Jul 2007

I have posted most of my Europe photos to my Flickr account.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandon-robert/

Well we made it back, and what a terrible day that was.. I'll save you the details, but we ended up landing in New Orleans at 12:30am (we were supposed to land around 10:30pm). Then they lost our luggage, so it took 2 days in my case to get it back.. but all in all if that was the worst part of the trip (the coming home) then I'd say it was a damn good trip. And again with all the signs and symbols from the gods above to just stay in Europe.

Well I made a lot of promises in my last post about explaining all the things I never had time to do, and I don't think I'll be sticking to those promises.. sorry. I'd like to put the blame on the keyboard again, but I don't think y'all would buy it. Well if I post some photos, can you find it in your heart to forgive me? Good.. I thought you would.

Wait.. I do have one story to share. It may have made CNN so you might already know about it (no not the London would-be bombings that I was at the week before). The story I'm going to tell did happen in London though, underneath a small bridge on the bank of the river during one of the many rainy days we were there. I can't recall where we were, or where we were going, or what we were doing.. but those sorts of details don't matter. What does matter is the event that transpired and the feelings it left.

So as I was saying.. Quentin, Michael, and I were walking somewhere (off the beaten path I believe since no distinguishable sights were around) and we came upon a small bridge to walk under that had music coming from it. Upon a closer investigation we were met by 4 musicians (2 violins, 1 cello, and 1 viola) playing the greatest free symphonic concert EVER. Seriously they had a good 20-30 of us stopped dead in our tracks, mesmerized with how good they were. Well at some point in one of the songs (it was one of those time stands still type moments) the attention of the audience was on a 2-3 year old little blond-haired girl to the right of the musicians trying to figure out what to do with the coins her parents just gave her. She would walk a little closer to the opened cello case in front of the musicians, then look back at her parents for guidance. They would motion her further and point to the case, then she would walk a few more paces and then look back again for continued assurance. Well this went by for a while to the delight of all onlookers. After about 5 look backs, she passed up the case and started heading towards the lead violinist on the far left. And just as she was standing right in front of him, hands full of coins, the music had a seconds pause.. just enough of a break for the violinist to stick out his hand, open palmed, and the little girl dropped the coins in his hand without hesitation. After the seconds rest, the music started again right on cue. And all at once we, the lucky onlookers, realized we had just witnessed the cutest moment in the history of the world.

Alright, you talked me into it.. I'll do one more story. Il Palio! (the horse race in Siena). For background information, go wikipedia it. I'm not sure what I've said of it already, and I dont feel like looking, so if I'm repeating myself.. sorry.

OK.. on to the story.
We researched beforehand and knew the race technically wouldn't start till 7pm-ish, but we wanted a good spot, so we made our way to the hardest bus station in Europe to find (the one in Florence). Well after walking around the train station forever, finding the LOCAL bus station, and talking to many people, we finally made it to the correct bus station and with only 4 minutes to spare before the bus left for Siena! So after the one hour journey, we arrived a mere 5 minute walk from the town square (where the race is held). After going back and forth about what time we should leave Siena to ensure a bus back to Florence to then get a train early in the morning to Positano, we headed to the square and got a decent spot about 10-20ft from the rail around the track. Now it was just a waiting game. Around 4pm, they shot a canon (unwarned) that shook your body all the way down to the soul. This unannounced canon shooting became a common occurrence as the day went on. To cut out a lot of details, the jockeys and horses came out around 7ish to the delight of the crowd (whom you will see in the photos is probably 60,000 strong). Every possible place to put a person is used. Windows usually had about 5 heads peeking through, and rooftops were even worse. Well as the jockeys started lining up to race, they started fighting one another. It took 30 minutes, and two false-starts before the race actually was underway. Imagine that sort of suspense. Anyway, they finally stopped fighting at one point for the official to start the race and then they were off. They go around the square about 3 or 4 times and then its over. Yep, an 8 hour build up for a 30 second race. TOTALLY WORTH IT! At the end of the race, people are in tears if their neighborhood lost, and most are pissed off and start looking for their jockey to beat up (seriously). I'm not lying when I say I had to move as quickly as I could out the way of a man that had killing on his mind. It was quite an impressionable look that I'm still having nightmares about. Hopefully that jockey knew better and just rode straight out of town. Now for a short ending to the story: we made it to a bus around 8 or 9ish and made it back to Florence in time to watch the sunset on the way.

Now what will the next trip be?? Here are a few ideas:
-Tran-Siberian railway (Moscow to Beijing (time it to see the Olympics next summer))
-Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, etc.)
-Peru (Machu Picchu)
-Costa Rica
-Antarctica (via Bark Europa)

But for now.. ahhh memories!

Hello from Rome.. the #1 tourist destination it seems. This is the first place we've had to wait in any lines, which sucks. But oh well.. I was IN the Colosseum as well as the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and Pantheon. The spellings may be off on all of those, just like the spellings were probably off in the last post.. I blame the keyboards.

So we have made it to that metaphorical light at the end of our tunnel. Rome.. the last stop, and now just 3 days left till we're back "home".. I put it like that since we all know Positano/Innsbruck will take that "home" title soon enough.

Getting to Rome was quite the hassle though.. and I assume the train worker strike that we encountered was a sign to stay in Positano another day (or indefinitley).. but we took off by bus instead to Amalfi where we caught another bus to Salerno to then jump a train on a line not on strike by the workers union to head to Rome... by the time we made it to Rome, it was like 3ish in the afternoon I believe.. having left around 9am that morning. What I'm trying to illustrate here, and in other posts, is the amount of time spent travelling. In fact, I think train trips alone have been over 40hours for these past 3 weeks. That doesnt include metros and buses either.. so basically I now consider myself a PhD in Mass Transit/Public Transportation.. so if you are ever doing city planning, feel free to use my expertise (for a fee of course--somethings gotta fund those Positano trips in the future).

And speaking of, yes those Positano photos I posted are real.. straight from my camera! I've been amazed too by the GREAT luck we've been having this entire trip (knock on wood). At first I thought it was just my good looks getting us by (since its not my foreign dialects), but now I think we must have Zeus or one of the Roman Gods looking after our trip. Whatever it is, we're thankful for it and hope to get home safely in 3 days and can call it an unbelievably successful trip.

Wait.. I cant say the trip.. or Positano was flawless... while climbing Mt. Vesuvious or going through Pompeii the other day, the worst thing happened... I stepped in gum somewhere.. awful I know.

Alright well I think this will be the last post while I'm here. I will however get home and post again with lots of photos and maybe a write-up or two of some of the places I ran out of time to talk about (the Palio in particular because I have a feeling my use of CAPSLOCK didnt convey just how awesome that day was).. so look forward to that.

Its been a while since I have been able to post (or so it feels).. so let me catch yall up with where I left off...

We had just one day to actually see the city of Venice, so we left our hostel around 8am that morning and was on the island by 8:10am. We did not leave the island until 8pm that night (and Im happy to say it wasnt because we got lost.. in fact we didnt get lost once!). We did the main square and the areas around it first, then split up (girls went shopping) and we went exploring. At around 2pm we went on a 4 hour boat tour of 3 surrounding islands, each with its own uniqueness. The one pictured below is Burano which is a fishing village. All the houses are colored differently because (as the story goes).. when the men would come back from fishing late at night (and drunk).. they would stumble into the wrong houses and into the wrong beds. So to hault anymore ruined marriages, they all painted their houses different colors.

Venice was great for its layout.. but its time to move on.

Next stop, Florence.

We arrived and had a good 20 min hike to our hostel from the train station (thats with all our bags which is roughly 20-30lbs Id say). Once we made it and got settled in, we took off around the city as it would be our only day in the city. We hit the Duomo first off which if you are a cathedral fan, this is THE ONE to see. I may take that back after Rome and the Vatican (but that may not count). Anyway, we went up the tower on side which was some 400+ steps (though it felt much worse so Im thinking the metric system must count differently).

Then we went to Santa Croce where Galieo is burried among many others. Heres a shot from there:

We did many other things, and even stayed out late listening to street performers who played Simon and Garfunkel.

The next day we went to Siena for Il Palio! This has been the highlight for everyone so far. YOU MUST GO SEE THIS ONCE IN YOUR LIFE! Im running out of time, but basically its the greatest thing ever. Forgive the poor photography skills.. this is the winner.

Now to Positano..
Ive found my winter home while it snows in Austria. Tomorrow we do Pompeii and hike to the summit of Mt. Vesuvius, but Ill leave you with some photos of where Im at right now.. just to make you jealous! Enjoy.

Our deck view..

Ciao