I've barely taken a dent out of Florence, the city I have wanted to visit for years but I have to write this down now before I forget.

When I was growing up, my mother owned a small copy of Michelangelo's David that sat in our living room, and later her office. I remember wondering more than once why there was a naked statue in our house (I also wondered about the topless African statue). At some point, when I was older I assume, my mother began attempting to make me understand why the statue was special. In many ways, that statue was my earliest introduction to art appreciation. Ironic, considering how little I appreciated it.

Even when I was older, I couldn't figure out what was special about this statue. It is, really, just a naked man. There are many many statues of naked men out there. When I took art history, and was forced to study the details: facial expression etc, I appreciated it a little more but was in doubt of its status as the most famous statue. Still, I figured I should see it.

So I stood in line for 90 minutes today, having forgotten to make a reservation. I didn't visit the statue right away, visiting one of the painting galleries first. Then I stepped out into a hallway and there he was. At the end of a hall of unfinished statues stood a very large, naked man. And I have to admit, it took my breath away. As I walked down the hall towards it, it got bigger, and more impressive. And then I was standing in front of this great, imposing piece, just staring in awe.

I'm still not sure why it is so impressive. It just is. There is something about the statue that resonates. It's not just its size. It's something intangible.

When in Rome

Ah Roma. It was everything I hoped it would be, a vibrant city full or realism, history and art. I spent the first day in ancient Rome, visiting th Collosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum among other sights and ruins. The Colosseum is huge! Afterwards I ate a fabulous Italian meal with the people I was staying with.

Day two started early since I had a 9am reservation at the Borghese. It took me some time to find it because it's at the end of a large park but I did and it was so worth it. Unlike typical art galleries with works hung in simply decorated rooms, the pieces at the Borghese are in a lavishly decorated house. It's full of frescoes and sculpture and brilliant paintings. As luck would have it, there was a special Raphael exhibit going on too. It was amazing. Unfortunately you only get two hours so you can't linger too long. After the gallery I visited the Pantheon. I don't know why but I always imagined it being smaller. Instead it is this huge imposing structure, full of and surrounded by people. I saw Raphael's tomb among other things. I also visited Trevi Fountain which is far more impressive than I expected. I threw a coin in so apparently I am guaranteed to return to Rome one day. I guess that would be okay. I also visited some famous piazzas: Poppolo, Spagna and Navona. I walked up the spanish steps, once a hot bed of artistic activity.

Day three also started early and much of it was spent standing in line. I was disappointed to discover that the Vatican museums were closed Sundays, the day I had planned on visiting then discovered that it is open and free on the last Sunday of the month. What luck! So I got up at 6 to get in line. I was in line for 2 hours which was better than I expected. It was worth it too. The Vatican has an amazing collection of art of course. I saw the art gallery, the Raphael rooms, the Egyptian collection and of course, The Sistine Chapel, among other things. The chapel is beyond description. Michelangelo's ceiling is just...wow and the Last Judgment will knock your socks off. The only drawback is the crowds.

This morning I (surprise) got up early to drop my bags off at the station then went to St Peter's. There was a line there too but it moved very quickly. I saw the Pieta, behind a shield of bulletproof glass and wandered around the rest of the basilica before visited John Paul II's tomb. People come from all over the world to pray here. Incredible.

Since my train stopped in Pisa I spent a couple hours there to see the tower and a few other sights. It is strange that tower. How funny that one of the most famous sights in the world is some guy's huge mistake.

Afternoon in Vienna

I didn't spend much time in Vienna (didn't even buy a postcard sorry Robyn) because there's not much I wanted to see there. I started off with St Stephen's Cathedral then St Peter's which I thought was nicer. I visited the Hofburg Palace and its museum. The Sissi Museum is interesting. It's about the life of one of the royals who lead a controversial life, then was murdered and became a legend. The memorabilia section reminded me of all the Princess Diana stuff that appeared after her death.

The museum was long though and by the time I was finished I just could not force my feet to go on much longer. Apparently they were still kind of mad about 9 hours in Prague. Silly feet! So I bought some food and returned to the hostel where I hung out with 2 girls from Chicago and a guy from Alabama. I thought my trip plan was hectic but there's are nuts! The girls are seeing almost twice the countries I am in two weeks less. Crazy!

It was kind of nice to spend some time with other travellers. Meeting locals is great but there's something neat about meeting people from all sorts of parts of the world. The girl in my berth on the night train to Vienna was an exchange student there from Singapore.

In other news, I have taken over 1300 photos so far. That's going to be a real pain to sort through when I get home.

I should have been born in Prague

Ah at last, a keyboard where I can find all the keys I need. The ones in Prague were so multilingual you couldn't figure out where anything was. Hence the lack of Prague updates.

I absoluely loved Prague. In fact, it was the first place where I really felt comfortable with this whole travelling thing. Funny since I was propositioned twice within ten minutes of getting off the train. Ah, just like Vancouver.

So I sadly had to spend a good chunk of my first Prague day doing laundry but at least I have clean clothes! You have no idea how happy that made me. Then I wandered around a little in the area of the hostel.

On day two I spent most of my time in the Stare Mesto (Old Town), just getting lost among all the buildings. Prague I think is best explored without paying too much attention to where you're going. There are so many little nooks and crannies to explore. In the afternoon I visited Prague Castle. I mostly explored the grounds and the cathedral. It was very nice but very very crowded. In the evening I met Phil's friend Jiri in Wenceslas Square and I got another walking tour of Prague, this time at night which was really beautiful. We crossed the river over to this little island thing. I wish I had some good pictures but I didn't bring a tripod with me.

Yesterday I woke up early so I could check out of my hostel and do some more wandering. This time I walked through Wenceslas Square back to Stare Mesto, visited St Nicholas Church and then went into the Jewish Quarter a bit. I eventually found my way to the National Gallery. It has a great exhibit of religious paintings from the Czech Republic and elsewhere, mostly from around the middle ages. It's interesting to see works that have no author. Makes you wonder if that painter or sculptor knows that their work is still being admired. After the gallery I spent some more time wandering through the Jewish Quarter, looking at some of the synagogues. After that I walked back to the Nove Mesto (new town that was founded in the 14th century) and explored some more before going to the National Museum. It is very science oriented which is different for me. They have a great minerology exhibit which I really enjoyed. Especially the diamond display. It's neat to realize you're looking at billions of dollars under that class. I also checked out the paleontology and prehistory exhibits but skipped the room of stuffed birds.

After the museum I walked across Charles Bridge into Mala Strana (little quarter) and back to the castle. This was really great because there was harly anyone there and I got to really enjoy the grounds. A whole castle mostly to myself! Then I walked back down into Stare Mesto and took the Metro to the train station because my feet really could not take anymore walking. (After 9 hours I don't blame them).

I had a near mishap with the train when half an hour before it was supposed to depart I realized I'd gotten the station wrong. Luckily the stations aren't very far apart by metro and I reached the proper station right when the train was beginning to board. I had to purchase a couchette for this train because it didn't have any cars with seats. That was kind of nice. I probably won't indulge in that luxury much though, it cost more than two nights at a hostel in Prague!

Anyway, I'm in Vienna now trying to make sense of trains and trams and such. I'll post pictures in the next few days when I am able to upload again.

After hitting what I hope was the only really low point yesterday morning, I bounced back enough to enjoy some of Berlin. But first, whatever did I do my last day in Munich.

So I saved the walking tour of Munich for last which ended up working out great since the weather was perfect. I started in Marienplatz, the town square. The Neue Rathaus (new town hall) is a beautiful neo-gothic building and it has figures that move. Why aren't our town halls that cool? Well I guess maple Ridge does have the horse but it's not the same. Then I walked to Odeonplatz, another square with a beautiful yellowish coloured church and also home to Residenz Palace. I didn't spend much time with Residenz because I spent a lot of time there on my first day. After that I walked down Max-Joseph Platz and then to the old town gate. I stopped by the market for lunch then visited another St Peter's church and the Frauenkirche. After finishing with the Altstadt I took a walk (and a nap) in the Englischer Garten before going to the Olympic Center. The Olympic Stadium is quite an odd looking building and makes me wonder what sort of strange structures we'll end up with in Vancouver. Then I returned to Schwabing for a nap before my night train.

I arrived in Berlin before 8am and was met by my host Sebastian. I was feeling really under the weather so I spent most of the day napping. The next day I still wasn't feeling better but eventually forced myself to go out. Sebastian had kindly printed out some guided tour information so I followed one of those. I started at the Reichstag, the seat of government and waited in line to get up to the dome. It's free but it's a long queue through secutity. It's pretty cool when you're up there though. Then I walked past Brandenburger Tor, the city gate, which now stands for the reunification of Germany. I walked a ways to Checkpoint Charlie, the famous crossing point, which is a huge tourist trap. After that I went to the Gendarmenmarkt, a square with two churches and a concert hall with beautiful architecture. Next was Bebelplatz, where the first book burning took place. There is a monument made up of giant books. Then I passed a lot of statues and the palace of the crown prince, eventually coming to the Berliner Dom. I also walked past the red town hall and strolled through Nikolaivirtel. I finished at Alexanderplatz, whose landmarket is a tall tv tower (that is currently made to look like a giant soccer ball for world cup).

Today it was pouring rain so instead of doing another walking tour, I took a public transit tour. There are two bus routes here that pass by a lot of the important sites so I took both of those. I also took a bus out to see Charlottenburg Palace and then another one to a section of the Berlin Wall that's been turned into a graffiti gallery.

Berlin ended up being pretty cool but my time here has definitely been marred by not feeling very well. Hopefully things improve for Prague.

This is harder than I thought.

And the temptation exists to keep this blog watered down and only let the world see the ahppy good times that Megan is having in Europe. Very tempting. I have sat down a few times to update but the knowledge of my audience always holds me back. Blogs are funny like that. As author you are always aware of who is reading and select your words accordingly. Different voices for different audiences.

But'll try not to get sidetracked. I am sick and my stomach is killing me and I don't know why and I want to be home, in my bed with my quilt and my things and my friends close by. I want to be able to go see a doctor about not feeling well without it being a production and by food with English labels. Oh English. I miss you.

I feel silly for feeling like this. I didn't think it was going to be a walk in the park but I didn't expect to be THIS gripped by homesickness. Although I didn't want this trip to be a repeat of Britain 2001 I realize that it gave me a false sense of security. That trip was like carrying Canada around with us. We had to worry about nothing.

I need a hug.

I'll post a real update about Munich and Berlin when I'm in a better state of mind.

These German keyboards are going to wreck my typing

So, I am now in Munich, having learned a few lessons in night training. First, ALWAYS MAKE SURE you're in a non smoking car. The consequences of not doing so are unpleasant. B/ if you close the curtain and turn out the light you can sometimes get a compartment to yourself. C/ 2 hour stopovers at 2:30am are very boring.

I spent yesterday doing the museum thing, kind of backwards to do that before touring the city but museums close on Mondays so I had to be strategic in planning my time here. Munich has a great system: three art galleries all together! Unfortunately the Neue Pinakothek was mysteriously closed so I only visited the Alte but two might have been pushing it anyway. It goes on and on and on. Of course the Neue has the impressionists and the VanGoghs but I'll get over it I suppose. After that I went to the Residenz palace and museum. They had an anniversary exhibition going on which was really really cool. A lot of artifacts and things from the time of Bavarian rule. I love seeing castles in the middle of cities. It's so different from castles in the countryside. Speaking of, after that I visited Nymphenburg castle, which is in the country. I skipped the museums and just toured the grounds. The mind can only handle so many elaborate rooms in a day. After Nymphenburg, I crashed early and slept for about 10 hours. Gee, do you think I might have been tired?

Today I got a late start then went to the former Dachau Concentration Camp. That was an experience that cannot be described in a blog or in words at all. Hopefully I'll post pictures soon. It was raining which was very appropriate. I visited the musuem first to escape the worst of the rain. It's unreal to read about and see photos of the things that went on there, the absolutely horrific conditions innocent people lived under. It just hits you. I watched the documentary too and had to look away sometimes. Just... wow. After the film I toured the rest of the grounds, including the barracks and the crematorium. There are some beautiful memorials too, from several different nations and religions, which underlines the diversity of people that suffered and died there. It was hard, being there, because it makes you feel guilty about the rights we have. Think about it, mass murderers live a million times better than these people did, most of whom's only crimes were being Jewish, Roma, gay, emigrants, clergy. It's unthinkable, truly.

Another thing that hit me, is what it must be like for the community of Dachau, what it must have been like. The name will always be synonymous with torture and Nazi horror. And what about when they really saw what went on there? I just can't imagine telling people I come from Dachau and having them immediately conjure up images of horrible deaths.

As difficult as it was, I think everyone should visit one of these camps if they get the chance. We read about this stuff in history class but being there, makes it real. It also reminds you that what happened in these camps is not as far in the past as we might like to believe and it would be dangerous to turn a blind eye to that.

So tonight I am leaving Zurich on a night train to Munich, and the real adventure begins. I've had a great time here but always with the sense that I was really only halway in Europe. I've been staying someplace that I've been able to refer to as 'home' and have had someone familiar close by. Starting tonight, I'm really on my own. It's both exciting and terrifying.

I'm also not going to be in the same place for more than a few days at a time anymore which will also be interesting. I feel like I've just started to get a sense of Zurich and now I'm leaving. I'll likely never get comfortable in the other cities I visit which in some ways, is the point. When you're comfortable everything becomes automatic and you aren't aware of as much.

It should be quite the adventure anyway.

Adventures in Bern, or, how many phallic symbols can a single city have?



Today was my last day of Swiss sightseeing, at least for now. I went to Bern for the day and had a great time. I started off my visited by going to the Kunsthaus, which I'm happy to say I found without any difficulty. The exhibit, though it had some fantastic pieces, was somewhat disappointing. As the fine arts museum in the capital city I expected a more impressive collection but Zurich's was far superior. Oh well, you win some you lose some. I'm starting to acquire a taste for Picasso at last though. His pieces are a lot more impressive in person.

After the Kunsthaus I struggled a little to find my way to the Museum of Communication. I'm still getting used to the differences in city planning here. There isn't necessarily a street sign at each intersection. I did find it though and it was great. It covered the whole history of human communication, from face to face to the Internet and beyond. There were a lot of really cool displays and some neat interactive stuff. It's too bad there isn't something like this in Vancouver because it would be a great field trip for a CMNS 110 class.

After that I headed back to the train station to begin the walking tour of Bern. The map they give you at the tourist office has a nice blue outline of where the most important sights are. I followed the entire thing, except I skipped the detour to the rose garden. There aren't likely to be many roses yet. First I walked along the main tourist street which has most of the major sights. These include a lot of fountains. The most famous one is the Ogre Fountain which is an ogre eating children. How lovely! I saw the astronomical clock, which has figures that move on the hour and the prison tower. I continued down that street past a church and across the bridge. I climbed up a little hill so I could see some of Bern then checked out the bear bits. That created a mixture of feelings. It was fun to see the bears doing tricks and such but so sad to see them in a 'pit.'

I then headed down a different street, back towards the train station. This took me to the Munster, just in time to get up the spyre before they closed it. It's too bad that a lot of the building is covered in scaffolding but the sculptures on the main entrance are absolutely breathtaking. The view from the top is definitely worth the climb as well. I walked through the Munster grounds and then towards the Swiss parliament buildings. There really wasn't much to see here because most of the building is covered in scaffolding and surrounded by cranes. Then it was back to the train station to give my tired feet a break and head back to Zurich for the night.

One of the first things I’ve learned on this trip so far is that being away makes you intensely aware of yourself and every little thing that you do. I guess when you’re in your element, you don’t take notice of anything as much because it’s all natural and you don’t have to think about it. When everything’s different, you think about everything.

I don’t like to consider myself particularly shy (though I have my moments) and I certainly don’t like to think of myself as being a fearful person but boy have I been here. Simple things like buying a ticket for a museum or ordering food have taken on a new level of challenge. Though I suppose that was the point of going wasn’t it. I’m so uncomfortable here, that’s the thing really. I didn’t even think I was that comfortable in Vancouver when I was there (suburban girl that I really am) but I didn’t have to think about things half so much there. It’s bugging the hell out of me, this state of ill at ease and I wonder if I’ll ever feel comfortable. Realistically, I’m not going to be staying in any one place long enough to shake this feeling. How annoying is that?

And then I remember that this was the point. In a sense, I want to be uncomfortable, to get outside that box that has no more room left in it to grow and push my boundaries a little. Undoubtedly, there will be a lot of self-reflecting. It is amazing just how much you think when you’re spending every day alone in strange cities.

But enough of that. I stayed in Zurich today as planned and visited the Landesmuseum and the Kunsthaus (art gallery). The Landesmuseum is the Swiss National museum and has museums in several cities but the headquarters are in Zurich so I figured, that’s the one I should visit. It has a nice collection of altarpieces (a particular kind of piece of art), a nice section on the middle ages and knights and my personal favorite, a collection of old clothing. I love looking at clothes from different eras and it usually makes me want to try stuff on. I think it would be cool to live in a different century just to wear the clothes. Of course, there would be other difficulties to that.

After the Landesmuseum I went to lunch and then to the Kunsthaus. I splurged and bought a ticket to both the permanent and temporary exhibitions because there was a Monet in the temporary exhibition. So I started with the permanent exhibition which has paintings and sculptures from most eras.

I won’t get into everything I saw because that would be silly but I’d like to try and describe the moment I had, the moment which is the entire reason why I love art galleries and a huge reason why I’m on this trip at all. About halfway through the gallery I came upon the Impressionism room, and there it was: a painting called “Parliament” by Monet. It is a piece that I have often had on my wall and one I have loved for about as long as I’ve loved art at all and I just stared, first marveling at the fact that I was right there in front of it, then admiring the liveliness of the brushstrokes and then just drinking it in. I got teary eyed at one point because seeing pieces that I’ve loved in books is such an emotional experience for me. There really isn’t anything like it. I kept coming back to that piece, looking at it over and over. There were several other paintings there that touched me, other paintings that I have admired but none moved me like that one did.

After the main gallery I went to the “Festival of Colour” exhibit which was a wonderfully eclectic mix of pieces from all sorts of movements. It was almost blinding though, the mix of bright colours, your eye never knew where to focus. It was too crowded to stop long at each piece but I think the strength of the show is more in the overall presentation rather than individual pieces. After that, I was too drained to go to another museum as initially planned (I should really try to remember how much art gallery touring takes out of me) so I took the tram back here.

So ends day 6 of Europeanness.

Some photos

Zurich

Two days in a row. Just don't expect this to be a regular occurrence. Once I have to pay for Internet access I won't be very diligent with the posting.

So, yesterday we went to Basel for the day. Our main purpose was to visit the Tinguely museum, which houses a collection of moving art. This guy made these huge found art pieces, many of which have motors. One of them fills an entire room and you can walk through it. He obviously had a dark personality because many of them are very morbid and threatening. One particularly morbid one was an 'altar piece' made from the remains of a race car his friend died in. Creepy!

Before heading to the museum though we took a couple of guided walking tours. You can get maps of the tours at the Information Office and the routes are marked with little signs through the city. Sites included the oldest university in Switzerland, Marktplatz, Rathaus (townhall), the munster, Martinskirche and the Tinguely fountain. It was very quiet since it was a Sunday which was nice.

Halfway through our tour through the Tinguely museum we went to the cafe to use the food vouchers we got with our tickets. This was a nice look at not only how expensive it is to eat, particularly out, in Switzerland but also how difficult it is likely to be for me to be vegetarian in Europe. I recently read that Vancouver is one of the most vegi friendly cities in the world so I've had it pretty easy.

It took me a while to decide what I wanted to do today but I eventually decided to visit Liechtenstein. Why not visit another country for the day right? I took the train to the Swiss border town of Sargans then got on a Liechtenstein bus. I got off in Balzars first to take some pictures of the castle then continued to the capital, Vaduz. It's kind of neat to be in a capital city that you can walk from end to end in a few hours.

I started off my hiking up the hill that Vaduz Castle sits on. Unfortunately the castle was covered in scaffolding but the views from the hill are great. After that I checked out the main square, which includes the Town Hall and other interesting buildings. I visited the Postal Museum, which was not only open (unusual on a Monday) by free. They have one a huge stamp collection. Seeing stamps like that though makes me question why we're expected to pay for these elaborate pieces of art when a plain old stamp would do just fine. After that I checked out the government building and St Florin Cathedral. The cathedral has a very nice courtyard that I sat in and people watched for a while and an interesting cemetery. I eventually meandered my way back to a bus stop and hopped on a bus back to Switzerland. This was the first journey that involved changing trains/mode of transport and I'm glad it was wrinkle free. Tomorrow I think I'm going to give my feet a bit of a rest and stay in Zurich. There are a few museums here that I'd like to see.

Ciao for now.

Love,
Megan

In Europe at last.

Sorry that I haven't posted anything until now; I have had neither the time nor the desire to sit down at a computer. Isn't that funny coming from a computer addict like me. Can you believe how long it's been since I've been on messenger?

So anyway, getting to Europe was not without its hiccups though it went pretty smoothly overall. The first issue occurred at check in when it seemed that they coulnd't find me listed for a flight from London to Zurich, though I had all my confirmation info in my hand. I'm not sure what the problem was but eventually gave me a new e ticket number and I was on my way. The flight to London was long and annoying with the screaming infant in the seat in front of me but I managed to get a little bit of sleep. We were half an hour late getting into London but I still had plenty of time to make the connection. I arrived in Zurich at 6:30 and in keeping with Thomson family tradition, my bag did not. It seems that in the confusion about my Zurich flight, they got confused about where it was supposed to go. I'd have been more annoyed if I was going to a hostel but as in was it was only minorly inconvenient and it was delivered to me the next day. Come to think of it, it was nice not having to carry it on the train and tram home. Later on, I had birthday cake with Swiss chocolate in it. That's three cakes in total this year.

But enough of that boring stuff. What have I done so far? On Thursday I slept late then Phil gave me a walking tour of Zurich. We saw three churches: Fraumunster, St Peterskirche and Grossmunster. The view from the tower at Grossmunster is really nice. We walked along the Limmat, which is the river that runs through the city and sat my Lake Zurich for a little while. It's a beautiful city. Everything I read about Zurich raved about how you HAVE to walk down Bahnhofstrasse but it was nothing special, just a lot of really expensive stores. I'm sure there's lots more that I saw but I need to look at the pictures to remember. There are lots of pictures though.

On Friday I took my first solo train journey into Luzern. Not too big a deal, I managed to find the right train and all that and Luzern is a pretty hard city to get lost in. First I went to the Jesuit Church, which looks kind of like a wedding cake on the inside. I walked around that neighbourhood for a while, and went to another church whose name I have now forgotten but it had an interesting cemetery. I took some pictures of Speuerbrucke (brucke is bridge) and walked across Kapellebrucke. Both are really neat covered bridges. A lot of the buildings in Luzern have artwork on the walls which for an art junkie like me was pretty neat. I meandered my way over to Hofskirche and tried to get some decent pictures despite the cranes in the way. It took some doing but I managed. In the afternoon I went to my first art gallery in Europe, the Luzern Kunsthaus. It wasn't that great, a lot of very postmodern art that I'm not a big fan of and probably not like what I'll be seeing in most of the art museums I visit here.

Saturday was a very cool day. Since I'd taken the Vancouver Kayak Club beginner's course last weekend, Phil thought it might be fun to take me on a river here and we were lucky enough to be able to arrange to borrow not only gear but also a car. He eventually decided on the Vorderrein, probably the most beautiful class 2 river you could hope for. It's called the Grand Canyon of Switzerland and when I get around to posting pictures you'll understand why. It was a really nice river, though I was very nervous about it. Not only did I not swim though, I didn't flip and Phil and David did a really good job of guiding. I don't think it was too boring for them either. And I finally have pictures of me kayaing, video too. The drive to the river was beautiful too and I got my first look at the Alps. You think we have mountains in B.C. ha! No comparison. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get a chance to try a combat roll (that's rolling when you need to) but I guess it's better not to flip at all. Definitely not a bad place for one's second ever river run except now I'm spoiled.

That's all for now. Off to Basel today.

Love, Megan