Down to one hand finger counting now

That´s right... only four more days until we start the long trek back to Michigan. So... this is more than likely the last time that you will hear from us until we get home. We are heading to Prague this weekend with a couple of friends. Its dirt cheap to get to from Bavaria, so we might as well go. We are really excited, and I am sure that we will have tons of pictures to show you all. We have most of our pictures uploaded onto our Flickr account now. I think that there are over 6,000 pictures of the last 11 months... and Germany is not all on there. Thank goodness for digital cameras! :)

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

July 15, 2007
The next day we went over to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It is an hour train ride from Nuremberg, and about 4 hours from Munich due to all the train changes you have to make. So, it was now or never for Rothenburg. It was incredibly hot that day. In two days it went from jeans and sweatshirt weather to shorts and tank tops. It was horrid and made eating hard. But Rothenburg was wonderful. It is an old medieval town in which the old city has not changed drastically since the mid 15th century. And it was not bombed during the war, so it is actually intact. Pretty rare around here.
Stephan told us that when we go, we have to try Schneeballens. They are a type of ball like butter cookie dessert made only in Rothenburg. (I think.) They were pretty good. For the rest of the afternoon we just walked around the city. There are a couple of pretty churches we looked at as well. There was a concert going on in the Frauenkirche by American High Schoolers. It was really pretty sounding, and interesting that it was Americans. Every week there was another group of American High Schools from different states singing in the city. St Jakobs Kirche was also wonderful. The altar and windows are incredible, and upstairs is another altar carved all out of wood with the image of the Last Supper. After St Jacobs, we just walked around more of the town. You can still walk on the city walls, which we of course did. It was a lot of fun, but there are some HUGE spiders hiding out in the overhangs. Big and hairy too. After that, it was time to get onto the train and head back to Munich. Unfortunately, the three hour train ride turned into almost 4 ½ due to our train being so SLOW. SO irritating.

Nuremberg, Day 2

July 14, 2007
Well, we were told when we agreed to stay with Hildegard that she works every weekend from 10am to midnight so we would have to day all to our selves. Which was great with us. We woke up early enough the next morning so that all three of us could get ready for the day. As soon as we were all ready to go, breakfast started. Now on the phone, she told us breakfast would be toast and some German meats. (Then again, dinner wasn’t supposed to be as big as it was either.) In reality breakfast was bread, about 20 different kinds of German meats, two different kinds of cheeses, some kind of ham salad, and the huge pieces of dessert from the night before that we didn’t get to. For a couple that usually only eats cereal for breakfast, it as overwhelming. After 10 minutes into breakfast Hildegard asked what was wrong with us and Mike tried explaining that we eat small breakfasts. This did not go over well. So we ate more, and more. By the time we were done I thought I was going to be sick again. If not sick, I certainly did not want to eat for another week. Then she made us 7 sandwiches to take with us for lunch. As neither of us were planning on eating until the next week, we were hoping on finding some homeless people to give our sandwiches to. Unfortunately, the old part of Nuremberg is too touristy and no homeless dwell there.
We finally left the house at 10am, took a driving tour around Nuremberg, and then were dropped off outside the Documentation Center that houses a lot of information on the Nazi Party and Nuremberg’s importance to it. We were given specific instructions to go explore the center and that she would pick us up outside of there is an hour and a half in her taxi. Then she would show us the rest of the grounds. We tried talking her out of it, but to no avail. We had hoped that we could so that we could go explore the grounds and skip the museum. Mike already knows most of the information provided given his area of study, and it was a beautiful day. Finally shorts weather again and we wanted to enjoy it. So, we sadly had to go to the museum. It was interesting, and Mike was able to get a few pictures for the class that he is teaching next semester.
We would have liked to explore more of the grounds, but unfortunately only got to drive by them. Mike was able to get out and take pictures though. Then we were taken on another driving tour of Nuremberg. As it was all in German, and Mike couldn’t translate – most of what we saw had no meaning until we left the car and Mike could explain what we saw. We were finally dropped off at 1pm in the old city. We had two hours before we were meeting old family friends. Mike’s Grandma babysat a woman way back when and now she has a son that is our age.
After being dropped off, we walked over to the St Lorenz Kirche. It was amazing inside, but sadly, you cannot take pictures inside without a special pass. The postcards were cheaper than buying the pass. The altar and stone work is definitely worth a look. Then it was off to the Trodelmarkt area. By now Mike “needed” a beer (it was technically vacation), so we forced ourselves to each eat a sandwich. Not that we were hungry AT ALL, but we knew that we would be if we drank a beer. So, we tried yet another Nuremberg beer. The Trodelmarkt area is very beautiful and was well worth the walk through. We even saw a gondola on our walk in this area. Right after I said that Nuremberg was the German equivalent of Venice. Weird. Then it was back to the old market to meet Stephan.
He took us back up to the castle and told us all about what we were looking at. We even got to hear a Nuremberg legend, which was spectacular. The castle was really pretty, but nothing like the Scotland castles, which was interesting. Then we went back to the Town Hall to see the crown jewels. They were really pretty and their story even more interesting. Then it was off to see Stephan’s parents at their house, which was about a 30 minute drive from Nuremberg. It was my first experience on the autobahn. Some parts do have speed restrictions, and we were on a few of those parts. We also went on a section with no speed restrictions. I am just glad that we were not in a really fast vehicle. I don’t think that I would have liked that, and even as is, it seemed like we were going fairly quickly. But we survived, and I can now say that I have been on it.
The Weih family has a beautiful house in a very small village outside of Hersbruck. Their yard is full of flowers, fruit, and veggies; it looks out over hills and forests and is very beautiful. They were very nice and took us to dinner at a small restaurant on a hill over looking Hersbruck. The food was very tasty – and was in normal person portions. It was the Hersbruck Sommerfest, so at about 10pm we were able to see a nice firework display. Mike was thrilled since we were not able to see them on his birthday. (The video was great though Becky!) Then it was off to a genuine German beer tent. Where they only sell liters of beer. Mike and I split one, and still had problems finishing it. The beer tent was a lot of fun though. There was a band, lots of people, and lots of waitress carrying around 6 or more liters of beer (and some of them were in their 60’s!). I can barely hold one – and most of the time need two hands to do it – let alone 6 or more! Amazing…

Nuremberg, day 1

July 13, 2007
We headed to Nuremberg on the first train that we could catch Friday morning. This is the city where both Mike’s Grandma and Mike’s Mom were born in, and where various family members still live. We were able to get into Nuremberg so that we had 5 hours to explore the city before we had to head to Mike’s second cousin’s house.
The old city is very beautiful and even has the old city walls. Nuremberg was heavily bombed during the last World War, so I am pretty sure that it has been all rebuilt, but it’s still pretty. The first thing that we went to was the Handwerkerhof. It is a small part of the old city that still retains the old timber houses which hold small shops. There are all sorts of hand made products there to look at along with a few traditional German restaurants. It was wonderful to poke around there for a bit.
We then started walking down towards the castle, which is on the other side of the old city from the Handwerkerhof. We passed by many beautiful churches, and the incredible old market with its gorgeous fountain before Mike realized that he was really hungry. We stopped at the Bratwursthaus for real Nuremberg Bratwursts. We had heard about the bratwursts for a while from family members, so we had to try them. There about the size of breakfast sausages, and they are tasty. And since we were having bratwurst we had to have a beer… the Nuremberg Tucker beer was quite nice. To round off our Nuremberg food experience, we went and both Lebkuckens for dessert. They are a particular type of cookie that Mike’s mom usually orders around Christmas time that are made in Nuremberg. They’re okay, but they have a ginger cookie taste (which I do not like) and an almost cake like consistency. Mike usually eats most of them. No different this time with them really fresh either. But its all part of the experience and we were able to buy them from the original store. Quite exciting.
Then it was to the Frauenkirche. The artwork over the doorway was amazing. The inside was very pretty (as was the outside) with gorgeous stained glass windows, sculptures, old frescos, etc. There were some interesting modern religious paintings hanging around the church that I wouldn’t normally associate with a church that old, but they seemed to fit in with the old stuff quite well.
After we had had our fill of cookies, and the Frauenkirche, we headed over to the castle. We got there and it was swarming with police. It seemed quite odd, but we weren’t being stopped from entering, so we pressed on. But when we went to go up into the main courtyard, where were lots of men in nice suits and more police. We decided just to turn around and head back tomorrow. Hopefully then we won’t be bared from entering.
We then just wandered around the castle end of the old city. The house were Albrecht Durer, the German painter, was born is over on this end of the city. Also on this side of town was… the Aldstadthof Hausbrauerei (Old City House Brewery). We decided that we definitely need another beer before we went to meet “the family” as we were pretty sure that this particular family member did not drink. So we got a pint to spilt of reminded us of the real ales from Scotland. It was spectacular. A must see for anyone that enjoys beer. They sold their beer really cheaply (and in large quantities), but as it was day 1 of a 3 day trip and we had to lug our stuff everyday, we passed it up.
And after a beer, there is no better place to go than church. Which is exactly what we did. Kirche St Sebaldus was spectacular. It is the oldest church of Nuremberg (has been re-built since World War II) and was amazing. There was a four person singing group rehearsing up at the altar and they were wonderful. We even got a short video of them singing. Its shaky, but at least they can be heard. If I knew how to upload videos, I would. But I have no clue. (Any help would be appreciated!) The rest of the church was quite beautiful, but it was all the more so with the wonderful music that was filling the church.
Next we stopped by the Rathhaus – the town hall. It is a fairly large town hall, that has been expanded many a time. We thought we were touring the actual town hall, but after our tickets were bought and we started looking at the signs a bit more closely, we found out that the main room of the town hall is only open once or twice a month. We were touring the dungeons. It was actually a really interesting tour. There was a deaf couple on the tour so the guide spoke very clearly and used her hands a lot to point to things and explain how things worked. It was great and I was able to pick up a lot of what was going on (it was all in German.) We were able to see jail cells, torture devices, how “questioning” worked, and even the jail keepers quarters. It was quite interesting.
By the end of the tour it was nearly 3:30pm and time for us to start heading over to Hildegard’s.
She is Mike’s second cousin and Mike’s Grandma’s God Daughter. She speaks very little English, but my German comprehension has gotten lots better, I just cannot speak it all that well.
We got to her apartment at about 4pm and were eating a huge meal by 4:15pm. Turkey breast – German style, bratwurst, German potato salad, AND tomato-cucumber salad. It was a ton of food and as we were sitting down to eat she told Mike that she doesn’t like it when people come over to eat and “eat like birds.” It’s a lot of work to cook all that food, and she finds it offensive when its not all gone. Great. I don’t normally eat huge meals, but I did my best. I think both Mike and I ate more than we do on Thanksgiving and Christmas combined all before 5:30pm. It was rough, but we did it and no one was offended.
Then more family came over. All German speakers. For the most part I was able to understand what was going on, but Hildegard is really into alternative medicine. Most of those conversations had to be translated later for me by Mike. She talks so fast and so much that there was no translating while the conversation was happening. Such is life though. I would have nothing to add to the conversation anyway. After a while of visiting with family, we had more food. This time satziki (sp?) sauce. (Its like the stuff that they put on Gyros.) This time I really though I would be sick. It was good, but I was definitely not ready to eat more. Thankfully, no more food was thrown our way… until breakfast the next morning.

Berchtesgaden & The Eagles Nest

July 8, 2007

We went to Berchtesgaden this morning. The area is claimed to be some of the most beautiful in all of Europe and it also houses the Eagles Nest. It’s a house on top of a mountain that was given to Hitler as a birthday present. One of our family friends had gone there years ago and highly recommended it to us. Since it is in Bavaria, its cheap for us to get to and since there were mountains involved with it, Mike was all for it.
It’s a three hour train ride, so we had to get up really early so that we could get there in plenty of time. We had a hard time finding any information on the Eagles Nest. Anything to do with the World Wars is kept rather quite. World War I is more accepted and there are more memorials. There are a few World War II soldier memorials. Munich was one of the headquaters of the Nazi party and therefore heavily bombed. Some of the buildings are closed to public use now, some are still in use, but the past history is hidden. You can take special tours, but they are all in English. Even in museums little reference is made to World War II. The signs usually say that such and such did not survive. Or it was destroyed in 1944. The memorials that we have seen are modest. And any mention of World War II is frowned upon. So when we went into tourist information looking for information on Eagles Nest all we got was “go to Berchesgaden.” Mike finally found prices online on Friday so we could give the other two people going with us more information, but that was all we knew. The Eagles Nest was bombed during World War II and only escaped being totally destroyed after WWII by the intervention of the mayor (I think.)
So, we got up early, and crossed our fingers that we would be able to get to Eagles Nest somehow. Well, the finger crossing worked and it was easy to get to. It’s a HUGE tourist spot, so buses go up every 20 minutes. You take a public bus up to the parking lot where you buy the tickets. You can walk up to it, but the path is closed right now until the beginning of August due to trail maintenance. The buses from the parking lot to the Eagles Nest are specially made and drove up the steep mountain paths like it is nothing. Pretty amazing. The ride up was only slightly frightening as there are NO guide rails. But I suppose the rails would have to be pretty sturdy to stop a coach bus from going over the edge. But the views on the bus ride up are great. After they drop you off at the next parking lot, you can either walk up a path to the top or take the original elevator up to the top. They pack people into this elevator, but it was a quick ride up.
The Eagles Nest is now a restaurant and beer garden, but there are lots of paths all over the top with breath-taking views of the surrounding area. We were able to see Koningsee, the highest lake in Germany, and Salzburg. We were on the mountains that we had just seen last weekend, which was really neat. We spent a couple of hours walking around the top of the mountain. We of course HAD to have a beer on top of the mountain which Mike thought was amazing. Apparently there is nothing better than having a beer atop an Alpine mountain. I will admit it was a once in a lifetime event and was fun. This is one part of Bavaria that we would love to come back to. There are a lot of hikes, a National Park, small towns, lakes, etc to see in the area.
The trail from Obersalzburg to Berchtesgaden was open and everyone else thought it would be a good idea to walk back down. I wasn’t totally keen on it as apparently going up mountains also affects my sinuses. I swear ever since I hit 20 my allergies have been atrocious and now its sinuses as well. It sucks. Anyway, it was also supposed to rain. But everyone else wanted to go down, so I went. The walk down was very nice. We walked through a pretty forest and even stumbled upon some ruins. We have no idea what they are as it was not marked, but given its proximity to the Eagles Nest we assumed it had something to do with that. That and it was all reinforced concrete structures. Most people do not built huge cement structures on the side of a mountain and then leave them to ruin. It would be a lot of work for nothing. But as we were leaving the ruins, we looked through a break in the trees and saw a big rain storm in the distance. Great. But its not like we could run down the side of a steep mountain. A little bit later the sprinkling started, then the thunder started rumbling. Then it started pouring. Yeah… so the gortex wash I did on my coat (twice) did NOT work. I was soaked. At least it was relatively short lived. And the walk was nice. It just would have been nicer being dry.

Augsburg

July 7, 2007

We got a group of people from the school Mike is going to and headed over to Augsburg today. It was only a 40 minute train ride from Munich and is one of the oldest towns in Germany. It was heavily bombed during World War II, but has been re-built. The buildings were very beautiful and it was easy to navigate and walk around. We started with the city fall. There was a festival being set up in front of it, and there was a Fair-Trade event going on in the city hall. It would have been interesting to walk through it, but since we were with 4 other people, we skipped it. No one else seemed all that interested in it. There is a gorgeous room that you can go through called the Golden Room. The ticket in was really cheap, and the room is amazing. Obviously, lots of gold and floor to ceiling paintings. Amazing. There is a smaller room off to one side that you can go into as well. The wood work in that room is incredible. There is beautiful wood paneling, ceiling, and desk.
Next we walked over to the Augsburg Cathedral. It is incredibly old, and has undergone many remodeling and additions. It also claims to have the oldest stain glass windows in the world dating from 1140. Pretty amazing. The doorway into the building is incredible. Lots of stunning stonework that you could look at for quite some time. There are many beautiful windows and altars in the cathedral. There is a hallway of crypts that is interesting as well.
There is a tower next to the City Hall called the Perlachturm that for a small fee you can climb. Its not too bad of a climb up. At least the hallway is not as narrow as some of the towers we have climbed. And there are nice views of the city from the top. There were a lot of bells right above our heads and it was nearing noon. No one was keen on finding out if the bells would actually ring at noon or not. I thought it might be fun, but I am sure that it would have been loud and I probably would not have been able to hear anything for at least the rest of the day.
We wandered through some more of the streets before we stopped for lunch. The donner in Germany is MUCH better than the donner that we tried in Scotland. Mike has become addicted to donner sandwiches and would probably eat them all the time if I let him. Donner is the Turkish equivalent to a Greek Gyro. They are quite tasty and quite cheap for lunches out. We found a great little restaurant on Maxmillianstrasse with great donner and we tried one of the local beers. The name translates as “rabbit beer” which we thought was funny. There are so many breweries in the town that a hops plant is part of their town crest. We weren’t even trying and found 6 different kinds of beers from Augsburg. Anyway… the food was great and the wonderful waitress gave us all Turkish tea to try at the end of our meal. It was slightly bitter, but tasty.
After lunch we visited the Church of St Ulrich and Afra. It was celebrating a birthday and there was quite the activity going on inside and outside the church. The church was really pretty, and the main altar amazing. There was a side chapel full of beautiful religious icons, and the other side chapels were gorgeous as well. Its amazing what people way back when would commission to save their souls. In the basement of the church are some tombs, and the tombs of St Ulrich and St Afra. St Ulrich’s tomb is quite ornate while St Afra’s is fairly plain. Hers is much older though.
We walked over to the Fuggerei after the church. It is Europe’s oldest social housing estate. It was much like New Lanark in Scotland. Designed for poorer families as a city within a city. It was not as large as New Lanark, but then again it didn’t house a factory for its inhabitants. It has lots of apartments with a church, school, shops, and small hospital. It is now a home for retired citizens and is still run by the family that built it back in the 1500’s. Pretty interesting. The rent is still amazingly cheap. Back when it started part of the rent was a three times daily prayer for the founding family, and I imagine that that is no longer in place. There was a bunker put in during World War II as this place was heavily bombed. It is now a very pretty memorial park. The complex was re-built and still retains much of its original details – including old hand pumps, bell ringers, and religious icon niches above doorways (it is a Catholic complex.) It was even the home of Wolfgang Mozart’s great-grandfather, Franz Mozart who worked on the building of the Fuggerei.

Salzburg, Austria & Chiemsee, Germany

July 1, 2007

We started the morning as early as we could. Breakfast was not served until 8:30am, and since it was really inexpensive for what you got – and it was a Sunday morning (many places are closed on a Sunday here) – we were going to eat there this morning. I kind of woke up at about 6am and Mike was already awake. I rolled over and went back to sleep. He didn’t get up until near 7am though. I’m hoping that once we more back, we can sleep in sometime… But we were more than ready for breakfast when they finally opened the doors, and even had our day planned before we ate. After a wonderful breakfast, we headed over to Kapuzinerberg. It’s a small mountain on the edge of Salzburg that we thought would not only have some nice views, but it would be nice to take a hike through the woods and get away from all the people. (Not that there were many out at 9am on a Sunday.) But at least since it was early, it wasn’t hot yet.
There are quite a few paths to choose from that wind through the woods on the mountain. We meandered our way over to the Franziskischlossl. The view points on the way there were great. On the way up the mountain we walked on the side with views of the newer part of the city (I think it’s the south side.) When we got to the Franziskischlossl we could clearly see the surrounding mountains again, which was great. We walked down the other side of the mountain which had great views of the older part of the city and the castle with huge mountains behind it all. The views were spectacular and it was definitely our favorite part of the walk.
We wandered through some of the streets of the old part of town next. We decided to go pack to St Peter’s to explore the catacombs. It was only 1 euro each to go in, and it was worth it. Instead of the catacombs that we went to outside of Rome, these were built into the side of the mountain. You can only see a couple of the chapels and its all self guided, but it is interesting. And the views of the church and cemetery from the catacombs is really pretty. There was no wedding in the church today, so we poked our heads in for a minute. We didn’t stay too long since it was a Sunday and we were in jeans and t-shirts. It was a really, really beautiful church. There were paintings all over the walls that were amazing, the altar was gorgeous, as was everything else.
After that, we walked through some of the theater district, and then wandered down Getreidegasse. It’s a narrow lane filled with shops with very fancy signs. Mike and I were joking about McDonald’s being there with a fancy sign and what should we find half way down the street… and McDonald’s with a very fancy metal sign like all the others. McDonald’s is everywhere! There was an outdoor craft like market that we poked through. Aunt Sue – we even saw those wine bottle plates you were talking about!
On our way back to the train station we walked through the Mirabellgarten, which is yet another film location of “The Sound of Music.” The gardens are very pretty, but were filled with people, so we didn’t linger too long.

Since we still had quite a bit of the day left, we decided to stop at Chiemsee as it was on the way back to Munich. The main train drops you off at Prien and you can walk 15 minutes into Stock on Chiemsee or take an old steam train. Since we just missed it and would have to wait 40 minutes for the next train, we walked into Stock. There is not much to see in the city, especially on a Sunday when nearly everything is closed, but it was a nice, easy walk. We stayed for about 3 hours, and it was well worth it. The lake is beautiful and is surrounded by mountains. You can swim in the lake, rent boats, walk, and take a ferry out to an island with a palace. We just walked a bit around the lake, took some pictures, etc. The boat rentals were rather pricey and there was a line.

Salzburg, Austria

June 30, 2007

Over this weekend we traveled to the home of Mozart and the film location of “The Sound of Music.” Salzburg is only about a 2 ½ hour train ride from Munich and the ride was wonderful. We were able to see a lot of really pretty countryside, and, of course, mountains. We left right away in the morning on Saturday so that we could have the whole day to see Salzburg.
As we were walking towards the castle, we saw a guy playing a guitar. Not all that amazing, normally. But Mike claims that it was the same guitar player that he had seen playing about 10 years ago. In the same place. Weird. According to Mike he is one of the most amazing guitar players known to man. Apparently we own a CD of the guy’s… I’ll have to check it out when we get home and find the CDs. :)
The castle sits atop a small mountain and towers over the city. It was a steep walk up, but the views of the city were spectacular. (You can also take an elevator up the hill… but it was a nice day and we aren’t lame yet!) We had a wonderful picnic lunch on one of the terraces of the castle with views of the valley and the Alps, then headed off to explore the castle. It was MUCH more intact than the castles we left behind in Scotland! Its broken up into two different sections. The first is an audio guided tour that you have to do in a group of 40 other people and are herded through the rooms. But the groups leave every 15-20 minutes, so its not too bad. And the end of the tour is a climb up into one of the towers which has great views of the city and the surrounding area. The second part is all self guided. I think that audio guides are available, but I find them rather annoying. Half the time what they are telling you is written on a sign somewhere in the room plus they tell you lots of inane facts that barely anyone remembers. There is a really pretty church to see, plus ruins of a Romanesque church. The ruins were really interesting. Part of the original structure was there, and even some of the old fresco paintings. There were also a few museums to go through. There was a lot of information on Romanesque churches in the building that housed the ruins, plus there was a military museum, an artifacts museum, a museum on the castle, and even a section for torture devices – which included big metal masks. One of the most interesting parts of this section of the castle was the state rooms. There are three rooms that are incredibly ornately decorated. They are amazing – and even more impressive than the décor is the fact that they have survived quite a long time.
After the castle, we explored more of the Fortress District – which included the nunnery from “The Sound of Music.” I cannot tell you how excited Mike was to see this and all the other film locations that we saw. But luckily, he loves me, so he smiled and went along with me – and never once complained. :) Unfortunately, the Nonnburg Priory is not open to the public. Even the church was closed as they were getting ready for the Saturday evening service. I suppose that it makes sense that the priory was closed, but it would have been really neat to see more than just the outer courtyard! This part of the city was quite pretty. Lots of small lanes and winding streets with NO tourists. I know that we are in this group, its just nice to be free from them. We saw a few more churches and tried to get out to Schloss Hellbrunn where the trick fountain scene of “The Sound of Music” was filmed, along with a few other scenes. But it was quite the hike out there, and we had other things to see in the city. It didn’t seem worth the trek out there to see a fountain and a pond. I’ll watch the movie when I get home.
Next we headed over to the Cathedral District and decided to explore … the cathedral. :) It is absolutely huge, and incredibly beautiful. The stone work is amazing, and all over the walls. There are incredible paintings all over, about 5 different beautiful organs, and more. The artwork inside of the cathedral is breath-taking and well worth a visit. (They do ask for a donation, but it can be free.) The cathedral has been re-built twice, once in 1628 due to a fire, and the last time was due to a bomb in 1944. The church didn’t re-open again until 1959. Another reason for paint-ball gun/bomb warfare.
Right next to the cathedral is St Peter’s Abbey. There was a wedding – or some big event – going on in the church, so we didn’t go in, but the courtyard was wonderful. Lots of old, beautiful tombs, AND it was yet another film location for “The Sound of Music.” We stopped at another pretty church, and walked past Mozart’s birthplace as we walked back to our hostel. Across the river we stopped at a church courtyard that was very lovely. St Sebastian’s cemetery houses lots of old tombs and gravestones, along with a monument to Paracelsus’ (no idea who he/she is), the Wolf Dietrich mausoleum (again… no idea), and the Mozart family tomb. We thought that it would included Wolfgang himself, but it doesn’t. I’m pretty sure that it was his parents, and other such relatives and it was really pretty. The cemetery is full of huge trees, flowers, and lovely vines – it feels more like a park than a cemetery.
Our hostel was incredibly easy to find. We stayed at the YoHo Youth Hostel and it was really great. It was one of the nicest hostels we have stayed in yet. They had a restaurant and bar in the building – with really cheap beer prices for happy hour too. The beds were nice, bathrooms clean, and staff friendly. The only hitch was that the building vibrated. I have no idea why or how, but it did. We ended the night with a great Italian meal at Restaurante Corallo. It was run be actual Italians, and to make it even better, Italians also ate there. Then you know the food is authentic! Even if it wasn’t, the pasta was incredible – better than some of the food we had in Rome!

Venice

June 13 - 14, 2007

Lisa really wanted to go to Venice while she was here in Europe. Sadly, Mike could not go with us because he had class, but he had already been to Venice in High School. So, Lisa and I took the night train into Venice while Mike stayed in Munich. The train left Munich at about midnight and then got into Venice at about 7:30am. It was wonderful. Not many places were open, but we found a café selling great pastries that we ate while watching the city wake up. The island of Venice is not all that large, and we bought a map, so we decided to wander through the streets while making our way to Piazza San Marco. Its so much harder than it sounds. Venice has wonderful narrow winding streets that you could get lost in for days. At times the streets stop at a wall, canal, or building and you have to backtrack and find a different street, and because the streets are not straight, its incredibly easy to walk in the wrong direction. Thank goodness for the street index on the map!
We finally made our way across the Grand Canal near the Accademia. We had heard all about this building in Art History 101 at GVSU and still remembered the name 7 years after the class, so we really wanted to see it. It was under construction… So there was scaffolding and big advertisements all over it. But at least the views of the city from the bridge over the canal were great.
It only took us 3 ½ hours to get to Piazza San Marco, but we got there! The Piazza is huge and filled with people, even at 11:00am. It’s a huge tourist thing to buy pigeon food and feed the birds. Well, the stupid people actually feed the things out of their hands so that the pigeons climb all over them. They even let them land on their heads! And parents think this is great. Photo opportunity of the century to them. All I could think off is all the diseases those little rats with wings probably carried and how they have to poop sometime with all that food. I hope that they scrub their children with bleach after playing with those vile birds. The line to get into the basilica was pretty long, so we decided to come back during lunch time since the lines are usually shorter while everyone is eating.
In the meantime we wandered more streets. Its interesting to see a big city like that without cars and how they get on without them. Everything is done by boat: the trash pick-up, laundry pick-up/drop off, some market stalls were done by boat, travel, etc. The canals are, of course, pretty gross. The water color is fairly unnatural and things are floating in it all over. We did see kayakers, but again I think a good scrubbing with bleach afterwards would have to be in order. I think living in Venice during the hot summer months would have been pure torture as a child. You can definitely not swim in the canals nor do I think you can in the surrounding ocean.
We checked out taking a gondola ride, but for a forty minute ride, it was going to be 80 euro (about $100). Given that Mike and I have no real income this summer, I didn’t think that this would be a wise spending of our money. But I doubt I would have said “ok” if we did have income. That’s a really expensive 40 minutes when I could just walk the streets and see the same thing.
We moseyed through more streets and did lots of window shopping as we made our way back to San Marco. By the time we got back to the basilica, the line was much shorter and moving much faster. All the ladies in short skirts/shorts and sleeveless tops were holding us up greatly. You would think that more guidebooks would tell you that in Italy you HAVE to dress appropriately to get into churches. Maybe they do and no one pays attention…
The inside of the basilica is incredibly beautiful. There are amazing mosaics all over the walls, and even the floors are beautiful. You cannot take pictures inside, which is understandable, but is still a bummer. It would be nice not to have to buy expensive postcards, but such is life. We went into the treasury, which neither of us knew what to expect. I had not been into any of them yet, but it was interesting. Along with some beautiful old objects - such as bible covers, goblets, candelabras, etc. – there are bones of various Saints. None of them were labeled, so I have no idea what ones are what, but it was slightly creepy to see all the bones of long dead Saints.
Our hotel for the night was on the mainland. So we made our way back to the other side of the island and to our hotel. Instead of coming back into the city center that night, we were recommended a pizzeria in the area. Not only was it much cheaper than the island, but it was frequented by actual Italians, not tourists. Nice to know the food is authentic enough to be eaten by people that live there! And the pizza was very, very tasty.
The next day we headed back to Venice and went straight to the small island of Murano, which is known for their glass making. When we got there, we were able to see the glass being made and the process was explained to us. It was really interesting, and really HOT in that room. I cannot imagine working there, but those guys were incredibly talented. The island was really pretty to walk around in and window shop. There were lots of shops selling the glass works, but they were really expensive, and those that weren’t… I would be afraid would break on the way back to Michigan.
After Murano, we headed over to Burano. Its an even smaller island known for their beautiful lace work. It took us even less time to window shop through the town center, but the lace work was very beautiful. The rest of the town was great as well. The houses were brightly painted and the flowers were gorgeous. By the time we were done pursuing the islands, it was almost 3pm and it sounded like a huge thunderstorm was coming in. We wanted to get back to the main island of Venice before it fully rolled in. Thankfully, we just got the cool winds from the storm and saw the lightening and thunder. It threatened on and off all day, but passed us every time! We walked through more streets, watched people in Piazza San Marco – and there are a lot of them to watch! – and then headed to dinner. We ate at a wonderful little restaurant right off Piazza San Marco. Service is a lot more hands off there, so we were easily able to have a long Italian meal, which was great as we needed to kill time before our train headed out at 11pm.
Venice is incredibly pretty – the streets are beautiful, the canals interesting, and the food amazing – but it was nice to be going back to Munich. It was my first vacation without Mike since I met him. I did not like vacationing without him, even for a couple of days.

Mike's Mom visit

I have, yet again, been slightly behind in reporting all our adventures. Mike's mom was here for about 7 days and left last Friday morning. It was great to see her after all these months. Here are some highlights of her trip... She flew in on Friday the 18th, since I was working, Mike took her out to see some of the city. George Square is really close to our apartment and is spectacular. Especially in the Spring time with all the flowers and activity warmer weather brings. Mike took her on the tour of the City Chambers, which is amazing. The exterior of this building is amazing, but then you walk inside and see all the mosaics, marble staircases, woodwork, etc. Nice to know my council tax payments are helping to maintain such a lavish building... Either way, the goal of tiring her out succeeded. We found it helps with jet lag and becoming accustomed to the time difference. That and as it was my last day of work, all my work friends were having a night out for me and another girl who was leaving as well. We had pints to consume! Didn't really matter to Lee... especially since Mike tired her out so much that she was falling asleep eating dinner. :)
On Saturday we were going to go see the Scottish Piping Competitions down in Dumbarton (a suburb of Glasgow) but it was raining horizontally, so we ditched those plans for indoor endeavors. We went over to the West End to see Glasgow University and the Kelvingrove Art Museum. We stopped at a popular restaurant for lunch called the Ubiquitous Chip in Ashton Lane (a small street filled with restaurants and bars). It was alright, but not my favorite Scottish restaurant by far. Then on to Glasgow University for a quick walk through the wonderful courtyard. It still reminds me of Hogwarts from Harry Potter.

At Kelvingrove right now they are doing an informative series on the Highlands life and culture. So on Saturday we were able to hear a harpist and a singer. It was really lovely and reminded me of all the different musicians from the Celtic Connections earlier in the year. The Kelvingrove has always been one of my favorite places in Glasgow. The art is in a beautiful old building and there always seems to be something new to see. It was slightly sad walking through the rooms knowing it was the last time I would see it in quite some time...

Sunday Lee tried her hand at driving a manual transmition on the opposite side of the road. Mike and I had been wanting to visit the Isle of Arran, which is supposed to be a miniature of Scotland, for quite some time now. Since Lee was only going to be here for a short while, and wanted to see standing stones, we decided to check it out with her. Unfortunately the only automatic cars that they had was a 2 seater Smart car. Not very big at all and no way 3 people could fit. But Lee was up to the challenge, so we went. It was a beautiful day out and the island is lovely. The stones above are in Machrie Moor. There are quite a few of them there, but we only saw these and another stone circle near the start of the walk. We were also able to stop in the distillery while we were there. We couldn't take a tour as it was too late and we needed to get the car back and make the ferry. We did try the Isle of Arran whisky at a wonderful pub called 'The Pot Still.' Even I liked it. It was nice a sweet, not peaty like the isle whiskies. Lee bought a sampler pack for Joe (Mike's dad), so hopefully he will like them.
We rented a car so we could tour around for a few days, unfortunately the car that was supposed to show up at 10am didn't arrive until noon. Car company's response: our bad. Thankfully we had a small car tour we could do for the day, so as soon as the car came we jumped in and headed for the Borders. We were able to see three different abbeys - Melrose, Jedburgh, and Dryburgh- , and one - Kelso- on the outside as it had closed. The three abbeys that we did see were wonderful. All in ruins, of course, but for being as old as they were, they had fared pretty well. We also stopped off at a couple of wonderful view points of the borders. One Mike and I climbed up a big hill in the middle of a sheep pasture. The view was great, but the sheep were vile. We were walking along, and started hearing a clinking noise... Yup, it was poop that had dried in the sheep's wool and made butt rattles. So gross.

On the way home, we got slightly turned around and hit the English Border. Opps... but at least Lee got to have her picture taken at the border!

On Tuesday we headed up to the Highlands. Most tourists cannot pass up a trip to Loch Ness when they visit Scotland. Lee was no different. The drive up to Loch Ness is not that far, but its long. There are not that many major highways in Scotland, and certainly none where we were going in the Highlands. The roads wound A LOT through valleys, next to lochs, and were very narrow. It makes for slow going. But there are beautiful stops along the way to Loch Ness. The lochs and mountains along the way are absolutely beautiful, and at one of these viewpoints we even saw a reindeer! How cool is that? I got pictures to show all my younger cousins, neighbors, etc. Really, just to anyone who will look. :) The picture above is from Glen Coe, one of my favorite stops along the way to Loch Ness. Its the sight of a horrid massacre and always feels sad and creepy. And the weather there has always been crap every time we go through it. Odd.

Unfortunately, we did not see Nessie this time at Urquhart Castle. The water was too choppy. You had to use even more imagination powers than last time we were up there. I thought I saw her a couple of times, but I was the only one. Then it was back down to Glasgow. We were able to drive through the Cairngorm National Park for a bit on the way back down to Glasgow, which was wonderful. We had not seen that part of Scotland yet, so it was nice to see something new. We tried to hit the Edradour Distillery in Pitlochery, but it was closed by the time we got there. My parent's neighbor, Jill, had recommended it to us from her travels in Scotland, but we'll just have to settle for trying the whisky. It was a slight disappointment, but it gives us something to do for next time! The town was very charming though and we walked down to the salmon fish ladder (no fish jumping though - but lots of fishermen) and had dinner down by the river in a wonderful little place.

Wednesday was another Borders day. We had to drive quite a bit to get down to where we wanted to be, but it was worth it. Lee reads a lot of romance novels, and apparently Gretna Green is in quite a few of them. It was a big place to elope so that family members could not stop the weddings. So Blacksmiths married runaway couples way back when in Gretna Green. We started looking at routes there, and when she found out Gretna Green would be so close, we had to make a trip over. It was interesting... nothing Mike and I would have chosen on our own, but it was definitely educational!

Then it was on to see 6 different castles - Lochmaben, Caerlaverock, Threave (pictured above), MacLellan, Cardoness, and Carsluith. It was a lot, but they were all close to each other so once we got down there, it was easy to see them all. And each one was very different from the rest. Lochmaben was incredibly ruined, but very pretty. We had to drive down a very small dirt track to get there, but its on a loch and has wonderful views. Threave was out on an island in a river and we had to take a boat out to it! It was a lot of fun. Caerlaverock was wonderful. The stonework was still very visible, as was the river harbor, and its situation was lovely.

After all those castles, we stopped at a very OLD burial tomb called Cairn Holy with standing stones outside of it. Lee had not been able to touch the stones in Machrie Moor on Arran, so she really wanted to see some more so that she could touch them. Our only other option for the day was a couple of standing stones out in a field. And it had been raining all week, and Lee's shoes leaked slightly. We were really glad that we found those stones! It meant for a much more comfortable ride home for her! The stones were wonderful and so was the burial tomb.

Her last full day here was spent packing and then talking a tour bus around Glasgow. Mike and I had seen most of what was on the tour, but it was a great way for Lee to see Glasgow, and it allowed us a last look at quite a bit of the city that has been home for the last 8 months. It was sad to see it and have to say goodbye to places that I have seen nearly everyday for months and months. I love this city and have loved living here. Like I said before, if it wasn't for the large amount of family members that I have left behind, I would have no problems living here permanently. But, I have missed you all greatly and cannot wait to see everyone again. Web cams are nice, but not the same.

After the city tour, we went out for one final meal at Cafe Source, which has become our favorite Scottish restaurant. The food there is spectacular and the Orkney Fudge Cheesecake is to DIE FOR. Really. Its that good. And the employees incredibly friendly, the building beautiful AND the prices reasonable. I will miss that place greatly as well as the rest of Glasgow.

Orkney, Day 5

We decided to try the Stacks of Yenasby again this morning. Orkney is not that big, so the drive over there was short anyway. What a great call. The water was much calmer and we were not blown away as soon as we stepped from the car. Always a plus. The views from the cliffs were absolutely breathtaking, so we were both really glad that we decided to try the walk again. We were even able to see The Old Man of Hoy on the Isle of Hoy. If we had the car a little longer, we would have loved to walk along the cliffs longer, but the car needed to be back early afternoon-ish and we still had more stops in the day. These cliffs are definitely a must see for anyone visiting Orkney though.

We then traveled over to Orphir to see Earl's Bu and St. Nicholas Church. All that's left of Earl's Bu is the foundation of the drinking hall. Quite interesting that that's all that remains... The Church was interesting too (seen on the right). Again, not a lot left of it, but its the only round church thought to have been built in Scotland. It was sadly destroyed to make a new church, that was again destroyed. At least a little bit is left! We then took a drive along Scapa Flow, made famous by World War II. The area is beautiful, and thankfully we drove it on a clear day and were actually able to see out into the bay.

We then rushed over to Deerness before we had to turn the car in. Its a bit of a hike out to this old Stone Age settlement, but its a beautiful hike and the settlement is a great viewpoint. At one point in time there was a natural land bridge out to the village, but over the last 5,000 years it has been weathered away. Go figure. Now there is a set of stairs down the side of the cliffs, and then back up. The walk up and down is beautiful and there is a rope provided to hold on to - there is nothing to stop you from falling over the side of the cliffs. The stairs down the cliffs are right next to the stairs the villagers used thousands of years ago to get to the water too. Very neat. And all that was before 1pm...

After dropping off the car, we still had 6 hours before the ferry arrived and no hostel room. We made reservations for dinner, checked out the movie theatre - there is only one screen and Becoming Jane was playing that night. Not Mike's first pick, but the bowling alley had closed the week before and we needed something to do.

We poked through town for a few hours before dinner, which is no simple feat since its a VERY small town. But the church there is incredibly beautiful, so we spent quite a bit of time there playing with the new camera and really looking it over.

Then it was on to dinner. We ate at the Ayre Hotel and it was wonderful. Mike had some sort of seafood medley that he loved. I ate the steak and ale pie with a pile of fries. It never ceases to amaze me... I have eaten more meat in the three years I have been with Mike than I EVER ate before hand. My parents spent years fighting with me to eat meat. But unless it was a meatloaf or hot dog, I was not interested in it. I can remember sitting at the table long after everyone else had left chewing the same damn piece of meat. And now I choose to eat it... Who would have thought?

Orkney, Day 4

We woke up this morning to winds and rain. Wonderful. But we were not going to spend the day at the hostel, so we bundled up, got out the rain pants (or water-proof trousers over here) and coats, and headed out for the day. We were going to the island of Rousay and had to be at the ferry by 10:45am. We some extra time - we got up early... again - so we stopped by Culwean Hill. At the top of the hill there is another cairn, and this one just has a box with a flashlight in it and you guide yourself through the VERY small corridor into the main chamber. I wasn't so excited about the small corridor, but I didn't want Mike to see something that I hadn't, so I was willing. We climbed up to the top, in the driving winds, and found out that the flashlight was not working. And its REALLY dark in there. No way I was going into some small, very dark hole in the ground. At least the views from the top were nice.
We drove to the town of Tingwall, which consists of the ferry dock and a house, to await our venture to Rousay. We overestimated our time and got there about 20 minutes too early, but we didn't want the boat to leave. Its the only one that leaves in the morning on a Sunday. We may have actually gotten on the ferry if we had not had the wonderful chance to see the waves slowly becoming larger. Then we saw some sort of white mass coming near and near to the dock... it was our boat. You could not see the big ferry because the waves were SO bad that they were encompassing the thing. Non-drowsy Dramamine knocks me out for hours, and I knew that I would be violently sick all day if I went on that boat. Even Mike, who has a stomach of steel, was doubtful of riding on the ferry. That was all it took for me to reverse and not look back. Above is proof that I was NOT a wuss. Later in the day we drove over to the cliffs of Yesnaby and the waves were coming over the cliffs. I cannot remember how tall they are, but they are quite high!
To continue with the Stone Age theme of yesterday, we decided to visit the Broch of Gurness. Its yet another village, but this one is built around a central defense building with outer buildings around it. And since the weather was so crappy, we again had it all to ourselves. Even the guy that was running the ticket booth stayed well inside. We may not have seen Puffins yesterday, but as we were walking up to enter the village, we saw a seal playing in the waves. We have no clue if it was a Gray Seal or a Common Seal, but the point is, we saw one. Not like the silly Puffins. The broch was really interesting, and the exhibit in the visitor center was really interesting. You even got to grind wheat into flour! And then in the broch, we saw the original flour grinder that was used all those years ago. Very cool place. We just stayed away from the edge since it was a slight drop off into the sea. There was no way I was getting blown out into that cold water. But the wind was SO strong that it stopped both Mike and I in our tracks. Then it started raining, and felt like little pelts hitting us. As we were leaving, another couple drove up. They took one look at us struggling to get the doors to the car open and launch ourselves in, and drove away. While we are ever willing for the weather to ruin our vacation, we decided to stay inland for the rest of the day.
We had a wonderful lunch at Julia's cafe in Stromness. The second biggest city in Orkney. It got us well out of the winds and rain that were battering us that morning. The food was wonderful, and the weather crap. We tried to do a few different things, but the driving winds were a real problem.
Surprisingly enough, this picture was taken inland... looks totally calm. Not surprisingly enough, we stayed inland the rest of the day.

Orkney, Day 3

The first stop of the day was to the Stones of Stenness. This is an amazing place. Its, sadly, not very complete, but the stones that are there are huge. They tower over Mike and he is tall (well... at least he is tall to me). Historic Scotland has placed cements markers where they believe the missing stones were placed, which is very helpful when trying to imagine what this wonderful place once looked like. This stone circle is amazing now, I can only imagine how wonderful it once was.
There is a small Stone Age village a stones throw away from here. If I could have lived in the Stone Age, that's where I would have liked to have my house. Stones of Stenness in one direction, the Ring of Brogar in another, surrounded by lochs and beautiful scenery...

The next stop of the day was to the Ring of Brogar. This circle is quite large, so obviously has more stones. But where at Stenness some of the stones are actually missing, most of the stone bases are still here. Some of the Stenness stones are missing due to new constructions being built. In many places (Roman Forum, old churches, here, etc.), when the building was no longer in use, people took the stones from there to build new things since it was easier than going to the quarry. The beginnings of recycling I suppose. Sucks for the rest of us who would like to see the place as it once was, but at least we get to see something!

Since we were out fairly early, we had these stone circles all to ourselves. It was wonderful... we could explore the circle, stones, and more. This circle also has lots of other stuff. It is imagined that at least one of the hills is a burial tomb. Maybe the religiosity of the Ring of Brogar kept the stones from being recycled...
To continue on with the Stone Age theme, our next stop was Skara Brae, one of the many Stone Age villages on Orkney, but the best example here. It was amazing, and all I could think of the whole time we were there is The Flintstones. The visitors center at this ancient monument is wonderful. It tells you all about what is known and what is supposed about the people of the village, has wonderful artifacts, and great interactive displays. No wonder it has won awards. Then you start walking on the path to the village, and step into a recreation of one of the house and the covered walkways that would have led you to the house. Very neat. Then all along the path, there are stone signs commemorating big moments in history to give you an idea of just how old this village is. It is incredible that all 3 of the sites we saw this morning were around 5000 years old. And they are still here today! Not all intact, but after 5000 years that's to be expected.

We decided to take a break from the Stone Age theme of the morning to take a walk looking for Puffins. The Puffins had recently been sighted on the mainland off Marwick Head. So, we headed to the cliffs and started walking. I was determined to see a Puffin - I wanted the hat pin. Unfortunately, the Puffins did not want to cooperate AT ALL. We saw lots of birds, but none of them Puffins. The one bird I really, really wanted to see... Maybe next time... At least the walk was lovely and the sun was shining.

Now back to Stone Age times... Maeshowe is a wonderful little chambered cairn. You have to book a tour time before you go though since the actual chamber is so small. The Tomb of the Eagles was smaller, but it is a ways out of the main area, this was right smack in the middle of it all. We were told by the nice (and very informative) tour guide that this is the best example that they have of this type of Stone Age construction. And it was amazing how it was constructed. The door lines up with the winter solstice and lights up the chamber. There are web cams set up in the tomb so that you can see it. This cairn also has Viking graffiti! And you can clearly see it all over the stonework inside. It was really interesting to see all the runes and pictures, and hear all about these old messages.

The final stop of the day was to the Brough of Birsay. (Another spot where Puffins sightings are likely... we didn't see them there either.) You can only get here when the tide is out, or by boat. A walkway is provided for anyone wishing to make the walk out to the little island, which I suppose is quite nice, but I would have LOVED to play on the rocks too. I think Mike liked that the walkway was there, so that I couldn't play in the rocks. That way I didn't accidentally maim myself by slipping and we didn't end up with a suitcase full of rocks. I still peered into the tide pools though. So, we started walking out to this old settlement, on the wonderful walkway provided for us. In theory its great, in reality its a slimy slippery path of cement. We both nearly broke ourselves before we realized just how slippery the path was. After our slow walk out to the island, we were able to explore the settlement. This one still had the foundation of the church present, but most of the old houses were just slumps in the ground now. It was quite interesting to see, especially after our travels in England. A friend of ours took us to an old settlement in the National Park and kept pointing to hallows in the ground and talking about houses, etc. At that point I could not imagine how he would know that that may have been some one's house. Now it all makes sense.

Orkney, Day 2

Orkney is an very small island, but its main attractions are out in the middle of no where. We knew that we wanted to rent a car once we got there, and the lady that owned the hostel we stayed in (the Peddie Hostel - a great place to stay) had told us it was cheap and we would have no problem just renting one once we got there. What she didn't take into consideration was that the Monday was a national holiday and there was a rugby competition going on that weekend. As we started calling around, our frustration levels started rising as no one had anything to rent to us. One company had a manual transmission car (the most popular here) but it has been years since I've driven one and at best I am a beginner. Our final attempt before just taking the manual car produced great results though. The had one car available and it was an automatic! WOO HOO! I really thought that we would be walking everywhere and not seeing a lot of Orkney. No we just had to wait for the car to be available for the day, so we explored Kirkwall. The Cathedral of St Magnus there is wonderful. The stained glass windows are amazing, and Mike finally figured out how to take great shots of them with the new camera. It is amazingly old with lots of memorials on the walls, and a wonderful area created by children in the late 1980's during a pilgrimage. The stone work on the inside and out is incredible as well. Needless to say, I highly recommend stopping by if ever you are in Orkney.

This is the Bishop's Palace. You get entrance to the Earl's Palace along with this place. Both are incredibly old residents of at one time the Bishop, and then eventually the Earl of the area took over the Bishop's residence and made the newer Earl's Palace. It was really interesting to see. There were petrified wood chunks in the Bishop's Palace, but it was not as well intact. The Earl's Palace still had quite a bit of the original structure, but it was fun to see stairs to nothingness, floating fireplaces, etc. and imagine the opulence of once upon a time.

As soon as we got the car, we headed the south of South Ronaldsay island and to the Tomb of the Eagles. Its a little privately owned burial tomb that is run by two sisters. Their father found the tomb after a big storm and they are incredibly knowledgeable about the tomb, the people, and the artifacts that were found at the site. They give a great hour long lecture before they let you out to walk to the tomb. You pull yourself along the tunnel into the tomb. Its great fun.

This was on our way back into the mainland. Its called the Italian Chapel and was built by the Italian POWs that lived on the island during World War II. It was made by connecting two of the army issued barracks and a TON of dedication. The inside is breathtaking and the outside is wonderful. One of the men even stayed behind to finish this church after they were released. Amazing.

(Mike has been uploading pictures like mad. All 430 pictures can be seen on flickr.)

Orkney, Day 1

I am taking a small break from my search for a "real job" to write a string of posts that I have been putting off...

As I said before, this vacation had a horrid start. The camera was stolen, the crappy 35mm film camera was in the apartment - a 3 hour journey away - and we were scheduled to be on the ferry to Orkney in a few hours. We had no idea where anything in Aberdeen was either and Tourist Information was closed for lunch. Great.
Thankfully we found a Jessops and they were having a sale. We got the camera, camera bag, and 2GB memory card all for the original price of the other camera (and it was 3 years old.) Would have been nicer if we could pay for it in the States where everything is cheaper, but such is life. And this camera kicks the old camera's ass. So, we have pretty much gotten over the fact that some jackass stole our old camera. I hope it brings him/her nothing but bad luck though. At least we didn't loose any of our pictures... and there is nothing incriminating on the pictures that were left on the memory cards stolen with the camera.
After lunch, we headed out to see the "Granite City." We soon came to understand why its called the Granite City. Everything is made out of gray granite. Not even pretty granite with flecks of color... just gray. At least it was sunny out, when we returned from Orkney it was a cloudy, dreary day and the gray buildings were just depressing. But we have decided never to return to Aberdeen anyway. The camera was taken on our way there, and then when we were waiting for the bus back to Glasgow, a bird took a humongous poo all over our bag (and a bit on Mike's head, and three other ladies). This bird must have been massive OR had a massive bowel obstruction. It was disgusting. I will take these as signs that God clearly does not want us to ever visit that city again.
There are a few beautiful churches in Aberdeen, the best one is a ways outside the city centre, so we were not able to see it. We tried to see St Andrews Cathedral (the mother church to the USA Episcopal Church), but we were in Aberdeen on an election day and this church was being used as a ballot site. We walked in and the people running the check-in table stared at us, started whispering to each other and laughing. Nice. Thanks to those people. When you visit my country, we'll be sure to be as nice and welcoming. So, we left that one. It was really interesting though. The ceiling was really intricately decorated with various coat of arms of the American families and Aberdeenshire Jacobite families.

The next stop we made was to Provost Skene's House. This was really neat. They took the old Provost's house and redecorated each room around a period in time. There were two dining halls of various eras, bedrooms, etc. Most of them were 17th and 18th century (so Mike tells me) but there was one more modern room. Here there was an AMAZING room called 'The Painted Gallery.' When they were re-modeling they started peeling back plaster covers and found beautiful paintings. Most of the panels were able to be saved, thank goodness.


This is the Kirk of St Nicholas. Well worth the visit. We were greeted by a wonderful lady who told us all about the church - its history, the excavations, a pretty chapel donated to them, how to see the rest of the church, etc. The excavations were in the older part of the church, and it was really ripped apart. But the nice lady told us all about that and how fun it was to work there with it all going on. They have pulled out lots of stuff there. You are able to see down into the work being done too; sadly, there was no work being done that day. The rest of the church was very beautiful and we would have loved to poke around more, but it was just about time to head to the ferry. We definitely did not want to be left behind!
There were lots of musicians on the ferry for some reason. The folk music festival on Orkney doesn't start until the 24th, but maybe they were getting there in plenty of time. They could have been going up to Shetland as well. Who knows... but either way, we had a wonderful time listening to all the groups playing. This was the largest gathering of musicians. They were set up in the bar area and played for most of the trip to Orkney (about 7 hours.) I had taken a motion sickness pill, so I sadly could not enjoy it. And Mike said there were people dancing too... the price I pay for not puking.

Back from Orkney

Well, we are back from our five day trip to Orkney. It was absolutely beautiful and we only had one crappy day. The winds were so strong, small drops of rain felt like pelts hitting us. Not wonderful, but it was better than massive rain and thunder. We just stayed away from cliffs. I will post on all of that later.
Now we have gone all over - Spain, Dublin, Rome, London, England, and numerous cities in Scotland - and never had any problems with theft. We drive three hours north to Aberdeen, and the camera gets stolen. I was asleep most of the time from the affects of Dramamine, and Mike was enthralled with a book. We had thrown all of our stuff at our feet in our mad run onto the bus. When we got off the bus, it wasn't there. F*^$in people. We searched the bus, checked with lost property on the off shot that someone may have turned it in, but with no luck (neither Thursday nor today.) While it was a great camera to start with, the thing was three years old and on its last leg. The irritating part is we just bought a new 2GB memory card for it and a tripod. At least both of them together cost less than $40.
So after frantically searching to no avail, we brainstormed options. (1) Go on vacation with no camera and just take "mental pictures" of Stone Age relics. (2) Buy disposable cameras and pay to have to film developed. (3) Buy a regular camera, buy film, and then pay to develop the film. Or (4) buy an inexpensive digital camera and memory card. In our 4 1/2 days in Rome, we took about 650 pictures. We went out to buy a new digital camera. We got a spectacular camera and another 2 GB memory card, AND it was all on sale! After a day of feeling very guilty - and stupid - (I was technically the last to touch the camera), we both got over it since our new camera is so spectacular. Like I said, the old one was three years old, and buttons were starting to stall at times. We would have had to replace it anyways, we were just hoping to pay for it in the States, where it would have been that much cheaper.
Now the only thing to feel guitly about is the fact that the old camera was a Christmas gift of Mike's... opps...

Rome, Day 5

We started out our last day in Rome with a visit to the Crypts of the Capucin Monks. It was incredibly interesting and weird all at the same time. There are different chapels and a 60 foot hallway that make up the crypts. The creepy part is that everything is decorated with bones. Everything. Lamps are made out of bones. Unfortunately there in no picture taking allowed, but the link above has some nice pictures of it. All I could think of while walking through it is, only in religion could this be acceptable. You walked into some guy's basement off the street and it was decorated like this. He would be in a mental institution and/or jail so fast. For the monks, it was perfectly fine.

Being that it was our last day in Rome, we had to see a few more churches. They are all over, so its not that hard to do. This one, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, was a Baroque style church, and was one of the few in Rome that I liked more on the outside than the inside. On each corner of the street, there was a sculpture facing the church. They were incredibly detailed too. I would have liked to get pictures of each one of the sculptures, but as it was Rome and I love to take pictures, we had filled up all our memory cards. When we got home, we went to Costco and bought a 2 GB memory card. Our trip this weekend to Orkney should have TONS of pictures now!!




During the day this Piazza is an open market and by night, the cafes and bars spread out. We sat next to one of the monuments and ate our lunch while people watching. Always great in markets. You get all kinds of people at them. :)



One of the churches I had really wanted to visit was Gesu. But every time we walked by it, (1) it was closed, (2) I really had to find a bathroom, or (3) we were so exhausted from the rest of our travels that day that we just could not be bothered to cross the road and see it. But this day we had seen just about all we could see, so we stopped in. Well worth the time. A lot of the frescoes on the ceiling and walls had actual people coming out of them! The sides of the painting would have the people that were in them start coming out of the image through a sculpture. I loved it! But as it was closing, we got kicked out well before we would have liked to. The irritating guy that was in charge started banging LOUDLY on the door for everyone to get out. Never knew that God needed a daily nap until I went to Rome. At least He doesn't charge fare to enter.

Then it was back to the Roman Forum to really poke around. The last time we were there, we were both really hungry, so we didn't look at anything with as much attention as we would have otherwise. This is a shot of Trajan's Markets (or what is left of them) from the Roman Forum. Again, no more memory space on the camera cards, so not a lot of pictures taken at this point in the day. By then, it was time to catch the bus for the airport. We had a spectacular time, but next time we both want to see more of the Italian countryside.