Madrid

I just got back from Madrid last night and I'm sure soon I will be able to genuinely recount all of the fun I had there.  But right now, I am too angry that my backpack got stolen yesterday afternoon just before we left for the airport.

Luckily, it was not full of anything too important (my wallet, passport, and boarding passes were in my purse).  But, I just spent a few hours this morning re-buying everything that I lost and it's adding up quite quickly.  To me, the most annoying thing is that there was NOTHING in that backpack (except maybe the backpack itself) that the man who stole it can use.  I'm not sure what he's going to do with my planner, French cinema class homework, the keys to my apartment, and my unwashed Williamsville East HS Class of 2007 shirt, but they were certainly useful to me.

It didn't help that I had to walk 10 minutes in the pouring rain to the police station to report that the backpack which contained my umbrella was stolen.

But that's life. Now I have a happy story:

About an hour ago, after spending an absurd amount of money on a cell phone charger, umbrella, and other replacements, I was sitting on the Paris metro somewhere in between furious and annoyed and sad.  I should preface this story by saying the Paris metro is not normally a happy place. No one talks. No one wants to be there. Everyone is in everyone else's way. So, the metro was not exactly improving my mood.

Then a man got in the metro car and started asking for money.  This happens approximately one billion times a day in Paris and usually once a day in my travels.  Normally, I don't give them anything.  But today, I happened to have just come from the grocery store and a bag of about 30 apples was sitting in my lap.  I offered the man an apple (partly as a thank you for asking instead of stealing) when he passed and he thanked me and kept moving through the car.  A few minutes later, he came back my direction holding the apple and yelled "where did this apple come from?"  I timidly half raised my hand and everyone looked at me.  Then he looked at me and said (in french) "this apple is amazing. this is so good. where did you buy this apple?" I told him. He responded (in half English) "Thank you so much.  Have a wonderful day and enjoy your time in Paris."

It was small, but it made me happy.  Usually when I travel to a new city, I fall in lust and wonder why I picked Paris.  But this time, Paris wins.

The hills were alive

I finally made it to Salzburg!  It took a lot of persistence (I am now officially the self-appointed best-train-ticket-buyer-ever), but was certainly worth the effort of getting there.  Since I watched the Sound of Music for the 123548392420th time and realized that I needed to get to this magical place where people sing and dance and fall in love, I have wanted to go to Salzburg. It was as beautiful as I imagined and more!

Rachel and I dragged ourselves off the train and into Salzburg early Saturday morning after very little, uncomfortable sleep on the night train.  We dropped our stuff off at our hotel (notice the missing 's' that you might find in a word like 'hostel'; thank god for off-season prices) and headed toward the old city.  In my mind, Salzburg was two things: 1) a beautiful and interesting city with sights 2) the place where the Sound of Music was filmed.  Therefore, my photos are organized that way. Let's start with Salzburg-the-beautiful-and-interesting-city:


Salzburg is where Mozart was born and lived when he wasn't touring about Europe impressing people with his talent.  Mozart is a name I've know as long as I could remember.  However, I would be lying if I said I knew anything about him before this trip.  He actually had a very interesting family and an interesting personality as displayed by the relics of his birthplace and residence.

Mozart's Birthplace

Mozart's Residence

(and Rachel!)

Mozart's family grave

On our day of Mozart, Rachel and I were also lucky enough to find out about a concert at Franziskanerkirche  (yes, that's really what it's called) Saturday night.  Based on my German translation skills, I think we saw a Salzburg Philharmonic (Junge Philharmonie Salzburg) , a Salzburg Choir (Chor der Salzburger Kulturvereinigung), the church's choir, and a Mozart choir all perform Mozart's "Requiem."  It was absolutely beautiful and such a perfect way to end the day.

the concert

(from the front row!)

Some of the sights:

view of the old city from one of the bridges

Salzburg Dom (cathedral)

Festung Hohensalzburg

from the top of the castle

view of Salzburg

Salzburg Alter Marketplaz decked out for Christmas

Salzburg at night

Okay, now for Salzburg #2: the Sound of Music city.  I refused to pay 40 euro to get on the bus and take the tour when I had two capable feet to carry me around the city.  Here are the places I found:

Nonnberg Abbey

(where the real Maria VonTrapp was an almost-nun)

"I Have Confidence" fountain

(unfortunately surrounded by a xmas tree tent)

Do Re Mi steps

the corner of the venue where the VonTrapp family sings the final performance

me at St. Peter's Cemetery

(where the family hides from the Nazis until they escape to the Alps)

It was all a dream come true to be there.  Now I can't wait to go home for Christmas and watch the movie again with a renewed love and understanding.

Now that I am back in Paris, my two months of train travel has officially come to an end. I can't believe it!  My 15 travel days of the Eurail Pass took me to Antibes, Nice, Tours, Bordeaux, Biarritz, Lyon, Auxerre, and Mont Saint Michel in France; Berlin, Stuttgart, and a little bit of Munich in Germany; Rome in Italy; and Salzburg in Austria. Wow.

My COMPLETED Eurail Pass!

But don't worry - the fun doesn't stop here. I am jet-setting off to Madrid this weekend and Prague the weekend after.  Then, two weeks later, the most exciting destination of all: Buffalo, NY!

Mont Saint Michel

We forayed into France yet again yesterday and spent the day at Mont Saint Michel, an island city in Northeastern France. It was literally built on a mountain on an island over one thousand years ago at the request of Archangel Saint Michel and has been added to and renovated over the past 13 centuries. It has housed all walks of life, including royalty, prisoners, and monks, which made for an interesting history. The island itself was beautiful, but not nearly as incredibly as the stunning views looking out on the water that surrounds it.

I was not able to get far enough a way to get an image of the whole island, but I found this one online to give you a visual idea of where we were:

After checking the weather forecast the day before, I had anticipated rain. However, I had not anticipated about 17 different weather patterns over the course of 5 hours. It was cloudy, it rained, it was sunny, it rained, it HAILED, and finally it was cloudy again. But, all the while, it was COLD. But I am so glad I went. It's definitely a sight to see. Hence the many pictures, against the backdrops of many different colored skies, that follow:

The Abbey

Me going into the abbey

Parking lot that's submerged during high tide

view from the top

Rome in a Day

My limited travel days and the limited availability of train tickets gave me no choice but to see Rome in a day **insert Rome being built in a day pun here**.

Rachel and I arrived in Rome just in time for dinner, one of the activities I was looking most forward to in Italy. In the 40 minutes we had between trains in Milan, we had already managed to find some delicious Margharita Pizza. So, it was time for pasta when dinner came around. And, of course, it was delicious.

Afterward, we walked from our hostel to the Collosseum. It was "I can't believe I'm here" moment.

me at the Collosseum

The next morning, we formed our "Rome in a day" plan of attack and decided to take the metro to Vatican City (all the way west in Rome) and work our way back. Not being Catholic, I don't think going to Vatican City was as exciting for me as it is for others. But, it was still very cool to see. I was most excited to see the Pieta. I would have loved to have seen the Sistine Chapel, but it's closed on Sundays. Luckily, we ended up semi-accidentally getting in line to climb up into the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. It was an amazing view of Rome and an excellent workout (520 steps!)

Rome from the dome

Piazza San Pietro

(Vatican City)

me in Roma!

Michelangelo's Pieta

Inside the Basilica

On our way out of Vatican City, there were masses of people in the Piazza San Pietro listening to someone who was clearly important speak in Italian. I did not think much about it at the time because I could not figure out where the voice was coming from. At the end of the speech, I noticed that someone took a red flag out of the windows of one of the buildings and closed the window (which looked kind of familiar...). That afternoon, I heard some Americans talking about how they had heard the Pope speak while at Vatican City that morning. So, maybe, I heard the Pope speak without realizing it. Cool?

Anyway...

Next, we made our way over to the Pantheon, followed by the Roman ruins. This was absolutely my favorite part of the trip. Walking down one street and seeing the ruins of an empire that existed so many hundreds of years ago was incredible. I can hardly find words to express it. Luckily, I have TONS of pictures!

Piazza della Rotonda

(area in front of the Pantheon)

The Pantheon

Roman ruins

Via dei Fori Imperiali

(my favorite street in Rome)

Collosseum

I had wanted to go into the Collosseum, but it was at least 12 euro per person and ended up closing around the same time we got there. Instead, we went as far as we could go into the Collosseum and took photos at awkward angles through small windows that looked into the Collosseum. It was definitely one of our classiest tourism moments yet.

Colloseeum from the back

With a few more hours to kill before dinner, we decided to walk along the river that runs through Rome. It led us to some beautiful sights and a castle (Saint Angelo!).

Ponte Cestio to an Isola

(over Fiume Tevere)

Area that was a Jewish Ghetto during WWII

(now a cute area with lots of restaurants)

Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II

(dome of St. Peter's Basilica in the background)

Castel Sant Angelo

After covering the expanse of Rome largely by foot (only 3 metro rides in almost 12 hours of touring!), we felt we deserved a delicious Italian dinner that included pasta, pizza, and canoles. We also added tiramasu later in the meal.

In a cute area called Trastevere, we stumbled upon a tiny restaurant with a cheap menu that was already FULL of people at no later than 6pm. We assumed it was fate that they had just one table for two left and took it. It didn't take long to figure out that the restaurant was not full of hungry locals, as we had originally assumed; it was full of a tour group. So, we spent our last dinner in Italy with a bunch of old English speakers. At least the food was good.

Canoles!!

Overall, Rome was fantastic and I wish I could have spent more time there. The food was delicious and the city was beautiful and so rich with history. Hopefully I'll go back one day!