Ah....Venice......and other places in Italy

My sister Jennifer and her husband Greg came to visit me in Germany. Boy did we have a great time!!!

The day they got here we went for a walk and I took them to my favorite store Kaufland. :-) Afterwards, we went to eat at my favorite restaurant "Neckermuller" where all of my friends were to meet us later that night. It was sometime that day that things started getting a little crazy for Jennifer.

The next morning we started packing for our trip to Italy and Jennifer noticed that her passport was gone from her bag. We looked everywhere. Later that afternoon we walked to Javier and Rut's house, my friends from Spain. And no......her name is suppose to be spelled like that. Ruth in Spanish is "Rut". We explained the situation and Javier helped us look for the passport, but no luck. We tried to calm Jennifer down and make her not worry so much. For the rest of the day we enjoyed a large Spanish style dinner at my friends house with typical Spanish dishes. It was SO good.

The next morning, Javier and Rut picked us up early and drove us all the way to Dachau, near Munich, to the Concentration Camp there. D

achau was the first camp opened before the war began and was the only one opened through the entire war. It was a VERY large camp. I found it difficult at times to walk around there knowing what had happened to so many people. The gate entrance says in German "Work Makes You Free" but that was just to mislead the prisoners. So many people died in this camp, it was an strange feeling walking in their footsteps.

We walked through the building where they were processed and their heads shaved. We walked through the courtyard where they stood for hours sometimes as punishment. We walked through the small rooms they lived and slept in. Lastly we walked to the ovens that the human bodies were burned in. That was the most disturbing thing to see. Ashes were still inside some of these ovens, after so long. There are three memorials on the grounds of the camp, Jewish, Catholic, and Evangelistic. There is also a giant bell that rings at the exact time they were liberated by the US Army. What a moving experience.

The next day Jennifer, Greg, and I walked through the old city in Tubingen to the lost and found office. After asking the lady a few question in German, and her asking me a few questions in German, she ran upstairs and came back with the passport Jennifer had lost. Some kind soul had turned it in. It was filthy as if it had been in the dirt so we assumed we dropped it walking somewhere.

After that it was off the train station to head through the beautiful Swiss Alps into Italy. What a wonderful ride! The train was very comfortable and the views were amazing. We all wanted to sleep but we were afraid we would miss a great picture. Jennifer was up and down from here seat taking pictures at every nice view we had. The Alps really are majestic. I think they have been called "The Fingerprint of God" because they are so beautiful and amazing.

Later that day we arrived in Milan, Italy. After a good nights rest, we headed out to the Milano

 Duomo, the Milan Cathedral. Its one of the largest in the world and probably one of the most decorated buildings I have ever seen. It was amazing. We read that it took nearly 500 years to complete. After touring the entire cathedral, and walking on the roof, you can totally understand why it took so long. We were all quite speechless about the place. Leaving the cathedral, we headed down towards the Milan castle. On our way we stopped and had a wonderful Italian lunch with one of the best desserts I have ever had. It was coffee, ice cream, and some kind of whipped cream. It was VERY good. I think Jennifer knows the name of it.

At the Milan Castle we were able to get in free because we got there just before they were starting to close. So we hurried through and looked at all of the art work and weapons they had on display. Some featured art was one painting done by Da Vinci and one of the last pieces that Michaelangelo did. It was a huge castle with a lot to see. Afterwards we headed back to our hotel to get our bags and board our train for Venice.

Ah.....Venice. You always see it in movies, and hear people talk about it. But to actually be there, its something else. It is like something out of a fantasy book. No cars anywhere, only boats. The architecture here is a mix of Italian, Turkish, and French........and its beautiful. There is a interesting church on every corner and waterways where there should be alleyways.
We walked around a bit and then toured the Doge's Palace. And what a Palace it was. We were impressed with every room we walked in. The rooms got bigger and more decorative as we neared the end of our visit. That night we boarded a train for Vicenza, where Greg was born.

Vicenza is NW of Venice. It was a short train ride. We walked around the next day looking around the city. We couldn't find a lot to see, but it was still very interesting walking around. The city was a bit smaller than it seemed on the map. Jennifer also started feeling bad so we wanted to look for a place to eat. The problem is that, in Italy, they also have a siesta like Spain. They eat early and then rest from 12:00pm to 2:00pm. This was about the time we started looking for lunch. There was no one open, and no one on the streets. But as soon as 2pm rolled around, the streets were packed and stores began to open again. It was amazing to me how everyone went on this schedule.....even businesses. After sitting down for a nice pizza lunch, Greg ordered some Tiramisu to-go. Vicenza is where tiramisu is suppose to have been created. We headed back to the hostel we stayed at (which wasn't a pleasant stay), got our bags, and headed to the train station to go to Conegliano......where Greg lived when he was very young.

Now.....I'm not a law breaker.....by no means. But when we got to Conegliano, I nearly got into a lot of trouble. After we arrived, we decided to walk to our hotel. It ended up being a longer walk than we thought it would be. Our backpacks were getting heavier and Jennifer wasn't feeling well either. After we turned a corner, I saw a hotel sign down 

the road and figured that was the right place. So we crossed the road so we could stay on the sidewalk. After a few minutes, the sidewalk ended and we found ourself boxed in a car lot with a fence between us and where we needed to go. Greg suggested we turn back and go around....which is what I SHOULD have done. But me being the stubborn type....I said "I'm climbing over the fence". So I threw my pack over the fence and grabbed a flagpole that was on the other side to help me climb over. When I got over, the wire that was holding the pole up snapped and I started to fall right into a new car. I stopped the pole just before it slammed into the car. Jennifer and Greg stood there kind of shocked, and then we all let out a laugh. I looked around to see if anyone saw and then quickly laid the pole down on the ground.....ripping the flag that was on it as well. Jennifer just laughed at me as they walked away. :-P

After we finally got to our hotel we were all very tired and just wanted to rest a bit. Greg and I talked to the guy at the front desk for a bit named Deniz. He was very nice and helped Greg print out maps and things for our walk the next day. As we were just hanging out in our room, Greg and I heard a strange sound outside. After a few second we heard a very very loud explosion. We both looked at each other and Jennifer woke up and sat up. We thought we had been bombed or something. It was such a powerful explosion that things were rattling in the room and you could feel the shock wave in your chest. We found out later that it was an illegal firework that someone set off in the parking lot. Whew!

The next morning we walked around the city a bit and up to the castle. Unfortunately it was closed when we got there, but the walk was very nice. When we got to the top, we ate at a nice restaurant overlooking the vineyards. We weren't really sure if we were eating things in the right order, or using the right bowls and plates for different things because the owner kind of made some jokes about it. Later that night we headed back to Venice for just a few more days.

We stayed in the same room we stayed at the first time we came to Venice a few days before. It is very close to the train station and very convenient to walk to. We had such a great time here. We got to tour the Basilica of St Mark (San Marcos) where Mark from the Bible is said to be buried. The entire inside of the place is decorated with gold and multi colored mosaics. It was very impressive. There is so much to see that we just had to buy a book about it so we could read it later. While I was in Venice I also got to see a church that was used in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Its near the beginning of the movie. I was REALLY excited to see it in person. :-)

Our last night we got to attend a classical concert of Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart.....and one other guy that I can't remember the name of. It was in the church that Vivaldi himself was a choir director in. It was fantastic. It was Greg's first classical concert. What a great place to have a first classical concert!! The acoustics were great inside the church. We heard "The Four Seasons" and then Bach's 2 Violin Concerto which is beautiful.

Our train back to Tubingen Germany left Venice at 6:20 am. It was a rough morning. We woke up at 4:45. After riding through some beautiful mountains called the Dolomites and then the Austrian Alps, we arrived in Munich and caught our next train towards Tubingen.

That night we ate dinner with Javier and Rut one more time when we decided to try to call Delta and see about extending Jenn and Greg's stay a bit longer. Through a few loopholes, we were able to extend their stay by two days. They hadn't seen much of Tubingen yet so it was good that they were able to stay a bit longer. We went to the castle in Tubingen and the old market square. Their last day we went to the Botanical Gardens and spent a bit more time with Javier and Rut. They are super nice people that are so pleasant to be around.

The next morning Javier picked us all up very early to take us to the airport. It was tough saying goodbye to them because I won't see them for a while, and they are just about to start their adventure on the Appalachian Trail in less than a week. They are going to be walking for several months from Maine to Georgia, over 2100 miles. I wish them well and hope their trip is awesome!