Siena i Firenze, Tuscany is Beautiful

Brady, Brian, Billy and I spent 2 days in Florence, Italy. While Florence (i.e. Firenze) was a beautiful town, Brady, Brian and I decided to follow the advice of a local Italian and spend a day in the smaller town of Siena, about an hour outside Florence. It was a great decision. Siena was a picturesque small Italian village. We had a ton of fun exploring the streets and sights. Siena really gave us the feel for the real Italian lifestyle. I could have spent an entire semester in Tuscan towns like Siena and Florence. As with Switzerland, it is best described in pictures.

Overlooking beautiful Siena. (Double-click for a larger picture.)

Frescos like this one were all over the city, around every corner it seemed. This one was in a car park.

Brady and Brian. Looking a bit travel weary, but handsome as always.

Brian and Peter with scenic Siena in the background. Photographer: Braden Cripe, Esq.


Typical Siena.

The Duomo, Florence. One of the most impressive churches I've seen yet.

Brady and Peter exploring Florence. Don't we look enthused?

On to Rome for Christmas, can't wait to explore the ancient metropolis!

Interlaken in Pictures

Brady, Brian and I spent a day in the Swiss Alps "sledging." Basically, we raced down ice and snow covered paths on some flat pieces of metal with runners. It was the most fun I have ever had. Enjoy the pictures.



Myself and Brady on our sledges, about to start a run. Can't see where the track leads? Neither could we, and we were moving at something like 20 miles per hour.




The moon rose over the mountain peaks. Breathtaking.



Brady and Brian getting ready for another run in the small Swiss village halfway up the mountain. There were only 5 buildings.



A great view of the village of Grindlewald, our base camp for a day of sledging. It looked like a Christmas card tucked into the snow-covered valley, especially lit up at night.




The Alps over Interlaken.

At Balmer's Herberge, our amazing hostel in Interlaken. That short guy in the middle is Tim, our Swiss friend and guide. (Left to Right: Brady, Brian, Tim, Billy, Peter)

Words cannot describe my time in Switzerland. It was such a great country, I was so sad to leave. I cannot believe I am on to Italy already, my final country before I journey home. Hope everyone is well and gearing up for Christmas. I know I am, though it doesn't quite feel the same being away from Minnesota.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland,

Peter

One Crazy Night in Zurich.

I don’t want to give too much backdrop to this story, because it is kind of long itself. Just let me prelude by saying that when we left Tim’s house outside of Zurich, Switzerland at 8:00 last night, we meant to go out for one drink, and then go to sleep early for a long day ahead of travel to Interlaken. What that one drink led to was one of the strangest nights I’ve had so far in Europe.

Tim wanted to take us to a club, to hear some way too loud techno music, and drink some fruity cocktail with energy drink for way too much money. Fortunately, so I thought, the clubs were closed, and we ended up at a small bar in downtown Zurich with an outstanding bunch of locals. By outstanding, I mean this group dressed very, very European. There were many brightly colored, oddly striped clothes, accessorized by haircuts that could have been the work of a blind hairdresser and piercings in all sorts of places. It was a fun group to watch, and we talked and laughed as we enjoyed our one drink of the night. When the music got a little louder, and a lot worse, we decided to seek out another bar.

As we were walking along the river, Billy was approached by two Swiss girls who seemed to be looking to make some new friends. They were friendly and spoke fairly good English, so we invited them along with us. This seemed well and good until one of them began to cling to Billy like a leech. Billy didn’t mind the attention until she began to repeat, in slurred and broken English, “Oooh Billie, I vant to marry you. I vant to marry you, and move to Ameri-cah. Oooh Billie.” This was all happening while we, this collaboration of Americans (including a new friend from Dallas Texas) and Swiss kids, were wandering aimlessly through the streets of Zurich. We were just talking, laughing and goofing around, but were apparently being quite too loud.

A well-dressed white-haired man under a brimmed hat, with a red-haired woman hanging on his arm and a cigar hanging on his lip, approached us and reminded us of the 10PM Swiss national quiet hours law. We began to apologize, but Tim—all 5’5” of him—decided to take the opportunity to discuss the matter with this gentleman, convinced the law was 11PM quiet hours. Unfortunately for Tim, the man turned out to be the Mayor of the city of Zurich. The Mayor of the largest city in Switzerland happened to be passing us on the street in a moment of good-spirited boisterousness, and reprimanded us. Well, we all apologized for any disruption, and being a group of primarily foreigners shook the man’s hand until it was about to fall off. He was quite pleasant, spoke eloquent English, and even made a joke about Iowa. We took a picture with Mr. Mayor (his name I cannot remember) and all went on our merry way.

Around a couple more bends in the cobblestone roads our group came upon a neat little tucked-away church. Outside was a fire-barrel and a pile of cardboard and wood. By this time, the temperatures had sunk well below freezing and we had been walking the chilly streets for over an hour. The place seemed abandoned, and we decided to make a fire, right there in the pedestrian-only square outside the church. It didn’t take long to get a good blaze going, and we all began to warm up. As we warmed our hands and chatted, people began to emerge from inside the church we assumed was abandoned. They joined us around the fire casually. The man next me started a conversation in English with me. I learned he was from Iran and, intrigued, I asked how he came to Zurich, and why he was in a church at nearly midnight on a Wednesday. He was a refugee. He fled Iran in hope of being able to forge a better life in Switzerland. However, “Fred” was caught as an illegal immigrant and is currently in state of suspense almost unimaginable to me. He cannot return to Iran, or he will be imprisoned and punished as a traitor. The Swiss government is currently deciding whether or not he will be allowed to stay in Switzerland, where he also could be jailed. He cannot work, he cannot find a place to stay, and he cannot leave. He only has this church to stay in, and time to kill. Another woman in the church from Iran has been waiting 12 years for a decision from the Swiss government.

I could have talked to “Fred” all night, and had so much to ask him, but Tim began shouting at us from the other side of the square that we were about to miss the last train back to his hometown outside Zurich. I shook “Fred’s” hand and we all started sprinting to the train station. We missed the train by 5 minutes, and were shocked to realize we were all suddenly stuck in Zurich.

Tim called his younger brother in a last ditch effort in hopes that he could come pick us up, and—what fortune!—his brother was in the city, at a dance club just a few blocks from us.

Well, a few blocks turned into about 2 miles, and by the time we reached “Holden” Club (Swiss-German for “Heroes”) we were cold, tired and ready for bed. But, Tim’s brother was not ready to give us a ride home quite yet, so we went inside for a bit.

“Holden” turned out to be a very unique place. We quickly recognized that there were very few women there. Very few, and the men seemed to be getting awfully close to each other when they talked and danced together. We found ourselves standing on the edge of the dance floor of a vibrant Swiss gay night club. It was really a pretty stylish club, and the DJ was good. We weren’t at all uncomfortable being there, just thrown a little off guard, as none of us had been to a gay club before. Soon, the novelty of the place wore off, while exhaustion and frankly boredom set in. We danced a little, but couldn’t really get into it (you could imagine) and talked to Tim’s brother and his boyfriend for a bit, before it was finally time to leave.

We left “Holden” quite a bit more cultured, and much less innocent toward the displays of affection in gay couples. Tim’s brother drove us home safely. Finally in our beds in Tim’s basement we all looked at one another in disbelief. Our one night in Zurich was by far one of my greatest misadventures yet.

I Am A Wiener--That's Viennese to You

(My apologies, this post was meant to be up a few days ago, but I just got to a wireless hostel in Florence. Enjoy.)

Whew. Time to take another breath and a look back on my time in another beautiful and inspiring city. I’m sitting on an overnight train from Vienna, Austria to Zurich, Switzerland. To paint a picture I’m in a small compartment with a sliding glass door. I just “showered” and brushed my teeth in the sink of the small bathroom down the hallway of the train. There is a girl about my age who doesn’t speak English sleeping under her overcoat to my right, and my friend and recent travel buddy, Billy, is reading a magazine to my left. I’m stuck in the middle, and just happy that the three middle-aged, overweight Austrian people are no longer sharing our compartment, meaning I can stretch my weary legs a bit.


Though Vienna has a rich and deep history (It was the home of the Hapsburg empire for over 400 years, and the place where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated—starting World War I) I really didn’t know much about the city before coming. It turned out to be great.

We were lucky enough to stay with my friend Jill and her very accommodating friends. Jill had just finished a class and art and architecture of Vienna, and Billy and I prodded her for knowledge at every turn. She seemed to know about (almost) every building we saw.

Billy, Peter, Jill staying as warm as we could!


As has been the case with most of my travels, Billy and I spent our two days in Vienna (‘Wien’ to the locals) walking the streets and exploring shops and markets. Like Prague, Vienna boasts some beautiful architecture and I’ll just walk you through some of the highlights.

Monday was a full day of touring and sightseeing. Two of the highlights were to great governmental buildings, the “Rathaus” (whose purpose I could not tell you if my life depended on it) and the Parliament building. Notice in the picture the Enormous statue of a Greek Goddess outside the Parliament building. That’s Athena, the goddess of wisdom. It’s a common Viennese joke to notice that her back is turned to Parliament.

Vienna House of Parliament


Monday night we tried an authentic Viennese dish, Weiner-Schnitzel. If you’ve never had wiener-Schnitzel, I’m not sure what you are imaging it to be like. It is a large, and I mean falling over the edges of your plate large, slab of fried pork. The only topping is a lemon slice, which you squeeze over the meat, and a side of potatoes. It was salty, delicious, and filling. And the house-brewed beer wasn’t too bad either. After dinner, we bussed to the top of a hill outside Vienna for an amazing view of the whole city by night. My camera ran out of batteries, so I won’t be able to share any pictures from there, but the spread of yellow and white dots, highlighted by church steeples and bridges over the Danube river was worth the trek, and the sub-zero temperatures.

Today was more of the same, with sightseeing highlights being the summer home of the former Hapsburg rulers and the Karlskirche.

Karlskirche was really great. It was this domed marble church built between 1716 and 1737. What was unique about our visit is that this year the entire church, from the floor to the towering marble pillars, to the fresco painting covering the expansive elliptical dome ceiling. What this meant for us was that inside the church there was scaffolding from floor to ceiling. While this certainly took away from the feeling of serenity and antiquity that usually comes from being in such old churches, the scaffolding was designed with an escalator for visitors. We took this escalator all the way to the top of the church, an arms length away from the enormous fresco ceiling. My fear of heights started to creep into my toes, but it was overwhelmed by my realization that people had not been this near the ceiling for hundreds of years, and I’m sure if I ever return to Vienna, I will not be afforded the same opportunity.

We climbed to the very top!


This evening was another great experience. Vienna is known internationally for its classical music; Mozart is from this town, Beethoven spent most of his life there, as well as Johan Sebastian Bach. The Vienna Opera House is the heart of classical musical performance, ballet, and of course opera in this esteemed musical city. The Opera House operates on the policy that anyone who wishes to enjoy music should be able to, and thus offer standing room tickets for as cheap as 2 Euro. As I am always one of the first to jump at a cheap deal, Billy, Jill and I got standing room tickets for tonight’s performance: the opening night of The Nutcracker. It was the first ballet I have ever seen, and it was really cool. I recognized a bunch of the music, and the stage was really amazing with a jagged glass wall, with ever-changing lights, as the backdrop. I could only stay for the first half because Billy and I had to catch this train, but that was fine.

So now I am exhausted from 2 solid weeks of travel, and need to see if I can get any sleep on this train. I am looking forward to Switzerland and meeting up with Brian, Brady, and Tim very much. I will write again as soon as I can!

Praha is as Praha does. Prague, Czech Republic

I’m sitting once again in front of the computer screen catching my breath after the whirlwind of exploring another European city. This time the site of my misadventure was Prague, Czech Republic. For me, it was a homecoming, as Hejny is a Czech name. I even looked it up in the phone book there, and as there were several phonebooks, I kept the page as a souvenir!

Prague was a unique and wonderful city, and a nice place to relax a little bit after the anomaly that was Amsterdam. Prague is one of the best preserved cities in Europe, as it escaped bombing in either of the World Wars, and we visited churches, and saw statues and graves that dated as far back the 13th century still standing tall and proud. The city is a winding maze of cobblestone roads and gorgeous (and again well-preserved) architecture. I was traveling with my good friends Billy, Sher, and Maggie, and we spent most of our four days in Prague really just wandering the streets, browsing shops and sipping “Hot Vine.” That’s warmed, spiced wine. It was good, but only one cup at a time!

Charles Bridge. A scenic, bustling crossing to Prague Castle.



Billy, Sher, Maggie, and I on Charles Bridge


The city was in the height of its Christmas season, and every square in town boasted a Christmas market. These markets were bustling, happy places filled with the sights and sounds of Christmas (including some carols from a children’s choir from Singapore…they sang in English, and we sang along!) The markets were also filled with the smells of traditional cuisine including roasted chestnuts, fire-roasted cinnamon rolls, and sausages. One of the markets even had barrels of burning wood where market-goers could warm their hands. The markets were fun to browse, and look at some of the oddities Czech people might purchase, including a large amount of marionettes.


Christmas Market, Old Town Square, Prague




A scene around a sausage stand, Old Town Square

It was absolutely freezing cold in Prague. I had plenty of warm clothes, but was on the verge of springing for some long underwear, just to try to keep my legs from stiffening up in the first five minutes of being outside. There was a lot to see in Prague, but as I mentioned, much of it was just walking around, and because it was so cold, Prague is (as of right now) my top European city to come back and visit in the summer time.


Freezing cold with Sher.

I really wish I some great story of misadventure to share, but my time in Prague went relatively smoothly. Billy and I said good-bye to Sher and Maggie earlier this afternoon, caught a four hour bus to Vienna, Austria where we are staying the next two nights with Jill Carr, a good friend of mine from high school. She is really excited to play host to Billy and I for the next few days, and I’m looking forward to exploring Vienna.

Carolyn, Mom and Dad, thanks for calling tonight! It was really unexpected and great to hear your voices, sorry it was such bad timing, but the train was just so noisy. Hopefully I’ll hear again from you soon!

I hope everyone is well. I am having the time of my life, taking in as much as I can, sticking to my budget as best I can, and thinking of everyone back home often!




St. Vitus Cathedral, within the Prague Castle walls and dating back to the 10th Century, towers over Prague



Billy and Peter inside Prague castle.



View of Prague from near Prague Castle

Amsterdam!

Well, I’m sitting here in Schipol Airport, Amsterdam, with a couple of hours to kill before my flight to Prague. It’s a little surreal that I’m in the midst of this month-long journey I’ve been planning all semester, but here I am!

I wanted to write a few words about Amsterdam because the three days I spent there were, if nothing else, quite eye-opening. First of all, Amsterdam is truly a beautiful city. It is criss-crossed every which way with an immense canal system—the city has more canals than Venice. There are small, stone bridges everywhere, which take cars, cyclists and pedestrians over the waterways. The streets were small and very busy. I’ve become so accustomed to looking right first, and then left, when crossing the roads in Ireland and London, that I found my self triple and quadruple-checking each cross walk in Amsterdam, because I never knew which way to look. Amsterdam also has a vast Tram and bus system, which locals just step in front of when they want to cross a street. We actually saw a woman stick her baby in its stroller out into a crosswalk to stop a moving bus. The bus came within a foot of hitting the stroller, and I was about to grab it and pull it back, when it finally came to a stop! It was so scary.


Busy Center Square, Amsterdam


Amsterdam also has some very beautiful architecture. Beginning in the 1600s, Amsterdam--with control of the East India Company--reigned for almost 200 years as the wealthiest city in the world. Because of this, all the buildings are intricately sculpted and carved. Though they are squeezed together, it seems that every neighbor was trying to out-do the other and so each house boasts grandeur in its design.

Just a typical canal scene near the Anne Frank House.

"De Waag" A building that was the center of all goods going in and out of Amsterdam at the height of trade in the 1600s.

Amsterdam does have a darker connotation, and of course I witnessed that full force. One day, while trying to find my way back to our hostel alone, I wound up in the narrowest, most window-lined lane in the red light district. Women of all shapes and sizes were tapping on the glass at me, trying to get my business. Certainly a brand-new experience.

There were also some areas of Amsterdam where the scent of marijuana literally hangs in the air. The city’s “Coffee Shops” are as infamous as they are abundant. The use of marijuana is technically illegal, though it has been “decriminalized.” Meaning, no one has been punished for using marijuana in the last 30 years in Amsterdam, and the sale and possession of the drug is perfectly legal. It may seem odd to think about, and it took a little while for me to accept it, but to them it’s just a part of life and culture, like alcohol. Not everyone does it (the Coffee Shops stay intact solely because of tourists) and though it is present, it is not overwhelming, and is much contained.

Anyway, Amsterdam is also known for it’s world famous museums, including the Rembrandt Museum, the Van Gogh museum, and the Ann Frank House among others. I went into two museums. The first was the Sex Museum, which was, in a word, trashy. It was kind of interesting after taking “Psychology of Human Sexuality” class this semester, but the displays were either uncomfortably overdone or cheesy, or both. It was not worth the 3 Euro.

The Van Gogh museum was just the opposite. It was located in a picturesque neighborhood of Amsterdam, and its interior was designed perfectly. The museum guided its visitors chronologically through Van Gogh’s life as an artist. He went through some very distinct phases, and it was really cool to see his work hung up next to other artists who influenced him. For those of you, like me, who don’t know your art history very well, Van Gogh is definitely worth a look on Wikipedia.

Vincent Van Gogh 'Self Portrait'

Overall, I had a great time in Amsterdam. It is a vibrant city with a lot to offer. It is the most diverse city in the world, with the most nationalities represented than anywhere else, and easily takes the cake for people-watching. I’m not sure I’ll ever be back to Amsterdam, but I’m glad I made it part of this trip.

I hope all is well with each and every one of you. With every Christmas song I hear, and each city I see with lights and wreaths all around, I get a little anxious to come home. But I’m just in the rush of it all right now. I’m looking forward to a nice flight tonight (no more Ryanair!) and a hostel room all to our own (no more English couple getting busy on the bottom bunk, while I’m on the top bunk!). If you get a chance, send me an email, I’d love to hear from you.

Cheers!

Among life size bronze sculptures of Rembrandt's 'Nightwatch'

Bon Voyage from France

Well, I'm safely on continental Europe for the first time in my life. I took the Chunnel from London this afternoon, and after a quick 90 minute train ride under the English Channel, I found myself in the Lille train station unable to read any signs or understand any of the conversations around me. Certainly a change from Ireland and London!

I will only be in this travel-through city for a night, as I set off for Amsterdam with Sher and Maggie tomorrow morning, but I wanted to share some of the stuff I've done the last few days in the great city of London.

"Avenue Q" was the musical Robbie and I went to in Leicster Square. It was basically a grown-up humor version of Sesame Street, with puppets and humans, and songs like, "It's Okay to Be Gay!"

Brian and Peter buying lunch in Hampstead.

Eerie sunset over the brand new 02 Arena in London.

Brian and Robbie in "Christmas World" in Harrods Department Store.

Since you (i.e. Mom and Dad) have never met my travelling buddies, Sher and Maggie, I decided to give them a guest post on my blog. Take it away girls...

Bonjour! Nous avons trouvé le petit peter dans le gare de Lille ce soir. Après, nous avons fait le diner avec lui dans notre apartment. Nous nous sommes amusés et peut-être nous avons bu trop du vin. Mais c'est la vie (especiallement en la France!). Demain, nous serions à Amsterdam pour plusieurs jours. Après ça, nous serions à Praha avec notre ami Billy. Nous sommes très heuseures d'être ensemble et de leur voir! Alors, tout va être fini trop vit et nous rentrons aux États-Unis dans la nouvelle annee.

In short, we're so happy to have Peter with us in Lille and are definitely looking forward to the next week in Amsterdam and Prague...though we're sure it'll be over in a flash! À bientôt!

-Maggie and Sher