Hope you all are sitting, because this is going to be another action-packed blog post...
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The last I left you on this pleasant journey was in Rome, last Saturday night. I had just spent the day looking at the old Roman sights, of which you can read in the previous blog entry.
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Sunday was fun. I got up early to take the metro and a bus to what I thought was the english ward in Rome. Turns out, there is no english ward, so I sat through another sacrament meeting in a foreign language. But it's not like I pay attention anyway. The ward was small, hardly enough to call it a ward, and the majority of the people there were Amis on vacation. The missies handed out headsets and translated for us. We should have just done it in English and translated into Italian, then there would have been enough headsets.
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I then left for the Vatican. Their church is a lot prettier. Upon arriving at St. Peter's I jumped into a long line, which I thought was the line going to the pope's apartment, where he is scheduled to speak (every sunday at noon, except summer, and when he is on vacation, and when he happens to be in S. America, as was the case on this Sunday). I guess I was mistaken, because this line ended up taking me into St. Peter's Basillica itself, but it is not like I could have been able to tell anyways, Europeans are the worst at organizing themsleves into lines. You'd think that the idea of standing in line is standing one behind the other... but no, not to these Euros... Bunching-up is the name of the game, which is a lot funner on hot, sunny, sweaty days.
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The basillica was beautiful. Belissimo. I think that means beautiful in Italian. I took as many pictures as I could. It helps to have a shutter-speed adjustment and a good tripod. I get a kick at the people using a flash inside a cathedral, who use it over and over, expecting it to suddenly start working. If you've ever taken a photo in a cathedral, especially a gothic cathedral, you know what I'm talking about.
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I can already tell that this is going to be a long blog, just by how I am pointing out every single detail and thought of the Vatican...
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Anyway, I saw the Pieta, very nice. Jenny told me how Michelangelo sculpted her to look really young, which I saw. I wonder why he did that. I went out of the basillica, felt bad for the poor swiss guards who, 1, have to wear those silly uniforms, and 2, are constantly under attack by tourists and their cameras. I started to take pictures too, not of the guards, but of the tourists. I can't really explain why I thought this was so funny, but some tourists don't even try to avoid the tourist stereotypes, such as hawaiian shirts, matching-clothed tour groups, and fanny packs. I took some really funny pics.
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I next walked over into central Rome. Saw the Pantheon. Spectacular. The dome is as wide as it is high, and the interior is the best preserved Roman interior in existance. This is due to the Christians who converted it into a cathedral and thus protected the interior, but nevertheless it looks a lot and feels like it would have during the height of Rome. The dome itself is interesting. It is actually two domes, with one inside the other, supporting eachother. I again took some nice pictures. I would upload them, but I haven't been able to find a computer that'll let me upload them onto.
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Later that night after returning to the hostel, I headed back into the city to see the sights at night time. Rick Steves suggests this, but I thought it was more a long walk. I think Rick is overrated. I'm not going to buy his books anymore.
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Slept, woke up early, took the metro back to the vatican. I arrived at the vatican museum 45 minutes early so that I would be first in line to enter, but I wasn't the only one thinking of this, and I ended up having to wait an hour and a half. But I finally made it. The vatican museum was fun, and the rooms leading throughout are fascinating, but I skipped much of the exhibits and pieces of art work, as there didn't seem to be anything notable or worthwhile. I hope I don't get home and find out that I was wrong! I mainly went to the museum to see two things: Raphael's "School of Athens" and the Sistine Chapel. The Chapel was great, although it seemed a lot smaller than I expected it. All of the art work inside is great, but the roof was spectacular. Michelanelo painted it so well that it look as if the figures were actually leaning out of the roof, giving it a depth and real-life quality to it.
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Here's a tip if you are ever in Rome. If you are going to see St. Peter's Basillica and the Vatican Museum, which you should, go to the Vatican Museum first, as when you finish at the Museum, it sends you right into the Basillica. That way you don't have to wait in that bunched-up line. Just a little FYI.
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Later that night I was going to take the night train to Austria. I thought I would just spend the rest of the day in Rome, but, I have this really needy sister... She wanted a watercolor of the Ponte Vecchio, from Florence. So, I actually had to take a train to Florence that day, and buy her a watercolor. That's right... buy. As if she couldn't paint it herself! ha ha...
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But, I have a Eurorail pass and that makes it especially easy to do things like this, and I really didn't have much left to do in Rome, at least nothing that really interested me, so I was more than happy to head to Florence. I sent Robyn a quick message saying that I was coming, and she fortunately met me at the train station to help me pick out the perfect watercolor. We walked down to the Arno and looked at our options, and she was able to pick out the bad ones until we found the perfect watercolor. I like it at least. Jenny, you'll see it when we are both back in Alpine.
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I took the train back to Rome, because they wouldn't let me board the night train any where else but Rome, even though the train passed through Florence. I thought that was strange. I talked with some Austrians in our cabin for about two hours, despite being as tired as I was, and at about 11 pm we went to sleep.
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I was awoken by the schaffner at the Italian-Austrian border becuase my stop was coming up. Fortunately I didn't have any troubles crossing the border this time. I changed trains in Villach at 4 am. My next train took me north, but I fell asleep and missed my stop and had to wait in some podunk little town for another train to take me to my destination- Bad Gastein. I finally got there, and although I should have stayed in town and taken care of a few things, such as laundry, I was anxious to get to the mountains and do some hiking. After checking in, I took the next train to Bishofshofen. It started to rain. I ate some Pizza. it kept raining. I took the train to Zell am See. Took the train to Mittersill. It was starting to rain even harder. I took the Bus to Krimml. It was only a short hike to the waterfall, but as I started, it started to pour. I reached the falls with the front of my whole body wet, but the back of my legs were sheltered by my backpack. These walls were so big, that as I turned around to leave, the rest of my body got soaked due to the the mist coming from the falls. Very cool, but very cold. I got on the bus just completely soaked. The end of the day resulted in me getting back to my hostel at 8 pm. I was tired, cold and wet. On that day alone, I traveled on 11 different trains or buses.
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On Wednesday, yesterday, I traveled on another 6. I got up early to head into Salzburg. I desperately needed some hiking and normal political maps to get my bearings, and I was about to finish "The Agony and the Ecstasy", so I needed to stock up on some new books. It was raining anyways and so my hopes of getting in any hiking seeemed shot again. So this seemed like the perfect activity for the day. As luck would have it, as soon as I got to Salzburg, everthing cleared up and it was bright and sunny. Pech gehabt!
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Salzburg was fun. The city is nesled in between a number of mountains with the river running through, and I had the same thoughts being there as I did the last time I was there (over three years ago)- I thought it was paradise. Salzburg is fantastic, for those of you who are considering going.
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The city itself is nice, it has some pretty decent cathedrals. But it is a small town trying to milk as much as it can out of it's Mozart heritage. I don't think that is justified. He was born there, but he didn't compose anything special while there. I think they should give Vienna that credit. But I guess they milk that too for the toursits so I guess it is all good. Poor Beethoven and Haydn. They did a lot in Vienna too and no one cares about them! Oh the humanity!
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I bought my maps, and a Hemingway and a Forester. I'm reading the Hemingway first- "The Sun also Rises".
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After Salzburg, I had to fulfil wish of my younger self. Once mom bought me a puzzle of this lake with a church on the shore with a big mountain behind it. I found out years later that it is in Halstatt Austria, not far from Salzburg. I promised myself that I would one day go there. So I did.
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I ended up a few hours later in Selztal, Styria (still Austria) and I did one of the dumbest things I have ever done. I missed a train, but it was ugly. I was standing on the correct train platform at the correct time and was staring at the correct train that I was to board. But for some reason I just stood there and thought to myself. "I wish this train would leave and get out of the way, my train is supposed to be here any minute". I don't even need to tell you what happened. It's is a small town, and trains don't come frequently, so I ended up sitting there for two hours kicking myself and waiting for the next train.
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There is more to this, I have to report on the rest of the day and what happened today, but I'm out of euros, and I have to go. I'll continue this later!
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Servus!
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