July 25 Berlin

Today is Joe´s birthday!!! He is still sick. We were going to go to Checkpoint Charlie and the remaining part of the Berlin Wall, but Joe is still pretty weak. We extended our stay, so if he is feeling better tomorrow, we´ll do it then. He did make some calls home and we got some laundry done today though. He was wanting to walk around so he came with me. We brought some balloons and a hand pump and he showed me how to make animal balloons while we were waiting for the laundry. We got more than a few questioning glances from the other people waiting for their clothes in the laundrymat

July 24 Berlin

Joe woke up sick today! On the plane into Frankfurt he sat next to a lady who was very sick and he apparently got what she had. I spent a lot of the morning with him (we did make it to a magic store where he got more ideas for his performance) and then when he went to sleep I did some sightseeing. I first went to an island on the river that has several museums. I didn´t go into any of them, but instead, had more of the city I wanted to see. I ran into an outside art festival, which was a lot of fun for me. I then went over to see the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (the home of the German Parliament) and then walked home. I was gone for over 6 hours and Joe had just gotten up from a 6 hour nap. Poor guy!

July 23 Berlin Germany

Joe and his balloon animals!

We got up and jumped on the train to Berlin. It was a comfortable two hour trip. I amused myself with my knitting and watching the scenery out the window. The hostel we checked into is very nice. We are in a 6 bed dorm with a shower and toilet in the room. This was important to us because the one we stayed in Frankfurt (also a 6 bed dorm) has only two single toilet and shower bathrooms on the entire floor. There was ALWAYS a line to use the toilet and shower. It was also a party hostel, which sometimes is ok, but not when your roomates get drunk and forget the key to the room, which result in their banging on the door waking everyone up in the middle of the night. We have enjoyed our roomates the last couple of days, however.

Anyway, once we checked in, we headed to Alexanderplatz, an interesting and important plaza in Berlin. Many protests took place there when Germany was divided before 1990. There was a wall in the plaza that informed the visitors about the events leading up to the Reunification of Germany. While I was busy with this, Joe met a new friend named Klause and they exchanged e-mail addresses. We then had dinner (more German food) and once again, splashed through the rain to our hostel. Only this time we had no jackets and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. At least it isn´t hot anymore!

July 21-22 Frankfurt Germany

We had a very busy day! We had to catch a 12:30 pm flight from Venice to Frankfurt Germany. To do that we had to get up, checkout, walk to the waterbus stop to catch a waterbus to a piazza, get tickets and then board the bus for an hour and a half ride to the airport before we could check in at the airport, drop off our bags, and go through security. Now, I am not a great flyer. I´m not afraid of the flying itself. In fact, when the airplane takes off I breathe a huge sigh of relief. It´s the part before the plane takes off I hate. Maybe, I´ve been bumped from too many flights or something. I think many people can understand my stress level.

Anyway, we made it to the gate without any problems and got into line 45 minutes early. Ryan Air doesn´t have seat assignments, so it´s first come first serve. It was then that we were notified that the plane was over an hour late. Oh well. We made it into the air 1 1/2 hours after we were suppossed to. Once we landed, we had to wait an hour for the bus to come to take us into Frankfurt. Ryan Air many times does not fly out and into a major city, however, it was the cheapest price we could find. The two hour bus ride was uncomfortable. We forgot to fill up our water bottles before we left and the bus had no AC. By the time we got into Frankfurt we were tired, hot, thirsty, and irritable. Thankfully our hostel was a short walk away from where the bus dropped us off. I was so happy to check in and drop off my stuff.

By this time we were very hungry. Since all we´ve been eating in Italy was pizza and pasta (it is really difficult to find anything else there for a decent price), I wanted some meat. We walked around the city some and found a good place to eat. I had currywurst (a hot dog with curry powder and ketchup-like sauce), fries, and a big German beer and Joe just had a beer (he was eyeing a rotisserie chicken a few blocks back). The food was sooooo good!

After my dinner Joe picked up his chicken and we headed back to the hostel for a good night´s sleep.

When we woke up, the hostel had a great breakfast prepared. Usually hostels have a very basic breakfast with toast and cereal, but this one had meat, cheese, eggs, and fruit as well. After breakfast we headed toward an art supply store. I have been wanting to make jewelry to sell. I have no idea if it´ll sell, but I´ve been needing something creative to do for some time now.

On the way to the store, we walked through what we call Bunny Park. It is exactly how it sounds, a park filled with bunnies! It was great!! We finally found the store and Joe left me to my shopping. I have never made jewelry before and didn´t know what I needed. The German lady spoke limited English and had to get another lady to help translate, but we figured it out. I left the store very happy with the purchase.

After we left that store, we found a hair salon and I got a haircut that was very needed. For the last month I´ve been wearing hats because my hair needed cut so bad. It felt so much better (and cooler) when it was done. I got a good price for it too. We then came across a yarn shop and I bought some more yarn for my knitting projects.

After the neccessities were taken care of, we went sightseeing again. We went to the old town where there were some really interesting buildings. We also came across a market with sausage and beer tents. Of course we had to try it out. While we were eating, it started raining. We waited for some time, but when it wasn´t letting up, we sloshed our way back to the hostel where I worked on my jewelry until bedtime.

July 16-19 Venice

After an overnight stay in Milan (the most memorable thing that happened there was when I accidentally sat in someone´s throw up on the train), we headed to Venice. Venice is made up of 117 islands. It is very different. No cars are used on the island and everyone gets around by boat. Earlier this century, Venice started to sink, due to aquifers being put into the ground. This has caused alot of problems. There is widespread flooding and many ground floors in buildings are unusable. Tourists flock to the city, which has driven the price of everything up. The flooding, as well as the high cost of living, have driven many Venetians out of their homes. When I checked into the hotel, I asked where the "real" part of Venice was since I like to go to areas that are more local than touristy. He looked at me funny and told me there is no more real Venice, only tourist Venice. I found that unbearably sad.

After we checked in, we walked around to get our bearings. We window shopped and had dinner on the Grand Canal watching the boats go by. After a while it got noisy as party boats stared to go by. This did not fit my idea of Venice. I expected gondoliers singing and romance, not party central. Later we walked to St. Mark´s Square and I fed pigeons out of my hand. It was so much fun! We met a lady named Nancy who informed us that this was a major holiday (that´s what the partying was about). We followed her to the water and saw an amazing show of fireworks.

The next day, we went to the nearby islands of Burano and Torcello. Burano is known for its amazing lace. I saw many older ladies working on very intricate pieces in their stores. I bought a couple items I thought some family members would like. Burano is also known for its brightly colored houses. These colors follow a specific system and if one wishes to paint their home, they must ask permission of the government which gives them a certain selection of colors they can choose from. After Burano, we hopped on the waterbus to Torcello. There isn´t much to say about that except is is REALLY tiny and we got there when everything was closed.

The next morning, after losing Joe for over an hour (he wandered off again), we went to the island of Murano. This island is know for it´s glass. We went to a glass factory and watched a father and son make a jar. We spent a good portion of the day wandering from store to store looking at the amazing work. They make glass EVERYTHING here. It´s really beautiful. I got a couple affordable pieces, again for family since it´s pretty pointless getting it for myself when backpacking.

In the evening we decided to take in a little more culture. Venice was the birthplace of Vivaldi and we went to a concert featuring his music. The concert also featured some opera. This was Joe´s introduction to opera. I don´t think he enjoyed it very much, but he agreed to go with me again sometime. I think he´s just humoring me.

The last day we spent in Venice wasn´t very exciting. We had accumulated a few things on the trip and we needed to lighten our packs, so the first order of business was to go to the post office. They didn´t speak English there, so it took a few times to get it right. I also had to wait in the same line four times, but I got it done. We looked for a place to get my hair cut and a magic store for Joe. We couldn´t find either. We realized that the islands have everything a tourist would want or need, but has no regular store that a local could use. It gets a little boring after one sees the first 100 jewelry stores, mask shops and souvenir stands.

We didn´t want to leave Venice without a gondola ride, so we asked around for a good price. The cheapest we could find was €80. That´s over $100 for a 40 minute ride! We passed on the gondola and went back to the room instead. We lucked out with the room. We have a small terrace overlooking a canal where the gondolas go by. Every once in a while we even got serenaded with some Italian singing.

I am really glad that I got to experience Venice. It was very different from anything I have ever experienced. However, I was a little disappointed that I couldn´t experience anything of real substance. I would not come back in July again. It is hot and way overcrowded with tourists and cheap souvenir stands. I can imagine how it must have been like a few decades ago before everyone moved out. I bet it was wonderful! Venice, I believe, is unlike any other place.

July 14 & 15 Cinque Terre

Ahhhhh. We finally made it to Cinque Terre. To be perfectly honest, we didn´t know much about the area when we decided to come here. I saw some pictures of it and when talking to backpackers, they said it is a must see in Italy. There are certainly alot of backpackers! The 5 villages are set pretty close together and a very popular thing to do is hike between them. There is a trail linking the villages and you can look over the rocky cliffs to the ocean. It is certainly beautiful.

When we first got here, we dropped our bags off in the room and decided to hike to the next town over. The temperature was pushing 100 degrees, but we made it. I stopped for a quick sandwich, we filled up our water bottles and continued to the next town. Right before we reached it, we learned that we had to climb over 350 steps to get to the center of town. Once we climbed it, we had a little celebration. We were halfway through the 5 villages! Or so we thought. About this time we met 3 others and had a nice conversation. It was over the course of conversation that we learned that the hike to the next 2 towns were much steeper and longer than the first two. We stopped to refresh ourselves over a frozen lemonade and I looked over the map. I learned that the entire hike through the 5 towns was 9 kilometers and we had only covered 2. That meant we had 7 more to go in steeper terrain than what we had just finished and we were exhausted! We resolved to finish the hike the next day.

When we woke up the next day, it was even hotter than the day before! We felt totally beat down. We decided to take the train to the furthest town of Monterosso and work our way back. By the time we got there, we were totally miserable. I felt like I was suffering from dehydration even though we were drinking gallons of water. I left Joe to practice his magic and juggling and bought some clothes that were much cooler and more comfortable than the ones I was previously wearing. Joe came running back to me very excited. During his practicing he was able to make 7 euros, but he feels he is still not ready to perform for tips yet. It was a great confidence builder for him.

We then got back on the train to go to the next town, Vernazza. This one had a beach, so we both got a slice of pizza and sat down by the water. We browsed in some shops before decided to take the train back to our town. We put on our bathingsuits and went swimming at the beach. It felt wonderful! After resting a bit, we went shopping for food. We got some pasta and pesto and went back to the room and Joe made a wonderful meal (we had a kitchen in our room). After dinner, we had a romantic stroll along the Via Dell Amore. This road links Riomaggiore to Manarola, the next town over. Couples come here and put a lock on the fence and throw the keys to the lock over the cliff. This ensures them being together for ever. Joe bought a lock earlier that day and enscribed our names on the lock. After throwing the keys overboard we strolled home. What a wonderful way to end our stay here.

July 13: Chiavari and Portafino

This morning I woke up with the feeling I had no clue where I was was at. I´m surprised I hadn´t had that feeling more often on this trip. Joe explored the town of Chiavari (I found out the name), while I got back on the computer to find us a room for that evening. I had no luck so we decided to stay one more night and explore where we were at. We looked at a map and realized we were close to Portafino. I didn´t know much about Portafino except that we stayed at the Portafino Hotel in Universal Studios Orlando. Well, that was good enough for us! We took the train to Santa Margherita and got on a boat for the short ride to Portafino. When we got into port, we realized how well Universal Studios emulated the real thing. It was a really cute village. There wasn´t alot to it so we did a little perusing and had lunch by the water. The lunch was very good. We both had pasta with seafood. Yum, yum! After lunch we headed back to Santa Margherita. This was a bit larger than Portafino, so we walked around a bit and I had an excellent gelato (not my first one in Italy), then we went back to the hotel. I was very disappointed at first about the last couple of days being in a strange town I didn´t want to be in, however, today ended up being a pretty nice day.

July 12: Traveling

Today was a very long day! After driving the rental car all weekend, last night we ended up back in Florence. We had to turn the rental car in this morning, so we got up and started the drive back to Siena. We got lost! We turned the car back in (30 minutes late) and jumped on the train heading to Cinque Terre Italy. The train took us BACK into Florence. We left Florence for the second time that day around 2 pm. We got off the train in in an obscure village to catch our connecting train. This train ride was suppossed to last 8 minutes and take us to the village of Riomaggiore. After about 35 minutes on the train, we realized we must have gotten on the wrong train! We jumped off at the next stop. By this time it was getting pretty late, so we decided to stop to try to figure out where we were and make hotel reservations for that evening, so we wouldn´t have to hunt for a room when we got in. I couldn´t for the life of me find a room in Riomaggiore, so we decided to stay put for the night and try again in the morning. We fell into bed absolutely exhausteed!

July 9-11 Tuscany Italy

The morning of the 9th we were able to rent a car in Siena. Yay! The car we rented was TINY! It barely was able to fit Joe and I and our backpacks. It looked like a clown car. We had no idea where we were headed to, so we just decided to drive through Tuscany. We spent three days driving through the countryside and stopping in little towns along the way. It was so much fun. Tuscany is covered with vineyards, especially in the Chianti region. Many owners open their doors to tourists and we enjoyed trying the different wines of the region. In addition to vineyards, many people grow olive trees, lavender, and sunflowers. There are also many castles throughout the region.

One of the highlites of the weekend was getting to stay at a farm in the Chianti region. There are many signs featuring agrotourism. These are places where farmers that let tourists sample their products and many even rent rooms. We were fortunate to stay in a farm overlooking beautiful vineyards and San Gimignano. Joe played the guitar while we watched the sun set. The next morning, we had a delicious breakfast made with the products picked from the farm. The peaches were especially delightful as well as a cake made from some kind of mint herb.

Another memorable occasion was when we went to Monteriggioni to a Rennasaince Festival. I have been to these before, but this one was a little different. Monteriggioni was built in the 12th to 14th century and it has changed little since the Rennasaince days. The streets are so narrow no cars can get into it and the buildings and wall surrounding the city are little changed. It really felt like we walked onto a movie set. It is definately one of the most authentic Rennaisance Festivals in the world. Joe was happy because he met two professional street clowns. He was able to get some ideas from them and get their email addresses. He was like a little boy meeting his superhero.

Pictures to come...

July 7th and 8th: Siena

I have been without internet for a while, so I have some catching up to do.

After breakfast on the 7th we checked out of our hotel and headed straight for the car rental company. Unfortunately, they didn´t have any cars available at the moment so we jumped on the bus to Siena. Once we got to Siena, we had to get a map to find the way to our hotel. We found the checkin desk and soon realized that our room was still a solid 10 minute walk away. We hoofed it to the building and up the 4 floors (there was no elevator in the building) to our room. Did I mention the building had no air-conditioning? In the middle of July in Italy. Whew! It was so nice to relax for a bit before going back out!

Siena is a cute little town. It´s not as big as Rome, but it´s certainly bigger than some of the smaller villages we´ve been to. Siena is famous for it´s Palio horserace held every summer in which 10 horses and riders run circles in the town square. A total of 17 horses and riders, each representing a contrade (or district in Siena) participate in the race. The race originated in the middle ages and its a REALLY big deal here. The square it´s held in, Piazza del Campo is a neat area to visit. There are several good outdoor restraunts and museums in the area.

Another part of town to check out is the the Duomo, or main cathedral, area. Visiting the cathedral is a must do in Siena. I have never seen a cathedral quite like it. The interior and outside is covered in white and greenish-black striped marble. The inside is completely covered with inlaid mosaics covering the floor. It is really beautiful.

I will soon post pictures, so check back in a few days,

July 6: San Gimignano

We are now in San Gimignano in Tuscany Italy. It is a tiny medieval town surrounded by vineyards. What is interesting about this place is that it has changed very little since the 13th century. It is set among high walls and no cars are allowed in. It also has 14 medieval skyscrapers. In those days, all the rich families all tried to outdo each other and build taller and taller. Only 14 towers survive today, but there used to be 70. This is a small town, so it´s very easy to cover in a day. Joe and I spent our time here walking around the fortifications, visiting the shops, and I went to the top of one tower while Joe practiced his music and juggling.

July 3 and 4: Florence

July 3rd was a busy, busy day. After a good breakfast (many of the hostels and hotels come with breakfast, yay), we decided to tackle the 1 1/2 hour line to the Galleria Dell Accademia. It is most famous for it´s famous sculpture of David by Michelangelo. It also houses other wonderful pieces such as his unfinished "Slave" series, as well as paintings from Florentine artists, a small music museum, and some really interesting plaster models used in the production of sculptures.

After this, I really wanted to see the Medici chapel and their tombs. I studied the sculptures of the tombs in my art history classes and really wanted to see them in person. They were done by Michelangelo as well. The Medicis were the ruling family of Florence during the Rennasianceand did alot to promote the arts, especially Lorenzo "The Magnificient".

After this, we grabbed a bite to eat and then went straight to the Museo Gallileo. This museum was a bit different. This was dedicated to the sciences during the Rennasiance time. It was fun looking at all the tools used by scientists, mathmaticians, and astonomers hundreds of years ago. Many things I didn´t recognize, but there were videos explaining how they worked. The museum had an excellent selection of maps and globes. They were very beautiful.

The next day Joe´s left leg was hurting him pretty bad. He was in a motorcyle wreck almost a year ago and fractured his leg. It´s been holding up really well on this trip but has been bothering him lately, so we decided to relax today. I worked on knitting a lot and Joe practiced his guitar. He also bought some juggling pins and has been practicing them. He used to be a professional clown. No Joke! He wants to get an act together so he can do some street performance on this trip.

July 1 and 2 Naples and Florence

We checked out of our hotel in Positano on July 1. I was really sad to leave, but the adventure must continue. The Almalfi Coast is made up of alot of mountains and the drive along is very beautiful and scary. Instead of carving the roads through the mountains they made the roads to go along the side of the clifts. On one side of the vehicle there´s the water about 100 feet down and on the other side is mountains rising up above. There´s also ALOT of hairpin turns. In our 40 minute drive I counted 132 before I got bored and stopped counting.

We got into Naples midafternoon and walked around the town for a bit before setting down for the night. What a cultureshock! Naples is pretty much opposite of Positano. It´s very gritty and we soon learned crossing the road was an adventure. Apparently, you are suppossed to walk out in the middle of traffic and the cars stop for you, but I saw a couple pedestrians almost got hit by cars so I wouldn´t reccomend it. We never knew if we were suppossed to cross or not so we tried to wait until a local came along and then do what they did.

Fortunately, we were there for only one night before we packed up and went to Florence. We got there on the afternoon of the 2nd. We walked by the river for a while. Then, as we were walking through the town we heard organ music playing. We found the church where it was coming from and sat down and listened to it. It was a free classical music concert and boy it was good!! The sound filled the space and was very beautiful. It reminded me of my mom. She used to play the organ at church and teach piano lessons. There was always music in the house when I was growing up. I really miss hearing her play the piano. I tried to record some of the concert for her because I know she would love it, but we later had technical difficulties with the camera and lost what I recorded. What a bummer, but I tried.

June 29 and 30 Positano continued

Positano is so beautiful!

Today June 29th we had to check out of our hostel because we only booked it for 2 days and we decided we wanted to stay another 2 days, but unfortunately the hostel was full, full, full. Not surprising because it is the only hostel in town and the hotels are pretty expensive. We reserved a room at a hotel a little closer to the beach. This ended up being a good thing since our hostel was situated at the top of Positano and we had to climb down 674 steps to get to the beach and 674 to get back. So much for resting.

We checked out of the hostel and decided to take a boat to the Island of Capri. It was a beautiful ride. Once we got to Capri we found a sign that pointed to the city center and followed it. Big mistake! The city center was alot further than we thought and situated on top of a mountain. It took us almost an hour to get there. Once we got there we found out that we could´ve taken a tram for 1 Euro each. I went to the information center and was informed that pretty much everything we wanted to do was at the port where we had just come from, so we grabbed a piece of pizza and jumped on the tram to go back down. Once we got there we booked a boat tour that took us all around the island and included a couple grottoes. The scenery was amazing!

When we got back to Positano, we went to check into our hotel but the hotel didn´t have our reservation (even though we had a confirmation number) and they were full so we had to scramble to find another one at the last minute. The hotel we ended up at was a lot pricier than we wanted but it was much nicer as well.

The next day we were tired so just stayed pretty close to the hotel.