When I first found out that my mom had a year off and we were going to be traviling the globe for nine months, I was exited but also nervous. It was hard to think about being away from my family, friends and puppy for that long. It seemed almost dream like. Even with all that in mind I new it would be the experience of a life time.
Our world tour started in Frankfurt, Germany. We had one hotel booked and figured we would go from there. That way, if we liked one place more than another we could stay for longer. On the first day that we were in Germany it was amazing to see all of the old buildings and statues. At home we only have new buildings and houses so it was quite a shock to me. We rented a car so we could drive to places instead of having to take a bus or a train. On the drives that we took I slept a lot because of the jet lag, but on the occasions that I was awake, the mountains and hills were beautiful. Whenever we drove past a farm there were always behemoth white wind turbines! Lothar (the family friend that we met while we were in Germany) said that for every wind turbine that a farmer had they got about twenty-five thousand dollars from the government.
My favorite thing that I got do do in Germany was when we visited an old church right by our hotel. My mom, brother and I had been looking around admiring all the elaborite decorations surrounding the walls when I noticed a small door in the wall. As we were standing there, wondering where it lead, a quirky lady that had greated us at the door came and opened it. She then gestured for us to come inside so my brother and I followed. We went up a lot of narrow, winding stairs but when we reached the bells at the top it was amazing! Two men were there, getting prepared to ring them. We then walked through a door, behind the bells, that lead us to the room where they had all the gears for the clocks. The lady, Cooper and I all walked up a brick staircase that was so narrow our shoulders rubbed the walls! When we got to the very top the lady opened the windows letting in a refreshing breeze. She yelled down onto the town square, something in German that I didn't know. You could see everything from up there! Germany was beautiful and it would definitely be nice to go back one day.
We went to the Czech Republic next. It was only for a couple of days but we got a lot out of it. In Prague it was like every building was old. All the buildings had intricate designs and statues around them. We went to go see a very old, very beautiful castle that we had to walk up a lot of stairs to get to. The ceilings were painted with detailed pictures. We were not allowed to take any pictures though. In the squares there was always a band playing but my favorite was a band that played jazz. There was an old man who was really good with his saxaphone.
Our travels then took us to Italy where we went to a whole bunch of different places. We started in Lake Como. It was very nice to swim in the lake and to relax a bit after driving and going on so many tours. We stayed at a very nice place that ws right across from the lake. A fountain in the front always shot up long blasts of water and at night they changed colours. There was a really nice gelato place below us and a very good restaurant just to he right of our apartment. We went walking along the beach one day when I spotted a newt. A newt is a very small, very fast little lizard. My brother and I had him cornered by a rock and I had the perfect opportunity to cach him so I did! We have pictures of him in our hands. Lake Como was a very nice place to stay and I am very happy that we did.
After Lake como we went to Venice. A favorite of a lot of people and a favorite of mine. The canals and water ways were beautiful. One thing that we noticed a lot of in Italy is the amountof people that try to sell you stuff! There are people everywhere selling masks, jewelry, purses, and other tourist souvenirs. My favorite thing that we did in Venice was go to the island of Murino and watch a glass blowing demonstration. We had to take a farry to the island, then we walked around to see all the glass things that they make. I bought two pink little flamingos. In the glass blowing demonstration the man made a big glass bowl and then a tiny fish. The oven was super hot and the we could feel the heat radiating off of the glass when he put it near us. He said that if the glass was left out uncooled for more than ten minutes it would shatter because of the heat that it contained. He had to work fast.
In Venice, I also enjoyed our gondola ride. The gondolier took us through the city at night and it was very beautiful. The only bad thing was that because it was night time we had a hard time finding a gondola that was available. Venice was beautiful and I would love to visit it again one day.
Next came my favorite place, Rome. We were very blessed and got to stay there for ten days! We had plenty of time to see everything. The first thing that we went to see in Rome was the Pantheon. We went to see it a second time though because the first time they were closing soon so we didn't have much time to see it. The second time we took a lot of pictures and really enjoyed its beauty... just make sure to get your Gelato after you have seen it, because they don't let you take it inside. Next we went to see wat they call the "wedding cake". The Italians call it that because to them it looks like a wedding cake in stead of a beautiful building. Thank goodness they had an elevator because to get to get to the top there would would have been a lot of stairs! We went to go and see Pompey's portico where Julius Ceaser died. It was really interesting to see the place that he had actually been and had died. Trevi Fountain was gorgeous and I'm hoping that when I threw my penny in my wish to come back comes true. My second favorite place that we went to was the Vatican. I loved learing about Michelangelo and how he painted the ceilings and the messages behind all of them. I was a bit disappointed when we got to the Creation of Man painting because I was expecting it to be huge and cover the whole ceiling but it was only tiny. I was still happy to see the Vatican and to walk where Michelangelo had walked. My favorite place that I went to and the most interesting place was of course the Colosseum. I learned a lot of things about it. Did you know they had secret passages under neath the stage to lower and raise the animals and gladiators? They added the passeges in later, though and the crowd was always amazed at the "magic" of it. I was amazed, too!
All the places that we visited where absolutely exquisite and I am so happy and blessed to be able to go on such an amazing adventure. Although I miss my family and friends very much I am still excited to be going around the globe. Next up, Croatia!
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