Jack (Trey) Hayes, III2007
ItineraryTentative Schedule Tuesday, May 15
ENGLAND Wednesday, May 16
Thursday, May 17
Friday, May 18
Saturday, May 19
Sunday, May 20
Monday, May 21
FRANCE Tuesday, May 22
Wednesday, May 23
Thursday, May 24
Friday, May 25
Saturday, May 26
Sunday, May 27
GERMANY Monday, May 28
Tuesday, May 29
AUSTRIA Wednesday, May 30
Thursday, May 31 ? Adventures with John Harris & more touring ITALY Friday, June 1
Saturday, June 2
Sunday, June 3
Monday, June 4
Tuesday, June 5
Wednesday, June 6
Thursday, June 7
Friday, June 8
May 16, 2007 Jay, Greetings from Oxford!!! Or, perhaps I should say, "Hello (pronounced with a silent 'h')." :) We have safely arrived in the U.K., and surprisingly with no problems at all. Our flight from Atlanta left at 5:30pm (EST), and it was very nice. Sadly, our attempts to sleep--although aided with sleeping pills--were very unsuccessful. I know my dad and I did not sleep and single minute, and my friend Matt was only able to muster about a 30-minute nap. However, I was able to catch up on some movies that I missed due to my lack of life during the school semester, and we teamed up to dominate the ENTIRE flight on a trivia game that we played on our interactive screens. So, it wasn't a total loss. :) We landed at London-Gatwick at 7am local time, and made our way through customs. Matt was the only person that had any problems, and his only consisted of a guy asking him where we were staying tonight and if he voted for George Bush in the last election. :) We picked up our bags and hopped a train to Paddington Station in London and from there to Oxford. We arrived in Oxford around 11am local time, and Bill Barnard was kind enough to meet us at the train station. We took a cab(which drove on the wrong side of the road the entire time) back to his flat, and dropped off our baggage. From there, it was off to our first official sightseeing of the trip, and we did it right! Dr. Barnard took us around to all of the different colleges of Oxford University and told us a lot of interesting details about this really cool town. We got to go to Bill Clinton's favorite pub while he was here as a Rhodes Scholar, and we made pictures by the sign above his favorite booth...pretty cool. Students are still here...in fact they are finishing up their exams, which are really interesting. Dr. Barnard told us that at Oxford, students do not really have exams or grades during their first three years of college. Then, at the end of their studies, they have three days of examinations. All of the students have to dress up in traditional attire (dark suits, white bow ties, mortar boards, robes, and carnations) and take their tests in one building that is simply Examination Hall. Their entire degree rides on these three days of testing...and I thought my exam week was a lot of pressure!!! Well, enough of that tangent, back to the sightseeing...we continued to tour all of Oxford, and we came back to Dr. Barnard's flat for a much-needed 2-hour power nap. After that, we went to a nice restaurant in the city and had dinner. This is a really great town, and Dr. Barnard could not have been ANY nicer to us. He has taken us around all day and provided us with so much knowledge about this town and the university, not to mention opening up his home to three people that he had never laid eyes on until this morning. I just cannot tell you how good he has been to us today. Well, the first day of our adventures has been a long one (not counting the nap, we have been awake for almost 40 straight hours), but it has definitely been a good one. Oxford is a really neat place that I am definitely going to visit again someday, and it was nice meeting another amazing Ramsey Family member. That's it for now; we are off to northern England tomorrow for some hiking. I cannot thank you enough for giving me the opportunity to have the fun that I have had today! Cheers! Trey 5/18/07 Jay, Greetings from London! We arrived here this afternoon after a full day of train travel from Grasmere—a small village in the Lake District of Northern England. So, I will first tell you about the hike in Grasmere… We departed Dr. Barnard's home in Oxford around 9am and headed to the train station. We caught the train going north and arrived at Windermere around 4 hours later. From Windermere, we took a half-hour bus ride up to Grasmere. Of course, this was no ordinary, run-of-the-mill bus; it was a double-decker! And, of course, being the American tourists that we are, we went upstairs and braved the windy journey in 50-degree weather. It was cold, but the view was worth it! The Lake District is absolutely BEAUTIFUL country, and we tried to soak in as much as possible. The bus dropped us off in the town, and we had to walk about ½ mile to the hostel that we were staying at for the night. After checking in, we went on an 8-mile hike in the hills of Grasmere. Words cannot describe how beautiful this hike was. We walked up a mountain through sheep pastures fenced by completely rock fences that were hundreds of years old. There was a waterfall and lake at the top of the mountain that may have been the prettiest scenery that my eyes have ever seen. The hike was long, but completely worth the aches and pains! When we woke up this morning, we noticed one simple problem; it was POURING rain! Remember that ½ mile walk to the hostel that I was telling you about from the bus station…yeah, we walked that same ½ mile in the driving rain! That 30-minute time period was the only point that I have not have fun on this trip! J Nonetheless, we made it to the train station and headed to London town. We arrived in London at around 16:00 (4pm to all of you bloody Americans) and took the tube to our hotel on the east side of London. We checked in and walked to the Thames. Our hotel is really close to the Tower of London; so, we walked around and took it and the Tower Bridge all in. Upon seeing that great piece of English history, we decided to have a nice local meal…KFC! After eating English food for three solid days, you have no idea how good cholesterol tasted! J After, the scrumptious meal, we walked down the Thames and looked at The Globe, Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. It's funny, you see all of these places on television or movies for your entire life, and not one of those shots does any of those places justice. They were breathtaking. A little nostalgic moment for you…We were walking down the Thames towards Big Ben and Parliament, but there was a tree line that blocked the view. We could only see pieces of the buildings until all at once, there was a clearing and there was Big Ben in all of its glory. Immediately when we saw it, the clock struck 10pm, and the bells started ringing. It could not have been more perfect. I'll be honest, tears came to my eyes because I couldn't believe it was all so real, and I was actually here! It was a moment that I never, ever will forget. Well, that's it for now. We are heading to bed because we have a day full of sightseeing tomorrow. So, you can look forward to another nice, long blog tomorrow, my friend! Again, I can never thank you enough for giving me days like today! Cheers! Trey 5/19/07 Jay, Hallo! Well, another full day of fun and adventure in the UK. We visited Westminster Abbey, Churchill's Bunkers, No. 10 Downing Street, St. Paul's Cathedral, The Globe Theatre, Piccadilly Square, and The Original Hard Rock Café….like I said it was a FULL day! We woke up around 7:30am this morning because our "Idiots Guide to Europe" book told us that Westminster Abbey opened around 8am, and it was best to get there early in order to avoid a long line. So, being the naïve little Americans that we are, we got there around 9am. The only problem was that Westminster Abbey does not open until 9:30am on Saturdays….in the words of the locals, "Bloody inaccurate books!!!" Nonetheless, we took some pictures in order to kill time, and we were the first people to walk into Westminster Abbey today…hey, only 365 people can say that a year! J When we walked into the Abbey, we were blown away with how beautiful it was. We got one of the audio guides, and it really helped guide us through the Abbey. We were able to see the resting places of many kings and queens, the Coronation Chair (the chair that every king and queen since the 1000s has sat on during their coronation), Chaucer's tomb, Darwin's tomb, Issac Newton's shrine and tomb, President Roosevelt's Memorial, and, my favorite, the British Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The whole place was overwhelming really because it is unfathomable to think about how much history was lying in the floors of Westminster Abbey. Some of the most powerful and influential people that have ever lived are all buried in the same place. Needless to say, it was pretty neat! Next on the list was one of the coolest places we have been so far—Churchill's Bunkers. This is a relatively new museum that takes people through the underground bunkers that Sir Winston Churchill and all of his wartime advisors worked in while the German Blitz was plummeting London. Again, we were able to get an audio guide that was awesome. What was so cool about these bunkers was how unimpressive they were….I know that sounds weird; let me explain. Everything you see in London is extremely ornate… Parliament, Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, even the busses have their own flare (double-decker). On top of that, we came directly to Churchill's Bunkers from Westminster Abbey with all of its décor and pageantry. Then, we came to this glorified basement that served as a place of refuge for wartime strategies that literally changed the world. We got to hear audio clips that described how demanding Churchill was and how nerve-racking it was to prepare for a seemingly inevitable German invasion that never came. We got to hear private phone conversations between Churchill and FDR and Churchill and Truman, and we also got to listen to some of the famous Churchill speeches. It became more and more obvious why Churchill is regarded as one of the greatest leaders that the world has ever known, and for a WWII nerd like myself, it was a fun three hours! J After Churchill's Bunkers, we took a walk down the streets of London and came upon No. 10 Downing Street (the Prime Minister's home). Most of the police officers in London do not carry guns, but these definitely were holding onto some M-16s. It was really neat because Tony Blair is on his way out, and it is well documented in the papers and the news. After visiting Mr. Blair's crib, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, and it was as beautiful as Westminster Abbey. If you have ever looked at the pictures of the dome in St. Paul's, NONE of them do them justice. It is absolutely breathtaking. My dad and I took the stairs up to about halfway up the dome (which was only 200 steps away!). My dad decided that he had stepped all of the stairs in St. Paul's that he wanted to step and went downstairs, but I pressed on. I took another 200 steps up to the top of the dome and walked out onto the outdoor balcony. Then, I noticed ANOTHER staircase that took you to the tip-top of the cathedral. After another 200 steps, I stepped out onto a circular balcony that was one of the prettiest views of London that one could imagine. I was above EVERYTHING! For a person that is really scared of heights, it was a little unnerving, but I was able to persevere and take some really great pictures. After I took the 30-minute trek back down the ground level, I saw some of the other sites in St. Paul's. The coolest was the sanctuary dedicated to the soldiers of the United States for all of their help in WWII. The entire room was decorated in patriotic artifacts, and there was actually a log that listed of 28,000 Americans that died either on the way to or in the aiding of Britain in the war. It was really cool to see another country hold America in such high esteem. We kept our tourism up by walking over the Millennium Bride to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Again, pictures do not accurately depict The Globe; it is REALLY SMALL! Me, being the dumb person that has grown up in 90,000+ stadiums and arenas, I guess expected a large, extravagant mega-theatre, but those obviously did not exist in England 500 years ago! (Please don't think less of me; sometimes I am just dumb!) Nonetheless, we got to take the tour and see the museum of The Globe. We got to see how they managed special effects, and even heard that special effect are what cause the original Globe to burn down (a cannon fired, caught the thatch roof on fire, and the theatre burned to the ground….nice!). We were lucky, and actually got tickets for tomorrow night's showing of Shakespeare's Othello. We have tickets to the side of the stage, and needless to say, after the tour, I am pumped! More to come on The Globe after the show… After seeing The Globe, we decided to take our tourism binge to Piccadilly Square (the British knock-off of Times Square). It was pretty cool, but I think we still have them beat with Times Square in New York. ;) Finally, we finished our day with dinner at The Original Hard Rock Café. We filled our bellies with barbeque, greasy hamburgers, roast beef, and nachos…hey, I am 22; I can eat unhealthy food, right? It was quite nice! A few tubes (subways) and double-decker buses later, we were back at the hotel, and we are completely exhausted. We hit London hard today, but it was a really fun day. We are planning on going out of the city tomorrow to see Stonehenge and Bath tomorrow before the play. It should be nice, but I'll let you know…. Cheers! Trey 5/20/07 Jay, Good evening again from London! We had a slight change in plans today, but nothing really life altering. Instead of training out to Stonehenge and Bath, we decided to stick around in London. We went to Buckingham Palace, Imperial War Museum, and ended up with Othello at The Globe. First…Buckingham Palace. We got a chance to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham, and it was pretty cool. I have seen the changing of the guard at Arlington before, but needless to say there is a little more 'pomp' in the British version. By 'pomp' I mean two full marching bands, two battalions of soldiers, 30 minutes of detailed marches, and a crowd of about 2000 people. It was pretty neat to see the guards that you see so much on television and in movies, and Dad and I, like true tourists, had our picture made with a 'bobby.' (Notice WITH a bobby, not BY a bobby…we are trying to stay out of trouble as much as possible ;) ) Needless to say, Queen Elizabeth has a pretty nice place… Next, we took the Underground under the Thames and over to the Imperial War Museum, and it was everything I hoped it would be. They had real planes, tanks, bombs, anti-aircraft guns, and trucks from World War I & II, not to mention separate and full exhibits for WWI, WWII, D-Day, and The Holocaust. It was really interesting to see the views of the 'great wars' that another country, albeit our closest Allie, have. Sure, the wars were events that shook every member of our country, but other than the people at Pearl Harbor, we did not experience our streets, buildings, and neighborhoods being destroyed on a daily basis. The war was totally different for their civilians. On top of that realization, I also thought about the millions of soldiers that fought in these wars, and realized that most of them were mine and my friends' ages. Needless to say, it was quite humbling. Because we spent over four hours in the Imperial War Museum, we had to rush to The Globe to make it in time for Othello. The play was AWESOME! As I said yesterday, The Globe is not that big; therefore, there isn't a bad sit in the house. Our seats were to the side of the stage (one step up from having the title of 'groundling') Aside from enjoying the play, it was really cool to think about the fact that 500 years ago people were seating in the same seat, watching the same play, just wearing VERY different clothes. Seeing the play made for a really fun night. Well, we are back at the hotel now, and I am definitely ready for some shut-eye. We are heading to the Tower of London tomorrow morning, and then out to Stonehenge. Then, we are either going to tour Salisbury or Bath. Regardless, I will definitely let you know how our adventures go tomorrow! Cheers! Trey 5/21/07 Jay, Greetings again for the last time from England! We leave for the mainland tomorrow, but we made our last full day in Her Majesty's Kingdom a good one. We woke up early, went to the Tower of London, trained out to Salisbury to visit Stonehenge, and now are back at the hotel resting our weary legs! The Tower of London was pretty neat. Like Westminster Abbey, we got to the Tower as soon as it opened. We were able to take a tour from one of the Yeoman Warders, or 'Beefeaters.' They have been the official guards of the Tower of London for hundreds of years. In order to eligible to become one of the Beefeaters, they have to have served in one of the British armed forces for over 20 years. Our guide was really fun, and let us in on many facts about the Tower. I did not realize that the Tower of London was originally a palace, not a prison, for William the Conqueror. Then, it became a prison fro traitors of the crown. We got to see an early copy of Sir Walter Raleigh's book The History of the World that he actually wrote while he was imprisoned in the Tower. Also, the actual crown jewels are kept in the Tower fortress, and we got to tour that area. It was pretty neat seeing the actual crown that the kings and queens were crowned with during their coronations among the other beautiful jewels of the royal family. Pretty cool stuff… After our Tower tour, we took a two-hour train ride out to Salisbury. Once, there we took a twenty-minute bus ride (on the top deck of the double-decker bus, of course) out to Stonehenge. My impression of Stonehenge…WOW! In a world that cities are dominated by huge skyscrapers and technological advances, it was devastating to see that over 5000 years ago, people were able to start building something like this. The stones that you see from pictures of Stonehenge weigh TONS, and they were moved from over 240 MILES away! That is unfathomable to think about. How did they move these massive stones that far. Not only that, once they got the stones to the site, it took over 1000 years to construct and arrange these stones in the manner in which they were functional. Personally, after the tour today, I think Stonehenge was constructed as a calendar that kept track of both the summer and winter solstices, but no one really knows. Nonetheless, it was impressive, very, very impressive. After the trip to Salisbury, we made our way back to London, ate some really BAD Italian food (yes, we realize that it was our own fault for going to an Italian restaurant while in London, but sometimes you learn lessons the hard way), and came back to the hotel to pack and get ready for our departure to France tomorrow. We are heading out around 10:30am, and we will be making our way to Bayeaux, France. Until then, take care, and thanks again for everything! Cheers! Trey 5/26/07 Jay, Well, I bet you thought we had been kidnapped or killed, didn't you? Sorry for not being able to write in a few days, but this is the first time that I have had internet access since we crossed into the mainland. That being said, we have a lot to talk about, my friend! So grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable because here we go… When we last left our little adventures, we had rocked England hard enough that they were ready to see us take our little road show across the Channel into France, and that's exactly what we did. On Tuesday, we took the Chunnel over to Paris , and from there we hopped a train to Bayeaux. Needless to say, Bayeaux was not the biggest of cities, and we took a wrong turn from the train station. As we wandered around this small French city with our suitcases rolling along behind us and people staring, we decided to defy all forms of "man laws" and ask someone for directions. We sent my friend Matt into this friendly-looking little pub because he had A French class in high school (yes that was our reasoning), and boy, was he successful! Before we knew it, Matt emerged from the pub smiling and said that he thought he not only had directions, but that some guy was going to give us a ride! AWESOME, right? Well, that depends on where you were sitting in the car. We gave "shotgun privileges" to Matt because that was the only decent thing to do for a man that had maximized his knowledge of the French language and managed to bum us a ride, but my dad and I were in the back seat of this TINY car with the SMELLIEST dog your nose has ever dreamt about smelling. Jay, words cannot express to you how God-awful this dog smelled; I am still waking up with nightmares about it! Nonetheless, we arrived at our bed and breakfast just fine—stinking, but fine. We were greeted by the sweetest French lady in the world, and she showed us to our room. After we sat our bags down and our stomachs recovered from the nausea caused by that foul-smelling beast, we realized that it had been about 12 hours since our last meal. So, out to the streets of Bayeaux we went. We found a small restaurant on this picturesque French street, and declared that it was the place that was going to break our hunger. BOY, was that an understatement! It may have been that we hadn't eaten in 12 hours…it may have been that everything "local" we tried in Britain promptly led to gagging…it may have been that McDonald's was actually starting to taste good…or it may have been that this food was actually that good…whatever the reason, this was THE best meal that I have ever eaten in my 22 years of living! We started with salads, cheeses, and cold-cuts. Then, we moved onto the main courses (a crab dish for Dad, a croque monsieur for Matt, and a beef dish for me). Then, we all got dessert. I don't remember what the other guys got because I kind of blacked out when that first bite of apple ice cream hit my lips. Jay, I am pretty sure they are going to serve that ice cream in heaven one day. If I lived here, I would weigh over 500-lbs! Ok, enough about the food, but it is amazing! The next morning, get up and had some breakfast (I would tell you how good those croissants were, but I fear this email would get a little redundant), and headed out to the American Cemetery just above the D-Day landing point, Omaha Beach. When we got there, it was apparent that this place stirs some type of emotion inside people. As I walked through the cemetery and looked at over 9000 graves of soldiers that had died in France in WWII—I'll be honest-I couldn't hold back my tears. It was absolutely breathtaking to see all of these graves, note the years in which they lived, think about the terror that they lived through during their last few minutes, and realize that most of them were my age or younger. All of these guys (I consider people my age to be guys—too old to be a boy, but not old/experienced enough to be a man) sacrificed themselves for people not only of our country, but for the future of the world as we know it. I realize that the American-French rivalry is famous and well-documented, but I cannot tell you how many homes and buildings in Bayeaux had American and British flags flying. Not only that, they genuinely seemed appreciative to every American that they came across, as if I was one of the guys that liberated their small towns from Nazi tyranny. Far be it from me to take credit for something that those heroes did years ago. After the cemetery, we went down and walked the actual beaches that these heroes fought on and won during arguably the most successful battle in American history. It was mind-blowing, and I wish my words could describe my emotions. I guess I can best sum it up by saying that I have never been more proud of being an American. After the Omaha beaches, we decided to go see Pointe du Hoc, another great point of American history. There were only two problems with going out there: it was 10 miles away and we had missed the only bus! As we asked the guy at the information desk if there was any other way to get out there, a young American couple came up to us, said that they had a car, and declared that they would give us a ride! So, into the back seat we piled, and got another free ride! Pointed du Hoc was cool because there were actual German bunkers, tunnels, and guns silos. Also, the ground resembled what I envision the surface of the moon looking like because the Allied bombers reeked havoc on it during several bombing raids. Seriously, these craters were 10-20 feet deep! As we walked around, the question of how we were going to get back to Bayeaux (now over 25 miles away) happened to come up. There was no bus leaving for the rest of the day, and the only option we had were the two feet we were standing on! As fate would have it, we spotted the aforementioned couple that gave us a ride out there walking about 50 yards away. "Conveniently," our paths crossed on their way out. They asked us if we had a ride back to the bus station, and I am proud to say that we told them that we didn't want to impose before practically jumping in their backseat! So, back to the bus stop at the American Cemetery we rode, and we caught the last bus to Bayeaux of the day with about 20 seconds to spare! So, at the end of that day, we were 3-for-3 in our hitchhiking efforts during our Great Ideas Tour! J On Thursday, our luck had run out! We misread the train time for the train to the castle Mt. Saint Michel, and missed the only train of the day. So, we hopped a train to the next town—no luck there either. And, this time, there were no "fairy American couples" offering free rides across rural France! J So, we decided to cut our losses and take an earlier train to Paris. We caught the train with no problems, and we thought our bad luck was over…not so! When we were changing trains, Matt's luggage got caught in one of the gates, and when he pulled on it, the handle for the roller broke in about 70 pieces! It was AWFUL! Poor Dover had to carry his suitcase across his shoulder for the next 30 minutes! Nonetheless, we found the hotel with no trouble and were very pleased with the room and the hotel location. We all took a quick nap, and when we woke up, we headed for some food. After that, it was off to the streets of Paris for a walk…and what a walk it was! We walked along the river Seine and saw the lights of the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower . It was breathtaking to think that I was actually there. I mean, I had seen it on television a million times, but it is TOTALLY different seeing it in real life! Well, we looked at watches and realized that we had been walking for over 3 hours and that it was 2am! Needless to say, we took a cab back to the hotel! J The next morning, Matt left for the Netherlands (He has been to Europe twice before, and he wanted to visit some areas that he hasn't seen before. He is going to join us again when we reach John Harris' Vienna). As for Dad and I, we hit the "touristing" with a vengeance! Our first stop was the Louvre. Ok, someone could have told me that the Louvre was HUGE! It was overwhelming, but fun at the same time. I am an engineer; so, naturally art is not my passion. But, it was cool to see so many famous pieces. After our time with the Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, and many others, it was off for walk down the Champs-Élysées. Now, THAT was a street! Beginning with the Obelisk and ending with the Arch de Triumphe, Dad and I walked the entire thing and noticed that there were purses and watches that were worth more than my college education! That being said, the Arch was by far my favorite part. I literally walked were so many famous and influential people walked—Napolean and his army, Hitler and his army, the French and American Armies after WWII, JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy, and the list goes on! How cool is that! After the Arch, it was of course off to the Eiffel Tower where Dad and I struggled greatly with our fear of heights! While standing in line for the elevator, we had plenty of time to "appreciate" just how big the Eiffel Tower really is. If you have never been to Paris , take my word for it; it is TALLLLLL! We got on the elevator and struggled as we rode higher and higher. We got off on the first level, crept out of the elevator, and slowly made our way to the edge. After about 5 minutes, we became somewhat at ease with the height, and after another 5 minutes of challenging our manliness, we found ourselves on the elevator to the top! Again, we crept off the elevator and realized immediately that we were over 1000ft off of the ground! I don't know how tall it looked on the ground, but it definitely looked taller at the top! As we became accustomed, we again ventured towards the edges and enjoyed one of the most breathtaking views that any human can imagine! It was certainly worth conquering our fear of heights! After that full day, it was dinner and quickly to bed! Finally, we have caught you up to today! Today we traveled southeast to Versailles. Man, Louis XIV sure was a showoff! The palace and the gardens were so extravagant; I can't imagine what they were like 200-300 years ago! We got to see where the kings and queens actually slept and everything! It was cool! Ok, they are kicking me out of the internet café; so I have to run Cheers! Trey 6/1/07 Jay, Hello from Italy, or perhaps I should say "Bonjourno!" (I know I am corny, but it is fun!) We arrived in Venice a little after 1pm today, but there has been a whole lot of fun and adventure since my last email. So, again I am sorry for a long email, but you should not send me to such a fun and exciting place! So, get another big cup of coffee, and away we go... I believe the last time we talked, I was telling you about what a show-off Louis XVI was while being cursed at in French about the internet cafe closing. So, we will start from there. I joke about Louis XVI, but Versailles was pretty amazing! It is absolutely unreal to think about one person and his/her family demanding something so extremely extravagant! On top of that, Marie Antoinette demanded her own separate castle that was about a mile away from the main castle. We, of course, toured that, as well. It was a pretty neat day. The next day, Sunday, May 27, it was pretty rainy. Luckily, we had been hitting the touristing pretty hard, and we had only one more big thing to see in Paris—Notre' Dame. We hopped a subway under the Seine, and walked over to the immense cathedral. It was quite extravagant and definitely worth the walk in the rain...plus there were tons of little tourist booths over there, and we got some great deals on some t-shirts....hey, first time in Europe, I have to have some t-shirts, people! ANYWAY, after seeing Notre Dame, we decided it was time to wash some cloths. Not to be gross, but I was down to the LAST pair of boxers, and I am not one of those guys that can simply "turn them wrong-side-out and go about my business." We ended up dragging my suitcase to this little laundry mat relatively close to the hotel, and it ended up being quite the cultural experience. First of all, I have not been to a laundry mat since my freshman year in the dorm, and needless to say, I was a little rusty...PLUS, all the directions were in French. These two ladies must have felt sorry for the poor little Americans and helped us out, or we might have been there all day. Once, we got it started, we were getting a little cocky until we almost stole this one guys dryer. Needless to say, that made two days in a row that I was cursed in French, but the clothes did get clean and dry in the long run! :) On Monday morning, we left France in the rear view, and headed to Germany. We arrived in Munich at around 5:30, and after about 2 hours and 9 miles of wandering around the city, we found our hotel. (Hey, it wasn't entirely our fault! The subways had closed down for the day, and the directions on the internet were horrible! Plus, we aren't so good with maps sometimes! :) ) Nonetheless, we checked in and realized that we were starving. We asked the gentlemen and the desk where we needed to go and eat, and he suggested a restaurant within 5 minutes of the hotel...which reallly sounded appealing after our "hotel search." So, we walked in the restaurant, and we knew the guy at the desk had guided us to the right place. It was just what you would expect in a German restaurant...long benches and tables, waitresses and waiters in Bavarian clothing, hundreds of people drinking huge liters of beer, the works...it was cool. Luckil, they threw us some English menus, and we made our selections. Dad got a platter that had a little bit of everything (pork, duck, chicken, etc), and I thought I ordered a pork schnitzel...the key word in that sentence was "THOUGHT!" Apparently, I pointed to the wrong thing on the menu and ordered pork liver instead. Jay, I don't know about you, my friend, but pork liver is not on my list of things that I find very appetizing. They brought out this huge plate of liver that looked like it was laying in a pool of blood, and I had to challenge my manhood, but I took a bite. Needless to say, the gag reflexes kicked in, and I found myself downing about half of my liter of Bavarian beer in order to try to get the taste of pure evil out of my mouth. Luckily, Dad was good enough to share some of his "non-liver" with me, and I did not go to bed hungry! So, moral of the story, make sure you know what you are pointing to on the menu, people! Ok, enough about the liver! Truthfully, I am still fighting nightmares about it. The next day we went outside the city of Munich a little ways and toured Dachau Concentration Camp. Dachau was the first concentration camp set up by the Nazis, and it served as a model for the other concentration camps that were built. Not only that, but Dachau also served as the training base for all of Hitler's SS henchmen. Jay, words cannot describe how sad touring Dachau made me. How could someone have that much hate in their heart for another human being? Our tour guide was remarkable. He was an American student studying history at the University of Munich, and he had been certified by people that survived Dachau to give tours. He was extremely passionate about Dachau, and he definitely set the mood for the tour. Not only that, it was also pouring down rain and about 50 degrees outside. To be honest, I was glad that it was miserable outside because I think it added to seeing Dachau. Those people suffered humiliation and torture for years; the least I could do was get a little cold and wet. We saw everything,..barracks, torture rooms, gas chambers, everything. I have seen pictures and movies about the Holocaust, but none of those do it justice. I just kept thinking about what terrible things had happened where I was standing, and I cannot put my feelings into words. One really neat thing about Dachau is that it is not meant to honor the dead, although there are monuments that do so on the grounds. Tours are offered there to honor the living. Every single door, gate, cell—anything that was built by the Nazis to contain prisoners—does not work anymore. The doors have been hinged off-center, the locks do not lock—something has been placed by the survivors to prevent Dachau from ever serving an evil purpose again. It was an eye-opening experience that I will never forget and will remember in my prayers for a long, long time. On a happier note, we went back to the same place for dinner that night, and needless to say, I paid attention to what I ordered this time. The pork schnitzel could not have been any better to me! Well, Jay, I am getting booted from the internet cafe once again. I will email you tomorrow about my wonderful time with John Harris in Vienna, and I will update about our time in Venice! Arrivederci! Trey 6/1/07 Jay, Hello again from Venice. We are waiting for our train to Florence; so, I thought I would say hello. Also, I need to tell you about our awesome time in Austria and our time here in Venezia. Ok, so about Austria....I guess the best way to put it is when I grow up, I want to be simply, John Harris!! We had such an amazing time in Vienna. John was kind enough to meet us at the train station when we came in, and I cannot tell you how nice it was to not be the tourists staring at a city map trying to figure out where in God's green earth our hotel was! Then, on top of that, there was no subway, bus, our cab hunting, which was a pleasant change of pace! John, took us around Vienna and showed us the parts of Vienna that were enclosed by the walls of the city until the last century. It was really cool to here a city described by someone that is local. (Also, there was not a smelly dog in John's back seat, which was another added bonus! :) ) John took us to his flat in the middle of the city, which was completely ours for a couple of days. Then, we went on a little walking tour of Vienna. So far, it is by far my favorite city. The inner-city area is basically car, bus, and, most importantly, scooter free. So, that gives it a more laid-back feel. The people were not rustling around like in Paris and London, and I was not in fear of getting killed by a SmartCar! Then, we went back to the apartment to wait on Matt to come in. (I don't know if I told you or not, but Matt had some more bad luck...He got snowed-in in the Swiss Alps!!! For a couple of days there were no trains leaving the little city that he was in. We were worried if he was going to make it to Vienna. Nonetheless, he made it out and got to Vienna around 6:30pm). When Matt got there, we grabbed some dinner and walked around the city some more. It was a great day! The next day in Vienna was probably my most favorite day in the Great Ideas Tour so far. John was kind enough to get us our own tour guide of the city. She came and picked us up around 9am and took us to every part of the city that we wanted to go. Gabbi, our guide, shared with us some really interesting history of the city, and we were able to see the big sites in only a few hours because we weren't the schmucks wandering around with maps and brochures like we have been the rest of the trip. Again, it was a nice change of pace for us! :) We concluded our tour by having a nice big bratwurst in a park in the middle of the city. It was really neat to just sit in the middle of such a historic city, have an awesome hot dog, and just soak it in. Sometimes on this trip, I have these "eureka" moments where it hits me that, man, I am actually here. I love those moments, and I cannot thank you enough for giving them to me. Well, Gabbi was able to get rid of us, and John picked us up for an evening of fun and adventure. We drove out to his and Susanne's BEAUTIFUL house outside the city. That is another thing that I loved about Vienna. You can be literally in the middle of a huge city, and within a 15 minute drive, you can be in the foothills of the Alps. John asked us if we were up for a bike ride, and Matt and I agreed (Dad thought that he would hang back and guard the fort....he was definitely the smart one!). A few minutes later, Matt and I found ourselves in John Harris Fitness t-shirts and shorts, sweating profusely, pushing our bikes up the biggest hill that I have ever seen, while the in-shape John Harris peddled along with seemingly no effort at all!! Jay, I guess most 22-year-olds have this sense of youthful pride and invincibility...mine is now demolished!!! John Harris spanked our tails all the way up that mountain like sissy little girls, and there is no other way that I can put it!! Once we got to the top of the mountain, though, it was definitely worth all of the pain getting up there. It was the most beautiful landscape that my eyes have ever seen. It was like the scenery of The Sound of Music on steroids!! Meadows, mountains, valleys, dense forests all thrown together in a picture that only God could paint. It was amazing! Luckily, the downhill part of the journey was a little more "user-friendly" and we weren't quite as behind of John as we were on the way up. After we got back and jumped in the pool, it was dinner time. John prepared us a meal fit for kings...salad, peppers, bread, fried chicken (yes, fried chicken!), grilled chicken, pork, pinto beans, cornbread, fruit, and some great Austrian beer and wine. I am ashamed of how much we ate, but I could not help myself. As we sat on John and Susanne's patio, ate like kings, enjoyed more of the breathtaking Austrian scenery, and talked about a number of fun topics, I definitely had another "eureka" moments! It is a meal and experience that I will NEVER forget! John could not have been any nicer to us, and I am so happy that we came through Vienna! Ok, we are about to miss the train. Venice another time! underived! Trey 6/2/07 Jay, Sorry for being cut short in my last email, but I had lost track of time telling you about our fun in Vienna. And, we were on the verge of missing our train to Florence. So where were we... After all of the fun of Vienna, we sadly had to pack our bags and leave the great company. We woke up around 5am, and took a cab to the train station. We caught the first train to Venice. The train ride, although early, was great! We got to see more of the Alps and some beautiful scenery along the way. Also, we had our own compartment on the train, and we were able to catch some much needed sleep. (Late nights with John and early trains don't really mix all that well) When we got into Venice, we saw firsthand that the pictures certainly do not do it justice. It is gorgeous! Our hotel was really close to the train station. So, we threw our bags down, and hit the streets running. We hopped a waterbus that took us around all of the islands that make up Venice. To be honest, I expected the city to be much smaller. I guess when you see Venice on TV all you see are little narrow waterways full of gondelas and Italian guys in stripped shirts singing. This is definitely the case, but there are a lot of bigger waterways in the city. After the waterbus took us to our stop, we found ourselves right in the middle of Saint Mark's Square. It was really neat to be in a place that I had seen hundreds of times in the movies before. We went into Saint Mark's Cathedral, and it was different than the others that we have seen. Instead of bright colors that were painted, Saint Mark's was mosaics and kind of dark...pretty but different. We also got to see where Saint Mark's tomb, which was pretty cool. After coming out of the church, we were hit with a pretty fierce rainstorm, but we were up for the challenge. We put on our pullovers, and headed to some more remote areas of Venice. John Harris told us about some "non-touristy" areas of Venice that most people don't get to see, and we checked those out. (John, when you read this, you will be happy to know that we saw clothes hanging on lines over streets, and I am sure that there would have been some kids playing soccer if it weren't for the driving rainstorm. After some more aimless walking, we took the waterbus up the Grand Canal that runs through the middle of the city. Although it was still raining, it was still pretty incredible to see all of these beautiful houses and buildings that seemed to be floating in the middle of a body of water. The "enginerd" in me could not help but appreciate the amount of engineering that went into the structure of builiding those buildings. Those builders must have had some pretty good Statics teachers back in the day, my friend! :) After an early morning and a good, long walk in the pouring rain, we decided to come back to the room. Dad hit the hay, and I went exploring for the internet cafe. It was a full but fun day! Now, finally, that gets us to today. We woke up this morning, checked out of the hotel, grabbed some breakfast, and hopped a train to Florence. We got here around 2pm this afternoon, and again, went straight to touring. We went straight to the Duomo and toured the inside of it. Then, we were feeling brave and ambitious; so, we took the stairs to the top of the Duomo....all 432 of those stairs. It was a long walk up, but the view was certainly worth it. Florence is kind of in a valley that is surrounding by some large hills/small mountains, and it is gorgeous. We took some great pictures! After coming down, we walked around some other parts of the city and saw some of the other big sites...Pallazo Vecchio (yes, we saw Michaelangelo's David, and it was pretty cool), Galleria degli Uffizi, walked over the Ponte Veccino, Pallazzo Pitti, and the Giardino de Boboli. Hey, when we do touring, we do touring, my man! It was fun seeing all of this beautiful architecture, but I liked walking on the random streets the best. Florence, like Vienna, is not a huge place dominated by cars and buses, and I love that. I love the narrow streets and small shops. It makes me feel more like I am in Europe. :) We are done with the touring for the night, and we are leaving for Rome around midday tomorrow. I will drop you another note with tomorrow's adventures. Until then, thanks for everything, and.... Arrivederci! Trey 6/5/07 Jay, Bonjourno from Rome! It is absolutely gorgeous here…hot, but gorgeous! The internet at my hotel has been down for a couple of days; so, sorry for not saying hello before now. Dad and I have seen a lot in the last two-and-a-half-days; that's for sure! So, without further adieu… We took a mid-morning train from Florence on Sunday, and arrived in Rome around 2pm. We took a few buses, found our hotel, checked-in, and hit the streets running. The manager of the hotel that we are staying at was nice enough to take a few minutes and show us around Rome on paper. He told us some ways to get around lines and the buses that we would need to take while in the city. After touring for a few weeks and having our fair share of being lost, this was welcomed with great appreciation. So, we hopped a bus, and we were riding alone when seemingly out of nowhere, the massive Coliseum appeared. It was kind of like the moment that I told you about seeing Big Ben up close and personal. I have seen the Coliseum probably a million times in pictures and movies, but none of them do justice to the size of it. (I will definitely talk more about the Coliseum later because we toured it today, but moving on…) We rode around the Roman Forum, the Circus Maximus, and the Victor Emmanuel Monument. We got out and walked around for a little bit totally astonished at how ancient history and modern history were literally smashed together right before our eyes. You see, that's what movie, pictures, and post cards can't show you. They don't show you the massive, old monuments with a bus or, perhaps more fittingly, a SmartCar riding beside them. I think this is one of the things that makes Rome so neat—the clashing of history. ANYWAY, we caught another bus and rode to another random palace that we thought looked pretty neat; so, we got off the bus to snap some pictures (yes, we are shameless tourists). It turned out that the palace was the Palazzo di Giustizia, the place where the Roman Supreme Court meets. Anyway, as we crossed the bridge to get a better picture, I hear my Dad say, "Hey, what's that?" I look up, and there is St. Peter's Basilica. In no way do I mean this offensive to any of our Catholic friends, but we had literally stumbled our way onto the Vatican! It was neat! Anyway, we walked around the Vatican for a while, grabbed some dinner (pizza of course!), and came back to get some sleep. We woke up on Monday around 8am, went out to the garden at our hotel, had some croissants and coffee, and then, hopped a bus to the Vatican. Dad and I had done our homework and knew exactly where to start, but there was one problem…there were literally 1000s of people standing in line for the entry. At the Vatican, the really cool stuff is in the museums (paintings, sculptures, Raphael's room, and, most importantly, the Sistine Chapel). Why we thought there would not be a line is a mystery to me, but we were shocked. Nonetheless, we found the back of that immensely long line, and one hour and forty-five minutes later, we were inside! (To give you an idea of how long this line was, please allow the following descriptions…..wound AT LEAST 7 city blocks….4-5 people wide at all points…continuously moving…..and it still took us an hour and forty-five minutes!) To be honest, we thought we had done quite well because our original estimations were a lot longer! So, off we went through the Vatican, and all I can say is that people must really like the Pope! This museum is PACKED with paintings, sculptures, tapestries, and a ton of other stuff. (Here's a piece of trivia for you—if you looked at every piece of art in the Vatican museum for only 1 minute, it would take you 8 solid YEARS to look at it!) We made our way through to the densely packed Sistine Chapel, and the 2 hour wait suddenly became totally worth it! I am in no way an "artsy" person, but Michelangelo's works in the Sistine Chapel are breathtaking! Again, pictures do not do it justice because the human eye can distinguish depth so much better than a camera can. It is PACKED with color at every angle, and words cannot describe it! Upon leaving the museums, we took a closer look at St. Peter's Basilica, which again is impressive considering it is the highest structure in Rome. All in all, the Vatican was a good trip. Upon our departure from the Vatican, we took a bus to the Via del Corso (aka…the Roman knock-off of the Parisian Champs-Elysees). I'll be honest, the French have the Romans beat on the expensive street of shopping. But, my fiancé, Amanda, tells me that the real Italian shopping is found in Milan. (As you can imagine, two guys from Alabama are not really concerned about the fashion scene in Europe, but we have present to bring back, people!) We also walked up to the Piazza del Popolo, which used to be travelers' first view of Rome. After that, we were crazing some really fattening, American food, so, we went to the Hard Rock Café for some dinner. It definitely hit the spot! After dinner, we caught a bus home and crashed after a full day of touring in the hot, Roman sun! This morning, we woke up again around 8am, at some breakfast, and hopped a bus to the Coliseum. We decided to skip the long lines today and opt of a group tour of the Coliseum, and it was definitely a great way to spend to 10 euros. Our tour guide took us around the outside and the inside of the Coliseum, and I have to say that I could not have been more impressed. The Coliseum was big to my dad and I, and we live in the days of spending Saturdays in Bryant-Denny or some other immense stadium. As I looked at it and though about how huge it was, I could not help but think how huge it must have seemed to a Roman almost 2000 years ago! How impressive it must have been! In fact, you can tell that every stadium since then has imitated it is some shape, form, or fashion. Also, as we walked around in the Coliseum, we saw Lou Holtz (yes, Lou Holtz, the legendary Coach from Notre Dame that also coached at South Carolina before Steve Spurrier) walking around. LOL, being the tourists and football nut that my Dad and myself are, we hounded him down and got a picture with him. He was SUPER nice and told us that he was here with his grandsons being a tourist just like us. Small world, huh? After the Coliseum, we joined a different tour going through the Palatine, the palace of the Caesars of Ancient Rome. It was really neat to walk around and think that I was walking were Caesar Augustus, Julius Caesar, and so many other influential people walked. We saw the private arena that the Caesars enjoyed, pieces of marble that used to adorn the palaces, and we got the stand in the area that used to be the exact throne of the Caesars….pretty cool stuff, my friend. After that, we walked through the Roman Forum and look at all of those ruins. Again, how impressive that must have been 2000 years ago! We walked the Via Sacra (The Sacred Way) that the Caesars walked throughout the years to give sacrifices and walk to the Coliseum for games and festivals. Again, how cool is it to walk in the same exact places that these people once walked! After the Forum, we went to look at the Circus Maximus where the games and chariot races were held before the Coliseum was built. What used to be the center of Ancient Rome is now just an open field with a few mounds that children play soccer on and people walk for exercise. It makes you sit back and think about how quickly time changes things, doesn't it. Ancient Rome was one of , if not the, most powerful civilizations of all time, and I walked around ruins of it today. It really makes you think about how temporary life really is. Well, Dad and I are back at the hotel now. We are going to shower up and go find a nice Italian place that will attempt to make us fatter than we already are! Until next time… Ciao! Trey P.S. Please forgive/correct any misspelled words...the computer here did not have a spellcheck, and I am certainly not the world's greatest speller! :) |
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