Florence & Pisa

After my stay in Venice I went to Florence. Florence was very cool, I have definitely saw the best art there so far on my trip. The first day I saw Michelangelo's David, which was incredible. It is a massive statue, it must stand 20 feet high and it is raised about 6 feet off the ground so it really towers over you. Additionally, as a piece of art it is amazing, the detail of it is unbelievable, it is so good you can see veins in his arms but you need to remember that this statue was carved out of a solid piece of marble. Also on my first day I went to the museum in Florence and I saw two painting by Da Vinci and several by Michelangelo and Botticelli. It was a very impressive city for its art.

The next day I went to the Duomo, which is a cathedral with a dome, it was very sparse inside and they had a huge area blocked off which didn't allow you to get a good view of the dome. I didn't have to pay to get in but there were roman ruins, which the church is built on top of, that I paid 3 euros to see, it wasn't worth it because it was badly lit, an over all underwhelming experience. I recently read a book on Machiavelli and I went to the building where he worked for the government. Again it was kinda sparse and not really that interesting. I spent some time walking around the city and it really looks how I imagined Italy to look.

I was on my way to Rome and I decided to stop in Pisa to see the leaning tower. Pisa isn't exactly on the way to Rome but I thought it was a worthy side trip. The leaning tower was very interesting. It was leaning quite a bit and when I saw it I was surprised that it hadn't fallen over. It is very tall but not that wide; the perportionality of those dimensions may have something to do with the lean. But there isn't much else to see in Pisa, at least not that I read, so I saw the tower and went on to Rome.

Venice

Venice is everything you expect it to be and slightly more. It has canals, just like you see in the movies or on tv, but no one tells you that the canals smell really bad. Luckily, when I was wandering around the city there was a strong breeze and the breeze smelled like ocean so it was all good. There is quite a bit to do on such a small island, or islands.

I went to the island of Murano which is where all the Venician glass comes from. I saw two demonstrations on how they make glass. I was amazed at how quickly they can produce a vase or a little horse, which they made in both demonstrations. Essentially the only thing on Murano is the glass stores and the glass blowing workshops and of course eateries for the tourists. There are some incredibly expensive pieces of glass on that island.

I want to an art gallery on the main island, it didn't house famous works, it was more of a historical progression of art in Venice. It was interesting but not only did they not provide english commentary the commentary was few and far between.

Walking in Venice is as confusing as everyone says it is. It is not hard to go from one major plaza to the next because there are signs pointing the way. It is hard when you try to take a short cut and every street you try ends in either a wall or a canal.

Now on to Florence.

Austria

After Zurich I made my way to Innsbruck, Austria. I was warned that Austria looks a lot like western Canada and they were right. At least Innsbruck does, though it is completely surrounded by moutains and there is only a narrow river alongside the city and of course much of the old town is older than Canada. But the newer, more modern, parts of town are very recognizable. I didn't really do much in Innsbruck, I only was there one night and I left early for Vienna.

I had a good time in Vienna, again I didn't do much. I walked around for quite awhile, I did go to an art gallery and it had an interesting array of artists, I haven't really seen any famous works yet, I have seen many famous artists, but that could be because I haven't gone to any famous art galleries. I also went to a museum in the Kurt Godel Research Centre for Mathmatical Logic, as you all know Kurt Godel is my favorite logician, but it was a medical museum and I wasn't at all interested.

Austria was fun but I am excited about Italy which is the next country on my tour.

Switzerland

I spent two nights in Switzerland, I feel like that is not the way to spell Switzerland. I spent a night in Bern and a night in Zurich. It all started after I took the night train from Berlin to Basel. I had a nice time walking around Basel. However, the best part was the art museum. It had many Picasso's with a few works of Dali, Monet, Rembrandt, Pizarro, Van Gogh and a slew of other artists, I don't know a great deal about art. There is definitely something different about seeing the original work of art live and in colour.

I moved on to Bern and it reminded me alot of Luxembourg. There is a river that runs around three sides of the old town and it is kinda on a hilly mound though not quite as pronounced as Luxembourg. I saw Einstein's house where he wrote is now famous theories. I didn't go in because it was closed but I don't really think his house would be that interesting. There are a lot of fountains in Bern.

On to Zurich then. There is a lake, Lake Zurich in fact, and there is a spectacular view if you stand by the lake, of the Alps. I didn't get to see it because it was cloudy but I saw a postcard and it was breathtaking. I did have a great time at an Irish bar, throwing darts with two Irishmen and a American who went to a boarding school in Mill Bay, which is on Vancouver Island for those unfamiliar. I meet the American at the hostel I was staying at and the two Irishmen were already drunk at the bar, throwing darts, when we got there. It was an honorable match though they beat us three legs to one.

Now for a quick stint in Austria then I am on to Italy!

Berlin

I spent a few days in Berlin after travelling from Copenhagen. I went to a museum there, it had an impressive exhibit on Babalyon, I don't think I spelt that right but the spell checker here is in German or French, I am currently in Zurich, so it shows just about every word as incorrect and the only suggestion for Babalyon is Battaillon. Other than that the city is quite modern.

There is a lot of World War II and Cold War history here, that is pretty much the only history you will find in Berlin. I am not complaining, I am not that interested in that period. There are statues for Marx and Engels, there is a massive soviet memorial for the troops from World War II, there is a open-air exhibit on the Nazi secret police, their name eludes me now, which was built on the site of their prison and headquarters, you can still see some of the foundations of the buildings. Just about everything to do with the Nazi's has been destroyed, however there is still alot of the Berlin Wall still standing around Berlin. It was kinda funny because I was looking for the Wall but I couldn't find it only to realize I had walked right passed it, not three feet from it.

Copenhagen & Denmark

So my trips in Denmark were not too successful except in Copenhagen. As you all know I had a little trouble when I first went to Denmark and was planning on staying in Arhus but ended up spending two extra days in Copenhagen. I then tried to go to the city in Denmark where Shakespeare's Hamlet is suppose to be set and see the castle in which the King of Denmark was suppose to have lived. However, I got the name of the town mixed up and I ended up in a small, quaint town that really had nothing going on.

Copenhagen on the other hand was excellent and is my favorite city by far, thus far on the trip. I was able to meet a relative here that almost no one in my family has met and I had a great time with him. He showed me around Copenhagen, he took me to see the Little Mermaid, the statue not the movie, he took me out to lunch twice for old fashion Danish food, which I am quite fond of and he also took me to the opera. There is a new opera house in Copenhagen that was built by the richest man in Denmark and then was given to the state. This however didn't work out too well beacuse the opera house is situated in a place in Copenhaen where there is little parking and the only way to get to it by foot is by a ferry that comes once every twenty minutes. Anyway, the opera I saw was Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffman, which is a french opera and is very lovely. My great uncle Kjeld lent me a book on the opera and I was able to read the story before hand so I knew what was going on. I won't go into the details of the opera because it is actually a complex story that would take too much space and time to recount.

Copenhagen the city is very beautiful, unlike most major cities in Europe it was not completely destoryed in World War II and many of the older buildings still remain. I was able to see the National Museum which is suppose to have magnificent collection of prehistoric viking artifacts but the exhibit was close until May 2008 for renovations. It did have a very interesting exhibit on medival Denmark. I was also able to see, for free, the Glyptotek which contained thousands of acient Roman, Greek and Egyptian statues. I even took a picture of Pompey the great friend of Juilius Caesar, but I didn't find one of Caeser himself. Apparently, the Glyptotek was the house of Carlsberg, the man of brewery fame, and he had purchased many of the statues on his many trips to Italy. I had a wonderful time on Copenhagen.

I am now in Berlin and plan on going to Switzerland, then Austria then on to Italy.

Hamburg

Hamburg wasn't exactly exciting but it was a nice change because I didn't really want to do anything. I have felt like I have been rushing to see as much of Europe as possible because that, really, is why I am here. However, this is not the attitude to take if you don't want to burn out.

Anyway, after Oktoberfest I took a much deserved day off and had a nice nap and read my book, which happened to be Ghandi's autobiography, I have since finished it.

The following day I wandered about Hamburg, according to my guide book Hamburg doesn't have a museum or large art gallery, it was wrong on both accounts but I found out too late. This was fine because I didn't really want to go to either anyway. It was quite a nice day the sun shown for part of the day at least. I was able to see the monument to Bismark though I am not sure who this is but the name sounds familiar. The city is surrounded on three sides by water, two lakes and a river if I am not mistaken, I probably am because I read that 36 to 48 hours ago and I have been remembering a lot of new information and forgetting a lot as well. The town hall in Hamburg was called Rathuis and apparently it is quite the spectacule inside but I missed the tour by a few minutes and I wasn't prepared to wait another hour for the next tour because it was near the end of my day and I wanted to go back to the hostel, kick up my feet and have a beer.

I am now in Copenhagen after a long day of travelling. I had orignalled planned to be in Arhus tonight but I had booked a hotel not a hostel and I wasn't prepared to spend 150 euros for two nights accomodation. So I came to Copenhagen earlier than expected but I will be spending 5 days in Copenhagen so I will get to see a lot.