find an adorable American cupcake shop, and we indulged on the fine pastries.

Number four: Brandenburg Gate and Paris Plaza

We took the walking tour through Berlin that was offered by the same company as our Amsterdam tour.  Similarly, we found that this tour was very recommendable.  The tour met at the Starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate.

The Brandenburg Gate connects the central city park in West Berlin with the Paris Plaza in East Berlin.   The gate itself was built before Napoleon and has participated in the major wars since.  In particular, because the German Parliament is behind the gate, the Soviets advanced through the Paris Plaza.  Today the American Embassy and the classy Alstor Hostel (where Michael Jackson dangled his baby) are there.

The gate and plaza have a lot of history, which pictures on a blog don't do justice.  For the rest of the post we'll include links to wiki articles to provide background and context for these sites.  Learn more about the Paris Plaza (called Pariser Platz in German) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pariser_Platz

The Gate itself looking west from East Berlin.

The statue on top was stolen by Napoleon and placed in the Louvre.  The Germans then "stole" it back in World War 1 and modified it slightly.  They changed the goddess from peace to victory and tilted her gaze to the side so that she "looks down" on the French embassy.  They also replaced the original olive branch with a badass German scepter.

The Adlon Hotel.  Bullet-proof windows, rocket-proof walls, and 5-star cuisine.  Plus, Michael Jackson almost dropped his baby over the railing.

The American Embassy.  Unlike other American embassies, there is no perimeter zone around the door.  You could walk up to the door without being frisked.  Even has a bike rack for the eco-friendly terrorists... err....

Number five: Holocaust Memorial

Officially called the "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe," the memorial is just to the south of the Brandenburg Gate and across the street of the American Embassy.  It used to be the space between the Berlin walls.

The memorial was very moving.  By walking through, even when there are several others present, one feels completely alone and overwhelmed in the vastness of the structure.  Please take time to read the wiki article on the memorial: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Europe

Number six: Luftwaffe Headquarters

This building is the largest office building in Europe and the second in the world behind the Pentagon (according to the tour guide).  Today it houses the tax ministry:

The building was home to many protests during the communist regime.  There is a 150 meter mural on the side of building that shows idyllic communist life with a similarly-sized photograph showing one of the many popular protests below it.  This is a piece of the mural:

 

Number seven: Berlin Wall

Joe felt slightly under-whelmed at the Berlin Wall, as it is nearly gone.  It is not a wall that could stop an army or do anything beyond mark a boundary.  The remaining bit is protected by a fence, which we found to be quite ironic: the most hated fence in the world is now protected by a fence.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall

 

Number eight: Checkpoint Charlie

This checkpoint was the last to fall when the Berlin Wall went down.  Above it stands the picture of the last Soviet and American guards to leave the checkpoint. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkpoint_Charlie

We don't know who these people are, but they want you to pay them a euro for a picture.

 

Number nine: Babel Platz

Here is the sight of many of the Nazi book burnings.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebelplatz for more information.  There is a memorial for the burning: a window in the middle of the square which shows an empty bookcase.  The bookcase can hold the 20,000 books that were burned in the square.  You can faintly see the bookcase in the window, below.

 

Number ten: Berliner Dom

We entered the Berliner Dome simply as a second thought, because our tour guide recommended the view of the city from the top and the tour ended there.

We were pleasantly surprised by the magnificent sight to be seen inside.  The Protestant church done in the Baroque style is highlighted by gold to an amazing degree.

The ceiling:

The alter with one of many tourists taking pictures.

The large organ off to the left:

This is the detail on the columns:

We hope the pictures convey the beauty of the church.  (Sarah was not frustrated after spending time in this church, which says a lot).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Dom

Number eleven: Topography of Terror

This sight told an extensive story of how the Nazis and Hitler orchestrated the war.  A warning if you ever decide to visit: it is a lot of information.  Plan on reading it in chunks and sitting down regularly.  We rushed through it in an hour and a half.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topography_of_Terror

 

Number twelve: EU Celebration Parade

We accidentally cam across this on our way to find the New Synagogue and Jewish Museum.  We had no idea it was occurring, but apparently in Berlin there is the EU Celebration Fair and parade the 30th through the 1st of June.  There was a street lined with vendors selling treats from each member nation, as well as carnival games, bands, and a parade.  If we weren't so pushed for time, it would have been nice to enjoy a crepe or some sangria

.

Number thirteen: Reichstag

The Reichstag building has housed the German government for over 100 years.  During some years, like the time of the Nazis and Communists, the power of this building was minimal.  However, today the German Parliament meets here and work in the large office buildings along the north side.  A cool feature of the modern government is that anyone, for free, can go to the roof of the building to enjoy a wonderful view of Berlin and look down on the Parliament chambers below.  There is a little information on wiki on this building: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_(building)

In the dome, seen below, you can walk up the spiral ramp to the top, which has a seating area and open-air skylight.  Along the route you can look at one of the many mirrors that reflect the Parliament chamber.  Our guide told us that the motivation for this design is for parliament members to remember they are not above the people and subject to public scrutiny.

A view of chamber and mirrors (top of picture):

Number fourteen: Jewish Museum Berlin

A BIG regret we have during our time in Berlin is not spending more time here.  Sarah and Joe both agree it was their favorite museum in Europe.  It was a perfect mix of artifacts, testimonials, history, art, multimedia (Sarah to listened to several poems in Yiddish), and touching (in the emotional sense) memorials about Judaism and the Holocaust.  Joe adds the museum did a good job of telling stories.  The bottom floor of the museum houses the Holocaust tower.  The tower is a four-sided room with walls 125 meters high, dark except for a small window at the top of the wall that meets in a point.  The "tower" evokes strong emotions in different people and is something you have to experience for yourself.  It was a very somber experience for us both.  Here's the shape of the room:

 

The other prominent feature of the first floor is the garden of exile.  It is a concrete sculpture that resembles the other Holocaust memorial.  Again, it's an exhibit you have to experience yourself.

The upper floors of the museum feature the history of Jews in the German Diaspora starting in the middle ages and progressing through the Second World War.  It confirms information we saw at the Frankfurt Jewish Museum about continued persecution and requiring Jews to wear yellow circles in the 1400s.  We ran short of time in this Museum, however, as our train to Prague with reserved seats was leaving soon.  This site is on the top of our lists to see again the next time we're in Berlin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Museum_Berlin

Number fifteen: Alexander (?) Platz

We don't remember the name of this plaza exactly and cannot find it on the maps, but Sarah remembers the guide calling it Alexander Plaza.  It is home to French Catholic and Protestant churches made in similar styles.  Between them is the Philharmonic with cheap last-call tickets:

Site A: Museum Island

There are 5 museums on the river Island and site of the previous Royal Palace.  We would have liked to see them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Island

 

Site B: Humbolt University

Humbolt University revolutionized the concept of "professorship" by requiring all candidates to contribute to their field before getting a PhD.  Today this is the requirement all accredited universities use today.  It also was home to Max Plank and Karl Marx during their studies.  We would like to see more.

 

Site C: New Synagogue

This synagogue was rebuilt after the war to model its original look.  We saw it from the Berliner Dome and thought it was a Mosque because of the gold.  We went looking for it, but we didn't walk far enough north.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Synagogue

 

Sites D and E: Berlin Opera and Philharmonic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_State_Opera

We don't have a picture of the Opera, and we just showed the Philharmonic.  Apparently the tickets are cheap and often available at last call.  This is one of the oldest arts centers in the world, and we would like to see a show.

Site F: Berlin Library

This is one of the original large libraries that was made by the Frederick the Great (check the wiki link).  When we visited it was under renovation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_State_Library

 

Site G: Potsdamer Platz

Potsdamer Platz is a cultural center of West Berlin.  It has nice and new buildings -- our tour guide talked it up. From the Reichstag it flowed blue and purple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdamer_Platz

Site H (not pictured): Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachsenhausen_concentration_camp

One of the original and "model" concentration camps is just North of Berlin.

Auf Wiedersehen,

J+S

Quick update:  We're safe and sound.  Internet in Prague is hard to come by, so we're a bit behind in our posts.  We're headed to Italy which we anticipate to be better connected.  Enjoy the two posts from Germany that we posted, and we hope you're all doing well!

If you're curious, we're writing these blogs offline using Windows Live Writer and Windows Live Photo Gallery.  It's a simple matter of writing and dragging pictures.  The photo gallery in particular has been pretty cool for offloading cameras and tagging as we go.  Then when we get internet access we simply press publish.  This approach has been a great way to fill train rides, and we recommend it to other travelers.

J+S

Just a quick taste of what you'll get when we post our Prague blog.  Can you guess who this man is next to Sarah?  :)

We stayed with friends in Hamburg, which was a nice change.  They hosted us in their lovely home just outside the city. 

We found Hamburg to be a quiet, welcoming city, and felt quite comfortable here.  As we're spending more time in Germany, we're feeling that the culture is quite similar to American culture.  Germans are hardworking people that are just going through their lives.  Like Frankfurt, the Hamburg dress was a similar blend of casual and stylish, with the usual selection of thematic cuisine.  We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant, for example.  We decided that German bread is too heavy for our taste, though.

The city of Hamburg is a little spread out, so we opted for the perhaps slightly lame double-decker tourist bus to see the sights.  It ended up being a good choice in terms of ability to see everything.  Unfortunately, we accidentally chose a German tour, so all we understood was "Napoleon Bonaparte," "Buckingham Palace in London," "Coffee," and "Thank you goodbye."  But we managed to follow along on the map and revisited a few of the sights later in the afternoon.

Hamburg is a harbor city, so we walked along the harbor after the tour, eating fish and chips.  The weather was great, but a little windy.  Then we headed back to the city center for a look at St. Michael's church, which had been recommended to us by our friends and Sarah's guidebook as a great view of the city.  It was indeed a great view.  The church itself was quite pretty. The inside was done in the Baroque style, which is a nice change from all the Gothic architecture.

Pictures of the church, including the gorgeous organ.

The following are pictures of the view.

The historic Town Hall, which is next to the Mockenburg strasse shopping center.  Like Frankfurt, this shopping center is modern like the Kansas City Plaza.

The famous television tower on the north side of town.

Germany has extensive use of renewable energy, such as this building's large solar power array.

The harbor and docks where we started the German tour and had lunch.

 

After the church, we went to the Austeralster, which is a large lake surrounded by trees, paths, and benches.  We spent nearly the entire afternoon there just enjoying the day.  We were quite surprised at how many people were in the park on a Wednesday afternoon.  Joggers, lovers, businessmen reading the paper, quite the variety.

Auf Wiedersehen,

J+S

Yes, Frankfurt, Germany (275 miles away).

10 points if you guessed right on the country, 20 if you got the city.  Yep, we picked Frankfurt because it was within reasonable distance between Amsterdam and our next day's trip to Hamburg.  (4 hours from Amsterdam, 3 from Hamburg).  Plus, it was on a train line that didn't require a reservation, so the trip was "free" to us as well.

Because internet in Amsterdam was shoddy, we went to Frankfurt blind and without our usual wikitravel insights.  We arrived at the train station and asked the tourist information desk for a map and checked in to a nice budget hotel (the same Joe stayed in Besancon).  Our hotel was right on the river Main which runs through Frankfurt, so we decided to take a nice afternoon stroll toward the city center.

The train station and our hotel are only 1 km away from the historic Frankfurt downtown, so we were happy to walk along the river towards it.  The city is a mix of pre-war, post-war, and modern buildings.  More buildings felt from the post-war period, and in general we both commented on how similar Frankfurt felt to any other American city.  The people tended to dress like you would see in a downtown, there were larger cars than in France, and in most places we saw at least one American brand:

 

Here's Sarah in front of the statue of Justice in Romer square.  Romer Square is the city hall center we mentioned in our last post that alone survived the war.  In the background (not pictured) is the large church spire that was under construction.  We had to fight a band of Asian tourists to take a picture in front of the statue.  We won, albeit the victory was short-lived.

Notice how the windows of old-german buildings are more frequent and closer together than their Dutch or French counterparts.  They take up the entire front facade of the buildings.  We found dinner along a pedestrian mall that started at the Opera.  The pedestrian mall was a central shopping center like you would find in the plaza in Kansas City.  Joe tried a locally-brewed beer, Binding, with his cheese ravioli:

And Sarah had a Frankfurter and Apple Wine, a traditional Frankfurt drink.

Here is the backside of the city hall building:

And a modern building:

All of the taxis we saw were Mercedes.  We're unsure whether this means Mercedes is an economy car here or if means the taxis are nicer.

The "old" opera house.  Just down the block is the "new" opera house that we think is much uglier.

The morning we left for Hamburg we decided to see the famous Jewish history museum, Judengasse.  There are two Jewish history museums in Frankfurt.  One is part of the old Rothschild palace (a wealthy Jewish family that founded the British colony we call Israel) and the other is in a newer building in a part of town that used to be the Jewish Ghetto.  The first museum is about the holocaust and the second is about pre-war life in the ghetto.  We saw the second museum.

The Judengasse museum told the story of Jews in Frankfurt from the 12th century.  It was about the same size as the Anne Frank house, although this museum had much, much more content.  It documented using primary sources the pogroms, the ghetto life, and the great fire and emancipation of Jews.  In the middle of the room was an excavation of a ghetto building from the 14th or 15th century that was uncovered during construction of a utility building.  Actually, the new construction was on the site of the old, famous Jewish synagogue that was demolished during the War.  The German government would not halt construction so the museum benefactors got approval to move the ruins to the museum.  They did so in a manner to recreate the site to scale.

The old buildings were made of irregular stone and had a population density of areas we call "slums" today.

On the whole we were very impressed by the museum content and very modest cost (2 EUR each).

Auf Wiedersehen,

J+S