the time to enjoy a european trip is about three weeks after unpacking - george Ade

Make that 52 weeks. Exactly one year from today I returned to Boston after an exhilarating, eye-opening, fantastic adventure in Europe. I got to visit four countries, twelve cities, an abundance of landmarks, and made my way through the wonders and history that define western/central Europe. I'm pretty sure I covered everything I saw so by reading this blog from the beginning, I hope you get a sense of all that I experienced.

Paris was better than I expected or hoped for. Though on my sister's travel radar for years, Paris never really interested me that much. I don't really know why, and if it hadn't been for the flight availability, I would never have thought about visiting. My eyes were set on Southern France, Prague, Croatia or Greece, all of which I unfortunately couldn't fit in. I certainly don't regret the choice now. Paris had sooooo much to see and so much to choose from. Yes, it was a little on the expensive side, but it offered an abundance of historical museums, churches and landmarks to visit giving me plenty to do in my short time there. Highlights for me were the Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, and Louvre. Yes, cliche and probably typical answers. But there's a reason they're so popular. They're outstanding.

Tours was nice, and I liked being in a smaller city, but if I were to go back, I'd give myself a few days and I'd rent a car. The chateaus are very spread out and each is unique enough that I'd want to see the different designs so I'd need to go at my own pace and not that of a tour. Pompeii was a definite highlight and a must-see if you're in the Rome area. You can definitely make it a half-day trip, but I'd allow myself the entire day to travel from Rome, see and explore the entire place, and return back. Maybe I'd give it two days and spend the 2nd climbing Mt. Vesuvius.

Rome had plenty to do to fill up two days and I think I certainly covered most of it. I didn't feel rushed which was nice but If I had one more day, I would have gone to the Borghese Museum and maybe spent a little more time in the Vatican and St. Peter's as well as giving myself more time to explore Palantine Hill. But other than that I have no regrets about things I wish I'd seen. And even a year later, I still think the Capuchin Monk Crypt was one of the coolest things ever in Rome...and in Europe.

I didn't quite realize until I was there that I'd planned much of my Italian experience in Tuscany, but because I was to rely on trains and public transportation, I purposely chose large cities rather than smaller ones. So Rome, Florence and Venice immediately shot to the top of the list. Siena ended up being a "transition" city, and though the first part of my day there was awful, the view at the top of the Duomo complex more than made up for it. Rolling hills...the wind in my hair...I'm such a cliche. Florence gave me "David" so no matter how shitty the rest could have been (it wasn't, but IF it'd been) "David" more than made up for it. I don't know if I've ever seen a more perfect piece of art. Venice was such a change from Tuscany and it really felt like a completely different culture. While the other cities felt foreign because they had this essence of being "old" and "classic," Venice was it's own little world...a water planet according to Anne and I. And I loved every minute of it. Venice was beautiful, yes...but overall it was just really, really cool.

Munich was a great change of pace from both France and Italy. There was such a different cultural feeling to it that I didn't feel when transitioning from France to Italy. Yes, Italy was different from France, but Munich really gave me this "look you're in a new place" kinda feel. The Bavarian architecture with its onion domes and more streamline designs was quite different from that of Venice, Tuscany or Paris. I don't know the correct terminology for architecture, but visually you could see, and even feel, the difference. My visit to Dachau, though very sad, was a great learning experience. There are many concentration camps open throughout Europe but by finding one in my "path" of travel, I lucked out. I definitely think you should try and visit at least one throughout your lifetime since they are such an iconic piece of history and a great visual as to why an atrocity like the Holocaust should never happen again.

I don't want to assign beauty, as each and every city was gorgeous in its own way, but Innsbruck would take the crown in a fight. The snow-capped mountains surrounding this small, Alpine city makes for a picture perfect vacation spot. Not to mention the kindness of the Hotel Weiss Kruez's staff. Everything about my single day there was perfect. If the weather had been worse, my opinion would probably be different, but the sun was out and shining gloriously!

Salzburg...oh Salzburg. You had the crappy weather, yet you still got me to fall in love. What a classic, endearing place. It's with me every day, and not just cause my panoramic poster hangs above my closet so I get to look at it all the time. I got to live out a childhood dream of living The Sound of  Music and every time I watch it now, I think of being there and that excitement I felt. Salzburg is somewhere I would return to in a heartbeat. The lakes region and the surrounding mountains would be a terrific place to spend a week exploring.

Finally, there was Vienna. A gorgeous city that doesn't need much more discussion from me. Overall, I really, really loved my adventure in Europe. I'm the kind of person that wants to see and do everything, all dependent on cost of course, so it was ridiculously hard trying to figure out my itinerary because I wanted to go everywhere in Europe. I barely scratched the surface of my "to do" list. I think I need at least a year and a completely disposable income next time. But with what I did see and experience, I would never give that up. I saw history and iconic landmarks...places where I could have easily spent the entire day staring at their amazingness. There's not much more I can think of to say, but I will leave you with the quote below. My blogging isn't over, but my European recollections have come to an end.

the rewards of the journey far outweigh 

the risk of leaving the harbor - unknown

throw off the bowlines. sail away from the safe harbor. catch the trade winds in your sails. explore. dream. discover. - mark twain

I'm going to write a more detailed "reflections" kind of post, but before doing so, I thought it would be good to write down my "conclusion" entry from my travel notebook. Word for word, these were my thoughts as I was sitting in the airport waiting to board my plane back to Boston. Some of it might make no sense because I was just writing my stream of consciousness, but it gives a good picture of all that happened in my three weeks abroad.

Paris

• great city for history, architecture, art
• not wild about prices for things and people on street trying to talk to you
• Notre Dame was my fave 
• hostel okay; staff wasn't the friendliest; bad breakfast
• Metro was good; got me places 

Tours

• Chateaus - gorgeous
• Tours' cathedral - cold, but really neat
• tour made me sleepy but I don't think I missed much of the English narration
• hotel - good; wish there'd been breakfast; far walk; shower took awhile to heat; best towel ever!

Pompeii

• really interesting place
• wish I knew booklet had descriptions of each place
• huge, but I saw most of it
• more detailed art/decor stuff made it fantastic rather than the architecture

Rome

• crazy city drivers
• very interesting things; both Ancient and Catholic
• Renaissance Art - fantastic
• sculptures throughout city - cool
• each church pretty distinctive
• monk bones!

Siena

• STUPID BUS SYSTEM
• Duomo etc. actually very nice and interesting; Tuscan overlook one of my fave places
• Piazza del Campo - very nice
• gelato!

Florence

• everything had an admission fee that wasn't cheap
• LOVED DAVID!!!
• black and white marble design of Tuscan churches
• all had fancy facades but plain sides
• illegal bag selling

Venice

• it's own planet and culture
• lots of churches
• getting lost is easy
• boat pass - wonderful
• flooding! so neat!

Munich

• overall - underwhelming compared to previous cities
• Olympic Tower - overpriced
• Marienplatz - neat/awesome
• Dachau - depressing
• had lots of little things with nothing overwhelmingly awesome
• Nymphenburg - HUGE

Innsbruck

• My FAVORITE place!
• gorgeous weather, gorgeous mountains
• cheap, cutest, central hotel. LOVED
• crystals were trippy/weird
• Nordpark my fave; trampling around 2 ft. of snow on the Alps with parachuters and rock cliffs

Salzburg

• such an awesome, old, old, city
• SoM!! - all the filming places
• wish mountain wasn't closed
• saw the Untersberg! Gorgeous! Alps diff!
• panorama painting and my poster

Vienna

• a lot like Munich
• not a lot to do for 3 days without spending a lot of money
• everything had admission
• enjoyed art museum a lot - wish I could have seen all, but I saw all paintings
• Karlskirche - best church
• a lot hindered by crowds and Vienna's lack of herding abilities and awful space layout
• royalty history- very interesting

And though this has nothing to do with my thoughts on my trip, I have to add the last comment I made in the journal, from the airplane, because I don't remember it at all and I find it hilarious. It's also a great conclusion as its not a conclusion at all..."someone keeps farting; it smells."

Santa Croce and farewell to Firenze

Our night spent in Florence was nice, especially since we had a private room. Sure it was a teeny room and our three beds only had about a foot of room between each one, but we didn't have to worry about roommates and keeping our stuff in our suitcases. And we had our own little private sink. There were 2 bathrooms on the floor and the one right next door was very convenient for the use of the toilet but the shower...not so much. This bathroom had a separate area for the shower, but no curtain or divide in the floor. If you turned it on, the water would go everywhere. You could like use the sink while taking a shower. Interesting, but not convenient.

We had purchased tickets to Venice for around 2 in the afternoon so we had a relaxing morning and slept in a little before packing our bags, checking out and taking a nice walk to Santa Croce. Neither Anne, Lauren or myself had originally planned on wanting to go there, but when we were up in the Campanile at the Duomo we saw it in the distance and wondered what this large church was. It's black and white marble with infusions of pale pink, which by this point I began to attribute to the architecture of Tuscany, stood out against the red tiled roofs. We looked up what church it was while chilling in the hotel room and learned it was Santa Croce, the church housing the tombs of Galileo and Michaelangeo as well as many other notables.

The interior was like any other church, open and wide with space to roam. The ceiling was detailed woodwork, very impressive and unique compared to what I'd seen before.


Tombs covered the walls around the entire place, replacing what were side chapels in other churches. Galileo's was nice and the stonework well done, but I didn't know what the people were supposed to represent.

Michaelangelo's tomb was simialar in size and shape to Galileo's but you could stand much closer to it and they had an information plaque. And it was in English. I can't remember who designed his tomb, but the 3 women represent each aspect of art Michaelangelo influenced and took part in. The sculpture woman, for example, holds a small block and a chisel. Each has a pensive, melancholy expression establishing the mood of the place. I thought it was very interesting and enjoyed looking at the details carved into the marble.

At various locations throughout the church, were the graves of former Florentines but instead of having just a headstone placed into the floor, the graves were marked by a carving in the shape of a human, symbolic of who was buried beneath. These weren't carved deep enough that it created a hole, but they were definitely not even ground.

The only other tomb name I recognized was Machiavelli. He wrote some famous book, I want to say it had "Prince" in the title, but I can't remember. I was supposed to read it for a class in college, but I didn't. Yet somehow I was able to write a piece long enough to get a pass on my homework.

Along the church walls, you could see where old paintings/frescoes had been discovered, many which still had bold colors. It really showed the age of the building and the evolution of art and style.



The rest of the church were large side chapels and then a, what I will call, annex portion where there was a leather store and some other large, open rooms with gorgeous paintings of the crucifxion of Jesus. There was also an semi-underground tomb area and pretty yard art in the courtyard. When we were finished there was still a little while before we were to catch our train so we wandered around the city on the opposite side of the river. Walking along the river was really nice cuz it gave us great views of the large houses sitting on the hillside.


Our time was up in Florence. Perhaps if we had more money and more time we'd have seen more, but in only 1.5 days I could certainly feel how culturally different this city was to Rome. Bustling, but on a much smaller scale, Florence felt like a tight little community, very safe and quaint. A place I would definitely recommend to friends.

when the bright angel dominates, out comes a great work of art, a michelangelo david or a beethoven symphony - madeleine l'engle

We descended the tower after soaking in the city and headed to the Galleria dell'Accademia. As I said before, everything in Florence had an admission price on the higher end and this museum was no different. Though the Ufizi Museum in Florence is better known and actually looked more interesting, the Accademia was the home of Michaelangelo's David and so if we could only choose one over the other, Accademia it was. David made the admission worth it. My only recollection of the other artwork was "eh." What stuck out most was that I first noticed the faces of the people in Renaissance art were all the same. Men's faces, unless there was facial hair, looked the same as women's. There was also a special photography exhibit which included nude photographs highlighting the greatness of the human body. Between them and David, the museum really had an ode to the gorgeousness of the human body going on.

Before seeing David, I only knew a couple things about him. 1) There was a copy in a piazza somewhere else in Florence and 2) He is the David from the David vs. Goliath story. As I turned the bend leading to his location, I was in shock by how tall he was. Almost 8 feet tall, David stands strong, contemplating life. He's absolutely astounding. Not only is his body close to perfection, but the detail carved into the model is pitch-perfect. Somehow, Michaelangelo was able to carve the veins the run down David's outer forearm. It's magical. He looks so real. I walk around him a couple times and stare and stare and stare. And I swear I see a movement from his arm or leg. If he wasn't gray, I might have thought it was a real life model standing before me. David is so indescribably beautiful. Sad to leave, I knew I couldn't spend all day drooling so we parted ways and I bought a couple of postcards in memory of the perfect man.

The Medici Chapels were next but at this point I don't think anything in Florence could top David. The admission price here was also on the high end, and more expensive than Fodors had led us to believe so it was a little depressing for me when we bought our tickets. I don't like being fed false information so it was from this point on where I knew to not trust the guidebooks completely. Not only was the admission on the high end, but there wasn't that much to see. As we got there only 10 minutes before it closed, we thought that maybe we had missed a section or something because the ticket price was so high for such a small thing, but I don't think we did. The main chapel was pretty neat and different than other churches because it was all round and not rectangular in shape. However, it was under restoration so scaffolding was covering about 1/3 of the place and a few statues and pieces of artwork were missing from their homes. The most interesting part of the Medici Chapels was the side room that had tombs carved by Michaelangelo. We weren't allowed pictures so I don't remember the details of them well but I remember really enjoying them. According to my notes, there was a statue of half a man that I thought was really cool.

From the Medici Chapels we wondered through the Piazza della Repubblica with its carousel all lit up and then onto the Piazza della Signoria (home of Palazza Vecchio) where I finally got a picture with David as it's the location of the replica statue.

There were some other very interesting sculptures in the piazza as well and we spent a bit of time admiring them.

By the time we reached Ponte Vecchio it was almost completely dark and the covered bridge filled with small stores was lit up and reflecting beautifully in the still river. Dinner was had at a restaurant on the early side (which was nice as no one was there) and I had the most delicious Pasta Bolgonese ever. My first, true real meal...ahh, delicious! As we made our way back to the hotel, we passed through the Mercato and were almost plowed over by 2 men who were trying to sell knock-off bags which is VERY illegal. Anne suggested they were running from the cops but I thought that was a little absurd. Nope, a few feet in front of us they mentioned the word police...haha.

a traveler without observation is a bird without wings - moslih eddin saadi

We arrived back in Florence around noon and immediately began sightseeing. The Duomo complex was first and it was really magnificent. Though the interior wasn't terribly spectacular save for the frescoes on the dome ceiling, the facade of the cathedral, battistero and campanile (bell tower) were fabulous. The white and black with splashes of pink marble created a gorgeous pattern of stone. The brightness of the stone really contrasted well with the bright red roofs of the city allowing for the buildings to really stand out. After seeing a similar style of architecture in Siena, I assumed this was a Tuscan thing since Rome had nothing like this and when we went to Venice later, the architecture was vastly different. In addition, the carving work, though not as intense as Notre Dame, was still worthy of great praise.

As I said above, the interior of the cathedral wasn't that interesting. Like most other European churches there were side chapels containing statues, tombs and paintings and the rest of the cathedral was open and empty. There were only a few pews set up but this may be so in high tourist season it doesn't get too crowded.

The frescoes on the dome ceiling were really pretty and I wish I'd gotten a picture in focus. The colors were bright with lots of yellows and blues. The layout of the frescoes were unique as well since it had concentric circles, each with different images in the layers. Another unique facet of the Duomo was that the gift shop was in the basement adjacent to the tomb entrance. All the original foundation stonework is there so they have items laid out on rocks jutting out of the walls.

One thing that I didn't like about Florence was that everything had an admission price, unlike a lot of places in Rome which were free, and that the admission prices weren't 2-4 Euros, but 6-8 which puts a damper in plans when you're on a budget. The Duomo admission prices were no different so we had to decide whether to spend our money to climb the Duomo (485? steps) or the Campanile. A hostel roommate of mine in Rome told to me that if you could only do one, the Campanile is the better option because you get a view of the famous Red Roof Dome. If you're on the Dome, yes you're a little higher and you might feel more accomplished, but you don't get to see it in all its glory. Therefore, to the Campanile we went. By this point I was getting much better at climbing stairs in an efficient manner without losing my breath after 10 steps and not slowing down the people behind me. Even so, the different floors of the Campanile offered a nice breaking point and I got to see the carvings alongside the Duomo really close up.

From the top of the tower the 360 degree view of Florence was gorgeous! Red roofs seemed to go into the distance forever, much like Siena so it must be another Tuscan thing.

From the roof we had a wonderful view of the Dome on the Duomo, we could see the Medici Chapels, Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza della Repubblica, and Santa Croce, all places we had yet to visit. Seeing the layout of the city beforehand helped me a lot because when you're in a foreign city, knowing where things are in relation to one another helps a lot with direction. I also saw how small Florence was in comparison to Rome and Paris. Most things we were going to, or wanted to see, were within 15-20 minutes walking distance.