And....stop

From Munich we took a long flight to New York City... Arriving to the U.S was a huge culture shock, starting from the second we got off the plane. Hearing English spoken at every turn made my head spin as it almost sounded foreign to be surrounded by the language I am so familiar with. Being able to breeze through customs was also new, and nice for us. The controller was actually a big Italian-American New Yorker, and we chatted for a second about our common background. I thought it was a good sign. Our first stop was a pizza place, for a slice of some of the BEST New York pie out there. In fact, I would even say it was the best pizza I have had since Rome... We made our way over to Sean's brother, Norris's, house to spend the next 2 nights. New York was crazy as always, so many people, chaos, lights, noise. We explored on foot Canal St., China town, little Italy, Times Square, Union Square, Central Park, Soho, 5th Avenue, Broadway, Coney Island (which I don't recommend) and spent some good quality time with Sean's cute little 1 year old niece.

So, after much deliberation we made the decision to return to the U.S.A, "land of opportunity". The last year has been more than anything I could have expected. It has truly been the most amazing experience of my life and I will treasure every moment and hold each one dear to me for the rest of my life. The decision to come back was a hard one, we had a nice little set up in Italy and adored the life we created together there. We soaked up every inch of Italian culture and relished it, loved it, became it. In addition to living the Roman lifestyle, I have been lucky to have traveled 11 European countries in a year, something I had always dreamed about in the past, and am now able to call my reality. I guess there are a number of reasons for deciding to return - family, careers, visa issues, and perhaps "settling down"... now that my restless heart has been somewhat tamed. We count our blessings everyday, and are grateful for having had the courage to follow our dreams, and grateful for the incredible journey the last year has been. We will carry the Euro lifestyle we have adopted with us forever and we will return to the U.S better people than we were before in more ways than I can describe... As far as what the future holds, we aren't sure. There are a million paths at our feet right now, and we are just enjoying being "home" for now. What we do know is that we have only just cracked the surface of what this great big world holds, and there is a lot more out there for us to explore.

So, places we visited in the last year...here is the complete list, although we will never forget no matter what:

Italy: Roma (all of Lazio), Vatican, Firenze, Napoli, Pompeii, Amalfi Coast (Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano, Salerno), Sicily (Taormina, Catania, Giardini Naxos), Milan (Venice, Cinque Terre,)

Spain: San Sebastian, Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Cordoba, Malaga, Cadiz, Torremolinos, Pamplona, Zarautz

France: Paris, Biarritz, Hossegor, Anglet, Capbreton, Bayone, Nice, Cannes,

Monaco: Montecarlo

England: London

Belgium: Brussles

Holland: Amsterdam

Czech Republic: Prague, Cesky Kromlov

Austria: Vienna, Salzburg

Germany: Munich

Munich

Sean and I have been in the habit of arriving to a city on the day a huge, famous event just happens to be taking place - we arrived in Monaco the first day of the Tour de France, Pamplona for the running of the bulls, and lastly we arrived in Munich on the first day of Oktoberfest, without having planned this out at all. I didn't really know much about Oktoberfest, other than it is a huge celebration full of beer drinking and brawt eating....and we were right (although there may be more significance that I missed)! In the morning, we were immediately surprised by the number of people wearing traditional German outfits - like lederhosen with the short shorts and suspenders for the boys and colorful dresses, with aprons for the girls. The drinking began around 8am (maybe sooner), so the crowds were already rowdy and ready for the festivities. We walked to the important sites - your typical big plazas, cobble stone streets, cathedrals, castles, farmers markets selling lots of cheeses, meats and fruits and veggies. At noon, little German statues high up in the clock tower in the main square started dancing to pretty tinkling music like a huge cookoo clock. We delightedly watched with the crowds of tourists and cheering locals. This set a celebratory tone to the day. We walked to an enormous, beautiful, green park and on our way got the idea to rent some bikes. Bike riding was a fantastic way to get around the city and get away from the crowds and see this amazing park, with miles of green grass, little rivers, a giant, duck-filled lake and scattered trees. Among the lovely scenery, we came across something totally new to both of us, river surfing. As we rode over a little bridge, down below was a group of typical-looking surfers in wet suits. They were actually riding a standing wave that flowed with the river. They would jump into the wave with their board and surf to the right bank, then the left bank of the river in the little space they had. I would not have believed this existed if I didn't see it with my own two eyes. When they fell, or were finished riding the wave, they would get thrown downstream with the current of the river. Only one surfer could surf at a time, so the rest were lined up on the sides waiting for their turn. It was very interesting, and I would have liked to see Sean give it a try if we had a board. In the park, we also came across a famous area where loads of Germans were gathered, listening to music, drinking merrily and eating heartily. We stopped to re-fuel with a brawt and the best country potatoes known to man (for me) and a soft, warm, sweet dumpling-type dish with powdered sugar and apple sauce (for both of us). We rode back into the city, and were amazed at how fast we could get around on bikes, rather than walking, although it was a little tough when we got to the more crowded spots. People were celebrating everywhere. The city was full of people from all over, who came to take part in this German tradition. We rode to where Oktoberfest was taking place. It was a mess...crowds of people were everywhere, drunk as can be, very loud and out of control. We walked around the huge, carnival-like area with rides and food stands, where we saw the sale of raw-fish sandwiches, with the skin on and everything! Enormous tents were set up as the designated drinking areas. People looked like they were past the point of being "drunk and merry", and were at the point of sitting in random places with their eyes glazed, faces red and holding their heavy drunk heads in their hands, puking and smashing glasses up against walls. It was a little unpleasant and I didn't really see the point. I guess we should have gotten there sooner, it was just so crazy, it was hard to enjoy. The best part was getting some traditional little gingerbread, heart-shaped cookies to wear around our necks. The nice, old man selling them who didn't speak a word of English, tried to communicate the meaning of the frosting writing on each of the cookies. I bought three, he was so sweet and kind (and the cookies looked delicious, although I wasn't sure if we were allowed to eat them). As evening came, we returned our bikes to the rental place and walked to a lively bier garten (beer garden). After mingling with the locals for a while, we took the underground to another part of town that was a little out of the city center but had a row of hip, little restaurants and cool local artwork displayed on the sidewalk. We ended the night here, and ate Mexican food of all things for dinner. I had overdone it on the brawts between Austria to Germany, we took a risk on some quesadillas and it was surprisingly really good! Munich was a very cool, interesting city and I am glad we got to experience the first day of Oktoberfest, although we appreciated the less wild parts of the city most!

The hillllls are alive with the sound of muuuuuusic!

The train ride to Salzburg was incredible. We felt like we were moving right though the set of "The Sounds of Music", and then I realized, I think we were going through the set of "The Sound of Music"! What a dream - soft, smooth bright green, grass completely covering every inch of hill after hill. All we saw for miles was a huge blanket of green. The space was wide open with only cute little colorful homes scattered miles apart, or random farm animals that made the scene even more picturesque. Sean was a little embarrassed, but I couldn’t help but belt out, "The hilllls are alive with the sound of muuuuusic!" We had a nice ride.

The city itself was just as magical as the journey on the train. It was quaint and cute and everything you would imagine when you think of Austria. It turned out that the city was actually where "The Sound of Music" was filmed. We walked the entire town looking for someplace to eat, only to come across cafes selling drinks and deserts. We decided to go to the local supermarket and pick up some fresh kiwi, strawberries and pineapple, fresh salads and bread and bree. In the supermarket, however, I had yet again another tramatic experience...I was stung by a BEE! In the supermarket! This is unheard of, really. This is the second time in less than 6 months and I am beginning to feel the bees are out to get me. It got me on the arm, and this little old lady who saw everything tried to get me to spit on it to make the pain go away. I did as she said (or motioned cause she didn’t speak English) but the pain didn’t go away. It was still very kind of her to help. It only swelled a little, but I couldn’t let that ruin my good day...stupid bee. We sat on a grassy area near the river which gave a beautiful view of the big cathedral in the middle of town, and a castle sitting up above on a grassy hill, and ate our lunch. It felt so storybook and charming and everything surrounding the city was so green and vibrant. We walked around the small town, browsing in shops and the outdoor markets with hand made nik nacs, taking photos of Mozart’s childhood house and skipping (yes skipping...Sean wasn’t participating as I would have liked, but he got a skip in just to show he cared) across the bridge where the characters from "The Sound of Music" danced across while singing. Everything was perfect - the glittery river, the adorable town and green surroundings, and I really did feel like the hills were alive! We left as the sun set, on a train to Munich.

Austria

We woke up early, walked around the center of Prague a bit more, shopping for souveniers and snacks for the train ride. We hopped (well not really hopped but more like crawled or dragged ourselves) on to the train going from Prague to Vienna around noon with fresh fruit, dark chocolate and a girly book for me and Spanish newspaper for Sean, and passed the time relaxing and seeing more of the Czech countryside. All in all from our long journey to Cesky Krumlov and the train ride to Vienna, we have seen quite a bit of this tiny country. We arrived to Vienna in the evening, immediately shedding our layers of clothes because the temperatures were much warmer. We schlepped our way to the city center, found a hotel and dropped off our things. I make this sound like an easy task, but again the weight of my backpack has been getting to me. I would draw less attention to myself if I had a monkey on my back, rather than a backpack that is almost the same size as me. I look tired and sweaty and achy from walking about 5 feet, let alone a couple miles to our hotel, up and down stairs and hills, etc. God forbid I drop something, like my map, where I have to kneel down to pick it up, and yes this has happened and yes I fall right over onto my butt and Sean has to help me up. It is quite a scene. So, we walked into the city, much lighter after having dropped off our things, and had dinner standing near the underground station at a walk up stand, where Sean had pizza (surprise!) and I had a brawtwurst to fit in with the locals, and we shared some super sweet, honey tasting baklava. We walked the city center - very big with lots of designer, and not so designer shops, a huge, beautiful opera house, cathedral, and millions of bright lights, cafes and restaurants.


The next morning, I woke up surprisingly early and we were out the door by 10am. By noon we had seen about every monument in the city. We stopped for an apple struddle at an outdoor international market vendor. We went to the most famous cafe in the city to try out what is known as the best coffee in the world for ourselves. The inside was very chic and pretty and rich feeling. We ordered a 'cafe melange', which sounded like the closest thing to a cappuccino. It was pretty good, but honestly, nothing and I mean nothing beats the cafe in Italy (oh how I miss it!). The coffee house experience in Vienna is famous and is known for being a popular place where great artists, scholars and writers spent their time in the 18th and 19th centuries. I couldn’t help but wonder if this is where the whole coffee house idea originated in the first place - if this is the reason Starbucks and such places are so popular today. I personally love this about Vienna. Where the cafe isn’t quite as good as Rome, it is nice to have the experience of sitting and relaxing and enjoying your time there, rather than standing at the bar and rushing out.


Vienna is very cool, it is similar to other big cities in Europe as far as monuments go, but is special for so many other reasons. For one, Mozart (as well as many other great composers) lived here during his most famous years. I even got to walk through what was once his house (for free because I went in the wrong way...totally an accident) where he entertained and wrote his most famous works, like the Marriage of Figaro.


For lunch we shared a huge soft pretzel with salt. It was delicious.
In the afternoon, we went to one of the many muesems in the city called Belvedere, where we saw my favorite artwork of all time, Gustav Klimt’s "The Kiss". I have had a print hanging in my room for as long as I can remember, and here it was, the original, right in front of me. It was so big and colorful and more beautiful than ever. The best part about the whole experience was that the muesum was virtually empty. We were able to stroll through at our own pace, and spend time looking at every painting, enjoying the serene atmosphere and being surrounded by beautiful art. I loved reading what each piece was about, learning about the story the artist wanted to tell. It was a very nice, relaxing way to spend our afternoon, especially after a morning full of walking and sightseeing.


In the evening, we wanted to see an opera, another of Vienna’s claims to fame, however weren’t really dressed for going into a glitzy opera house and were running late on time for buying tickets. We were rushing to the opera house to see what our options would be, and were pleasantly surprised to find an enormous, big screen tv outside showing the play, live, going on inside. We sat with a bunch of others on the ground watching the opera on the screen as if we had bought tickets and were in the theater. It was one of Mozart ‘s operas and was very pretty aside from the fact that it was all in German and we couldn’t understand a word. After resting our feet and listening to the opera we walked around some more and went to a pub, which turned into a techno night club. The atmosphere was very casual with lots of soccer fans, rowdy and excited over a win their team had earlier that night. We had a drink and decided to call it a night.

I really loved Vienna. It was a big city with a very big art and classical music presence. You can really feel that art and music are a huge part of the history and culture here and I appreciated learning and seeing all this. Even walking down the street we would hear street performers playing classical music on the violen or cello and people of all ages walked around carrying their beloved instruments in a case all over the place. I loved that Mozart was such a huge, important figure here and everywhere you looked something was dedicated to him. It reminded me of my brother Frankie and his love for classical music, and how I grew up seeing his many symphany or opera performances. I loved picturing the clothes they wore back in the late 19th century and the houses and how things were in those days. I loved the coffee shops and sophisticated yet casual atmosphere. We had a really nice time. Next, we are stopping in Salzburg, Austria - the birthplace of Mozart, before going to Munich.

Czech Republic

We woke up on our first morning feeling extra groggy. The exhaustion of traveling 4 countries in 4 days, late nights and walking about 40 miles a day had caught up to us and our bodies were feeling the effects - throbbing feet and heavy eyes. We could hardly believe one day we were in Holland and the next in the Czech Republic. That is one of the amazing things about Europe - so many completely different countries and cultures all so close together. The prospect of missing the free breakfast at our hotel got us out of bed quickly. We were the last people in the breakfast room along with the staff anxiously waiting for us to leave. That didn’t stop us from enjoying the buffet to replenish our strength for the day. After slowly getting ready, we headed out into the drizzly, cold, grey day. Prague is an incredibly beautiful city, despite the chilly weather. We yet again walked and walked and literally saw everything this city has to offer - starting with a farmer’s market in the middle of a busy side street in the center of town. The market had everything from fruits and veggies, to little wooden hand-carved toys which we had fun winding up or bouncing and playing with for a while. I loved the simplicity and authenticity of each little hand crafted toy. We continued on to a huge plaza which was unfortunately packed with tourists, and the worst kind at that...big, huge tour groups one after another packed in front of the grand mediaval structures. After working our way between the crowds to take in the lovely sites, we walked to the famous bridge that lead to a huge castle sitting high above the city, allowing for incredible views and scenery. The buildings are all very mediaval looking, and some a little gothic looking, which is different than anything we have seen in Europe yet. After sight-seeing for a while more, I was determined to have an authentic Czech dinner, although I wasn’t sure what that entailed yet. We went into a restaurant that we couldn’t pronounce the name to and figured that was a good place to start. It turns out goulash and these dumplings (also couldn’t pronounce the actual name) is a very popular Czech dish, so that is what I ordered and Sean ordered the fried cheese, another local favorite. You really can’t go wrong with fried cheese, but my dish was...interesting. Goulash is basically a soup which is more like gravy over really fatty meat, and the "dumplings" reminded me of just regular old white bread. Lets just say, I think I offended the waiter by not eating my whole plate. After dinner we walked around the city center again. We strolled along the neat, clean cobble stone roads with colorful, story-book homes and little shops selling a variety of adorable eastern europe marrionets or little Russian dolls. The city is a perfect combination of the old mixed in with the new. Although Prague is beautiful and interesting, and Czech is by far the most foreign language we have heard or seen yet, there are far too many tourists here to really get a feel for the culture. It’s a shame that spending 2 days in a place you can only begin to scratch the surface of what the people and history are all about. After a full day of walking and sightseeing with few breaks, we ended the night by relaxing on a bench dowtown watching the locals having weiners and beers on the streets shouting at one another, although we have no idea if they were really mad or really happy or just asking, "how are you?" to an old friend.


In an effort to get away from all the touristy business here in Prague, we decided to spend another day in the Czech Republic but go to a smaller city out in the countryside for a day trip. We went to a place called Cesky Krumlov. This place has been described as a "hidden gem", which Sean quoted to me several times. We were also under the impression it was an hour train ride out of Prague and we could easily go for the day and come back in the evening to spend another night. This was so not how it happened. First of all no one spoke English at the train station. So we blindly bought tickets with no idea of time tables to or from or how long the journey would be. We struggled to figure out which train to take, missing one in the process. Finally, we got onto a rickety old train that moved like molasses and stopped every mile or so. Then, because there was something wrong with the train track, we had to get out, take a bus for a few miles, then get back on another train, then at the final stop, we had to get out and get on another train! We had no idea what was going on this whole time either, a really nice (or bossy, I couldn’t tell) lady just shouted directions in Czech, and we just kind of followed her sign language. All together, it took us about 4 hours to get there, and after looking at a map, we realized we were half way to Vienna. If we had known we would have just packed our bags and gone all the way. We were so relieved when we finally arrived, that we started to relax and get excited to see this "gem". It really was a gem too, but really not hidden at all unfortunately. Upon arriving we ran into about 40 more big tour groups. We just laughed about it. In reality we are all just tourists looking for something interesting, or different, I just don’t think big huge groups should be allowed. It taints the cultural experience for everyone else. Cesky Krumlov had a very old, country feel - a tiny city tucked in the middle of all this beautiful lush greenery, with more cobble stone roads, an enchanting stream running down the middle with rough looking fishermen along the bank. There was a castle sitting high above it all, and a pretty church in the middle of a little plaza. It almost didn’t even look real. In fact, some of it wasn’t real, as a lot of the buildings had the tiles or bricks painted on. Sometimes I couldn’t tell if the windows were illusions too. We could literally walk the whole city in a half hour, but we took our time enjoying the views and sites and the small-town feel. We had a nice dinner, where I tried some more Czech food, but this time I played it safe with a vegetable salad and potato pancakes. It was really good too! Sean got a pizza, which was not surprising. The 4 hour train ride back wasn’t as bad since we knew what to expect (except the 40 minute delay at one station). We were exhausted from spending most of the day traveling and are now ready to head to our next destination! There may have been a change in plans...

Amsterdam

Stepping off the train in Amsterdam was like stepping into a whole different world. The station itself was big and grand like a beautiful monument. A little canal with other adorable Dutch buildings surrounded it, and the thick of the chaos instantly surrounded us. Amsterdam makes Las Vegas look like Disneyland. The streets, our hostel and basically any other public place we entered smelled similar to the dorms in Humboldt. The smell of marijuana and sin filled the air. We dropped our things off in our overpriced hostel situated down a shadey allyway just a few feet from the insanity of a main street. We walked down streets filled with pubs and "coffee shops", which don’t really sell coffee, and tons of sex shops. I kind of felt like I stumbled upon one big bachelor party - boys of all ages walked in packs, with tired red eyes, all looking like they were up to no good. In addition to all the legal drugs readily available, illegal drug dealers selling hard core drugs approached us anytime we stopped, which was a little disturbing. We just ignored that part and kept walking. We walked through the red light district which was everything it had been described to me as before. A pretty canal ran right down the middle leaving just sidewalks for the people to walk on and gawk and tease the women selling themselves in the windows like manequins. The whole street literally glows red. Surprisingly in Amsterdam, everyone spoke English, which was strange being back in an English-speaking country again. One thing I loved was that there are these little munchie shops (that’s what I named them), obviously catering to people who just came out of the coffee shops. They had every immaginable snack available - waffles, brownies, cakes, cookies, donuts and treats all homemade, french fries, pizza, sandwiches...you name it, they had it. It was pretty funny to see all the stoners shamelessly going in and out of these places for munchies. And they were literally everywhere. I ended our first night with a Stella as big as my head and a brownie (without any herbal enhancment, just lots of chocolate) from one of the munchie shops. By 3am, I was ready to end the craziness and we decided to call it a night, although I think that was early on Amsterdam standards.

The next morning we woke up to a shower with no hot water that continued to have no hot water during our entire 2 day stay. My initial impression of this hostel was turning out to be right, pretty dodgy. In fact I am not sure it was even a real hostel, as it had no name on the outside and we had to meet some guy on a corner to take us there. At least we didn’t see any cockroaches this time. We went to the Van Gogh muesum which was awesome. Many of the colorful paintings I have always seen copied in books were now in front of me, so close I could see every brush stroke that Van Gogh himself painted. The rest of the day we spent walking around taking in the colorful gingerbread-like homes along the many canals, the millions of cute little shops and restaurants, pretty sites and mellow atmosphere. We were really in awe by everything about Amsterdam. The liberal spirit here was truly unique and something you really have to experience to believe that it even exists. We kept finding ourselves saying "Does this really exist?!" It's almost like it's not real. We had a full day and another fun late night out. We hardly noticed the shady hostel room by the time we got back, we crashed out the second we walked through the door.

We woke up early to go for another walk around the city and take some photos. It was nice to be up in the cold morning, although not surprisingly it was still very happening out. Not sure if anyone went to bed, or if they all got up early like us. I have to say, I really liked Amsterdam and we had a lot of fun, but I couldn't imagine staying for more than 2 nights either. It's a beautiful city that is also a big adult playground full of temptation and naughty things. We got our stuff together and headed out for a very long day of travel - bus, flight, bus, metro, tram, walk and finally we arrived to our hotel in Prague.

First impressions of Prague have been very good. The metro took us right to the center of it all, which is beautiful - almost reminding us of Rome, much cleaner though, with chic shops along the cobble stone streets and a huge monument sat right in front of us. Every time we look lost (which has been a lot already) somone walks up to us and says "can I help?" I am amazed by how nice everyone is, it’s very refreshing and helpful. The currency here is different! We aren’t using euros anymore, which is so bizarre. I had to ask someone for help because I had 1500 koruna and had no idea what that meant. Turns out it’s about $88....not as rich as I thought I was. We relaxed for a bit, had a nice Italian pizza dinner in a restaurant full of Italians. And I am now about to take advantage of my first shower with hot water in the last few days.

Belgium

After spending 9 wonderful hours in Paris, we caught a 10pm train to Brussels. The train was only about an hour long journey. We always tend to feel ambtious upon arriving to a new city - the whole ride there we anticipated hitting the town raging - going to pubs and eating waffles (this was our idea of Brussles before arriving) to our heart’s content all night long. However, when we actually got to our hotel, after wandering around the dodgy area near the station (never judge a city by the area surrrounding the station - it is always scary and gross), the exhaustion hit us like the train we rode in on. I showered, which was my first mistake as it had the opposite affect of waking me up, and before the lights were out, I was out like a light.
The next morning we awoke feeling slightly more rejuvinated, had a nice breakfast at our hotel and set out to explore Brussels. And literally, wow! I haden’t heard much of Brussles before - but I loved it. It’s a small city but so lovely and charming. Millions of Belgium chocoloate shops, pubs and restaurants with mussles and french fries as the main dish, lined the narrow, cobble stone streets, and the main plaza, gran plaz, sat in the middle of the tiny city, big and pretty with bright gold trim around all the magnificant structures. Next to it, a busy farmers market was held in another plaza. We saw the Manekin Pis - a small statue of a boy peeing. I was more interested in the chocolate shops around it which served little chocolate samples. Sean and I continued to walk into different shops in hopes of getting a little taste of the rich chocolate, usually we were successful too. The waffles in Belgium are significantly the best in the world. We ordered one with strawberries and whipped cream while walking around and then another one came complimentary with our lunch, this time with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Seriously though, I am not sure what they put in these things but the sweetness, the soft, warm, buttery taste fills your mouth with pleaure and delight from the first bite to the last... it really was an experience. We treated ourselves with lunch at a nice restaurant in one of the livelier parts of town, Sean had the mussles and frites (french fries) which is another of the many things Brussles is famous for. I admired him for ordering this sort of thing, as seafood (particularly mussles) has never appealed to me. Instead, I ordered something more ordinary, like chicken flavored to perfection and topped it off with a beer framboise (rhaspberry), which was delicious with its sweet, fruity beer taste. After lunch we decided it was time to go to Amsterdam. We slowly strolled back to our hotel to pick up our things and then a short walk to the train station, which was actually a huge effort as my backpack weighs me down enormously (it’s only 30 lbs, confirmed at the airport in Amsterdam, but it still hurts!). At one point I put it on Sean’s skateboard and dragged it to the station, which seemed to slow us down more, but I was in a lot less pain.We hopped on the next train out there and 3 hours later (we took the slow train) we arrived at dusk.