When we first arrived in Ireland, it wasn't what we expected. We had heard that Dublin was quite industrial, but it wasn't until getting there that I really appreciated my friend's warnings. The lush, green hillsides that you picture about Ireland were no where to be seen and tall, steel buildings took their place. Luckily, we had heard about this small town called Cork that was the picturesque Ireland. We took a train there.
Our hostel was this small, independently-owned house. We were greeted by this sweet woman who welcomed us in with her jolly Irish accent. I love their accents-- even if they're grouchy, it makes them sound friendly-- and if you're friendly, you sound like a complete angel. We shared a room with 2 guys and another girl. One night, when we were all getting dolled up for an evening out, the guys walked in to find us in our makeover frenzy. Danielle was doing my make-up and hair and we were rushing around, borrowing everyone's make-up. I bet they wondered what they had gotten themselves into! We found the cheapest Internet cafe we had found the whole trip-- 1 hour for a euro! (Usually they charge you a euro and 50 cents for like 15 minutes!) It was because of this internet blessing that I learned that my life was about to change. Because of the extra time, I decided to get on msn and talk to friends. One of my friends said, "Congratulations! I heard your dad resigned today and got a new job in Searcy." I was completely shocked and told her so. She felt terrible, but had assumed that I knew. I break down into tears in an internet cafe full of strangers. I later learn that my parents didn't want to tell me for fear of this very thing happening. Needless to say, Ireland wasn't quite as enjoyable from there on out.
I pushed back the tears and decided to go out with the gals to keep my mind off of moving. We dressed up and went to eat at this nice restaurant. I don't usually go for salads as my first choice, but I was craving healthy food SO BAD. I got the most divine chicken caesar salad! That night, we went in different pubs, searching for Gerry from the movie P.S. I Love You. I honestly expected to walk in, see this gorgeous Irish man playing guitar and see as he motioned me over. The closest I got to that was an older man with long stringy hair blasting us out with the high intensity of his music. None of them impressed us so we just walked back to the hostel.
The following day we took a bus to Blarney Castle, home of the famous Blarney Stone. We were riding along, enjoying the ride when the bus driver stopped and came back to where we were. "Where were you wanting to go?" he asked. "Blarney Castle." "We were there several stops ago. I called it out." Luckily, he was nice enough to take us back there on his way back. The castle was this tall, gray fortress surrounded by streams, flowers and greenery. When I heard about kissing the Blarney stone, I pictured myself gracefully leaning over and kissing a stone that stood before me. WRONG. You have to basically do a backbend, with the help of an older man who holds your waist. It is quite a physical manuever, but it makes you feel like you actually did something. No wonder kissing the stone is a bragging right! I bought a ring at a local gift shop. Ireland is famous for these rings: it is two hands holding onto a heart with a crown on it. When you are in love, you wear it with the heart pointing inward. When your heart is unoccupied, you point the heart outward, letting people know that your heart is not yet taken.
I also found these cards with Irish names and meanings on them. Knowing that McKenna (my middle name) is Irish, I looked it up. Would you believe that the McKenna family in Ireland was famous for producing writers and journalists! I could hardly believe it! Maybe that's a sign that this is the right major after all!
We spent the night in the Dublin airport, awaiting our flight back to Amsterdam. An annoying lady got on the intercom ALL NIGHT LONG making an announcement about how unclaimed baggage would be destroyed. We kept a tally on Lauren's arm and I think it ended up totaling close to 40.
Amsterdam was another exhausting night of airport sleep. We were reunited with many others from our group, though, so we endured it all together. I luckily had a straight flight to Memphis where my parents were to pick me up. I sat by a Christian man on the plane, which was cool-- b/c it's not very often that you have a lot to talk about to a perfect stranger. He was quite a chatterbox though and at times I wanted, to say, "Dude, you're great-- but I have been traveling non-stop for 2 weeks! I am tired! Please be silent!" When I got through the terminal and saw my parents and Bliss waiting for me, I was so excited! I couldn't wait to get my first American meal. We had high hopes of a great Memphis dinner, but soon found out that it was "Memphis in May." All the parking lots and restaurants were PACKED. We soon got lost in the ghetto part and ended up surrendering to a Taco Bell. We laughed that this would happen only to me. It was good to be with family, wherever that happened to be. :-)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Paris-- The City of Love
I am sorry that I took quite a break from finishing free travel blogs. I put my Greek instrumental music in to inspire me to finish this, along with the fervor to pick pictures to print for my album. It is so good to hear that familiar sound-- it causes my spirits to be lifted.
Paris was the first city where we had to continually hop on and off trains in the middle of the night to get there. On our first train, we were accompanied by very cute soldiers. Two weeks with no boys in our group made us quite giddy-- we acted like we hadn't seen attractive boys before. It was a fun start to the romantic feeling that Paris would bring. We barely made it to our 2nd train and had to hop on the closest cart, even though it was far away from where we would reside. The train took off and so did we-- cart after cart until we made it to the lowest class seating. We walked through carts that had bars and rich people, smoking their cares away in first class. We made it to our lowly seats, which were packed with people. You could hardly move at all. "This is going to be a fun ride," I thought. Little did I know it would be indeed. Our cart split from the rest of the train that was going a different direction, but something went wrong with the train that was supposed to attach to us and take us the rest of the way. We sat, cramped together in a lone cart on an abandoned track until the problem was fixed an hour or so later. It seemed like a scene from a horror flick. Luckily, it ended well-- not like an Alfred Hitchcock film.
When we first arrived in Paris, we sat in a cute park near our hostel. There were little kids running around, playing in the fountain and enjoying the sunshine. Interesting to us, most of the little kids were out with their fathers. It was so adorable to see the dads chase their children, twirl them in the air and enjoy their company. In our hostel, we roomed with this sweet Spanish lady named Fatima. Though we could barely communicate with each other, we found this friendship that reached passed a language barrier. I helped her write e-mails in English and we laughed as we tried to understand each other. She was such a sweet lady and I enjoyed the few nights we got to know each other. That's one of the cool things about traveling-- is finding people that you will never see again in your life, but they somehow leave a small footprint on your heart.
We went on a night tour that night, part of the free tours that we had found in Berlin. Our tour guide's name was Jay and he was this hip, Bohemian guy who was very theatric in the way he told Paris' history. We saw the Moulin Rouge and learned about its start and transformation after Zegler got a hold of it. We saw where Van Gogh lived while in Paris and learned of his troubling life. We saw Picasso and Van Gogh's favorite restaurants-- Picasso, too poor to pay for his meals, offered the owner murals in exchange for meals. Later, the guy became very wealthy for having so many Picasso originals. We met up with Bethany, Melissa, Sarabeth and Noah for this tour and we ate with them afterward at this little restaurant. We ate spaghetti, salads and fruit for dessert. On the way back to the metro, we walked through Paris' "Red Light District." Though not as notorious as Amsterdam's, it was still quite a culture shock.
The next day we took the day tour with Mary. Mary was, by far, our favorite tour guide of the free travel trip. Of little stature, she had a booming personality and a love for history and theatrics. She put her miming skills and acting skills to use and combined them with history. I couldn't help but think what an AWESOME teacher she would be-- I would have never fallen asleep in her class! We met at the St. Michel fountain, which is in the Latin quarter. Lacey was wearing her "I Love Jordan" shirt that she bought in Jordan and this guy came up and asked to take a picture with her! He was from Jordan-- we enjoyed talking to him about our visit there! He was in our tour group. We saw the Notre Dame, which took 200 years to build. We found out that Napolean basically thought he ruled the world and he was always crowning himself and taking charge of everything. Mary covered thousands of years in history in one, big miming show. It was amazing-- she talked so fast and her hands were flailing and all of our eyes were glued to her. We didn't go into the Louvre until later, but Mary showed us the outside of it and told us that if you looked at everything in the Louvre for only 3 seconds-- it would take you 3 months! Isn't that amazing?
We saw the obelisk, which was a gift from Luxor, Egypt-- we were so excited b/c we had been to Luxor too! We walked down the Champs Elysees and saw the Arc de Triumph, which Napolean wanted finished for his wedding. I think the most fascinating part of Mary's speech came at the end when she spoke of WWII. A few things in Paris were destroyed, but why not more of it? Hitler hired VonHelton to destroy Paris, but when he got there he fell in love with the city. Hitler ordered him to burn it to the ground. In a series of circumstances, VonHelton ended up saving the city from total destruction. We went into a Louis Vuitton store just to get a glimpse into the life of the rich and famous. I saw a keychain that was 162 euro-- that's when I decided I'd better stick to Old Navy.
We went to the Monet museum to see the water lily paintings of Monet. We also went into the Musee d'Orsay where we saw more Monet, Van Gogh and Degas. Alana got to see Degas' ballerina sculptures and paintings and she fell in love. Though I am no ballerina, I was most impressed with his work as well.
My FAVORITE night of the whole trip is when we laid in the lawn in front of the Eiffel tower waiting for it to light up. It was so beautiful and romantic. The only thing that risked ruining the atmosphere were the annoying guys that sell plastic, light-up Eiffel towers. They won't leave you alone! One guy kept bugging us and we firmly told him, "No!" He pathetically said, "Why not?" and Danielle, not missing a beat, goes, "BECAUSE I'M LOOKIN' AT THE REAL THING!" We laughed so hard and looked over to find this guy, who apparently understood us, laughing as well. He continued to laugh at us the whole night. He was cute in this gruff, world traveler kind of way. I should have talked to him-- it's Paris, the most romantic place on earth, for goodness sakes!
It was then that it happened: the moment we had all been waiting for. Blue lights flickered up and down the Eiffel Tower and this collective "awww" swept the entire lawn. Being girly-girls, we screamed--and Mr. World Traveler Cutie began to laugh at us once more.
It wouldn't be a trip to Paris without going into the Louvre. Though I had been in there before, it was more meaningful now that I was more familiar with the works of art inside of it. We went to see the Code of Hammurabi since we had studied about it in DiMy's class-- it had been moved to another exhibit. We were ticked! We took sad face pictures by it. We hit all the hot spots-- the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Mona Lisa and the huge Miracle at Cana picture.
Danielle and I left the Louvre to go see the Palace of Versailles, where Marie Antoinette resided. We looked through the royal gardens and could tell the weather was about to get ugly on us. The fountains and landscaping were fit for a queen! As we headed back to the train station, it began to POUR. I didn't have an umbrella and laughed at my inability to do anything. I finally stopped when we made it on the street of the train station and held up my hands, raised my face to the skies and let the rain fall freely. It is during that point where you realize you have no control over your situation that you laugh like you've never laughed before. Danielle probably thought I was a total weirdo, but I stood there for a few moments laughing and crying at the same time. We made it back to our train though and froze all the way back to our hostel.
The next morning we took a plane to Dublin, Ireland-- our final stop.
Paris was the first city where we had to continually hop on and off trains in the middle of the night to get there. On our first train, we were accompanied by very cute soldiers. Two weeks with no boys in our group made us quite giddy-- we acted like we hadn't seen attractive boys before. It was a fun start to the romantic feeling that Paris would bring. We barely made it to our 2nd train and had to hop on the closest cart, even though it was far away from where we would reside. The train took off and so did we-- cart after cart until we made it to the lowest class seating. We walked through carts that had bars and rich people, smoking their cares away in first class. We made it to our lowly seats, which were packed with people. You could hardly move at all. "This is going to be a fun ride," I thought. Little did I know it would be indeed. Our cart split from the rest of the train that was going a different direction, but something went wrong with the train that was supposed to attach to us and take us the rest of the way. We sat, cramped together in a lone cart on an abandoned track until the problem was fixed an hour or so later. It seemed like a scene from a horror flick. Luckily, it ended well-- not like an Alfred Hitchcock film.
When we first arrived in Paris, we sat in a cute park near our hostel. There were little kids running around, playing in the fountain and enjoying the sunshine. Interesting to us, most of the little kids were out with their fathers. It was so adorable to see the dads chase their children, twirl them in the air and enjoy their company. In our hostel, we roomed with this sweet Spanish lady named Fatima. Though we could barely communicate with each other, we found this friendship that reached passed a language barrier. I helped her write e-mails in English and we laughed as we tried to understand each other. She was such a sweet lady and I enjoyed the few nights we got to know each other. That's one of the cool things about traveling-- is finding people that you will never see again in your life, but they somehow leave a small footprint on your heart.
We went on a night tour that night, part of the free tours that we had found in Berlin. Our tour guide's name was Jay and he was this hip, Bohemian guy who was very theatric in the way he told Paris' history. We saw the Moulin Rouge and learned about its start and transformation after Zegler got a hold of it. We saw where Van Gogh lived while in Paris and learned of his troubling life. We saw Picasso and Van Gogh's favorite restaurants-- Picasso, too poor to pay for his meals, offered the owner murals in exchange for meals. Later, the guy became very wealthy for having so many Picasso originals. We met up with Bethany, Melissa, Sarabeth and Noah for this tour and we ate with them afterward at this little restaurant. We ate spaghetti, salads and fruit for dessert. On the way back to the metro, we walked through Paris' "Red Light District." Though not as notorious as Amsterdam's, it was still quite a culture shock.
The next day we took the day tour with Mary. Mary was, by far, our favorite tour guide of the free travel trip. Of little stature, she had a booming personality and a love for history and theatrics. She put her miming skills and acting skills to use and combined them with history. I couldn't help but think what an AWESOME teacher she would be-- I would have never fallen asleep in her class! We met at the St. Michel fountain, which is in the Latin quarter. Lacey was wearing her "I Love Jordan" shirt that she bought in Jordan and this guy came up and asked to take a picture with her! He was from Jordan-- we enjoyed talking to him about our visit there! He was in our tour group. We saw the Notre Dame, which took 200 years to build. We found out that Napolean basically thought he ruled the world and he was always crowning himself and taking charge of everything. Mary covered thousands of years in history in one, big miming show. It was amazing-- she talked so fast and her hands were flailing and all of our eyes were glued to her. We didn't go into the Louvre until later, but Mary showed us the outside of it and told us that if you looked at everything in the Louvre for only 3 seconds-- it would take you 3 months! Isn't that amazing?
We saw the obelisk, which was a gift from Luxor, Egypt-- we were so excited b/c we had been to Luxor too! We walked down the Champs Elysees and saw the Arc de Triumph, which Napolean wanted finished for his wedding. I think the most fascinating part of Mary's speech came at the end when she spoke of WWII. A few things in Paris were destroyed, but why not more of it? Hitler hired VonHelton to destroy Paris, but when he got there he fell in love with the city. Hitler ordered him to burn it to the ground. In a series of circumstances, VonHelton ended up saving the city from total destruction. We went into a Louis Vuitton store just to get a glimpse into the life of the rich and famous. I saw a keychain that was 162 euro-- that's when I decided I'd better stick to Old Navy.
We went to the Monet museum to see the water lily paintings of Monet. We also went into the Musee d'Orsay where we saw more Monet, Van Gogh and Degas. Alana got to see Degas' ballerina sculptures and paintings and she fell in love. Though I am no ballerina, I was most impressed with his work as well.
My FAVORITE night of the whole trip is when we laid in the lawn in front of the Eiffel tower waiting for it to light up. It was so beautiful and romantic. The only thing that risked ruining the atmosphere were the annoying guys that sell plastic, light-up Eiffel towers. They won't leave you alone! One guy kept bugging us and we firmly told him, "No!" He pathetically said, "Why not?" and Danielle, not missing a beat, goes, "BECAUSE I'M LOOKIN' AT THE REAL THING!" We laughed so hard and looked over to find this guy, who apparently understood us, laughing as well. He continued to laugh at us the whole night. He was cute in this gruff, world traveler kind of way. I should have talked to him-- it's Paris, the most romantic place on earth, for goodness sakes!
It was then that it happened: the moment we had all been waiting for. Blue lights flickered up and down the Eiffel Tower and this collective "awww" swept the entire lawn. Being girly-girls, we screamed--and Mr. World Traveler Cutie began to laugh at us once more.
It wouldn't be a trip to Paris without going into the Louvre. Though I had been in there before, it was more meaningful now that I was more familiar with the works of art inside of it. We went to see the Code of Hammurabi since we had studied about it in DiMy's class-- it had been moved to another exhibit. We were ticked! We took sad face pictures by it. We hit all the hot spots-- the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Mona Lisa and the huge Miracle at Cana picture.
Danielle and I left the Louvre to go see the Palace of Versailles, where Marie Antoinette resided. We looked through the royal gardens and could tell the weather was about to get ugly on us. The fountains and landscaping were fit for a queen! As we headed back to the train station, it began to POUR. I didn't have an umbrella and laughed at my inability to do anything. I finally stopped when we made it on the street of the train station and held up my hands, raised my face to the skies and let the rain fall freely. It is during that point where you realize you have no control over your situation that you laugh like you've never laughed before. Danielle probably thought I was a total weirdo, but I stood there for a few moments laughing and crying at the same time. We made it back to our train though and froze all the way back to our hostel.
The next morning we took a plane to Dublin, Ireland-- our final stop.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Scootering Around the Alps
Night trains are probably the creepiest mode of transportation. It wouldn't be free travel without a night train experience. We had our first experience on our way to Switzerland. We squeezed into our 6-cot room and wondered how we were going to function in such a tiny space. After taking some medicine, I fell into a deep sleep. We were woken up that morning by this annoying Italian man, who tried to tell us something in Italian that we did not understand. The more confused my facial expression got, the louder and faster he would explain this unknown thing to me. He kept saying, "Bern!" and I would nod my head "yes" because we were, in fact, stopping in Bern. Then, he would shout, "Interlaken!" and I would say, "Yes, we are going to Interlaken next." He would point out the window shouting "Bern" and "Interlaken" with many sentences in between. I was already groggy because my medicine hadn't worn off. When Lacey sleepily made her way to the bathroom, he tried to talk to her too and she got so frustrated. Haha!
When we stepped off the train, it was FREEZING. We finally made our way to Interlaken, where we walked to our Balmer's Heritage Hostel, the nicest hostel we stayed in the whole trip. It had a warm, log cabin-type atmosphere with a gameroom, tv room and a nice staff. Because we got there early, we had to entertain ourselves around the facility until we could get into our room. We walked to a nearby mall and bought stuff to make spaghetti for supper. We also went into a clothing store and saw Miss Swiss, who was signing autographs. I bought a brightly-colored top for when we went out in Ireland. Lacey bought some shirts from this store called, "Blackout" and they gave her a billboard-sized bag for promotional purposes. Later, Lauren got inside of it. A guy that worked at the hostel tried to pick her up in the bag and ended up dropping his keys inside. He went around looking for them before we realized where they were. We all got a few laughs out of it.
The hostel gave us a free voucher for breakfast and we used it right away. As we sat at our table, we looked across the room and saw a basket that said, "Left over bread goes here. For the stray dogs of Interlaken." You know you are getting to the end of free travel when you have started envying the stray dogs of Interlaken. Danielle kept talking about going over there and getting the bread out of the basket. Though I was all for it, I pleaded with her not to do it-- we were NOT going to stoop to that level. Later in Paris, I would find myself staring at a trashcan with half-filled soda bottles, commenting, "I can't believe they threw that away."
We really wanted to sign up for the outdoor activities that Interlaken is famous for, but they were all too expensive. I would love to go back just for that purpose later on in my life. Instead, we rented scooters and decided to drive around. The guy knew that we were inexperienced and let us practice in a parking lot. After seeing my face one-inch from a metal fence, I was pretty worried about hitting the streets. I eventually got the hang of it and he set us free. We drove through the small villages and the winding roads of the Alps. I couldn't help but smile and laugh for no apparent reason except that I was having the time of my life! Here I was, with a ridiculous helmet on, scootering around the most beautiful country I've ever seen! Since singing in the car happens to be one of my favorite hobbies, I decided that scootering should be no different. The wind blowing across my face reminded me of a kid sticking their head in front of a box fan, but I didn't care. Though spit flew out of my mouth as I sang, I continued on: "You are beautiful beyond description, too marvelous for words...too wonderful for comprehension..." I meant every word. Waterfalls fell from the tops of mountains and the snow on top of the mountains looked like it was painted there.
Our next stop on our journey was the city of love-- and boy, did we love it! Paris!
When we stepped off the train, it was FREEZING. We finally made our way to Interlaken, where we walked to our Balmer's Heritage Hostel, the nicest hostel we stayed in the whole trip. It had a warm, log cabin-type atmosphere with a gameroom, tv room and a nice staff. Because we got there early, we had to entertain ourselves around the facility until we could get into our room. We walked to a nearby mall and bought stuff to make spaghetti for supper. We also went into a clothing store and saw Miss Swiss, who was signing autographs. I bought a brightly-colored top for when we went out in Ireland. Lacey bought some shirts from this store called, "Blackout" and they gave her a billboard-sized bag for promotional purposes. Later, Lauren got inside of it. A guy that worked at the hostel tried to pick her up in the bag and ended up dropping his keys inside. He went around looking for them before we realized where they were. We all got a few laughs out of it.
The hostel gave us a free voucher for breakfast and we used it right away. As we sat at our table, we looked across the room and saw a basket that said, "Left over bread goes here. For the stray dogs of Interlaken." You know you are getting to the end of free travel when you have started envying the stray dogs of Interlaken. Danielle kept talking about going over there and getting the bread out of the basket. Though I was all for it, I pleaded with her not to do it-- we were NOT going to stoop to that level. Later in Paris, I would find myself staring at a trashcan with half-filled soda bottles, commenting, "I can't believe they threw that away."
We really wanted to sign up for the outdoor activities that Interlaken is famous for, but they were all too expensive. I would love to go back just for that purpose later on in my life. Instead, we rented scooters and decided to drive around. The guy knew that we were inexperienced and let us practice in a parking lot. After seeing my face one-inch from a metal fence, I was pretty worried about hitting the streets. I eventually got the hang of it and he set us free. We drove through the small villages and the winding roads of the Alps. I couldn't help but smile and laugh for no apparent reason except that I was having the time of my life! Here I was, with a ridiculous helmet on, scootering around the most beautiful country I've ever seen! Since singing in the car happens to be one of my favorite hobbies, I decided that scootering should be no different. The wind blowing across my face reminded me of a kid sticking their head in front of a box fan, but I didn't care. Though spit flew out of my mouth as I sang, I continued on: "You are beautiful beyond description, too marvelous for words...too wonderful for comprehension..." I meant every word. Waterfalls fell from the tops of mountains and the snow on top of the mountains looked like it was painted there.
Our next stop on our journey was the city of love-- and boy, did we love it! Paris!
When in Rome...
After being completely wooed by David and all his charms, we got on a train back to Rome-- it took FOREVER to get back because we learned that we got on a city train which runs much slower and makes more stops. We finally made it back though and found the Trevi fountain, the most impressive fountain I have ever seen. Lights reflected off the marble figures and it was a star in the black night. People were everywhere-- taking pictures, sitting on the steps and listening to the water fall from all sides. Tradition says that if you throw a coin over your shoulder and it lands in the fountain that you will in fact return to Rome someday in the future. I turned my back to the fountain, took a deep breath and tossed a coin behind me. The girls said that it went in and I was so excited! I hope that I really do get to return to Rome! It was one of my favorite places of the whole trip!
We walked to the Colosseum to see it all lit up at night. As we walked around, I tried to picture it as it would have been back then. (I seem to do that a lot, I know..) It took me back to seeing Gladiator and movies like that-- we are so fortunate to have things like this left that give us an insight into their lives.
We saw the Arch of Constantine, which was on one of our slide tests. We always get excited when we get up close and personal with something we have been tested over-- it's like the confirmation that you need that the test was worth it.
We woke up early the next day to get in line for the Vatican. It has been a while since a Disney World analogy, so let me say that while walking through this part of Rome, I was in fact like a child that was taking in Disney World for the first time. I looked from wall to wall to ceiling to floor everywhere we went and was absolutely AMAZED. The ceilings were probably my favorite part because it seems like most of the time people don't spend much thought on how ceilings appear-- these people took time to intricately paint the ceilings with religious scenes. I also found animal paintings by Wenzel Peter that impressed me. They were so vivid, so realistic. Look 'em up sometime! Robbie Shackleford, the head guy at HUF, provided us with a sheet to guide us through important parts of the Vatican. Without this, we would have been aimlessly wandering because it was so huge. We finally ended up at the Sistine Chapel, what every Vatican wanderer hopes to end with-- the big finale. As if I wasn't already in love with Michelangelo for carving the David, this just pushed him to the top of my list. His judgment scene adorned one whole wall and different characters of the Bible were placed in different places throughout the ceiling. I think my favorite is the depiction of God reaching out his hand to Adam (or man). While most replicas just show the two hands meeting, this in fact is a full piece, with God represented as an older man with a flowing beard. Danielle pointed out to me that in another place on the ceiling, God is shown again but if you look up, it looks as if he is reaching down to you. It was so neat-- reminded me of the idea that if you feel like you are becoming far away from God-- it isn't him that is moving! His hand is always reaching out-- it's whether or not you are choosing to take it!
Most elaborate church of the whole semester goes to...dun dun dun...ST. PETER'S BASILICA!! When we walked in, I was in awe. Wow. One of the first things you see is the Pieta, Michelangelo's sculpture of Mary holding Jesus. It was magnificently crafted, with realistic emotions depicted. You could almost feel the pain that Mary felt as she held her son. You walk a little further and come to some of the dead popes. These, unlike all the others, are not downstairs in a special area, but are displayed for all to see. It was kind of creepy-- I'm not going to lie. The altar area was this huge spectacle, with an overhead canopy that almost reached the ceiling and a long table with candles lining it from one side to the other. We saw the statue of St. Peter, the one whose toes have been worn off with time since people rub his feet upon entering the church.
After visiting the church, we went back and saw the Trevi fountain in the daytime and went inside the Pantheon. Pan meaning "all," and "theon" referring to "gods," this was a temple dedicated to all the gods. It has a hole in the circular ceiling, and like all the others, has beautiful displays and artistry work.
I love the Audrey Hepburn movie, "Roman Holiday" so I was excited to see the Spanish Steps, where she sits and eats an icecream cone. I was fairly disappointed when we got there, though, because some Italian singer was taping a music video. Cameras were everywhere, the directors were giving instruction and some guy was shaking his hips and singing while the audience shouted. I made my way around the chaos to get some pictures on the steps and enjoy how beautiful the pink and white flowers were that covered the edge of the steps. Had time permitted, I would have grabbed some icecream and chilled on the steps.
We sat at a McDonald's to wait for our night train to Interlaken, Switzerland. There was a table of cute Italian boys next to us. Though in my unattractive free travel state, I occasionally made eye contact with one of them. Though in another life I might be one of those girls who bats my eyelashes and plays up a little international flirting, I was simply too tired to make an effort. Haha. The time finally came and we boarded our night train to Bern!
We walked to the Colosseum to see it all lit up at night. As we walked around, I tried to picture it as it would have been back then. (I seem to do that a lot, I know..) It took me back to seeing Gladiator and movies like that-- we are so fortunate to have things like this left that give us an insight into their lives.
We saw the Arch of Constantine, which was on one of our slide tests. We always get excited when we get up close and personal with something we have been tested over-- it's like the confirmation that you need that the test was worth it.
We woke up early the next day to get in line for the Vatican. It has been a while since a Disney World analogy, so let me say that while walking through this part of Rome, I was in fact like a child that was taking in Disney World for the first time. I looked from wall to wall to ceiling to floor everywhere we went and was absolutely AMAZED. The ceilings were probably my favorite part because it seems like most of the time people don't spend much thought on how ceilings appear-- these people took time to intricately paint the ceilings with religious scenes. I also found animal paintings by Wenzel Peter that impressed me. They were so vivid, so realistic. Look 'em up sometime! Robbie Shackleford, the head guy at HUF, provided us with a sheet to guide us through important parts of the Vatican. Without this, we would have been aimlessly wandering because it was so huge. We finally ended up at the Sistine Chapel, what every Vatican wanderer hopes to end with-- the big finale. As if I wasn't already in love with Michelangelo for carving the David, this just pushed him to the top of my list. His judgment scene adorned one whole wall and different characters of the Bible were placed in different places throughout the ceiling. I think my favorite is the depiction of God reaching out his hand to Adam (or man). While most replicas just show the two hands meeting, this in fact is a full piece, with God represented as an older man with a flowing beard. Danielle pointed out to me that in another place on the ceiling, God is shown again but if you look up, it looks as if he is reaching down to you. It was so neat-- reminded me of the idea that if you feel like you are becoming far away from God-- it isn't him that is moving! His hand is always reaching out-- it's whether or not you are choosing to take it!
Most elaborate church of the whole semester goes to...dun dun dun...ST. PETER'S BASILICA!! When we walked in, I was in awe. Wow. One of the first things you see is the Pieta, Michelangelo's sculpture of Mary holding Jesus. It was magnificently crafted, with realistic emotions depicted. You could almost feel the pain that Mary felt as she held her son. You walk a little further and come to some of the dead popes. These, unlike all the others, are not downstairs in a special area, but are displayed for all to see. It was kind of creepy-- I'm not going to lie. The altar area was this huge spectacle, with an overhead canopy that almost reached the ceiling and a long table with candles lining it from one side to the other. We saw the statue of St. Peter, the one whose toes have been worn off with time since people rub his feet upon entering the church.
After visiting the church, we went back and saw the Trevi fountain in the daytime and went inside the Pantheon. Pan meaning "all," and "theon" referring to "gods," this was a temple dedicated to all the gods. It has a hole in the circular ceiling, and like all the others, has beautiful displays and artistry work.
I love the Audrey Hepburn movie, "Roman Holiday" so I was excited to see the Spanish Steps, where she sits and eats an icecream cone. I was fairly disappointed when we got there, though, because some Italian singer was taping a music video. Cameras were everywhere, the directors were giving instruction and some guy was shaking his hips and singing while the audience shouted. I made my way around the chaos to get some pictures on the steps and enjoy how beautiful the pink and white flowers were that covered the edge of the steps. Had time permitted, I would have grabbed some icecream and chilled on the steps.
We sat at a McDonald's to wait for our night train to Interlaken, Switzerland. There was a table of cute Italian boys next to us. Though in my unattractive free travel state, I occasionally made eye contact with one of them. Though in another life I might be one of those girls who bats my eyelashes and plays up a little international flirting, I was simply too tired to make an effort. Haha. The time finally came and we boarded our night train to Bern!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
My Favorite Statue of All Time (And I Have Now Seen Enough to Compare!)
After the whirlwind tour of Salzburg, we hopped on a train to Venice. We arrived late at night in a shady part of town, searching for our Hotel Centrale, which contrary to its name was not central at all. We all had this beautiful picture of Venice in our head, especially Danielle since this was her main place, but it resembled inner-city Chicago more than it did Italy. We finally found our hotel, which had large beds and a fairly decent bathroom. The next day we took a bus to the picturesque part of Venice, the Venice we see on postcards and love. The only problem was that it POURED all day long. Poor Danielle still had a super attitude and exclaimed, "It's just how I pictured it! I love it!" The whole time she was still taking pictures underneath her umbrella. Haydn, before we left, gave me her raincoat just in case-- and it was a good thing! My pants and purse were soaked. Despite the freezing state I was in, I still enjoyed the sights and sounds of Venice. The boats and water taxis were so neat and everything you would normally see happening on land must work itself out via water. We saw water police, garbage men loading the town's garbage on boats and other cool sights. The bridges are elaborate and neat, my favorite being the famous Rialto bridge. When we were on a boat to see the Rialto bridge, this lady shoved Alana and broke her camera. We were so mad! Alana ended up buying a new camera in Rome. After our short tour of Venice, we got on a train to Rome. With there being 5 of us, we take turns being the oddball out when it comes to seating. This was my turn. I sat by a Japanese man with long fingernails who was eating a strange, stinky meat. It took all I had in me not to gag as he would reach his nails in, grab the meat and stick it in his mouth.
When we finally arrived, we ran errands and got reservations for our short trip into Florence the following day. Our stomachs growling, we followed the golden arches and had a taste of America. (A taste that we would find almost everywhere..I won't be able to eat McDonald's for quite some time now..) On the bus to our camping site, we luckily met an Australian couple who overheard us talking about where we were staying. They leaned over and told us they were staying there and that we should follow them. I can't tell you how many times we were blessed by God to find people like this-- or atleast have little things that guided our way. We followed them to the campsite, which was really nice. The staff was so helpful and sweet! We decided to upgrade to a bungalow because it was supposed to rain that night, but the price wasn't that much more than a tent. We stayed in this trailer park-like community with neighbors on all sides. It was fun and the beds were great! We woke up early the next morning to head to Florence to see the statue of the David. We waited for 3 hours in line, in the rain to see him. There were times when I wanted to give up. "It's just a statue!" I would tell myself. Something in me kept me in that line.
When we finally walked in the museum, I began to fumble with a map expecting to have to search for this little David statue somewhere amidst all the others. It was then that I looked up and *Ahhhhhhhh* (imagine me saying this with arms open wide as if I have seen something descend from the heavens)-- there he was. He was the highlight of the room. There is no way you could have missed him! His platform alone was as tall as me and he stood a good 8 feet or more above that! He is truly the ideal male form. Every muscle (there are some I now know exist that I need to get workin' on!) is in place and even the veins that run through his arms are showing. He has an Adam's apple, a clavicle and even his neck is realistic! For some reason, I am fascinated by hands-- I feel like they are such a display of strength, power and where you've been. His hands were so detailed and were the windows to appreciating the rest of him. He is the only statue I have ever seen that has spectator seating behind him. On a scale from 1 to 10, I don't know how wrong it is for 5 girls to sit on a bench and stare at a statue's tush for long periods of time, but put us on that list. Guilty as charged! His face is so serene, his hair so free-- he is truly at peace in whatever state he is in. I overheard a tour guide telling her group that Michaelangelo started on this when he was 17 and worked on it "in his spare time" until he was 21. IN HIS SPARE TIME?? I could spend every minute of every day for the rest of my life working on a piece of stone and never make it look as magnificent as what he created. Wow. I just wrote like a doctoral dissertation on a statue. If the whole Sound of Music obsession doesn't sign me up for the loony bin, I think this does it.
Stay tuned for tales of Rome, one of my favorite places!!
When we finally arrived, we ran errands and got reservations for our short trip into Florence the following day. Our stomachs growling, we followed the golden arches and had a taste of America. (A taste that we would find almost everywhere..I won't be able to eat McDonald's for quite some time now..) On the bus to our camping site, we luckily met an Australian couple who overheard us talking about where we were staying. They leaned over and told us they were staying there and that we should follow them. I can't tell you how many times we were blessed by God to find people like this-- or atleast have little things that guided our way. We followed them to the campsite, which was really nice. The staff was so helpful and sweet! We decided to upgrade to a bungalow because it was supposed to rain that night, but the price wasn't that much more than a tent. We stayed in this trailer park-like community with neighbors on all sides. It was fun and the beds were great! We woke up early the next morning to head to Florence to see the statue of the David. We waited for 3 hours in line, in the rain to see him. There were times when I wanted to give up. "It's just a statue!" I would tell myself. Something in me kept me in that line.
When we finally walked in the museum, I began to fumble with a map expecting to have to search for this little David statue somewhere amidst all the others. It was then that I looked up and *Ahhhhhhhh* (imagine me saying this with arms open wide as if I have seen something descend from the heavens)-- there he was. He was the highlight of the room. There is no way you could have missed him! His platform alone was as tall as me and he stood a good 8 feet or more above that! He is truly the ideal male form. Every muscle (there are some I now know exist that I need to get workin' on!) is in place and even the veins that run through his arms are showing. He has an Adam's apple, a clavicle and even his neck is realistic! For some reason, I am fascinated by hands-- I feel like they are such a display of strength, power and where you've been. His hands were so detailed and were the windows to appreciating the rest of him. He is the only statue I have ever seen that has spectator seating behind him. On a scale from 1 to 10, I don't know how wrong it is for 5 girls to sit on a bench and stare at a statue's tush for long periods of time, but put us on that list. Guilty as charged! His face is so serene, his hair so free-- he is truly at peace in whatever state he is in. I overheard a tour guide telling her group that Michaelangelo started on this when he was 17 and worked on it "in his spare time" until he was 21. IN HIS SPARE TIME?? I could spend every minute of every day for the rest of my life working on a piece of stone and never make it look as magnificent as what he created. Wow. I just wrote like a doctoral dissertation on a statue. If the whole Sound of Music obsession doesn't sign me up for the loony bin, I think this does it.
Stay tuned for tales of Rome, one of my favorite places!!
My Heart Has Been Blessed..By the Sound of Music
We spent the night in Munich, but got up at 6:00 to catch the 7:26 train to Salzburg. Right when we arrived, Danielle, Alana and I had to book it to find the Sound of Music tour bus, while Lacey and Lauren ventured around on their own. Luckily, with the help of strangers who pointed the way, we found the bus and boarded it before it left. We were soon greeted by our rather chipper tour guide, Peter-- a fruity older man who operated as if he had just consumed 5 energy drinks. Most of the time you picture places in your head and you are slightly disappointed when you get there. Not Salzburg! It was indeed the scenery that took my breath away as a child and brought a stirring in my soul to run around the mountainside singing. The snowcapped mountains, the picturesque brown houses, the vibrant green hillsides-- no wonder Maria couldn't stay in the abbey! Our first stop was the back of the house and lakeview from their home. Though they used a different house (which we later saw) they used the backyard and lake of this particular home. From a distance, I saw the gate where the kids tromped through in their wet "play clothes." The lake is where they all stood up to greet the Captain when they lost their balance and fell into the water. I love that scene!
While we were walking back to the bus, I saw a little girl (who was on the tour with us) holding her dad's hand. As she swung his hand back and forth, she sang every word to, "I am 16...going on 17." She must have been like 4 years old! My heart was touched because that was about the age that I fell in love with this movie.
Though it was moved from its original location, we went to see the original gazebo from the movie, the gazebo where Liesl and Rolfe meet and where Maria and Captain sing at the end. It was still in beautiful condition, but they don't let you go inside because they said too many people before have danced around in it-- imagine that. I would certainly not have been one of those foolish people..haha...
As we drove through the mountains, Peter played the soundtrack from the bus speakers. Though I wanted to burst out loudly in song, I sang softly to myself, along with the girl in front of me. We saw the cart that goes up the mountain-- there's a shot in the movie of the kids riding up there. It is on that mountain where they learn the Do-Re-Me song. As we sat during our rest stop, I couldn't help but notice how many people were brought together by one movie. From different walks of life, we were all together because this musical touched our life. There were older people, younger people and small children-- yet we were united in our love for the sound of music.
We saw the outside and inside of St. Michael's church, the church in which Maria was married in the movie. It didn't seem quite as big as the movie makes it seem, but it was still beautiful. I loved the yellow color of the outside! The three of us stopped at a strudel place outside of the church. Though they were quite pricey, it was nice to chomp down on one of Maria's "favorite things." (Lyric reference: Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels...) While we were driving back, we watched scenes from the movie, bringing to life what we had just seen before our eyes.
Unfortunately, we were rushed while visiting the gardens. This, though, would have to be my favorite part of Salzburg! I wish I could have stayed there for hours. We got our picture by all the fountains that are seen in the movie, my favorite being the one with the horse in the middle that the kids dance around. We patted the dwarf statue on the head-- Peter pointed us to the one the kids patted in the musical. We got to jump on the steps! We ran through the vine-covered archway! The flowers were so colorful and in perfect bloom, the sun was shining bright and I couldn't have asked for a prettier day to see this! Granted, I seem like a dork with my obsession with this movie. Let people have their Star Wars conventions, let people dress up like Harry Potter and go to the premiere-- just let Ashton go on a Sound of Music tour!
I think what free travel is all about is giving you a taste of a place so that you can decide to go back there for a longer period of time if you so wish. Salzburg and Austria in general is on my list! I LOVED it. I hope to make it back someday!
While we were walking back to the bus, I saw a little girl (who was on the tour with us) holding her dad's hand. As she swung his hand back and forth, she sang every word to, "I am 16...going on 17." She must have been like 4 years old! My heart was touched because that was about the age that I fell in love with this movie.
Though it was moved from its original location, we went to see the original gazebo from the movie, the gazebo where Liesl and Rolfe meet and where Maria and Captain sing at the end. It was still in beautiful condition, but they don't let you go inside because they said too many people before have danced around in it-- imagine that. I would certainly not have been one of those foolish people..haha...
As we drove through the mountains, Peter played the soundtrack from the bus speakers. Though I wanted to burst out loudly in song, I sang softly to myself, along with the girl in front of me. We saw the cart that goes up the mountain-- there's a shot in the movie of the kids riding up there. It is on that mountain where they learn the Do-Re-Me song. As we sat during our rest stop, I couldn't help but notice how many people were brought together by one movie. From different walks of life, we were all together because this musical touched our life. There were older people, younger people and small children-- yet we were united in our love for the sound of music.
We saw the outside and inside of St. Michael's church, the church in which Maria was married in the movie. It didn't seem quite as big as the movie makes it seem, but it was still beautiful. I loved the yellow color of the outside! The three of us stopped at a strudel place outside of the church. Though they were quite pricey, it was nice to chomp down on one of Maria's "favorite things." (Lyric reference: Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels...) While we were driving back, we watched scenes from the movie, bringing to life what we had just seen before our eyes.
Unfortunately, we were rushed while visiting the gardens. This, though, would have to be my favorite part of Salzburg! I wish I could have stayed there for hours. We got our picture by all the fountains that are seen in the movie, my favorite being the one with the horse in the middle that the kids dance around. We patted the dwarf statue on the head-- Peter pointed us to the one the kids patted in the musical. We got to jump on the steps! We ran through the vine-covered archway! The flowers were so colorful and in perfect bloom, the sun was shining bright and I couldn't have asked for a prettier day to see this! Granted, I seem like a dork with my obsession with this movie. Let people have their Star Wars conventions, let people dress up like Harry Potter and go to the premiere-- just let Ashton go on a Sound of Music tour!
I think what free travel is all about is giving you a taste of a place so that you can decide to go back there for a longer period of time if you so wish. Salzburg and Austria in general is on my list! I LOVED it. I hope to make it back someday!
Amsterdam Train Station & Berlin
I made it back to Paragould safely on Friday evening. It was so good to walk through the terminal and see my best friend Bliss and my parents smiling at me. Mom, of course, walks up with her camera and says, "Ashton! Smile!" After a long flight filled with a chatterbox seat partner and a crying baby, I still managed to awkwardly grin as I walked through. Since then, I have just been enjoying the luxuries of home. A free bathroom, a comfortable bed with no strangers in the same room and food that doesn't resemble peanut butter and crackers in the least. I got a fresh, new haircut and highlight-- a physical symbol of the new freedom I have gained from being overseas. Haha. My feet, after months of walking around in Chacos, looked like they were going to rot off. I went to "Pretty Nails" to see if there was any way they could correct the damage I had done. The lady spoke Vietnamese, but it wasn't hard to figure out that she was griping about me to the man next to her. After she sawed away at my foot, she finally looked up sternly and choppily said, "You come every 2 weeks. 2 weeks!" I tried to explain to her that this isn't a normal state for me, but to no avail.
I will try, to the best of my ability, to summarize two of the craziest weeks of my life. They were filled with laughter, tears, cool places and memories to last a lifetime-- and four of the coolest girls around!
I was very proud of my first free travel purchase: peanut butter. From what I had heard, it was a must for every backpacker-- it was cheap, fit in your bag and would keep you from starving. In all my peanut butter excitement, I forgot to put it in my checked luggage. We get to the airport first thing and this mean security man goes, "Who has a jar?" After a minute, I confess that I have in fact smuggled peanut butter. He inspects it like it is a bomb and I tell him that it still has the seal and has never been opened. "This is not allowed!" he firmly states. "That is my only food supply," I manage to muster. "THIS IS NOT ALLOWED!" he repeats, this time dramatically pulling over a garbage can and tossing it in. With that one kerplunk, my food was gone.
We sat in the airport for a while, visiting with everyone that left the same day as us. Tony made Alana laugh really hard and she rears back in laughter and headbutts this man behind her who is listening to his iPod. She turns around to apologize, but showing mercy isn't really his strongpoint. He was not amused.
When we arrived in the Amsterdam train station, it was quite a while before our trains left for Berlin so many of us sat on the ground like a bunch of hobos. (Our group + Ben, Nic, Carrol, Ashley and John). We looked for benches or other types of seating, but found none-- so we camped out. Ashley set out her blanket, we had our scraps of food and we were enjoying the hustle and bustle of the train station. That's when the fun began. For those of you who have visited Amsterdam, you know that it has a magic all its own. First, this old man comes up, leans over and proceeds to yell at us in an unfamiliar dialect. I am pretty good at picking out languages, but I'm almost certain his was original--a result of large amounts of marijuana. Shortly thereafter, another man came up, gave us an evil look and grumbled, "City trash!" Never having been referred to as filthy street rats before, we began to look around and re-evaluate our situation.
A younger man with tattered clothes and a turban approached us next. He spoke pretty good English and in my early naive state my first thought was that he just wanted to talk to us-- try out his English on Americans. Without warning, he lays down this plastic bag beside us and begins to wander off, never out of complete sight. Carrol, closest to the bag, was nominated as the one to see what was in it. Not surprisingly at this point, it was in fact DRUGS. The guy is obviously taken back that we have no interest in it, so Carrol finally ends up pushing the bag away, sliding it a foot or so away from us. The guy angrily picks it up and stomps off. When we thought this train station experience couldn't get any more bizarre, this man who was clearly crazy marches in with a newspaper, shouting things while pointing to an article. He was speaking another language, but it seemed that he was attempting to make some type of political statement-- either that or he couldn't figure out the day's crossword puzzle. He began tearing his shirt in distress.
After all these events, relief certainly washed over us when we finally boarded our train to Berlin. A sweet German girl sat by me and Alana on the way. She reminded me a lot of my Aunt Chiara. After talking to her about her life and sharing with her what we were doing, she attempted to teach me some German. She was reading a German romance novel and sat patiently as I attempted to read from it. It was quite comical, especially when I struggled through this long word and asked her, "What in the world does this mean in English?" She smiled and replied, "about."
We didn't have problems finding our hostel in Berlin. Called St. Christopher's, it was a hip place with music blaring, modern furniture and fellow young travelers. As corny as this sounds, when we walked in I couldn't help but feel like I was a part of something. These hippy, Bohemian college students, many with eclectic clothing and dreadlocks fascinated me. Here we were, 5 happy-go-lucky girls on our own for the first time (ponytails instead of dreadlocks, t-shirts and jeans instead of mismatched skirts and beanies)-- yet we were a part of this adventure too.
We walked down the street for our first German supper. We had what is called schawarma, which is chicken inside a closed pita. We also had fries. Craving large amounts of salt, I reach over and grab the salt and shake it all over my fries-- only to find that it was sugar. Though at first I was disappointed, I found that it was DELICIOUS! I ate every bite-- it tasted like a funnel cake from the fair.
For the rest of the evening, we wandered around and eventually found a Starbucks-- that shielded us from the cold.
On Day 2, we met up with Abbey, Bobby and Jake for the Berlin Free Tour. I found out the hard way that even though I should cherish every new sight and experience, I should also take time to look down every now and then. I was so busy looking at the amazing sights of Berlin, that I missed a sidewalk restaurant sign and totally took it out with my shin. I had to limp all the way to the bus! Haha.
We met up with our tour guide, Jared-- who was an American who studied for 4 years in the area that would qualify him for this tour. He was very passionate about different types of governments. We saw the Brandenburg Gate (built in 1791), which everything else in Berlin is compared to-- nothing is allowed to overshadow the gate in size or style. The American embassy is actually under reconstruction because it was originally going to be bigger than the gate. We saw the most famous hotel in Berlin (the Adlon), where movie stars and other important figures stay. For those of us who pride ourselves in pop culture knowledge, this is the hotel where Michael Jackson stuck his baby over the ledge, which caused mass amounts of controversy. If you want to stay here, be ready to cough up 12,500 euro a night! :-)
Jared was very knowledgable about both of the World Wars, which was very helpful in clearing up things for me. When the war started in 1914, they all thought it would be a short war but it ended up lasting until 1918. The Treaty of Versailles practically blamed the war on Germany and held them responsible for taking care of most of the damage. With the Great Depression in 1929, American bankers started taking their money out of Germany, which makes their situation worse. Hindenburg selects Hitler as Chancellor, WWII breaks out in 1939 and the events with which we are more familiar begin to happen in the years following. Taking notes on free travel probably qualifies you as a complete nerd, but I did so. I could probably fill this whole entry with information Jared taught me about German history, but I will spare you! :-)
We visited the Holocaust memorial that was designed by New Yorker Pete Isenman, who is now constructing the World Trade Center memorial. Large pillars of stone, all different shapes and sizes, are placed all over this plot of land, forming a maze for you to walk through. The designer wanted to avoid the "museum experience," where you walk through and immediately forget everything you saw-- so he built something that can draw different interpretations. I never asked the girls what their interpretation was, but I saw each stone representing a person's life, cut short at different points. Some were older and had lived mostly full lives that were cut short at the end, others (represented by the shorter pillars) weren't even given the opportunity to find who they would be. See? That could have been the farthest thing from Isenman's mind-- but I'm sure he would think his creation had fulfilled its purpose-- because it made someone stop and think.
Jared took us next to "the most interesting parking lot in Berlin." When we first arrived, I didn't notice anything interesting about this normal parking lot. It was then that he told us this was above Hitler's bunkers. This is where he went underground, with his longtime girlfriend and doctor, to avoid the bombing. This is where he would eventually be driven mad and commit suicide.
We saw what is left of the Berlin Wall-- learning about this structure made me realize that it is so much more than a grafitti-covered physical structure-- it represented barriers between peoples, between families, between freedom. We saw Checkpoint Charlie and the buildings where the CIA got its start. He told us interesting stories about how people made it past the strict guidelines of Checkpoint Charlie, one involving two boys who dressed like cows. We saw the memorial to the Jewish book burning, which was located by the university and the faculty building-- Jared said that students and faculty members made up the majority of those who burned the books. Weren't these people supposed to be supporters of education and literature? It's hard to believe where hate can lead us. The architect of the memorial stated that sometimes an absence speaks louder than a structure. He simply placed empty shelves that would have housed 20,000 books, the number of books on the "black list." We saw the massive Berlinodome, which has been named the "ugliest building in town." It was created in Neo-Baroque style which didn't really catch on. I thought it was pretty cool though!
We learned about the misunderstanding that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, a cool story which Jared made into this theatrical production. We ended our tour by visiting the Pergamum museum, which houses the Altar of Zeus that we studied about in Greece. It is one of the ancient wonders of the world and boy was it a wonder! We went to the Egyptian part of the museum to see the bust of Nefertiti, which we had also had a slide test about. She was so beautiful!
Luckily, we got to the train station early because our train left an hour early! We boarded it and soon were on our way to Munich. It wasn't long into the train ride that I discovered a rather large hole in my jeans. Apparently, they had seen their share of Europe and decided they couldn't survive any longer. Already being short on clothes, I mourned the loss of another pair of pants. I thought maybe I would keep them, but a bending over incident later in Rome did them in. Because of this, I was ordained with the nickname, "Breezy." Thanks, girls. Ben met us at the train station and walked us to our hostel, which was a nice private suite that we had to ourselves.
I will try, to the best of my ability, to summarize two of the craziest weeks of my life. They were filled with laughter, tears, cool places and memories to last a lifetime-- and four of the coolest girls around!
I was very proud of my first free travel purchase: peanut butter. From what I had heard, it was a must for every backpacker-- it was cheap, fit in your bag and would keep you from starving. In all my peanut butter excitement, I forgot to put it in my checked luggage. We get to the airport first thing and this mean security man goes, "Who has a jar?" After a minute, I confess that I have in fact smuggled peanut butter. He inspects it like it is a bomb and I tell him that it still has the seal and has never been opened. "This is not allowed!" he firmly states. "That is my only food supply," I manage to muster. "THIS IS NOT ALLOWED!" he repeats, this time dramatically pulling over a garbage can and tossing it in. With that one kerplunk, my food was gone.
We sat in the airport for a while, visiting with everyone that left the same day as us. Tony made Alana laugh really hard and she rears back in laughter and headbutts this man behind her who is listening to his iPod. She turns around to apologize, but showing mercy isn't really his strongpoint. He was not amused.
When we arrived in the Amsterdam train station, it was quite a while before our trains left for Berlin so many of us sat on the ground like a bunch of hobos. (Our group + Ben, Nic, Carrol, Ashley and John). We looked for benches or other types of seating, but found none-- so we camped out. Ashley set out her blanket, we had our scraps of food and we were enjoying the hustle and bustle of the train station. That's when the fun began. For those of you who have visited Amsterdam, you know that it has a magic all its own. First, this old man comes up, leans over and proceeds to yell at us in an unfamiliar dialect. I am pretty good at picking out languages, but I'm almost certain his was original--a result of large amounts of marijuana. Shortly thereafter, another man came up, gave us an evil look and grumbled, "City trash!" Never having been referred to as filthy street rats before, we began to look around and re-evaluate our situation.
A younger man with tattered clothes and a turban approached us next. He spoke pretty good English and in my early naive state my first thought was that he just wanted to talk to us-- try out his English on Americans. Without warning, he lays down this plastic bag beside us and begins to wander off, never out of complete sight. Carrol, closest to the bag, was nominated as the one to see what was in it. Not surprisingly at this point, it was in fact DRUGS. The guy is obviously taken back that we have no interest in it, so Carrol finally ends up pushing the bag away, sliding it a foot or so away from us. The guy angrily picks it up and stomps off. When we thought this train station experience couldn't get any more bizarre, this man who was clearly crazy marches in with a newspaper, shouting things while pointing to an article. He was speaking another language, but it seemed that he was attempting to make some type of political statement-- either that or he couldn't figure out the day's crossword puzzle. He began tearing his shirt in distress.
After all these events, relief certainly washed over us when we finally boarded our train to Berlin. A sweet German girl sat by me and Alana on the way. She reminded me a lot of my Aunt Chiara. After talking to her about her life and sharing with her what we were doing, she attempted to teach me some German. She was reading a German romance novel and sat patiently as I attempted to read from it. It was quite comical, especially when I struggled through this long word and asked her, "What in the world does this mean in English?" She smiled and replied, "about."
We didn't have problems finding our hostel in Berlin. Called St. Christopher's, it was a hip place with music blaring, modern furniture and fellow young travelers. As corny as this sounds, when we walked in I couldn't help but feel like I was a part of something. These hippy, Bohemian college students, many with eclectic clothing and dreadlocks fascinated me. Here we were, 5 happy-go-lucky girls on our own for the first time (ponytails instead of dreadlocks, t-shirts and jeans instead of mismatched skirts and beanies)-- yet we were a part of this adventure too.
We walked down the street for our first German supper. We had what is called schawarma, which is chicken inside a closed pita. We also had fries. Craving large amounts of salt, I reach over and grab the salt and shake it all over my fries-- only to find that it was sugar. Though at first I was disappointed, I found that it was DELICIOUS! I ate every bite-- it tasted like a funnel cake from the fair.
For the rest of the evening, we wandered around and eventually found a Starbucks-- that shielded us from the cold.
On Day 2, we met up with Abbey, Bobby and Jake for the Berlin Free Tour. I found out the hard way that even though I should cherish every new sight and experience, I should also take time to look down every now and then. I was so busy looking at the amazing sights of Berlin, that I missed a sidewalk restaurant sign and totally took it out with my shin. I had to limp all the way to the bus! Haha.
We met up with our tour guide, Jared-- who was an American who studied for 4 years in the area that would qualify him for this tour. He was very passionate about different types of governments. We saw the Brandenburg Gate (built in 1791), which everything else in Berlin is compared to-- nothing is allowed to overshadow the gate in size or style. The American embassy is actually under reconstruction because it was originally going to be bigger than the gate. We saw the most famous hotel in Berlin (the Adlon), where movie stars and other important figures stay. For those of us who pride ourselves in pop culture knowledge, this is the hotel where Michael Jackson stuck his baby over the ledge, which caused mass amounts of controversy. If you want to stay here, be ready to cough up 12,500 euro a night! :-)
Jared was very knowledgable about both of the World Wars, which was very helpful in clearing up things for me. When the war started in 1914, they all thought it would be a short war but it ended up lasting until 1918. The Treaty of Versailles practically blamed the war on Germany and held them responsible for taking care of most of the damage. With the Great Depression in 1929, American bankers started taking their money out of Germany, which makes their situation worse. Hindenburg selects Hitler as Chancellor, WWII breaks out in 1939 and the events with which we are more familiar begin to happen in the years following. Taking notes on free travel probably qualifies you as a complete nerd, but I did so. I could probably fill this whole entry with information Jared taught me about German history, but I will spare you! :-)
We visited the Holocaust memorial that was designed by New Yorker Pete Isenman, who is now constructing the World Trade Center memorial. Large pillars of stone, all different shapes and sizes, are placed all over this plot of land, forming a maze for you to walk through. The designer wanted to avoid the "museum experience," where you walk through and immediately forget everything you saw-- so he built something that can draw different interpretations. I never asked the girls what their interpretation was, but I saw each stone representing a person's life, cut short at different points. Some were older and had lived mostly full lives that were cut short at the end, others (represented by the shorter pillars) weren't even given the opportunity to find who they would be. See? That could have been the farthest thing from Isenman's mind-- but I'm sure he would think his creation had fulfilled its purpose-- because it made someone stop and think.
Jared took us next to "the most interesting parking lot in Berlin." When we first arrived, I didn't notice anything interesting about this normal parking lot. It was then that he told us this was above Hitler's bunkers. This is where he went underground, with his longtime girlfriend and doctor, to avoid the bombing. This is where he would eventually be driven mad and commit suicide.
We saw what is left of the Berlin Wall-- learning about this structure made me realize that it is so much more than a grafitti-covered physical structure-- it represented barriers between peoples, between families, between freedom. We saw Checkpoint Charlie and the buildings where the CIA got its start. He told us interesting stories about how people made it past the strict guidelines of Checkpoint Charlie, one involving two boys who dressed like cows. We saw the memorial to the Jewish book burning, which was located by the university and the faculty building-- Jared said that students and faculty members made up the majority of those who burned the books. Weren't these people supposed to be supporters of education and literature? It's hard to believe where hate can lead us. The architect of the memorial stated that sometimes an absence speaks louder than a structure. He simply placed empty shelves that would have housed 20,000 books, the number of books on the "black list." We saw the massive Berlinodome, which has been named the "ugliest building in town." It was created in Neo-Baroque style which didn't really catch on. I thought it was pretty cool though!
We learned about the misunderstanding that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, a cool story which Jared made into this theatrical production. We ended our tour by visiting the Pergamum museum, which houses the Altar of Zeus that we studied about in Greece. It is one of the ancient wonders of the world and boy was it a wonder! We went to the Egyptian part of the museum to see the bust of Nefertiti, which we had also had a slide test about. She was so beautiful!
Luckily, we got to the train station early because our train left an hour early! We boarded it and soon were on our way to Munich. It wasn't long into the train ride that I discovered a rather large hole in my jeans. Apparently, they had seen their share of Europe and decided they couldn't survive any longer. Already being short on clothes, I mourned the loss of another pair of pants. I thought maybe I would keep them, but a bending over incident later in Rome did them in. Because of this, I was ordained with the nickname, "Breezy." Thanks, girls. Ben met us at the train station and walked us to our hostel, which was a nice private suite that we had to ourselves.
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