Interact with this collection.

Number One: Hotel

We woke up around 8:00 am and began the day.

Number Two: Third Street Promenade Crepes Breakfast

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Number Three: Rodeo Drive

Number Four: Beverly Hills Art Expo

Number Five: Hollywood Sign and Lunch at Grauman’s Chinese Theater

Number Six: Driving around Griffith Park

 

Number Seven: G riffith Park Observatory

Number Eight: Malibu and Malibu Beach

 

 

Number Nine: Dinner and Movie in Agoura

We watched Angels and Demons.  It was a a great way to remember Rome:

#1 http://iadktw.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pEeH-Py-R2psPqDCyUSMnQHr02cvQHiwD_1T0Yq2lcKmdcuZ3MYgyZHOC683a4ktHGpSdyUKU6ei5zduj36WQiA

#2 http://iadktw.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pAw9DOYuA68Vp5QYpEBzQmseCBb_BIDaqERg2E4a6KmGOnrJRI0NVVwWLMR6GW9UY5Oql8EbNyVJsrEL0kqcogg

#3

#4 

Like, Adios,

J+S

To commemorate the anniversary of our trip to Europe last year, Sarah and Joe met in Los Angeles for a long weekend in LA.  They chose LA because Joe attended a conference for work the week before.

Interact with this collection.

Number One: LAX (not pictured)

Joe picked Sarah up from LAX in his first rental car, a grey 2009 Pontiac G3.  Before picking up Sarah, Joe wandered around Century City, where he saw something he’d never seen before… an ad for the Jewish Federation in a public place.  Only in LA…

 

Number Two: Hotel in Beverly Hills

We stayed in a posh Beverly Hills hotel, which was just two blocks south of Rodeo drive.  Very quiet area and centrally located for all our touring.  Plus, Joe got a great deal on Hotwire.

When Joe turned on the TV… he got a BSOD! Only in LA…

Number Three: Santa Monica Pier

Joe and Sarah had breakfast the first morning on the Santa Monica Pier.  We arrived before the pier officially opened, which meant we missed the tourists.  It was cool to watch the locals fish off the pier.

Number Four: Third Street Promenade and Farmer’s Market

Third Street Promenade reminded us of Mockinbirdstrauss, a bustling shopping street in Hamburg, Germany--wide street lined with tons of shops and easily walkable.  We meandered along it, taking in the consumerism, and stumbled upon the weekend farmer's market.  As Sarah had a bad cold, we thought some fresh squeezed oj was in order.

Number Five: UCLA

On our way to the Getty Museum, we decided to take a quick detour and see UCLA.  The campus seemed huge in comparison with UNL, and the buildings had a kind of Gothic Spanish temple feel to them with their red brick and looming size.  Even though we were on campus in the summer, there were quite a few students hanging around.   While loitering in the library, we also discovered that part of Angels and Demons was filmed at UCLA (significant because of one f tomorrow's events).  We grabbed a sandwich for lunch at a student eaterie before heading to the museum. 

Number Six: Getty Center

The Getty was so LA.  The architecture itself, as we learned on our architecture tour, was a very important part of the museum's design.  The architect wanted to combat "museum fatigue" (where was this guy with all those museums in Europe we almost collapsed in?).  But the space feels very organic and open.  Linking each collection is a walkway so that you're exposed to natural light and air between all that admiring.  There is also a beautiful outdoor garden and several other outdoor spaces to take a break from the art and enjoy the scenery.  Sarah particularly liked the photography exhibit in the modern collection.

Number Seven: Grauman Chinese Theater and Hollywood Walk of Fame

At the Walk of Fame, Sarah was incredibly disappointed that Jon Stewart does not have a star.  She's planning on writing to him to express her outrage at this circumstance, especially in light of the fact that Ryan Seacrest does have a star.  See picture below if you don't believe us.

Number Eight: In N Out Burger by Universal Studios

We ended the night with grabbing a California must, In N Out Burger.  Joe is crazy; he thought the fries were soggy and the burger mediocre.  Sarah was happy to eat her dinner, as she hadn't enjoyed the delectible offerings (only available on the West Coast) for a few years.

Like, Bye,

J+S

Sarah and Joe are now safely back in the states.  Sarah went up to Connecticut to work as a counselor and teacher at a summer program at Yale.  Joe saw his family in New York for a few days and then his parents in Alabama for a few more days.  Afterward he flew to Seattle to begin work at Microsoft.

We thank everyone for following along and asking us great questions.  Sorry for always referring to the blog in emails, but it was easier than repeating ourselves.

We learned a lot from this experience, and we hope you too could learn vicariously.  Most important, we've confirmed there is a much larger world out there and it's important to see it.

Keep in touch!

Sincerely,

J+S

Now that the trip is done, here's a few interesting facts:

Final Itinerary

As you can see, we deviated from our original plan slightly.  We added two cities to the mix, Frankfurt and Geneva, which we are generally happy with.

Number Countries: 8 (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland)

Number Cities: 15 (Besancon, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, and Geneva)

Number miles 3740 (Europe only, assuming straight-line paths)

Number trains: 13 (Besancon-Paris, Paris-Brussels, Brussels-Amsterdam, Amsterdam-Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Hamburg, Hamburg-Berlin, Berlin-Prague, Milan-Venice, Venice-Florence, Florence-Rome, Madrid-Barcelona, Geneva-Besancon, Besancon-Paris).

Number planes: 3 (Prague - Milan Malpensa, Rome Ciampano - Madrid, Barcelona - Geneva)

Number Deviations: 2 (Cutting Amsterdam short to go to Frankfurt; Flying to Geneva from Barcelona)

Living Arrangements

Number Hostels: 9 (Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Venice, Florence, Rome, Madrid)

Number Hotels: 6 (Besancon, Frankfurt, Milan, Barcelona, Geneva, Paris)

Number roommates: 30 (Paris x 8, Brussels x 0, Amsterdam x 2, Berlin x 4, Prague x 0, Venice x 5, Florence x 4+2, Rome x 3+2, Madrid x 0+2)

Good Hostels

You should be happy at these hostels.  We recommend them.

1. St. Christopher's (Paris)
2. Circus Berlin (Berlin)
3. Archi Rossi (Florence)
4. Albergue Juvenil (Madrid)

OK Hostels

You can fall asleep in these hostels, but they aren't anything special.

1. Hostel Jacques Brel (Brussels)
2. Ace Hostel (Prague)
3. Funny Place Hostel (Rome)

Bad Hostels

We'd recommend getting a hotel instead of going to these places.

1. Aroza Hostel (Amsterdam)
2. Stayokay (Amsterdam)
3. A Venice Fish (Venice)

Sightseeing

Number of steps we climbed: 3200 (Paris 700, Brussels 300, Amsterdam 0, Frankfurt 0, Hamburg 400, Berlin 400, Milan 0, Venice 0, Florence 400, Rome 700, Madrid 0, Barcelona 0, Geneva 300)

Number of churches we saw by name: 26 (Paris 2, Brussels 1, Amsterdam 1, Frankfurt 1, Hamburg 1, Berlin 4, Milan 1, Venice 1, Florence 1, Rome 10, Madrid 1, Barcelona 1, Geneva 1)

Downtime

Even with a jam-packed schedule, we still had hours to ourselves.  Whether it was on the train or late night before bed, we watched media on the laptop for relaxation.

Number of movies: 6 (PS I Love You, Charlie Wilson's War, Stripes, Hot Fuzz, SuperBad, Juno)

Sarah watched all but one disk of Gilmore Girls season 6.

Joe watched seasons 1 and 2 of the The Wire, and 4 episodes of MI-5 season 3.

Pictures

We took a few pictures on the trip.  Periodically (about every other day), we'd offload the pictures from our memory cards onto the computer.  Then about once a week we'd back up all the photos to the passport drive.  We used Live Photo Gallery and the nifty import tool to manage all the pictures.  We added tags from each city and each photographer so we could keep things straight.  Here are some nice stats:

Total Pictures: 6171 (17.5 GB, 4673 from Joe and 1477 from Sarah)

Here's a breakdown by city:

Blog

Thank you to those who faithfully followed along the travel blog.  This is likely the last post from us.  Here's some stats on the blog itself:

Number of posts: 33

Number of pictures: 250+ (including maps)

Number of visitors: 800 (times someone has come to read the blog)

Sincerely,

J+S

In this post we'll go over some differences we observed in our travels.

Things Europeans do well

Public transportation

It's almost cliche now to saw that Europeans have better public transportation than Americans do.  Every city we visited except Rome had public transport that could get us anywhere -- downtowns, train stations, airports, suburbs.  Not once during the entire trip did we need to rent a car, have a friend pick us up, or take a cab.  Outside of the northeast, can you imagine flying in to an average American city and relying on public transport to get to your downtown hotel?

In addition to the extensive network, European systems are better organized and labeled.  They're better organized because they rely on very simple rules.  First rule, one train per track.  You don't have to worry about getting on an express or local, a #3 instead of a #1 or #2.  When the next train arrives, you simply get on.

Second, they're better organized by using a radial pattern for the routes, like in Madrid where Plaza del Sol is the center.  This lets people get in and out of downtown directly and provides for a common transfer hub.

Third, they're better labeled because all tracks have the system map in plain display at each stop (this is not true in New York).  Also, directions are labeled by terminal station and list all upcoming stops.  You don't need to speak the language or know anything about the city to navigate the metros -- all you need is the stop name, and you can go from there.  In contrast in New York the subway direction is indicated by downtown or uptown, and none of the stops are labeled.  You have to know the city to get around in the metro, which is a little less tourist-friendly than the European equivalents.  Oh yeah, the European equivalents are clean.  We never saw a puddle of urine until we got on the NY Subway.

Train system

To complement the great intra-city transportation system, western Europe has very good inter-city trains.  These are high-speed, electric trains that you simply get on at the right time.  There is no security, usually no assigned seating, and in Germany nice outlets to plug your laptops in.  They're perfect for taking day trips to nearby communities or for leisure.  There is no hassle, and outside of Spain, they're always on time.

One comment on the seat assignment: we've noticed that trains and planes without seat assignments load and unload quicker.  This is because people have an incentive to get on fast in order to secure a seat.  While it's nice to know we would sit together with pre-assigned seats, we would just as easily prefer first-come, first-serve since it reduces the hassle.

Putting liquid measurements on menus and glasses

All restaurants in Europe are required (we think, since we saw this 100% of the time) to display in the menu the amount of liquid served in a beverage.  They then must pour the liquid in a glass with the measurement shown.  For example, if we order a coke, we would typically get a 40 centiliter glass (just one shot smaller than a water bottle).  On the menu it would say 40 cl (or 400 ml or 4 dl depending on country) and on the glass there would be a small -- but clearly visible -- line showing how high 40 centiliters are.  This seems like a minor thing, but in Europe where beverages are expense (and free water is unheard of), it really makes purchasing drinks straight-forward.  We can pick out the cheapest by-volume liquid without looking at prices.  Think of this, at a restaurant you order a glass of wine.  How much wine are you getting?  Is it 1/4 or 1/10 of the bottle?  We visited some places, notably in Geneva and Spain, where 10 centiliters of wine cost the same amount as entire liters of wine in France and Spain.

We think the measurements should be listed on American menus as well.

Metric system

It's just smarter and makes sense.  How many ounces in a gallon?  I don't remember, and nor should I have to.  What more to say?

It's not that expensive to change over, either.  We just have people afraid of change.  It's an education thing.  Once we take the leap we can better work with the rest of the world.

Speaking English

This is a sensitive subject because language is strongly tied to national identity and culture.  However, the simple truth is nearly every educated person in all of the countries we visited spoke English.  It was not necessary to know Italian in Italy, for example.  A good number of restaurants had English writing on menus separate English-only menus.

Why is this?

Just like the Euro is the common currency, English is the common language.  It's the lowest common denominator for everyone in the EU to do business with each other.  Take two countries, Spain and Germany, for example.  Since they're not geographically close, there's no historical reason for Germans to learn Spanish or Spaniards to learn German.  So the two communities generally cannot speak to each other.  However, both countries did teach their children English.  So that's what's used.  Joe predicts it will become the official working language of the EU (all meetings and business will be done in it without the need for translation) in two generations.

We actually think this is a wonderful development.  If you didn't already know, China and India are the two largest English-speaking countries.  Combined with English-speakers in America and Europe, we're approaching a de facto common, global language.  Language barriers aren't the problem they used to be.

Tax is included in the price

We got spoiled.  You walk in to a bakery and purchase a 1.50 croissant and a 2.30 eclair.  How much is the bill?  In the states I have no idea.  In Europe it's 1.50+2.30=3.80.  The only exception was in Barcelona, but it's clear they just do things differently as part of their identity crisis.

Tax should be required to be included in the price.  Sure it would "raise" menu prices, but we're already paying the tax, and it would make it easier for Americans to do business.  No more need for pennies, either.  In our entire trip in Europe we got at most 3 EU pennies.  How many do you get during the average day?

Things Americans do well

Credit card receipts

European receipts print your credit card number.  Not the "entire" number, but the important parts.  In the states the receipts show the last four digits for consumers to identify which card they used in the purchase.  In Europe they omit the first 4 and the last digit of the 16-digit number.  If you're curious why this is so stupid, it's because the numbers they keep in print are the important ones.  The first 4-6 digits on the card identify which bank issued the card, which is public knowledge and easily picked out by looking at the card itself.  You also could just guess.  The remaining digits are unique to the account, except the last digit which is a check-digit.  A check-digit is a number that's calculated based on the proceeding digits so that computers can check for errors while reading the magnetic strips.  This check-digit algorithm is also public knowledge and easy to do by hand.  So, while the European receipts don't print the number verbatim, they do print the "unique" information so that it's easy to reconstruct the entire card number from a found receipt.  Stupidity that's borderline criminal.

Restaurants

While we enjoyed eating out in the various countries, there often was too much risk in Europe.  In the states we have the benefit of chains that provide a guaranteed service offering, which forces independent restaurants to provide the same or better service.  There simply isn't much risk in eating out in the states.  In Europe there really aren't chains to force a lowest common denominator.  Plus, the tipping scheme we use causes waiters to be interested in their tables and constantly "table touch."  In Europe we almost always had to call the waiter for the check or any other issues.  We also never were asked "how's the meal" or if the waiter needed to bring more out.

Free Restrooms

In Europe it's customary to pay to use public facilities.  This is just stupid.  The facilities in Europe were no cleaner, and it often causes people just to urinate outside.  Using the restrooms is a human right; charging a fee is criminal.

Tips for traveling like we did

1. Leave the wallets at home, use a travel belt.  We put our passports, credit cards, and large amounts of money in ours.  We actually saw pickpockets in Madrid, and let's just say we never felt in danger of losing our valuable information.  There's no other safer way to travel.
2. Bring a laptop, you'll need one.  First, it's perfect to offload and organize pictures.  You don't have enough memory cards for a trip like this -- we took 17.5 GB of pictures.  Next, it's nice to have a keylogger-free computer for emailing and browsing.  We also installed MapPoint European Edition so we had offline maps of all the cities we visited.  Plus, it's nice to watch a movie or two.
   1. Bring two laptop batteries.  Plane rides and train rides are almost always long enough to kill a battery.  It's nice to have a spare so you're not left with a non-functioning computer.
   2. Charge whenever you can.  Even if you don't think you need to, charge.  You won't know when the next time will be.
   3. Bring a three-way splitter for electronics.  Most places you'll be lucky to find one outlet... make the most of it.  Along the same lines, you only need the cheap adapters in Europe.  The 50-cent ones that are glorified wires.
3. Pee whenever you can.  Even if you don't think you need to, pee.  You won't know when the next time will be.  This may be common sense, but in Europe you pay most places to use facilities. 
4. Have copies of all receipts for your journey.  We kept them all on the laptop and also stored them in Skydrive in case we lost the computer.  We then wrote all of the confirmation numbers in our hard-copy itinerary.  Luckily we didn't need any of them on the trip, but it was nice assurance when traveling.
   1. Make a hard-copy itinerary with all of the main plans in one place.  We had all of our hostel reservations, train times, flights, and even major attractions picked out before going.  We put them into one document, in chronological order, that we and our families could follow.  We had two hard-copies of the document with us, an electronic one on the computer, and another electronic one on Skydrive.  Make sure to include directions to hostels and train stations in the itinerary.
   2. Copy all of the directions onto a separate piece of paper.  We had all of the directions on our travel itinerary, and just before we arrived we copied them to scratch paper.  The purpose for this was twofold.  First, it caused us to read closely the directions and understand them.  Second, we put the itinerary away in its safe place and worked off of the scratch paper.  That way, as we were traveling the metros and walking through the streets, if the scratch paper got dirty or lost, we only were out a disposable copy of directions.  If we used the original itinerary, we would have been out a copy of our entire travel plans.
5. Blog instead of writing emails.  It's much more efficient than repeating yourself to multiple family members and friends.  We were pleasantly surprised with how well our family and friends accepted and kept up with the blog.  Thank you.  Plus, after the trip you have a good record for your memories.
   1. Blog using software offline like Live Writer since the internet is sporadic.  Live Writer, with Live Photo Gallery, really worked out well.  Also, working offline led us to produce higher-quality content since we could take our time or sleep on posts.
   2. It's easy to refer to the blog as well, and we even used it a few times to remember details while en route.
6. Bring an external hard drive like a Western Digital Passport to back up pictures and documents as you go.  Laptops can get stolen or hard drives fail, taking with it all of your offloaded pictures.  We kept copies of all the pictures we took in two places throughout the trip.  You want to pick one that doesn't require its own power source.  Also, we stored all of our media on the hard drive.
7. Bring media to watch on down time.  We had 100 movies and 10 television seasons to watch.  There is down time.  Sometimes you want to sleep.  Sometimes you can't and want to be entertained.

We hope that was useful.  The next, and final post, will be on our travel statistics.

Sincerely,

J+S

Well, we're nearing the end of our trip.  Just a few days from now we're flying out of Paris to Newark.  Before making it to Paris, we need to go back to Sarah's dorm in Besancon and help her pack.  We decided in Rome to change plans from taking the overnight train from Barcelona to Besancon and instead fly in to Geneva.  We did so for three for three reasons.

1. We didn't want to do an overnight train.  It just didn't sound like fun at all.  Looking at airports, Geneva is the closest to Besancon.
2. Overnight trains require a 70 EUR/person reservation from Spain to France.  The easyJet flight was 40  EUR/person and the hotel was 50 EUR/ person.  Plus, the train from Geneva to Besancon is entirely free.  For those keeping track, Geneva "cost" us 30 EUR/person for logistics.
3. We wanted to see Geneva.  We were willing to spend 30 EUR each for that privilege.

So we made the plunge.  We booked the flight and hotel online, and we made sure to stay close to the train station.

One notable difference is that Switzerland uses its own currency, the Swiss Franc, which are about 1:1 with the USD.  We liked the sound of that, thinking that prices would be cheap in Switzerland.  Instead, a 2 USD bottle of coke was 4 or 5 Franks, which is about in line with the 2-3 EUR it would have been elsewhere.  So, prices were stable with the EUR which meant that we were spending just as much money, only the nominal values hurt more with Francss.

At the airport we first went the ATM to get cash.  The woman in front of us somehow forgot to take her money, what we thought was 20 franks, so Joe ran after her.  He startled her, but she gladly took her 200 Franks she left in the machine.  We did our good deed for the day, but the sad part of the story is she thought we were European.  The woman clearly was from the south from her accent and said “God bless you.”   She clearly didn't recognize us as fellow Americans.  Oh well.

At the train station Sarah picked up the free transport tickets for us to get to downtown.  Yes, all arrivals get free transport tickets to get downtown for free.  Where else in the world do they do this?  Not anywhere we've seen.

Number one: St. George's church

After checking in to the hotel, we marched off to the first item on wikitravel: St. George's church.  It was a very lovely church, although we had seen many by this point.

Calvin's chair.

 

We went up the north tower to see Geneva.  Very lovely view.

These were steep steps: each one was about twice Joe's hand... in a spiral.... fun!

The soccer ball in the distance is where the famous fountain would blast up.  We happened to be in Geneva the same time as the Europe Cup Soccer tournament (a big deal, apparently).  There were signs in all of the businesses showing their support of the event.  For perspective, the restaurant owner in Rome was watching the tournament in the back.  While in Madrid, the bars advertised the games would be available.

We didn't get a chance to see a game though.  There weren't any playing while we were there, and even if there had been, we doubt we would have been able to get cheap tickets.

Number two: Central Perk

We walked through the old hilly Geneva to the two city parks.  The old Geneva is built on a hill and surrounded by a large brick wall, resembling a fortress.  While steep, it was cool scenery.  We walked past a restaurant that Bill Clinton ate at (his picture and signature were on the wall), but it was a bit too pricey for our tastes.  This the famous water spout when it goes off:

These are large chess and checker boards in the city park.

 

The central opera building.

Our goal in walking this way was to get to Central Perk, a coffee shop that pays homage to the television show Friends.  We read about it on wiki travel, and more important, we knew they had free wifi.

The coffee shop didn't look like the one on TV, and really wasn't remarkable at all.  There weren't pictures from the cast or even furniture place correctly.  It was just a coffee shop with couches.  Plus, the hot chocolate we ordered was basically warm milk and chocolate packets that we had to stir in ourselves.  The internet worked, though, so we were able to catch up on emails and blogging.

Number three: Bought chocolate at grocery store

We next went to a grocery store and bought a ridiculous amount of chocolate.  And by we, we mean Joe bought a ridiculous amount. Sarah bought a reasonable amount. Joe bought over 30 bars. The airport security in Paris even commented. But Swiss chocolate is good, right?  Why not take full advantage of it while it's cheap.

This item is here so we remember which grocery store we went to.

Number four: Ate at chicken place for dinner

That night we wanted a safe meal, so we picked Chez Ma Cousine  from wikitravel.  It is touted as a fantastic chicken restaurant that cooks chicken slowly for 60 minutes before serving.  Plus, it was right next to our hotel.

The food was pretty good, very reasonable, and we recommend eating there.  The only caveat is drinks are expensive.  Sarah bought a 3 Frank glass of wine that was 1 deciliter (10 centiliters)... in France and Italy you can almost get a liter for that.

Number five: Following morning we went to UN

This item is not listed on the map because it's relatively far to the north.  We took a bus there following the great directions we got at the train station.  In Geneva they have manned information centers that describe public transport.  Plus, hotels are required to give free day passes to all residents.  It's basically a hotel tax for public transport, but the system is very good.

The UN site is the old League of Nations headquarters that a rich man donated.  It's built in the 1930s style, similar in interior appearance as the Empire State Building.  Unlike the UN in New York, this building is attractive and worth preserving.  The tour isn't the most riveting experience, but it is pleasant.  We agreed it's interesting that we started our Europe trip off at the EU in Brussels and finished it at the UN in Geneva.  Both tours went the same... maybe it's social commentary of some kind, but we're not sure what it means.

One cool thing.  Some Koreans were trying to schedule a tour using their broken English.  The security guard asked them if they spoke French, they said no, and then he switched into Korean.  How many other people in the world do you know that speak English, French, German, and Korean?  (Those are the languages we saw... there may be more!).  Very cool.

On our tour a group of World Health Organization (we think) interns showed up.  Since they're working for a UN subsidiary, they could take the tour for free.  We think it was their first days on the job since a tour makes sense to do early.  This wouldn't be remarkable except the interns acted like they owned the place.  They talked loudly, often about inappropriate stuff, and peeked into doors without permission.  One topic in particular was "Why does the US always invade ugly places like Iraq and Afghanistan?  Why doesn't it invade a beautiful place like Geneva?"  Yes, they were Americans.  Likely pre-med looking for a resume booster.  We think they just finished their sophomore years given their maturity and appearance.

The interior grounds:

The interior of the building.

The original main assembly hall for the League of Nations.

 

The main assembly hall. Yes, they have wireless!

After finishing the tour, we took the bus to the train station and hopped on a free train to Besancon.  We liked Geneva, and we would love to return for the hiking.

Au Revoir,

J+S

We sadly only had a short day in Barcelona before flying to Geneva.  Part of the problem is we had to take such a late train from Madrid.  Usually we arrived in cities around noon, checked in, ate lunch, and then oriented.  In Barcelona we arrived around 5:00pm, which left us enough time for dinner and a little orienting.  The reason is, as we mentioned in the Madrid posts, that the trains in Spain tended to be late and sold out.  We simply couldn't get on an earlier train.  We really should be thankful we arrived the day we wanted to.

At the Barcelona train station, we thought it was funny the English for information read brief questions.

Number one: Sagrada Familia

Our hotel is right next to the St. Paul Hospital, which sits opposite of La Sagrada Familia on the diagonal mall.  This was a pretty good part of town, and we'd recommend the Best Western here.  The mall:

Anyway, we walked the mall towards La Sagrada Familia.  The church is an unfinished masterpiece of Gaudi that is worked on little by little as private funding comes in.  Different than the other churches we saw, we could pick out distinct styles sitting next to each other.  Also, we hadn't seen the tree decoration style before.  You can see that not all stained glass windows have been installed.

We arrived at about 7:45, the church closed at 8:00, and we didn't feel like going into yet another church in Europe.  So, we took pictures of the outside and explored the area.  Just across the street of the church was a park where many older gentlemen played bocce ball.

We then ate at a touristy Italian restaurant in order to have a "safe" meal. We ordered a pitcher of white sangria, which is made with white wine instead of red, and Sarah thought it was even more delicious than its red counterpart.

Number two: La Playa

The following day we headed off to the beach.  Playa means beach in Spanish and isn't the name of the particular beach we visited.  We just took what looked like the closest metro stop and walked until we saw no more buildings.  On the metro train itself Sarah ran into a classmate from UNL who was studying in Barcelona.  They chatted briefly as the girl did not want to lose her group.  Sarah thought it was so bizarre to see someone from Nebraska halfway across the world. We then walked out of the metro... away from the water... go towards the large buildings, not away, when going to the beach in Barcelona. Apparently they’ve found it conducive to construct large buildings right on the water and don’t mind the obstruction of the view. Joe mused how much ruckus causes in Florida.

In short, the beach was fun!

The water in the Mediterranean is very cold, so we didn't see too many people swimming around like you see in Florida or even California.  We walked up and down the beach to get a better feel for it and then picked a quiet spot for our hotel towel. Yes, we did sneak a hotel towel to the beach. We’re classy like that.

Sarah layed in the sun while Joe started a sand castle.  Sarah saw how cool the sand castle was and decided it needed two amazing moats.  We worked on the castle for a while, hoping that the tide would come in to try out the moats.  However, we remembered that the Med Sea has a crazy tide schedule (it's not regular like it is on other coasts).  And we didn’t get to see Sarah’s handiwork stand up to the ferocious tides.

Number three: Asian food

We went to a fast food wok place for lunch.  It's remarkable because of how cheap it was, and because we picked it because Sarah saw someone eating out of a Chinese box.  Inside the fast food place they had a little mart where they sold random items you would need in a beach-front condo: ketchup, ice cream, cookie dough, beer, and tourist souvenirs.

In particular you can see the very American pancakes and maple syrup.

No picture of the joint, but we liked it.

Number four: Back at the Hotel

After the beach we went back to the hotel to shower off.  However, we arrived in the middle of planned maintenance of the water system... which meant no water for two hours.  We knew that construction was going to happen because of signs in the elevator, but we forgot to plan for it since we didn't expect to arrive at just the wrong time.

So we passed the time, while still sandy, by watching the movie Hot Fuzz.  We highly recommend the movie and thank Dan from Microsoft (an intern) who last year recommended and passed the file off to us.

Number five: Park Guell

After we took showers, we headed off to the famous park built by Gaudi.  It's at the top of the small mountain.  The streets are so steep the city installed escalators for tourists.  Have you ever seen escalators outdoors before? We hadn’t.

 

Inside the park we saw many joggers circling the mountainous paths.  It's mostly a scenic walk amongst trees with the frequent view out over the city.  A very cool experience.

 

In the middle of the park is a central observation platform that people use to play soccer, sit, and see the whole city.  You can see the La Sagrada Familia construction site, a couple other interesting buildings, and out to the beach we were just at.

 

Sarah called these buildings ginger bread houses.

 

In the park Sarah randomly saw a fellow student from her study abroad program.  The girl and her family were taking a cruise through the Mediterranean and had stopped in Barcelona for the day.  We saw what seemed like many other cruise ship people in the park as well, which suggests this was one of the recommended stops.

Number six: La Rambla

After the park, we took the metro down to an area Sarah heard about called Las Ramblas.  The hotel receptionist knew only of the street called La Rambla, so we're pretty sure we went to the right area.

La Rambla is a divided road with shops and restaurants on the outside and benches and kiosks in the median.  There were many people here.

We looked for a restaurant, and picked at first a touristy place.  We sat down, and Sarah quickly went to the bathroom.  The waiter came to clear away her setting when Joe told the waiter, in Spanish, that there were two people.  Sarah returned the table, but the waiter did not for ten minutes.  While looking at the menu we both felt the place was overpriced.  The meals were reasonable, but the drinks were atrocious.  The table Asians next to us, for example, didn't order any drinks with their meal.  By the time the waiter finally returned, we tried to order chicken dishes.  They told us they were out of chicken, so we left.  Afterward we both agreed at the relief of not having to eat there.  The wait, the price, and even the food weren't that appealing.

Next up on the strip we found a place called "The Attic."  The attendant at the door simply handed us a menu.  She didn't try to sell us or push, like so many of the other restaurants in Europe do.  We saw what we liked, the price was reasonable, so we went up.  For the same price as the first place, we got a much better experience.  The restaurant tried for a 4- or 5-star ambiance with the correct lighting, tablecloths, and place settings.  We ordered the third cheapest bottle of wine (which was actually reasonable at 15 EUR), a Petit Caus from Catalan region.  It was very good, and they even put the wine on a chill stand by the table.  Joe got the chicken dish and Sarah got a lamb dish.  We then each had dessert after seeing the table next to us order a delicious-looking mouse.  The only "complaint" was the table full of American sailors (privateers, not military) talking loudly and cursing every five minutes.  It was entertaining in a way though.

The night worked out and we enjoyed our time on La Rambla.  We headed back and turned in for our flight to Geneva.

Adios,

J+S

Coda

In Barcelona they speak Catalan as the primary language -- thanks Asaf for the warning -- but everyone also speaks English or Spanish.  While we were learning to use the phone card, Joe spoke Spanish to the Orange dealer for a walk-through.  English by far was the least prevalent and least understood in this city.

Also in Barcelona, tax was not included in restaurant prices.  We don't know why, but we think this is one of the few regions in Europe still like this.

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.