Pompeii

Today we headed out to see the archeological site in Pompeii. We decided to skip the breakfast at our hotel and go get our own. We got to the train station where we found a grocery store. There we bought some buns and juice which We ate while waiting for our train to arrive. We took a fast train to Naples and headed to Pompeii. We got in the gates of the site and saw the amphitheater first. It was very well preserved. We continued to make our way through the site with a small map as a reference and we realized as we went just how many ruins there really are. We walked through old streets and saw the remains of houses, baths, theaters, bakeries and many other interesting places. We even saw some ancient grafitti. It was very easy to picture people living there. We got quite lost trying to find specific places. It was like the corn maze! We were also able to see the remains of people who had died instantly during the eruption of mount Vesuvius. The volcano was seen in the distance. The bodies were preserved in the positions they were in as they died. A little bit sad. There were also wild dogs all over the site. We spent four hours walking around and taking in all the ruins we could, but we still didnt see everything as it was so big! By the end our feet were more sore than ever before from walking on uneven streets. We headed back to Rome on another train and grabbed a quick dinner at the station. It was a very big day and we saw a lot of interesting things.
Tomorrow is our last day and we are still unsure of exactly how we are going to spend it. I'll let you know how it goes!

Rome: hop on hop off!

Yesterday we arrived in Rome, found our B&B and wandered the streets around it. This morning we woke up and headed down to the train station where we got on a train that took us to the main terminal in Rome. While there Barbara bought new Nike shoes because the soles on her old shoes were falling apart. We decided to get tickets for a hop on, hop off bus that would take us to the main attractions in Rome. The bus was a double decker with an open roof. A very cool way to see Rome! When we boarded the bus they gave us each a pare of headphones that we could plug in to our seats and hear about the history of different places as we passed them. Our first stop was the colosseum. It was very interesting! Our tour guide took us around and told us about all the gory things that happened there. Fights to the death, animal hunting. We couldn't beleive the things that took place in the building we were standing in. After spending a couple hours in that area we hopped back on the bus and hopped off at Vatican City. There we saw St. Peter's Bascilica, the Sistine chapel and the Vatican museum. All very interesting! We did not see the pope however. Sorry uncle Barry! We had more Italian food for lunch in Vatican City. At this point we had done a lot of walking around and our feet were getting sore. We hopped back on the bus and rode it for a while before getting off at the Trevi Fountain stop. The fountain was surrounded with people. It was very beautiful! We sat and enjoyed the fountain in the sunshine for a while before heading back to the bus. On our way back Annie bought a Rome t-shirt and Barbara bought some scarves! We rode the bus back to the station and walked to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. When in Rome... eat Ethiopian food? It was very delishious and definitely hit the spot! When we got back to the train station we saw that the next train to our station was leaving in 5 minutes way on the other side of the building. We decided to run it Amazing Race style. We made it! However, our train was 20 minutes late leaving the terminal. I guess we didn't have to run afterall. We had a very fun, full day. Only two days left! Tomorrow we plan to go to Naples and Pompeii. See you soon!

Siena

Today we took the train to Siena! Unfortunately, when we woke up this morning it was raining very hard and there was sporadic thunder and lightning. Lots of adventure ahead! When we arrived in Siena, we took a bus in hopes of arriving at the Campo where they hold horse races twice a year. We got a bit confused and took the bus somewhere unknown. We were lost and it was pouring!! Luckily we got on another bus andcwere able to get to where we wanted to go. The campo was very neat. There was a track around a center space where all the spectators would stand during a race. Around the track were a bunch if stores and restaurants. We decided to go into a pizza place for lunch and to get warmed up. When we came out it had stopped raining and the sun was shining! We went to the Duomo (cathedral) and bought a pass which would allow us to see a museum, a mosselium, and the Duomo and climb up a tower. We went to the museum first. It was filled with sculptures of apostles, paintings and neat pieces from history. We both agreed it was the best museum we had seen so far. We then climbed up the tower and saw the most beautiful view of Siena. It is a very pretty medeival town. We then went to the recently discovered mosoleum and the Duomo. Both were very cool. The church had amazing paintings and 3 organs! After all of this adventuring we walked through Siena, and back to the train station. We had a lovely pasta dinner back in Florence and now here we are. I am sitting in the public area of our hotel, which is very nice. We have had so many amazing adventures!

Pisa and the Cinque Terre

Yesterday we took a day trip from Florence to Pisa then to the Cinque Terre. Both beautiful places. Our origional plan for this day was to go to Siena, but when we woke up we were surprised to find that it was daylight savings in Italy and we had jumped ahead an hour. So we quickly changed our plans and hopped on the next train to Pisa to see the famous tower. We arrived in Pisa an hour later and found the tower. It was leaning!! Definitely a cool experience and something you do not see every day. We walked around the tower and took many pictures! As we had to catch a train in an hour, we headed back through the streets of Pisa to the train station. It was a very fun little town. Our next train took us to La Spezia. Once there we had to get on another train that would take us through the Cinque Terre: 5 little towns on a hill. We decided to get off at two of the towns. The first had an amazing view of the ocean and many lemon and orange trees. We walked around for a bit and enjoyed the view before moving on to the next stop. This town was also very cute. It was a little fishing village with big rocks and lots of little shops. After a full day of exploring, we took the train all the way back to Florence, grabbed a quick dinner and settled into our hotel. It was a really nice day!

Florence

Written Saturday:
This morning we said goodbye to Venice and hopped on a train to Florence. It was a very comfortable train with nice seats. The ride only took about an hour and a half. As we arrived in Florence around 11, we decided to dive right in to the art scene. We dropped our bags at our hotel, which is very nice, and headed to the Galleria Dell'Accademia. This gallery is the home of the original David sculpture and many other stunning paintings and sculptures. It was both of our first times seeing the David and we were very impressed by the detail. We then headed to the Piazza Della Signoria which is said to be the heart of Florence. It is a beautiful open square, full of statues. This included a copy of the David, where the original used to stand. At this point we both had a bit of an art hang over so we observed many gorgeous buildings from the outside, then headed down to the water to see the view of Florence from the Old Bridge. This was a very beautiful sight. The view was absolutely breathtaking. For dinner we decided to go to a burger place recommended by our guide book. This was a nice break from the pastas and pizzas that we had been thoroughly enjoying over the last week. One amazing week down and only one left. We miss you all!

Last day in Venice

Written Saturday:
Yesterday we woke up to another satisfying breakfast at our hotel. We decided to head out on the boat and get off when we saw a stop that looked interesting. We got off at the Rialto stop to see the famous Rialto bridge. It is a gorgeous bridge with a beautiful view of Venice. After gazing over the water, we got back on the boat and rode it a ways before hopping off at a stop called Academia. We spent a bit of time there wandering through more twisting streets with beautiful buildings. As we saw a boat coming we ran to grab it. We soon realized however that it was going in the opposite direction we had intended to go. We got off and tried to make our way back to Academia. We asked at least 12 people for directions and they all sent us in a different direction from the last person. Venice is a wonderful place to get lost in. We eventually found our way back and took a boat to St. Mark's Square. While there, we toured through the Doge's Palace. It was a lovely building, filled with gorgeous paintings and architecture. Annie's favorite part was seeing the prisons in the basement of the palace along with the original graffiti left on the walls by the prisoners. After our tour, we grabbed a bite to eat and decided to spend some time riding up and down the Grand Canal. We got seats at the front of the boat and just enjoyed the view. That night we had a delicious dinner and spent our last night in our hotel in Venice. 

Our first full day in Venice

We woke up today at our usual 7:30. The hotel provided a continental breakfast of buns, croissants, cheese, yogurt, cereal and tea. We headed out and ended up walking to San Marco Campo. It is a very interesting walk through hundreds of passages and over bridges. We arrived in a wide open square on the south side of Venice. First item of business, Annie had to find the note Alyssa had left her. She found it! We then walked through St.Marks basilica, which was very spectacular in it's own way. Annie went up to the top of the bell tower as per the instructions in her note. It had the most amazing view of all of Venice and it's surrounding islands. She took zillions of pictures! Meanwhile Barbara walked around the square. When we met up the square had suddenly become packed with tons of people and pigeons. We then took the vaperato (boat equivalent of a city bus). We travelled all the way down the grand canal back to our hotel. A thirty five minute ride with spectacular views everywhere. It is hard to find a place in Venice that isn't worth taking a picture of. That is why Aunty Barbara bought a new camera when we got off the boat. Her old one wasn't working and the memory she had boughten was obsolete. She now has a camera with enough memory for about 1200. That should be enough. We shared a giant calzone for lunch then hopped back on the boat. We took it to the island of Murano. This trip allowed us to see the backside of Venice and the open ocean. Murano is famous for it's glass blowing. We walked into a factory, where we were held hostage and followed through the store. The sales people tried to block the door so we couldn't get out! We eventually made a brake for it when they weren't looking. Murano is more commercialized than expected. We got on the boat and realized that we were supposed to activate our pass before boarding. Oops! Thankfully made it back without getting checked. We decided it was time to get lost in the Ghetto. Gorgeous! We wandered for a couple hours then stopped to eat at a self serve spaghetti place. Not bad. Annie had a Gellato and we sat on some steps and watched people and boats go by. Did you know they even bring the mail in by boat. We saw them delivering a coach on a boat. A crew member was sleeping on it. :) Ecerything is transported by boats and onto hand carts that are designed to go up the stairs of the bridges. This is one of the most interesting places we have seen and we look forward to taking a guided tour of the Doge's Palace tomorrow. We are managing to see a lot of Venice in the few days we have here. Talk to you tomorrow!
Annie and Barbara

A day of travel: Bavaria to Venice

We left Fussen yesterday, travelled by train for 9 hours to get to Venice. We traveled back through Bavaria and saw the rolling hills topped with Chalets. We crossed Austria in less than an hour. On the train we had a cabin all to ourselves on the train where we read, listened to music, ate our packed lunch and watched the scenery go buy. We arrived in Venice at 6:10 in the evening. We found our hotel in 10 minutes, dropped our luggage and headed out to find something to eat. We ended up in the Jewish Ghetto which is a very interesting part of Venice. The streets are a rabbit Warren of allies, and passageways that go on and on. It is one of the most unique places we have seen. We went down some very dark narrow streets but felt totally safe. There were people everywhere visiting, playing with their kids, shopping. Everyone seemed very friendly. We ate at a lovely kosher restaurant where the waitresses spoke Italian, English, German, Hebrew and who knows what else. We walked around for a couple hours just taking everything in. Venice is a very busy, friendly place. Our room in the hotel is half a block of the street 100 steps up. Our room has two beds and a sink, toilet and shower ( and bedae) in the hall. It's cozy, clean and staff are friendly. Perfect for us! We can open our window and look down into the street. We had the best sleep we've had so far!

Castles!!!

Today was very magical! We woke up in the morning and took a 5 minute shuttle to the Hohenschwangau and Schloss Neuschwanstein castles. They were absolutely gorgeous! The first was the summer home of King Maximilian II's family. This was no cabin on the lake. I have posted a picture of both castles on Facebook. We went on a guided tour. All the walls were painted with scenes from history and a lot of the original furniture was still there. There were many birthday gifts that the royal family had received decorating the house. Most were elaborate gold table centerpieces and other unbelievable treasures. The second castle was his son King Ludwig II's. He was in the process of building it when he died mysteriously while walking around a lake and was only able to live there for 6 months. This palace was absolutely breathtaking! It is so magical that they modeled Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disney Land after it. Ludwig was declared insane before his death, but I'm pretty sure he just had an amazing imagination. He built a mystical cave in his castle! All of the paintings on the walls depicted scenes from different Operas by Richard Wagner. Ludwig also built 3 other castles and had made plans for a fourth before he died. After the trip to the castles, we took the shuttle back to Fussen and walked around the lovely little town. It was our last day in Germany and we have had an amazing time. We are now looking forward to Venice, where we will be traveling to tomorrow.

Cologne, Chocolate, and a Cathedral

Hi everyone,
I am having troubles with my wifi so I am writing from a computer in the hotel we are staying at in Fussen, Germany. It is a lovely town and we arrived here today after taking many different trains. Yesterday was quite an adventure. We decided to take the train all the way to the end of the Rhine to a city called Cologne (Koln). As we stepped off the train we saw the worlds third largest cathedral. It was breathtaking. We toured through the church and saw gorgeous architecture, stain glass windows and paintings. I had the chance to light a candle and pray for Japan. It is very difficult to describe, but I took manz pictures and will show you all when I return. While in Cologne, we also went on a tour of the Lindt Chocolate Museum. A funny little train took us from the church to the museum and back. In the museum we saw how chocolate was made, and tasted some delicious samples! Definitely a fun experience. On our way back to Bacharach, we stopped in another city called Koblenz. There we had another delicious dinner, before heading back to the hotel. That brings us back to where we are now. Thank you for all your comments!
Love you,
Annie

We have arrived!

It is seven o'clock and we are just finishing apple streudal with ice cream and hot tea at a little bistro by our hotel. We arrived at Frankfurt airport after a nine hour flight from Calgary. We immediately got on the wrong train, which took us fifteen minutes out of our way. We got on the right train, got back to the airport, then headed to Meinz. Where we ran to catch our next train which took us to Bacharach. We traveled first class for the whole hour. Bacharach is along the Rhine with vineyards and castles on all sides. We arrived around 2:30 and walked to our hotel through cobblestone streets. We got the choice of two rooms: one small and warm, one large and cold. It was a big choice, but we took the big one. Barbara tried out her German. We walked to the same bistro we are at now for pizza and borscht, which was a steamy brown broth with large chunks of meat. Pizza was delish! We walked all over town for three hours looking at stunning architecture. We walked up hundreds of stairs to an amazing castle and saw 3 cats. We listened to the churches six o'clock bell of for ten minutes. 3 churches competing to see who had the biggest bells, or some form of religious ceremony. It's a beautiful town! Very cute and quaint and a stream rubs through it. We've warn ourselves out and are pretty much ready for bed. Tomorrow is another big day and we will travel up and down the Rhine stopping where we want. Goodnight all! You are missed!

Finally...we are off!

One hour to take off. We are at the gate and ready to go. Bags are packed, we've said our Geary goodbyes and we will see you in two weeks. Love you all. :)