auf Wiedersehen (al-vee-da-zane) Berlin!

So we flew to Berlin on 24th. I didn't know much about Berlin or Germany so I was interested to see what we would find. Goodness it's a cool city! Everyone rides bikes around the city and there were hundreds of them lining the streets. People in business suits even got on them! We took a free walking tour of the city. Our hotel was a short walk from the Brandenburg gate and some remains of the Berlin wall. The tour took 3.5 hours and we learned SO much about the history of the city. It was really fascinating. The next day we went on a paid tour with the same woman to a concentration camp outside the city. Very sombering. How one man could get thousands upon thousands of soldiers to do what they did to people...And for those who aren't aware, it wasn't just Jews in the camps. They threw in gays, political opponents, homeless people, gypsies, criminals, anyone who didn't fit their definition of normal and nice. Such horrors. But Berlin is a city of change. There are memorials to the victims of the holocaust around the city and the people don't deny their heavy history. But there is so much going on here that's good. They are very into green living. There are recycle containers everywhere, lots of restaurants are "bio" meaning they use only locally grown produce and free trade ingredients. Like I said people bike a lot and there is a really well developed public transport system that most people use. The city is so clean, no trash anywhere. I would love to go back and see more of Germany. I feel that way about most of the places we've been so far but hey, two days just isn't enough in these cities.

The End of the Rainbow

God winked at me yesterday. But let me start at the beginning. Greece!!! I had NO idea how much I would love it. We came on riot day. Didn't know that until we showed up and there were no buses, trains or boats running. Every form of public transport was on strike...until midnight. So we split a 45 minute cab ride with a pair of orchestra players from London who were quite nice. Almost got into a car wreck...ouch! But we made it. Wandered around the port area for a bit while getting our laundry done and then went to dinner. OH MY GOODNESS!! The food! I tried a bunch of it and it was delicious. We sat in the restaurant for three hours. The first one eating, the second digesting, the third chatting with the London ladies because they got the same restaurant recommendation from the hotel as us! We learned how to say thank you in Greek from the restaurant owner. Efharisto (ef-har-ish-toe)!!
Santorini - the first island we visited. It's actually the rim of a volcano that blew up a long time ago, the cities are built on the cliffs overlooking the sea and it's famous for it's sunsets. We know why. We sat on a rooftop cafe and drank a glass of wine while the sun went down.We mingled with the people on the roof with us and mused about the terrible circumstances we were in. ;)

Naxos - the second island. When we arrived it was cold and raining....we came to go to the beach! So we got our umbrellas and headed out on foot anyway in search of dinner. Our hotel was kinda far outside the city, there was only one bus that came that way and we were on the last one so walking was mandatory. We got to the end of the drive and crossed the street to the beach.. Turned around and the rainbow....There was a huge bright rainbow stretching all across the sky. I walked past some trees onto the sand and there was the end of it. The actual, honest to goodness end of the rainbow. You can tell from the picture I hope. I felt like God was winking and saying, "There, that's just for you."

The Sixteen Chapels

On Wednesday, we went to the Vatican. St. Peter’s Square and the Basilica are ridiculous big. So much marble and granite and statues and frescos everywhere you look. Then, we went to the sixteen chapels. Okay, well, we went to see the Sistine Chapel. Nobody ever mentions that you have to pay 15 euro’s for a ticket to a museum and that you have to wind through appx 37 different hallways and rooms, each as lavish and beautiful as the next and walk  up and down stairs and wind around and around and around and around and FINALLY, you get to the Sistine. It’s beautiful and awe inspiring for sure. But after all the work to get there…The rest of the day was catching a glimpse of a few other hot spots, such as the Spanish Steps. Then early to bed for an early day.

Next up was Naples or Napoli as they call it. The birthplace of pizza. But we didn’t stay. We started the day in Pompeii, the city that was buried and preserved in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. That was really interesting and the weather was perfect. Next we headed down to Sorrento on the coast and boarded a bus to Amalfi. The Amalfi coast is the one you see in movies with the houses and hotels stacked up the side of the mountains and a road that hugs massive cliffs. We marveled at the sites and then stopped in Amalfi and wandered the streets for a bit. Bought some more gelato and a few souvenirs. Tasted lemoncello!! Its Italian lemon flavored liquor. They make it themselves because there are lemon trees EVERYWHERE!!! So gorgeous.  We even ran into a few people from Austin. They were in line in front of us in the gelato shop. The world is so small sometimes.

The most fun thing for me about traveling is figuring out how to get around, reading signs in other languages and finding good food, supermarkets, pharmacies, ATM’s. Getting to and from your hotel. Once you know the lay of the land and how to get basic amenities, you start to get a sense for how people live and work and communicate. I’d much rather the bus to the corner, hop on a train across the city then ride the subway to our destination. Tourists don’t always do that. The people you see are the locals just living out their lives. So fascinating!

Everything is Everything ~Phoenix

So, that's me, in front of the Trevi Fountain. Really??? That happened. It was SOOOOO beautiful. Tons of people were sitting around taking pictures and listening to the rush of the water. After arriving in Rome we walked around the neighborhood for a while. Took a nap, then headed out for the night. We went to a REALLY good restaurant near our place and had a fabulous lunch. Then we headed on the subway to the Trevi fountain area because we had read that that's where lots of people hang out. They were right! We enjoyed the fountain, headed over and got some of the best gelato in the world and then sat and had a drink on a sidewalk cafe in front of a huge piazza. The waiter gave us his number when we left! Ooohh he was cute! Home again for a night's rest. Monday morning we slept in, had a nice breakfast at the "hotel" (it's really the basement room of a nice lady's house, but it's clean and safe and lovely) and headed out for the day.  We took the subway to Colloseo station, guess what we saw when we got to street level?? The coliseum is huge and beautiful and huge. We walked through it while the rain started. Then we walked to the Roman Forum and hung around for a bit. We walked to a beautiful, huge, white marble museum on the corner and climbed about a hundred stairs to the roof for a sandwich in a rooftop cafe and some more pictures of the coliseum. Then it was off to the Pantheon. It was huge and beautiful too (noticing a theme here)? Too bad there was scaffolding across half the front of it for repairs...Then we sat and had a glass of wine while we waited for the pouring rain to stop. (We stupidly left our umbrella's at home). Off to Piazza Navona and the Three Rivers Fountain. It was huge and beautiful and made of white marble as so many things are. But it was still raining. Then we caught a bus home. Mind you, we walked from the Colosseo metro station to Piazza Navona, I'm guessing we covered about 4 miles of Rome on foot today...Sore feet. Dunno what we'll get up to tonight. Guess you'll have to wait and see.

Madrid!

Madrid Is SOOO beautiful. Everything is landscaped. EVERYTHING. And I don't think I saw a single clunker while I was there. We started by taking a shuttle to the airport then the metro into the city. There we caught a hop-on/hop-off bus and began our whirlwind tour of Madrid. We had breakfast at a place called Rodilla which is a spanish cafe chain. It was down the street from a soccer stadium that was bigger than Jerry's Palace in Arlington...A ride through some residential neighborhoods and then the main city. Our first stop was Plaza del Sol. This is the main plaza in the city and it was packed on a Sat. We went shopping, I got new shoes and a nice jacket cuz it was COLD. Next we rode to the Royal Palace. That is me standing by a lamp post outside. The place is HUGE!! It was gorgeous! We walked through a church that is next to the palace. Next we stopped for a bite to eat at a place called Plaza Mayor. Had really good pizza! We moved on and visited an art museum. It was 99% religious paintings of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus breastfeeding. Weird. Then we strayed through this beautiful park that had a huge pond built where people could rent boats to paddle. There were kids playing and dogs and people selling stuff and singing or performing. Last stop was a restaurant for dinner before heading home. Just some tapas and wine. We made it back to the hotel after a long wait at the airport (we couldn't find the shuttle area for the hotel). Then it was off to ROME!! More on that when I've had a chance to wander around.