Rome Rocks!

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As promised, I am back to blogging. Hopefully I can get all caught up.

So I really enjoyed the performance of Romeo and Juliet. It was really refreshing. From there I walked down to the Eiffel Tower and decided to go up so I could be on there at the hour when it starts to light up. I started out in the line for the elevator which was really long, then I noticed that there was a shorter line for walking which was what I really wanted, hardly any wait at all. Climbing the stairs was fun. I am sure it would have been much more challenging had I attempted it at the start of this trip rather than the end.

The views are really amazing from up there and it was cool being there at night to see the city all lit up. Waiting for the tower to light up meant being there for almost 45 minutes, which was fine. I was disappointed that my battery was dead on my camera, but then remembered I have a camera on my phone. The pictures may not be the greatest and I won't be able to upload them until I get home, but we shall see.

I planned to only walk a little ways along The Seine and then hop the Metro, but that wasn't happening since the metro closed down before I could. So it meant a rather long walk home. I used the Google Pedometer function and I think it came in at 4.5 miles. It was fun though, I found all the teen party places along The Seine (no I didn't stop).

July 7th, Wednesday. Today was the day of the Louvre, I had also planned on going to the Palace of Versailles, but when Rick Steve's said you either needed a full day or at the very minimum a half day, and it took over an hour roundtrip in just travel, I decided there were more things in the city of Paris that were more important for me to see and so I passed on Versailles. I had originally told myself that I would give myself 2 hours in the Louvre, but that was before I realized how freaking massive it really is. I mean, it looks big on the outside but, really, it is MASSIVE.

I started in the basement and just started working my way up. Talk about amazing art. I took pictures of the things that really moved me. I was going to get the audio commentary to take with me, but I didn't have the proper identification to leave with them, which was probably my saving grace because I had gotten it, then I am sure I would have spent most of the day there. Seeing the Mona Lisa was pretty cool, but it quickly became apparent that the swarms of people that were crowding to see it had no clue why it was so important. Some Asian guy next to me was snapping pictures just as fast as his shutter would let him, and I thought, do you even need that many pictures of it? You can see it on the internet! There were a lot of works that moved me a whole lot more than Mona Lisa, but I came and I saw. After 3 plus hours I had seen all but one floor and I was burned out. It looked like there were lots of neat things on that floor, but at that point I couldn't take it anymore, so away I went.

There were a few old neighborhoods that I wanted to explore, so I headed there, on the way I found this crepe place and decided to have some lunch, it was amazing. My first crepe was some kind of cheese with ham and potatos and nutmeg. Then I was kind of full but I thought if that was good, then the dessert crepes must be really amazing. So I ordered a caramel with homemade slightly salted butter, and it was out of this world. Ah, Paris! I continued to explore the neighborhoods. I have found that part of my joy has been getting outside the realm of the tourist and see and experience the places where the locals live, work and shop. It has been a true joy. I tried to get over to the cemetery where Molier was buried as I was very interested to compare the way Russians value their dead against another city in Europe, but alas, as was the case for many other things, it was closed, just about 20 minutes before I got there. Too bad for me.

I made my way over the Cluny Museum, I wasn't as interested in the museum as I was the gardens, which apparently were supposed to be pretty spectacular. I went, spectacular it was not, but I suppose if the plants and flowers had any special meaning to me than maybe it would have been. It was getting kind of late in the afternoonevening and I knew that I had wanted to spend the evening it The Sacred Heart chapel which I had been at the day before after the Rodin Museum, but hadn't gotten any pictures because my battery had died. It on a hill over looking the city and there were some beautiful view, plus that neighborhood had the Moulin Rouge and some very cool streets and shops. So I thought it would be a perfect place to end my stay in Paris and maybe watch the sun set.

I was getting there just as the crowds were picking up. I had a great time taking pictures. I saw a sign for the church crypt and decided to check that out, which I am glad I did. Turns out it was also the way to take the steps to the top of the church and for 5 euros it was a steal. The views from the top of the church were just simply stunning. I thought this was the perfect place to watch the sun set, so that is what I intended to do. Until some lame dude came and told me they were closing. GRRRR! Oh well, I had some great pictures and some great memories.

I went to the rear of the church and headed out into the neighborhood for some exploration. I found a cool little shop and bought a hat, my Paris memory, and then just headed in the direction of the sun setting. It was pretty casual, there were lots of people out, the game between Germany and Spain was on, so lots of people were out watching that at the various bars and restaurants. I stopped and bought an amazing grapefruit. Then I found another cemetery also closed, but as I was walking around it I noticed a part of the wall that I could likely climb. I didn't want to break in, just see inside and maybe have a better view of the sun setting and take some pictures. It was a pretty quiet street, so up I went. Glad I did, it was pretty cool. I got a few funny looks from the locals, but other than that, no harm done.

The rest of my walk actually put me back on the road that passed right by the Moulin Rouge again, I think I may have mentioned when my random wanderings brings me back to a place I have been before it makes the city feel more manageable and less overwhelming. It's happened just about every city I have been in. I stopped in a little shop to grab a shwarma and some fries. The guys in there were pretty funny. The one dude was flirting with every chick that walked by their shop and the other was playing 20 questions about America. I was in the shop when the game ended and Spain had beat Germany. I think most Parisians were for Spain since the chaos that ensued was all pretty joyous. My walk home I realized was right through the Red Light District, it was pretty funny, intentional or not, that I have managed to visit it in every city I have been to. Pretty funny walking home and being asked to stop in and see the show at nearly every store (no, I didn't stop).

July 8th, Thursday. Today was the day I was SUPPOSED to fly to Berlin. I got up at 6:45 am, my bags were already packed, my flight was at 8:37 am, and I thought I had plenty of time to make the airport. It looked to be a 15 minute train ride. I had it in my head that I didn't need to be there particularly early like the trains I had been riding up until then. Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong. First of all the train was no where near a 15 minute train ride, then I had to take another train from the last stop for 8 euros, and I couldn't get the stupid machine to work. Finally I made it and the lady at the help counter was like, "you're late", You think! She told me to run to the check in counter and they would try to get me on the plane. It looked like for a minute it was going to happen, then the check in guy became real attached to the word impossible because he just kept saying it no matter what I said.

110 euros later I was booked for a flight that was 12 hours later. I called Rachel in Berlin, the friend who had agreed to host me, to tell her that she didn't need to pick me up that morning. It was pretty disappointing, especially since she had already bought tickets for us to go and see the final show of the season at the Berliner Ensemble. She offered to try and find another flight or train ticket but they were all way more expensive than I could afford, so it meant hanging out at Orly Airport in France for 12 lovely hours. They didn't have a back check or lockers, and I wasn't going to cart my bag all over France in order to go back into the city. And at 8 euros a pop to ride the train to and from the airport, I wasn't going anywhere. Not much to tell on this day then, sleep, read, sleep, eat, wait, walk, wait. It was lovely. I kept beating myself up over my stupidity, but then realized that after 7 weeks of traveling abroad, if that was the worst thing that could have happened to me, then I was extremely lucky. Finally it came time to board, I wasn't going to miss this one. The flight brought me in to Berlin and Rachel, bless her patient heart, was there to meet me.

We rode the bus back into the city and were going to change buses but decided to walk since it was only about a 15 minute walk to her apartment. Berlin certainly had a much different feel than all the other cities I had been to. Rachel informed me that it probably had something to do with the fact that 90 percent of the city was destroyed in the bombing during World War II, so much of it has been rebuilt, so it doesn't have the old feel that the rest of Europe probably has. We spent some time getting aquainted and then called it a night.

July 9th, Friday: Got up this morning and had breakfast and then headed out. We first went to Rachel's school where she works. It was a beautiful campus with lots of history. Apparently it was an important campus to the Nazi regime. She had some things to take care of which was when I finished uploading all the pictures from my previous post. Then there was a nearby castle that we walked over to. It amazed me that such a beautiful building and grounds which were unoccupied and anyone could walk around it. Seemed ripe for vandalism but apparently no one had. The area around there was really beautiful with lots of forrests. From there we rushed down the hill to meet up with some of her friends and co-workers for lunch. It was lots of fun and the food was really delicious. The day was getting very hot though. We walked over to a store to get stamps so I could mail my post cards, then caught the bus back into Berlin. There is a tourist walk that is usually guided and free. We were supposed to do that the day before when I was stuck at the airport, but Rachel had done it enough times that she was just going to give me the abreviated version.

It was fun hanging out with someone who could give me a little historical context and actually fill me in on some important details, all the other places I had been I just got to look without really knowing why the thing was there that I was looking at. The highlights were the Brandenburg Gate where there are a number of embassies, the holocaust monument, which was very impressive. All these massive blocks of stone that are every shape and size. Rachel told me that they had been treated with a special chemical that made it impossible to tag them with graffiti, but half way through the process of treating them, they found out that the company that was making the chemical also made the gas that used to kill the jews. Awkward! But the company offered to do the whole job for free and any future touch-ups that may be needed. So a bad story turned good. Under the monument was a pretty moving museum. One section was particularly hard, on the floor and backlit they had a number of postcards-letters from victims of the holocaust most of them written for shortly before they died. It was pretty emotional reading them.

From there we checked out this cool memorial that was very much like in the vein of socialist propaganda, took me right back to Russia, but it was funny because it was right opposite a huge monument honoring those who had revolted to bring the Berlin Wall down. Which there were also lots of places along our walk that had portions of the wall still standing and little monuments. Then we visited checkpoint Charlie, and Rachel related the story of how the Berlin wall eventually was brought down, pretty cool. We visited a monument where they had done one of the larger book burnings and finally wound up on Museum Island. By that time it was getting a little dark for pictures, so we just sat on the lawn and enjoyed the atmosphere and chatted. It was amazing to me having been the play Good to visit all these places that had been talked about in the play. It really made me wonder how different my performance might have been had I come here first.

July 10, Saturday: After breakfast, we headed out and went to a nearby market that Rachel often visited. It was very much like the ones in Russia, so that was really nice. We had crepes there which were really good. Bought some fruit for a later bike ride, and then visited the hat lady. This lady makes all these hats from found fabrics, a lot of the materials that she uses are really old. As soon as I saw all the cool styles she had I knew that I wanted one. Getting fitted for a hat by this woman is just like getting Sorted at Hogwarts (I stole that from Rachel). She has to look you in the eye, she wants you to talk to here so that she can get to know your face and head. I told her what sort of colors I like to wear and she said it didn't matter the wardrobe, because a good hat should work with anything. It was a pretty fascinating experience and about 20 minutes later I had a cool hat. Thanks, Rachel, for my birthday present, it was really sweet.

After that we headed over to the shop for renting bikes and picked up a bike for later after it cooled down and took it back to the apartment, Rachel had her own bike. It was a great deal too, 15 euros for two days. Then we headed back to Museum Island for more pictures and explorations. Along the way we found some great places to take goofy pictures, we saw the Karl Marx statue, and popped into a pretty cool church.

On museum island we went in and visited the Berliner Dome which was this enormous church-building. They had a pretty fascinating audio tour, which honestly sounded more like a sales pitch for joining the protestant church but it sounded like it was narrated by John Cleese. The structure was really quite beautiful and we ended our stay by going up to the dome and had some really fabulous views of Berlin. From there we made our way to grab a bite to eat at Rachel's favorite place which was an Australian restaurant. It was cool, because I had my chance to eat Kangaroo for the first time. Thanks Roo, you are delicious! Then we headed back to the apartment to grab our bikes. I had really wanted to explore Teirgarten Park since I mentioned it in Good, so a bike was the perfect solution. We only got to bike through about half or less of it because they had a lot of it blocked off for the game that was being played for 3rd place and Germany was playing. But the park was really gorgeous. We stopped by a lake and ate the fruit that we had bought earlier in the day at the market. It was just a very nice evening. There were a ton of rabbits running about, they were pretty cute. After the bike ride we wanted to walk down to a stor and try and buy some Schwip-Schwap, which was a local soda that was supposed to be pretty delicious, but none of the places we went to had any, GRRR! We wound up the evening sharing pictures and videos from my trip (probably the most boring part of my stay, sorry Rachel).

July 11, Sunday: Got up and after breakfast Rachel and I headed to church. We were a bit late but it was fun going to church in German. It wasn't much different from Russia, there were always people willing to translate. I actually sat in on Rachel's Primary class which was fun. The people were really very nice. It was hot though, apparently aren't a lot of Germans that believe in air conditioning, and the last couple days have been particularly HOT! We pretty much went right to the airport from church since my flight was around 2 pm. We grabbed some lunch near the airport bus stop, and I had a delicious dish of Goulash. That pretty much concludes my stay in Berlin. I was going to try and catch up on everything, but it is late in the morning and I have things to do, so I may just end up finishing this after I get back to the USA which is only in a few days. Also will upload the rest of my pictures, since it will likely take too long to do it here. Ciao!

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