Auf Weidersehen, Arreviderci, Au Revoir, and Goodbye!

All great things must come to an end. It is so hard to believe that our month long journey will be ending tomorrow when we arrive back in the USA. The trip has been full of great memories and experiences that will stay with us forever. Looking back it is fun to think of all the places we went to and things we saw. We have grown as a couple and as travelers (cliche I know, sorry). Thank you to all that followed our blog and commented on our posts. We really appreciated all of the feedback. We have many pictures and stories to share with all of you. Also we can be sources of advice for any of you that would like to travel to Europe. Fortunately, we enjoyed many of the places we visited which has made this trip such a great success. It is hard for us to pick favorite places because each place was unique in its own way. Thanks to all!

Auf Weidersehen, Arreviderci, Au Revoir, and Goodbye!

Here are some answers to some questions we feel people will want to ask us...a lot....

What was your favorite city?
During the whole trip we kept asking ourselves this question. Honestly we can't choose - every city has its own special unique characteristics. A majority of the cities were among the top most popular places in Europe so they all have to be great, and they were.

Was a month too long?
The time really flew by - it seemed like we just left yesterday, yet it also feels like this is normal life for us now and we have been here forever. We are glad we chose a month long trip with many cities because it is less expensive (think of how many flights we would have to pay for if we only went one city at a time...) and the pace was perfect so we never got bored or felt like we were too rushed.

Did you have any troubles while traveling?
Surprisingly, not really. Everything went smoothly and we never felt discouraged. Of course there is always going to be some little bumps, especially with the language barrier, but it was fun trying to figure things out. Especially the train systems since we don't have that back home and it can be very confusing.

Is there anything you would do differently?
We keep thinking about this, and come up with nothing. Some places you wish you had a little more time and others less, but for the most part it all worked out perfectly. Oh wait I got something! We could have packed less. We both have a lot of items like clothes, makeup, etc. we packed that we never used. It is amazing how little you can survive off of. Enough clothes for about 5 days would have been enough for us. But then again we also went through a lot of different environments...

Did anyone treat you differently because you were American?
For the most part, no. Some would show a slight interest by asking where we were from or how we like their city, but we never felt uncomfortable by clearly being American. We did have people ask where we were from, but they had no idea what Minnesota was. They usually just know California or New York.

What is your favorite place to see?
The Glockenspiel in Munich is gorgeous. We would turn the corner everyday and we would just have to stop and look at it. Ryan loved the Catacombs, Colosseum and Eiffel Tower. Allie loved the Neuschwanstein Castle, British Parliament (just looking at it is amazing), St. Peter's Square and the Colosseum.

What is some advice you would give about traveling in Europe?
- The trains are great transportation to get around if you want to go to a couple cities. You can buy what they call and Europass that lets you travel using the trains without having to pay more.
- When you are booking your hotel, always check on the location, which is key to many different cities. Travelchannel.com is a great source that will tell you what all the different neighborhoods are like and then you can decide what area you would like to stay in.
- Tripadvisor.com is another great resource for everything from hotels, attractions, tours, restaurants, etc. - While, make sure you plan for how much space you will need for souvenirs. A tip you might use is packing a little duffel bag in your suitcase that you can use for souvenirs or buying one when you get to Europe.

If you have any other questions, feel free to comment and we will try to answer!

Bloody London

It is so great to be in a country where the main language is English! It actually feels more like a vacation now because we don't have to stress out about the language barrier. It is also great because I, Allie, have been to London before so it is familiar territory. On our first full day in London, we set out to the London Tower, one of London's most popular sights.

The London Tower is situated next to the London Bridge and has been considered both a castle and fortress. Kings and Queens did live there, but it is mainly known to be a place where prisoners were help captured and were tortured and killed. The prisoners held at the Tower were usually high profile individuals as well as Kings, Queens and other royal family. Some of the prisoners that were executed at the tower include King Henry VI Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VII as well as his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, and two young princes, Edward and Richard, that disappeared in the towers in 1483 (in 1674 two young skeletons were found during some renovations).

Before we entered the Tower of London, I though it looked rather smaller than I had expected. Allison had been there before and assured me it was much bigger inside, so we bought our tickets and headed for the entrance. We entered the London Tower and decided not to follow the Yeoman Warder (a.k.a. Beefeater) tour guide through the Tower. The group surrounding the guide was so large that we were really unable to hear the commentary and stay out of the way of people who were trying to enter the Tower. We began by walking into some of the buildings and looking at how the old rooms looked. Most of the sites were restored which took away some of the historic sites we expected. For example, one room had a well decorated bed, chair and fireplace that was in too good of a condition to be as old as the castle. The White Tower was full of historic memorabilia, such as old torture devices and weapons. Maybe it is my psychology/anthropology background but I found the old torture devices very interesting, yet disturbing. The Towers each had their own different thing to offer about the history of the tower. Overall the Tower of London is really pretty big. In fact, some people still live in the Tower today, the Yeoman Warder and their families. The Yeoman is a team of 35 individuals that act as the traditional watchmen of the Tower of London. Their job includes guarding the tower and the crown jewels, locking the Tower of London at night, and they also give tours of the area.

The London Tower also holds the crown jewels of the royal family. We decided not to visit this exhibit because the line was very long, Allie had seen it many years ago, and Ryan of course had no interest in seeing it.

A table used to torture prisoners, it would stretch their arms and legs

Memorial where the the execution site was

Carvings on the walls made by prisoners

Yeoman Guards

On our first full day in London we decided to take a London walk. We wanted to take a ghost, haunted, or Jack the Ripper walk so we chose a Blood and Tears Walk. This walk took us through the eerie history of London. We visited an area where Sir Michael William Wallace (a.k.a. Braveheart) was hanged and quartered and a place where public executions were done. We learned of a the fire of 1666 which had burned a lot of London (apparently a lot of people thought it was a bad sign from God because it occurred in 1666, three 6's). We walked down a alleyway where a satanic devil worshipper used to live; this worshipper had placed a human skull, a statue of the devil, and a webcam (facing the street) in his window. Furthermore we went to Fleet Street where Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber had his Barber shop. Sweeney Todd would murder his victims in the barber chair and drop them into the river below the barber shop which would lead to his girlfriends bakery. His girlfriend was an accomplice in the murders and was suspected of putting meat from human bodies in her pies. Then we went down an alleyway to a dead end where a man was murdered and is said to still haunt the area. Many ghost sightings have still been recorded. We walked to an area where a suspect of Jack the Ripper lived, and learned about his crimes. We lastly learned about a serial killer who murdered about 16 people, and visited the pub where he picked up a Canadian victim. The Blood and Tears Walk was a creepy way of learning about the history of London.

Interesting things about Paris...

today we took the Eurostar to London! The Eurostar is a high speed train that travels underwater between Paris and London. The trip takes about 2 hours.

For every city we have usually posted a blog with interesting things. So here are some things about Paris!

-the city is definitly a little dirty and smells like urine or sewage in some areas, but we found the people to be generally nice and spoke good english.
-the pastries are as good as people say they are
-fondue is big in paris and delicious!
-most restaurants do not give you free water! and it is expensive, a bottle will cost about 4 euro or 5 dollars.
-there have been no clocks in any of our hotel rooms
-many people make out in public, we found this in all of europe but Paris especially
-the catacombs holds 5 times as many bodies as the current population of Paris and is the biggest catacombs in the world.

so there are some interesting things about Paris and Europe in general.. Now we are in London! We have to pay for internet here so we will be blogging and posting images little less frequently. luckily my wonderful kindle can access internet for free so i could type this blog :)

Pardon my English.

Bonjour!

Ryan here...

France is a place full of history and many famous sites, which on a map look very close but when you walk to a landmark you realize it is not very close at all. We found that out when we walked to the Eiffel Tower the first night here. After that joyous walk to the Eiffel Tower, we decided to choose closer landmarks to see and save the other ones for the bus tour. The second day in Paris we visited Les Catacombes (The Catacombs of Paris). We were both interested in visiting the place voted as the most haunted place in Paris, well maybe it was just me. We walked to the catacombs and yet again realized how far away things truly are on the map. When we arrived in the area of the catacombs we noticed a line of people wrapping around a building. Quickly we found out that many others shared our enthusiasm of seeing the creepy catacombs. We met a nice family from Canada while waiting in line and that helped pass the time. When we finally got to the catacombs we walked down a long, spiral cement staircase. We started walking down the long dark, lightly light hallways of the catacombs. The ceiling was very low and at some spots you could look to your right or left and see bars similar to bars seen in prison or jails but see nothing but darkness beyond that. Whatever may have been lurking behind those bars would have been invisible to our eyes. Also, they would only let like four people in at a time so that you would be walking down these cool, dark walkways all by yourself. This helped make the place even more eerie. We walked for a long time until we reached the tomb of the catacombs. Above the entrance is a sign in French that says, "Stop, this is the Empire of the Dead." We continued on and saw skulls and femurs (thigh bones) placed artistically as walls of the catacombs. Above the skulls and femurs would be randomly placed smaller bones like radiuses or ulnas (forearm bones). The collection of skulls and bones in the catacombs is unbelievable; it is an almost endless amount. We walked for a long time with skulls and bones as the walls of our walkway. In addition to the creepy human remains, there was dripping water coming down from the ceilings of the catacombs. Eventually, we reached the end and walked up an extremely small spiral staircase that made me dizzy because you were turning to your left every step. When we reached the top we met a man that was checking everyones bags. He had to make sure people were not trying to steal any bones. He had a table that had three skulls and other smaller bones that people had rudely attempted to steal. The catacombs created an interesting adventure for our European trip.
The catacombs were created when France was running out of space to bury bodies in the cemeteries. France was expanding and needed to find a way to bury the dead. This made proper burials only available for rich people that could afford a coffin and burial space. Less fortunate people would be put in a coffin until there flesh would decay and then they would bring the bones to the catacombs. That is how the catacombs became what they are today, and in the 1830's the catacombs were open to the public.

This walkway looks much brighter with the cameras flash.

"Stop! This is the Empire of the Dead."

Today we went to the Louvre, and saw Leonardo Da Vinci's majestic painting the Mona Lisa. It was difficult for Allie to get a good picture because there was a mob of about 20 people deep blocking the picture. They were all trying to hoist up cameras above the heads of other people to get that perfect shot. Allie got a few great shots and got out of the sweaty smelling mob. We then walked around the Louvre and checked out the Egyptian exhibit and some of the sculptures. The Louvre was really busy and we were both pretty tired of crowds so we did not see as much of the Louvre as we may have liked but at least we saw the most important piece in the museum. After the Louvre, we got lunch and got onto a bus tour which brought us to the landmarks in Paris we did not want to walk too.

Tomorrow we will ride the bus around the city more and do a final day of sightseeing in Paris.

Au revoir!

Beautiful Paris..

Today we said our goodbyes to Rome and flew to Paris, France. We were expecting much from the city, because we had heard conflicting views, like the city is dirty or the French are rude. So far we have really enjoyed the city and there are so many beautiful sights! We mainly walked around to Notre Dame (closest to our hotel), then to the Louvre Museum, and finally the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower looked close on the map so we figured why not walk! Stupid idea. I think it took about 45 minutes to walk there. We just got back to our room and we are exhausted! So for tonight, we are just going to post some of our favorites from the Colosseum and from various sights today - hope you enjoy!! Let us know your favorites!

.

Flaming hot days in Rome

These past two days have been so fun getting to see Rome and all it has to offer. It has also been very hot! not humid just straight up hot, so we have been sweating a lot. Yesterday we took a tour of the Vatican City.  The Vatican is actually its own country, separate from Italy, and the smallest country in the world. They have their own money, police, fire department, etc and the pope is the ruler - so he can do whatever he wants. Most of the Vatican is actually park area, the other parts are housing, the Vatican Museums, and Saint Peter's Basilica. There is a HUGE waiting line to get into the Vatican, luckily our tour guide is allowed to skip the line!

The Vatican Museums holds many sculptures and wall paintings from famous artists like Michelangelo and Raphael. Our tour guide, Andrea, did an awesome job explaining the different pieces to us and giving us some insider information. For example, in one of Raphael's famous paintings, he painted all the famous philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, but rather than draw their faces, he painted other peoples faces like Leonard Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and his own face is hidden in the painting!

Click on to see larger view

Bronze sculpture of Hercules

Another fun fact, you probably have seen/heard that a lot of the sculpture's genitals are broken off. They were obviously originally on there, but at some point on of the Popes decided to cover up all the sculpture's genitals with fig leaves because they were considered inappropriate. Years later another Pope deemed this a mistake and attempted to remove the fig leaves. Of course, when they tried to remove the fig leaves, the genitals were also removed. They finally decided to not finish removing all the statues and that it was better to leave the fig leaves than remove everything.


Then we got to see the Sistine Chapel. This is where the papal conclave takes place - the election of popes. The Cardinals vote by writing on pieces of paper - the paper is then burnt in a stove and the smoke can be seen outside. Thousands of people wait in Saint Basilica's Square to look for the smoke - black means a pope has NOT been elected yet and voting will continue and white means a new pope was elected. Michelangelo was asked by a pope to create a painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel because he thought it was boring (previously just blue with yellow stars). Michelangelo was not happy about this because he was a sculptor and did not want to do paintings. It took him 40 years to complete the painting and he made it look like it is 3D or actually sculptures - this is why the people are painted as very muscular, to give a sculpture/3D look. He had to paint on wet cement so that the paint was absorbed into the ceiling - a painting technique called fresco. The image consists of multiple stories from the bible. It was amazing to actually see this masterpiece. We weren't allowed to take images, they are very strict and walk around monitoring everyone. The room was jam packed with everyone cranking their heads towards the ceiling.

After the museums and the Sistine Chapel, we were suppose to go to the catacomb tombs and Saint Basilica church but they closed everything down early because there was going to be a special program going on the in square. Our guide was a little upset because they closed everything earlier than they had previously mentioned. Luckily he offered to meet up with us the following day to finish the tour.

Saint Basilica is the longest church in the world! and extremely gorgeous. Just walking into the massive church, our jaws dropped. It is amazing to see the light coming through the windows, especially the dome window, and light up everything inside.









The church is filled with statues, a couple mummified popes (only ones that were deemed saints because they performed miracles) and every picture in the church is a mosaic.

The Vatican was truly amazing to see and now we are able to say we have been there! The city is full of interesting history, beautiful art, and hidden secrets...

Bon journo Rome!

We have successfully made it to Rome! Ryan's first thought was Rome is just a little bit North of hell because it is so hot.

Rewind to our last day in Innsbruck -
Ryan here...we went to the Swarvoski Crystal Worlds museum just a little bus ride out of Innsbruck. We had heard conflicting opinions on whether or not to go. Since Innsbruck had a delightful thing to buy called an Innsbruck card, we were able to view all museums, use all public transportation, and one ride up/down the mountain. The Crystal World museum was a very artsy, almost avant-garde, style of a museum. The exhibit is pretty short and if you guessed everything was made with crystals, you are right! After touring the inside of the museum, there is a lot to do outside. For example, they had a maze shaped like a hand, more things made from crystals, and a park.

Huge Crystal Dome

Poseidon's Puzzle

Jellyfish

After we got back to Innsbruck from the Swarovski museum, we walked around until we got tired and waited in the hotel lobby until enough time had passed so we could go to the train station. On the train we had our own small room with bunk beds and a wash station. At 9 the next morning we made it to Rome, made a poor decision to not take a taxi and walk to our hotel in the sweltering heat. Once we found our hotel after about fifteen minutes of walking, we were not able to check in to our hotel until noon. So we did as the Roman's do and had McDonald's for brunch. Then we walked around Rome with our backpacks keeping our backs sweaty and saw a few sights before we decided to head back to the air conditioning in the hotel lobby. A good 24 hours without a hotel room in Europe can help you create quite a smelly odor. When we got to our room we both had to fight over who was going to take the first shower; Allie was nice enough to let me wash my stinky feet first. (She can be so nice sometimes :) Well enough from me now you may hear Allison tell you her side of the story (the truth perhaps). Allison me scuzi, it is your turn to type.

Allie here: I better mention that the entire train ride, our cabin smelled like Ryan's feet. We had a good time laughing about it though! Our hotel room is great, with a huge bathroom and our own little fish! Check out the video to get a tour of our room (sorry it is a little messy because we were unpacking!). We did a little roaming around the city and wow is it beautiful. Everywhere you turn there is a mix of old and new. We stumbled upon this huge white monument and got to explore it a little. The heat was really getting to us so we stopped for dinner at a little cafe next to our hotel. I got pasta and Ryan ordered a pizza. The food was delicious and we talked with the owner a little bit about the operas here in town, which his 13 year old sister sings in many. It was great to just sit in the cafe and experience the culture. People dress really nice here (we noticed this in Germany & Austria also), the streets are full of shops for shoes and clothes. So far we are enjoying Rome!

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II) made of marble,
Vittorio Emanuele II was the first king of Italy from 1849-1861.
Designed in 1885 and completed in 1935

Over the mountains and through the woods....

These last two days have been full of wonderful views, roaming through the old city, and climbing up a mountain! Yesterday morning we went to the Court Church, which is where the tomb of Emperor Maximilian I was built, however he was never buried there because he died suddenly in another city.

Then we walked through the Folk Art Museum, which I found pretty boring and freaky, Ryan agrees. We weren't planning on going there, it was attached to the Court Church so we kind of just found ourselves in there. When we walked outside, we found that the weather had improved drastically and the sun was shining! We thought it was a perfect opportunity to go up the mountain because it was warm and we were wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts. We really didn't think it through because apparently the top of mountains are very cold and raining because they are in the clouds. We took threw separate cable cars that took us close to the top of a mountain. 

We realized we were really high up

As we were ascending, the weather got colder and it began to rain. Then it got so foggy we couldn't see anything outside of the cable car!

So foggy

After the last cable car, we walked the rest of the way to the peak of the mountain - we taped a little video as we walked up. It took a lot longer than we thought it would and we got tired pretty fast! Needless to say, the video is very shaky and kind of long, but you will get to see what it is like walking to the top of a mountain!

We walked up to Hafelekarspitze

At the peak of the mountain!

Who said Minnesotans are used to the cold?!

Today, we did took a sightseeing bus around the city that took us to a couple of places. Our first stop was Bergisel Skijumping Stadium, which was used in the  1953 and 1976 Winter Olympics. We were able to go to the top of the tower (50 m high) and see the great view of the city.

After, we went to a local castle, Schloss Ambras - It doesn't compare to the Neuschwanstein Castle or the Munich Residenz, but it was still fun to see some Austrian history. The castle contained a lot of pictures of the families as well as old armory. To finish off our long day, we did some last minute shopping! 

OK so some interesting things about Innsbruck, Austria:

- Breakfast consists of sausages, open face sandwiches, boiled eggs, and bread.

- All the stores here close around 6pm, and we found out that everything is closed on Sunday. A cashier in one of the souvenir stores told us that about two years ago, there was a big fight throughout the city because the town is very religious so many people thought there should be no working on Sunday. So now almost every store is closed on Sunday (although we aren't sure about restaurants, but we will find out tomorrow).

- There isn't much choices for beer, something Ryan was bummed about - but there is a schnapps store where you get free samples! See image to the left. 

- The locals are very friendly!

- Service however, sucks, as it did in Germany as well. If you go to a restaurant, you will wait about 10 min to get your order taken, they will bring your food, then when you are done eating you will wait another 10 - 15 to get your check. Tipping isn't as big here....

- The drinking age here is 18, versus Germany which is 16

Tomorrow, we check out at 11 and will leave our luggage in storage at the hotel because our train to Rome isn't until 11pm! (Because it is an overnight train) We are going to see the Swarovski Crystal World tomorrow and will roam around a local park. Possibly blog while sitting in the hotel lobby! Let us know if you have any questions about Innsbruck or Germany, we can try to answer! Thanks for reading!!