The European Tour Continues!

Greetings from Europe to all of my faithful readers! Yesterday morning I looked at the date and realized that it has been almost a week since I blogged last, so I decided I better update you all on what has been happening. The time has flown by and I definitely have plenty of stories to tell. The majority of this was written while on the train from Florence to Munich, so if you are worried that I’m spending all of my time blogging, rest assured that I am taking in all of the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of Europe!
It been only six days since my last blog, but if seems like both a month and only a second. We have done so many things since then, but the time has just flown by. I last blogged on Sunday afternoon, our last day in Zurich, Switzerland, before catching an overnight train to Rome. That night Zach’s uncle took us into Zurich to explore the city a little bit, and then eat at one of his favorite restaurants in town, a place he claimed has the best sausages. The food was tasty and before long we were headed towards the station to catch our overnight train. The train ride seemed to fly by. Of course it helped that I slept for the large majority of it. The next morning we stepped off the train in Rome, found our hostel and before long were off to conquer the city! We made our way to ancient Rome, and after walking the streets for a while we made our first stop at St. Peter-in-Chains church not too far from the Colosseum. It was built to house the chains that bound St. Peter and also has one of Michelangelo’s famous works, a statue called Moses. From there we stopped and had lunch at a small pizzeria called L’Archetto diCavour and got our first taste of authentic Italian food. It was delicious and I really wouldn’t mind having a few of those places closer to home! After lunch we made our way to the Colosseum. We ended up hiring a tour guide there, probably one of the better decisions of the trip. He was very informative, feeding us with interesting facts and dispelling myths about the Colosseum left and right. Another perk is that the tour guide was hilarious, something that cheered us up and added to our enjoyment. The coolest part was that we see the Colosseum in so many pictures and movies it seems like we know what it should be like. But being able to see it in real life is so much better, being able to see the whole picture. The tour also included the Roman Forum and Paletine Hill, both a short walk from the Colosseum. I cannot claim to be well versed in my Roman history, so I was able to learn a great deal from the tour guides turning a good experience into a great one! After experiencing ancient Rome we went back to our hostel and rested for a while in anticipation of the evening to come. I contacted a friend of mine, Matteo, who had been a foreign exchange student in Marshall when I was a sophomore in high school. He is in medical school in Rome, so he was able to come and meet us at our hostel. He arrived around 8:00pm with a friend of his and we set out for our destinations. Our first stop for the evening was the Trevi Fountain. It was amazing! It is huge and beautifully lit up at night with a number of statues in and around it. The scene seemed to be alive and with all of the young people around the atmosphere was buzzing. For all those up at school, it definitely beats up on the Sexton fountain! Our next stop was dinner at a small restaurant where we sat outside and enjoyed the warm Italian night. Good food, an outdoor table on a nice night, and good company, made it seem like a scene straight from a movie. Afterwards we decided to check out the night life a little bit. Matteo showed us around a little bit, we made a couple of stops, and ended up having a really good time. It was really cool to be able to catch up with Matteo and get a glimpse of his life and culture after his experienced of mine five years ago.
The next morning we got up, grabbed some breakfast, and got our tourist faces on again. We hopped on the metro and set our course for the Vatican! Between getting off the metro and St. Peter’s square we got hit up about 20 times for tours, no exaggerating. Apparently we looked American since all of them spoke in English right away. One tour guide even offered Zach a “North Face discount!” We stuck to our plan and instead chose to get audio guides (basically a recording of a tour guide) which worked fine and saved us some cash. We first went to St. Peter’s square and the Basilica. Words cannot describe how beautiful the scene was. After a few minutes in the square, we decided to avoid the coming rain and make our way through the Basilica. Afterwards we paid a few Euros to see the top of the copula, the dome Michelangelo designed covering the center of St. Peter’s Basilica. This was another very good decision and 323 steps later, there an unbelievable view of Rome and the Vatican lay before us. We spent probably half an hour just taking in the sight and enjoying the fresh air. Next we went to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. We spent the better part of a few hours wandering the halls of the Museum and being wowed by the works of famous artists such as Michelangelo, Bernini, and Raphael, to name a few. The Sistine Chapel was definitely my favorite part of the day and maybe even of the whole trip so far. It was so much to take in and I loved every minute of it! The day seemed to fly by and before we knew it we were back at our hostel spending the evening sipping on wine and recounting the adventures of the past couple of days.
On Wednesday our touring was limited to the morning and we planned on visiting only the Pantheon and Castle of Angels, the latter of which we didn’t even make it to. The Pantheon was a very impressive structure even by today’s standards, and it amazed me that it was built before the birth of Christ. We ran out of time for the Castle of Angels and had to catch our train to Florence. It was very nice to be able to see the Italian countryside, seeing the side of Italy that isn’t the impressive architecture. When we got to Florence we spent about an hour wandering around looking for our hostel before we finally hailed a taxi. We settled in, went to dinner at a pizzeria called daGaribardi and, slightly fatigued from the day, decided to lay low and plan our excursions for Thursday.
First thing Thursday morning we went to the Academia museum, home of one of Michelangelo’s most famous works, a statue called David. Most of the museum was not of particular interest to me. But when we got to David, I knew what all of the hype was about. The statue was unbelievable and well worth the trip to the museum. Afterwards we went to the Duomo, a cathedral that took over 150 years to finish. When we got there I saw why. It was huge and there was so much detail on the outside that I could have spent days looking at it and still not seen all of the intricate details. We continued to explore Florence on foot after this. We went to a hill on its southern side and got a great birds eye view of the city, tried some of the world-famous gelato (ice cream), among other things. After supper we took in a little bit of the evening in Florence. We just strolled along the streets checking out the little shops that were just closing and saw some of the fashion stores Italy is famous for such as Prada, Gucci, Burberry, and Versace.
Yesterday was pretty uneventful. We woke up and caught our train which left at 8:30am. A few cities and a lot of countryside later we found ourselves in Munich around 6:30pm. I definitely enjoyed the train ride and tried to not think of it as time lost travelling, but as a tour of upper Italy, Austria, and southern Germany. We found our hostel quickly and went to dinner at a German beer hall/restaurant. It was an experience like none other. The inside was dimly lit and the tables were about the same size as picnic tables, but held up by huge beer barrels with benches on each side. Almost all of the tables were packed with people and atop each were big plates of food, bread pretzels, and of course huge mugs of beer. The four of us sat at a table with four Danish guys. They knew a little bit of English, but we didn’t get to talk to them very much. It was definitely a new experience and we felt a little out of place, but it was a great time.
And that brings us to today. This morning we got up, took care of some things and took off for Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp to be established. It was definitely a change of pace from the past week and a real eye-opening experience. Its one thing to hear about these places in a history class or read about it in books, but it’s a completely different thing to experience it first hand. It gives you a different perspective and a glimpse of the suffering and cruelty that existed such a short time ago. It was a great learning experience. We spent most of the morning and afternoon there and have otherwise just been taking it easy in our hostel. I think that we are all getting a little bit tired, but needless to say, I am still loving our European tour! I’m also starting to get anxious for South Africa and all that is to come. Some is nervousness, but mostly I am excited for all of the great things that are to come this semester! That’s about all I have for now. I hope all is well with you, and I welcome any e-mail or updates with your life.
Wishing you the best,
Kirby