Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
THANK YOU
We are at home now. Leaving Europe was very hard. The morning we left Italy I'll admit, I was a little bit surly-there would be no more gelato, no more foccacia, no more "Grazie's" or "Ciao's". Italy was so beautiful, colorful, educational, delicious and a home away from home. Everything is built into the mountains in the Cinque Terra and therefore, everything is either up or down. There were steps and hills all over the place (Terri you would have loved it). The houses were so colorful and everyones' laundry was hanging off their balcony-and when we did laundry, we did the same-although I cleverly hid my underpants on the row behind Marks shirts. The ocean was amazing and if you know me at all, you know how hard it was to leave that behind.
Leaving Germany was hard for different reasons. The difference was that Italy had amazing scenery, but Germany also has incredible history. The buildings and the architecture are something that if the opportunity to see, you should. Germany also has some of the greatest people that you will ever meet and I would like to say thank you to those people.
Thank you Alex, Andreas, Jannis, Heidi, Bernd, Franz, Sabine, Melly, Vitor, Heinz and Eva.
You let us stay with you and your home became our home. It was amazing to see some of you all in your country for a change and it was great to meet others for the first time. Mark and I are so lucky to have friends and family such as yourselves. Thank you for showing all that there was to see, driving us around endlessly, and doing things with us that you must have done a thousand time before.
There were three women in tears at the airport, and it is still sad to think that I won't see my new friends for another 2 years, but I want you all to know how much we love you all and appreciate everything you did. We hope that we will be able to repay you in 2009.
Love to all,
Mark and Cara
Leaving Germany was hard for different reasons. The difference was that Italy had amazing scenery, but Germany also has incredible history. The buildings and the architecture are something that if the opportunity to see, you should. Germany also has some of the greatest people that you will ever meet and I would like to say thank you to those people.
Thank you Alex, Andreas, Jannis, Heidi, Bernd, Franz, Sabine, Melly, Vitor, Heinz and Eva.
You let us stay with you and your home became our home. It was amazing to see some of you all in your country for a change and it was great to meet others for the first time. Mark and I are so lucky to have friends and family such as yourselves. Thank you for showing all that there was to see, driving us around endlessly, and doing things with us that you must have done a thousand time before.
There were three women in tears at the airport, and it is still sad to think that I won't see my new friends for another 2 years, but I want you all to know how much we love you all and appreciate everything you did. We hope that we will be able to repay you in 2009.
Love to all,
Mark and Cara
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Worth the wait...
Mark and I hopped the train to Florence (Firenze) yesterday, to take the the 3 hour journey to the Academia that is home to Michelangelo's "David".
After sneaking into 1st class (which is worth it) and changing trains in Pisa, we arrived at about noon. At first I was not entirely impressed with Florence, there were so many people around and it was hard to get your bearings. Mark found our way with a free map from McDonalds which, by the way is where you can "taste the American breakfast" (egg mcmuffin and a hashbrown) between 6-11 a.m.
Thankfully, Mark had made reservations for the Academia over the Internet because the wait for people lined up down the street was about 3-4 blocks. As we walk in I wasn't prepared to blown away by the art and sculptures that were on display, but I was.
We walk around the corner and see magnificent paintings, art and figures in plaster and marble and out of the corner of my eye I see him. I feel goosebumps all over and there's a chill that wasn't due to the air conditioning. I can't look, I want to take in the other sculptures that Michelangelo had done first and give them the time it takes to truly appreciate the work that went into them. But then....
I look up and at the end of the gallery, under a dome shaped roof of windows stood David. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. As we walk around him, everything is perfect from the veins in his hands to the tendon behind his knee. Carved from one block of marble he makes an intimidating figure and if you look long enough, you could swear he was breathing. I cannot look any longer and as I start to cry I ask Mark if I can hide in his shirt so that I don't look like the crazy Canadian girl who appears to be having a miserable time in Italy. It was a one in a million experience that I will treasure for the rest of my life.
We get back on the train (no first class this time) and after, three hours, 2 transfers, and some chicken Mcnuggets, we arrive home.
6 hours of transit, 7 hours of walking and one amazing piece of marble carved to perfection.
Thank you Firenze.
After sneaking into 1st class (which is worth it) and changing trains in Pisa, we arrived at about noon. At first I was not entirely impressed with Florence, there were so many people around and it was hard to get your bearings. Mark found our way with a free map from McDonalds which, by the way is where you can "taste the American breakfast" (egg mcmuffin and a hashbrown) between 6-11 a.m.
Thankfully, Mark had made reservations for the Academia over the Internet because the wait for people lined up down the street was about 3-4 blocks. As we walk in I wasn't prepared to blown away by the art and sculptures that were on display, but I was.
We walk around the corner and see magnificent paintings, art and figures in plaster and marble and out of the corner of my eye I see him. I feel goosebumps all over and there's a chill that wasn't due to the air conditioning. I can't look, I want to take in the other sculptures that Michelangelo had done first and give them the time it takes to truly appreciate the work that went into them. But then....
I look up and at the end of the gallery, under a dome shaped roof of windows stood David. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. As we walk around him, everything is perfect from the veins in his hands to the tendon behind his knee. Carved from one block of marble he makes an intimidating figure and if you look long enough, you could swear he was breathing. I cannot look any longer and as I start to cry I ask Mark if I can hide in his shirt so that I don't look like the crazy Canadian girl who appears to be having a miserable time in Italy. It was a one in a million experience that I will treasure for the rest of my life.
We get back on the train (no first class this time) and after, three hours, 2 transfers, and some chicken Mcnuggets, we arrive home.
6 hours of transit, 7 hours of walking and one amazing piece of marble carved to perfection.
Thank you Firenze.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Under the Ligurian sun
As we left Germany yesterday, I was sad to leave our new friends. We had been staying with Heidi, Bernd, Alexandra, Andreas and Jannis. These are some of the nicest people you will ever have the pleasure to meet. I was also sad to see that even almost halfway around the world, a problem such as graffiti is as common here and in Germany as it is at home.
Such outrageous words such as "HOMEWORK", "MUSTARD", and "SMILE" were spray painted across the walls of a playground in Germany and my personal Italian favorite, "LIVE THE DREAM!!". I guess problems are the same everywhere.
We arrived in Pisa last night and are now in Cinque Terra. The little bit of Italian I've learned has come in handy. We toured the leaning tower of Pisa and they aren't kidding-it really does lean. We went into the Cathedral behind the tower and I had forgotten that here, if you are entering a church, it is respectful to cover your shoulders. (I was wearing a sleeveless shirt) They have disposable "gowns" for women to wear and there are pictures of me looking like an escaped mental patient. Classy.
I should go now, it's getting late and I've haven't visited the other gelato store yet!!
Ciao!
Such outrageous words such as "HOMEWORK", "MUSTARD", and "SMILE" were spray painted across the walls of a playground in Germany and my personal Italian favorite, "LIVE THE DREAM!!". I guess problems are the same everywhere.
We arrived in Pisa last night and are now in Cinque Terra. The little bit of Italian I've learned has come in handy. We toured the leaning tower of Pisa and they aren't kidding-it really does lean. We went into the Cathedral behind the tower and I had forgotten that here, if you are entering a church, it is respectful to cover your shoulders. (I was wearing a sleeveless shirt) They have disposable "gowns" for women to wear and there are pictures of me looking like an escaped mental patient. Classy.
I should go now, it's getting late and I've haven't visited the other gelato store yet!!
Ciao!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
The Euro"peeing" bathroom tour of 2007
ACHTUNG!! This blog entry is rated P.G. 13
I have seen some of the most amazing things over the last 6 days that I have been here....streets that are too small for 1 car but there are 30 on them, no speed limit, cathedrals that have taken 600 years to complete, but nothing compares to what I happened across yesterday afternoon.
As we sat down in a well known pub in Köln, I decided that I should use the washroom before the hour long train ride home (my mother always said - you should have gone before you left). What happened in that particular bathroom on that particular day needs to be shared. First I am shown to an empty stall by a lovely woman who enjoys her job way too much for someone who works in a pub bathroom, then I sit down to do what I came to do. As I stand up (my pants weren't even done up yet), a small square come out from the back of the wall behind the toilet and as the seat SPINS AROUND, it sprays, SANITIZES, and wipes the seat clean!!!!
The lady in the bathroom spoke no English, but didn't have to to know exactly how I felt about what I had just saw. Then I had to, of course, wash my hands. The hand dryer was made by Dyson, which as most of you know, makes the ultimate vacuum cleaner. They broke all the rules for making hand dryers. It looks like a large "U" and once you put your hands in, it sounds like a jet engine but works in about 8 seconds with not a drop of water left over!!
It was worth the train fare just for that experience. Don't even get me started on the toilet paper here. Let's just say that we had suitcase full of gifts coming over and I'm loading it up before I come home!!!
I have seen some of the most amazing things over the last 6 days that I have been here....streets that are too small for 1 car but there are 30 on them, no speed limit, cathedrals that have taken 600 years to complete, but nothing compares to what I happened across yesterday afternoon.
As we sat down in a well known pub in Köln, I decided that I should use the washroom before the hour long train ride home (my mother always said - you should have gone before you left). What happened in that particular bathroom on that particular day needs to be shared. First I am shown to an empty stall by a lovely woman who enjoys her job way too much for someone who works in a pub bathroom, then I sit down to do what I came to do. As I stand up (my pants weren't even done up yet), a small square come out from the back of the wall behind the toilet and as the seat SPINS AROUND, it sprays, SANITIZES, and wipes the seat clean!!!!
The lady in the bathroom spoke no English, but didn't have to to know exactly how I felt about what I had just saw. Then I had to, of course, wash my hands. The hand dryer was made by Dyson, which as most of you know, makes the ultimate vacuum cleaner. They broke all the rules for making hand dryers. It looks like a large "U" and once you put your hands in, it sounds like a jet engine but works in about 8 seconds with not a drop of water left over!!
It was worth the train fare just for that experience. Don't even get me started on the toilet paper here. Let's just say that we had suitcase full of gifts coming over and I'm loading it up before I come home!!!
Tomorrow, we shall check out the bathrooms of Italy!!!
talk to you soon!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)