Tuesday, October 26, 2004
beautiful prague
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 13:18:45 -0700 (PDT)
We are in prague now, we have been for three days. The first day we did two
self guided walking tours. we saw the old town and the new town, including
the astrological clock/glockenspiel and its show that goes every hour, we
also saw several churches, the powder tower - which used to be part of the
town wall, and the municipal building, and the old opera house there don
giovanni premeired. then we went across the charles bridge and saw all the
statues on it, and the church with the wax figure of christ, which is
supposedly an important catholic relic - we both thought it was
unimpressive. The next day we did a guided tour of the old jewish ghetto,
unfortunately there isnt really anything left becuase it was destroyed for
sanitation reasons years ago. but there are still a few synagogues standing,
including the one that is the oldest in europe. apparently prague was spared
a lot of the ravages of war becuase hitler wanted it to be the second seat
of nazi power (after berlin) and so it
should stay the way it is, also he saved many jewish religious relics for
his "musuem of an extinct race" that he planned. That is disturbing but
lucky for us, becuase there is so much left here that we can see. Tommorrow
we are going to go in the old synagogues and see the relics that were saved.
today we pretty much just walked around the market areas and shopped a
little. a big thing to do in prague is to just hang out, try to get lost and
see the "undiscovered" parts of the city, becuase it is all beautiful!!! the
best part of this city, is the city itself! the buildings are wonderful and
the streets are winding and quaint.
Today we had dinner in a restaurant that is housed in a building that used
to be a kinghts of malta charity. we sat in the basement, that was so old
and quaint, with the sloping walls, that we had to take a picture.
Meg and Seth
We are in prague now, we have been for three days. The first day we did two
self guided walking tours. we saw the old town and the new town, including
the astrological clock/glockenspiel and its show that goes every hour, we
also saw several churches, the powder tower - which used to be part of the
town wall, and the municipal building, and the old opera house there don
giovanni premeired. then we went across the charles bridge and saw all the
statues on it, and the church with the wax figure of christ, which is
supposedly an important catholic relic - we both thought it was
unimpressive. The next day we did a guided tour of the old jewish ghetto,
unfortunately there isnt really anything left becuase it was destroyed for
sanitation reasons years ago. but there are still a few synagogues standing,
including the one that is the oldest in europe. apparently prague was spared
a lot of the ravages of war becuase hitler wanted it to be the second seat
of nazi power (after berlin) and so it
should stay the way it is, also he saved many jewish religious relics for
his "musuem of an extinct race" that he planned. That is disturbing but
lucky for us, becuase there is so much left here that we can see. Tommorrow
we are going to go in the old synagogues and see the relics that were saved.
today we pretty much just walked around the market areas and shopped a
little. a big thing to do in prague is to just hang out, try to get lost and
see the "undiscovered" parts of the city, becuase it is all beautiful!!! the
best part of this city, is the city itself! the buildings are wonderful and
the streets are winding and quaint.
Today we had dinner in a restaurant that is housed in a building that used
to be a kinghts of malta charity. we sat in the basement, that was so old
and quaint, with the sloping walls, that we had to take a picture.
Meg and Seth
Saturday, October 23, 2004
another great day in berlin
Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 12:00:24 -0700 (PDT)
On our last day in Berlin, we saw the new synagogue and the Jewish musuem,
then ran a few errands. The new synagogue was pretty cool. they restored the
front part of it, but the back part was too badly damaged to repair,
therefore there is just this huge open lot behind the musuem that hints at
teh former granduer of the building. it is no longer used as a synagogue,
partly becuase it was so destoryed in the war, but also because the Jewish
population of Berlin isnt large enough any more to need a synagogue of that
size (although it is growing). The museum inside showcased the architectual
elements and religious artifacts that were found during restoration. Mostly
these items were found INSIDE the concrete floor that was installed by the
nazis to provide some protection to items they were storing in the basement.
The theory is that these items were thrown into the concrete to strenghten
it. Also the history of the Jews in the area was documented, including the
opening of first a
Jewish school for boys, then one for girls, the opening of an orphanage,
and the opening and later expansion of a hospital, all paid for by the
Jewish community. Unfortunately all of these were closed and for the most
part destroyed. the building of the girls school and hospital still stand
but are not in use and are in major need of repair.
We rushed over to the Jewish musuem becuase it was Friday and we expected
that it may close early. (luckily it didnt becuase we spent a lot of time
there.) We got there around noon thinking it would close at 2, and stayed
until about 2:30. The musuem is housed in a huge building designed by some
famous architect, who used the design of the building to convey a
message.There was not a single 90 degree angle in the place. The sloping
floors ceilings and walls were meant to elicit confusion and so make the
observer more identify with the exhbit.
On the ground floor the layout was divided by three axis. The axis of
continuity - which led to the main exhibit focused on the history of the
Jews of Germany from the middle ages to the present - the axis of exile,
which related stories of those who fled the Nazi powers and resettled
overseas, and the axis of the holocaust, which told the story of people
murdered in the holocaust. The axis of the holocaust led to the what they
called the tower of the holocaust which was basically a big asymetrical
tower made of plain, cold concrete, and completely cut off from the world
outside. When the door was closed behind you, the isolation was complete.
The axis of exile ended at the garden of exile which was made of 49 concrete
towers with trees planted in the top, built on a sloping floor and with the
towers rising at an odd angle from the ground, the garden was meant to
elicit a feeling of confusion and disorientation, like those Jews in exile
in a foreign land would feel.
The main exhibit had surprisingly little to say about the holocaust, rather
it focused on the lives of past and present Jews. Starting around the middle
ages the exhibit detailed persecutions throughout time as well as daily
lives of Jews through the ages, and also told about famous Jews, both rabbis
as well as artists and scientists throughout time.
This morning we left for Prague, and after 4 changes to different metro
lines, a 5 hour train ride and a 30 min tram ride, we arrived at our hostel
exhausted. So we really havent seen much of Prague yet except what we could
see out the window of the train and tram, which included the trees in
gorgeous fall colors along the river bank, and some really cute old
buildings.
Meg and Seth
On our last day in Berlin, we saw the new synagogue and the Jewish musuem,
then ran a few errands. The new synagogue was pretty cool. they restored the
front part of it, but the back part was too badly damaged to repair,
therefore there is just this huge open lot behind the musuem that hints at
teh former granduer of the building. it is no longer used as a synagogue,
partly becuase it was so destoryed in the war, but also because the Jewish
population of Berlin isnt large enough any more to need a synagogue of that
size (although it is growing). The museum inside showcased the architectual
elements and religious artifacts that were found during restoration. Mostly
these items were found INSIDE the concrete floor that was installed by the
nazis to provide some protection to items they were storing in the basement.
The theory is that these items were thrown into the concrete to strenghten
it. Also the history of the Jews in the area was documented, including the
opening of first a
Jewish school for boys, then one for girls, the opening of an orphanage,
and the opening and later expansion of a hospital, all paid for by the
Jewish community. Unfortunately all of these were closed and for the most
part destroyed. the building of the girls school and hospital still stand
but are not in use and are in major need of repair.
We rushed over to the Jewish musuem becuase it was Friday and we expected
that it may close early. (luckily it didnt becuase we spent a lot of time
there.) We got there around noon thinking it would close at 2, and stayed
until about 2:30. The musuem is housed in a huge building designed by some
famous architect, who used the design of the building to convey a
message.There was not a single 90 degree angle in the place. The sloping
floors ceilings and walls were meant to elicit confusion and so make the
observer more identify with the exhbit.
On the ground floor the layout was divided by three axis. The axis of
continuity - which led to the main exhibit focused on the history of the
Jews of Germany from the middle ages to the present - the axis of exile,
which related stories of those who fled the Nazi powers and resettled
overseas, and the axis of the holocaust, which told the story of people
murdered in the holocaust. The axis of the holocaust led to the what they
called the tower of the holocaust which was basically a big asymetrical
tower made of plain, cold concrete, and completely cut off from the world
outside. When the door was closed behind you, the isolation was complete.
The axis of exile ended at the garden of exile which was made of 49 concrete
towers with trees planted in the top, built on a sloping floor and with the
towers rising at an odd angle from the ground, the garden was meant to
elicit a feeling of confusion and disorientation, like those Jews in exile
in a foreign land would feel.
The main exhibit had surprisingly little to say about the holocaust, rather
it focused on the lives of past and present Jews. Starting around the middle
ages the exhibit detailed persecutions throughout time as well as daily
lives of Jews through the ages, and also told about famous Jews, both rabbis
as well as artists and scientists throughout time.
This morning we left for Prague, and after 4 changes to different metro
lines, a 5 hour train ride and a 30 min tram ride, we arrived at our hostel
exhausted. So we really havent seen much of Prague yet except what we could
see out the window of the train and tram, which included the trees in
gorgeous fall colors along the river bank, and some really cute old
buildings.
Meg and Seth
Friday, October 22, 2004
amazing berlin
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:07:02 -0700 (PDT)
We have been in Berlin for two days and only have one more. This is the most
amazing city. I don't think I would want to live here because it isnt the
most cheery city. But it is so filled with history it is just absolutely
amazing. From Fredrich the great to hitler and the nazis, to the cold war,
and finally the new growth of the city. That is why I thought I should write
now, then again when we leave becuase I have so much to say.
On the first day we took an all day walking tour. The tour left the hostel
at 10am and we didnt finish until 7pm!! But it was amazing! Our guide was an
american who is working towards his masters in German history here at
Humboldt U. He has been living here for several years and knows everything.
I highly recommend this tour - brewers' best (becuase the founders last name
was brewer, not becuase you see breweries). and it was only 10euro. He took
us to everything, from the reichstag - where he told us the history of the
building, about the fire that helped bring the nazis to power, to the battle
between the soviets and the nazis that kille 5000 people in that one
building to the brandenburg gate, and the war memorial to the soviets that
died liberating the city, there we heard about how that memorial was the
only place that soviet soldiers went in West Berlin during the cold war, and
how the West Berlin police had to protect them. Of course we saw parts of
the old wall, and heard
about all the fortifications that were put up, and we went past checkpoint
charlie. But it was the smaller, less well known sites that were really
interesting. When he took us past the new synagogue (not exactly new, it was
built in 1890-something then destroyed by allied bombs during the war when
they were trying to hit the building down the street) there he told us about
the police officer that pretty much single handedly saved the building from
mobs rioting against Jews not long after the nazis took power. He made a
speech to them about how it was part of the city and so it was their history
too, then he put out a fire that one of them started. We also went past the
remains of the gestapo headquarters, and the old airforce building, that
despite being the largest office building like anywhere at teh time, was
completely missed by allied bombs during the war, now it is the ministry of
finance. And we sat on the ground above hitler's air raid shelter and heard
about the last days
of his life and the few days after. Incidentally, the air raid shelter is
still there, but the city wants everyone to forget about it, so it is not
marked or anything, but all the tours and history books know where it is. We
also heard about a lot of buildings that were there before the war, like
hitler's new chancellor's building that he built for himself and spanned
three city blocks, and was completely covered in marble inside, with 20 foot
ceilings. (after the war it had sustained heavy bomb damage, and being in
eastern berlin, didnt get any attention in the way of repairs - not that
anyone wanted to repair it - so people looking for building supplies carted
away most of it. you can see pieces of the marble all over town, including
in the subway station below where it was located. Oh and some of the really
small pieces of information were really interesting, like the fact that
there are somthing like 42000 trees lining the streets of berlin, and they
know that becuase each one
has been systematically counted and catologed and numbered - in fact the
guide pointed out one tree that had two numbers on it, one from before the
fall of the wall, and the other in a new numbering scheme developed after
the fall. Mostly, I thought the tour guide gave us a good idea of what it
would have been like to be a berliner during those turbulent times. We can
see the accounts of atrocities and the big events all over town, but the
nitty gritty of everyday life for the average berliner is harder to find.
The next day we went to the checkpoint charlie musuem early to try to avoid
the crowds. It was a really interesting musuem focused mainly on history of
the wall itself and the escape attempts, and successes. We were alone when
we got there and I was totally engrossed in what I was reading that I didnt
notice the 50 people come into the little room I was in, when I turned
around I almost had a panic attack, the tour buses had started to arrive and
there was no where to move! Nevertheless the musuem was still interesting.
After that we went to the topography of terror exhibit in the former
basement of the ss headwqarters. the building is completely gone and all
that remains are the foundations, but there is a free outdoor exhibit that
details the rise of the ss to power and tells the stories of numerous people
imprisoned and murdered there over the years. Mostly the exhibit focused on
the people that were target becuase of their opposition to hitler, those
were the people that were
mainly imprisoned and 'interrogated' in that building. However the
building also served as a place to plan the systematic extermination of the
Jews. The calculating manner with which this was done is just unbelievable.
Not to mention the fact that it was allowed to happen by the population that
for the most part didnt agree with hitler on that idea, but were too afraid
to do anything. There was a letter included in the exhibit that was sent to
all of the german police on one night informing them that there were going
to be riots against jews and their places of business and synagogues, and
that the police were not to interfere. This struck me as interesting becuase
it implies that the police force would have interfered, they would have done
something but becuase the ss sent out this letter, and the police were - for
the most part too afraid to do anything - they follwed the orders adn looked
the other way. (except for that one who saved the new synagogue.)
After the topography of terror we had lunch, then went to teh egyptian
musuem to see the bust of nefrititi. Thursday was free musuem day so we
tried to hit the free state musuems that day. After the egyptian musuem we
ran a few errands then went to KaDeWe (short hand for the german for -
department store of the west) for dinner. Seth thought I was insane that I
had this department store on my sightseeing itinerary, but even he was
impressed. The place is huge! 7 floors and everything you can imagine! On
floor 6 is the gourmet grocery store/food market where we had dinner. It was
like a whole foods on steroids. Counter after counter of food, both takeaway
and eat in. they each had little counter where you could have dinner,
complete with wine and thier own brand of beer. There were two counters with
like 100 kinds of cheese each, and a whole bakery including pasteries and
breads and cakes. There was an entire fish market including every kind of
thing that swims, and some that were
STILL swimming! And a raw meat market area the size of which I could only
compare to sams club, except that the large size of the display case didnt
hold large portions but rather a large selection. Then there was chocolate -
swiss, belgian, german oh my! 100 different teas in loose leaf jars, a pate
bar, a raw oyster bar, a cooked seafood bar, a champagne bar, a beer bar, a
wine bar and a huge selection of bottles of each. And this was all on one
floor!! The place we chose to eat was the antipasta bar - they sold sundried
tomatoes, olives, feta cheese etc to take away and made pasta to eat there,
with the ingredients that they sold.
After dinner we headed over to teh pergammon musuem. Which was again
amazing, and free. One room was more amazing than the last! The first room
held the amazing pergammon altar which filled this huge room and included a
partial recreation of the facade of the building, along with the original
designs from the sides of the immense building. I think we spent at least a
half hour in that one room. then there was room after room of greek and
roman art and architecture. On the other side of the altar were the exhbits
from ancient middle east area. first there was the entire facade from this
huge marketplace building. Next came the gate of ishtar. From the ancient
city of babylon, it was just unbelievable in scale and beauty. There were
tons of sculptures and pieces of temple from this era in the middle east. I
cant remember which cities or civilizations they all came from becuase it
was pretty late by then - like 9 pm and we were exhausted!
Ok was that long enough for you, sorry but there is just so much to tell
about this city. today we are heading to the new synagogue and the jewish
museum.
Meg and Seth
We have been in Berlin for two days and only have one more. This is the most
amazing city. I don't think I would want to live here because it isnt the
most cheery city. But it is so filled with history it is just absolutely
amazing. From Fredrich the great to hitler and the nazis, to the cold war,
and finally the new growth of the city. That is why I thought I should write
now, then again when we leave becuase I have so much to say.
On the first day we took an all day walking tour. The tour left the hostel
at 10am and we didnt finish until 7pm!! But it was amazing! Our guide was an
american who is working towards his masters in German history here at
Humboldt U. He has been living here for several years and knows everything.
I highly recommend this tour - brewers' best (becuase the founders last name
was brewer, not becuase you see breweries). and it was only 10euro. He took
us to everything, from the reichstag - where he told us the history of the
building, about the fire that helped bring the nazis to power, to the battle
between the soviets and the nazis that kille 5000 people in that one
building to the brandenburg gate, and the war memorial to the soviets that
died liberating the city, there we heard about how that memorial was the
only place that soviet soldiers went in West Berlin during the cold war, and
how the West Berlin police had to protect them. Of course we saw parts of
the old wall, and heard
about all the fortifications that were put up, and we went past checkpoint
charlie. But it was the smaller, less well known sites that were really
interesting. When he took us past the new synagogue (not exactly new, it was
built in 1890-something then destroyed by allied bombs during the war when
they were trying to hit the building down the street) there he told us about
the police officer that pretty much single handedly saved the building from
mobs rioting against Jews not long after the nazis took power. He made a
speech to them about how it was part of the city and so it was their history
too, then he put out a fire that one of them started. We also went past the
remains of the gestapo headquarters, and the old airforce building, that
despite being the largest office building like anywhere at teh time, was
completely missed by allied bombs during the war, now it is the ministry of
finance. And we sat on the ground above hitler's air raid shelter and heard
about the last days
of his life and the few days after. Incidentally, the air raid shelter is
still there, but the city wants everyone to forget about it, so it is not
marked or anything, but all the tours and history books know where it is. We
also heard about a lot of buildings that were there before the war, like
hitler's new chancellor's building that he built for himself and spanned
three city blocks, and was completely covered in marble inside, with 20 foot
ceilings. (after the war it had sustained heavy bomb damage, and being in
eastern berlin, didnt get any attention in the way of repairs - not that
anyone wanted to repair it - so people looking for building supplies carted
away most of it. you can see pieces of the marble all over town, including
in the subway station below where it was located. Oh and some of the really
small pieces of information were really interesting, like the fact that
there are somthing like 42000 trees lining the streets of berlin, and they
know that becuase each one
has been systematically counted and catologed and numbered - in fact the
guide pointed out one tree that had two numbers on it, one from before the
fall of the wall, and the other in a new numbering scheme developed after
the fall. Mostly, I thought the tour guide gave us a good idea of what it
would have been like to be a berliner during those turbulent times. We can
see the accounts of atrocities and the big events all over town, but the
nitty gritty of everyday life for the average berliner is harder to find.
The next day we went to the checkpoint charlie musuem early to try to avoid
the crowds. It was a really interesting musuem focused mainly on history of
the wall itself and the escape attempts, and successes. We were alone when
we got there and I was totally engrossed in what I was reading that I didnt
notice the 50 people come into the little room I was in, when I turned
around I almost had a panic attack, the tour buses had started to arrive and
there was no where to move! Nevertheless the musuem was still interesting.
After that we went to the topography of terror exhibit in the former
basement of the ss headwqarters. the building is completely gone and all
that remains are the foundations, but there is a free outdoor exhibit that
details the rise of the ss to power and tells the stories of numerous people
imprisoned and murdered there over the years. Mostly the exhibit focused on
the people that were target becuase of their opposition to hitler, those
were the people that were
mainly imprisoned and 'interrogated' in that building. However the
building also served as a place to plan the systematic extermination of the
Jews. The calculating manner with which this was done is just unbelievable.
Not to mention the fact that it was allowed to happen by the population that
for the most part didnt agree with hitler on that idea, but were too afraid
to do anything. There was a letter included in the exhibit that was sent to
all of the german police on one night informing them that there were going
to be riots against jews and their places of business and synagogues, and
that the police were not to interfere. This struck me as interesting becuase
it implies that the police force would have interfered, they would have done
something but becuase the ss sent out this letter, and the police were - for
the most part too afraid to do anything - they follwed the orders adn looked
the other way. (except for that one who saved the new synagogue.)
After the topography of terror we had lunch, then went to teh egyptian
musuem to see the bust of nefrititi. Thursday was free musuem day so we
tried to hit the free state musuems that day. After the egyptian musuem we
ran a few errands then went to KaDeWe (short hand for the german for -
department store of the west) for dinner. Seth thought I was insane that I
had this department store on my sightseeing itinerary, but even he was
impressed. The place is huge! 7 floors and everything you can imagine! On
floor 6 is the gourmet grocery store/food market where we had dinner. It was
like a whole foods on steroids. Counter after counter of food, both takeaway
and eat in. they each had little counter where you could have dinner,
complete with wine and thier own brand of beer. There were two counters with
like 100 kinds of cheese each, and a whole bakery including pasteries and
breads and cakes. There was an entire fish market including every kind of
thing that swims, and some that were
STILL swimming! And a raw meat market area the size of which I could only
compare to sams club, except that the large size of the display case didnt
hold large portions but rather a large selection. Then there was chocolate -
swiss, belgian, german oh my! 100 different teas in loose leaf jars, a pate
bar, a raw oyster bar, a cooked seafood bar, a champagne bar, a beer bar, a
wine bar and a huge selection of bottles of each. And this was all on one
floor!! The place we chose to eat was the antipasta bar - they sold sundried
tomatoes, olives, feta cheese etc to take away and made pasta to eat there,
with the ingredients that they sold.
After dinner we headed over to teh pergammon musuem. Which was again
amazing, and free. One room was more amazing than the last! The first room
held the amazing pergammon altar which filled this huge room and included a
partial recreation of the facade of the building, along with the original
designs from the sides of the immense building. I think we spent at least a
half hour in that one room. then there was room after room of greek and
roman art and architecture. On the other side of the altar were the exhbits
from ancient middle east area. first there was the entire facade from this
huge marketplace building. Next came the gate of ishtar. From the ancient
city of babylon, it was just unbelievable in scale and beauty. There were
tons of sculptures and pieces of temple from this era in the middle east. I
cant remember which cities or civilizations they all came from becuase it
was pretty late by then - like 9 pm and we were exhausted!
Ok was that long enough for you, sorry but there is just so much to tell
about this city. today we are heading to the new synagogue and the jewish
museum.
Meg and Seth
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
escape from greece!
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 08:59:29 -0700 (PDT)
I was wrong, we didnt leave greece on monday our flight was on tuesday
(today). luckily we checked before we went to the airport. so we were stuck
in athens with not a whole lot left to do. the only thing that we still
reallz wanted to see was the jewish museum (we had missed it before becuase
it closed early.) so we went there first thing in the morning yesterday. It
was fantastic! the exhibits were really interesting and well done. they
explained everything as if you knew nothing, but at the same time it was
really interesting. they had many of the furnishings from the old patras
synagogue that had been torn down and several other torah covers, handles
and finials and the like (I can't remember the real names and I certainly
couldnt spell it) from the greek jewish communities that were completely
destroyed in the holocaust. Then they had a great exhbit about the
traditional styles of dress of the two different sects of greek jews, the
sephardic and romaniote. finally they had a
really moving exhbit about the children that were affected by the
holocaust. it was different becuase it focused on those children whose
families mostly escaped by hiding. but the children were still greatly
affected by the fear, shame and guilt that they felt and some of them were
separated from their parents and raised by christians, so now they are very
confused. It was extremely interesting and moving. The museum was overall
very well done. whoever put together those exhbits should be employed by the
greek governemnt to work on some of their ancient sites all of which are
extreemely lacking in signage, good maps and information.
After the jewish museum we went to a few bookstores and lunch. then we went
to a coffeeshop to read our books. we were there for a few hours. then we
wandered around looking for a good place for dinner. It was too early for
dinner though, and we stumbled upon one of the sites we had not seen yet,
the ancient agora. I was really glad we got a chance to see it becuase it
had a museum that is housed in a reconstructed stoa. I am not exactly sure
what stoa means (lack of signage and information and all) but it was a large
building two floors and tons of columns on a terrace, and several small
rooms at the back that were used as stores. In the 1960's it was totally
reconstructed so that it looks somewhat like it did in the ancient times.
That in and of itself was interesting. but the exhibits featured stuff
relating to athens democracy, like the clay tablets that they used to vote
people to be exiled, and a stone filled with slots for each citizens' name
tablet which after the tablets
were inserted a ball was dropped to determine which row of people would be
jurors that day. Finally the ancient agora site included the most complete
temple in the greek world. I forget who it was dedicated to, but it was huge
and remarkably well preserved, there were still some visible carvings around
the top.
Then we wandered some more and found a good restaurant. All in all, I think
our last day in athens was our best, we finally started to appreciate the
city and figure out just how to appreciate it. now we are in berlin,
tommorrow we are going to take a tour!
Meg and seth
I was wrong, we didnt leave greece on monday our flight was on tuesday
(today). luckily we checked before we went to the airport. so we were stuck
in athens with not a whole lot left to do. the only thing that we still
reallz wanted to see was the jewish museum (we had missed it before becuase
it closed early.) so we went there first thing in the morning yesterday. It
was fantastic! the exhibits were really interesting and well done. they
explained everything as if you knew nothing, but at the same time it was
really interesting. they had many of the furnishings from the old patras
synagogue that had been torn down and several other torah covers, handles
and finials and the like (I can't remember the real names and I certainly
couldnt spell it) from the greek jewish communities that were completely
destroyed in the holocaust. Then they had a great exhbit about the
traditional styles of dress of the two different sects of greek jews, the
sephardic and romaniote. finally they had a
really moving exhbit about the children that were affected by the
holocaust. it was different becuase it focused on those children whose
families mostly escaped by hiding. but the children were still greatly
affected by the fear, shame and guilt that they felt and some of them were
separated from their parents and raised by christians, so now they are very
confused. It was extremely interesting and moving. The museum was overall
very well done. whoever put together those exhbits should be employed by the
greek governemnt to work on some of their ancient sites all of which are
extreemely lacking in signage, good maps and information.
After the jewish museum we went to a few bookstores and lunch. then we went
to a coffeeshop to read our books. we were there for a few hours. then we
wandered around looking for a good place for dinner. It was too early for
dinner though, and we stumbled upon one of the sites we had not seen yet,
the ancient agora. I was really glad we got a chance to see it becuase it
had a museum that is housed in a reconstructed stoa. I am not exactly sure
what stoa means (lack of signage and information and all) but it was a large
building two floors and tons of columns on a terrace, and several small
rooms at the back that were used as stores. In the 1960's it was totally
reconstructed so that it looks somewhat like it did in the ancient times.
That in and of itself was interesting. but the exhibits featured stuff
relating to athens democracy, like the clay tablets that they used to vote
people to be exiled, and a stone filled with slots for each citizens' name
tablet which after the tablets
were inserted a ball was dropped to determine which row of people would be
jurors that day. Finally the ancient agora site included the most complete
temple in the greek world. I forget who it was dedicated to, but it was huge
and remarkably well preserved, there were still some visible carvings around
the top.
Then we wandered some more and found a good restaurant. All in all, I think
our last day in athens was our best, we finally started to appreciate the
city and figure out just how to appreciate it. now we are in berlin,
tommorrow we are going to take a tour!
Meg and seth
Sunday, October 17, 2004
getting ready to leave greece
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 05:01:19 -0700 (PDT)
the ruins at mycenae were wonderful, really amazing! the lion gate was under
restoration or something so we couldnt get good pics through all the
scafolding, but we could see it and that was awesome. But I think just the
sheer size of the blocks used to build the walls was more impressive, it is
obvious why the ancient greeks thought the city must have been built by
giants or cyclops. The tomb of klytemenstra was really impressive too,
shaped kind of like the drum of a giant speaker, you could walk inside the
large dome, and the acoustics were incredible. just the whole scale of the
thing, along with the fact that they didnt use mortar and the building was
made thousands of years ago, was mindblowing.
The next day we made our way back to athens on a very slow, bumpy and shaky
train with a mean ticket agent and conductor. Once in athens we took the
metro which proved easier than expected, and found our hotel with no
problem. again we are in a room the size of a closet with a shared bathroom,
but it is clean, cheap and this time we have our own sink! So I see it as a
good choice of hotel.
The afternoon after we arrived all the sites were already closed (everything
closes here around 2:30) so we walked around a little, had dinner and went o
bed. The next day we got up "early" and went to the acropolis. We had a
little trouble finding the road up there. Greece in general seems to be very
lacking in signage. But once we did, we found the tourists too! My gosh it
was unbelievable the number of people, and this is the off-season! I would
not want to be here in august. Once we got through the entrance and the main
old city gate where everyone was congregating, it wasnt so bad though. The
parthenon was pretty much what I expeceted, impressive in its grandeur and
beautiful. But we couldnt get close to it, and I guess becuase we have seen
so many pictures of it, it was sort of familiar, and so it wasnt as
impressive as I expected it to be. Pretty much it looked like the pictures.
The other building on the acropolis with the porch of the karytids (the
pillars shaped like women
supporting the roof with their heads) was more interesting to me. We then
moved on to the theater which was also pretty impressive becuase we could
walk up the rows and look down on the mosaic floor and the marble thrones of
the nobility. Then we moved on to the Templle of Olympian Zeus which was the
largest temple in ancient greece. The pillars were truly huge, but other
than that there wasnt really much to see there. Then we wandered the streets
again and took a nap before dinner becuase, again, everything closed at like
2.
This morning we went to the national archeological museum and spent several
hours there. I was really impressed by the mycenaen exhibits, all the gold
and jewelry found in the tombs was astonishing. the musuem was truly huge
though and by the end we were pretty much exhausted. Now we are wondering
what to do this afternoon before we leave greece.
Frankly, I am happy to be leaving. The island was nice, but for the most
part Greece seems to be plagued by traffic, pollution, and a lack of good
public transportation. The whole country is dirty (except the ocean which
has crystal clear water in contrast to the trash and dirt on the shore.)
Athens is really dirty, the traffic is horrendous and people just honk their
horns constantly. This one guy was stuck in traffic and just laid on his
horn for like 5 minutes, for no real reason.
Oh and we are really sick of greek food. It all seems to be the same. every
restaurant has the same menu and we have had our fill of Gyros, souvlaki and
greek salads. I am sure there are some chinese restaurants or something, but
we havent been able to find a single thing other than 'traditional greek'.
So tommorrow we leave for Berlin.
I hope everyone is doing well.
Megan and Seth
the ruins at mycenae were wonderful, really amazing! the lion gate was under
restoration or something so we couldnt get good pics through all the
scafolding, but we could see it and that was awesome. But I think just the
sheer size of the blocks used to build the walls was more impressive, it is
obvious why the ancient greeks thought the city must have been built by
giants or cyclops. The tomb of klytemenstra was really impressive too,
shaped kind of like the drum of a giant speaker, you could walk inside the
large dome, and the acoustics were incredible. just the whole scale of the
thing, along with the fact that they didnt use mortar and the building was
made thousands of years ago, was mindblowing.
The next day we made our way back to athens on a very slow, bumpy and shaky
train with a mean ticket agent and conductor. Once in athens we took the
metro which proved easier than expected, and found our hotel with no
problem. again we are in a room the size of a closet with a shared bathroom,
but it is clean, cheap and this time we have our own sink! So I see it as a
good choice of hotel.
The afternoon after we arrived all the sites were already closed (everything
closes here around 2:30) so we walked around a little, had dinner and went o
bed. The next day we got up "early" and went to the acropolis. We had a
little trouble finding the road up there. Greece in general seems to be very
lacking in signage. But once we did, we found the tourists too! My gosh it
was unbelievable the number of people, and this is the off-season! I would
not want to be here in august. Once we got through the entrance and the main
old city gate where everyone was congregating, it wasnt so bad though. The
parthenon was pretty much what I expeceted, impressive in its grandeur and
beautiful. But we couldnt get close to it, and I guess becuase we have seen
so many pictures of it, it was sort of familiar, and so it wasnt as
impressive as I expected it to be. Pretty much it looked like the pictures.
The other building on the acropolis with the porch of the karytids (the
pillars shaped like women
supporting the roof with their heads) was more interesting to me. We then
moved on to the theater which was also pretty impressive becuase we could
walk up the rows and look down on the mosaic floor and the marble thrones of
the nobility. Then we moved on to the Templle of Olympian Zeus which was the
largest temple in ancient greece. The pillars were truly huge, but other
than that there wasnt really much to see there. Then we wandered the streets
again and took a nap before dinner becuase, again, everything closed at like
2.
This morning we went to the national archeological museum and spent several
hours there. I was really impressed by the mycenaen exhibits, all the gold
and jewelry found in the tombs was astonishing. the musuem was truly huge
though and by the end we were pretty much exhausted. Now we are wondering
what to do this afternoon before we leave greece.
Frankly, I am happy to be leaving. The island was nice, but for the most
part Greece seems to be plagued by traffic, pollution, and a lack of good
public transportation. The whole country is dirty (except the ocean which
has crystal clear water in contrast to the trash and dirt on the shore.)
Athens is really dirty, the traffic is horrendous and people just honk their
horns constantly. This one guy was stuck in traffic and just laid on his
horn for like 5 minutes, for no real reason.
Oh and we are really sick of greek food. It all seems to be the same. every
restaurant has the same menu and we have had our fill of Gyros, souvlaki and
greek salads. I am sure there are some chinese restaurants or something, but
we havent been able to find a single thing other than 'traditional greek'.
So tommorrow we leave for Berlin.
I hope everyone is doing well.
Megan and Seth
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
update from napflion (greece)
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 09:54:28 -0700 (PDT)
I think I left you in our little story on the day before we went to
Delos....
The next day we got up sort of early and got the boat to Delos at about
11:30. Delos was a huge ancient site. supposedly the birthplace of the twins
apollo and hmm cant remember which one was his sister but anyway. We looked
around the ruins a little and in the museum. It was pretty impressive
really, but the island been plundered so many times that most of it looked
like just a big pile of rocks, or else a junkyard for bits of unused
columns. The musuem had some cool stuff though. Then we went back to town on
the really slow boat, and watched the sun set next to the old windmills. The
next day we hung out at the beach, did some laundry, slept in etc. We both
got sunburns a little. not too bad becuase i was careful to limit our time
outside, but we only had a little sunblock (GD people, the sunblock from
those united way packets - we had like 3 each). Then the next day we took
the boat back to the port of Rafina outside of athens, then took a bus to
athens, then a train to corinth.
That was an all day affair. the boat was slow, the train was slower, and
the bus was just annoying. but the good news is that there are two train
stations in athens and the first one we walked into there were like 100
people pushing to get to the two ticket windows, no lines, just a big mob.
lucky for us we needed to go to the toher one. I found that out from
information. so we stayed at this great hotel in corinth only 37 euro for
the night with our own bath adn it was clean and nice. our room was a little
small, but hey, clean nice and only 37 euro, cant ask for more. So in the
morning we caught a bus to ancient corinth. ok so the mornin was like 12
becuase they had blackout curtains on our little window that faces another
wall anyway, so we didnt realize what time it was. The ruins of ancient
corinth were interesting but not hugely impressive. then we had lunch. after
lunch we asked these two american girls that we had run into and were
sitting in the next restaurant over, if
they wanted to share a cab with us up to the top of acrocorinth where
there was a fortress and some more ruins and great views. they did, so we
waited and waited for a cab, found out it was siesta time and they were all
sleeping, caalled the cab company, waited out a rainstorm and finally got a
cab to the top. We were really glad we did, it was really interesting. the
ruins were mostly turkish and so they were not as ancient as the ones below
(there used to be ancient ones up there but the turks destroyed them to
build their citadel.) but the view was great and the castle was pretty cool
and we were a little more free to explore the area. It turns out that the
girls were staying at the same place as us! We got a ride down from this
really nice older guy that we met up there then we rode the bus back and
went to dinner with the girls we met. Then tne next morning we were to catch
the 9am train to napflion - which is the same place those girls were going
and we were staying at the
same place (it was the only one in the letsgo guide book so it really isnt
all that coincidental) so we met up with them at the train station too and
found our way to our new hotel togehter. It is refreshing to talk to someone
else who speaks english other than each other. After we all checked in (at
this pension that is only 25 euro a night!) we went for brunch then climbed
the 800+ stairs to the citadel above the city. That was awesome becuase
there was no one around to yell at us for poking around and these ruins were
more recent like 1400-1700 so there was more left of them. Plus the views
over the mountains, the city and the sea were incredible. Then we walked
around the old town had dinner. Tommorrow we are going to mycenae, I cant
wait! the ruins there are supposed to be spectacular, then on to athens!
Meg and Seth
I think I left you in our little story on the day before we went to
Delos....
The next day we got up sort of early and got the boat to Delos at about
11:30. Delos was a huge ancient site. supposedly the birthplace of the twins
apollo and hmm cant remember which one was his sister but anyway. We looked
around the ruins a little and in the museum. It was pretty impressive
really, but the island been plundered so many times that most of it looked
like just a big pile of rocks, or else a junkyard for bits of unused
columns. The musuem had some cool stuff though. Then we went back to town on
the really slow boat, and watched the sun set next to the old windmills. The
next day we hung out at the beach, did some laundry, slept in etc. We both
got sunburns a little. not too bad becuase i was careful to limit our time
outside, but we only had a little sunblock (GD people, the sunblock from
those united way packets - we had like 3 each). Then the next day we took
the boat back to the port of Rafina outside of athens, then took a bus to
athens, then a train to corinth.
That was an all day affair. the boat was slow, the train was slower, and
the bus was just annoying. but the good news is that there are two train
stations in athens and the first one we walked into there were like 100
people pushing to get to the two ticket windows, no lines, just a big mob.
lucky for us we needed to go to the toher one. I found that out from
information. so we stayed at this great hotel in corinth only 37 euro for
the night with our own bath adn it was clean and nice. our room was a little
small, but hey, clean nice and only 37 euro, cant ask for more. So in the
morning we caught a bus to ancient corinth. ok so the mornin was like 12
becuase they had blackout curtains on our little window that faces another
wall anyway, so we didnt realize what time it was. The ruins of ancient
corinth were interesting but not hugely impressive. then we had lunch. after
lunch we asked these two american girls that we had run into and were
sitting in the next restaurant over, if
they wanted to share a cab with us up to the top of acrocorinth where
there was a fortress and some more ruins and great views. they did, so we
waited and waited for a cab, found out it was siesta time and they were all
sleeping, caalled the cab company, waited out a rainstorm and finally got a
cab to the top. We were really glad we did, it was really interesting. the
ruins were mostly turkish and so they were not as ancient as the ones below
(there used to be ancient ones up there but the turks destroyed them to
build their citadel.) but the view was great and the castle was pretty cool
and we were a little more free to explore the area. It turns out that the
girls were staying at the same place as us! We got a ride down from this
really nice older guy that we met up there then we rode the bus back and
went to dinner with the girls we met. Then tne next morning we were to catch
the 9am train to napflion - which is the same place those girls were going
and we were staying at the
same place (it was the only one in the letsgo guide book so it really isnt
all that coincidental) so we met up with them at the train station too and
found our way to our new hotel togehter. It is refreshing to talk to someone
else who speaks english other than each other. After we all checked in (at
this pension that is only 25 euro a night!) we went for brunch then climbed
the 800+ stairs to the citadel above the city. That was awesome becuase
there was no one around to yell at us for poking around and these ruins were
more recent like 1400-1700 so there was more left of them. Plus the views
over the mountains, the city and the sea were incredible. Then we walked
around the old town had dinner. Tommorrow we are going to mycenae, I cant
wait! the ruins there are supposed to be spectacular, then on to athens!
Meg and Seth
Friday, October 08, 2004
funning in the islands! (update from greece)
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 04:09:23 -0700 (PDT)
We are now in Greece on the island of Mykonos. and guess what? we are able
to upload some pictures (I think). Seth is working on that right now. So if
you want to go to photos.yahoo.com/sethjoel there should be some new pics
there. It is difficult to rename them, so they are in chronological order,
with the city at the end of the name of the first pic from that city. You
can look back on blogger.com at megtravels.blogspot.com to see where we have
been and match it to the pics if you are unsure of what you are looking at.
I tried to pick some of the most self explanatory ones (We have taken like
500 pictures so far, but are only putting about 60 online now.)
Anyway, so we left strasbourg and went to the Rhine in Germany. The train
ride was long and required us to change like 3 times, but it was ok. We
stayed in the town of Bacharach. We had reservations for the castle hostel
on the top of the hill. So when we got there we had to walk up over 200
steps and some steep trail to get to the hostel, then we were told they
didnt have our reservation and the beds were all full! The woman was really
nice though and booked us a room in a cheap b&b in town which was good cause
we got our own room, and the hostel had tons of little kids staying in it.
But we had to lug our stuff all the way back down the stairs AND we were
planning to do our laundry at the hostel. So when we got to our B&B I asked
the woman, who was very nice but didnt speak much english, if there was a
laundromat in town. (I had to use hand gestures, pulling at my clothes and
smelling them and making a face, it was funny) anyway, she said we could
wash them in the sink and hang on
the line outside. So we did. She looked at our baggies full of clothes and
indicated that we had a small enough amount of laundry that this would work.
But she didnt reallize that we had stuffed those baggies to the max with
clothes. So we had more than she thought. So we squeezed it onto the line
and went to dinner. We had dinner at a restaurant that rick steves
recommended. I had the tender boiled beef in horseradish sauce and seth had
beef in wine sauce, we split this wonderful wine cream soup and each had a
glass of local wine. My beef was wonderful! tender and the sauce was just
the right combination of tangy and creamy! Seth's was alright but not great.
After dinner we went next door to a winstub that was also recommended by
rick steves where we got a wine carousel with 16 glasses of wine to taste
for only 13euro! Then this canadian couple that we had met on the porch of
the castle came over and we talked and drank and had a great time, the place
pretty much closed down
around us, only a few locals in another room. we couldnt even find a
server, adn left our money on the table. when we got up the next morning,
the woman from the b&b was upset cause our laundry hadnt dried. she wanted
us to take it up to the castle and use their dryer, she was afraid we would
have to carry it wet. only we didnt want to walk all the way up there, and I
knew that it would probably dry during the day, the night had been damp, but
the sky was blue and our stuff is quick dry, so I argued with her, we would
miss our boat if we had to go to the castle. She didnt really understand and
after much difficulty, agreed we would see how it was in the evening. So we
left and got on a very crowded ferry boat for a cruise down the Rhine. It
was amazing! calm adn relaxing (except for the hundred Japanese tourists
crammed in there) and we saw a lot of wonderful castles and stuff. the tour
group got off at the stop for St. Goar, so we pretty much had the boat to
ourselves. We went a
few miles down to a town below the Marksburg castle. We had lunch, then
walked up to the castle (I wanted to take the little tourist tram but they
wouldnt take us cause we needed 4 people) So we toured the castle. The tour
was in German, but we had a self guided tour in the rick steves book so we
followed along (they wouldnt let you in without the tour guide). It was
cool! then we took the train back to the St Goar place adn looked around,
had some gelato and a bottle of wine, and seth got a hair cut. He really
needed one, but was afraid to get his hair cut by someone who didnt speak
english. It turned out great! the guy spoke a little english, not much but
enough I guess. And he did a good job. Then we went back to the b&b and our
clothes were dry (all but the socks which were only slightly damp) So we
went out to dinner at another winstub. They didnt really have real food so
we had soup and cheese adn another wine sampler. (we had had a big lunch so
it was ok) In the morning we
caught the train to Berlin. Or rather we took a train to the nearest train
station where we could ask how to get to berlin, then caught a train to
frankfurt then Berlin. It was a long day of travelling, we didnt get to
Berlin until almost 7pm. We stayed at the holiday inn at the airport. it was
the most expensive place we have stayed yet, but we needed someplace close
that woudl give us a ride at 5am to the airport. So we got up at 4:30 and
got our plane to athens. Then we didnt know what we were going to do when we
got there. We decided to go straight to the islands becuase the
transportation in greece is not so good, so I figured if we were going to
get to the islands we would need to go right away. We took a bus from the
airport to the port and got boat tickets. we splurged and got the fast boat
becuase I get seasick and didnt think I could handle a 5 hour boat ride
after traveling for 2 days straight. The trip to mykonos took 2.5 hours and
was VERY rough, becuase the storm that
had been raining on Berlin was now over greece. When we got to Mykonos we
went to the hotel reservation office and booked a room through them. we
usually dont do that, but we were really tired. We got a great room though!
at a pretty good price. 55euro a night adn it is right on the beach, with a
little balcony with a beach view, our own bathroom, they picked us up from
the port and breakfast is included!! We went out for dinner last night and
got lost in Mykonos town. Apparently they built the city like a maze becuase
there were so many pirates and raiders, well the map is pretty much no good,
you have no choice but to wander. we were trying to find a restauarant from
one of our books, but it was no use. We ate at a popular tourist restaurant,
with reasonable prices, adn the food was good. I had the special, kind of a
lamb stew and the local wine. Seth had souvlaki and the local beer. his food
was better, my drink was better. It is still kind of chilly here, no
swimming right now.
usually they have warm weather in october, but they are having
unseasonably windy and chilly. So we might head back to the mainland
tommorrow, or else tour the ruins on the nearby island of Delos, then head
back to the mainland. There isnt much to do here other than beach stuff, but
I am still glad we came becuase it is really beautiful. we slept in today
and this afternoon we are goign to wander the streets and look in the shops.
The town is made for walking becuase the streets are too narrow for cars, in
fact most of the streets look like alleys! but cute ones, not dangerous
ones.
Ok that is all for now. ( I know you are thinking really? is that all? seth
is teasing me that I wrote a novel.) Apparently the pictures are uploaded
but not in order. If you want to figure out the order they should be in, all
of the ones that start with 'b' should be first arranged in order of thier
number, then all the 'c' ones arranged by number, etc.
Meg
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail  CNET Editors' Choice 2004. Tell them what you think. a
_________________________________________________________________
Get ready for school! Find articles, homework help and more in the Back to
School Guide! http://special.msn.com/network/04backtoschool.armx
We are now in Greece on the island of Mykonos. and guess what? we are able
to upload some pictures (I think). Seth is working on that right now. So if
you want to go to photos.yahoo.com/sethjoel there should be some new pics
there. It is difficult to rename them, so they are in chronological order,
with the city at the end of the name of the first pic from that city. You
can look back on blogger.com at megtravels.blogspot.com to see where we have
been and match it to the pics if you are unsure of what you are looking at.
I tried to pick some of the most self explanatory ones (We have taken like
500 pictures so far, but are only putting about 60 online now.)
Anyway, so we left strasbourg and went to the Rhine in Germany. The train
ride was long and required us to change like 3 times, but it was ok. We
stayed in the town of Bacharach. We had reservations for the castle hostel
on the top of the hill. So when we got there we had to walk up over 200
steps and some steep trail to get to the hostel, then we were told they
didnt have our reservation and the beds were all full! The woman was really
nice though and booked us a room in a cheap b&b in town which was good cause
we got our own room, and the hostel had tons of little kids staying in it.
But we had to lug our stuff all the way back down the stairs AND we were
planning to do our laundry at the hostel. So when we got to our B&B I asked
the woman, who was very nice but didnt speak much english, if there was a
laundromat in town. (I had to use hand gestures, pulling at my clothes and
smelling them and making a face, it was funny) anyway, she said we could
wash them in the sink and hang on
the line outside. So we did. She looked at our baggies full of clothes and
indicated that we had a small enough amount of laundry that this would work.
But she didnt reallize that we had stuffed those baggies to the max with
clothes. So we had more than she thought. So we squeezed it onto the line
and went to dinner. We had dinner at a restaurant that rick steves
recommended. I had the tender boiled beef in horseradish sauce and seth had
beef in wine sauce, we split this wonderful wine cream soup and each had a
glass of local wine. My beef was wonderful! tender and the sauce was just
the right combination of tangy and creamy! Seth's was alright but not great.
After dinner we went next door to a winstub that was also recommended by
rick steves where we got a wine carousel with 16 glasses of wine to taste
for only 13euro! Then this canadian couple that we had met on the porch of
the castle came over and we talked and drank and had a great time, the place
pretty much closed down
around us, only a few locals in another room. we couldnt even find a
server, adn left our money on the table. when we got up the next morning,
the woman from the b&b was upset cause our laundry hadnt dried. she wanted
us to take it up to the castle and use their dryer, she was afraid we would
have to carry it wet. only we didnt want to walk all the way up there, and I
knew that it would probably dry during the day, the night had been damp, but
the sky was blue and our stuff is quick dry, so I argued with her, we would
miss our boat if we had to go to the castle. She didnt really understand and
after much difficulty, agreed we would see how it was in the evening. So we
left and got on a very crowded ferry boat for a cruise down the Rhine. It
was amazing! calm adn relaxing (except for the hundred Japanese tourists
crammed in there) and we saw a lot of wonderful castles and stuff. the tour
group got off at the stop for St. Goar, so we pretty much had the boat to
ourselves. We went a
few miles down to a town below the Marksburg castle. We had lunch, then
walked up to the castle (I wanted to take the little tourist tram but they
wouldnt take us cause we needed 4 people) So we toured the castle. The tour
was in German, but we had a self guided tour in the rick steves book so we
followed along (they wouldnt let you in without the tour guide). It was
cool! then we took the train back to the St Goar place adn looked around,
had some gelato and a bottle of wine, and seth got a hair cut. He really
needed one, but was afraid to get his hair cut by someone who didnt speak
english. It turned out great! the guy spoke a little english, not much but
enough I guess. And he did a good job. Then we went back to the b&b and our
clothes were dry (all but the socks which were only slightly damp) So we
went out to dinner at another winstub. They didnt really have real food so
we had soup and cheese adn another wine sampler. (we had had a big lunch so
it was ok) In the morning we
caught the train to Berlin. Or rather we took a train to the nearest train
station where we could ask how to get to berlin, then caught a train to
frankfurt then Berlin. It was a long day of travelling, we didnt get to
Berlin until almost 7pm. We stayed at the holiday inn at the airport. it was
the most expensive place we have stayed yet, but we needed someplace close
that woudl give us a ride at 5am to the airport. So we got up at 4:30 and
got our plane to athens. Then we didnt know what we were going to do when we
got there. We decided to go straight to the islands becuase the
transportation in greece is not so good, so I figured if we were going to
get to the islands we would need to go right away. We took a bus from the
airport to the port and got boat tickets. we splurged and got the fast boat
becuase I get seasick and didnt think I could handle a 5 hour boat ride
after traveling for 2 days straight. The trip to mykonos took 2.5 hours and
was VERY rough, becuase the storm that
had been raining on Berlin was now over greece. When we got to Mykonos we
went to the hotel reservation office and booked a room through them. we
usually dont do that, but we were really tired. We got a great room though!
at a pretty good price. 55euro a night adn it is right on the beach, with a
little balcony with a beach view, our own bathroom, they picked us up from
the port and breakfast is included!! We went out for dinner last night and
got lost in Mykonos town. Apparently they built the city like a maze becuase
there were so many pirates and raiders, well the map is pretty much no good,
you have no choice but to wander. we were trying to find a restauarant from
one of our books, but it was no use. We ate at a popular tourist restaurant,
with reasonable prices, adn the food was good. I had the special, kind of a
lamb stew and the local wine. Seth had souvlaki and the local beer. his food
was better, my drink was better. It is still kind of chilly here, no
swimming right now.
usually they have warm weather in october, but they are having
unseasonably windy and chilly. So we might head back to the mainland
tommorrow, or else tour the ruins on the nearby island of Delos, then head
back to the mainland. There isnt much to do here other than beach stuff, but
I am still glad we came becuase it is really beautiful. we slept in today
and this afternoon we are goign to wander the streets and look in the shops.
The town is made for walking becuase the streets are too narrow for cars, in
fact most of the streets look like alleys! but cute ones, not dangerous
ones.
Ok that is all for now. ( I know you are thinking really? is that all? seth
is teasing me that I wrote a novel.) Apparently the pictures are uploaded
but not in order. If you want to figure out the order they should be in, all
of the ones that start with 'b' should be first arranged in order of thier
number, then all the 'c' ones arranged by number, etc.
Meg
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail  CNET Editors' Choice 2004. Tell them what you think. a
_________________________________________________________________
Get ready for school! Find articles, homework help and more in the Back to
School Guide! http://special.msn.com/network/04backtoschool.armx
update from france
Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 04:39:40 -0700 (PDT)
We are in France now, with a keyboard that is even weirder than the last. So
bear with me. If you, or anyone else wants to read all the old emails, you
can go to http://megtravels.blogspot.com
Now we are in Alsace Lorraine region of France, staying in strasbourg.
yesterday we went to a new wine festival in the town of Barr. it was not
what I was expecting, but it was neat. I thought there was going to be more
wine to taste; but it turns out that there were only a few wineries
represented and they were only tasting their 'new wines' which were
literally pressed like yesterday; so they taste like applejuice, which is
weird cause they came from grapes but that is what they tasted like. Then we
went to a wine cave and tasted some wine. A wine cave is basically a winery
or wine cellar. They call the, caves cause they used to store wine in caves
to keep it the right temperature, maybe they still do sometimes. We did find
a really great restaurant/wine bar - they call them winstub - not far from
our hostel. This restaurant is relatively inexpensive and SOOOO good. We
have gone there both nights we have been here, and I woulndt object to going
again tonight - if it is open since
it is sunday and NOTHING is open on Sundays. Anyway the first night seth
had the special of mussels in cream sauce. It was so good that we used the
bread - not caring if they were going to charge us for it becuase often they
put bread on your table then if you eat it they charge you for it - we used
the bread to sop up all of the left over sauce. And the portion of mussels
was huge!! and it was only 12 euro!! 5and they didnt charge for the bread) I
had some really tasty duck with sauteed apples, and we had three different
types of local wine. The next night seth got the mussels again; and since we
didnt want to get the same thing; I tried something new, beef stew. It was
good, but not as good as the mussels.
Our hostel is nice here, we get our own room and our own bathroom, for only
44 euro a night! and it includes a huge breakfast. So we have been resting a
lot, since it is hard to sleep in when there are a bunch of other people in
your room.
I guess that is all for now, this keyboard is driving me crazy. Hope things
are going well for you all.
Meg and Seth
We are in France now, with a keyboard that is even weirder than the last. So
bear with me. If you, or anyone else wants to read all the old emails, you
can go to http://megtravels.blogspot.com
Now we are in Alsace Lorraine region of France, staying in strasbourg.
yesterday we went to a new wine festival in the town of Barr. it was not
what I was expecting, but it was neat. I thought there was going to be more
wine to taste; but it turns out that there were only a few wineries
represented and they were only tasting their 'new wines' which were
literally pressed like yesterday; so they taste like applejuice, which is
weird cause they came from grapes but that is what they tasted like. Then we
went to a wine cave and tasted some wine. A wine cave is basically a winery
or wine cellar. They call the, caves cause they used to store wine in caves
to keep it the right temperature, maybe they still do sometimes. We did find
a really great restaurant/wine bar - they call them winstub - not far from
our hostel. This restaurant is relatively inexpensive and SOOOO good. We
have gone there both nights we have been here, and I woulndt object to going
again tonight - if it is open since
it is sunday and NOTHING is open on Sundays. Anyway the first night seth
had the special of mussels in cream sauce. It was so good that we used the
bread - not caring if they were going to charge us for it becuase often they
put bread on your table then if you eat it they charge you for it - we used
the bread to sop up all of the left over sauce. And the portion of mussels
was huge!! and it was only 12 euro!! 5and they didnt charge for the bread) I
had some really tasty duck with sauteed apples, and we had three different
types of local wine. The next night seth got the mussels again; and since we
didnt want to get the same thing; I tried something new, beef stew. It was
good, but not as good as the mussels.
Our hostel is nice here, we get our own room and our own bathroom, for only
44 euro a night! and it includes a huge breakfast. So we have been resting a
lot, since it is hard to sleep in when there are a bunch of other people in
your room.
I guess that is all for now, this keyboard is driving me crazy. Hope things
are going well for you all.
Meg and Seth
Sunday, October 03, 2004
interlaken - last from switzerland
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 07:48:24 -0700 (PDT)
ok I have to be reallz fast here cause the internet is reallz expensive. oh
and z and y are reversed on this keyboard so if I mess up, sorrz. So I think
I left zou last when we were in Zurich. Well from there we moved on to
lucerne, where it was still raining and not very impressive. we climbed the
old town wall and wandered around in the rain, and had fondue. Then we moved
on to Gimmelwald, which is near interlaken if you look at a map. It is a
tinz little town high in the alps, and it is gorgeous!!! there were these
huge mountains all around and they were snow capped. it stopped raining
right about when we got there. the hostel we stazed in was great, clean and
everyone was so friendly. The first day we did some grocery shopping in the
next town over, a 30 min hike uphill, cause there is no grocery in
Gimmelwald. The next day we got up reallz earlz to do the early bird trip to
the top of the shilthorn moutain. it is cheaper if zou go earlz and zou can
get a combo of breakfast too
in the revolving restaurant. It was awesome!!! when we first got there it
was a little cloudz and snowing, but it cleared as we sat there for like an
hour and a half going around we did like one and a half rotations. Then we
went back down to murren - the town just up the hill that we had shopped at
the other daz. then we went for a hike. it was soooo great! a little
difficult during the uphill parts but we saw cow pastures and crisp clean
moutain streams - this color blue that zou wouldnt believe! and waterfalls
and of course moutains, and all these cute little wooden houses. I swear
this is where Heidi lived. The cows and sheep and goats were all wearing
bells and the sound was great! We hiked for about three hours. then we
stopped at the grocery again for some treats and then went down to hang out
at the hostel. It had a great view out of every window but the people were
so great we just talked to them, getting tips on other places we havent been
yet and sharing our stories. The
next day we went for a reallz long challenging hike. It was all the waz
down to the river then back up and over a mountain. the trail just kept
going up. but when we got to the top, the view was gorgeous and dizzying.
then the trail down the other side was a little frightening, it was reallz
thin and perched on the side of this step cliff with no railings!!! but we
made it down to the bottom, sort of, and back into the wooded area, where it
kept going down very steep but not as scary. we saw tons of waterfalls and
all that gorgeous blue color. the water just LOOKED like it had just melted
off a glacier. Then we came to this little hotel that was closed but there
was this small herd of goats there and thez started following us. and then
they stopped and we kept walking, then thez charged! it was reallz scary but
they were just catching up. then finallz thez stopped following us. Then we
had to go all the waz down to teh river and back up again to Gimmelwald
where we treated ourselves
to fondue since we worked so hard. The next morning we headed out to
interlake where we are now cause I had to go paragliding! it was AMAZING!! I
just ran down this slope with the instructor attached to my back, until the
kite lifted us up, then we were sailing like 2000 ft over the town of
interlaken, between a bunch of moutiains and two lakes!! it was fantastic, I
am still grinning! Dont worrz we got pics and even a video of take off.
By the way Arizona people, what is the temperature there? I was in a snow
storm two days ago!!
Finally I just want to say that everone should come here, it is amazing! the
rest of switzerand that we saw was alright, kind of bland, but this is just
great! and zou dont have to jump off of anz moutains for it to be great.
Meg
ok I have to be reallz fast here cause the internet is reallz expensive. oh
and z and y are reversed on this keyboard so if I mess up, sorrz. So I think
I left zou last when we were in Zurich. Well from there we moved on to
lucerne, where it was still raining and not very impressive. we climbed the
old town wall and wandered around in the rain, and had fondue. Then we moved
on to Gimmelwald, which is near interlaken if you look at a map. It is a
tinz little town high in the alps, and it is gorgeous!!! there were these
huge mountains all around and they were snow capped. it stopped raining
right about when we got there. the hostel we stazed in was great, clean and
everyone was so friendly. The first day we did some grocery shopping in the
next town over, a 30 min hike uphill, cause there is no grocery in
Gimmelwald. The next day we got up reallz earlz to do the early bird trip to
the top of the shilthorn moutain. it is cheaper if zou go earlz and zou can
get a combo of breakfast too
in the revolving restaurant. It was awesome!!! when we first got there it
was a little cloudz and snowing, but it cleared as we sat there for like an
hour and a half going around we did like one and a half rotations. Then we
went back down to murren - the town just up the hill that we had shopped at
the other daz. then we went for a hike. it was soooo great! a little
difficult during the uphill parts but we saw cow pastures and crisp clean
moutain streams - this color blue that zou wouldnt believe! and waterfalls
and of course moutains, and all these cute little wooden houses. I swear
this is where Heidi lived. The cows and sheep and goats were all wearing
bells and the sound was great! We hiked for about three hours. then we
stopped at the grocery again for some treats and then went down to hang out
at the hostel. It had a great view out of every window but the people were
so great we just talked to them, getting tips on other places we havent been
yet and sharing our stories. The
next day we went for a reallz long challenging hike. It was all the waz
down to the river then back up and over a mountain. the trail just kept
going up. but when we got to the top, the view was gorgeous and dizzying.
then the trail down the other side was a little frightening, it was reallz
thin and perched on the side of this step cliff with no railings!!! but we
made it down to the bottom, sort of, and back into the wooded area, where it
kept going down very steep but not as scary. we saw tons of waterfalls and
all that gorgeous blue color. the water just LOOKED like it had just melted
off a glacier. Then we came to this little hotel that was closed but there
was this small herd of goats there and thez started following us. and then
they stopped and we kept walking, then thez charged! it was reallz scary but
they were just catching up. then finallz thez stopped following us. Then we
had to go all the waz down to teh river and back up again to Gimmelwald
where we treated ourselves
to fondue since we worked so hard. The next morning we headed out to
interlake where we are now cause I had to go paragliding! it was AMAZING!! I
just ran down this slope with the instructor attached to my back, until the
kite lifted us up, then we were sailing like 2000 ft over the town of
interlaken, between a bunch of moutiains and two lakes!! it was fantastic, I
am still grinning! Dont worrz we got pics and even a video of take off.
By the way Arizona people, what is the temperature there? I was in a snow
storm two days ago!!
Finally I just want to say that everone should come here, it is amazing! the
rest of switzerand that we saw was alright, kind of bland, but this is just
great! and zou dont have to jump off of anz moutains for it to be great.
Meg
