Hello everybody from Berlin! I just got in here a few hours ago and I think I can say this is easily one of the biggest cities I've ever been too! I walked around a bit just to get the feel of my area and it took a little longer than I expected, so I have a lot to do tomorrow! I just hope I can walk most of the city and don't have to spend too much on transportation because I'm trying to make this a very low budget trip. Another frustrating thing is that the z is in the y spot on the keyboard and vice versa. I can't believe how many y's I've already had to type!
I just got here from just under two days in Amsterdam. Amsterdam was a very beautiful city and very walkable as well! Like I said, I am trying to spend as little money as possible so I didn't go in any museums or anything because they usually cost about 15 Euro a piece... It was a great place to look at though, with the Red Light District and Chinatown and all the old buildings on canals. It reminded me a lot of Venice, which is appropriate because it is called the Venice of the North. It has around 165 canals that make up the city and go pretty much anywhere you want. The main difference is the complex lock system that Amsterdam has for its canals that keeps the water at a constant level uneffected by tides. It also keeps the water circulating through the city so that there is freshwater about every 3 days. This helps so it doesn't get that nice garbagy aroma in the summer nights.
The first night I got there I took a 3 hour walk from my hostel and at one point got completely lost. I just kept following random signs though and eventually figured out where I was... It turns out I saw almost all of the city!
The next day I went on a free walking tour where they showed us around more of the city and told us about the history. After that tour I signed up for a tour of the Red Light District that told us more about the histroy and politics behind the infamous area. There were also quite a few very good looking ladies working in the windows! I don't have any pictures of that though because I heard they chase you down and break your camera if they catch you taking pictures... On the note of pictures as well, I won't be posting any for now because I can't upload them at this computer.
Today I got on the train around 11 am and took the nearly 7 hour ride to get here to Berlin. It was a very nice ride and I ended up finishing the book I was reading, The Catcher in the Rye. I can see why almost every serial killer has been found with a copy of this book in their homes... the main character is just a whiney, angsty teenager that is a little different but generally doesn't like anyone or anything. I suppose it was a decent book but it didn't really live up to the hype for me.
That's all I got for now. I would make it longer but the hostel only has two public computers and I don't want to spend too much time on here.
I will be going to Frankfurt next then probably Paris and Brussels and back to the UK. I'll try to get on and post again soon. Hopefully the y's and z's will be in their normal spots again too! Sorry for any typos or mistakes on this one, I was going fast and this computer doesn't have any spellcheck and I probably won't proof read...
Adios!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
On the road again...
Hey there.... My apologies again on the time between posts. I'm just really not good at remembering this thing.
I finished my exams on Friday and it feels good to be done. Its crazy to think that I've been here for so long already! I am also heading back to mainland Europe tomorrow to finish up the days on my Eurail pass and see a few more cities I haven't been able to see yet. I am flying to Amsterdam tomorrow and plan on hitting Berlin, Paris and Brussels and possibly a couple other German cities while I'm gone. I don't think the trip should take longer than 10 or 12 days and I think it should be fairly relaxed compared to the last one. Hopefully I'll be able to post a few times while I'm gone and keep everyone posted on what I'm up to.
I'm off to bed though, gotta catch an early train tomorrow. I'll finish with the rest of the cities eventually... Very sorry about that...
I finished my exams on Friday and it feels good to be done. Its crazy to think that I've been here for so long already! I am also heading back to mainland Europe tomorrow to finish up the days on my Eurail pass and see a few more cities I haven't been able to see yet. I am flying to Amsterdam tomorrow and plan on hitting Berlin, Paris and Brussels and possibly a couple other German cities while I'm gone. I don't think the trip should take longer than 10 or 12 days and I think it should be fairly relaxed compared to the last one. Hopefully I'll be able to post a few times while I'm gone and keep everyone posted on what I'm up to.
I'm off to bed though, gotta catch an early train tomorrow. I'll finish with the rest of the cities eventually... Very sorry about that...
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
17 Foot Statues, Church Processions and Cross Dressers... Oh My.
Hello again to all my friends. This will be a successful next day post. Woot woot! I am a little uncertain on how to exactly start this so I think I'll try to skip some of the pleasantries and just jump awkwardly back into the story.
We arrived in Florence around 10:30 in the morning on the train from Rome that I slept nearly the entire time on. I woke up about 25 minutes from the station with my head propped a few inches above the table by my arms and a pool of drool underneath it that had started dripping off and onto my right leg a few inches above my knee... I hope I wasn't snoring too. Woof.
When we got to the station we met up with Kyle's friend Anna who was letting us crash at her place for the night (we were only in Florence for one night because we took a sleeper car to Munich the next night which was a whole new experience in itself). This proved to be yet another lucky draw for us because Anna was not busy and able to show us around the city similar to David in Rome. It was also still free week in Italy, so we did not have to pay to get in anywhere! Can I get a what what?
Anna showed us around the whole city and we saw all of the major things like the Medici Palace and gardens, the Basilica Santa Maria and the Duomo, an areal view of the city (that she gets to see everyday from her school), and a museum that had all kinds of statues and paintings that also included Michaelangelo's "David." She ended the tour by bringing us up to a church on top of a hill on the outskirts of the city that had a great view of the city and a really cool cemetery. While we were in this church they started a small service in the back, but I still didn't stay for it- partially because I didn't understand it and partially because everyone else was leaving. The service began with some of that old school chanting, similar to the stuff you hear the monks doing while they're walking in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (minus the Bible face smash). They then proceeded to do the mass in Latin with chanting in random places throughout the next ten minutes that I stayed to watch.
We returned to Anna's place with sore feet and empty stomachs and I don't know if a couch has ever felt so nice to sit on. We also decided to call my friend Jenna and her friend Emily (who were also studying in Florence) to see if they would like to go out to eat with us that night. They agreed and we set a time and a restaurant to eat at- I think it was called the Yellow Bar or something and it had good pasta. We decided to bathe and have a few glasses of wine before we went out to eat so we weren't smelly, awkward Americans at the restaurant. I thought it would be best to dress my best for the occasion, so I put on my only nice shirt that I packed, a long sleeved black button up that went great with my only pair of blue jeans.
We met the girls at the restaurant and ate our food and all was well. Someone threw out the idea that we should be like true Italians and grab a couple bottles of wine and drink it in a town square- which is legal as long as it is before midnight. We were sitting on the steps of a building in the square talking and having a good time when all of a sudden a huge crowd of people carrying signs, candles, crosses and a megaphone approached us and stopped right in front of the building we were at not twenty feet from where we were sitting. I realized very quickly that this was a holy procession that was celebrating what I believe to be Semana Santa or "Holy Week" which is the week before Easter. I was uncomfortable. I know we weren't doing anything wrong (the building we were in front of wasn't even a church), but the little Catholic boy inside me said that there was something sinfully wrong about drinking a bottle of wine on the steps of a building that has a crowd of 300 people signing psalms and clutching holy relics in front of it. Apparently, I was alone in my sentiments. Kyle stood up on the steps and began snapping pictures of the crowd while a few of my other compatriots continued to consume and giggle through the event. I hid my bottle behind me and tried to blend in with the stone.
Although I found the procession to be very interesting and I was fairly certain they wouldn't come back I was a huge advocate for the "no more drinking in public squares tonight" campaign. Thankfully everyone felt similar and we all decided to go to a bar called Naima which Jenna and Emily frequented.
When we arrived at Naima Jenna and Emily introduced me right away to their friend and also the manager of the bar Sergio. Sergio and I got along right away and I ended up not having to buy a drink for the whole rest of the night. I also met Sergio's coworker and good friend Jermaine, a tall cross dressing black man with a diva's attitude that would make Tyra Banks shake in her boots. They were very interesting people to say the least.
After a drink or two, Alex, Josie and Kyle were ready to go back to Anna's, but Jenna said that she was probably going to stay a little while longer and I could crash at her place for the night if I needed to. So I did. We had a few more drinks then said goodbye to Sergio and Jermaine and walked back to her apartment.
I woke up on her couch early the next morning and had no idea how to get back to Anna's place. I also had left my phone in my bag at Anna's apartment and had no contact with the rest of my group, so I hung out with Jenna and Emily for a while. I took a shower and ate some cereal and watched some Italian television, I even helped them pick out the outfits they would be wearing to a fashion show that night (like that was a good idea on their part) and we set off for Anna's place. On our way I stopped to get a panini. I don't know why, but for some reason, the lady gave me a discount. I think it was the nice black shirt. When we got to Anna's I found out that Alex, Josie and Kyle had gotten on a train to some other small city near by and also that Anna was going to have a pre-fashion show get together with some of her friends. She also informed me that it was probably a good thing I stayed at Jenna's the night before because apparently they had a few more people than anticipated sleep at their place and there were about 6 extra people sleeping on various cushions and rugs and whatnot scattered about her apartment.
The pre-fashion show party came and went fairly uneventfully and soon I found myself all alone in Anna's apartment. I decided to pack my stuff and read a bit and within a half hour my three travelling buddies had returned and it was about time to get on the train for Munich.
Florence was a great city. Lots of beautiful sights and art and I had a great time. I would have to say that my two favorite things to see were the statue of David and also this other statue I saw in the garden that was of a fat guy riding a turtle. David was actually unbelievable and I was much more impressed with it than I anticipated. It was absolutely huge and the amount of detail that it had was amazing. You could see veins in his arms and toenails and everything. The fat guy on a turtle was just funny.
Tomorrow's post will include the train ride to Munich (which won't be much) and then all of the stuff about Munich.
And now, pictures jumping on trampolines! (Shameless Man Show reference...)
Until next time... Ziggy Zaggy Ziggy Zaggy! Oi! Oi! Oi!
We arrived in Florence around 10:30 in the morning on the train from Rome that I slept nearly the entire time on. I woke up about 25 minutes from the station with my head propped a few inches above the table by my arms and a pool of drool underneath it that had started dripping off and onto my right leg a few inches above my knee... I hope I wasn't snoring too. Woof.
When we got to the station we met up with Kyle's friend Anna who was letting us crash at her place for the night (we were only in Florence for one night because we took a sleeper car to Munich the next night which was a whole new experience in itself). This proved to be yet another lucky draw for us because Anna was not busy and able to show us around the city similar to David in Rome. It was also still free week in Italy, so we did not have to pay to get in anywhere! Can I get a what what?
Anna showed us around the whole city and we saw all of the major things like the Medici Palace and gardens, the Basilica Santa Maria and the Duomo, an areal view of the city (that she gets to see everyday from her school), and a museum that had all kinds of statues and paintings that also included Michaelangelo's "David." She ended the tour by bringing us up to a church on top of a hill on the outskirts of the city that had a great view of the city and a really cool cemetery. While we were in this church they started a small service in the back, but I still didn't stay for it- partially because I didn't understand it and partially because everyone else was leaving. The service began with some of that old school chanting, similar to the stuff you hear the monks doing while they're walking in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (minus the Bible face smash). They then proceeded to do the mass in Latin with chanting in random places throughout the next ten minutes that I stayed to watch.
We returned to Anna's place with sore feet and empty stomachs and I don't know if a couch has ever felt so nice to sit on. We also decided to call my friend Jenna and her friend Emily (who were also studying in Florence) to see if they would like to go out to eat with us that night. They agreed and we set a time and a restaurant to eat at- I think it was called the Yellow Bar or something and it had good pasta. We decided to bathe and have a few glasses of wine before we went out to eat so we weren't smelly, awkward Americans at the restaurant. I thought it would be best to dress my best for the occasion, so I put on my only nice shirt that I packed, a long sleeved black button up that went great with my only pair of blue jeans.
We met the girls at the restaurant and ate our food and all was well. Someone threw out the idea that we should be like true Italians and grab a couple bottles of wine and drink it in a town square- which is legal as long as it is before midnight. We were sitting on the steps of a building in the square talking and having a good time when all of a sudden a huge crowd of people carrying signs, candles, crosses and a megaphone approached us and stopped right in front of the building we were at not twenty feet from where we were sitting. I realized very quickly that this was a holy procession that was celebrating what I believe to be Semana Santa or "Holy Week" which is the week before Easter. I was uncomfortable. I know we weren't doing anything wrong (the building we were in front of wasn't even a church), but the little Catholic boy inside me said that there was something sinfully wrong about drinking a bottle of wine on the steps of a building that has a crowd of 300 people signing psalms and clutching holy relics in front of it. Apparently, I was alone in my sentiments. Kyle stood up on the steps and began snapping pictures of the crowd while a few of my other compatriots continued to consume and giggle through the event. I hid my bottle behind me and tried to blend in with the stone.
Although I found the procession to be very interesting and I was fairly certain they wouldn't come back I was a huge advocate for the "no more drinking in public squares tonight" campaign. Thankfully everyone felt similar and we all decided to go to a bar called Naima which Jenna and Emily frequented.
When we arrived at Naima Jenna and Emily introduced me right away to their friend and also the manager of the bar Sergio. Sergio and I got along right away and I ended up not having to buy a drink for the whole rest of the night. I also met Sergio's coworker and good friend Jermaine, a tall cross dressing black man with a diva's attitude that would make Tyra Banks shake in her boots. They were very interesting people to say the least.
After a drink or two, Alex, Josie and Kyle were ready to go back to Anna's, but Jenna said that she was probably going to stay a little while longer and I could crash at her place for the night if I needed to. So I did. We had a few more drinks then said goodbye to Sergio and Jermaine and walked back to her apartment.
I woke up on her couch early the next morning and had no idea how to get back to Anna's place. I also had left my phone in my bag at Anna's apartment and had no contact with the rest of my group, so I hung out with Jenna and Emily for a while. I took a shower and ate some cereal and watched some Italian television, I even helped them pick out the outfits they would be wearing to a fashion show that night (like that was a good idea on their part) and we set off for Anna's place. On our way I stopped to get a panini. I don't know why, but for some reason, the lady gave me a discount. I think it was the nice black shirt. When we got to Anna's I found out that Alex, Josie and Kyle had gotten on a train to some other small city near by and also that Anna was going to have a pre-fashion show get together with some of her friends. She also informed me that it was probably a good thing I stayed at Jenna's the night before because apparently they had a few more people than anticipated sleep at their place and there were about 6 extra people sleeping on various cushions and rugs and whatnot scattered about her apartment.
The pre-fashion show party came and went fairly uneventfully and soon I found myself all alone in Anna's apartment. I decided to pack my stuff and read a bit and within a half hour my three travelling buddies had returned and it was about time to get on the train for Munich.
Florence was a great city. Lots of beautiful sights and art and I had a great time. I would have to say that my two favorite things to see were the statue of David and also this other statue I saw in the garden that was of a fat guy riding a turtle. David was actually unbelievable and I was much more impressed with it than I anticipated. It was absolutely huge and the amount of detail that it had was amazing. You could see veins in his arms and toenails and everything. The fat guy on a turtle was just funny.
Tomorrow's post will include the train ride to Munich (which won't be much) and then all of the stuff about Munich.
And now, pictures jumping on trampolines! (Shameless Man Show reference...)
Medici Palace I believe.
Medici Gardens
Tuscan Countryside.
Some cool thing at the gardens.
Fat guy riding a turtle.
On the left is a replica of the "David." The real one was in that same place until fairly recently actually.
Cathedral and Duomo.
View from the hill.
Part of the Cemetery.
Cool sign graffiti 1.
Cool Sign.
Cool Sign graffiti 2.
Girls Jumping on Trampolines!
Until next time... Ziggy Zaggy Ziggy Zaggy! Oi! Oi! Oi!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Apologies, Gondola Rides, The Colosseum and the City of God.
My deepest apologies for the long break between. After I finished my essay this site wouldn't let me sign in for two days and the day after that the whole student village lost internet for a while and by then I started studying for my next exam (which I believe I rocked) and completely forgot to get the blogs done. I'll continue today with the story of the trip, with Venice and Rome and with Rome I will include the Vatican City.
We arrived in Venice early in the morning and although I had packed the night before and got all my stuff ready, my roommate had not. So it took us about an hour and a half longer to get off the boat than expected, but in the long run it didn't really make a difference.
Venice as a city is comprised of 117 small islands that are connected by bridges and canals and split in the center by the appropriately named Canal Grande. All of these canals and bridges made it nearly impossible for us not to get lost at least a few times. We would be walking in the general direction of our destinations only to discover that the sidewalk ended and was replaced by a 20 foot wide canal with little motor boats and gondolas moored to each side. It wasn't all too bad, though, because the city isn't very big and we were probably able to see more of it because of our unintentional detours. Venice also has an abundance of churches. Almost every little island seemed to have its own extravagant chapel filled to the brim with statues, gold and fresco coated walls. By the end of the day we would see a church and at least one person in the group would say something like, "Nah, 7 churches in a day is good for me, I think I'll sit this one out."
The coolest things to see in Venice were probably the Doge Palace, St. Marks Cathedral and the Rialto Bridge. The palace and the cathedral were located near each other and had a giant public square and a huge campanile next to them. There were shops and cafes and all kinds of things lining the winding alleyways that were essentially the streets. One of the coolest things about Venice is that, I assume because of the small bridges and streets, there were no motor vehicles at all. You could walk anywhere and not worry about getting hit by a car or bus or taxi. It was pretty neat gang. The only bridge that would have been big enough for cars to cross was the Rialto, which was very impressive. It was probably the width of a 4 lane road but there were all kinds of shops and stores and vendors lining the whole thing. Literally buildings on top of a bridge! Unfortunately I wasn't in the market for a 55 euro quill pen or a 10 kilo glob of blown glass (but if I was this was the place to get it!). Many of the shops also sold masks and feathered boas and things that reminded me of Mardis Gras. Apparently this is for the yearly celebration of the Carnevale which starts two weeks before Ash Wednesday and ends with the celebration on Fat Tuesday (also, I heard from the locals that it is mostly tourists who take part in the event now and the real Venetians are fairly scarce).
Also while I was in Venice, I had to indulge my tourist urges and take a gondola ride. My three travelling companions and I jumped into the boat and got our 45 minute canal tour of the city. Kyle and I got to sit in the front and discuss fun manly things while Alex and Josie got to sit in the couple seat, which I was completely cool with. I suppose the worst part of this was when they had me take a picture of them kissing... I know, as a couple, they like that stuff, but honestly those public displays of affection kinda gross me out and I don't like to be subjected to it. The day went on vomit free though and the gondola ride proved to be a success. Some interesting things I learned on the ride are that gondolas are actually banana shaped, the boats are usually passed down through generations in families, and the gondola drivers actually have to go to school for a few years to learn how to navigate their boats through all sorts of situations that can arise in the canals (like yelling for the right of way around blind corners, tilting the boat to go under bridges at high tide, and getting around tight corners without getting there boats all effed up). At the end of the night, Kyle and I decided to meet up with some friends we met on the cruise for dinner and a few drinks and Alex and Josie decided to go home. The dinner went well and I had half of the biggest calzone I have ever seen in my life, but when we were about to leave it started to rain. Hard. There was thunder and lightning and it was very, very frightening to me! Galileo! Kyle and I and our group of friends had no desire to make the 35 minute walk back to the bus station in the pouring rain so we decided to have a few more drinks and wait it out. Finally after about an hour the rain stopped and we were able to go back to our hotel and get a few hours of sleep before we flew to Rome the next morning.
In Rome I stayed with my friend David Brockshus who is an architecture student at Iowa State and a member of my fraternity as well. My other three traveling mates were staying at a hostel somewhere on the other side of town. I met him at the Plaza de Argentia, which was near his apartment and coincidentally the same place where Julius Cesar was viciously murdered by a group of his peers. We grabbed a slice of pizza and went to his place to drop off my belongings.
After seeing his studio and meeting some of his roommates we walked to the Colosseum stopping at random places for David to tell me little tid bits of history about assorted marvels of the ancient world. David, as a part of his course, had to go to all of these places earlier in the semester and had taken a test on the history and significance of each place and was a walking encyclopedia of Roman factoids.
We got very lucky while we were in Rome. Not only did we have our very own personal tour guide in David for free, but also it was free entry week in the whole country for all national exhibits and monuments. David took us around the city showing us the Colosseum, the Roman Forums, various arches of triumph, the Spanish Steps, the Victor Emanuel Monument (which is probably the single largest building I have ever seen in my life), the Trevi fountain and virtually everything else that you would want to see while in Rome all while giving us insider tips on what to eat, how to order and how to get by along with a plethora of facts and figures about the city. When it came time to call it a day, after miles of walking and seeing more than I imagined I could in one day, my regular travel companions and I decided to meet outside St. Peter's Cathedral at 9 am and David and I split ways with Alex, Josie and Kyle and returned to his apartment where he had planned a small get together with other students from his course both American and Italian. The get together turned into a small party and the next thing I knew it was 1:30 in the morning and I was being taught phrases in Italian by some local students in David's kitchen. The party ended around three and as I was trying to go to bed, David was making spaghetti in the kitchen and telling me I couldn't go to bed until it was done being cooked and I ate some.
I woke up at 8:15 the following morning to the alarm I had set on my cell phone with a slight hangover and a full plate of spaghetti sitting on a chair in front of the couch I was sleeping on. I got dressed, brushed my teeth and and ate some pretzels and was just about to walk out the door when I received a text saying that Alex saying they were running a few minutes late. Thank goodness! I only waited around for a few minutes though because I did't know exactly how long it would take for me to get there.
I arrived at the meeting point around five after nine and bought a bottle of water and some post cards from a local vendor and proceeded to sit on a bench in the middle of the plaza of the cathedral. I waited and waited and then I decided to put an entry in my journal. Right when I had finished my entry I received another text, "Be there in 15 minutes." So I waited a bit longer and started to read a bit from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. About 20 pages later I got another text, "We're here." It was about 10:15.
We toured the cathedral and the catacombs and it was pretty unbelievable. The sheer size of St. Peter's astounded me, not to mention the detail put into every single aspect of every object. I would stand near a wall and look up and almost get dizzy. I have some pictures below. After the cathedral we grabbed some lunch at a place I'm pretty sure was run by the mafia and proceeded on to the Vatican Museum.
The Vatican Museum is essentially a warehouse of all the stuff the Catholic church has acquired over the last 2000 years that is laid out nicely and they charge you to look at. It culminates with the Sistine Chapel and ends in a gift shop that sells very expensive 1/14th scale replicas of various statues. At one point, while we were walking through an octagonal courtyard that had ancient Greek statues on every side of it, I was split up with the other three members of my group- I was the straggler believe it or not. I figured I would catch up with the other members of my group eventually, but then I saw the ancient Egyptian exhibit and just couldn't resist. I figured, I might only be here once, might as well see it all right? The Egyptian exhibit was cool, statues of Anubis and Ra and Ramses II and other assorted members of importance from the Egyptian times filled the walls of every corridor of the exhibit and it was really quite interesting to see. The only draw back is that the Egyptian exhibit brought me about 3/4 of the way back of the entire museum and I would be completely separated now.
When I turned out of the exhibit I and began to walk back through the stuff I had seen I heard a voice from behind me, "Hey Dylan!" I turned around to see Grant and Taylor, two guys from California that I had met a few days earlier on the cruise ship! We walked through the museum together talking about how I got lost and the cool statues and stuff and found our way into the Sistine Chapel. Now, the Sistine Chapel is pretty gosh darn amazing. I think I could probably spend three weeks in there just looking at it and still not see everything. The skill and dedication that was required to paint that are truly remarkable and it was probably one of the most impressive things I have seen, ever. Unfortunately, there were more security guards in there making sure you weren't taking pictures than there are light sabers at a Star Wars convention, and I was unable to get a picture of it. I can however take a picture of a postcard if anyone is interested... That or you can just google it.
I was reunited with my group at the end of the museum. They were patiently sitting outside on the steps and it was good to see them. We went go see the Castle San Angelo which was near by and checked that out for a bit and then decided to go back and get ready for Florence the next day. Back at David's place he and I went out to grab some pizza and beer and what not. He told me how to get to the train station the next day and all that stuff. Rome had been pretty awesome and much like nearly every other city I wished I had more time to stay there and see more things.
The next morning I woke up bright and early to catch the early train to Florence. I'll tell you about that tomorrow probably.
Hopefully I can keep myself in line and keep these regular...here are some pictures!
We arrived in Venice early in the morning and although I had packed the night before and got all my stuff ready, my roommate had not. So it took us about an hour and a half longer to get off the boat than expected, but in the long run it didn't really make a difference.
Venice as a city is comprised of 117 small islands that are connected by bridges and canals and split in the center by the appropriately named Canal Grande. All of these canals and bridges made it nearly impossible for us not to get lost at least a few times. We would be walking in the general direction of our destinations only to discover that the sidewalk ended and was replaced by a 20 foot wide canal with little motor boats and gondolas moored to each side. It wasn't all too bad, though, because the city isn't very big and we were probably able to see more of it because of our unintentional detours. Venice also has an abundance of churches. Almost every little island seemed to have its own extravagant chapel filled to the brim with statues, gold and fresco coated walls. By the end of the day we would see a church and at least one person in the group would say something like, "Nah, 7 churches in a day is good for me, I think I'll sit this one out."
The coolest things to see in Venice were probably the Doge Palace, St. Marks Cathedral and the Rialto Bridge. The palace and the cathedral were located near each other and had a giant public square and a huge campanile next to them. There were shops and cafes and all kinds of things lining the winding alleyways that were essentially the streets. One of the coolest things about Venice is that, I assume because of the small bridges and streets, there were no motor vehicles at all. You could walk anywhere and not worry about getting hit by a car or bus or taxi. It was pretty neat gang. The only bridge that would have been big enough for cars to cross was the Rialto, which was very impressive. It was probably the width of a 4 lane road but there were all kinds of shops and stores and vendors lining the whole thing. Literally buildings on top of a bridge! Unfortunately I wasn't in the market for a 55 euro quill pen or a 10 kilo glob of blown glass (but if I was this was the place to get it!). Many of the shops also sold masks and feathered boas and things that reminded me of Mardis Gras. Apparently this is for the yearly celebration of the Carnevale which starts two weeks before Ash Wednesday and ends with the celebration on Fat Tuesday (also, I heard from the locals that it is mostly tourists who take part in the event now and the real Venetians are fairly scarce).
Also while I was in Venice, I had to indulge my tourist urges and take a gondola ride. My three travelling companions and I jumped into the boat and got our 45 minute canal tour of the city. Kyle and I got to sit in the front and discuss fun manly things while Alex and Josie got to sit in the couple seat, which I was completely cool with. I suppose the worst part of this was when they had me take a picture of them kissing... I know, as a couple, they like that stuff, but honestly those public displays of affection kinda gross me out and I don't like to be subjected to it. The day went on vomit free though and the gondola ride proved to be a success. Some interesting things I learned on the ride are that gondolas are actually banana shaped, the boats are usually passed down through generations in families, and the gondola drivers actually have to go to school for a few years to learn how to navigate their boats through all sorts of situations that can arise in the canals (like yelling for the right of way around blind corners, tilting the boat to go under bridges at high tide, and getting around tight corners without getting there boats all effed up). At the end of the night, Kyle and I decided to meet up with some friends we met on the cruise for dinner and a few drinks and Alex and Josie decided to go home. The dinner went well and I had half of the biggest calzone I have ever seen in my life, but when we were about to leave it started to rain. Hard. There was thunder and lightning and it was very, very frightening to me! Galileo! Kyle and I and our group of friends had no desire to make the 35 minute walk back to the bus station in the pouring rain so we decided to have a few more drinks and wait it out. Finally after about an hour the rain stopped and we were able to go back to our hotel and get a few hours of sleep before we flew to Rome the next morning.
In Rome I stayed with my friend David Brockshus who is an architecture student at Iowa State and a member of my fraternity as well. My other three traveling mates were staying at a hostel somewhere on the other side of town. I met him at the Plaza de Argentia, which was near his apartment and coincidentally the same place where Julius Cesar was viciously murdered by a group of his peers. We grabbed a slice of pizza and went to his place to drop off my belongings.
After seeing his studio and meeting some of his roommates we walked to the Colosseum stopping at random places for David to tell me little tid bits of history about assorted marvels of the ancient world. David, as a part of his course, had to go to all of these places earlier in the semester and had taken a test on the history and significance of each place and was a walking encyclopedia of Roman factoids.
We got very lucky while we were in Rome. Not only did we have our very own personal tour guide in David for free, but also it was free entry week in the whole country for all national exhibits and monuments. David took us around the city showing us the Colosseum, the Roman Forums, various arches of triumph, the Spanish Steps, the Victor Emanuel Monument (which is probably the single largest building I have ever seen in my life), the Trevi fountain and virtually everything else that you would want to see while in Rome all while giving us insider tips on what to eat, how to order and how to get by along with a plethora of facts and figures about the city. When it came time to call it a day, after miles of walking and seeing more than I imagined I could in one day, my regular travel companions and I decided to meet outside St. Peter's Cathedral at 9 am and David and I split ways with Alex, Josie and Kyle and returned to his apartment where he had planned a small get together with other students from his course both American and Italian. The get together turned into a small party and the next thing I knew it was 1:30 in the morning and I was being taught phrases in Italian by some local students in David's kitchen. The party ended around three and as I was trying to go to bed, David was making spaghetti in the kitchen and telling me I couldn't go to bed until it was done being cooked and I ate some.
I woke up at 8:15 the following morning to the alarm I had set on my cell phone with a slight hangover and a full plate of spaghetti sitting on a chair in front of the couch I was sleeping on. I got dressed, brushed my teeth and and ate some pretzels and was just about to walk out the door when I received a text saying that Alex saying they were running a few minutes late. Thank goodness! I only waited around for a few minutes though because I did't know exactly how long it would take for me to get there.
I arrived at the meeting point around five after nine and bought a bottle of water and some post cards from a local vendor and proceeded to sit on a bench in the middle of the plaza of the cathedral. I waited and waited and then I decided to put an entry in my journal. Right when I had finished my entry I received another text, "Be there in 15 minutes." So I waited a bit longer and started to read a bit from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. About 20 pages later I got another text, "We're here." It was about 10:15.
We toured the cathedral and the catacombs and it was pretty unbelievable. The sheer size of St. Peter's astounded me, not to mention the detail put into every single aspect of every object. I would stand near a wall and look up and almost get dizzy. I have some pictures below. After the cathedral we grabbed some lunch at a place I'm pretty sure was run by the mafia and proceeded on to the Vatican Museum.
The Vatican Museum is essentially a warehouse of all the stuff the Catholic church has acquired over the last 2000 years that is laid out nicely and they charge you to look at. It culminates with the Sistine Chapel and ends in a gift shop that sells very expensive 1/14th scale replicas of various statues. At one point, while we were walking through an octagonal courtyard that had ancient Greek statues on every side of it, I was split up with the other three members of my group- I was the straggler believe it or not. I figured I would catch up with the other members of my group eventually, but then I saw the ancient Egyptian exhibit and just couldn't resist. I figured, I might only be here once, might as well see it all right? The Egyptian exhibit was cool, statues of Anubis and Ra and Ramses II and other assorted members of importance from the Egyptian times filled the walls of every corridor of the exhibit and it was really quite interesting to see. The only draw back is that the Egyptian exhibit brought me about 3/4 of the way back of the entire museum and I would be completely separated now.
When I turned out of the exhibit I and began to walk back through the stuff I had seen I heard a voice from behind me, "Hey Dylan!" I turned around to see Grant and Taylor, two guys from California that I had met a few days earlier on the cruise ship! We walked through the museum together talking about how I got lost and the cool statues and stuff and found our way into the Sistine Chapel. Now, the Sistine Chapel is pretty gosh darn amazing. I think I could probably spend three weeks in there just looking at it and still not see everything. The skill and dedication that was required to paint that are truly remarkable and it was probably one of the most impressive things I have seen, ever. Unfortunately, there were more security guards in there making sure you weren't taking pictures than there are light sabers at a Star Wars convention, and I was unable to get a picture of it. I can however take a picture of a postcard if anyone is interested... That or you can just google it.
I was reunited with my group at the end of the museum. They were patiently sitting outside on the steps and it was good to see them. We went go see the Castle San Angelo which was near by and checked that out for a bit and then decided to go back and get ready for Florence the next day. Back at David's place he and I went out to grab some pizza and beer and what not. He told me how to get to the train station the next day and all that stuff. Rome had been pretty awesome and much like nearly every other city I wished I had more time to stay there and see more things.
The next morning I woke up bright and early to catch the early train to Florence. I'll tell you about that tomorrow probably.
Hopefully I can keep myself in line and keep these regular...here are some pictures!
Venice
Canal Grande via Gondola
Inside of one of the many churches...
St. Mark's Cathedral- Venice
The symbol of Venice- a flying lion
Venice from above.
Me in the Doge Palace (cathedral behind)
Peeing signs.
Roman forums and Colosseum.
Forums.
Colosseum.
One of the arches. They had pictures inside to show victories in battle.
Inside the Colosseum.
Victor Emanuel Monument- the biggest building ever.
Pantheon.
Trevi Fountain take 1
Trevi fountain take 2
Spanish Stairs
St. Peter's at the Vatican.
Swiss Guard.
Example of the detail in EVERYTHING!
Statue warehouse in the Vatican Museum.
Anubis.
Courtyard at the museum.
Castle San Angelo
Me and some novelty items.
Gelato.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
One more day...
Sorry for not posting yesterday like I said I would. I have an essay due tomorrow and I have been working on that. If I finish it early enough today I might do the Venice/Rome post later, otherwise I will just do it tomorrow and continue from there.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Cruisin'
Good morning everyone. Earlier this morning, around 9ish, I looked out my window to a bright, cloudless day, and now I sit here typing up the second post on my trip looking out my window watching a big, beautiful rain storm... It makes it easier to stay in and type when its 50 degrees and hailing out. Gotta love the UK. I am actually kind of relieved though, it makes it easier to accomplish things indoors.
Like I said, today I will tell you all about my cruise and its 9 days and 8 nights of sailing, excursioning, big dinners and scheduled daily activities. Well, here goes nothin'...
We boarded the ship for the first time in Lisbon, Portugal on the 4th of April. We went through the customs and security and everything and got our SetSail Passes. Woot woot! And then we got to board the ship! We got to our rooms and put our bags down and it didn't take us long to notice that we only had one bed (Later, when our stateroom attendant, Paula, came by to meet us, she would laugh at us when she noticed we were both boys, and we didn't want to sleep together. It was a quick fix though and soon enough we had our own separate beds to sleep in). It didn't bother us too much though, and within minutes we devised a plan that would allow us to sleep in the same bed, but minimize our insecurities that were spawned from our society induced homophobia- I decided I would take the part of the bed farthest to the left, and he would take the side farthest to the right.
Note: Neither of us are really homophobic, I just included that for the sake of story telling. The plan however, is the actual one we used.
After seeing our cabin we decided to start exploring the ship. These boats are absolutely unbelievable. Ours had two pools, 4 hot tubs, a rock climbing wall, a mini golf course (which sounds cool but I think it was just carpet put on top of 3 feet of cardboard, and it reminded me of what I imagine the grass in the model town in Beetlejuice would feel like), a casino, like 3 restaurants and food available constantly and, for all I know, probably lots of other stuff that I just didn't find.
Oh and shuffleboard.
On our trip exploring we discovered that there weren't too many people near our age on the boat. In fact, early scouting reports were confirmed a few days later when we realized we had see everyone under the age of 24 and there were less than 20 of them. You might think this would hinder the plans of such a young group of travelers, but I can assure you it did not. The daily activities were geared for us to excel in. Shuffleboard and Mini golf contests, lessons in nearly every kind of Latin and Ballroom dancing, and seminars on how to fold towels and napkins were all conquered by our younger and much more agile figures. I myself became an experienced and nearly decent napkin folder, and was easily in the top 10 best male dancers in our introductory salsa class. My friends and I even beat some of the old people at their own game, winning key chains for getting the high score in a pub quiz. And even with the age gap we met a lot of fun people, not to mention nearly every person around our age on the boat. For example, my partner in the dance lessons was a Czech lady in her late 50's named Olga. She was very nice, but I had to make sure I didn't get too close because her husband was watching the whole time, and he told me he wouldn't allow any funny business. Among the other fun people we met were the Scottish couple that watched Kyle buy his sunglasses from a street merchant in Lisbon, a Russian couple that lives in New Jersey now that owns a few warehouses and told us how to smuggle booze onto the ship, and a Portuguese man named Arnaldo who invited me to his place anytime and he would let me stay there and we could go to parties together. All in all, I would say a successful social experiment.
We didn't just stay on the boat the whole time though. Not a chance. The first place we were supposed to stop was Gibraltar. But, due to choppy waves in the harbor it was unsafe for us to leave the ship. Most of the young people figured it was mostly due to the average passenger on board being a senior citizen and were kind of upset, but I personally thought it was for our own safety and the captain probably knew best. So took it with a grain of salt, these things happen. The day wasn't a total loss though, I did get to see the Rock of Gibraltar, one of the "Pillars of Hercules," from a distance and I also got to watch them refuel a ship at sea with another ship- which was actually interesting to watch and, due to the rough waters, had to be attempted multiple times and took way longer than expected, forcing us to leave port later than we would have if we had gone on land. It would have been nice to climb a big hill and see some monkeys though! Maybe next time...
Our next stop was at Cartegena, Spain. It felt good to be back in Spain really, and I my Spanish speaking returned to me briefly which was cool. Cartegena has a long history of being controlled by many different cultures and empires including the Romans and the Moors. The coolest thing we saw was probably the ancient roman amphitheater which was in amazing condition, but there was also a very cool castle with great views of the city, a fairly dilapidated bull ring, and a huge sea wall that runs around the coastal part of the city. I think I heard something about the submarine being invented there too. They had a maritime museum there, but I was unable to go due to the lack of time we had. All in all, it was a very cool stop. But, much like probably all of the places I visited, it would take a lot longer than a day or two to fully appreciate what they have to offer.
After Cartegena we had a day at sea followed by a day in Valletta, Malta. One thing we didn't know about Valletta is that the harbor was a good 20 minute walk from the city center. Up hill. Both ways. Ok maybe not both ways, but definitely the way there, and we had no idea where we were going at first. But we eventually found it and it was pretty gosh darn cool. I can't find my map and I can't remember the names of a lot of the buildings but I do know that we saw most of the main stuff, the biggest of which was the Hospitaller's Cathedral and that was pretty dang amazing. The Hospitallers were an order of knights similar to the Knights Templar who protected travelers who were going to Jerusalem during the crusades and one of their main bases was in Valletta (pictures of the cathedral below). The other things we saw included a big fort that was closed to the public and now housed police training, a big garden with nice views of the sea and a statue of Winston Churchill and a plaque of Albert Einstein, a statue of an old Prime Minister named Gorg Borg Olivier and a museum of anthropology that had some very fascinating things on the ground floor related to anthropology and a really weird exhibit for some noir (I don't know if thats how you spell it, but it wasn't really my style) artist on the top floor. We found our way back to the boat much easier, and upon arrival met some fellow travelling companions who told us that we could have gotten a horse and buggy ride all around the city for very cheap and we could have seen stuff that was farther away from the city center that wasn't on our map... Maybe next time.
Following Valletta, we had another day at sea and then we arrived in Split, Croatia. There were a few reasons I was excited to visit Split. The first, it looked awesome on the internet and from my cabin window. The second, I would get to use a new currency other than the Dollar, Pound or Euro- Croatia uses the Kuna, even though many shops accept the Euro. And third, we got to take the little shuttle dingies to the dock! Woot Woot. It turned out the that like 3 of the shuttle boats ended up breaking down that day and the whole transporting people to and from the ship was a giant C.F. for a while, but it all got sorted out. The city itself was pretty beautiful. Cobblestone streets throughout, tons of little shops and cafes everywhere, tons of old temples and churches and thousands of little alleyways that weaved and intertwined all over the city. Needless to say, we got lost a few times. But that was ok, especially with the dingies breaking down all the time, we didn't have to worry about making it back on time. The biggest disappointment of the city was probably the Temple of Jupiter. I mean, with a name like that, you can't help but imagine it being anything but spectacular, which it really wasn't. We paid about 5 Kuna to get in (about a dollar) and when we walked through the door we discovered that that was about it. There was a hollow altar that was missing its top in the middle, and one tall blonde statue across the room (which probably wasn't more than 15' x 15'). The statue itself looked more like Jesus than Zeus/Jupiter and while that's not a bad thing, I don't think the god in that statue could wield a lightning bolt. It wasn't terrible though, just not what I was expecting. The coolest thing had to be when we were walking through an alley and a kid came hauling through on his bike. He looked up and saw us and tried to break, but it was too late. The cobblestone was too slippery and he started to fall. He ended up sliding pretty far and coming to a rest right at my feet. And guess what ladies and gentlemen, I didn't even laugh at the time. I helped him up, asked if he was ok and let him go on his merry way. Poor kid. It was a fun story to tell later though, especially because the way he skid to a halt at my feet made me feel like I was some sort of master of the elements, commanding skidding children and bicycles to stop before my feet and raising them to their former states only worse for wear in the scuffed paint on the bike and the bruised ego of the young lad.
After that, I, master of skidding bicycles, returned to the boat and packed up to get off in the morning in Venice.
Napkin Folding Section:
Like I said, today I will tell you all about my cruise and its 9 days and 8 nights of sailing, excursioning, big dinners and scheduled daily activities. Well, here goes nothin'...
We boarded the ship for the first time in Lisbon, Portugal on the 4th of April. We went through the customs and security and everything and got our SetSail Passes. Woot woot! And then we got to board the ship! We got to our rooms and put our bags down and it didn't take us long to notice that we only had one bed (Later, when our stateroom attendant, Paula, came by to meet us, she would laugh at us when she noticed we were both boys, and we didn't want to sleep together. It was a quick fix though and soon enough we had our own separate beds to sleep in). It didn't bother us too much though, and within minutes we devised a plan that would allow us to sleep in the same bed, but minimize our insecurities that were spawned from our society induced homophobia- I decided I would take the part of the bed farthest to the left, and he would take the side farthest to the right.
Note: Neither of us are really homophobic, I just included that for the sake of story telling. The plan however, is the actual one we used.
After seeing our cabin we decided to start exploring the ship. These boats are absolutely unbelievable. Ours had two pools, 4 hot tubs, a rock climbing wall, a mini golf course (which sounds cool but I think it was just carpet put on top of 3 feet of cardboard, and it reminded me of what I imagine the grass in the model town in Beetlejuice would feel like), a casino, like 3 restaurants and food available constantly and, for all I know, probably lots of other stuff that I just didn't find.
Oh and shuffleboard.
On our trip exploring we discovered that there weren't too many people near our age on the boat. In fact, early scouting reports were confirmed a few days later when we realized we had see everyone under the age of 24 and there were less than 20 of them. You might think this would hinder the plans of such a young group of travelers, but I can assure you it did not. The daily activities were geared for us to excel in. Shuffleboard and Mini golf contests, lessons in nearly every kind of Latin and Ballroom dancing, and seminars on how to fold towels and napkins were all conquered by our younger and much more agile figures. I myself became an experienced and nearly decent napkin folder, and was easily in the top 10 best male dancers in our introductory salsa class. My friends and I even beat some of the old people at their own game, winning key chains for getting the high score in a pub quiz. And even with the age gap we met a lot of fun people, not to mention nearly every person around our age on the boat. For example, my partner in the dance lessons was a Czech lady in her late 50's named Olga. She was very nice, but I had to make sure I didn't get too close because her husband was watching the whole time, and he told me he wouldn't allow any funny business. Among the other fun people we met were the Scottish couple that watched Kyle buy his sunglasses from a street merchant in Lisbon, a Russian couple that lives in New Jersey now that owns a few warehouses and told us how to smuggle booze onto the ship, and a Portuguese man named Arnaldo who invited me to his place anytime and he would let me stay there and we could go to parties together. All in all, I would say a successful social experiment.
We didn't just stay on the boat the whole time though. Not a chance. The first place we were supposed to stop was Gibraltar. But, due to choppy waves in the harbor it was unsafe for us to leave the ship. Most of the young people figured it was mostly due to the average passenger on board being a senior citizen and were kind of upset, but I personally thought it was for our own safety and the captain probably knew best. So took it with a grain of salt, these things happen. The day wasn't a total loss though, I did get to see the Rock of Gibraltar, one of the "Pillars of Hercules," from a distance and I also got to watch them refuel a ship at sea with another ship- which was actually interesting to watch and, due to the rough waters, had to be attempted multiple times and took way longer than expected, forcing us to leave port later than we would have if we had gone on land. It would have been nice to climb a big hill and see some monkeys though! Maybe next time...
Our next stop was at Cartegena, Spain. It felt good to be back in Spain really, and I my Spanish speaking returned to me briefly which was cool. Cartegena has a long history of being controlled by many different cultures and empires including the Romans and the Moors. The coolest thing we saw was probably the ancient roman amphitheater which was in amazing condition, but there was also a very cool castle with great views of the city, a fairly dilapidated bull ring, and a huge sea wall that runs around the coastal part of the city. I think I heard something about the submarine being invented there too. They had a maritime museum there, but I was unable to go due to the lack of time we had. All in all, it was a very cool stop. But, much like probably all of the places I visited, it would take a lot longer than a day or two to fully appreciate what they have to offer.
After Cartegena we had a day at sea followed by a day in Valletta, Malta. One thing we didn't know about Valletta is that the harbor was a good 20 minute walk from the city center. Up hill. Both ways. Ok maybe not both ways, but definitely the way there, and we had no idea where we were going at first. But we eventually found it and it was pretty gosh darn cool. I can't find my map and I can't remember the names of a lot of the buildings but I do know that we saw most of the main stuff, the biggest of which was the Hospitaller's Cathedral and that was pretty dang amazing. The Hospitallers were an order of knights similar to the Knights Templar who protected travelers who were going to Jerusalem during the crusades and one of their main bases was in Valletta (pictures of the cathedral below). The other things we saw included a big fort that was closed to the public and now housed police training, a big garden with nice views of the sea and a statue of Winston Churchill and a plaque of Albert Einstein, a statue of an old Prime Minister named Gorg Borg Olivier and a museum of anthropology that had some very fascinating things on the ground floor related to anthropology and a really weird exhibit for some noir (I don't know if thats how you spell it, but it wasn't really my style) artist on the top floor. We found our way back to the boat much easier, and upon arrival met some fellow travelling companions who told us that we could have gotten a horse and buggy ride all around the city for very cheap and we could have seen stuff that was farther away from the city center that wasn't on our map... Maybe next time.
Following Valletta, we had another day at sea and then we arrived in Split, Croatia. There were a few reasons I was excited to visit Split. The first, it looked awesome on the internet and from my cabin window. The second, I would get to use a new currency other than the Dollar, Pound or Euro- Croatia uses the Kuna, even though many shops accept the Euro. And third, we got to take the little shuttle dingies to the dock! Woot Woot. It turned out the that like 3 of the shuttle boats ended up breaking down that day and the whole transporting people to and from the ship was a giant C.F. for a while, but it all got sorted out. The city itself was pretty beautiful. Cobblestone streets throughout, tons of little shops and cafes everywhere, tons of old temples and churches and thousands of little alleyways that weaved and intertwined all over the city. Needless to say, we got lost a few times. But that was ok, especially with the dingies breaking down all the time, we didn't have to worry about making it back on time. The biggest disappointment of the city was probably the Temple of Jupiter. I mean, with a name like that, you can't help but imagine it being anything but spectacular, which it really wasn't. We paid about 5 Kuna to get in (about a dollar) and when we walked through the door we discovered that that was about it. There was a hollow altar that was missing its top in the middle, and one tall blonde statue across the room (which probably wasn't more than 15' x 15'). The statue itself looked more like Jesus than Zeus/Jupiter and while that's not a bad thing, I don't think the god in that statue could wield a lightning bolt. It wasn't terrible though, just not what I was expecting. The coolest thing had to be when we were walking through an alley and a kid came hauling through on his bike. He looked up and saw us and tried to break, but it was too late. The cobblestone was too slippery and he started to fall. He ended up sliding pretty far and coming to a rest right at my feet. And guess what ladies and gentlemen, I didn't even laugh at the time. I helped him up, asked if he was ok and let him go on his merry way. Poor kid. It was a fun story to tell later though, especially because the way he skid to a halt at my feet made me feel like I was some sort of master of the elements, commanding skidding children and bicycles to stop before my feet and raising them to their former states only worse for wear in the scuffed paint on the bike and the bruised ego of the young lad.
After that, I, master of skidding bicycles, returned to the boat and packed up to get off in the morning in Venice.
I think I'll stop here and pick it up tomorrow in Venice since this is getting to be pretty long. So Venice and probably Rome for tomorrow. I have a few pictures from each of the cities below and I suppose thats all for today.
Cruise Ship
My feet on the ship.
Napkin Folding Section:
Silverware pouch.
Candlestick.
Pyramid.
Rose #1
Me wearing the crown!
Bishop hat.
T-shirt (kinda)
Boot
Rose #2
Fin.
Feet in Cartegena.
Sea Wall. No longer by the sea.
Roman Theater.
View from the Castle
Bull Ring
Submarine Statue.
The Rock of Gibraltar!
Refueling ship.
Valletta from the ship.
The walk to the city center.
Inside the Cathedral.
Walking in Valletta.
Some harbor shots.
City gate.
Croatia from the boat!
Slick cobblestone alley.
Wizard/Priest? and tower.
Jesus/Jupiter in the Temple of Jupiter
Walking in Split.
Boat from the beach in Split.
Fin.
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