Germany... and here comes France!

I've spent a very short time in Germany, just a couple of days.... but I enjoyed it immensely! From the medieval cottage style architecture to the exuberant, friendly, go-out-of-there-way-to-help-you Germans, this was a great stop.... and amazingly enough, it's only a few hours north of Switzerland and France. These countries are so close in proximity to one another, it's interesting to think about the size of my state in comparison!! Along the Rhine River, there are several medieval towns dating back more than 1,000 years old! I stayed in an old medieval castle at the top of the hill in Bacharach, Germany. It was a quaint old town with cobblestone streets, small family-owned German restaurants (serving traditional German food like Schnitzel and bratwurst) and kind locals. My favorite afternoon in Germany was visiting the great 1,000 year old fortress at the top of the mountain in St. Goar, a town nearby on the Rhine River. This fortress, Rheinfels Castle, had a drawbridge, a moat, and at one time (more than 1,000 years ago), was its own town having 300-400 people living within the walls at all times. When there was an attack, more than 4,000 local Germans would station themselves there to defend it. Rheinfels also had their own pharmacy, pantry, 6 dungeons and even their own bakery! I guess they needed to eat too, right?!
So, I'm now on my way to Paris and look forward to see what's ahead... vive le paris!

Cinque Terre, Italy and now Switzerland

Two of the most relaxing days I spent last week were spent in Cinque Terre, Italy along the Mediterranean Sea... Cinque Terre means 5 lands because it is made up of 5 villages along the coast, that have been built into the mountains. They have incredible trails linking the villages along the ocean front and hiking those was great exercise, had incredible views but also gave me an opportunity to meet some fun people hiking as well... I even met a teacher from Pheonix, Arizona who was super sweet! It was also a great opportunity to relax on the beach for a few days and watch the ocean and read... I am now working on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen which is addictive! [P.S. At the end of my trip I get to see where Jane Austen lived in Bath, England.... so excited!!! Ok, that was a sidebar!] So, my sister thought it was too funny that I decided to take a 2 day vacation from my vacation, but hey-- it can get pretty exhausting when you're sightseeing and walking nonstop for 2 weeks! So Cinque Terre was beautiful and worth the visit! I also have realized that I love the Italians-- they're warm and very laid back! I was sad to leave Italy even though the Alps were calling!
So on to Gimmewald, Switzerland, a small town of 100 on the side of Shilthorn mountain! The people are hardworking up here, taking care of their cattle, goats, and farms. They make their own cheeses and churn their own butter. They grown their own vegetables in the backyard gardens, and they milk their own cows. It's a beautiful, simple life here and staying here caused me to appreciate the great conveniences we have in Houston, being that the grocery store here is a 45 minute walk uphill, whereas it's normally just a 2 minute drive. The hiking here as been amazing and unbelievably scenic! The Alps are so much larger than I ever remembered and cause me to appreciate so much more all that God created for our enjoyment! I can't wait to share a couple of hiking pictures with you and will try to post them very shortly... sometimes it's difficult to get around the Swiss German instructions on the computer! =)
One quick, funny story from today: I started this morning extremely excited about a new hike I had discovered, but first, I had to get to the starting point. So I hiked down to the valley, then took the train up from the valley to Wengen (a small Swiss resort town on the side of Jungfraulich, which is the highest peak in Europe at more than 11,000 feet!) So, it's only 30 degrees Faehrenheit in Wengen and now I need to take this lift up in order to begin my hike-- I step off, being now just a few hundred feet farther up the mountain and I step into a snowblizzard! I could barely see my hand in front of my face! It was a white out! Wow! I was not prepared for this in my capris and long sleeved, polyester zip top! I saw large Japanese tour group geared up in their heavy parkas, snow boots, and hiking poles eagerly ready for their hike downhill and I was still standing in shock! I counldn't believe that it was a blizzard here being June! My guidebook never said anything about this! How could this be?! So needless to say, I decided not to spend the next 2 hours cold, wet and miserable on my afternoon hike and I headed back to the cable car lift. I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the warm, quaint Wengen shops and Swiss chocolate! It did end up being a great afternoon after all! =)

Firenze! (Florence)

Well, I loved the Amalfi coast and one of the most amazing places was Pompeii! Check out this cool website with all sorts of great information on this ancient city: http://rome.mrdonn.org/pompeii.html
I have just arrived in Florence and I just saw one of Michaelangelo's most famous sculptures, David... I also visited a a really neat museum called the Bargello museum, it also had quite a few Michaelangelo sculptures and Donatello's works of art too. Michaelangelo and Donatello were two great artists that lived 500 years ago! Michaelangelo was especially talented, because he painted, sculpted figures out of marble, wrote poetry and also created frescos (paintings on wet plaster). One of his most important works was the painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican (where the head of the Catholic church, the Pope, lives)... It took him FOUR YEARS! Check this picture out:
http://catholicdiscussion.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/sistine-chapel-michelangelo-paintings-19.jpg

Traveling to Pompeii

Well, after 3 days in Roma (as the Italians say) and seeing the great ancient Roman ruins, the Vatican, and the all of the incredible monuments (which I hope to upload the pics here fairly quickly), I'm joining a group to visit Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast early in the morning... Pompeii was a town of about 10,000 that was destroyed completely in one afternoon on August 24, 79 AD, after the great volcano, Mount Vesuvius, erupted! The whole town was covered in ash and was buried for more 1,600 years before anyone discovered that it was there! Now it's an incredible site that you can tour and see how the people lived. I can't wait to see it and upload those pictures to share! Ciao for now!

ROMA!

Wow! What an amazing first day here in Rome! Even after a sleepless night on the flight, it still was incredible! I had an amazing tour of the great Roman Colliseum (which once seated 50,000 people!), as well as Palatine Hill where Rome was found and the emperors of Rome built their palaces 2,000 years ago! Then there is the Roman forum where Romans, 2,000 years agon, had all of their shops, supermarkets and businesses all in one huge market area! Wow! They did all of the same thngs we do today, just in one huge area of land! How amazing! Also, I had some of the best pizza I'ver ever had! It was a flatbread topped with fresh sundried tomatoes, chunks of mozzarella and basil straight from their gardens! Talk about fresh! Well, it's been a long day and Iàm looking forward to a decent night's sleep! And tomorrow will be the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel to see Michaelangelo's amazing paintings and St Peter's Basilica, so I better get a decent night's sleep! Ciao...