Verona 16/7/09-17/7/09
When we arrived in Verona we found our B&B and decided just to rest for the rest of the day. We were all hot and tired, though we did book some tickets for an opera the next night at the Verona Colosseum thing. Verona has a Colosseum that’s actually in better condition than the one in Rome but it’s just a lot smaller. It’s lost the top layer after an earthquake but otherwise it’s very good.
So the next day we had t go to another B&B coz dad accidentally only booked one night :o. so they wouldn’t let us into the B&B before 1 am and we had to book out of the other one at 10 so we found a park and sat down in there with our packs. Apparently Mozart has been in there and it’s kinda famous. There was a little fountain with some turtles which I liked, a mother and 3 babies. Naw!!! Then we got into our B&B and then headed out to see Verona.
We had a map and we found Juliet’s balcony. There was a statue of her there and the tradition is to rub her naked right breast and you gain more luck in a new lover. Mum made sure dad didn’t do that!!!
We then attempted to find Romeo’s house but the map was terrible and we quickly gave up. Apparently we did see it but we just didn’t know it was it.
We then bought some gifts at a market we stumbled upon. We found a Venetian mask for Berit, my younger girl cousin who we are going to stay with in a few days, and a wooden Pinocchio that you pull the string between his legs and the legs pull up for Stefan, Berit’s younger brother.
Then we went back to the hotel and relaxed before a late night at the opera.
We hadn’t paid the 40 or so euros for a seat but something that gave us a spot on the rock steps. It was supposedly very far from the stage (which is now of the opposite steps, not the original platform stage like in Roman times, now that’s where the best seats are) but we got there at a good time and got front row of what we could. I thought it was fantastic seats! We could see everything fine! We had also bought a pair of opera glasses at the market too.
The stage was set up with a big silver ball in the middle. At some points the ball would light up with fairy lights, other times it would have two projected eyes on it and twice it opened to reveal a red and yellow throne at the bottom.
The story was 1001 nights. It was all in Italian and there were no subtitles so I wasn’t really sure what was going on but we had read the wikipedia story of it. There’s a prince and a girl, a princess and an old man also Ping, Pong and Pang, 3 fat advisers. The prince wants to marry the princess but he must answer correctly 3 riddles the princess gives. If not he is beheaded. The girl looks after the old man who is the princes long lost father and she loves the prince, but she is only a servant girl. So the prince answers all the riddles right and then the princess doesn’t want to marry him. So the prince says if you can figure out my name before dawn I will die. So the girl is tortured to find his name and she dies but the name is not found and then the prince reveals it but the princess says no he can live and the fall in love and live happily ever after… yay. Strange story but it was very good. The costumes of Ping, Pong and Pang were the best, they had fake fat tummies plastered on them. Looked very funny!
So that was our last night in Italy. Tomorrow we are going back to Switzerland…
The trip to the station wasn’t very nice. Dad decided we would walk so we were drenched in sweat as the climate was so humid even though it wasn’t very hot, and just as we got to the train station it poured down. We have very good timing :D
7/25/09
Venice
Venice 13/7/09-16/7/09
We left Vienna veeeery early. Up around 5 to catch 6 something train. Unfortunately I missed all the exciting scenery that passed as I slept for the first 4 hours of the train journey. But looking on the bright side of it, I only really had to endure another 4 hours. I started getting a bit hot at one point and my nose started bleeding as it often does, and an Austrian woman gladly helped me by getting an icepack from the dining car. Her name was Renete and we had a very nice conversation with her. We are so surprised how many Europeans can speak so many languages! So many people speak English and their own first language as well. I think because Australia is not surrounded by many neighbouring countries, languages don’t seem to be a priority to learn which I think is a shame.
Renete had to leave after a few stops passed the border onto Italy but just before she had to get off, a man came in who also spoke almost fluent English. I thought it was incredible that the 5 of us were having a conversation yet 2 of the people’s first language weren’t English, and even their first languages were different. English will definitely become the international language of the world if it isn’t already.
So when we arrived in Venice I was shocked to see that, just outside the entrance to the railway station was water! Boats were cruising by but I did not see any gondolas until our first trip on the water.
After spending a long time in the queue to reserve seats for the next week on trains, we boarded a water bus and went 7 stops to ours where we walked only 50 metres ‘til we found ourselves at Hotel Iris, a very nice place. The gondolas we saw were all black with red velvety looking seats and golden ornate decorations around the boat too. I really wanted to go in one because I thought, how can you go to Venice and not go in a gondola? But then I found out you easily can when you find out the price. The minimum time you can spend in a gondola is 40 minutes and that cost 80€! That’s an equivalent of around $135! 2€ a minute, we thought, was a little over priced. Plus, the view we got from the water bus was no different to the view we’d get in a gondola, and in a gondola, you’d get a bit knocked around from the waves made by the water bus!
So after dumping our stuff in the hotel we headed back on the bus to San Marc’s square! We decided to go shopping in the little streets surrounding the square but told ourselves not to buy anything until tomorrow so we can see what we want and find the best price. We noticed that every shop sold the same sort of things. Almost everyone had Venetian masks except the big brand shops that were there like Gucci and Prada which specialised in their own products. We also noticed that everything got cheaper and cheaper as we went further and further away from the square, a definite “Note to self.”
We walked back to our hotel instead of taking the water bus because we wanted to see as much as we could and we didn’t think we could do this any other day because our feet would be too tired, but we spent half the day on the train so our legs weren’t worn out from the morning.
So mum took me to an art gallery this morning. Dad stayed back at the hotel and played violin. *Groan* yes it was educational but seriously it must have been the most boring things I have seen! And I’ve been to a lot of art galleries but I just couldn’t stand this one.
Mum then wanted to take me to the Peggy Guggenheim museum which, after going to the first gallery, I really wasn’t looking forward to but brilliantly, its closed on Mondays!
We then headed back to San Marco’s square and because our plans were a bit muddled, we thought we’d do the Doges palace today unlike our plan for yesterday. Inside we looked at a huge courtyard which then led up a flight of stairs. Up the stairs were many rooms all the ceilings and walls covered with paintings. The map room was the best with big paintings of India upside down and Italy and some of the east of Europe and Asia.
One of the rooms had 3 paintings in it. They were all of the same image, a winged lion with one paw on an open book. The story says the prophecy about San Marco that his body will rest in Venice.
Then we went into the prisons. Inside, were lots of cells and many of the walls had graffiti on it from the prisoners. Through our trip through the prisons we crossed the Bridge of sighs. We couldn’t see much out just a lot of blue and scaffolding.
Afterwards we wanted to see the bridge from the outside so we double backed to the outside. We came to the conclusion they must be doing it up with all the scaffolding we saw from inside and the blue is to cover it up, because when we went to see it, all around was covered in an add for fashion with a blue background, hiding all the scaffolding. It made it look quite pretty actually J
Now I know I talk about food too much but this is a meal I really must tell you about. I decided to be adventurous and order “cuttlefish, Venetian style.” And dad didn’t really realise what he was ordering. He decided to order a fish entrée to share for 3, but the communication didn’t get through so instead we got 3 entrees that filled us up before our main meals came. To begin with, a plate of shredded cabbage and roquet accompanied by slices of two different types of fish, salmon and something else nice too. We thought this was it but then some purple octopus came which I ate the legs of, but I wasn’t brave enough to eat the head… *eww*.
Next came a plate of snails. Yep snails. I have eaten snails… there was a whole plate but I couldn’t only manage two. The thought of it wasn’t pleasant… Then some oysters came out which I demolished with help from dad.
That was the entrée and then came my meal. Cuttlefish cooked in their ink with slightly burned polenta. I couldn’t eat it, the ink taste was just too strong, but I did like it.
The waiter knew what we had ordered was crazily expensive so they gave me and mum a white rose.
Next morning we got up early to make the first line into the basilica. We got there 45 minutes before it opened (quarter to 8) and we still were a long way from the start of the line. Inside was free but we paid a tiny ticket fee to see the museum upstairs first. Upstairs was the original 4 horses that stood on the roof at the front of the basilica. Now there are replicas in place and we could go out and stand out with them. From here we could look out over the whole square.
We could also see over the whole middle of the church. Because of this we could see all the floor patterns made by the marble. The mosaics above us were incredible, covering the whole ceiling. The gold backgrounds with the biblical figures too. One of them was so beautiful, she was wearing a blue robe that was so stunning.
Mum and I decided to do some shopping before we went to our next appointment so dad went back to the hotel to wait for us. Though when mum and I reached pur hotel stop on the water bus we decided to just keep going because we’d scored the best seats on the boat. So we went and had a look all around the grand Canal and we passes the railway station and ended up at the last stop. We thought “hmm it looks like it will turn around” so again we stayed on, but no, the boat kept going and we just went around the whole circle ending back up at San Marco’s square, seeing all the cruise ships, the old buildings, the gross water and everything around. We then took the water bus back to our first stop, caught up with dad and then headed for the Peggy Guggenheim museum.
I reeeeeally enjoyed it. We some Miros’s, Picasso’s and some Jackson Pollock’s too. Dad doesn’t like Jackson Pollock’s work, he feels he can do just as good with squirting paint everywhere in random places but I liked it a lot.
After this we decided to check out the Lido. This is where everyone goes swimming at the beach because, like I said, the water isn’t so pretty in the canals.
The Lido is a different island to Venice so there aren’t any canals, it’s a large island and it was weird seeing roads and cars again!
We left Vienna veeeery early. Up around 5 to catch 6 something train. Unfortunately I missed all the exciting scenery that passed as I slept for the first 4 hours of the train journey. But looking on the bright side of it, I only really had to endure another 4 hours. I started getting a bit hot at one point and my nose started bleeding as it often does, and an Austrian woman gladly helped me by getting an icepack from the dining car. Her name was Renete and we had a very nice conversation with her. We are so surprised how many Europeans can speak so many languages! So many people speak English and their own first language as well. I think because Australia is not surrounded by many neighbouring countries, languages don’t seem to be a priority to learn which I think is a shame.
Renete had to leave after a few stops passed the border onto Italy but just before she had to get off, a man came in who also spoke almost fluent English. I thought it was incredible that the 5 of us were having a conversation yet 2 of the people’s first language weren’t English, and even their first languages were different. English will definitely become the international language of the world if it isn’t already.
So when we arrived in Venice I was shocked to see that, just outside the entrance to the railway station was water! Boats were cruising by but I did not see any gondolas until our first trip on the water.
After spending a long time in the queue to reserve seats for the next week on trains, we boarded a water bus and went 7 stops to ours where we walked only 50 metres ‘til we found ourselves at Hotel Iris, a very nice place. The gondolas we saw were all black with red velvety looking seats and golden ornate decorations around the boat too. I really wanted to go in one because I thought, how can you go to Venice and not go in a gondola? But then I found out you easily can when you find out the price. The minimum time you can spend in a gondola is 40 minutes and that cost 80€! That’s an equivalent of around $135! 2€ a minute, we thought, was a little over priced. Plus, the view we got from the water bus was no different to the view we’d get in a gondola, and in a gondola, you’d get a bit knocked around from the waves made by the water bus!
So after dumping our stuff in the hotel we headed back on the bus to San Marc’s square! We decided to go shopping in the little streets surrounding the square but told ourselves not to buy anything until tomorrow so we can see what we want and find the best price. We noticed that every shop sold the same sort of things. Almost everyone had Venetian masks except the big brand shops that were there like Gucci and Prada which specialised in their own products. We also noticed that everything got cheaper and cheaper as we went further and further away from the square, a definite “Note to self.”
We walked back to our hotel instead of taking the water bus because we wanted to see as much as we could and we didn’t think we could do this any other day because our feet would be too tired, but we spent half the day on the train so our legs weren’t worn out from the morning.
So mum took me to an art gallery this morning. Dad stayed back at the hotel and played violin. *Groan* yes it was educational but seriously it must have been the most boring things I have seen! And I’ve been to a lot of art galleries but I just couldn’t stand this one.
Mum then wanted to take me to the Peggy Guggenheim museum which, after going to the first gallery, I really wasn’t looking forward to but brilliantly, its closed on Mondays!
We then headed back to San Marco’s square and because our plans were a bit muddled, we thought we’d do the Doges palace today unlike our plan for yesterday. Inside we looked at a huge courtyard which then led up a flight of stairs. Up the stairs were many rooms all the ceilings and walls covered with paintings. The map room was the best with big paintings of India upside down and Italy and some of the east of Europe and Asia.
One of the rooms had 3 paintings in it. They were all of the same image, a winged lion with one paw on an open book. The story says the prophecy about San Marco that his body will rest in Venice.
Then we went into the prisons. Inside, were lots of cells and many of the walls had graffiti on it from the prisoners. Through our trip through the prisons we crossed the Bridge of sighs. We couldn’t see much out just a lot of blue and scaffolding.
Afterwards we wanted to see the bridge from the outside so we double backed to the outside. We came to the conclusion they must be doing it up with all the scaffolding we saw from inside and the blue is to cover it up, because when we went to see it, all around was covered in an add for fashion with a blue background, hiding all the scaffolding. It made it look quite pretty actually J
Now I know I talk about food too much but this is a meal I really must tell you about. I decided to be adventurous and order “cuttlefish, Venetian style.” And dad didn’t really realise what he was ordering. He decided to order a fish entrée to share for 3, but the communication didn’t get through so instead we got 3 entrees that filled us up before our main meals came. To begin with, a plate of shredded cabbage and roquet accompanied by slices of two different types of fish, salmon and something else nice too. We thought this was it but then some purple octopus came which I ate the legs of, but I wasn’t brave enough to eat the head… *eww*.
Next came a plate of snails. Yep snails. I have eaten snails… there was a whole plate but I couldn’t only manage two. The thought of it wasn’t pleasant… Then some oysters came out which I demolished with help from dad.
That was the entrée and then came my meal. Cuttlefish cooked in their ink with slightly burned polenta. I couldn’t eat it, the ink taste was just too strong, but I did like it.
The waiter knew what we had ordered was crazily expensive so they gave me and mum a white rose.
Next morning we got up early to make the first line into the basilica. We got there 45 minutes before it opened (quarter to 8) and we still were a long way from the start of the line. Inside was free but we paid a tiny ticket fee to see the museum upstairs first. Upstairs was the original 4 horses that stood on the roof at the front of the basilica. Now there are replicas in place and we could go out and stand out with them. From here we could look out over the whole square.
We could also see over the whole middle of the church. Because of this we could see all the floor patterns made by the marble. The mosaics above us were incredible, covering the whole ceiling. The gold backgrounds with the biblical figures too. One of them was so beautiful, she was wearing a blue robe that was so stunning.
Mum and I decided to do some shopping before we went to our next appointment so dad went back to the hotel to wait for us. Though when mum and I reached pur hotel stop on the water bus we decided to just keep going because we’d scored the best seats on the boat. So we went and had a look all around the grand Canal and we passes the railway station and ended up at the last stop. We thought “hmm it looks like it will turn around” so again we stayed on, but no, the boat kept going and we just went around the whole circle ending back up at San Marco’s square, seeing all the cruise ships, the old buildings, the gross water and everything around. We then took the water bus back to our first stop, caught up with dad and then headed for the Peggy Guggenheim museum.
I reeeeeally enjoyed it. We some Miros’s, Picasso’s and some Jackson Pollock’s too. Dad doesn’t like Jackson Pollock’s work, he feels he can do just as good with squirting paint everywhere in random places but I liked it a lot.
After this we decided to check out the Lido. This is where everyone goes swimming at the beach because, like I said, the water isn’t so pretty in the canals.
The Lido is a different island to Venice so there aren’t any canals, it’s a large island and it was weird seeing roads and cars again!
7/22/09
Vienna
Vienna 11/7/09-12/7/09
We left Ceske Kromluv earlyish and caught a train back to Prague. I was really into my book on the train, a book called The Desert Crop. An easy read and not too much excitement but I enjoyed it. I was finding it kind of uncomfortable but dad and I soon figured out we could adjust the seats to make them a bed with the opposite chair. They lay down almost vertical! It was fantastic!
We had planned to wait around for an hour or so before we caught the train to Vienna from Prague but there was one that was to leave in 5 minutes and we had already got all our shopping done. So we quickly hurried and jumped on. This train was a direct on to Vienna so we didn’t have to change trains. Yes!
When we arrived in Vienna, we walked a whole 200 metres to our hotel.
We got there close to dinner time so we just went to bed and watched T.V
Next day was HUGE!!! We did so much! Mum and dad awoke early making me awake early too having a triple room. So we went down and had breakfast and then headed off on our mini adventure within our huge one. So it started by working out the metro. We bought tickets and found our way to Schoenbrun Palace-at least I think it’s spelt that way.
We started with the gardens. On our way we saw a squirrel!!! It was running along and it came right up to me! Then it ran up a tree. !!!it was just as cool as when I saw the white swan-no wait better!!!
Then we went into the palaces gardens. They were the typical short grassed, small, different coloured flowers making symmetrical squiggles all around the place. At the end of the garden was a huge fountain with Neptune on “seahorses,” like horses with fish tails.
After wandering through the gardens we went into the palace. We couldn’t take photos inside so I’m struggling to remember what happened! Well I remember walking through many rooms, one a enormous hallway with painted frescoes on the ceiling and lots of golden chandeliers. Apparently one of the rooms was where Mozart played when he was 6 with his father and sister.
After the palace we went into a huge greenhouse. Dad loved this, but he was disappointed when he found out that most of the Australian plants scientific names were often wrong. Dad told the man at the ticket desk but he just shrugged his shoulders motioning he didn’t care. Dad loved it in here and mum and I found it a very nice place to sit down and rest from the heat.
Then we headed for a one o’clock tour of the opera house. Mum wanted to see an opera there but everything was completely booked out. When we went into the opera theatre I was so impressed! There were so many seats and apparently there are tickets for standing at the back for the whole opera for only 3 euro. This if course means you can’t see the subtitles or have a chair. The subtitles aren’t placed in the normal spot of above the stage like in most theatres, but on a little long screen in front of each individual seat meaning that any language for any audience member can be chosen. They now even have the operas in Japanese!
Recently the opera house had a big number 0 anniversary- as in I can’t remember if it was 40 year or 50 or 60 or yeah any of those sort- and they had a big cake on display, completely made from marzipan in the shape of the whole opera house- the outside that is. It was bombed quite a lot in WWII because, from the air, it looked like a railway station. They don’t think it would have been intentionally bombed as an opera house. The opera house is not a spectacular architectural piece like Sydney, or most other opera houses, it’s the inside detail and décor that makes it famous. Oh plus the opera they play, and the special events held.
One of those events causes huge uproar in the fashion industry. Everyone comes in beautiful fancy dresses and the theatre is turned into a ballroom. They put in a platform that covers all the chairs and raises it to the height of the stage. This then of course makes it hard to fit out the doors, so parts of it are cut out to make a stairway in.
After our tour in the opera we decided to get on an open top bus and have a look around the place and get a feel of it. As we were only staying one day and seeing the main tourist attractions we wanted to get a feel on the Viennese people. Unfortunately, the motion of the bus, the cool breeze, and the soothing voice of the guide sent me to sleep after an early morning and I missed a lot of it. I feel horrible for missing it but it was that sort of tiredness that my eyes physically wouldn’t stay open.
Anyway, afterwards we went to the Hause de Musik-House of music. Inside there were a whole bunch of French kids who we watched composing a piece of music with a dice. Dad and I then had a go. A big computer registers which number you roll and then gives you the piece of music that goes with that number, puts it together with the music the other player rolled and then there you go, a composition.
The next most interesting thing was a really weird room. The walls were covered in a weird material that looked different when you waled around and weird noises were being played too. Sort of a muffled traffic noise, and constant 2 beats. These are the sounds an embryo hears in the mother’s womb. Ahhh it brought back memories… no just kidding!
Next we learnt about the individual lives of the famous composers of Venice: we saw Haydn’s manuscripts, we saw the only full Mozart family portrait, we saw the door of the apartment that Beethoven died in and Schubert’s original pair of glasses. I loved this museum!
Afterwards we went and decided to have a traditional Viennese meal of Schnitzel and Potato salad. Mmm mm.
We left Ceske Kromluv earlyish and caught a train back to Prague. I was really into my book on the train, a book called The Desert Crop. An easy read and not too much excitement but I enjoyed it. I was finding it kind of uncomfortable but dad and I soon figured out we could adjust the seats to make them a bed with the opposite chair. They lay down almost vertical! It was fantastic!
We had planned to wait around for an hour or so before we caught the train to Vienna from Prague but there was one that was to leave in 5 minutes and we had already got all our shopping done. So we quickly hurried and jumped on. This train was a direct on to Vienna so we didn’t have to change trains. Yes!
When we arrived in Vienna, we walked a whole 200 metres to our hotel.
We got there close to dinner time so we just went to bed and watched T.V
Next day was HUGE!!! We did so much! Mum and dad awoke early making me awake early too having a triple room. So we went down and had breakfast and then headed off on our mini adventure within our huge one. So it started by working out the metro. We bought tickets and found our way to Schoenbrun Palace-at least I think it’s spelt that way.
We started with the gardens. On our way we saw a squirrel!!! It was running along and it came right up to me! Then it ran up a tree. !!!it was just as cool as when I saw the white swan-no wait better!!!
Then we went into the palaces gardens. They were the typical short grassed, small, different coloured flowers making symmetrical squiggles all around the place. At the end of the garden was a huge fountain with Neptune on “seahorses,” like horses with fish tails.
After wandering through the gardens we went into the palace. We couldn’t take photos inside so I’m struggling to remember what happened! Well I remember walking through many rooms, one a enormous hallway with painted frescoes on the ceiling and lots of golden chandeliers. Apparently one of the rooms was where Mozart played when he was 6 with his father and sister.
After the palace we went into a huge greenhouse. Dad loved this, but he was disappointed when he found out that most of the Australian plants scientific names were often wrong. Dad told the man at the ticket desk but he just shrugged his shoulders motioning he didn’t care. Dad loved it in here and mum and I found it a very nice place to sit down and rest from the heat.
Then we headed for a one o’clock tour of the opera house. Mum wanted to see an opera there but everything was completely booked out. When we went into the opera theatre I was so impressed! There were so many seats and apparently there are tickets for standing at the back for the whole opera for only 3 euro. This if course means you can’t see the subtitles or have a chair. The subtitles aren’t placed in the normal spot of above the stage like in most theatres, but on a little long screen in front of each individual seat meaning that any language for any audience member can be chosen. They now even have the operas in Japanese!
Recently the opera house had a big number 0 anniversary- as in I can’t remember if it was 40 year or 50 or 60 or yeah any of those sort- and they had a big cake on display, completely made from marzipan in the shape of the whole opera house- the outside that is. It was bombed quite a lot in WWII because, from the air, it looked like a railway station. They don’t think it would have been intentionally bombed as an opera house. The opera house is not a spectacular architectural piece like Sydney, or most other opera houses, it’s the inside detail and décor that makes it famous. Oh plus the opera they play, and the special events held.
One of those events causes huge uproar in the fashion industry. Everyone comes in beautiful fancy dresses and the theatre is turned into a ballroom. They put in a platform that covers all the chairs and raises it to the height of the stage. This then of course makes it hard to fit out the doors, so parts of it are cut out to make a stairway in.
After our tour in the opera we decided to get on an open top bus and have a look around the place and get a feel of it. As we were only staying one day and seeing the main tourist attractions we wanted to get a feel on the Viennese people. Unfortunately, the motion of the bus, the cool breeze, and the soothing voice of the guide sent me to sleep after an early morning and I missed a lot of it. I feel horrible for missing it but it was that sort of tiredness that my eyes physically wouldn’t stay open.
Anyway, afterwards we went to the Hause de Musik-House of music. Inside there were a whole bunch of French kids who we watched composing a piece of music with a dice. Dad and I then had a go. A big computer registers which number you roll and then gives you the piece of music that goes with that number, puts it together with the music the other player rolled and then there you go, a composition.
The next most interesting thing was a really weird room. The walls were covered in a weird material that looked different when you waled around and weird noises were being played too. Sort of a muffled traffic noise, and constant 2 beats. These are the sounds an embryo hears in the mother’s womb. Ahhh it brought back memories… no just kidding!
Next we learnt about the individual lives of the famous composers of Venice: we saw Haydn’s manuscripts, we saw the only full Mozart family portrait, we saw the door of the apartment that Beethoven died in and Schubert’s original pair of glasses. I loved this museum!
Afterwards we went and decided to have a traditional Viennese meal of Schnitzel and Potato salad. Mmm mm.
7/21/09
Ceske Kromluv
Ceske Kromluv 9/7/09-10/7/09
When we arrived at the train station it was absolutely bucketing down and hardly any taxis were there to pick us up, so we must have waited 20 minutes for a taxi to come.
We were taken to our hostel got introduced to the place. It was very nice.
We then went to have a look around. We needed to get some food and we had a fantastic meal. Mum said her gnocchi was divine and she day dreamt about it afterwards. My Caesar salad was great too.
After lunch we walked down some cute little streets, the houses all different colours. Sort of like an inhabited, enlarged golden lane of Prague castle. If you ever make your way to the Czech Republic, Ceske Kromluv is a must see.
We then came out of the shopping lanes and found ourselves walking across a little bridge over a high fast running river. It had been raining so much that the water levels had risen heaps and there were actually people rafting down it underneath us.
After we crossed the bridge we arrived at another bridge. This bridge was high above us and it was a pathway across from one building on one side of some rocks, to the other part of the building. The bridge came all the way down to the bottom, like a mini Ronda bridge! We walked underneath it and decided that we would come back here tomorrow.
We realised heavy rain clouds were coming so we decided to go home and have a nice night of t.v and reading.
So next morning, like I said, we went to the castle. To get into the castle you had to cross a moat but the moat wasn’t of water. There was a nice water feature on one side and dad thought that’s all it was but on the other side were some logs, trees, some water and a bear! There was a bear in there but no chair as well. It was really big! Its area was pretty small L apparently there had been bears here for a long time. And when we took our first tour of the castle we saw proof. Inside we were shown many rooms by a nice lady. In all the rooms they had a heating system that was made through doors in the wall. Children would open the doors and taken wood and fuel into the wall, take a little passage along into a big metal boiler thing that stretched out into the room. They then lit a fire inside. This system didn’t give any danger of things catching alight because there was no open fire, the only access was through a door in the wall.
Not sure if that made much sense but it’s the best I can get. Anyway, back to bears. Often we saw in the rooms, bear skin rugs. That was quite confronting and really sad. One of them was apparently the current bears’ mother or grandmother. Two drunk men decided to go down and sleep the night with her but she didn’t like that idea so in order to save them “or one of them” as our guide said, they had to shoot her. I’m not sure what our guide meant by “or one of them.” We wonder if it means he died or he had already escaped. :S
So our next tour we had the same woman. We never found out her name though. This tour was much more expensive than the other. We had no idea why but we soon found out. Inside a small door was a huge stage. It was apparently one of two of the best preserved Baroque theatres in the world. The other ones in Switzerland somewhere.
Inside it was dark with only fake flickering candles showing how the light would have been like. We watched a documentary on the place as well as had some talks with the guide. The set that was currently being portrayed was the garden. On the documentary we could see there was also a ballroom, a temple, the forest and a few others. We then got to go underneath and have a look at the stage crew section.
Underneath were lots of pulleys, ropes and wheels. People would turn the wheels and the set would change. Also there were trapdoors so people and things could go up and down. Some of the things were still there, they had transparent red things that they would place a candle behind to represent fire or hell.
When we came back out we listened to some of the sound effects machines. One of them was like a leather strip over a long wooden wheel. When the wheel was turned the rubbing noise it made against the leather sounded like wind. Also another big wheel that inside it had rocks and pebbles that when turned made the sound of rain, just like a rain maker filled with rice. The last one was for thunder. Can you imagine a trolley, not a shopping trolley but on of those tall ones with two wheels and a ledge, so you can put heavy things on it and move it around easily. Well it looked a bit like that, except no ledge to put things on and the wheels had think chunky spines coming off though not sharp. So when the mechanism was rolled on the wooden floor it was really loud and made a sound like thunder. Oh dear, I just read through that and it didn’t make much sense but I think it’s the best I can do.
After this tour we went to have a look around the gardens while we waited o our next tour. We sat by the side of the little lake and watched the ducks. There were some reeeeeeally cute ducklings there and they kept coming and saying hello until someone on the other side of the lake started throwing bread around. So we left after this and went back to the castle for our final tour around. Here we got to walk over the bridge on the top most part, you know the white mini Ronda one we saw yesterday, where the royals would go through to the theatre or the gardens without getting rained on if it was raining.
Not much else happened in this tour but I still enjoyed it.
So afterwards we headed out and passed the castle tower. We went up the tower before our first tour but I didn’t write that because it followed the bears so well J so jump back and I’ll tell you…
On our way up the hundred or so stairs (nothing after Mt Sinai) and we stopped on the way to see the big bells. Up the top we could see the whole of Ceske Kromluv. We couldn’t figure out where our hotel was but just the sort of area because there’s a big grey building in the way.
So back we went to our favourite restaurant to have that gnocchi again! Around where we were sitting inside the restaurant, there were some framed front pages of newspapers. One of them had a picture of Stalin on it so we asked our waiter (who seemed to speak very good English) to translate it for us. It told us about the death of Stalin at bla bla date and time… the next one was one of the first communist leaders who died 9 days after Stalin. Our waiter said he wasn’t sad about these and our conversation began. Often he had to go and work, being in the middle of it but he told us one affecting story. He said, when he was 14 (which is probably why it affected me), he plucked up all his courage and wrote a letter to his neighbour. She was also 14 and he liked her very much. He thought she was beautiful, she had long brown hair but his reply wasn’t as cheerful as he’d hoped. In fact it was depressing, so depressing he still remembers it and hes now 32. She said, look, I like you and but I know you were born in Germany, and I know your parents despise the communism where my family rejoices for it. He was very upset just because of the roles and beliefs their parents held.
He also said that when the wall went down in Berlin, and the iron curtain was lifted, he said this was the happiest weeks of his life. He said I’ve met many girls and had a nice time and fantastic parties but nothing beats the happiness I felt then.
Wow…
p.s the gnocchi was great!!!
When we arrived at the train station it was absolutely bucketing down and hardly any taxis were there to pick us up, so we must have waited 20 minutes for a taxi to come.
We were taken to our hostel got introduced to the place. It was very nice.
We then went to have a look around. We needed to get some food and we had a fantastic meal. Mum said her gnocchi was divine and she day dreamt about it afterwards. My Caesar salad was great too.
After lunch we walked down some cute little streets, the houses all different colours. Sort of like an inhabited, enlarged golden lane of Prague castle. If you ever make your way to the Czech Republic, Ceske Kromluv is a must see.
We then came out of the shopping lanes and found ourselves walking across a little bridge over a high fast running river. It had been raining so much that the water levels had risen heaps and there were actually people rafting down it underneath us.
After we crossed the bridge we arrived at another bridge. This bridge was high above us and it was a pathway across from one building on one side of some rocks, to the other part of the building. The bridge came all the way down to the bottom, like a mini Ronda bridge! We walked underneath it and decided that we would come back here tomorrow.
We realised heavy rain clouds were coming so we decided to go home and have a nice night of t.v and reading.
So next morning, like I said, we went to the castle. To get into the castle you had to cross a moat but the moat wasn’t of water. There was a nice water feature on one side and dad thought that’s all it was but on the other side were some logs, trees, some water and a bear! There was a bear in there but no chair as well. It was really big! Its area was pretty small L apparently there had been bears here for a long time. And when we took our first tour of the castle we saw proof. Inside we were shown many rooms by a nice lady. In all the rooms they had a heating system that was made through doors in the wall. Children would open the doors and taken wood and fuel into the wall, take a little passage along into a big metal boiler thing that stretched out into the room. They then lit a fire inside. This system didn’t give any danger of things catching alight because there was no open fire, the only access was through a door in the wall.
Not sure if that made much sense but it’s the best I can get. Anyway, back to bears. Often we saw in the rooms, bear skin rugs. That was quite confronting and really sad. One of them was apparently the current bears’ mother or grandmother. Two drunk men decided to go down and sleep the night with her but she didn’t like that idea so in order to save them “or one of them” as our guide said, they had to shoot her. I’m not sure what our guide meant by “or one of them.” We wonder if it means he died or he had already escaped. :S
So our next tour we had the same woman. We never found out her name though. This tour was much more expensive than the other. We had no idea why but we soon found out. Inside a small door was a huge stage. It was apparently one of two of the best preserved Baroque theatres in the world. The other ones in Switzerland somewhere.
Inside it was dark with only fake flickering candles showing how the light would have been like. We watched a documentary on the place as well as had some talks with the guide. The set that was currently being portrayed was the garden. On the documentary we could see there was also a ballroom, a temple, the forest and a few others. We then got to go underneath and have a look at the stage crew section.
Underneath were lots of pulleys, ropes and wheels. People would turn the wheels and the set would change. Also there were trapdoors so people and things could go up and down. Some of the things were still there, they had transparent red things that they would place a candle behind to represent fire or hell.
When we came back out we listened to some of the sound effects machines. One of them was like a leather strip over a long wooden wheel. When the wheel was turned the rubbing noise it made against the leather sounded like wind. Also another big wheel that inside it had rocks and pebbles that when turned made the sound of rain, just like a rain maker filled with rice. The last one was for thunder. Can you imagine a trolley, not a shopping trolley but on of those tall ones with two wheels and a ledge, so you can put heavy things on it and move it around easily. Well it looked a bit like that, except no ledge to put things on and the wheels had think chunky spines coming off though not sharp. So when the mechanism was rolled on the wooden floor it was really loud and made a sound like thunder. Oh dear, I just read through that and it didn’t make much sense but I think it’s the best I can do.
After this tour we went to have a look around the gardens while we waited o our next tour. We sat by the side of the little lake and watched the ducks. There were some reeeeeeally cute ducklings there and they kept coming and saying hello until someone on the other side of the lake started throwing bread around. So we left after this and went back to the castle for our final tour around. Here we got to walk over the bridge on the top most part, you know the white mini Ronda one we saw yesterday, where the royals would go through to the theatre or the gardens without getting rained on if it was raining.
Not much else happened in this tour but I still enjoyed it.
So afterwards we headed out and passed the castle tower. We went up the tower before our first tour but I didn’t write that because it followed the bears so well J so jump back and I’ll tell you…
On our way up the hundred or so stairs (nothing after Mt Sinai) and we stopped on the way to see the big bells. Up the top we could see the whole of Ceske Kromluv. We couldn’t figure out where our hotel was but just the sort of area because there’s a big grey building in the way.
So back we went to our favourite restaurant to have that gnocchi again! Around where we were sitting inside the restaurant, there were some framed front pages of newspapers. One of them had a picture of Stalin on it so we asked our waiter (who seemed to speak very good English) to translate it for us. It told us about the death of Stalin at bla bla date and time… the next one was one of the first communist leaders who died 9 days after Stalin. Our waiter said he wasn’t sad about these and our conversation began. Often he had to go and work, being in the middle of it but he told us one affecting story. He said, when he was 14 (which is probably why it affected me), he plucked up all his courage and wrote a letter to his neighbour. She was also 14 and he liked her very much. He thought she was beautiful, she had long brown hair but his reply wasn’t as cheerful as he’d hoped. In fact it was depressing, so depressing he still remembers it and hes now 32. She said, look, I like you and but I know you were born in Germany, and I know your parents despise the communism where my family rejoices for it. He was very upset just because of the roles and beliefs their parents held.
He also said that when the wall went down in Berlin, and the iron curtain was lifted, he said this was the happiest weeks of his life. He said I’ve met many girls and had a nice time and fantastic parties but nothing beats the happiness I felt then.
Wow…
p.s the gnocchi was great!!!
7/14/09
Prague 5/7/09-8/7/09
Prague
So we arrived in Prague, the proclaimed most beautiful city in all of Europe. Well, after getting our taxi to our hotel (which was a very nice hotel may I add) we went and found some food. At the restaurant we learnt our first word of Czech; Diky meaning thank you.
Unlike most other countries we’ve been in, getting into the habit of saying the word Diky didn’t come about. After spending 10 days in France, merci became an instant reaction, the shockran in the Arabic countries, and so on for every other language except Czech, German and Greek, mainly because we didn’t sped enough time there and the week on Corfu doesn’t really count, it was more like Australia than Greece!
Anyway back to Prague… live in the moment Tegan, live in the moment… So, that was it for our first day, find hotel, find food then bed like many other first days in cities, though the next day was quite different.
Breakfast at the hotel stayed open until 11 so we could sleep and in and still be fed. We then took our first walk around. We were heading to Wenceslas square where a large statue of Wenceslas on a horse stood. Here we met up with two nice English sisters who were accompanying us on the free tour we were taking. The guide’s name was Paul and he took us right around. The first thing I found really interesting was a particular theatre. Here, Paul said, was where Mozart presented his first performance of Don Giovanni.
The theatre was very close to the border into the old town, even though the new town was still a few hundred years old. We crossed the border, which is nothing more than crossing a street, into the old tow where we came to the old town square. Just at this moment it was 2 minutes to 1:00. We made it just on time, the street was crowded, packed with tourists to watch the clock chime and watch the little disciples go around in circles and the skeleton nodding pulling a string.
We then went around the corner to where white tiles made crosses in the pavement. Here was apparently where the to-be-beheaded stood (or crouched) for the last moments. *Shudder*
We then headed for Charles Bridge. It was very crowded and we got separated and I missed the talk Paul gave on the bridge coz I got a little lost :S. though don’t worry, no need to panic, I was found very quickly. We had another two stops concerning the bridge so I don’t think I missed much. The next stop was where scaffolding was taking up half the bridge, so you can imagine how tight and crowded it was when there was half as much space. The stop was at a Saints statue. They turned this man into a saint because he was killed by the palace guards. He was priest and the Kings wife confessed to him and the Kind wanted to know what she said, so he pushed him and pushed him until he decided to get his guards to just throw him in the river, so he died, drowned which is why is statue rests on the bridge. Underneath the statue is two relief statues, one with the king and his dog on it, the other with some random people who I can’t remember the names of. One of these people are supposedly lucky so if you touch him you go away with good luck, but he wasn’t the only golden figure that was shined by the touch of hands, the dog was also a shining gold and for some reason they began to the think the dog was lucky, so they touch the dog now too, just to be sure they walk away with all the luck possible.
We then had lunch and then headed for the castle. We visited some of the gardens first and the tennis court which was covered in a sort of painting called Sgraffiti, graffiti with an S. This same stuff was on one if the buildings we saw in Pisa.
we then went to the cathedral. Inside were many beautiful stain glass windows but they weren’t the normal sort you see in old cathedrals today. In the Second World War, the Nazis shot it to pieces with, I think, 300 cannonballs. So you can imagine that the stain glass windows wouldn’t really survive well with 300 cannonballs being pelted at them, so some a redone and sponsored by businesses. One of them was sponsored by an insurance company, so the mosaic windows portray all the things that can happen to you that you would need insurance for, like fire and drought. Really the whole thing was one big advertisement!
Just as we finished we looked at a spire that no-one would notice much because of a bridge that hid most of it, but you could look up into a tiny little crack that you could see and you could see a distraught yelling statue. Now I don’t know how reliable this story is but it’s a good one anyway. Paul was told the story by one of his Czech friends. When they were building the church a man looked down to see his wife and her lover below so he threw the brick he was holding down and killed the lover, but then the builder was executed for murder, so the other builders decided to build a statue of him but where the king couldn’t see it, hiding it behind the bridge.
After this the tour ended, we tipped him, then headed back to our hotel because we had walked a long way and we still somehow had to get back. We took a tram at one stop but it took us in the wrong direction so we had to get off, walk and find another one. Dad calculated that we had probably walked about 10 km. lucky we didn’t have our packs on! On our way back we found a fantastic shop that I’m sure many of you will benefit from!
Next day mum wanted to see more of the castle because we only went into the part that was free. We took a tram this time so our legs didn’t cave in before we’d seen it all. We walked through the kings gardens to get there which was really lovely.
We then revisited the castle and we entered, first, the main hall. Inside was the biggest (at the time) ceiling that covered a room but without pillars to support it.
We then went into the Basilica. Inside were beautiful friezes and tombs of some kings. Also there was a crypt.
Next we headed for the famous Golden lane. The lane is called Golden from all the gold smiths who used to live and work in the lane. The lane was so cute! It was filled with little houses, all now tiny shops selling souvenirs. One of the houses was a long one that stretched along the top of all the houses underneath. This was an armour museum and inside dad had a go at a crossbow. He could shoot 5 arrows for 50 Coronas which is worth about $4.
Some of the armour we saw were things like helmets from all over, we saw roman and one that dad called Australian style. It was like a metal broad brimmed hat which I can’t understand how that protects you from anything but the sun!
We then went into a tower that held prisoners and we saw some more torture instruments. Apparently the tower was about 3 stories high but a lightning strike burnt down the top floors and now there is only one left.
We then went into the military mini museum which just had dummies wearing the uniforms. We then went to the main gate where there were men wearing the uniforms standing very still and having photos of them like when we saw the men in Athens but they didn’t do any funny foot waggles L
Afterwards we took a tram home and went to a pizzeria on the way.
The next day was a complete bludge for me. Mum spent the time organising the rest of Europe train travel and dad reserved the train for us. I just stayed in my room and slept, read and watched T.V. it was very good fun! J but one thing very exciting happened, or well I found it so anyway. The day before mum and I had booked tickets to go and see Don Giovanni at a cheap price so we wouldn’t have to spend 175€ on a ticket in the Vienna Opera house. Instead we spent an equivalent of 35€ which I think is much better! But price doesn’t matter, anyway, we went to the opera at 7:30 and picked our seats from the many that were available and there were no assigned seating so we figured that this wasn’t going to be as perfect and particular as something performed at the Vienna opera house and it wasn’t, the quality of the voices was fantastic but the costumes just didn’t quite make it. They had all the colours and design right but it looked like good costumes for a school performance. I thought the sets were great but at the end mum was laughing even at the end when it’s meant to be scary. This was because the character of the father’s ghost looked silly because he was very short and the peasant was very very tall so it looked a little odd that a man so small was so intimidating! Also during the performance the person running the subtitles mucked up and we had the wrong conversation running so we felt we didn’t want to read it but we had to so that we knew what was going on in the future! Though I guess we were lucky enough to have them in English we shouldn’t really complain! It wasn’t the whole opera but the best of and I enjoyed it a lot.
That was our last day in Prague. The next morning we headed off to a small town called Ceske Kromluv. So a new blog starts…
So we arrived in Prague, the proclaimed most beautiful city in all of Europe. Well, after getting our taxi to our hotel (which was a very nice hotel may I add) we went and found some food. At the restaurant we learnt our first word of Czech; Diky meaning thank you.
Unlike most other countries we’ve been in, getting into the habit of saying the word Diky didn’t come about. After spending 10 days in France, merci became an instant reaction, the shockran in the Arabic countries, and so on for every other language except Czech, German and Greek, mainly because we didn’t sped enough time there and the week on Corfu doesn’t really count, it was more like Australia than Greece!
Anyway back to Prague… live in the moment Tegan, live in the moment… So, that was it for our first day, find hotel, find food then bed like many other first days in cities, though the next day was quite different.
Breakfast at the hotel stayed open until 11 so we could sleep and in and still be fed. We then took our first walk around. We were heading to Wenceslas square where a large statue of Wenceslas on a horse stood. Here we met up with two nice English sisters who were accompanying us on the free tour we were taking. The guide’s name was Paul and he took us right around. The first thing I found really interesting was a particular theatre. Here, Paul said, was where Mozart presented his first performance of Don Giovanni.
The theatre was very close to the border into the old town, even though the new town was still a few hundred years old. We crossed the border, which is nothing more than crossing a street, into the old tow where we came to the old town square. Just at this moment it was 2 minutes to 1:00. We made it just on time, the street was crowded, packed with tourists to watch the clock chime and watch the little disciples go around in circles and the skeleton nodding pulling a string.
We then went around the corner to where white tiles made crosses in the pavement. Here was apparently where the to-be-beheaded stood (or crouched) for the last moments. *Shudder*
We then headed for Charles Bridge. It was very crowded and we got separated and I missed the talk Paul gave on the bridge coz I got a little lost :S. though don’t worry, no need to panic, I was found very quickly. We had another two stops concerning the bridge so I don’t think I missed much. The next stop was where scaffolding was taking up half the bridge, so you can imagine how tight and crowded it was when there was half as much space. The stop was at a Saints statue. They turned this man into a saint because he was killed by the palace guards. He was priest and the Kings wife confessed to him and the Kind wanted to know what she said, so he pushed him and pushed him until he decided to get his guards to just throw him in the river, so he died, drowned which is why is statue rests on the bridge. Underneath the statue is two relief statues, one with the king and his dog on it, the other with some random people who I can’t remember the names of. One of these people are supposedly lucky so if you touch him you go away with good luck, but he wasn’t the only golden figure that was shined by the touch of hands, the dog was also a shining gold and for some reason they began to the think the dog was lucky, so they touch the dog now too, just to be sure they walk away with all the luck possible.
We then had lunch and then headed for the castle. We visited some of the gardens first and the tennis court which was covered in a sort of painting called Sgraffiti, graffiti with an S. This same stuff was on one if the buildings we saw in Pisa.
we then went to the cathedral. Inside were many beautiful stain glass windows but they weren’t the normal sort you see in old cathedrals today. In the Second World War, the Nazis shot it to pieces with, I think, 300 cannonballs. So you can imagine that the stain glass windows wouldn’t really survive well with 300 cannonballs being pelted at them, so some a redone and sponsored by businesses. One of them was sponsored by an insurance company, so the mosaic windows portray all the things that can happen to you that you would need insurance for, like fire and drought. Really the whole thing was one big advertisement!
Just as we finished we looked at a spire that no-one would notice much because of a bridge that hid most of it, but you could look up into a tiny little crack that you could see and you could see a distraught yelling statue. Now I don’t know how reliable this story is but it’s a good one anyway. Paul was told the story by one of his Czech friends. When they were building the church a man looked down to see his wife and her lover below so he threw the brick he was holding down and killed the lover, but then the builder was executed for murder, so the other builders decided to build a statue of him but where the king couldn’t see it, hiding it behind the bridge.
After this the tour ended, we tipped him, then headed back to our hotel because we had walked a long way and we still somehow had to get back. We took a tram at one stop but it took us in the wrong direction so we had to get off, walk and find another one. Dad calculated that we had probably walked about 10 km. lucky we didn’t have our packs on! On our way back we found a fantastic shop that I’m sure many of you will benefit from!
Next day mum wanted to see more of the castle because we only went into the part that was free. We took a tram this time so our legs didn’t cave in before we’d seen it all. We walked through the kings gardens to get there which was really lovely.
We then revisited the castle and we entered, first, the main hall. Inside was the biggest (at the time) ceiling that covered a room but without pillars to support it.
We then went into the Basilica. Inside were beautiful friezes and tombs of some kings. Also there was a crypt.
Next we headed for the famous Golden lane. The lane is called Golden from all the gold smiths who used to live and work in the lane. The lane was so cute! It was filled with little houses, all now tiny shops selling souvenirs. One of the houses was a long one that stretched along the top of all the houses underneath. This was an armour museum and inside dad had a go at a crossbow. He could shoot 5 arrows for 50 Coronas which is worth about $4.
Some of the armour we saw were things like helmets from all over, we saw roman and one that dad called Australian style. It was like a metal broad brimmed hat which I can’t understand how that protects you from anything but the sun!
We then went into a tower that held prisoners and we saw some more torture instruments. Apparently the tower was about 3 stories high but a lightning strike burnt down the top floors and now there is only one left.
We then went into the military mini museum which just had dummies wearing the uniforms. We then went to the main gate where there were men wearing the uniforms standing very still and having photos of them like when we saw the men in Athens but they didn’t do any funny foot waggles L
Afterwards we took a tram home and went to a pizzeria on the way.
The next day was a complete bludge for me. Mum spent the time organising the rest of Europe train travel and dad reserved the train for us. I just stayed in my room and slept, read and watched T.V. it was very good fun! J but one thing very exciting happened, or well I found it so anyway. The day before mum and I had booked tickets to go and see Don Giovanni at a cheap price so we wouldn’t have to spend 175€ on a ticket in the Vienna Opera house. Instead we spent an equivalent of 35€ which I think is much better! But price doesn’t matter, anyway, we went to the opera at 7:30 and picked our seats from the many that were available and there were no assigned seating so we figured that this wasn’t going to be as perfect and particular as something performed at the Vienna opera house and it wasn’t, the quality of the voices was fantastic but the costumes just didn’t quite make it. They had all the colours and design right but it looked like good costumes for a school performance. I thought the sets were great but at the end mum was laughing even at the end when it’s meant to be scary. This was because the character of the father’s ghost looked silly because he was very short and the peasant was very very tall so it looked a little odd that a man so small was so intimidating! Also during the performance the person running the subtitles mucked up and we had the wrong conversation running so we felt we didn’t want to read it but we had to so that we knew what was going on in the future! Though I guess we were lucky enough to have them in English we shouldn’t really complain! It wasn’t the whole opera but the best of and I enjoyed it a lot.
That was our last day in Prague. The next morning we headed off to a small town called Ceske Kromluv. So a new blog starts…
7/6/09
Berlin
Berlin 3/7/09-5/7/09
When we arrived in Berlin station we had instructions from the hotel to take a train to Alexander Platz and then take two tram stops following that. Before we got on the tram we found the Berlin tower. It loomed over us instantly after we walked out of the train station, 3000 and something metres tall.
So after we found our hotel, we decided to get tickets for the tower. We had to wait about 20 minutes but once we got up we could see everything. We joked that we had seen the whole of Berlin in only an hour! The city reminded me a lot of Paris and how it looked from up the Eiffel Tower though Paris had a grey and white colour, Berlin was red roofed and white walled.
After the tower we made our way for Starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate which is where our tour started from. At the hotel we had picked up a leaflet about Free Tours. It sounded good to us, and it definitely was fantastic. Our guides name was Max and he was brilliant. He told us everything. He began it by telling us about the hotel near the Gate which was where Michael Jackson dangled his newborn child over the balcony.
After that he started telling us the history of Berlin. Unfortunately Fashion week was on in Berlin and a HUGE dinner party was going to be held in front of the Gate. This meant we couldn’t get close and could only take good pictures from the other side.
From here we could see the Reich Stag building, the home of Democracy in Berlin. This burnt down at one stage. A Dutch communist apparently burnt it down and this is how Hitler gained his power. He went to the old President and said “give me the power I need and I can stop the communists taking over.” So yeah he used this power, to gain more and more and eventually attempt to capture and rule the world in 40 days. 40 days wasn’t being realistic. It took 4 years and they didn’t even succeed.
We then went to the Holocaust memorial. Its heaps of grey, rectangular slabs that look a little like graves in rows and rows, though each slab is a different height, length and width. The ground underneath all the graves is uneven making the ones in the centre higher and very tall above you so that when you look at the memorial from a distance they look all the same height. You can walk through it and it’s so very huge you could lose your friends quickly. It was placed there not because there were any gas chambers there but because it is the very centre of Berlin which means that many people will go through it.
There isn’t a sign that tells you what it means which makes you become curious and enter. Still you will not find anything telling you what it’s for. The paint is a special type that makes graffiti easy to wipe off if written. Strangely enough, the company that makes the paint originally made the gas that killed all that the memorial is designed for. All they could do was give it to them free or their business would have gone bankrupt. The artist made it so you can experience it the way you wish. The grey makes you feel grim, you couldn’t tell what was coming around the corner, it looks like a straight path with no way out, the tall slabs in the centre feel as though it’s towering over you, they start small but eventually get bigger. That’s how I experienced it. This memorial was for 60 million people that died and there are still many more memorials around.
We then went to visit Hitler’s bunker where he spent his honeymoon for 30 hours then suicided side by side with his new wife while bombs were dropping all around them on the 30th of April. They both had cyanide pills but Hitler shot himself too just to make sure. Hitler’s bunker is nowhere to be seen. We were standing above it but it was blown up to get rid of it. Now no signs stand there and no recognition is given to it. There are just apartments looking over a small courtyard. Now, on the 30th of April every year it gets a little eerie. Many people will pay there respects. Some will sit in their cars all day, just staring at the area remembering Hitler as a good man. Others let their dogs do their business there and that’s their respects.
We then went to the Wall, the wall that separated west from east. One night the wall just appeared, no-one was expecting it and suddenly no-one could travel outside. If anyone entered the death strip they’d be shot a million times until dead. Now all that stands is a broken, graffitied thin brown wall that barely makes 500 metres which is nothing compared to the 156km it used to line.
Next stop was checkpoint Charlie. Max described it as the cheesiest tourist attraction ever. The little building is about half the size the real one is, there are 3 men who stand out the front with a Russian flag, one with an American flag and the other with the British flag all with a sign around their neck saying “Photo 1 Euro.” It was cool to see checkpoint Charlie, but it didn’t impress me nearly as much as anything else on the tour.
After a break we went to two cathedrals, one French and one German. They looked incredibly similar. In the middle of the two was a concert hall that had been blocked off for another event like Fashion week.
We then made our way to our final stop of the tour surrounded by a museum and Cathedral. We sat on the steps of the museum and were told a fantastic story. Something about Max seriously captured my attention and his story was so interesting, beats any history I have ever listened to. He told the story of how the wall came down.
It started with a party. The communist leader spoke first and said “Hello my good communists.” No reply from the audience, so he tries again. “Isn’t that wall the best thing anyone has ever done?” this time there was a reply but a complete opposite of the happy cheer the leader hoped for. Eventually he got boo-ed off stage and another man took his place and began with “Hello good people, some people do not recognise that Berlin is changing. And those people who do not accept this change will be crushed.” This is when the enormous cheer happened. Now obviously I can’t remember exactly what the words were, but that’s generally the gist of it. So this caused many peoples courage to be boosted and people began to protest so the government held a meeting for three whole days, deciding what to do about the protests. So after the three days, a Press conference was made and the man who was to give all the summaries was given a document in case that subject came up. So he talked about prices and things about sheep and cows and some other boring things, and some journalists left not wanting to waste their time. So just as the Press conference finishes, one journalist gathers all his courage up and asks the question everyone wants to know.
“Yes sir, this is all very interesting but I would like to know what has been decided to do about the protests?”
So the secretary pulls out the document and starts scanning through. What the document said was that people were now able to travel but they needed to have a passport, they needed a lot of money in the bank and some other special requirements. The secretary failed to mention those requirements and just said “that all travel restrictions are now lifted.” This made the whole room turn and stare unbelievably at the man who is practically bulldozing the wall with his words, but it wasn’t just the whole room. Not even the whole of Berlin but the whole world was now switched on and watching in disbelief.
Then some other journalists ask when the travel restrictions would be lifted because if it was in a hundred years time, it wouldn’t be much help. So the secretary scans through the pages searching desperately for a date. Over and over again through and through checking for any dates but they only date he could find was the one on the front cover with today’s date on it.
So 10,000 people march for the wall and barge through reuniting with their family who were waiting on the other side.
This is brief and probably heaps and heaps of mistakes and missing pieces but this is what I gathered and learnt today.
The next morning I got to sleep in. we had breakfast late and decided to take the 1:00 tour with the same company as yesterdays though this one wasn’t free. It was the third Reich tour and strangely I didn’t find the guy quite as encapsulating as Max the day before. We visited a few of the same sights like Hitler’s bunker and the Holocaust memorial. What we didn’t see on the free tour was the memorial across the road from the holocaust memorial. It was a memorial for all the homosexuals killed. It was a big brown box that wasn’t quite straight (I’m thinking that might have been intended) and you can look inside and inside is a black and white movie playing of two men kissing in a park. I found this confronting but then again it seemed ok. I found it confronting because I had never seen anything much like it before but I didn’t think it was weird or gross, just different.
Our last stop on this tour was a place to remember all the courageous women who yelled every day. When Hitler arrested all the Jews they were taken into concentration camps but their wives bravely screamed at the gates everyday until the Nazis eventually gave in and let the free Jews go home.
This morning we got up reasonably late (though not as late as I’d have liked) to go to a museum. Inside we saw a frieze of Greek gods fighting mortal giants with serpent legs. In another room was a Roman market place gate which was massive! It filled up the whole wall.
On the other side of the gate was the small gate of Babylon! It was incredible! Beautiful blue, yellow and turquoise. Lions, gazelles an other animals decorated the front.
There were many other room coming off these filled with different sorts of things like jewellery and wall decoration. The wall decoration reminded me of a cross between roman reliefs and Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Afterwards we decided to go to the train station as our train was coming in soon. Once we got there we met up with Martin who we met on the free tour. He was also coming to Prague (which was where we were going) and on the same train.
Soon we will arrive in Prague and I’ll be able to add another country to my list!
When we arrived in Berlin station we had instructions from the hotel to take a train to Alexander Platz and then take two tram stops following that. Before we got on the tram we found the Berlin tower. It loomed over us instantly after we walked out of the train station, 3000 and something metres tall.
So after we found our hotel, we decided to get tickets for the tower. We had to wait about 20 minutes but once we got up we could see everything. We joked that we had seen the whole of Berlin in only an hour! The city reminded me a lot of Paris and how it looked from up the Eiffel Tower though Paris had a grey and white colour, Berlin was red roofed and white walled.
After the tower we made our way for Starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate which is where our tour started from. At the hotel we had picked up a leaflet about Free Tours. It sounded good to us, and it definitely was fantastic. Our guides name was Max and he was brilliant. He told us everything. He began it by telling us about the hotel near the Gate which was where Michael Jackson dangled his newborn child over the balcony.
After that he started telling us the history of Berlin. Unfortunately Fashion week was on in Berlin and a HUGE dinner party was going to be held in front of the Gate. This meant we couldn’t get close and could only take good pictures from the other side.
From here we could see the Reich Stag building, the home of Democracy in Berlin. This burnt down at one stage. A Dutch communist apparently burnt it down and this is how Hitler gained his power. He went to the old President and said “give me the power I need and I can stop the communists taking over.” So yeah he used this power, to gain more and more and eventually attempt to capture and rule the world in 40 days. 40 days wasn’t being realistic. It took 4 years and they didn’t even succeed.
We then went to the Holocaust memorial. Its heaps of grey, rectangular slabs that look a little like graves in rows and rows, though each slab is a different height, length and width. The ground underneath all the graves is uneven making the ones in the centre higher and very tall above you so that when you look at the memorial from a distance they look all the same height. You can walk through it and it’s so very huge you could lose your friends quickly. It was placed there not because there were any gas chambers there but because it is the very centre of Berlin which means that many people will go through it.
There isn’t a sign that tells you what it means which makes you become curious and enter. Still you will not find anything telling you what it’s for. The paint is a special type that makes graffiti easy to wipe off if written. Strangely enough, the company that makes the paint originally made the gas that killed all that the memorial is designed for. All they could do was give it to them free or their business would have gone bankrupt. The artist made it so you can experience it the way you wish. The grey makes you feel grim, you couldn’t tell what was coming around the corner, it looks like a straight path with no way out, the tall slabs in the centre feel as though it’s towering over you, they start small but eventually get bigger. That’s how I experienced it. This memorial was for 60 million people that died and there are still many more memorials around.
We then went to visit Hitler’s bunker where he spent his honeymoon for 30 hours then suicided side by side with his new wife while bombs were dropping all around them on the 30th of April. They both had cyanide pills but Hitler shot himself too just to make sure. Hitler’s bunker is nowhere to be seen. We were standing above it but it was blown up to get rid of it. Now no signs stand there and no recognition is given to it. There are just apartments looking over a small courtyard. Now, on the 30th of April every year it gets a little eerie. Many people will pay there respects. Some will sit in their cars all day, just staring at the area remembering Hitler as a good man. Others let their dogs do their business there and that’s their respects.
We then went to the Wall, the wall that separated west from east. One night the wall just appeared, no-one was expecting it and suddenly no-one could travel outside. If anyone entered the death strip they’d be shot a million times until dead. Now all that stands is a broken, graffitied thin brown wall that barely makes 500 metres which is nothing compared to the 156km it used to line.
Next stop was checkpoint Charlie. Max described it as the cheesiest tourist attraction ever. The little building is about half the size the real one is, there are 3 men who stand out the front with a Russian flag, one with an American flag and the other with the British flag all with a sign around their neck saying “Photo 1 Euro.” It was cool to see checkpoint Charlie, but it didn’t impress me nearly as much as anything else on the tour.
After a break we went to two cathedrals, one French and one German. They looked incredibly similar. In the middle of the two was a concert hall that had been blocked off for another event like Fashion week.
We then made our way to our final stop of the tour surrounded by a museum and Cathedral. We sat on the steps of the museum and were told a fantastic story. Something about Max seriously captured my attention and his story was so interesting, beats any history I have ever listened to. He told the story of how the wall came down.
It started with a party. The communist leader spoke first and said “Hello my good communists.” No reply from the audience, so he tries again. “Isn’t that wall the best thing anyone has ever done?” this time there was a reply but a complete opposite of the happy cheer the leader hoped for. Eventually he got boo-ed off stage and another man took his place and began with “Hello good people, some people do not recognise that Berlin is changing. And those people who do not accept this change will be crushed.” This is when the enormous cheer happened. Now obviously I can’t remember exactly what the words were, but that’s generally the gist of it. So this caused many peoples courage to be boosted and people began to protest so the government held a meeting for three whole days, deciding what to do about the protests. So after the three days, a Press conference was made and the man who was to give all the summaries was given a document in case that subject came up. So he talked about prices and things about sheep and cows and some other boring things, and some journalists left not wanting to waste their time. So just as the Press conference finishes, one journalist gathers all his courage up and asks the question everyone wants to know.
“Yes sir, this is all very interesting but I would like to know what has been decided to do about the protests?”
So the secretary pulls out the document and starts scanning through. What the document said was that people were now able to travel but they needed to have a passport, they needed a lot of money in the bank and some other special requirements. The secretary failed to mention those requirements and just said “that all travel restrictions are now lifted.” This made the whole room turn and stare unbelievably at the man who is practically bulldozing the wall with his words, but it wasn’t just the whole room. Not even the whole of Berlin but the whole world was now switched on and watching in disbelief.
Then some other journalists ask when the travel restrictions would be lifted because if it was in a hundred years time, it wouldn’t be much help. So the secretary scans through the pages searching desperately for a date. Over and over again through and through checking for any dates but they only date he could find was the one on the front cover with today’s date on it.
So 10,000 people march for the wall and barge through reuniting with their family who were waiting on the other side.
This is brief and probably heaps and heaps of mistakes and missing pieces but this is what I gathered and learnt today.
The next morning I got to sleep in. we had breakfast late and decided to take the 1:00 tour with the same company as yesterdays though this one wasn’t free. It was the third Reich tour and strangely I didn’t find the guy quite as encapsulating as Max the day before. We visited a few of the same sights like Hitler’s bunker and the Holocaust memorial. What we didn’t see on the free tour was the memorial across the road from the holocaust memorial. It was a memorial for all the homosexuals killed. It was a big brown box that wasn’t quite straight (I’m thinking that might have been intended) and you can look inside and inside is a black and white movie playing of two men kissing in a park. I found this confronting but then again it seemed ok. I found it confronting because I had never seen anything much like it before but I didn’t think it was weird or gross, just different.
Our last stop on this tour was a place to remember all the courageous women who yelled every day. When Hitler arrested all the Jews they were taken into concentration camps but their wives bravely screamed at the gates everyday until the Nazis eventually gave in and let the free Jews go home.
This morning we got up reasonably late (though not as late as I’d have liked) to go to a museum. Inside we saw a frieze of Greek gods fighting mortal giants with serpent legs. In another room was a Roman market place gate which was massive! It filled up the whole wall.
On the other side of the gate was the small gate of Babylon! It was incredible! Beautiful blue, yellow and turquoise. Lions, gazelles an other animals decorated the front.
There were many other room coming off these filled with different sorts of things like jewellery and wall decoration. The wall decoration reminded me of a cross between roman reliefs and Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Afterwards we decided to go to the train station as our train was coming in soon. Once we got there we met up with Martin who we met on the free tour. He was also coming to Prague (which was where we were going) and on the same train.
Soon we will arrive in Prague and I’ll be able to add another country to my list!
Italy, Switzerland, Germany
Italy, Switzerland and Germany
From Brindisi we took a train to Milan after waiting 3 hour at the train station. I just read my school book which was good to get out of the way anyway. We arrived in Milan very late at about 10:30 at night, so we checked in and went to find some food that was still open at this hour. We ended up going across the street to an Indian place because it was our last night with Rhys we decided to go out.
We hit the pillows instantly when we got back.
We got a sleep in this morning, well until 8. We had to make it in time for breakfast. After breakfast, we walked back to the train station and caught a train to Basel in Switzerland. The train trip was incredible. We saw mountains covered in snow with little villages living at the feet of them. I saw my first glacier! There were lots of rivers too. We played cards as much as we could and ate some chocolate eggs which were really nice except they were a little melted.
We then had to catch a train to Frankfurt while Rhys was staying the night in Basel. He decided he would head to Paris the next day. So after a sad farewell I spent the train time blogging until we got to Frankfurt. We stayed the night in a bedroom for 3 and went out for dinner at a Chinese place.
We had a very early start this morning; up at 6. We had breakfast at 6 30 and were on the train by quarter past 7. Our hotel was so close to the train station, like 200 metres. Maybe not even that! It was so convenient!
So we’ve been travelling for nearly 4 hours and I’ll write more when I have more to write!
From Brindisi we took a train to Milan after waiting 3 hour at the train station. I just read my school book which was good to get out of the way anyway. We arrived in Milan very late at about 10:30 at night, so we checked in and went to find some food that was still open at this hour. We ended up going across the street to an Indian place because it was our last night with Rhys we decided to go out.
We hit the pillows instantly when we got back.
We got a sleep in this morning, well until 8. We had to make it in time for breakfast. After breakfast, we walked back to the train station and caught a train to Basel in Switzerland. The train trip was incredible. We saw mountains covered in snow with little villages living at the feet of them. I saw my first glacier! There were lots of rivers too. We played cards as much as we could and ate some chocolate eggs which were really nice except they were a little melted.
We then had to catch a train to Frankfurt while Rhys was staying the night in Basel. He decided he would head to Paris the next day. So after a sad farewell I spent the train time blogging until we got to Frankfurt. We stayed the night in a bedroom for 3 and went out for dinner at a Chinese place.
We had a very early start this morning; up at 6. We had breakfast at 6 30 and were on the train by quarter past 7. Our hotel was so close to the train station, like 200 metres. Maybe not even that! It was so convenient!
So we’ve been travelling for nearly 4 hours and I’ll write more when I have more to write!
Athens
Athens, Delphi, Greek Islands 27/6/09-30/9/09
When we arrived in Athens, we were taken to hostel Aphrodite who are in conjunction with the pink palace, so we guessed it would be similar, filled with young people ready to get drunk. The place wasn’t very nice. Small, dirty and cramped. We bought breakfast there and then left for our hostel. It was called the International hostel. The woman at the desk was very nice and we had a room for four with two sets of bunks.
After we quickly got settled, we headed straight for the Acropolis! We walked a long way and then bought some tickets and I got in free J
The steps were very slippery. They were all marble and I guess the millions of people who walk over them wear them down.
After a few slips we walked through a pillared gate way and saw the Parthenon. It was magnificent! It was incredible!! It was so impressive!! And yet… some what ruined by the amount of scaffolding around it. A sign said they had finished restoration in 2004. Well I don’t believe that, if so, don’t you think they would have taken the scaffolding down by now? Mum said when she saw it last time she could actually walk in and stand in the middle. Even though I couldn’t do that, I could imagine it. How it would have looked with the huge statue in the middle of Athena.
Zeus held a competition for Athena and Poseidon to see who could give the best gift for the people. Poseidon gave the horse, as a symbol of war and strength and Athena gave an olive tree, as a symbol peace and food. Zeus judged food is more beneficial for the people, making Athena the winner. So the Parthenon was built for her.
Next to the Parthenon was the Erechtheion. They say the Parthenon was for looks, to impress people but the most spiritual place on the Acropolis was the Erechtheion decorated with six Caryatids. The Erechtheion is much smaller than the Parthenon but I think I liked it better. The Caryatids were very beautiful and it was in a much better condition than the Parthenon. Oh, and no scaffolding!
The museum that was dedicated for the acropolis was built 25 metres away from the Parthenon but now a new one has been built. So, as we love our museums, we were headed that way.
On our way we saw a huge amphitheatre but it was not Greek at all, it was Roman. Now only the original wall stands, the wall behind the back of the stage. The seats of the amphitheatre had been recreated and now it holds stage performances.
We kept going, down and down the hill until we came to Theatre of Dionysus. This one was Greek and a lot of it still remained though the seats in the last rows at the top of the hill had disappeared. At the bottom of the stairs were individual seats which were obviously for the most important people.
Then we went to the museum. As we neared the entrance, we were walking over clear glass which showed us excavation sites underneath. I saw some mosaics there!
After waiting in the line for a while and amusing ourselves by taking pictures if our eyes, we went inside. I dropped my bag off and then had a look around. We saw shelves and shelves of black pottery with the well known orange images. When we looked up we could see people walking around above us. Personally I think that’s a bad design because we saw a lot of… legs. Rhys found this very amusing.
Next we saw the real Caryatids. They don’t have the originals in place because of weather damage and also to keep them safe. Unfortunately one of the six is missing. Well not missing, it’s just in England strangely. A lot of the acropolis collection items are there because, when the English found it, they took bits and pieces home. There is now a lot of political things happening about getting the marbles back to Greece and the English saying no.
Around the edges of the Parthenon was frieze, a relief sculpture that circles (well squares) the whole thing, telling stories of Athena, Poseidon, Lapiths and centaurs. The museum was created just for this collection and the frieze was presented around a square room so that it sat perfectly as if it was on the Parthenon. The frieze is presented in the same order it was originally in and it’s in the exact size too.
At the shorter sides of the square room they put marble and plaster (the plasters are substitute for the marbles that are still in England) statues. These statues were from the Parthenon, at the top, above the columns, in a long triangle. Hardly any of the statues exist anymore because the Christians destroyed them.
In the square room in the centre of the frieze was a movie screen that we watched about the statues and how it looked and how it became what it is now. We were all falling asleep so we decided to get a coffee but the café took so long to even get a menu we just left and went to a coffee place in the street.
We then went for a reeeeeeeeeeally big walk. We went to a place that our book recommended called Tom’s recycled garden. It was very disappointing. It just had upside down fans and shop dummies and weird things like that with writing like “return our marbles now.”
We were on our way to parliament house to see tomb of the unknown soldiers. The tomb is a war memorial and guards called Evzones guard it. They stand under a little shelter and stand there for an hour. After the hour, on the hour, 3 more guards appear and they walk with their guns in the most ridiculous way. They lift one leg up and to about a 90 degree angle, hold it for a second and then take the step with a little foot waggle just before the leg makes the descent. They do this over and over until eventually two of the guards have swapped with the ones standing under the shelter and the other three walk off in their way. This was silly enough but the fact they were wearing big black pompoms on their shoes just made stifling the giggles that little bit harder. All the tourists would stand next to the guards and have photos taken with them but the guards wouldn’t move at all. If I were the guard, I’d find it so embarrassing and self-crushing, to stand there, not move and feel like a tourist attraction.
We kept walking and walked past the university which had images of people above the door. It also had writing above the figures that told each subject studied in there like physics and astronomy. Of course it was written in Greek so dad and I had fun figuring out what it said, and then figuring out the English word for it.
On our way back we bought some kebabs then headed home. As we went we heard lots of noise and music and suddenly a big parade with a band playing on a truck being followed by heaps of people dressed in colours and balloons. It was a Christian parade with LOVE and JESUS written everywhere. Everyone was so happy and it woke me up to how strong faith can be.
Next morning we were going to Delphi. We took a local city bus and then a bigger one on a 3 hour journey to Delphi. The hours didn’t matter because, for one, I slept for the first hour, and then the views were incredible. We saw mountains and hills of grey rock, spotted with green.
We came to a little town called Arahova. It had very narrow streets and often I felt like our bus was going to scrape against the walls. On some of the houses were bags filled with bread and vegetables from the delivery service that ran.
Arahova and Delphi are on the mountain of Parnassos. Delphi is, according to Ancient Greek mythology, the centre of the world. Zeus released two eagles at one end of the world and opposite and they both met at Delphi. Obviously they didn’t know the world was round. We first went to the Sanctuary of Apollo. Inside was the temple of Apollo, with famous pillars, a big Amphitheatre, where some French tourists sang and the sound really echoed! And a massive stadium where they must have held races. A little seat was carved at one end so the judge could declare the winner easily.
This sanctuary is where the oracle lived. She would inhale volcanic dust I think and then tell the future to who ever would pay.
There was a mulberry tree on the way up and dad couldn’t help, he just had to go in and stuff his face, ruining his white shirt while he was at it =P Rhys decided not to go in. he was ruined and museumed out.
We then walked down the road to the sanctuary of Athena. There is also a gymnasium here. There was a pool that they would cool themselves down in. The temple of Athena was a circle with pillars which you don’t often see. This ruin was my favourite
Rhys and dad didn’t come down to the Gymnasium even though it was free. They wanted to stop along the road and eat all the mulberries the tree was bearing. At least they enjoyed it! J
Next was the museum. Rhys, again, waited outside while the three of us went in. inside we saw heaps of statues and one of a sphinx. It was much much smaller than the sphinx in Egypt and this one sat on a tall ionic pillar.
There was a room filled with golf jewellery. That was dads favourite room.
Nearing the end of the museum was a bronze statue of a man. He was the rider of a chariot which was buried in an earthquake, perfectly preserved, and if it hadn’t been buried it would have been looted a long time ago being bronze.
Mum and I finished the museum in about half an hour, but dad was really stuck into it, so, we picked Rhys up and went to spaghetti carbonara. Mm mm mmm
We only just made it onto the bus because Delphi seems to run 10 minutes earlier than Athens. Our watches said 10 to 6 when the chimes went off so, at our 6:10 bus came 10 minutes earlier than we anticipated.
Next morning was an early one. We were ready to go at 7, waiting out on the street for a bus to pick us up. The bus was late and we were also on the wrong side of the road. The day didn’t start so well but his quickly became one of the best days.
We were taken to a ferry and became friends with two Spanish people, Umbellina and Jose. Umbellina spoke very good English and dad used the opportunity to speak Spanish. We sat in a little four seat table out on the deck and watched the land disappear. Land quickly reappeared when the Greek Islands came into view.
Today we were visiting 3 Greek islands: Hydra, Poros and Aegina. We made our first stop at Hydra after an English talk to book tours on the last Island. Rhys booked a swimming one, Mum, Dad and I booked the panoramic tour.
Because Dad and I weren’t going to get another opportunity to go swimming we went at Hydra. The closest beach was 1.5 km away and we only had an hour and a half. So we figured it wasn’t worth it. Instead we just went right of the port and swam in the water beneath a steep slope. I christened my new bathers here! I absolutely loved this! It was the highlight of the day for me. We attempted to do some cliff jumping but the rocks weren’t very high.
Mum had been looking around the town. She said she saw some amazing little houses and also a lot of donkeys. I realised I had missed donkeys, but maybe not their smell!
We boarded back on the boat and went to Poros. We only stayed half an hour there and it really wasn’t enough time. We walked around, saw some fish in the water and bought some too (water, not fish).
We then got on the boat and we were served a 3 course lunch.
Later we played some cards outside on the deck and watched little islands pass until we arrived in Aegina.
We left Rhys here and got on a French/English bus for Panoramic tour. It took us all around the coast and then to some Pistachio trees. I must admit, the soothing voice of the speaker and the moving sensation of the bus was putting me to sleep and I was really struggling to stay awake. But then we had to get off at the big Greek Orthodox Church. I had noticed the many older Greek people were travelling too and I thought, “Are they just coming out for a trip?” but their main purpose was to see this church. Someone in the Greek Orthodox religion has a goal to make it to this church. When we entered a woman stopped us and gave us some wrap around skirts as we were wearing shorts which was disrespectful.
The panoramic tour took us to try Greek food, mainly ouzo. I personally thought I’d had enough of ouzo (especially pink ouzo!) and I haven’t even drunk any! So instead we went and bought a lemon granita and headed back for the boat.
We decided to go inside instead of out because we had heard that a Greek party was on. We watched some Greek dancing and mum and I joined in for one.
As we pulled in back on the main land the most beautiful sunset was waiting for us. It was raining far away and the clouds glowed orange and gold.
Just as we got off the boat, one of the men who was playing for the dancers, stood at the top of the boat and played saxophone to us all leaving…
We left Athens this morning, in fact we were leaving the country. We took a train to Patra where we caught a ferry back to Brindisi. Before we boarded, we found a supermarket to buy some snacks for the journey. Rhys waited outside with the luggage and made some friends. Some young girls came up and were asking him for money, but after he refused a number of times, they just stayed and were pleasant. We took some photos of them and they were so cute. We saw them when we came out after buying all the food and the little one made my heart squeeze she was so gorgeous.
Well, similar story of this ferry rise to the one we had when we came over but I found this one more fun. Instead of talking about eco houses we played cards and watched the island of Ithaca pass.
When we arrived in Athens, we were taken to hostel Aphrodite who are in conjunction with the pink palace, so we guessed it would be similar, filled with young people ready to get drunk. The place wasn’t very nice. Small, dirty and cramped. We bought breakfast there and then left for our hostel. It was called the International hostel. The woman at the desk was very nice and we had a room for four with two sets of bunks.
After we quickly got settled, we headed straight for the Acropolis! We walked a long way and then bought some tickets and I got in free J
The steps were very slippery. They were all marble and I guess the millions of people who walk over them wear them down.
After a few slips we walked through a pillared gate way and saw the Parthenon. It was magnificent! It was incredible!! It was so impressive!! And yet… some what ruined by the amount of scaffolding around it. A sign said they had finished restoration in 2004. Well I don’t believe that, if so, don’t you think they would have taken the scaffolding down by now? Mum said when she saw it last time she could actually walk in and stand in the middle. Even though I couldn’t do that, I could imagine it. How it would have looked with the huge statue in the middle of Athena.
Zeus held a competition for Athena and Poseidon to see who could give the best gift for the people. Poseidon gave the horse, as a symbol of war and strength and Athena gave an olive tree, as a symbol peace and food. Zeus judged food is more beneficial for the people, making Athena the winner. So the Parthenon was built for her.
Next to the Parthenon was the Erechtheion. They say the Parthenon was for looks, to impress people but the most spiritual place on the Acropolis was the Erechtheion decorated with six Caryatids. The Erechtheion is much smaller than the Parthenon but I think I liked it better. The Caryatids were very beautiful and it was in a much better condition than the Parthenon. Oh, and no scaffolding!
The museum that was dedicated for the acropolis was built 25 metres away from the Parthenon but now a new one has been built. So, as we love our museums, we were headed that way.
On our way we saw a huge amphitheatre but it was not Greek at all, it was Roman. Now only the original wall stands, the wall behind the back of the stage. The seats of the amphitheatre had been recreated and now it holds stage performances.
We kept going, down and down the hill until we came to Theatre of Dionysus. This one was Greek and a lot of it still remained though the seats in the last rows at the top of the hill had disappeared. At the bottom of the stairs were individual seats which were obviously for the most important people.
Then we went to the museum. As we neared the entrance, we were walking over clear glass which showed us excavation sites underneath. I saw some mosaics there!
After waiting in the line for a while and amusing ourselves by taking pictures if our eyes, we went inside. I dropped my bag off and then had a look around. We saw shelves and shelves of black pottery with the well known orange images. When we looked up we could see people walking around above us. Personally I think that’s a bad design because we saw a lot of… legs. Rhys found this very amusing.
Next we saw the real Caryatids. They don’t have the originals in place because of weather damage and also to keep them safe. Unfortunately one of the six is missing. Well not missing, it’s just in England strangely. A lot of the acropolis collection items are there because, when the English found it, they took bits and pieces home. There is now a lot of political things happening about getting the marbles back to Greece and the English saying no.
Around the edges of the Parthenon was frieze, a relief sculpture that circles (well squares) the whole thing, telling stories of Athena, Poseidon, Lapiths and centaurs. The museum was created just for this collection and the frieze was presented around a square room so that it sat perfectly as if it was on the Parthenon. The frieze is presented in the same order it was originally in and it’s in the exact size too.
At the shorter sides of the square room they put marble and plaster (the plasters are substitute for the marbles that are still in England) statues. These statues were from the Parthenon, at the top, above the columns, in a long triangle. Hardly any of the statues exist anymore because the Christians destroyed them.
In the square room in the centre of the frieze was a movie screen that we watched about the statues and how it looked and how it became what it is now. We were all falling asleep so we decided to get a coffee but the café took so long to even get a menu we just left and went to a coffee place in the street.
We then went for a reeeeeeeeeeally big walk. We went to a place that our book recommended called Tom’s recycled garden. It was very disappointing. It just had upside down fans and shop dummies and weird things like that with writing like “return our marbles now.”
We were on our way to parliament house to see tomb of the unknown soldiers. The tomb is a war memorial and guards called Evzones guard it. They stand under a little shelter and stand there for an hour. After the hour, on the hour, 3 more guards appear and they walk with their guns in the most ridiculous way. They lift one leg up and to about a 90 degree angle, hold it for a second and then take the step with a little foot waggle just before the leg makes the descent. They do this over and over until eventually two of the guards have swapped with the ones standing under the shelter and the other three walk off in their way. This was silly enough but the fact they were wearing big black pompoms on their shoes just made stifling the giggles that little bit harder. All the tourists would stand next to the guards and have photos taken with them but the guards wouldn’t move at all. If I were the guard, I’d find it so embarrassing and self-crushing, to stand there, not move and feel like a tourist attraction.
We kept walking and walked past the university which had images of people above the door. It also had writing above the figures that told each subject studied in there like physics and astronomy. Of course it was written in Greek so dad and I had fun figuring out what it said, and then figuring out the English word for it.
On our way back we bought some kebabs then headed home. As we went we heard lots of noise and music and suddenly a big parade with a band playing on a truck being followed by heaps of people dressed in colours and balloons. It was a Christian parade with LOVE and JESUS written everywhere. Everyone was so happy and it woke me up to how strong faith can be.
Next morning we were going to Delphi. We took a local city bus and then a bigger one on a 3 hour journey to Delphi. The hours didn’t matter because, for one, I slept for the first hour, and then the views were incredible. We saw mountains and hills of grey rock, spotted with green.
We came to a little town called Arahova. It had very narrow streets and often I felt like our bus was going to scrape against the walls. On some of the houses were bags filled with bread and vegetables from the delivery service that ran.
Arahova and Delphi are on the mountain of Parnassos. Delphi is, according to Ancient Greek mythology, the centre of the world. Zeus released two eagles at one end of the world and opposite and they both met at Delphi. Obviously they didn’t know the world was round. We first went to the Sanctuary of Apollo. Inside was the temple of Apollo, with famous pillars, a big Amphitheatre, where some French tourists sang and the sound really echoed! And a massive stadium where they must have held races. A little seat was carved at one end so the judge could declare the winner easily.
This sanctuary is where the oracle lived. She would inhale volcanic dust I think and then tell the future to who ever would pay.
There was a mulberry tree on the way up and dad couldn’t help, he just had to go in and stuff his face, ruining his white shirt while he was at it =P Rhys decided not to go in. he was ruined and museumed out.
We then walked down the road to the sanctuary of Athena. There is also a gymnasium here. There was a pool that they would cool themselves down in. The temple of Athena was a circle with pillars which you don’t often see. This ruin was my favourite
Rhys and dad didn’t come down to the Gymnasium even though it was free. They wanted to stop along the road and eat all the mulberries the tree was bearing. At least they enjoyed it! J
Next was the museum. Rhys, again, waited outside while the three of us went in. inside we saw heaps of statues and one of a sphinx. It was much much smaller than the sphinx in Egypt and this one sat on a tall ionic pillar.
There was a room filled with golf jewellery. That was dads favourite room.
Nearing the end of the museum was a bronze statue of a man. He was the rider of a chariot which was buried in an earthquake, perfectly preserved, and if it hadn’t been buried it would have been looted a long time ago being bronze.
Mum and I finished the museum in about half an hour, but dad was really stuck into it, so, we picked Rhys up and went to spaghetti carbonara. Mm mm mmm
We only just made it onto the bus because Delphi seems to run 10 minutes earlier than Athens. Our watches said 10 to 6 when the chimes went off so, at our 6:10 bus came 10 minutes earlier than we anticipated.
Next morning was an early one. We were ready to go at 7, waiting out on the street for a bus to pick us up. The bus was late and we were also on the wrong side of the road. The day didn’t start so well but his quickly became one of the best days.
We were taken to a ferry and became friends with two Spanish people, Umbellina and Jose. Umbellina spoke very good English and dad used the opportunity to speak Spanish. We sat in a little four seat table out on the deck and watched the land disappear. Land quickly reappeared when the Greek Islands came into view.
Today we were visiting 3 Greek islands: Hydra, Poros and Aegina. We made our first stop at Hydra after an English talk to book tours on the last Island. Rhys booked a swimming one, Mum, Dad and I booked the panoramic tour.
Because Dad and I weren’t going to get another opportunity to go swimming we went at Hydra. The closest beach was 1.5 km away and we only had an hour and a half. So we figured it wasn’t worth it. Instead we just went right of the port and swam in the water beneath a steep slope. I christened my new bathers here! I absolutely loved this! It was the highlight of the day for me. We attempted to do some cliff jumping but the rocks weren’t very high.
Mum had been looking around the town. She said she saw some amazing little houses and also a lot of donkeys. I realised I had missed donkeys, but maybe not their smell!
We boarded back on the boat and went to Poros. We only stayed half an hour there and it really wasn’t enough time. We walked around, saw some fish in the water and bought some too (water, not fish).
We then got on the boat and we were served a 3 course lunch.
Later we played some cards outside on the deck and watched little islands pass until we arrived in Aegina.
We left Rhys here and got on a French/English bus for Panoramic tour. It took us all around the coast and then to some Pistachio trees. I must admit, the soothing voice of the speaker and the moving sensation of the bus was putting me to sleep and I was really struggling to stay awake. But then we had to get off at the big Greek Orthodox Church. I had noticed the many older Greek people were travelling too and I thought, “Are they just coming out for a trip?” but their main purpose was to see this church. Someone in the Greek Orthodox religion has a goal to make it to this church. When we entered a woman stopped us and gave us some wrap around skirts as we were wearing shorts which was disrespectful.
The panoramic tour took us to try Greek food, mainly ouzo. I personally thought I’d had enough of ouzo (especially pink ouzo!) and I haven’t even drunk any! So instead we went and bought a lemon granita and headed back for the boat.
We decided to go inside instead of out because we had heard that a Greek party was on. We watched some Greek dancing and mum and I joined in for one.
As we pulled in back on the main land the most beautiful sunset was waiting for us. It was raining far away and the clouds glowed orange and gold.
Just as we got off the boat, one of the men who was playing for the dancers, stood at the top of the boat and played saxophone to us all leaving…
We left Athens this morning, in fact we were leaving the country. We took a train to Patra where we caught a ferry back to Brindisi. Before we boarded, we found a supermarket to buy some snacks for the journey. Rhys waited outside with the luggage and made some friends. Some young girls came up and were asking him for money, but after he refused a number of times, they just stayed and were pleasant. We took some photos of them and they were so cute. We saw them when we came out after buying all the food and the little one made my heart squeeze she was so gorgeous.
Well, similar story of this ferry rise to the one we had when we came over but I found this one more fun. Instead of talking about eco houses we played cards and watched the island of Ithaca pass.
Corfu
Corfu 20/6/09-26/6/09
Next morning we awoke to Corfu. We watched the harbour coming in to meet us and also watch planes taking off just in front of us then flying above us.
When we got off we were taken on a bus to our hostel-“The Pink Palace” I loved the trip there, watching the island pass and the looking at the gorgeous view that came up when we arrived. A beautiful crystal blue bay surrounded by a mountain with a thumb bit sticking out of the side of it and a little pointy island on the furthest southern side of the bay.
When we arrived we were greeted by a girl named Crystal who told us all about the place and gave us all (even me) a free shot of ouzo. That was a little confronting, plus ouzo is usually clear but at the pink palace, of course, they add food colouring to make it pink.
So we headed down to breakfast (which is free every morning). And when I mean down to breakfast I really mean down. We went down about 100 steps and then down steep hills that took us right down to the beach. Here we met the egg man who served us eggs every morning. Every breakfast for a week was the same: French stick bread with butter, jam or Nutella, scrambled eggs (except one morning it was fried which was nice for something slightly different) ham and cheese. For a week, well it became very boring. Every morning we would walk down to breakfast at 10 am and work it all off again afterwards with a 15 min hike back up to our cabin.
One day, Rhys, Dad and I went for a swim. We didn’t want to go at the little beach where all the pink palace guests were staying because they’re all 20 yr olds sleeping so they can party all night and get completely blind with alcohol. So we went on the complete opposite side of the bay where the beach runs out and no one goes. We walked through a foot thick layer of dried seaweed that would often sink into the water creating warm slimy sludge around our feet. We stashed our clothes, towels and shoes in a little cave nearby and then went swimming. We were attempting to swim out to the little pointy island but we only got half way. Rhys and Dad did some jumping off rocks but I got too cold. The rocks were all really sharp. All of the rocks were made from little to medium sized rocks glued together with natural cement to make one big rock of painful points. The painful points are where the little rocks had come out leaving the edges of the cementy stuff left. At the end of the day, like every day, we went half way down the long hike to the Paladium where we had free dinner. Each night it changed escept for the same salad and soup we got. The soup was always just made from the previous nights dinner. We could tell because we stayed there a lot longer than most people do, so we could taste the difference every night. On our second last night we decided to go out for dinner. That was very nice. We sat on a balcony and watched the sunset over the ocean.
Mum and dad knew this place because a few days earlier they had gone shopping and went out for lunch there. That day I spent inside studying maths and playing the flute. Rhys spent his time swimming and playing guitar on the beach. When he came back, he described himself as a lobster. Personally I think that was an understatement. He was practically an embarrassed lobster who has eaten a million red tomatoes. He was sunburnt to extremes.
The best day in Corfu was when we went scootering. It was raining in the morning but cleared up which was good. We went around the whole island. Everyone had their own scooter but me who was on the back of dads. Our was he most powerful scooter!
Our first stop was at Paleokastritsa beach where apparently Odysseus washed ashore. Rhys dad and I went swimming. The water was so beautiful and warm and we did some small cliff jumping. We swam into a cave too which was cool but all this floating stuff had washed in there and surrounded our bodies. Rhys found a very drowned rat in there too so I quickly disappeared. Rhys and I then played in the sand. We all then got ice-creams then headed off again. We rode around heading in no particular direction but loved what we saw. Mum’s hand started cramping and Rhys fell off and scraped his knee and elbow but they were both Ok. It was such a day but my bum and thighs hurt so much the next day!
On our last day we went into Corfu town. I got some new bathers which I like a lot and dad went to the dentist coz he had some problem. It was pretty drizzly this day so we went back soon after the dentist.
That’s about all we did when we were on Corfu. It did its purpose for us. I had time to study for my maths exam, dad got his teeth done, Rhys had his Greek island holiday, and we all had a holiday within our trip.
On our very last night we took the pink palace bus to Athens. We had to get off after about half an hour and then get on a ferry for an hour and a half. On the ferry I slept (because it was nearing midnight) and I also watched Pocahontas in Greek.
We then got back on the bus and slept a much as we could until we arrived in Athens.
Next morning we awoke to Corfu. We watched the harbour coming in to meet us and also watch planes taking off just in front of us then flying above us.
When we got off we were taken on a bus to our hostel-“The Pink Palace” I loved the trip there, watching the island pass and the looking at the gorgeous view that came up when we arrived. A beautiful crystal blue bay surrounded by a mountain with a thumb bit sticking out of the side of it and a little pointy island on the furthest southern side of the bay.
When we arrived we were greeted by a girl named Crystal who told us all about the place and gave us all (even me) a free shot of ouzo. That was a little confronting, plus ouzo is usually clear but at the pink palace, of course, they add food colouring to make it pink.
So we headed down to breakfast (which is free every morning). And when I mean down to breakfast I really mean down. We went down about 100 steps and then down steep hills that took us right down to the beach. Here we met the egg man who served us eggs every morning. Every breakfast for a week was the same: French stick bread with butter, jam or Nutella, scrambled eggs (except one morning it was fried which was nice for something slightly different) ham and cheese. For a week, well it became very boring. Every morning we would walk down to breakfast at 10 am and work it all off again afterwards with a 15 min hike back up to our cabin.
One day, Rhys, Dad and I went for a swim. We didn’t want to go at the little beach where all the pink palace guests were staying because they’re all 20 yr olds sleeping so they can party all night and get completely blind with alcohol. So we went on the complete opposite side of the bay where the beach runs out and no one goes. We walked through a foot thick layer of dried seaweed that would often sink into the water creating warm slimy sludge around our feet. We stashed our clothes, towels and shoes in a little cave nearby and then went swimming. We were attempting to swim out to the little pointy island but we only got half way. Rhys and Dad did some jumping off rocks but I got too cold. The rocks were all really sharp. All of the rocks were made from little to medium sized rocks glued together with natural cement to make one big rock of painful points. The painful points are where the little rocks had come out leaving the edges of the cementy stuff left. At the end of the day, like every day, we went half way down the long hike to the Paladium where we had free dinner. Each night it changed escept for the same salad and soup we got. The soup was always just made from the previous nights dinner. We could tell because we stayed there a lot longer than most people do, so we could taste the difference every night. On our second last night we decided to go out for dinner. That was very nice. We sat on a balcony and watched the sunset over the ocean.
Mum and dad knew this place because a few days earlier they had gone shopping and went out for lunch there. That day I spent inside studying maths and playing the flute. Rhys spent his time swimming and playing guitar on the beach. When he came back, he described himself as a lobster. Personally I think that was an understatement. He was practically an embarrassed lobster who has eaten a million red tomatoes. He was sunburnt to extremes.
The best day in Corfu was when we went scootering. It was raining in the morning but cleared up which was good. We went around the whole island. Everyone had their own scooter but me who was on the back of dads. Our was he most powerful scooter!
Our first stop was at Paleokastritsa beach where apparently Odysseus washed ashore. Rhys dad and I went swimming. The water was so beautiful and warm and we did some small cliff jumping. We swam into a cave too which was cool but all this floating stuff had washed in there and surrounded our bodies. Rhys found a very drowned rat in there too so I quickly disappeared. Rhys and I then played in the sand. We all then got ice-creams then headed off again. We rode around heading in no particular direction but loved what we saw. Mum’s hand started cramping and Rhys fell off and scraped his knee and elbow but they were both Ok. It was such a day but my bum and thighs hurt so much the next day!
On our last day we went into Corfu town. I got some new bathers which I like a lot and dad went to the dentist coz he had some problem. It was pretty drizzly this day so we went back soon after the dentist.
That’s about all we did when we were on Corfu. It did its purpose for us. I had time to study for my maths exam, dad got his teeth done, Rhys had his Greek island holiday, and we all had a holiday within our trip.
On our very last night we took the pink palace bus to Athens. We had to get off after about half an hour and then get on a ferry for an hour and a half. On the ferry I slept (because it was nearing midnight) and I also watched Pocahontas in Greek.
We then got back on the bus and slept a much as we could until we arrived in Athens.
Naples and Pompeii
Naples and Pompeii 17/6/09-18/6/09
We took a 10 o’clockish train and spent a lot of the journey under tunnels.
When we arrived in Naples everything seemed so crazy. We eventually found our hotel, and it was very close to the station. Outside seemed very Cairo-ish but our hotel was very nice in comparison. In fact it was one of the nicest places we had stayed, the reason was because it was so very cheap. Everything in Naples was cheap.
We played a few rounds of cards before going to the Pompeii exhibition. It took a long time to get there, and the place had a horrible stressed feel about it. I didn’t like it at all. It felt odd thinking that Cairo and all through Egypt was like this but it didn’t bother me there. Maybe because I was expecting that in Egypt, or maybe I had just settled into the comfy European lifestyle very fast!
When we got to the museum we looked at some statues first. I saw one that I studies in classics but I thought I’d already seen it. In the Louvre, in Napoleon’s rooms was a mini figure of this statue and I also saw two small copies, one a mirror image, in bronze in the Uffizi, Florence. It was of Hercules leaning on his club.
We then found part of the Pompeii setion. We looked through so many jars, glasses and pots. We also saw some dice! I loved that. There was also a strainer that Rhys and Dad really liked. The holes made swirly patterns of white against the dark green metal.
We then went into a large room with a 3D plan of the excavated city from when they began the dig. We knew this because another huge plan was on a wall close by and in the wall one was a huge stadium, like Pomeii’s own Colosseum. In the floor plan, there was no big stadium.
We then found the rooms filled with all the wall paintings that have been taken off. Rhys and I looked at a few of three women, one who killed herself, one killed her children and one was the cause of a 10 year war (Helen).
We then went into a room filled with mosaics. Some were beautiful others were just simple but they were all brilliant in the way little squares placed n a certain way, makes your mind blend them together from a distance and see a picture within them. One of the mosaics was huge, it was of a war. Close to it was a painting that had incorporated the missing images that the mosaic had lost. I’m not sure if that painting was found at Pompeii or was painted afterwards.
Later we bought a Lemon granita which is like a Lemon slushi. We then decided to get some food close to our hotel so we wouldn’t have to walk around to much in Naples. So we went to a Pizza place where the wood-fired oven was so large that we could see it from across the street! We all got a pizza and they were all reeeally yummy. I just picked one that looked interesting and I ended up with a four seasons one but I didn’t enjoy the autumn… the seafood wasn’t that great!
We decided to go home after this, we had had enough and we were also very tired. Tomorrow we were going to Pompeii and we wanted to last for a long time so we went
back and slept deeply…
Next morning we were up early and we headed to the train station. The train trip wasn’t very nice, it was very, very hot inside and it got very packed too. We did have a great view though, we could see Mt Vesuvius most of the way.
When we got to the gate of Pompeii mum and I got audio guides because we would actually know what we were looking at. First we looked at the house of judgment. There was a stage where the judges would stand and judge whether the accused was innocent or not. After we saw this, Dad and Rhys went off together while mum and I stayed behind for a bit before going off too.
We then looked out over a courtyard of green grass from which you could see the temple of Jupiter and a shed that the excavators made on the left. Inside we saw hundreds of pots and bowls so I guess we only saw the best in the museum. We also saw 4 people which affected me quite a bit. One was sitting up looking like he was crying. We also saw a dog lying on its back with its legs all tangled up.
We then went into a bath house. Now I must admit, I am a big Doctor Who fan and one of the episodes is about Pompeii. In the “Behind the Scenes” he showed us this area. So I felt special to walk where David Tennant himself had walked! So anyway in this bath house were holes in the walls where they would hang their bath robes. They would go into the bath house after their exercise. They would get into the cool bath first and then into the warmer one.
Afterwards, we went along the main street and stopped at Casa de Faun. They named it this (meaning House of the Faun) because just at the entrance was a fountain with a statue of a Faun in it. Now there is a replica standing there but the original is at the Pompeii museum. In this housed area (though it was lacking a roof) was another replica but this time of a mosaic. It was the one of the battle I saw at the museum the previous day. The house had a garden in the back with blossoming trees. Obviously they weren’t buried in the eruption that stand there today preserved after 2000 years. They are growing trees of today, re-created for us to see how they believe it would have looked.
We then went into another house. Inside were lots of individual rooms, the walls painted with pictures of winged girls, horses and lions eating bulls. So even though the museum is pretty packed with stuff, there is still an awful lot of paintings still on the wall. But the excavation isn’t that well protected. Often we would just walk over floor mosaics on our way to somewhere else.
We continued walking and found ourselves in a little cove where an English tour group had stopped. We listened in a bit and heard we were at a bakery. There were big, stone, cone like things around which were used for grinding the flour. There was also an oven that we could see inside.
Near the bakery was a cornered U shaped bench with holes in the top. I guessed they were open toilets but the tour group near us said that was where they held hot ready made food so the public can just walk up with a plate and hot food was quickly served. We called this the Pompeii’s Leonardo’s after our experience in Florence!
We then found a little closed off room called the Taberna Hedones. Inside we could see a little arch at the end covered in blue and gold decoration. It looked so beautiful and I was disappointed it was closed off.
Next we found ourselves at the Brothel. Inside were pictures painted on the walls. These were amusing. And I reckon the stone beds with carved pillows that were there would have been pretty uncomfortable too! The audio guides told us you would pay 2 Asses for a go which was the same price as a glass of good quality wine.
The sun was really beating this day so mum and I headed for a shady area. We sat down for a rest in the trees and listened to the audio guide. Later Rhys and Dad appeared which was lucky because dad had the food in his backpack and I was getting a little hungry.
We then separated again, mum and I went and looked at a temple of Zeus in the main square where we were sitting. We then looked to our left and saw the whole of Pompeii beneath standing us. We were standing on a wall overlooking Pompeii’s grand amphitheatre.
We found our way down there and saw a temple of Isis. I thought that was a bit odd. 79 AD, and before, in Italy, they were worshipping the Egyptian gods? On the audio guide the man made some mistakes especially with his pronunciation of Anubis and Osiris. I felt very lucky to know that information.
We then found dad and Rhys again which was good because mum’s camera battery had died and dad had the other with him. We walked along the main street where there were heaps of the Pompeii’s Leonardo’s hot food services.
We then came to Casa de Octavius. The house of Octavius. There were two beautiful paintings of mythical lovers on the walls. One of the stories is about a man who spied upon a woman bathing in the river. So Jupiter (Zeus) turned him into a stag to be ripped apart by his own hounds. The house a long garden down the back where a corridor of grapevines shade the way.
Next door was a similar place but only a small corridor but sided with myrtle. At the end is a painting of Venus I’m guessing. It lookes an awful lot like the Bottecceli painting. A naked woman in a clam shell.
We then headed down a path surrounded by pink blooming flowers and then walked under a large stone wall to find ourselves in the Pompeii Colosseum. It was no where near as big as the real colosseum but it’s not far off. We walked across the stage and imagined the seats being filled, them all cheering at a gladiatorial fight being performed.
When we came back out we were at the other end of Pompeii. We started at one end and had walked all the way across. We were hoping to catch a bus from the exit near us but unfortunately we needed to get mum’s license as she had to give I.D to take the audio guides.
So we raced back to the beginning. On our way we noticed the roads and the chariot wheel ruts that were worn down into the stone road, just like at Jerash in Jordan. We were walking along the old footpaths which were about a foot higher than the chariot road. When we came to a corner, where the road passed in front of us, there were zebra crossings. Two or three large, oval shaped stones sat in the middle of the road for pedestrians to cross without having to step down on to the road which was often filled with rubbish. I thought that was cool!
When we had taken back the audio guides we bought a lemon granita because we were very hot. They were expensive though so we got one to share.
Then we went to find out where we would to catch a bus to Mt. Vesuvius. We made our way down the road, in the direction that the granita man told us and asked for tickets at the information centre next to the bus stop. He was very unhelpful and quickly closed the shop after we left. There was confusion and at one stage Rhys had to run up to the train station but we figured out the next bus was to leave in 20 minutes and it was the last one.
We made some Texan friends who were also going on the same bus there. We took the bus and, on our ascent, the bus driver would toot around every blind corner in case a car was coming and every time he would make a different tune.
We were told that the climb up Mt. Vesuvius was an easy 800 m climb. But the guide book lied. It was a very steep climb.
We eventually made it in about 20 minutes but we were on a time limit. The last bus left after an hour. From the top we could see everything. We even figured out the tiny little area that was Pompeii. It was pretty hazy but the view was still great. We could see mountains, city and the ocean. We bought some postcards of the erupting Vesuvius. This made me a little wary so I was happy to leave soon. We headed back on the bus and went to the train station.
Dad and Rhys reeeally wanted to go to Sorento but it was about 7 at night already and the train tomorrow was early. So we stood on opposite sides of the platforms and talked to each other across the railway track. Our train came first.
On the train was quite awkward I didn’t have a seat but a nice woman made some Italian guys move over to give a seat for me. We then had interesting conversations with people around as we stirred lots of attention. Two 11 yr olds girls sat in front of me and stared at me a lot and asked me questions in Italian so I sort of shrugged my shoulders and gave them confused looks in reply. Mum got talking to a girl who seemed to be the only one who had studied any English at all. She translated a few things for us that one of the guys was saying about me but she hesitated making me think I’m not sure I want to know. We then told them about people in Egypt shouting offers of camels to buy me which made them all laugh when the girl translated it.
After an exhausting train journey home, I did some blogging and then got ready for bed. Suddenly I thought I heard gun shots. I quickly went outside and saw fireworks just to the left of my balcony. I attempted to get mum but she came too late. I felt special to have that experience to myself.
Next morning was early, up at 7-ish and to the train station by 8. We had got on the train to Brindisi. When we arrived in Brindisi, we had to walk a long way down a straight street following sign saying “To Greece ↑” Then we got tickets for the Ferry we were going to catch and sat down to have lunch/dinner at a Foccaceria. The man inside was so nice. We were watching Elizabeth I with Cate Blanchette dubbed in Italian and we got talking about English history. Here was where we had the best Pizza ever!
Afterwards we got on a little bus and listened to “She’s got Betty Davis eyes” turned up really loudly. It was only a very small bus and we were the only ones on it. That was great!
We then made our way to the Ferry. We couldn’t find the passenger way in so we just took the car way. When we got up we realised how upper-ish it was! Everything felt like such luxury. We had a little cabin to sleep in with 2 fold down bunks and our own toilet.
We spent the next few hours on the top deck talking about Eco housing and watching the sunset. We played some cards, bought some ham and cheese sand-whiches and then we all had a very calm night.
We took a 10 o’clockish train and spent a lot of the journey under tunnels.
When we arrived in Naples everything seemed so crazy. We eventually found our hotel, and it was very close to the station. Outside seemed very Cairo-ish but our hotel was very nice in comparison. In fact it was one of the nicest places we had stayed, the reason was because it was so very cheap. Everything in Naples was cheap.
We played a few rounds of cards before going to the Pompeii exhibition. It took a long time to get there, and the place had a horrible stressed feel about it. I didn’t like it at all. It felt odd thinking that Cairo and all through Egypt was like this but it didn’t bother me there. Maybe because I was expecting that in Egypt, or maybe I had just settled into the comfy European lifestyle very fast!
When we got to the museum we looked at some statues first. I saw one that I studies in classics but I thought I’d already seen it. In the Louvre, in Napoleon’s rooms was a mini figure of this statue and I also saw two small copies, one a mirror image, in bronze in the Uffizi, Florence. It was of Hercules leaning on his club.
We then found part of the Pompeii setion. We looked through so many jars, glasses and pots. We also saw some dice! I loved that. There was also a strainer that Rhys and Dad really liked. The holes made swirly patterns of white against the dark green metal.
We then went into a large room with a 3D plan of the excavated city from when they began the dig. We knew this because another huge plan was on a wall close by and in the wall one was a huge stadium, like Pomeii’s own Colosseum. In the floor plan, there was no big stadium.
We then found the rooms filled with all the wall paintings that have been taken off. Rhys and I looked at a few of three women, one who killed herself, one killed her children and one was the cause of a 10 year war (Helen).
We then went into a room filled with mosaics. Some were beautiful others were just simple but they were all brilliant in the way little squares placed n a certain way, makes your mind blend them together from a distance and see a picture within them. One of the mosaics was huge, it was of a war. Close to it was a painting that had incorporated the missing images that the mosaic had lost. I’m not sure if that painting was found at Pompeii or was painted afterwards.
Later we bought a Lemon granita which is like a Lemon slushi. We then decided to get some food close to our hotel so we wouldn’t have to walk around to much in Naples. So we went to a Pizza place where the wood-fired oven was so large that we could see it from across the street! We all got a pizza and they were all reeeally yummy. I just picked one that looked interesting and I ended up with a four seasons one but I didn’t enjoy the autumn… the seafood wasn’t that great!
We decided to go home after this, we had had enough and we were also very tired. Tomorrow we were going to Pompeii and we wanted to last for a long time so we went
back and slept deeply…
Next morning we were up early and we headed to the train station. The train trip wasn’t very nice, it was very, very hot inside and it got very packed too. We did have a great view though, we could see Mt Vesuvius most of the way.
When we got to the gate of Pompeii mum and I got audio guides because we would actually know what we were looking at. First we looked at the house of judgment. There was a stage where the judges would stand and judge whether the accused was innocent or not. After we saw this, Dad and Rhys went off together while mum and I stayed behind for a bit before going off too.
We then looked out over a courtyard of green grass from which you could see the temple of Jupiter and a shed that the excavators made on the left. Inside we saw hundreds of pots and bowls so I guess we only saw the best in the museum. We also saw 4 people which affected me quite a bit. One was sitting up looking like he was crying. We also saw a dog lying on its back with its legs all tangled up.
We then went into a bath house. Now I must admit, I am a big Doctor Who fan and one of the episodes is about Pompeii. In the “Behind the Scenes” he showed us this area. So I felt special to walk where David Tennant himself had walked! So anyway in this bath house were holes in the walls where they would hang their bath robes. They would go into the bath house after their exercise. They would get into the cool bath first and then into the warmer one.
Afterwards, we went along the main street and stopped at Casa de Faun. They named it this (meaning House of the Faun) because just at the entrance was a fountain with a statue of a Faun in it. Now there is a replica standing there but the original is at the Pompeii museum. In this housed area (though it was lacking a roof) was another replica but this time of a mosaic. It was the one of the battle I saw at the museum the previous day. The house had a garden in the back with blossoming trees. Obviously they weren’t buried in the eruption that stand there today preserved after 2000 years. They are growing trees of today, re-created for us to see how they believe it would have looked.
We then went into another house. Inside were lots of individual rooms, the walls painted with pictures of winged girls, horses and lions eating bulls. So even though the museum is pretty packed with stuff, there is still an awful lot of paintings still on the wall. But the excavation isn’t that well protected. Often we would just walk over floor mosaics on our way to somewhere else.
We continued walking and found ourselves in a little cove where an English tour group had stopped. We listened in a bit and heard we were at a bakery. There were big, stone, cone like things around which were used for grinding the flour. There was also an oven that we could see inside.
Near the bakery was a cornered U shaped bench with holes in the top. I guessed they were open toilets but the tour group near us said that was where they held hot ready made food so the public can just walk up with a plate and hot food was quickly served. We called this the Pompeii’s Leonardo’s after our experience in Florence!
We then found a little closed off room called the Taberna Hedones. Inside we could see a little arch at the end covered in blue and gold decoration. It looked so beautiful and I was disappointed it was closed off.
Next we found ourselves at the Brothel. Inside were pictures painted on the walls. These were amusing. And I reckon the stone beds with carved pillows that were there would have been pretty uncomfortable too! The audio guides told us you would pay 2 Asses for a go which was the same price as a glass of good quality wine.
The sun was really beating this day so mum and I headed for a shady area. We sat down for a rest in the trees and listened to the audio guide. Later Rhys and Dad appeared which was lucky because dad had the food in his backpack and I was getting a little hungry.
We then separated again, mum and I went and looked at a temple of Zeus in the main square where we were sitting. We then looked to our left and saw the whole of Pompeii beneath standing us. We were standing on a wall overlooking Pompeii’s grand amphitheatre.
We found our way down there and saw a temple of Isis. I thought that was a bit odd. 79 AD, and before, in Italy, they were worshipping the Egyptian gods? On the audio guide the man made some mistakes especially with his pronunciation of Anubis and Osiris. I felt very lucky to know that information.
We then found dad and Rhys again which was good because mum’s camera battery had died and dad had the other with him. We walked along the main street where there were heaps of the Pompeii’s Leonardo’s hot food services.
We then came to Casa de Octavius. The house of Octavius. There were two beautiful paintings of mythical lovers on the walls. One of the stories is about a man who spied upon a woman bathing in the river. So Jupiter (Zeus) turned him into a stag to be ripped apart by his own hounds. The house a long garden down the back where a corridor of grapevines shade the way.
Next door was a similar place but only a small corridor but sided with myrtle. At the end is a painting of Venus I’m guessing. It lookes an awful lot like the Bottecceli painting. A naked woman in a clam shell.
We then headed down a path surrounded by pink blooming flowers and then walked under a large stone wall to find ourselves in the Pompeii Colosseum. It was no where near as big as the real colosseum but it’s not far off. We walked across the stage and imagined the seats being filled, them all cheering at a gladiatorial fight being performed.
When we came back out we were at the other end of Pompeii. We started at one end and had walked all the way across. We were hoping to catch a bus from the exit near us but unfortunately we needed to get mum’s license as she had to give I.D to take the audio guides.
So we raced back to the beginning. On our way we noticed the roads and the chariot wheel ruts that were worn down into the stone road, just like at Jerash in Jordan. We were walking along the old footpaths which were about a foot higher than the chariot road. When we came to a corner, where the road passed in front of us, there were zebra crossings. Two or three large, oval shaped stones sat in the middle of the road for pedestrians to cross without having to step down on to the road which was often filled with rubbish. I thought that was cool!
When we had taken back the audio guides we bought a lemon granita because we were very hot. They were expensive though so we got one to share.
Then we went to find out where we would to catch a bus to Mt. Vesuvius. We made our way down the road, in the direction that the granita man told us and asked for tickets at the information centre next to the bus stop. He was very unhelpful and quickly closed the shop after we left. There was confusion and at one stage Rhys had to run up to the train station but we figured out the next bus was to leave in 20 minutes and it was the last one.
We made some Texan friends who were also going on the same bus there. We took the bus and, on our ascent, the bus driver would toot around every blind corner in case a car was coming and every time he would make a different tune.
We were told that the climb up Mt. Vesuvius was an easy 800 m climb. But the guide book lied. It was a very steep climb.
We eventually made it in about 20 minutes but we were on a time limit. The last bus left after an hour. From the top we could see everything. We even figured out the tiny little area that was Pompeii. It was pretty hazy but the view was still great. We could see mountains, city and the ocean. We bought some postcards of the erupting Vesuvius. This made me a little wary so I was happy to leave soon. We headed back on the bus and went to the train station.
Dad and Rhys reeeally wanted to go to Sorento but it was about 7 at night already and the train tomorrow was early. So we stood on opposite sides of the platforms and talked to each other across the railway track. Our train came first.
On the train was quite awkward I didn’t have a seat but a nice woman made some Italian guys move over to give a seat for me. We then had interesting conversations with people around as we stirred lots of attention. Two 11 yr olds girls sat in front of me and stared at me a lot and asked me questions in Italian so I sort of shrugged my shoulders and gave them confused looks in reply. Mum got talking to a girl who seemed to be the only one who had studied any English at all. She translated a few things for us that one of the guys was saying about me but she hesitated making me think I’m not sure I want to know. We then told them about people in Egypt shouting offers of camels to buy me which made them all laugh when the girl translated it.
After an exhausting train journey home, I did some blogging and then got ready for bed. Suddenly I thought I heard gun shots. I quickly went outside and saw fireworks just to the left of my balcony. I attempted to get mum but she came too late. I felt special to have that experience to myself.
Next morning was early, up at 7-ish and to the train station by 8. We had got on the train to Brindisi. When we arrived in Brindisi, we had to walk a long way down a straight street following sign saying “To Greece ↑” Then we got tickets for the Ferry we were going to catch and sat down to have lunch/dinner at a Foccaceria. The man inside was so nice. We were watching Elizabeth I with Cate Blanchette dubbed in Italian and we got talking about English history. Here was where we had the best Pizza ever!
Afterwards we got on a little bus and listened to “She’s got Betty Davis eyes” turned up really loudly. It was only a very small bus and we were the only ones on it. That was great!
We then made our way to the Ferry. We couldn’t find the passenger way in so we just took the car way. When we got up we realised how upper-ish it was! Everything felt like such luxury. We had a little cabin to sleep in with 2 fold down bunks and our own toilet.
We spent the next few hours on the top deck talking about Eco housing and watching the sunset. We played some cards, bought some ham and cheese sand-whiches and then we all had a very calm night.
Rome
Rome 15/6/09-16/6/09
We did it again, took a taxi to our hotel and spent something like €10 on 200 metres. We took all our luggage up the 5 stories by stairs, checked into our hotel called Fawlty Towers… No joke… and was then told our room is actually in another building. So we then climbed down all the stairs with our luggage, walked two blocks and climbed another four stories with our luggage. When we got inside we had a double bed and a bunk. Rhys’s feet didn’t fit out the end of the top bunk so he got the bottom, plus, when he was on top, the springs came down and almost touched my nose…
So we decided to rest for a little as we were tired from the early start and mum still being a little sick, she decided she wouldn’t come to the colosseum with us until she realised she had to show I.D as her as she booked the tickets under her name.
So we all went to the colosseum by an open top tour bus. We got a little guide around and then we raced off when it got to the Colosseum. We were meant to be there 15 minutes before our time (3:00) but we made it there just at 3. They still let us in of course.
We walked around and read up on bits if information around and how the gladiators fought. We also found out that Elmo, in Italian means helmet!
The whole floor of the Colosseum has sunken in but I preferred it like that, because you can see the ruins of where the slaves and animals were kept before entering the arena.
I don’t think the size of the colosseum actually clicked in until one moment, when Rhys and I were walking and we saw the outside wall reach so high!
When we went down to the lowest area we got a great view of the sunken floor, we overheard a tour group pointing out the area that was an elevator for the wild animals.
Afterwards we took the open top bus back to the train station where we then walked to our hotel room.
Later, Dad, Rhys and I went searching for food and found a kebab place. After this we found our way back to a fountain that sprayed us a little when we drove past it on the bus. It was really hot even though the sun had gone down so we wanted some more cooling down from the fountain. We sat there and talked for quite some time. I enjoyed it a lot.
Then we went back and Rhys bought some water-melon. After that we needed to head back home and sleep. It was very hot and we only had one fan to share between four, but we managed and slept reasonably for the extreme heat conditions.
Next morning we walked to the Trevi fountain. It wasn’t too far to walk which was good but we had a lot to go.
At the Trevi fountain we bought some gelato as the sun was beating down harsh. The Trevi fountain has two horses in it, one wild and one tame. These represent the moods of the ocean as the fountain is dedicated to Neptune (the god of the sea not the planet :P).
Next we walked a reeeally long way and then we reached the Pantheon. Not to be confused with the Parthenon which is in Greece. Inside was huge! Above is an enormous dome, apparently the largest in the world in fact. There was gold arches and lots of columns. It used to be a place where the Romans worshiped their gods but now it has been changed into a Christian church.
We walked through a square after this and listened to some buskers. They had a guitarist, a drummer and a sousaphone! I’ve never seen one of those before but I have heard of them.
Soon we came to the Vatican and we looked at St. Peter’s The Basilica. It has huge pillars, statues placed on top with Christ and his Cross centred, the Latin writing, and the gold linings. We passed a few doorways filled with men wearing blue, red and orange striped suits, their pants puffy until the knees. They looked quite amusing though the guide book had warned us that don’t play games with them, they are armed and trained guards of the Pope. :S
We then waited in a line (only the short one because we pre-booked which always saves heaps of time) and then entered through a check point. I was expecting they would be checking for knifes and bombs and things like when you enter any other country but here they were just checking whether you weren’t wearing shorts too high as its seen as disrespect.
Just before we entered the Basilica, Rhys was told to remove his hat so I took mine off too, but the guard said “No, only the man.” I was very confused. I asked mum about it and she said it used to be, when women went to church, they had to cover up as it was sin to be a woman because Eve was the one who tempted Adam into eating the forbidden fruit. I didn’t like that idea so I took my hat off to show I am not ashamed to be a woman.
Inside the Basilica was massive! The ceiling was so high! Gold domes with blue patterns.
The main altar, where only the Pope stands (Baldachine) has curly poles! I thought that was cool and dad struggled to figure out what it was made from. In fact I don’t think he came up with an answer.
There were coves in the walls which were filled with heaps of statues. One of the statues in here was Michael Angelo’s Pieta of the Virgin Mother and the dead Jesus. Its now blocked by glass because someone apparently attacked it with a knife and chipped a bit off though you can’t see the chip which is always good!
Afterwards we headed for the museums and the Sistine Chapel. We went through an Egyptian section which just gave me hilarity. After being to Egypt I can tell what’s Egyptian and what’s not. Lots of the statues were just Roman statues copying the Egyptian. One thing I learnt while I was in Egypt was that often the larger statues look like they are holding bars in their hands. The sculptures did this so they didn’t have to carve out the inside of the hands which would be too difficult. So one of the statues presented here had a bar in his hand that was completely carved around it making it look life like-ish.
There was also a statue there of Anubis, The god of mummification dressed in Roman clothing. Seriously you Romans! It just looks silly!!!
We separated from Rhys and dad here, they started going a different speed so mum and I went by ourselves.
We went down a long corridor of statues; busts and full bodies, then hall led us to another hall, with a dead end. In here were more statues all of the Roman (/Greek) gods and goddesses.
We then retraced our steps back through the halls and headed for a garden. I’m not quite sure what the gardens called but I know it had something to do with it being octagonal. Each of the straight lines of the octagon held a statue. My favourite was one of Juno.
Next, the path took us to a circular room. In the middle of the room was a huge birdbath. Well I’m not actually sure what it’s used for but it sure looks like some sort of bowl. Surrounding the birdbath was lots of statues, one bronze of Hercules and his club.
We then walked into a very long corridor. All the way through was filled with fantastic friezes. The first room we were in was the Tapestry room. Personally I didn’t find the tapestry room very exciting, most of the tapestries depicted victorious battles or the birth of Christ, though they did impress me when I got close and looked at the individual stitches. It must take an unbelievably long time. It beats any needle work I’ve ever done that’s for sure!
The next room was the map room which I enjoyed a lot. Dad and I were often tilting our heads at funny angles trying to figure out where these maps were of. The top of the map was often not the north. So we struggled a bit until I saw the compass on the maps and even though most of the co-ordinate points have different letters to ours, North is still N. This helped and I picked out Sicily and Corsica and Sardinia, but I cheated with those, this was when I realised the headings above the map!
Then we came to a museum of modern religious art. I liked a lot of it but some I didn’t, but that’s like me with all art from what ever time.
After this, we finally came to the Sistine Chapel. Wow! It was nothing at all like I expected. I strangely expected it bigger but now I think, Michael Angelo probably would have lost his arms from lack of circulation if he had painted the chapel I imagined! At home mum has a book on the Sistine chapel and I saw an image of The Last Judgement. Strangely it looks nothing like I remembered at all! But what I saw was much better. The wall originally had windows and paintings of popes in-between them, just like all the other windows in the chapel, but now it’s all covered up with The Last Judgment, a painting of Jesus and with his mother sending people to hell and keeping others in Heaven. There is a fantastic image in it of a hollow human skin, drooping in the hands of one of the disciples (I think). Supposedly this skin’s face is a self portrait of Michael Angelo.
On the ceiling is the famous painting of The Creation of Adam. The whole centre strip of the ceiling, starting at the end where The Last Judgment is, is the story of Adam and Eve.
Afterwards we took the long corridor out to the foyer where Rhys would be waiting for us (because he sort of raced through). Through the long corridor was the Vatican Library and Dad and I looked at more maps.
On our way out we went down a very steep and winding staircase with two separate beginnings and ends just like the triple staircase in Santiago De Compostella but with only two.
Instead of taking a taxi or walking back which was a reeeeally long way, we took the big red bus that took us on a tour yesterday. Our tickets were still valid so it was free J
Tomorrow we are headed for Naples in the south of Italy.
We did it again, took a taxi to our hotel and spent something like €10 on 200 metres. We took all our luggage up the 5 stories by stairs, checked into our hotel called Fawlty Towers… No joke… and was then told our room is actually in another building. So we then climbed down all the stairs with our luggage, walked two blocks and climbed another four stories with our luggage. When we got inside we had a double bed and a bunk. Rhys’s feet didn’t fit out the end of the top bunk so he got the bottom, plus, when he was on top, the springs came down and almost touched my nose…
So we decided to rest for a little as we were tired from the early start and mum still being a little sick, she decided she wouldn’t come to the colosseum with us until she realised she had to show I.D as her as she booked the tickets under her name.
So we all went to the colosseum by an open top tour bus. We got a little guide around and then we raced off when it got to the Colosseum. We were meant to be there 15 minutes before our time (3:00) but we made it there just at 3. They still let us in of course.
We walked around and read up on bits if information around and how the gladiators fought. We also found out that Elmo, in Italian means helmet!
The whole floor of the Colosseum has sunken in but I preferred it like that, because you can see the ruins of where the slaves and animals were kept before entering the arena.
I don’t think the size of the colosseum actually clicked in until one moment, when Rhys and I were walking and we saw the outside wall reach so high!
When we went down to the lowest area we got a great view of the sunken floor, we overheard a tour group pointing out the area that was an elevator for the wild animals.
Afterwards we took the open top bus back to the train station where we then walked to our hotel room.
Later, Dad, Rhys and I went searching for food and found a kebab place. After this we found our way back to a fountain that sprayed us a little when we drove past it on the bus. It was really hot even though the sun had gone down so we wanted some more cooling down from the fountain. We sat there and talked for quite some time. I enjoyed it a lot.
Then we went back and Rhys bought some water-melon. After that we needed to head back home and sleep. It was very hot and we only had one fan to share between four, but we managed and slept reasonably for the extreme heat conditions.
Next morning we walked to the Trevi fountain. It wasn’t too far to walk which was good but we had a lot to go.
At the Trevi fountain we bought some gelato as the sun was beating down harsh. The Trevi fountain has two horses in it, one wild and one tame. These represent the moods of the ocean as the fountain is dedicated to Neptune (the god of the sea not the planet :P).
Next we walked a reeeally long way and then we reached the Pantheon. Not to be confused with the Parthenon which is in Greece. Inside was huge! Above is an enormous dome, apparently the largest in the world in fact. There was gold arches and lots of columns. It used to be a place where the Romans worshiped their gods but now it has been changed into a Christian church.
We walked through a square after this and listened to some buskers. They had a guitarist, a drummer and a sousaphone! I’ve never seen one of those before but I have heard of them.
Soon we came to the Vatican and we looked at St. Peter’s The Basilica. It has huge pillars, statues placed on top with Christ and his Cross centred, the Latin writing, and the gold linings. We passed a few doorways filled with men wearing blue, red and orange striped suits, their pants puffy until the knees. They looked quite amusing though the guide book had warned us that don’t play games with them, they are armed and trained guards of the Pope. :S
We then waited in a line (only the short one because we pre-booked which always saves heaps of time) and then entered through a check point. I was expecting they would be checking for knifes and bombs and things like when you enter any other country but here they were just checking whether you weren’t wearing shorts too high as its seen as disrespect.
Just before we entered the Basilica, Rhys was told to remove his hat so I took mine off too, but the guard said “No, only the man.” I was very confused. I asked mum about it and she said it used to be, when women went to church, they had to cover up as it was sin to be a woman because Eve was the one who tempted Adam into eating the forbidden fruit. I didn’t like that idea so I took my hat off to show I am not ashamed to be a woman.
Inside the Basilica was massive! The ceiling was so high! Gold domes with blue patterns.
The main altar, where only the Pope stands (Baldachine) has curly poles! I thought that was cool and dad struggled to figure out what it was made from. In fact I don’t think he came up with an answer.
There were coves in the walls which were filled with heaps of statues. One of the statues in here was Michael Angelo’s Pieta of the Virgin Mother and the dead Jesus. Its now blocked by glass because someone apparently attacked it with a knife and chipped a bit off though you can’t see the chip which is always good!
Afterwards we headed for the museums and the Sistine Chapel. We went through an Egyptian section which just gave me hilarity. After being to Egypt I can tell what’s Egyptian and what’s not. Lots of the statues were just Roman statues copying the Egyptian. One thing I learnt while I was in Egypt was that often the larger statues look like they are holding bars in their hands. The sculptures did this so they didn’t have to carve out the inside of the hands which would be too difficult. So one of the statues presented here had a bar in his hand that was completely carved around it making it look life like-ish.
There was also a statue there of Anubis, The god of mummification dressed in Roman clothing. Seriously you Romans! It just looks silly!!!
We separated from Rhys and dad here, they started going a different speed so mum and I went by ourselves.
We went down a long corridor of statues; busts and full bodies, then hall led us to another hall, with a dead end. In here were more statues all of the Roman (/Greek) gods and goddesses.
We then retraced our steps back through the halls and headed for a garden. I’m not quite sure what the gardens called but I know it had something to do with it being octagonal. Each of the straight lines of the octagon held a statue. My favourite was one of Juno.
Next, the path took us to a circular room. In the middle of the room was a huge birdbath. Well I’m not actually sure what it’s used for but it sure looks like some sort of bowl. Surrounding the birdbath was lots of statues, one bronze of Hercules and his club.
We then walked into a very long corridor. All the way through was filled with fantastic friezes. The first room we were in was the Tapestry room. Personally I didn’t find the tapestry room very exciting, most of the tapestries depicted victorious battles or the birth of Christ, though they did impress me when I got close and looked at the individual stitches. It must take an unbelievably long time. It beats any needle work I’ve ever done that’s for sure!
The next room was the map room which I enjoyed a lot. Dad and I were often tilting our heads at funny angles trying to figure out where these maps were of. The top of the map was often not the north. So we struggled a bit until I saw the compass on the maps and even though most of the co-ordinate points have different letters to ours, North is still N. This helped and I picked out Sicily and Corsica and Sardinia, but I cheated with those, this was when I realised the headings above the map!
Then we came to a museum of modern religious art. I liked a lot of it but some I didn’t, but that’s like me with all art from what ever time.
After this, we finally came to the Sistine Chapel. Wow! It was nothing at all like I expected. I strangely expected it bigger but now I think, Michael Angelo probably would have lost his arms from lack of circulation if he had painted the chapel I imagined! At home mum has a book on the Sistine chapel and I saw an image of The Last Judgement. Strangely it looks nothing like I remembered at all! But what I saw was much better. The wall originally had windows and paintings of popes in-between them, just like all the other windows in the chapel, but now it’s all covered up with The Last Judgment, a painting of Jesus and with his mother sending people to hell and keeping others in Heaven. There is a fantastic image in it of a hollow human skin, drooping in the hands of one of the disciples (I think). Supposedly this skin’s face is a self portrait of Michael Angelo.
On the ceiling is the famous painting of The Creation of Adam. The whole centre strip of the ceiling, starting at the end where The Last Judgment is, is the story of Adam and Eve.
Afterwards we took the long corridor out to the foyer where Rhys would be waiting for us (because he sort of raced through). Through the long corridor was the Vatican Library and Dad and I looked at more maps.
On our way out we went down a very steep and winding staircase with two separate beginnings and ends just like the triple staircase in Santiago De Compostella but with only two.
Instead of taking a taxi or walking back which was a reeeeally long way, we took the big red bus that took us on a tour yesterday. Our tickets were still valid so it was free J
Tomorrow we are headed for Naples in the south of Italy.
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