Backpacking: Italy

9: Milan to Naples – early train and long ride to Naples, walk through city, walk through mob territory, pizza dinner at the home of pizza, movie.
10: Naples – day trip to Pompeii, churches, best pizza ever, movie/chill night.
11: Naples to Rome – train to Rome, hard to find hostel, Vatican shortly, Rick Steves walk through Rome (Campo di Fiori, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps), best gelato ever.
12: Rome – Vatican and Vatican Musuem (including the Sistine Chapel), Ancient Rome (including the Roman Forum and Colosseum), meet Anna and Shauna and re-walk Rick Steves walk to dinner.
13: Rome to Florence – to Florence, walk around town, laundry (at last!!!), Piazzale di Michelangelo for Rick Steves geek-a-thon, “Mexican food” for dinner.
14: Florence – Michelangelo’s David, day trip to Sienna; train ride through Tuscany and Chianti regions, bell tower, gelato, shopping, etc.
15: Florence – Medici chapels, meet up with Anna, day trip to Pisa (v. touristy, cool buildings, nice Rick Steves tour through town), run into Morgan and cousin, Duomo, Uffizi.
16: Florence – EASTER, Florence Easter firework show and procession, Piazzale di Michelangelo, dinner, gelato.
17: Florence to Venice – to Venice, Churches, wander, feed pigeons, bell tower, Rialto bridge.
18: Venice to Nice – Rick Steves canal tour, museums, churches, gondala ride, night train to Nice.

I had v. high expectations for Italy after all the hype I’d heard, and it wasn’t really anything like I’d thought it be. However, I did enjoy it immensely. We started at the opposite end of the country from where people usually began their visit, thus immersing us in the Southern Italian culture and startling us quite a bit. Naples was a very dirty, fast-paced, and unorganized city (though apparently the home of organized crime), but it grew on me after a while. Pompeii was surprisingly humungous and impressive, more so than the Roman Forum simply because it to me demonstrated both the wealth and ordinariness of the Romans. We were rushed in Rome, but had plenty of time to relax in Florence and enjoy the city. Venice was again not what I expected. It was small, and v. touristy, but beautiful in a sad and faded-glory kind of way. The train system was a pain to deal with, but the food and wine were amazing, with us eating gelato as much as humanly possible.

(photos: Trace at the Bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the background; old woman eating gelato in Naples; Pompeii and Vesuvius; one of the casts of bodies found at Pompeii; and me and Hermanio in the streets of Pompeii.)






(photos: the Saccanapoli - v. old, v. busy, v. narrow, and at times v. dodgy part of Naples; Trace, Rick Steves, and Hermanio at the Vatican; the Trevi Fountain; the "School of Athens" fresco by Raphael in the Vatican Museum; and Rome from the top of St. Peter's.)






(photos: Ancient Rome (the Forum and the Colosseum in the distance); me and Hermanio at the Colosseum; Hermanio meets Shauna and Anna at last; Il Duomo in Florence; and Rick Steves nerds and a look-alike at the Piazza.)






(photos: sunset over Florence; Il Campo in Sienna; view over Sienna and Tuscany; Trace and me at the Leaning Tower of Pisa; and Easter procession in Florence after fireworks.)






(photos: Trace double-fisting the gelato; me on the Ponte Vecchio with Hermanio and and a nearly-devoured cone of gelato... mmmm..; Morgan and Anna at the Piazza; Grand Canal in Venice; and feeding the birds at the Piazza San Marco.)






(photos: Grand Canal again; gondola jam; Anna and me in our gondola with our gondoleer Luciano; and some of the less-touristy parts of Venice.)

Backpacking: Benelux and Germany

27: Amsterdam – Walk through town, Katie arrives, Rick Steves walking tour, Cheery Cheese Lady, Anne Frank House, dinner quest, Red Light District.
museums/anne frank house, shopping/markets, biking, red light district, etc.
28: Amsterdam – V. windy bikey bikey outside of town, Pancake House for Dutch pancakes and proffetjes(!!!!), canal cruise.
29: Amsterdam to Haarlem - Floating flower market, Heineken Experience, quick trip to Zaanse Schans windmill village, Van Gogh Museum, train to Haarlem, pizza and finding Hermanio.
30: Haarlem to Brugges – Shopping, fries, Market Square, beer and waffles, chocolate, gelato, and pub with over 300 kinds of Belgian beer and cheese.
31: Brugges – Rick Steves walking tour, Bell Tower, Leslie the Canadian, fries again, Dumon’s chocolatier, Brugges Zot brewery, nasty mussels for dinner, more gelato and oldest pub in town for cards.
Apr 1: Brugges – Cathedral, market and fruit, Chocolate museum, walk around city eating and chatting, canal cruise, no proffetjes, 300 beer pub again.
2: Brugges to Brussels – to Ghent (waffles, feudalism castle, church with the Van Eyck painting) and to Brussels; Grote Markt Rick Steves walk, Chocolate crawl, Manneken-Pis statue.
3: Brussels to Luxembourg – Atomium, to Luxembourg; confusing train ride with lots of switches, quest for dinner.
4: Luxembourg to Mosel Valley – Shop, cave and tunnel network, teeter-totter, cathedral; to Trier for lunch and Roman gate, to Cochem on the Mosel for Zimmer (cute old woman’s b&b for super cheap), chairlift ride, shnitzel and goulasch soup dinner, German TV.
5: Mosel and Rhine Valley – Rheichsburg Castle and St. Christopher, Rhinefels Castle and hike through mystical woods, eating and shopping.
6: Mosel and Rhine Valley to Köln – to Bacharach for cheese on the Rhine, river cruise to see castles; to Köln, Köln Cathedral, beer hall for sausage and potatoes.
7: Koln to Munich – Katie leaves and Trace and Steph to Munich, museums and churches, Hofbräuhaus.
8: Munich to Milan – day trip to Neufwanstien Castle, Deutches Museum, HB House again, night train to Milan.

The Katie part of the tour was unexpectedly fantastic. I didn’t know much about Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), but found them all fascinating, as the trip became the “Food, Beer, and History Tour.” Amsterdam was surprisingly classy, with its canals, gabled houses, and bridges. Belgium was beautiful, particularly Brugges where we did nothing but walk all day and eat quite a bit. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was quaint and extremely picturesque, and we also became big fans of the Grand Duke and his family. Cochem was again very quaint, but in more of a small town way with our German hostess cooking us breakfast and shaking her head at the silly Americans who didn’t really speak any German. The country there was beautiful and full of the picturesque castles one perched along the Mosel and Rhine. I loved all of the food, including the shnitzel, apfelküchen, waffles, chocolate, and especially the proffetjes. In Haarlem, we got a pizza box with a happy Italian chef that we decided to keep and name Hermanio, making him our trip mascot. I was very impressed by Benelux and Germany.

(photos: the Cheery Cheese Lady; Amsterdam canall - notice the gables on the houses... bell gables, step gables, but no clarks!!! (thank Rick Steves for that joke...); Katie and Trace by a big cannon on the lock; the Red Light District; and Trace, Katie, and me heading on a ferry to go on an approx. 25km bikey bikey outside of Amsterdam)






(photos: small Dutch town of Durgendam outside of Amsterdam that we biked through; Trace finds a Plateau!; Trace by a roadside sign; Katie (and myself, not pictured) falling in love with proffetjes - small Dutch pancakes covered in butter and powdered sugar; and tulips at the flower market.)






(photos: Katie and Trace very excited to be entering the Heineken Experience; Zaanse Schans windmills; Katie and I in a giant wooden (actually probably plexiglass or something) shoe; Trace, Katie, and Hermanio (though not yet named) in Haarlem; and beer and a waffle in Brugges)






(photos: Steph in front of Stef's chocolate shop; Belgian easter chocolate displays; Brugges from a canal; Hermanio in Brugges; and Ghent from the feudalism castle.)






(photos: Trace and Hermanio in Brussels' main square, the Grote Markt; Katie and Trace at the original Godiva store on our choco-crawl; the Manneken-Pis (aka "Pee Boy") statue/fountain; the Atomium (you go up in & through the giant atom that was made for the 1958 World's Fair); and Luxembourg City)






(photos: caves of Luxembourg; a German "Platform 9 3/4) in Cochem; Cochem with Riechsburg (the castle) in the background; going up the chairlift; and Trace, Katie, and Hermanio on our castle-viewing tour of the Rhine.)






(photos: Köln Cathedral; my and Trace's dinner at a Köln beerhall: potatoes, beer, and a half meter of sausage; Füssen, definately Bavarian at the foot of the Alps; Neufwanstien Castle; view from Neufwanstien; and a Bavarian oompah band at the Hofbräuhaus)