chamonix

after varenna, we continued on our relaxation binge by spending 3 days in chamonix-mt-blanc, france. for me, it was good to be back in france. chamonix is located at the base of one of the largest mountains in the alpes, mt. blanc. the drive to chamonix consisted of mountain views that take your breath away.

unfortunately, our first night in chamonix we had to do boring things like laundry. but laundry time turned out to be a sort of happy hour. we made friends with some canadians from BC (joel and laura i think), met some brits who broke the coin machine (they made a hasty escape), and waited for the laundrette owner to come fix it with some americans (randy and dave). turns out, randy did a bike ride across america - the same one that jonathan did several years ago - . it's a small world. randy was a great guy who kept us entertained with very colorful stories about every girl he met and seduced while on the bike trip as well as every person who died on the trip. who knew laundry could be so fun?

our second day in chamonix we decided summit the mountain. well not really, at least go halfway. we took a gondola ride up to the middle (do not go if you have any fear of heights), and hiked/walked across a ridgeline. we had breathtaking views of mt. blanc, the chamonix needles, as well as some of the glaciers (called mer du glace or sea of ice). we sung songs from the sound of music. we returned to the base of the mountain via rack-and-pinion train. it was all so very alpine that i wished i owned a pair of liederhosen.

our last day in chamonix we decided to go conquer the mountain. 2 gondolas took us on a crap-your-pants-and-make-peace-with-God ride to about 4000 meters. it was really cold. the views literally took your breath away (the air was thin). we had a panoramic view over chamonix, the valley, and several other mountains. my brother the geologist, courtney, would have loved it (don't worry, mom, we took lots of video). it was really amazing to look out over these mountaintops and wonder why God made this stuff so beautiful. it really was awe-inspiring. after the initial shock of where we were, we explored some. we found the place essentially where mountaineers took off for their summit of mt. blanc. it was really fun to watch them with all their gear: their crampons and ice axes; their caribeaners and climbing ropes. i really don't know of a place like this in the US where novices like us can get so up close and personal with mountaineers. it really didn't look all that bad as long as you had the necessary gear. it actually looked really, really, really fun. it made me think that i might want to try it sometime. i might look into doing something like this stateside. let me know if you want to come too.

in my opinion, chamonix is a must if you like nature or awe-inspiring-take-your-breath-away views. we'll have to go back in the winter when there is more snow and skiing! stay tuned for our next post on the mystical community of taize, france. until then....au revoir.

siena x2 and varenna on lake como

hello friends and family! yes, we are still alive and kicking, although we have been unplugged for a while. let me catch you all up on our adventures....

after florence we had 2 free days to go wherever we wanted in Tuscany. rather than venture to a new location, we thought it best to return to Siena because we loved it so much. our 2 days there were full of good food and fun. on the good food front, we found an amazing sandwich shop with a view over Il Campo. we liked it so much we ate there both days for lunch. similarly, we found a quaint little osteria with narrow tables perched precariously on a very slanted hill. we liked it so much that we ate there both nights. on our second night, we shared a table with Jason and Amanda Phillips. turns out that they were Christians from Indiana, and we had a really good meal with them talking about church, community, and how far away they were from Zionsville where my cousin Becky lives (turns out they knew it....)

on the fun front, we did several things. first, siena is composed of many neighborhoods. the days that we were there just happened to be a celebration of the phoenix neighborhood. a little old italian man tried to explain it to me (in italian of course). from what i gathered, every 40 days each neighborhood takes turns celebrating their neighborhood...the phoenixes like parades so they had a parade about 5 times each day for the two days we were there. pretty neat.

the other fun thing that we did was attend a real italian soccer game. siena vs. milan and it was insane. italians are fiercely proud of their wine, their country, and soccer. we got tickets and got in line to enter the stadium. first observation: italians have no concept of lining up - they just push as hard as they can to get to the front. in fact, we would still be standing in line if we didn't allow ourselves to join in the mayhem. we finally got into the stadium and the game had already begun. second observation: the ushers/ticket takers are not there to do their job, they are there to watch the game and you can only ask them for help when the game is not being played. we had no idea where to go, but after a lot more pushing, we finally found our seats. third observation: italians will squat in whatever seat is empty - you get there late, you have no seat. we stood for the first half of the game next to a very friendly, drunk, chain-smoking italian guy. this guy felt like welcoming us by explaining things to us since we were out of towners. he would start with "youa speaka eenglish? va bene..." and then continue in italian. his fly was down, and he wore a shirt that said "**ck what i say." what a heartthrob. ladies, i think he's single. the game ended in a tie and there was just as much pushing to get out of the stadium and begin singing songs and chants for your particular team. what a cultural experience!

after siena, we made our way to lake como which happens to border switzerland. the lake is kind of shaped like a person. we called varenna, the right hip, home for 3 days. varenna is a quiet fishing village with pretty much nothing to do. it was great. we stayed in an old hermitage with a commanding view of the town and the lake, visited a lovely garden, read a lot, and kept our eyes peeled for george cloony (he lives on lake como...sadly, no george, but we did find out where he lived and for a small price, i may tell you). bellagio, located right in the crotch, is supposed to be the pearl of the lake. our 1 visit there was hilarious. we had a nice lunch and then they skies opened up in a torrential downpour that turned to hail. we got so soaked that i jonathan took a picture of me looking like a drowned rat ringing out my skirt. so romantic! despite the moist day in bellagio, lake como was a perfect last stop in italy as well as an experiment to see how low we could get our pulse.

Back on the road

Hello again. We are back in Siena now (you'll get the full story later) and we're doing our best to get you all caught up again.

From Orvieto we were reunited with our car, which we decided to name Flash. It was a good feeling to be back driving again. I realized that for myself, the car is the one environmental constant that we have, so it is sort of like home to me.

We had a short drive to Assisi, home to St. Francis and the basilica that honors him. Driving up to the city, you see the basilica on one side and can't help but be impressed by the enormity of it. What is also noticeable, and becomes much more so as you walk through the town is that Assisi is on a large incline, and the whole town sits on the hill sloping from one side to the other. Our hotel room was at the low end of the hill, so sightseeing included a good workout for our legs.

St. Francis was a very interesting man, whose ideas Sara and I really appreciated and respected. He was quite counter-cultural. In those days, since the church was such a political as well as religious institution, being a priest also brought some measure of power and esteem with it. St. Francis intentially eschewed priesthood as he sought to build a "lower brotherhood" of monks who were not part of the priesthood. St. Francis was actually part of the elite growing up, the son of a wealthy fabrics merchant. But he turned his back on all of that, stripping himself naked in front of his father and the town and proclaiming God as his only true father, leaving a privileged lifestyle behind. Franciscan monks all take a vow of poverty as part of their vows. It reminds me of the story of the rich ruler who Jesus asks to sell all his possesions to follow him, except in this story, the ruler obeys and follows Christ. His story was really interesting and inspirational to both me and Sara.

From Assisi we headed off to the cultural mecca of Florence. As opposed to Sara's post on Rome, you will be getting the short version of the sights. Being back in a big city we were again greeted with wonderful Italian city drivers. Thankfully I have no problem practicing offensive rather than defensive driving, so we made it through to our hotel without so much as a honk or dirty look.

Florence is the home to many museums, historical sights, and items of cultural importance. We were feeling a bit burned out after Rome and after being on the road for so long, so we decided to focus on only the two major sights that Sara wanted to see. One was the Michelangelo's sculpture of David, in Galleria dell Accademia, and the other was the Uffizi Gallery, which has a vast collection of paintings including Botticelli's Birth of Venus (the one where Venus is standing in a in the clam shell).

We went to Accademia first and I have to agree, David is really quite impressive. David was sculpted by Michelangelo when he was just 26 years old. He was given a piece of marble that had been ruined by another sculptor, and he was able to create David out of that. Pretty amazing. Here's another note that I didn't realize, and helped me as a non-art savvy person. Many of you art buffs will know that David is not proportionally correct, that is, his head and hands are too large for his body, and his arms are too long. This is because the sculpture was originally meant to be displayed high up, with the viewer situated below. Michelangelo compensated for the fact that the head etc. would be farther away from the viewer than the legs etc, and would thus appear smaller. He made those parts of the body larger so that when viewed as intended, David would appear proportionally accurate. Pretty cool huh? The other startling thing is that the sheer scale and detail on the sculpture. David is huge, standing 17 ft tall (thanks Wikipedia) and Michelangelo captured such details as a vein that is visible running from his bicep down across his forearm (anatomically correct according to Sara). David was something that even I could really appreciate.

After David we made our way down to the Uffizi gallery. I feel obliged to offer a bit of advice for anyone of you ever planning on visiting these sites. Call ahead for reservations. Both Accademia and Uffizi run on a reservations system... else you have to wait in a LONG stand by line and hope for no-shows. Believe me when I say you do not want to do that. Those people did not look like happy campers. With the reservations, getting in was a breeze. Just show up about 10 minutes before your reservation and you are good to go.

Ok... back to Uffizzi. It was certainly an impressive building. It is a huge U-shaped building set right on the Arno river with views of the Ponte Vecchio bridge and the Duomo. We opted for the audio guide here, which at least helped me to see some of the progression in the paintings as we progressed chronologically. The artists' use of both perspective and expressions on the subjects faces grew more sophisticated over time. Sara I'm sure could give you pointers about lots more stuff... she especially enjoyed the aforementioned Botticelli's Venus as well as one of her favorite paintings, his 'Primavera'. I think the one thing that stood out to me was Michelangelo's "Holy Family" (I guess I like Michelangelo.... who knew). In it he depicts Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. But unlike his contemporaries, Mary is much more active and realistic looking, not the stoic and 'angelic' Mary seen in many other works. And the infant Jesus is not just sitting in her lap, but rather is climbing over her shoulder to get to Joseph. I can't even really say exactly why, but I just liked this painting.

The icing on the cake of Florence was our final dinner. We decided to just wander down some of the smaller alleyways to find a more off the beaten path sort of restaurant. Our efforts were rewarded. We found a great little restaurant that seemed to fit the bill. Our waitress was just great, really warm and welcoming. The food was excellent. Sara got the riboletta, a thick soup made with beans, spinach, bread, and olive oil... a Tuscan specialty. I got a thin steak and sauteed spinach. Sara finished with flan and I had panna cotta. All in all, a really wonderful meal... another one of our top three, and a must if you are visiting Florence.

Well... that's all for now. Thanks for hanging in with me.

Hasta la bye-bye to Rome

Our last morning in Rome entailed navigating the mass transit system in their version of Grand Central Station. The line at the ticket booth was quite lengthy, and our train was scheduled to leave in 15 minutes, so we decided to use the automated ticket machine... thankfully they have an English option. Even so, once we got our tickets we were less than confident that we had done everything correctly. The tickets we had were much smaller and looked very different from the tickets we had used to get to Rome, and for that matter, much different than the tickets that everyone else in the train station seemed to be holding.

With not a lot of time to get help, we decided to just go with it, and hopped on the train that we thought was headed to Orvieto, where our car and night's lodging awaited us. Nervously waiting for the train conductor to come by (and tell us we were either on the wrong train, or had the wrong tickets), we poured over our guide book in the section about train travel. Again... the ticket in the book looked nothing like our ticket.

All our fears turned out to be unfounded however, as the conductor came by and accepted our tickets without batting an eye. I think we even got the "Nazionale" rate instead of the foreigners rate! So thank God, we made it back to Orvieto without incident.

We were staying in Orvieto for the night because due to our constantly evolving plans, we had accidentally skipped a night when booking rooms ahead, so we had a one night gap between our room in Rome and our room in Assisi. We figured our car was already parked free in Orvieto, and we were in no rush to get to Assisi, so we'd check out that town for a day. And boy were we glad we did.

Orvieto is a small Tuscan town known for its ceramics and its salami. Sara probably appreciated the ceramics more, and I'm sure that I appreciated the salami more. As it turns out, apparently we are on the festival tour, as we keep on arriving in town while there are big parties/celebrations going on. Orvieto's festival consisted of various performers doing there thing in the town squares around town. There were acrobats, drummers, jugglers, clowns etc. So we enjoyed watching one of the clowns do his schtick as we had a nice outdoor lunch on the main piazza.

Regardless of the festival, Orivieto is a wonderfully charming town on its own. It is another picturesque hill town with narrow cobblestone streets and lots of quaint, old town feel. There were a lot of little stores for window shopping and the aforementioned ceramics were neat to peruse through. Because it is built on a hill, there were some really awesome views. We found a park that is high up on the hillside and provided some great expansive views of the Tuscan countryside, which looks just like you would imagine them to. Rolling hills, vineyards and other plots of land clearly marked out across the countryside. Very pretty.

After a nice siesta nap, we were both ready for dinner. We found what would turn out to be one of our top three favorite restaurants to date. The ambiance was just right. It had soft lighting amid the wonderful stone walls and arches, and the natural wooden tables and chairs. There was relaxing, if a little bit new agey, music playing in the background. The only thing we would change would be perhaps the removal of the somewhat creepy 'mardis gras-esque' dolls that were positioned high along the ceiling.

The dinner itself was scrumptious. All the food was great, the bread being especially yummy (we asked for seconds). Orvieto is also known for its white wines, of which we enjoyed a bottle (much more than the half carafe that we usually split). I assert that it was more than just the wine that caused us to have a particularly liesurely and relaxing dinner. A wonderful end to an unplanned, but extremely enjoyable day in Orvieto.

The next morning we were woken around 7 am by the the banging sounds of construction, as the hotel we stayed in was in the midst of a major renovation. A bit earlier than we would have planned, but that was not enough to taint our experience and fond thoughts on Orvieto.

rome day 2 and 3

Disclaimer: we have no idea how this contraband picture of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel might have been taken.

hello again friends and family. i'm continuing and finishing our post on Rome and will try to spare you some of the artsy comments. our second day in rome was full. we went to the Vatican and had a full day of St. Peter's basilica as well as the Vatican museum.

St. Peter's basilica was amazing. but before you go in, you have to pass the "modesty police" - they make sure that your shoulders and knees are covered. after waiting in line for so long, some people were turned away for having shorts or tank tops. there were posters everywhere so you think they would have known....anyway, we passed our modesty test and then went through what was like airport security. thankfully, we got there so early in the morning our wait was about 10 minutes total and then we were in!

St. Peter's is one of the most impressive churches on earth. it is also one of the largest - there are markers in the middle of the nave that show you where the next-largest churches would fit inside. the highlights of this for me were Michelangelo's Pieta and Bernini's starburst dove window at the alter. Unfortunately, the Pieta was behind bulletproof glass after some crazy tried to shoot at it, but i was able to get pretty close and get some pictures without glare.

the Vatican Museum was like running a marathon. the highlight here was Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel as well as Raphael's School of Athens. the museum also has an impressive collection of Egyptian and Mesopotamian art (complete with a real mummy preserved amazingly in her coffin - creepy but cool). of course, most people come for the Sistine Chapel so the museum kind of makes you walk through all the other stuff as a sort of crowd control. after about 2 hours we finally reached the School of Athens (jonathan has a great pic of me which he'll try to post). after that, it was about another hour to the Sistine Chapel, but it was worth it. it's been amazingly restored and there is nothing like seeing it in real life. in case you didn't know, these paintings are frescoes. a fresco is technically not a painting as the color is mixed into the plaster when it is wet basically fusing the paint with the plaster and making it a part of the wall. to make it more difficult, michelangelo had to complete these works on the ceiling. imagine lying on scaffolding with paint dripping on you for 4 years as you complete one little patch of the ceiling at a time. it was amazing. although photos are allowed in other parts of the museum, the company that restored the Sistine Chapel made a deal with the Vatican that forbids any pictures, videos etc. of the Sistine Chapel.....er, however if you turn the flash off of your camera and hold it on your guidebook at waist level, you can still capture this amazing work of art....

our last day in Rome was an ancient Rome day. this is what i had really been looking foward to. i took several classes on ancient Rome - one class was called the Roman Forum and all we did was study architectural plans of Italian forums and compared them to the Forum at Rome. poor jonathan. he was a trooper and willingly listened to me as we walked through the Colesseum and the Roman forum. i won't bore you with the details as you too may be experiencing an "art hangover" but we were able to walk on basalt stones that were the same stones that Cesar himself walked (june, you will be glad to know that i still remembered my piece from English class where we had to memorize that bit from Shakespeare's play...of course jonathan looked at me like i was mad when i started reciting it). other highlights included the grave of julius cesar, the temple of the Vestal Virgins and the House of the Vestal Virgins, columns leftover from the Temple of Saturn. if you want more detail, let me know as we have lots of pictures and notes on what we saw....i know, i'm a dork.

after a long day of walking around and rediscovering the past, we were pooped. our last evening in Rome culminated in an amazing dinner at a place recommended in our guidebook. we really have come to appreciate the way italians treat their meals as experiences....something to enjoy over hours at a time. well, we spent about 3 hours enjoying our last dinner in Rome. it was a great way to wrap up such a whirlwind time. Rome is a crazy city with too much to do and little down-time, but if you're an art/history nut like me, it's a must. you can do what we did and savor some more downtime for Tuscany....our next stop.

things we've learned....

good morning faithful readers! as jonathan is suffering from what i like to refer to as "museum hangover" we thought we would take the morning to discuss some things we have learned while in europe. we hope that you find these amusing and that you can make your own list when you take your own whirlwind vacation someday....

1. COFFEE - coffee is better in europe than anywhere else. yes, this means that european coffee is better than starbucks. in fact, european coffee makes starbucks look like sludge. and starbucks doesn't serve their coffee in those cute little espresso cups that they use in europe. do yourself a favor and just come over for 1 cup of coffee and you will be a changed person.

2. THE EURO - one euro does not equal one dollar. even though the euro system is in similar denominations, that does not mean that is equal to one dollar. the euro, even though it may look like monopoly money, is not monopoly money. you can pretend that the euro is equal to one dollarhowever, be prepared for a shock when you check your bank statement online.

3. CROISSANTS - croissants taste better in France. we think that croissants should only be made in France because they just taste like bread everywhere else. you can order a croissant in other countries, but it will only taste like a croissant if it is made in France. we think that if the French really knew the power of their croissant they would patent it or something and make a killing on tourists coming to eat croissants.

4. EUROPEAN DRIVING - jonathan may have already touched on this, but let me reiterate that italians are bad drivers. additionally, europeans drive really small cars. believe it or not, there are cars even smaller than a smart car here - we like to refer to them as roller skates. these cars make those mini coopers look like an SUV. i wonder what europeans think when they come to the states and see the cars we drive....hmmm....think of that the next time you get into your surburban.

5. ITALIAN FOOD - there really are pizzarias on every street in Italy - yes! even in the small towns. and yes, even in spain and france. italian pizza is everywhere! pizza is an obsession here just as it is at home. italians also seem averse to international food. you are hard pressed to find a restaurant that serves something other than italian food. how can we be sick of italian food, you ask? well, if you eat pasta every lunch and dinner for about 2 weeks you will also be sick of italian food. i think jonathan is turning into a gnocci.

6. SIESTA or the 3 HOUR LUNCH - call it whatever you want, but the siesta (in Italy and Spain) and the 3 hour lunch (in France) is brilliant. towns really shut down from 12:30 until about 3:30 or whenever they feel like getting back to work. we love the siesta and we are going to start a movement to bring it to the states.

7. LANGUAGE BARRIER - speaking English with an accent will get you farther than you think! charades also go a long way - just ask jonathan to demonstrate when we get home. and when in doubt, use as many romance languages as you can at the same time. we had a delightful Latin American meal at a restaurant in Florence, Italy and i ended up speaking a combination of Spanish, English, and Italian - and it worked! and if you don't know how to say "thank you", just do as jonathan does and say the word "beautiful" instead - the nice cashier ladies will still smile and give you your change.

8. AMERICAN TV - american TV in other languages is funny. reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 in spanish are pretty hilarious. and it's creepy because Jessica Fletcher sounds kind of sexy when Murder She Wrote is dubbed into italian.

when in rome....

hello! sara here to update our faithful family and friends on our travels. disclaimer: this post is the first of many that will include lots of reflections and opinions on historical art and architecture because i have a degree in art history, and i like reflecting on historical art and architecture. if you don't like reading about my reflections or opinions on what i spent 4 tedious and years of blood, sweat, and sleepless nights learning about and studying (i.e. historical art and architecture) go read something less stimulating. people.com is a good start. end disclaimer.

as jonathan said, our time in siena was heavenly. i highly recommend at least two nights in siena if you are ever in italy. we are so thankful to have a great guidebook which guided us to NOT drive in rome. instead, we decided to park in the quaint town of orvieto (which had free parking!) and train it into rome for a mere 12,00 euros each. this was definitely the way to go as our hour train ride took us through the beautiful tuscan countryside and right into the termini train station in the center of rome.

we found our hotel pretty easily and took it easy for the afternoon. it was back to the guidebook for a night walk through rome which started out at the Campo di Fiori. we had a great dinner at Magnolia where we had an American waitress (Julianne) from East Lansing, Michigan. we learned a lot about Roman/Italian culture from Julianne. Julianne told us she knew we were Americans right away because it was cold and Jonathan was wearing a North Face fleece. apparently only Americans and Canadians wear those types of things. if we wanted to blend in she said we needed to wear leather. hmm. she also told us that Jonathan could order the girliest drink they offered - with sparklers and umbrellas and fruit in a tall pink glass - and he would still be considered macho in Italy. who knew? but even after Julianne's pep talk, Jonathan still ordered a beer. thanks again, Julianne, for our introduction to Rome. we wish you all the best on your botany degree!

after our colorful dinner we began our walk. in my opinion, Rome is best at night. there is something magical about the way it looks after dark. anyway, our walk took us from Campo di Fiori through the Piazza Navona where there were lots of street painters and musicians. unfortunately, the 4 rivers fountain by Bernini which is located in the piazza was being worked on. from there, we weaved our way to the Pantheon. yes i did spell it correctly - the Pantheon is in Rome, the Parthenon is in Athens. if you don't know what the Pantheon is, go look it up. the Pantheon was constructed in the 1st c. AD (i think). it has a perfect dome that is 142 feet high and wide. even the renaissance guys couldn't figure out how to build a dome this well so the powers-that-be in Rome gave Brunelleschi permission to cut into the dome to see how it was constructed. (if you don't know who Brunelleschi is, shame on you! go look him up too.) across from the Pantheon is also the nicest McDonald's i've ever seen in my life. moving along from the Pantheon we saw an Egyptian obelisk which was taken from Egypt by Augustus after his victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra. we then watched the secret service escort some important Italian cabinet members back to their home (i think they thought we were tailing them for a while - don't worry, mom, we didn't get arrested). after a near brush with the law, we found our way to the Trevi Fountain by Nicola Salvi. now i am not a Baroque fan. in fact, i usually detest Baroque art and its way of being too over the top and flashy, but this fountain, in my opinion, redeems the entire Baroque period. if you love Baroque, you'll love this fountain. if you're like me, go see it anyway, but go see it at night. legend has it that if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the Trevi Fountain it means you'll return to Rome soon. our walk ended at the Spanish steps which was good because i was tired of walking. unfortunately, the metro from the Spanish steps was broken so we cabbed it back to the hotel. day 1 in Rome was complete.