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!!

Panoramic of Innsbruck

Ryan and I went up to the top of a mountain today! I put together this panoramic image and we just had to post it right away for everyone to see. Will blog more later....

This isn't from the top, but the best view of Innsbruck :)

Click on it to view larger

Innsbruck, The Capital of the Alps :)

FYI we have changed the settings so anyone can comment, you do not need to have an account... so lets hear those comments!!


We started out this morning with a quick train ride to Innsbruck, about 2 hours. We couldn't keep our camera down the whole ride because of the beautiful mountains, then the train stopped right in the middle and we realized we were in Innsbruck, Austria! Within the small city, is the old city which consists of a cobble stone street with shops and cafes on both sides. While walking down the city I couldn't help but sing "The hills are alive, with the sound of music...."

Goldenes Dach, The Golden Roof built in 1500 for Emperor Maximilian I
as a balcony for hit to sit in and view events happening in the city square

While walking and exploring the city, we were walking in some back alleys behind the main square and started hearing beautiful music. We followed the music and found ourselves in the courtyard of the Imperial Palace where a concert band was holding a free concert. We found out that it is a tradition that during almost every day in July, of every year, bands and ensembles continue the longtime tradition of open air concerts that has occurred throughout history in Austria. The palace doesn't look so pretty because they are doing some renovations...

Ryan here...
        For those of you curios, like me, if Austrian's drink beer like the German's I have noticed a slight difference. I feel that Austrian's do not drink as much beer for the simple fact that I have not noticed as much beer drinking. In Germany everyone was seen with either a beer bottle in their hands or a stein full of foamy greatness. Also, here they have a drinking age of 18 and Germany is 16. I have only seen one beer that is brewed here in Austria called Kaiser bier. Germany had umpteen beers made in both Berlin and Munich. This is a sad discovery for me because my days of enjoying varieties of inexpensive German beers has come to an end. Alas I will shed no tears because I have found a new alcoholic drink in Austria. Schnapps! While walking around Innsbruck we found a place offering free samples of schnapps. This place makes its own unique flavors with around 50 to choose from. I tried a butter scotch flavor and liked it so much I bought some. Germany had its beer but Austria has a new drink to offer: schnapps.

Hofbrauhaus & Neuschwanstein Castle

Allie here, just got back to our hotel room a little while ago and we are exhausted! We had fun last night and today was busy, exciting and exhausting. I will let Ryan talk about last night and I will talk about today :)

The Hofbrauhaus, founded in 1589, was what I had envisioned I would see all over Germany. It reminded me of the Gasthaus in Stillwater but about five times the size. It was a typical German beer joint with ubiquitous picnic like tables filled with people and steins of beer. I must emphasize that the steins were very large, one liter to be exact. A mug of beer that size was pretty heavy which makes the waitstaff seem like a bunch of strong bodybuilders because they were often seen carrying more than four in each hand and stacking mugs on top of the four in their hands. (I hope that makes sense). The atmosphere at the Hofbrauhaus was superb. A table full of Canadians were singing aloud and holding up their half empty steins of beers. In addition to the singing Canadians, there was a band playing German style music in the center of the Hofbrauhaus. Allie and I even witnessed men wearing lederhosen. This was an exceptional place to eat and drink. The food was sublime, the beer was dark and delicious, and the atmosphere created a warming feeling of being surrounded by family and friends. I may have to use my persuasion skills to try and get Allison to eat another non-American meal in a wonderful restaurant like the Hofbrahhaus (wish me luck).

Now for Allison to describe our trip to Fussen and the Neuschwanstein schloss (castle):

Ok first of all i loved the Hofbrauhaus too so I would love to go back...in your face Ryan.

Anyways, I have been looking forward to visiting Neuschwanstein Castle for a long time and it did not disappoint. We took a day tour to the castle because we had no idea how to get there otherwise! We left at 8:45 this morning and took a coach bus to Fussen, Germany which is about 1.5 hours away from Munich. Then we headed out on a bike tour around the area and to Swan Lake. It was drizzling rain a little but we were actually happy it was raining rather than really hot. Then we grabbed lunch and our tour guide did a little magic show. He was AMAZING. We were all silent because we had no idea how he did all these tricks with a deck of cards - he is known internationally. Then we set out for a hike up to the castle! You can take a bus up the mountain also, but we hiked up next to a waterfall and it was one of the best experiences I have had. Everything was so beautiful. It took about 1 hour to get up to the castle and the steeps were pretty steep. Ryan was just in awe of how tall the trees were on the mountain. Higher up from the castle is a bridge called Marienbrucke, which provides a great view of the castle. Then we got to head into Neuschwanstein Castle! Ok so I better give you a quick history lesson of the castle...

Neuschwanstein Castle started being built for King Ludwig II in 1868. He planned to build it in Fussen, Germany, next to his childhood castle Hohenschwangau, where him and his brother grew up, isolated from everyone else. Ludwig II's father died in 1864 and he became King at the age of 19 (or 20?). His brother, Otto, was declared insane soon after Ludwig II became King. King Ludwig II was a very isolated man so many people thought he was insane also. He was also struggled with his sexual orientation, as he wrote in his diary, and supposedly had a relationship with Richard Wagner, a famous composer in Munich. Many of the rooms in Neuschwanstein Castle contain images from Wagner's operas. King Ludwig II lived in Neuschwanstein Castle for about 6 months before his "mysterious death." You can read all his death and the conspiracy stories online or in books. The castle was never finished, and only 16 of the 60 rooms have been completed. The government took over the castle after his death because he owed money, and 6 weeks after his death they began charging the public to view the inside.

So back to our experience. The tour was only 25 minutes long and the tour guides are completely scripted by the government. They will not talk about his death, which many believe the government killed him, and they will not admit that he was gay, although it is a well-known fact. The inside of the building was absolutely breathtaking, although there are only a couple completed rooms. We weren't allowed to take photos inside, so I pulled a Louis and turned off my flash while Ryan stood lookout :) We were both surprised because it was more beautiful than we could have imagined.

So here are pictures! The inside of the castle ones are blurry because the no flash :( Hope you enjoy, and read up on King Ludwig II if you like history because his life is a really interesting story!

Swan Lake

Hiking up to the castle!!

Marienbrucke (bridge)

Hohenschwangau Castle, where King Ludwig II and his brother grew up.

Neuschwanstein Castle, view from Marienbrucke (bridge)