Rome, Pantheon

The Pantheon is one of those must-see sights in Rome, but I wasn't excited about it. I had seen an acquittance's pictures and seen how he, as an architect, was so excited. But I just didn't get it. We approached the Pantheon from the side. You can definitely tell it is old. Very old. But I still didn't get it.

Oh, it is beautiful from the outside. And the columns are astoundingly large. But I still didn't get it. 

And then we walked through those giant doors. And, all of a sudden, I got it. My words and my pictures will not do it justice. But if you go to Rome, promise me you will see the Pantheon.

This little birdie was sitting on the fountain in the Piazza della Rotunda, just outside the Pantheon. 

Rome, Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain

Rome. I could easily go back. Most of the places I've been to in Europe seemed like one stop cities. But Rome? I'd go back again and again. Some of us were a bit nervous about going between Christmas and New Years because the head of the Catholic Church is within Rome, but I'm pretty much convinced now that it is the perfect time to go! The weather was mild (40s-60s), and while crowded, it wasn't overwhelmingly so the way it can get during the hot, hot summers. We took so many pictures here that I'm pretty much going to have to break up my posts based on attractions. Otherwise, you'd never read the the entire post!

The Spanish Steps (Scalinata della Trinita dei Monti)
The steps, the widest staircase in Europe, connect the Piazza di Spagna at the base to the Piazza della Trinita dei Monti at the top. We thought we had planned our trip properly too: we had figured out what subway stop to get out at in order to be at the top of the steps. But then we took the wrong exit from the subway station and ended up at the bottom of the steps. Oops. I'm not sure what I was quite expecting. Particularly since I've seen pictures before and adore Roman Holiday, but I must say I was slightly disappointed. Maybe I expected them to be wider? Don't get me wrong, the steps are very pretty and quite wide. But perhaps I was expecting something longer? Either way, we had a lovely time visiting the steps and the church, Trinita dei Monti.

The view from the top. 

Manhole covers aren't quite as pretty anymore.

Can you find my parents?

Yep, that's hieroglyphics. Apparently London is not the only
town filled with ancient Egyptian artifacts.

St. Peter's Basilica is the one in the very back, on the right.

The flat-topped trees are also very popular in the Vatican. 

Can you spot them again?

From the Spanish steps, we meandered through the streets, trying to follow the signs to the Trevi Fountain. We stopped a few places for pictures along the way.

When we finally found the Trevi Fountain, we entered from one of the sides. I think perhaps that is the best way to see the fountain: slowly unveiled bit by bit. As you can see, there was a mob of people there.

Flowers in Bavaria and Salzburg

With the number of pictures I've taken in the past year, sorting through them can be a bit overwhelming. Tabitha and I recently toured Bavaria and Salzburg in addition to all the trips Jason and I have taken this year. I have decided to break things up and post some of the pictures separately. Today, you'll get to see one of my new favorite things to take pictures of: flowers! They were taken between May 17 and May 25, 2011.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber:
Anyone know what this flower is? I found it just outside one of the town gates.

Regensburg:
These pansies were somewhere in between the cathedral and the remains of an old Roman gate.

Salzburg:
The rest of the pictures are from Salzburg, which is full of beautiful flowers!

I found this one when we were waiting on the cable car to take us up one of the mountains. The clover patch was right in front of a beautiful stream.

Sitting above Salzburg is the Hohensalzburg Fortress. These beautiful flowers were growing on the side of the fortress.

The tour of the fortress ended in a lovely little courtyard. I found these flowers in a planter there.

We also visited Hellbrun Palace. I found these flowers while we were waiting for a tour of the trick fountains.

That afternoon, we toured a salt mine outside of Salzburg. The mine entrance fee also included entrance to an old, recreated Celtic village. The only redeeming part of the village was this find:

Most of my flower pictures are from Mirabell Gardens. The same gardens where "Do-Re-Mi" was filmed.

Venice, December 24-26, 2010

I think it’s time for me to finally start posting pictures from our trips. I’m starting with Italy, Christmas 2010, simply because that’s the camera I have sitting next to me at the moment. After looking through the pictures, I think I will be dividing up the trip into many posts. Venice will be one post, and then Rome will be divided up by location because we have so many pictures from Rome. Don’t get me wrong, we loved Venice too, but we didn’t really get into picture taking mode until we hit Rome. Maybe it was the weather in Venice…

Canals on Christmas Day evening in Venice

Weather in Venice over Christmas? I felt like I hadn’t left Germany. Except the snow had turned to rain. It was in the upper thirties and low forties, but with the rain (a slow soaking rain) it felt much colder. Even under gray skies though, Venice is beautiful. After living in Germany, I was surprised to see trash on the sidewalks, but that’s part of Venice’s charm. Trash pickup is every day, so you see little grocery bags filled with trash hanging from front gates everywhere, including Christmas Eve (not Christmas Day though). We failed to take pictures of the trash, so I’ll let you use your imagination.

The chapel at our vaparetto stop. You can see the flash reflecting off raindrops.

Christmas Eve was a bit of an experience for everyone. Jason and I arrived by train at 6:30 am. And we didn’t communicate well. I’d been the only one looking at maps of Venice because Jason had been so busy at work, and I’d failed to mention to him that everyone gets lost in Venice. Needless to say, we ended up lost on our way to the apartment my parents had rented. There we were, trudging through Venice’s sidewalks, in the predawn dark, in the rain, up and over canal bridges. For two hours. We ended up going back to the train station and purchasing tickets to ride the vaparetto (water “bus” system). By this time the sun had risen, though it was still raining. Mercifully, the man who was renting the apartment to us was still waiting. He took us to the apartment (a cute, sprawling three bedroom that was more than twice the size of our apartment in Jena). His father was with him and spoke very little English. The two argued back and forth in the typical parent/child dynamic (Yes, Dad, I did tell them that the tides would be high today. Yes, Dad, I showed them where the information on trash collection is.) This conversation went on for a good 15 minutes while Jason and I were longing to take a nap. (The night train had been way less comfortable than we’d anticipated.) My parents, younger brother, and his fiancée would be arriving in a few hours and we wanted to get a nap in first.

We took the vaparetto to the train station our last day. Much better than walking.

But a nap was not in our near future. Instead, we had to go to the store. The one store that was open on Christmas Eve. And we had to get there fast because the tide was coming in. And when the tide comes in, the tide really comes in. We had been told that the store was just around the corner, but Jason and I were thinking in Jena standards (ie, maybe a 5 minute walk) instead of Venice standards (20 minute walk). Oops. By the time we got there, the tide was definitely up. We saw people walking down the sidewalk with grocery bags tied over their shoes. And then we saw why. The area just in front of the store was much lower than the rest of the area around it. We had to wade through six inches of standing water to get to the entrance of the store. By the time we came out (loaded down with beverages and snacks and fruit for six people), the water had risen another four inches. What can you do but smile and plunge on in?

We remembered to take pictures at our Christmas dinner after we'd finished. Oops.

We got a phone call from Mickey and learned we’d be getting our nap. Their connecting plane in Paris had been cancelled and they’d be getting into Venice six hours later than planned. Jason and I had dinner at a lovely restaurant we’d seen on our walk to the store, and waited on the phone call saying that my family had landed in Venice. It came a bit later than planned. Yes, they’d landed, but only one of four bags had actually made it to Venice with them. And, of course, by the time they got through the line to inform the airline of their lost luggage, it was 1 am. Luckily, they managed to flag down the one taxis still at the airport to take them to the island (airport is on the mainland). Amazingly, the vaparettos were still running, though on an abbreviated route that didn’t include our stop. By now it was 2:30 am. I dragged Jason out of bed, hoping we could successfully meet up with them. Ben insisted he could find our stop, and we’d meet them there.

What can I say? I love this picture!

As we were walking to the vaparetto stop, I heard a suitcase rolling down the sidewalk we were about to intersect with. Thought through head: who on earth would be coming down the sidewalk with a suitcase at the time of night on Christmas Day. Well, duh! We’d finally met up with my family! We’d managed to meet up well before the vaparetto stop. Yippee! 

The next two days in Venice were lovely, full of food and family. We spent Christmas Day getting lost on the way to the restaurant I'd reserved at table at for lunch. I ended up having to call and reschedule and we were still an hour late for our reservation! They had plenty of seating, so it was not an issue. But we learned our lesson and stuck with the vaparetto after that. 

Being with family is totally worth the hassle of crazy traveling days. And lost luggage.