Today was a pretty relaxed day, just exploring Florence. We walked over the old bridge, Ponte Vecchio, with people actually living and running businesses on the bridge, which is kind of cool. It gave us a feeling of what London Bridge might have been like back in the medieval days. From there we went to the science museum, which on the plus side was free to get in, but on the down side was under renovation so heavily truncated. There was an interesting selection of telescopes showing the evolution of astronomical devices in Italy, but it was pretty forgettable really. We then wandered through the streets, taking in the sights and a few photos of places I recognised from studying at uni. We walked right past the Da Vinci museum, which had a very curt lady on reception but was partly interactive and I found it very enjoyable. Some of the things that Da Vinci pioneered are truly revolutionary – simple things like prototype chains, gears to transfer rotary motion in one plane to another (ie perpendicularly), the first flywheel, ball bearings, a few of the flying machines, a big 'tank' based on the image of a tortoise (a big wooden roof with cannons pointing out of it), and lots of interesting experiments on reflections (like a room of mirrors to allow you to see all sides of an object without moving), pulleys, etc. It was a little overpriced at €5, but I liked it.
One of the more impressive things we saw was the original Michaelangelo's David. We paid the entry basically to see this one thing, but weren't disappointed. The statue is huge, and there's something magical about it. Perhaps the detail of it, perhaps the size, perhaps the expression on his face, perhaps the big well-lit space it's in with nothing else around… whatever it is, it was cool. The rest of the museum was paintings and other, smaller, sculptures, but generally forgettable. From there we went to the flea market in the city centre, which was pretty cheap and very interesting, and I paid an excessive €3 to see the very unimpressive Medici Chapel (and that was a discount pretending to be a French student – they give EU students a discount but not other international students).
The remainder of the day was mainly taking photos of buildings, and making an incredible veggie bake and crepes. We are seriously excelling ourselves with the food we are creating, and loving it!
"When in Rome…" has been our catchcry for the last couple of days, and today we made full use of it by hiring a Vespa for an hour. We got a zippy 100cc machine and drove in search of the Via Appia Antica (Ancient Appian Way), the old Roman road into the city. We didn't find it, but the ride was a lot of fun. It's easy to see why the scooters are so popular – it's dead easy to dodge and weave through traffic, no gears to worry about, you can skip the queue at the lights, you have better acceleration than the cars and in the city the fastest we got was 35km/h so the small engines don't really matter. The learning curve was very small and we were up and having a great time quickly. I drove most of the way, but Keeley seemed to have a lot of fun just hanging on the back.
From our quickfire hour on the scooter, we sampled Rome's limited (and very creaky and graffiti-ed) metro system, which took us to St Peter's and the Vatican. Again we were awed by the sheer size of first the piazza then the cathedral itself. Everything in there is so ornate, and the size is (again) one of those things you need to see to fully appreciate. What we thought was really cool is that there are sections of it that are screened away from the tourists where anyone can go and pray, and there are confessionals in every language so you can confess your sins in the greatest church of them all. When we left we discovered that, in the half hour we were inside, the line to get in had grown at least five times longer so we were quietly pleased with ourselves. Faced with the €8-14 entrance fee and the prospect of missing our train, we decided to skip the Vatican museum and the Sistine chapel. I'm not as disappointed as I thought I would be to not see it, I think because I don't really have the religious connection to it and it wasn't something I was dying to do.
Our train ride to Florence was unremarkable; we passed through a lot of industrial-looking towns and some hills, but nothing particularly special. When we arrived, we were impressed with the city because it seemed less dilapidated than Rome. We did manage to (almost) get lost finding our hostel because we took a slightly different route to the one we had planned, but we got here in the end. The manager is a very nice man who is eager to tell us everything he knows about the city, but is very professional and friendly. We attempted quiche for dinner, which turned out well, and Keeley made us some scrumptious pancakes. We then wiled away several hours with the rest of the guests at the hostel, swapping stories and generally talking nonsense. It was good.
With great intentions we got up at a reasonable time and had brekky, but our initial plans to visit the Vatican were re-laid when we realised it was Sunday and the Vatican would probably have mass on, and we met up with some Canadian girls who were heading to a market. We tagged along. The market stretched in three or four directions and had assorted junk, clothes, a small collection of electronic gadgets and more clothes. It was fairly unremarkable except for the €1 scarf Keeley procured, which she is very excited about. This used up a fair bit of time even though we just browsed because the market was so big, so we had lunch back at the hostel then headed to the Colosseum. The size of the thing is incredible, and can't be fully described in pictures. It is amazing to think it was built in only eight years. We got conned into having some photos taken with an ancient Roman guard for a couple of euro, then joined a tour group. It was pricey at €20, but did get us admission and a very entertaining (if eccentric) tour guide. He explained to us the seating requirements of the Flavian Ampitheatre (its proper name) – four tiers of seating for a total of 55,000. The richest were on the bottom, closest to the action. Nobles were on level 1, peasant men on level 2 and peasant women on the top level. Each group was divided into 20 sections, and each section entered via a different gate around the perimeter of the Colosseum. Interestingly, it isn't any inherent fault in the construction of the Colosseum that has left it in ruins – it was 'farmed' by the Christians for its marble and iron (the blocks each had iron locator rods embedded in them to ensure the walls were vertical) because they didn't respect it (being a relic of the Pagan empire). This has left holes in the walls everywhere where the people chiselled out the iron rods. Our guide also explained that the red brick ruins outside the Colosseum were used by prostitutes because of the huge crowds (and therefore potential clientele) exiting at sunset. There is a piece of graffiti carved into the wall of a large erect penis pointing at these rooms to 'show their meaning'. We're a bit sceptical and think that it was probably a prank by some teenagers, but you can decide…
The guide explained the procedure for a day at the Colosseum would generally have some professional gladiator fights; they were more like sports stars than prisoners as seen in the movies – they got paid 20,000 imperial coins when the average family could live comfortably for a year for 500 coins. They would attend an academy for a year, the best would be sent to the Colosseum to 'perform'. Fights were never to the death (because the gladiators were so valuable) except for the occasional lion that would be kept underground for up to 72 hours then released into the bright sunlight. This made it easy work for the 'brave' gladiator to pick off the lion. The staff of around 500 would use the 100 or so lifts around the stadium to move props, animals and gladiators up to the stage and back down to the labyrinth of tunnels and rooms below. There would be several breaks during the day to allow this to happen (and the sand to be cleaned up from the blood and guts) during which the people would get a free meal (bread and water or wine). It was an all-day event and this could happen with the assistance of a giant canvas roof that would be extended over the top of the seating to protect the people from the summer sun.
All the facts sometimes overshadow the scale of the building. It is amazing just to stand and look at, and no picture really captures it. The same is true of the dome over the Pantheon, which we also visited today. It is most impressive when you think that both these buildings were constructed two thousand years ago.
The day concluded with a very Italian meal – ravioli-like pasta stuffed with meat and in carbonara sauce, a margherita pizza (because we underestimated the amount of pasta we'd need) and gelati. The gelati was very enjoyable, because we each got five different flavours. The flavours were very intense – Keeley's banana tasted like it was fruit, not ice cream, and my yoghurt and berries was divine. It was pretty cheap too at only €2.60.
Unfortunately, I am starting to feel a bit under the weather, possibly from the travelling, so I have to make sure I stay hydrated. Both of us are also feeling very fat, mainly because we're eating so much and by this time of year we're usually well into running/pre-season. We are doing a lot of walking, but I think our subconscious doesn't really think that's good enough. We might get motivated to go running soon, while the weather is nice.
Our last day in Vienna was still quite relaxed, as we only really wanted to see a few things before we left. We attempted to search for an 'amazing' Holocaust museum, only to discover it was a rather underwhelming concrete block monument, at which point Keeley remembered the museum was in Berlin, not Vienna. Undeterred, we got on a city circle tram, which was in fact not the city circle tram. We realised this and got off before we got too far from the city centre. We were actually pretty close to the Praterpark so we had a look at that, but it was all shut down for the winter. Apparently rollercoasters and wet/icy tracks don't mix. We paid a quick visit to the Stadtpark in the hope of seeing some ice-skating that had been mentioned in the hostel, but alas, nothing. From there we went to the Haus der Musik, by far the best thing in Vienna. For 8.50 € we experienced five floors of interactive exhibits, including learning about how our bodies process sound, tested our hearing threshold (mine was just shy of 17kHz), made some 'synthetic' notes, saw a couple of cool animated symphonies, warped our voices (and other sounds) and saw some very detailed exhibits on Mozart and other famous (and forgettable) Austrian composers. It was really good.
From there we saw the impressive Hofburg palace (?), although we're not really sure what it is, printed some postcards and sat in a brilliant pub/brewery called 1516 (the year it was founded) and tasted excellent beer and wrote postcards. A rather satisfying end to the day was the HUGE platter of Turkish food we had for dinner, which sated us before our 15-hour bus ride to Rome.
DAY 44 – ROME31/01/2009
The bus ride to Rome was surprisingly entertaining, mainly because the bus driver got lost three times in the Austrian town of Graz and we did "three point" turns that a bus was never designed to do. Nonetheless, we did make it alive and even managed to sleep quite well despite the lady in front of me reclining her seat the whole way back yet not actually sitting in it for most of the trip. The countryside in Italy is much prettier than the views of Eastern Europe we have become accustomed to, with forested mountains and lots of small villas and townships nestled amongst it. I also saw a couple of ruins, but I have no idea how old they were. By virtue of our excellent organisation, finding the hostel from the train station where we were dropped off was a breeze. It's in an inner-suburban area, with pretty good access to trains and a couple of supermarkets. It has everything we need, really, a bed, a bathroom, a kitchen and free brekky in the morning. It's nothing stunning, but the staff seem friendly enough.
The rest of the day was slower than I would have liked, so I did some planning while Keeley watched a movie. Rome is packed full of ancient and Renaissance buildings, so there's plenty to see, but we're really only interested in the main sights – the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Vatican, the Roman Forum, etc. We did try to see the Pantheon, but it turned out it was closed for mass. This is disappointing, but at least we saw some of the city. Most of the buildings are pretty run down, and the sandy coloured paint doesn't help. The attractions themselves are in pretty good condition for their age though. It does feel like there's so much happening here that nobody can really be bothered with the upkeep of the buildings, which makes it feel tired. The weather is the exact opposite – practically balmy compared to the cold of Austria. Today I only had to wear a t-shirt and jumper and was very comfortable. It's nice to see proper sunshine again too.
One other thing caught our attention – they really do ride Vespas in Rome. Lots of them. And we've never seen so many Smart cars. It must be because they're easier to park, because Romans just park wherever it suits them – on footpaths, across pedestrian crossings, on funny angles. It's a free for all.
Big day of sightseeing tomorrow, so I should get some sleep.
We were bad and had a big sleep-in this morning – we got out of bed at 12:30pm. It seems travelling had taken more out of me than I had thought. We didn't really do much in what was left of the day; we visited the Naschmarkt just outside the city and Schonbrunn Palace. The market was, again, a good experience (we have decided we need to get more into markets when we go home) with a staggering array of food on show. Apparently on Saturdays it's even bigger, with clothes etc. There was some pretty cool stuff, and lots of vegetables (including stuff we hadn't seen so far, like pumpkins!). One stall had two big barrels of sauerkraut (maybe 60cm diameter and 120cm high). There were also lots of olives, cheese, dips, salads and very cheap bread. It would have been easy to buy all sorts of great food.
We also headed over to Schonbrunn Palace and, skipping the expensive tour of the interior because Keeley remembered it being pretty boring, we explored the gardens. The size of the gardens is staggering, and really indescribable in words. It would be a dream of a landscape architect to get a project of that size and budget! There is a hill at the back of the palace grounds with a pretty special view of the palace and city, but it was barricaded off. We could see plenty of people walking around on it, so we just jumped the barricades like they did and weren't disappointed. It was very impressive.
It snowed all day again today, which is annoying to walk in but it didn't feel as cold and the snow at the castle was nice to walk through (like in Zakopane). It will be about 1°C tomorrow, and we're planning to do a whirlwind tour of Vienna before our overnight bus trip to Rome.
We arrived early this morning to a very wintry Vienna. There was a wind-chill factor that we hadn't really felt up until now but despite the broken sleep on the bus overnight and the 5:30am arrival, we were in good spirits. We had done the right thing and got a map of the city before we left, but the SMS telling us the address of the hostel never came so we still had no idea where to go! Fortunately, Vienna is a 21st Century city and there was a public internet kiosk next to the public payphone where we could get the address. We picked up an unlimited 48-hour U-Bahn (metro train) ticket and headed onward. The hostel is very modern, clean and has a decent kitchen, but it is a little out of the way. It is about 10 minutes walk to the nearest U-Bahn station and that is about another 5 minutes to the city centre (yep, that's "out of the way" compared to the good locations we've had so far). A three-hour nap got us re-energised for exploring, but the weather quickly sapped that. It snowed all day here and will continue to for the next few days, which in itself is quite nice (the snow here is much heavier than in Poland and with much larger flakes) but the breeze makes spending too much time outside unbearable. The 48-hour ticket has already been a good investment. We did go and visit Stephansdom, the massive Gothic cathedral in the centre of the city, which was very impressive. The interior was quite dark, and there were a lot of people inside praying amongst the tourists. We also went in search of a t-shirt and badge shop so that Keeley could add to her badge collection, but it was closed for winter holidays. Other than that we just went food shopping and planned our next two weeks. It was a frustrating process because a couple of the bus companies don't have fully functional websites, but we did it in the end and have accommodation almost fully booked for the next fortnight. It is a very organised state of affairs for us to be in considering we've been almost winging it up to now. In a snapshot, the plan is to go from here to Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Innsbruck, Frankfurt (to watch hockey), Berlin and Munich.
We checked out of our hostel this morning, and were very pleased when they agreed to look after our big bags for a couple of days while we're in Cesky Krumlov. It has saved us a lot of effort to just be able to take our daypacks with food and a change of clothes in them. This morning we went, again, in search of the Prague City Museum. To my extreme disappointment, it proved elusive for the second time. I'm still pretty bitter about it, as I was really looking forward to seeing the city model and an architecture exhibition about Adolf Loos (a modernist architect). On the upside, the day improved dramatically when we went to the Prague City Zoo. It seems strange for a couple of 20-year-olds to spend time at the zoo, but the reviews on the internet told us that this is one of the best in Europe. We weren't disappointed. It is a massive park, and would require a whole day to see everything. As it was we only saw maybe 40% of it in the three or so hours we were there. Some highlights were the birds of prey (although some looked too big for any cage) and the squirrel monkeys that were very cute and extremely active as we saw them just after their food had been put out. They had very short attention spans and never finished a piece of food before moving on to the next – one monkey spat out some bread or something and another picked it up and started eating the half-chewed food. I naturally liked the big cats enclosure, although they seemed frustrated at their captivity, and the gorillas were very active as well and were wrestling with each other. The best exhibit was clearly the Indonesian jungle though, which was a large temperature- and humidity-controlled dome with, literally, a jungle recreated in it. A section of the dome was darkened (the twilight zone) and there were bats flying around our heads. It was amazing. Keeley was doubly impressed because it was Indonesian. We had a pretty decent lunch experience- Keeley had a potato pancake with a cabbage and sausage stuffing and I had a really nice Greek pita sandwich with marinated chicken, salad and yoghurt. Both meals were really nice and really filling.
The remainder of the day was pretty uneventful, as we caught a bus to Cesky Krumlov where we will spend tomorrow. The hostel is really well located within a couple of minutes walk of the bus stop, although we did head in the wrong direction initially as we had no map and no idea where we were. Hopefully the weather will be nice again tomorrow for some exploration.
KB's NB: Scott hasn't mentioned yet, but hasn't stopped talking about the perfect chilli that he made- only because the stove was ridiculously high. He reckons it was the perfect chilli to sauce ratio.
DAY 40 – CESKY KRUMLOV27/01/009
Cesky Krumlov isn't a very big town – there is one main road that runs through the middle of it, and it is surrounded by a river. It is a very pretty medieval town with cobblestone streets everywhere and a nice pedestrian feel to it. Unfortunately, we were faced with the prospect of filling a whole day because our bus didn't leave until 7pm, and there didn't really feel like much going on, After familiarising ourselves with the town, we bought a combined ticket to the torture museum and wax museum for €2.50 each. The torture museum was small but interesting, with various thumbscrews, nail chairs, shackles and other torture instruments. Most interesting and disturbing were the illustrations on the wall of the various ways they would kill people in the Middle Ages. One that stands out in my memory was stripping someone naked, hanging them upside down and cutting them with a saw vertically in half between the legs. We were glad, however, that we bought the combined ticket because the museum was short and left us wanting more. The wax museum was a completely different kettle of fish, though, and was quite large (a couple of storeys) and had an interesting range of generic medieval settings, famous Czechs and famous people in general (Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton, Albert Einstein, Pope John Paul II, etc). The wax figures were quite good, but obviously not quite up to Madame Tussaud's standards, and the costumes and settings were quite detailed and well done.
The biggest attraction in Cesky Krumlov is undoubtedly the castle. Set on a natural hill overlooking the town its size is imposing from the outside but quite charming on the inside. The rooms were all closed until April, although I'm not convinced we would have paid the entry price, but most devastating was the closure of the gardens. After seeing so many brilliant photos of when Grandma and Grandpa were here I was really looking forward to it, even though it wasn't going to be in bloom. It was really disappointing that we couldn't even experience the landscaping. The remainder of the afternoon was spent wandering around souvenir shops and generally not doing much. A couple of memorable incidents did occur though… Keeley found a frozen icy path down a hill and decided to walk on it, inevitably falling over. With our rule, she then had to re-enact it for the camera. We also went in search of Tesco (a supermarket chain) to buy snacks for the bus ride. Alas, we took a wrong turn and ended up circumnavigating the town, stopping in three other Czech supermarkets along the way. We did score some chocolate for Keeley on special and a cool lamington-type bar for me, except the cake part was orange and very dense. It was still really nice. We also waited a LONG time for tea at the hostel bar, but when it arrived it was very good – salmon grilled and then baked in foil with herb butter etc.
Impressions of the Czech Republic – very beautiful old buildings, and lots of them. Not my personal taste as most of them are Baroque but nonetheless nice to experience. Crap roads – the highways are bumpy, lumpy and worse than the Monash and the cobblestone streets would be tiresome to drive on. Lots and lots of wooden toys and marionettes, as it seems that they have a proud history of children's entertainment. Finally, almost all the people spoke excellent English and were very helpful and friendly.
Right now we're on an overnight bus to Vienna, where we will arrive at 6am. The bus company is called Student Agency, and for a very low cost you get free coffee or hot chocolate and a movie on the bus, which is better than we could expect from Eurolines. Also, distressingly, we laid eyes on the Prague City Museum that has eluded us twice before. One day I will return to see it…
