Jen & Mark's Travels: 2009

London in a day

Saturday, March 14

We had another early morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed we were headed to the airport by 4:00am. We arrived at our hotel in London around 9:00am. Our hotel (The Park Inn) was great – exactly what we needed, it looked like a room in an Ikea catalog. The hotel staff was nice enough to let us check in a few hours early (check in was at 3:00pm.) After crashing for a few hours we headed into the city.

Lunch was our first destination. We hit the Hard Rock Cafe, found it on the first try with no problems at all maneuvering the underground tunnels. Jen seems to have mastered getting around Central London without a map. Spring had arrived in full force in London, the flowering trees were in bloom and the fields of spring flowers were such a refreshing sight. We walked over to Buckingham Palace, (the queen was at Windsor) strolled along the Birdcage Walk to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. Our time in London wasn’t just spent seeing the typical tourist spots, we were on a mission for a souvenir for Jen's Mom. We went to Covent Garden, Knightsbridge, Piccadilly Circus, Harrods and every little shop we could find. After hours of walking and wandering we decided it was time to head back to the hotel to pack everything up for our trip home. (Needless to say, we finally found what we were searching for the next morning at the airport.)

Buckingham Palace
London, England

Cherry Blossoms
London, England

Flowers Along the Birdcage Walk
London, England

The Tower of Big Ben
London, England

Westminster Abbey
London, England

Ruins, Ruins and More Ruins!

Friday, March 13th

Our plan for Friday was to visit the Ancient Centre of Rome. Our first stop was the Coliseum, which opened to the public in 80 A.D. (Just about as old as Cleveland Municipal Stadium was.) This was quite an impressive sight since the structure is just mammoth. Growing up hearing and learning about the animal and gladiator fights became very real; you could almost visualize 55,000 people enjoying a sunny afternoon of sports activities. (Once again we can tie this to the Browns, except people get killed – oh wait . . . never mind)

Inside the Coliseum
Rome, Italy

The Coliseum
Rome, Italy

We wandered through the Palatine, which had been the royal residence for Roman Emperors, on our way to the Forum. In the shadow of the Coliseum lies The Forum, which is what remains of ancient temples, arches and churches. We even had a chance to see the House of the Vestal Virgins. (It's neat to finally know what they are referring to in the song “Whiter Shade of Pale”.)

The Palatine
Rome, Italy

The Forum
Rome, Italy

The final piece to our day in Ancient Rome was the Pantheon. Built in 118 AD this temple (and church since the 600's) deceives the on looker by appearing to be a rectangular structure from the front, when in reality it is a perfect cylinder (equal in height and diameter) with a domed concrete roof. The temple is the burial place for many important people in Italian history – including Raphael and some Italian Monarchs.

The Pantheon
Rome, Italy

The Dome of the Pantheon
Rome, Italy

On our final afternoon in Rome we did lunch at a bustling restaurant, the description in our tour book said the service was efficient and boy were they serious. Customers were packed in like sardines and the wait staff was running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The food was good, and inexpensive for a change (most of our meals in Italy were not cheap.) After lunch we wandered around Rome some more, exploring the little shops that peaked our interest. Finally we ended up back at the Trevi fountain for our afternoon gelato.

Catholicism 101

Thursday, March 12th

We had a date with the Pope at 10:00am – he didn’t show, so we went to the Vatican Museum instead. That thing sure is big! They have a large collection of Egyptian artifacts, tons of statues, lots of tapestries, ancient maps and some pretty nice paintings. Some of their nicest works are painted right onto the walls themselves – what’s up with that? As kids we always had to use paper!!!! Needless to say, the works by Raphael and Michelangelo were something to behold. The Sistine Chapel was really neat to get to visit, although the paintings weren’t as vibrant as Jen thought they would be. It took us about 4 hours in total to weave our way through the museum. From there we stopped in the carriage house and got to see old Pope-Mobiles (really cool).

One of Many Marble Statues
Vatican Museum
Vatican City

A Map Room
Vatican Museum
Vatican City

School of Athens
Vatican Museum
Vatican City

The Sistine Chapel
Vatican Museum
Vatican City

After the museum we went to St. Peter’s Basilica. We entered through the grotto, saw John Paul II’s grave and saw the traditional location of St. Peter’s grave. From there we walked up into the Basilica which was absolutely breathtaking.

Saint Peter's Basilica
Vatican City

Saint Peter's Square
Vatican City

The Spanish Steps were next on our list of attractions to visit, they were alright. Really crowded and full of people. We didn’t really didn’t spend much time there. We then headed by foot over to the Trevi Fountain, which ended up being even more crowded then the Spanish Steps. The area around the Trevi fountain was full of little shops and gelato stands. So we helped ourselves to some gelato and people watched. (They had this amazing mixed berry flavor – it was wonderful! You could see the chunks of berries. Jenny had that mixed with the lemon which was just so fresh!)

Spanish Steps
Rome, Italy

Trevi Fountain
Rome, Italy

After exploring the touristy sights of Rome we headed back to the hotel before dinner. We headed by foot to a great little restaurant that was made popular by Elizabeth Taylor during the filming of Cleopatra. Dinner was delicious! The walk back to the hotel made us feel better about having dessert with dinner.

Tour de Italia

Wednesday, March 11th

Today we were on the road before 6:00am, it seems like a common theme is for us to get early starts on travel days. We got on the highway and headed south.

Destination: Pisa

In Pisa we drove around in search of the Leaning Tower, it really shouldn’t be that difficult to find – but it was. The signs were completely useless, traffic was heavy, and buildings were just tall enough to obscure our goal. 45 minutes later we found ourselves directly across the city wall from the Leaning Tower with a convenient parking space. We walked into the city wall and over to the tower, got tickets for entrance 10 minutes later and climbed up into the tower. It is very weird to climb a spiral staircase around a building that is not straight. We knew that we were standing straight but nothing around us reflected that. It was a bigger challenge then we thought it would be. Once you finish climbing around the outside of the tower there are spiral staircases (narrow!) to take you to the top. It’s weird to be standing on the top of an unlevel building with just 36” high railings around the edge. The view from the top was very nice.

The Leaning Tower
Pisa, Italy

The Leaning Jenny
Pisa, Italy

Pisa, Italy

Next Destination: Florence

We continued our drive towards Florence where we had a date with "The David" at 1:00pm. Now The David is located in a museum built basically for the purpose of holding it. Parking was difficult to find, the city was dirty and there were crowds everywhere. We arrived at the museum and had a little bit of a hassle entering, even though we had reserved tickets ahead of time. When we finally got into the gallery pictures were not allowed and people were everywhere. It was super, super crowded. David was there in all his glory. We’re glad that we went, but we wouldn’t go to Florence again.

Tuscan Countryside
Italy

Final Destination: Roma!

We arrived at about 5:00pm to the hotel that we had booked on the Mediterranean Sea. Needless to say it wasn’t what had been pictured on the web. The neighborhood was not the best and the rooms were far from the 3 star rating they had claimed, even for a hotel in another country. We decided that hotel was a mistake and set Kim (Jenny’s sister) on the mission of finding us another place to stay. She came up with a beautiful hotel in the center of Rome, very close to everything (good find!). We moved in, and headed to the airport to return Clio, our car.

To Ski or not to Ski, Part Two

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

We slept in this morning, after getting in late the night before. Our goal for the day was to find a closer ski resort than Zermatt, so that Mark could go skiing in the Alps. We realized that our GPS has Ski resorts listed in its attraction category, so we found one that looked to be in a good location about an hour away.

Once again, we crossed into Switzerland and threaded our way up a steep switchback hill to the “resort.” On our way up the hill we ran into a slight road block – about 6-8 goats parked in the middle of the road in no hurry what so ever to move things along. When we got there, there was a single gondola lift, no snow, and not much action. Needless to say, it was another disappointing trip into Switzerland. We headed back down the hill in search of lunch and a grocery store to pick up some staples for the rest of our trip. Lunch was at a small restaurant in Lugano, Switzerland.

Some of the Goats near
Lugano, Switzerland

A typical Northern Italian/Swiss Road
Lugano, Switzerland

Ribbit all night?
Lugano, Switzerland

After lunch we found a local grocery store and decided to stop there but before we went in we wanted to see if we could find wireless internet access. Sure enough we found an access point and surfed for awhile. After about 2 hours of catching up on internet surfing, checking email and blogging we realized that we needed to move along with our day. We headed back to Bellagio so that we could get the apartment packed up and ready since we will have an early start Wednesday morning.

Bellagio, Italy

Schloss Hunting

Monday, March 9, 2009

Today we decided to do a reprise of Thursday’s attempted “Schloss Hunting” trip to Bavaria in Germany. This time we took the super highway entirely out of our way to guarantee we would not be sidetracked by Alpine passes in Switzerland. Instead we headed into Austria.

On our way we stopped for lunch at a “gasthaus” (Guest House) on the side of the road. We were greeted by a guy, Paul, who we were to find out later, was the owner, host, menu, waiter, bartender, barista, cook, busboy, cashier and entertainer. Mind you this was only for the restaurant; he offers many other services as well. He recited the menu consisting of four items, ham & cheese, goulash, a sausage platter and fresh trout. We chose the sausage platter which came out with fresh bread, fresh grated horseradish, spicy brown mustard and a pickle. As we were happily munching away he goes out into the hallway and returns with an accordion. For the next 15-20 minutes he serenaded us along with the other two parties present with authentic Austrian music. When he was done the dessert chef (same guy – of course) presented us with apple strudel ala mode. It was only at this point that Jenny noticed he was wearing lederhosen. That was one of the best and most memorable lunches we’ve ever had.

We proceeded along to our destination, Schloss Neuschwanstein in Schwangau, Germany. Neuschwanstein means New Swan Stone; swans were featured throughout the house. This is the place that Disney’s Cinderella Castle is based on. King Ludwig II of Bavaria commissioned to have this castle built in the late 1800’s. He never saw the completion of this castle and indeed it was never fully completed. There is a mystery that surrounds his early death. The castle features central heating, indoor plumbing and its own “cave” next to his living quarters. King Ludwig II was reported to have mental problems; after seeing the castle, it is our estimation that nobody in his right mind would build something like that in the late 1800’s.

Schloss Neuschwanstein
Schwangau, Germany

From Schwangau, we took the shortest route home, which happened to be through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Italy. We got in late, but now we can definitively say that we’ve been to Lichtenstein, one of the smallest countries in the world.

Milano & Bellagio

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sunday was a BEAUTIFUL day! Jenny woke up early and took pictures of the apartment and the surrounding town of Bellagio.

Our Apartment Building
Bellagio, Italy

Bellagio, Italy

Our Renault Clio
Rental Car

We went into Milan mid-morning to see the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. It is housed in the Santa Maria delle Grazie church within double purified air chambers. The painting was much more spectacular in person then photographs. Although, the door in the middle kind of ruins it (you were right Aunt Joyce). After our 1:00pm scheduled visiting time was up we were promptly escorted into the gift shop.

From there we headed towards The Duomo which is one of the largest Gothic churches in the world, built in the 14th century. Its size is truly remarkable and awe inspiring both inside and out. After our experience at Saint Mark’s we decided not to go into the Treasury.

The Duomo
Milan, Italy

Inside the Duomo
Milan, Italy

We headed back to Bellagio to explore the town. There were many small shops on quaint narrow roads built into the hill side. To our surprise the sleepy little town of Bellagio comes to life on Sunday afternoons, parking was at quite the premium. We followed a stream of people down to the end of the peninsula that Bellagio was built on (Lake Como looks like a wishbone) and were greeted with beautiful views of the Alps in the setting sun.

Bellagio, Italy

Town Streets of
Bellagio, Italy

Overlooking Lake Como and
Varenna, Italy

The Italian and Swiss Alps
Bellagio, Italy

Jenny & Mark
Bellagio, Italy

To Ski or not to Ski

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Being the gluttons for punishment that we are we decided to head towards Switzerland (again). This time to Zermatt in the western part, so Mark could go skiing. We tried a different mountain pass this time, which claimed to be open and smooth sailing for cars. ¾ of the way up everyone suddenly stopped. We were only 30 km away from our destination and that was the only pass in the area so we sat there for several hours. Eventually coming the other direction was this van with a bashed in front, bashed in back and the bumper sticking out the rear window. A little after that plow trucks come through and we slowly proceed up the hill to see a wrecked BMW on the side of the road, and the road was fairly slippery. We made it safely to the other side of the pass where people coming the other direction had been waiting. They started clapping when they saw us. Now in this part of Switzerland the snow is so high that they can’t plow it to the side of the road very easily. So they plow it the best they can then they have HUGE snow blowers that then throw the snow up and over the snow banks. Some of the snow piles were higher than semis. And we thought New York got a lot of snow!

Simplon Pass, Switzerland

We drove to Visp, where we were going to catch the train to Zermatt, where we found out it would cost us $80.00 to take the train in and back, not including parking. We thought that was slightly exorbitant. So we decided to continue driving to the furthest point we could which was Tasch. (Zermatt is a car free city) Needless to say the round trip was a lot better there at about $20.00. (Definitely the place to be) We took this train that had huge picture windows and a partial glass roof through the mountains and into Zermatt. We came out into this quaint little village nestled in the shadow of the Matterhorn. With the delay getting over the pass it would have been after 2 by the time Mark could have gotten out on the slopes, so he decided the better part of valor was to hang out with Jenny and explore the town. We walked as far as we could towards the Matterhorn and took as many pictures as we could on a beautiful blue skied day. We then trekked back into town all the while being passed by skiers, skiing down the streets and found some Swiss chocolates and other assorted treasures.