This morning, we woke to church bells and ate a quick breakfast of yogurt and muesli before heading to our morning tour. Our guide was very entertaining and took us on a tour of contemporary Sweden. We had been expecting more of a historical tour, given the pattern of our other tours to date, but this one was actually quite interesting as it took a look at the implications of historical events, including the relationship of parliament to the crown, relations with neighboring Denmark, and their current plot for world domination: IKEA and H&M.

Most interesting to me were the stories of the bank robbery after which “Stockholm Syndrome” got its name (apparently, one of the captive bank employees was guest of honor at the robber’s wedding a number of years later!), and the etymology of the name Stockholm. Supposedly, the Swedes of the day, hearing that pirates were on the way, stashed their gold in a hollowed out log (stock) and said “wherever it lands, there shall be our home!” and it hit an island (sund).

After the tour, we asked our guide for a suggestion of where to have lunch and he invited us, along with a group of Austrian students to join him at an Irish Pub. Enjoying our Swedish Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes, Fish & Chips (caught fresh that day!), and Swedish libations, our guide regaled us with tales of his travels, the cost of University around the world (he actually gets paid to study), and basic tourism etiquette.

Saying farewell to this crew, we wondered around the watery walkways, took a nap in a park overlooking the water, and made our way back to our hostel to freshen up before our tour of the “Old Town” (the district in which our Hostel is located).

Our guide, from Arkansas, filled in a lot of the gaps in the history we’d missed; about the original Vikings (the Swedes and the Goths – for whom Gothenberg was named), historic battles, ghost stories in the palace, executions, and more.

After the tour, we decided to grab picnic supplies and have dinner in a scenic spot. I tasked Ray with finding “the most Swedish sandwich supplies” and he came through (his cursory knowledge of Swedish served us well!). We found a nice spot on a hill above the water and, despite the cruise ship crooner below us, it was perfection. Following a brief scare where we dropped our keys inside a slatted bench (thank goodness for thorny branches-turned-hooks!), we tucked into our salty meat and cheese sandwiches and giant blueberries.

We stayed in our lovely spot reading and watching people and boats for a good long time before relocating to a spot with a Western view to watch the sun set over the water.

Jessie often comments that my job writing here is easier because I get to cover travel days. Because we generally do three days in one place, then one day of travel, I really only cover one real day for every location. This is all true, but because I’ve written two double posts, I don’t feel so bad. Anyways, I only have one more post to write after this one, which is already a day late, so I’ll write this up quickly!

Our last morning in Budapest was our last chance to grab breakfast, so we walked down to the Brios cafe down the road, where we attempted to use up some of the last of our cash. We’ve had bad luck changing coins at airport currency exchanges, so we had to use what we had. I got an omelette with spinach, goat cheese, pine nuts, and bacon, and Jessie got a Croque Madame, with a side salad. Pictures to be added when the internet behaves a little better.

Our bellies full, we took our hour long commute to the airport, made it through the airport, and waited for the gate to be announced. We’re both at pivotal moments in the books we’re reading, so a little bit of down time didn’t hurt. Having a little bit of time, Jessie wandered the airport looking for postcards or snacks to spend our HUF on.

Before too long, our gate was announced and set to “boarding” status, so we had to move pretty quickly. I found Jessie looking at sweets and we were on our way. You could tell that the airport needed to expand, but couldn’t, as gates A14 through A19 were all located in what was essentially a shed outside of the airport, primarily for the budget lines. Jessie found a vending machine, and bought us a Kit-Kat and a Twix. She must know my favorites or something. This girl.

Flying into Sweden, you could see the archipelago, a slew of islands dotting the sea, and eventually turning into land. It was truly a beautiful sight, and like nothing I’d ever seen before.

Due to a software bug at work and a malfunctioning mouse on my laptop, we had to purchase a mouse. We also had to check in to our hostel before 6 pm. The specific mouse that I was looking for was only sold by a specific licensed Apple retailer in town. This didn’t seem like a problem, but they did not accept American cards with their signature based authentication. They also did not accept cash.

My psyche is still reeling from the ridiculousness that is a business that does not accept cash. Instead, we found a PC parts store that happily accepted cash. We were also blown away by his flawless American accent. It’s quite surreal how everyone sounds like an American.

From there, we made it over to our hostel in Gamla stan with only a few minutes before the office closed. Success!

Now having access to stable and fast internet, with a working mouse, I spent a good half hour to an hour making a fix to a website for work. With that project finally fixed (I had tried fixing it the night before, when my mouse stopped working), we were ready to go out for dinner!

We ventured over to Södermalm for some fish out of a food truck. Jessie got a fried fish burrito, and I got a fried fish burger. I tried ordering with my provisional Norwegian / Swedish knowledge, but I think he just repeated everything back in English. The place was a little grungy, but the food was great! Other than the cook / teller, there was a man who was taking garbage and recyclables. He never really said much, but he was very diligent.

We left the restaurant with our hands smelling like a weird combination of fish from dinner and sulfur from the baths a day before. I wonder if our cat will recognize us when we get home.

While waiting for our shuttle to take us to Memento Park, we munched on meat-filled pastries (essentially slightly-nicer Hot Pockets) and iced coffee. Our shuttle ride to the park was so quick and relatively scenic that we hardly needed to use the books we’d brought along.

Arriving at Memento Park, our guide explained some of the memorials from the Soviet Era that lie in front of us including a replica of all that was left of the giant Stalin Statue (formerly located in Hero’s Square) – just two boots where the newly liberated people had chopped it down.

The park was fascinating. Not just for the monuments themselves, but also for the symbolism the park’s architect had worked into the place, including a grand entrance that, once inside, revealed it was only a flimsy facade.

The park, intentionally or not, took a somewhat humorous, mocking tone. Statues given nicknames like “Coatcheck Boy;” busts pointing to the revisionist history of the era (including this one meant to depict this man); and statues who, after they’d been defaced, caused rainwater to fall is such a way that it appeared as though the gallant soldier was continually wetting himself.

With “Coatcheck Boy”

The one that resonated the most for me, though, was a statue of a noble-looking Russian solider/liberator. His original place was at the base of the Liberty Statue that still stands atop Gellért Hill. She, by herself, is extremely awe-inspiring and seems to speak to the tenacity of the Hungarian people. However, knowing the original pairing of these two, the Liberty Statue takes on a much more sombre and authoritarian tone.

Ray making a reluctant friend

Arriving back in the heart of the city, we grabbed some Gelato to try and ward off some of the midday heat. Looking for a place to print our boarding passes, we stumbled upon a Cat Cafe and had to go in. A lemonade, radler, and a couple of aloof kitties later, we were back on the trail, finding our print shop in a rather hidden courtyard. These little allies are actually pretty common in the city but I’ve been wary of exploring too many, as most seem to just be peoples’ back yards! From here, we made our way to the House of Terror.

In 2002, community members decided to turn this innocuous looking building into a memorial to all of those who suffered and died at the hands of first the Nazis, then the Soviets. This building served as headquarters for both regimes. The basement was used as a prison and, when they ran out of room, was linked to basements of surrounding homes to make additional prisons, torture chambers, and space for executions.

The museum was sombre to say the least. Each section told the story of a different aspect of the oppression and abuse through not only text and video, but through the rooms themselves: vast spaces made to look like courtrooms plastered in endless reams of paperwork, and election hall which revealed a wire tapping office behind, a giant cross installed directly into the floorboards as if to reclaim the space for freedom of religion.

The cellar was the most difficult. I found myself nearly running through it just to have it over with. At the very end was a dimly lit room with the names of the victims, followed boldly by a brightly lit room with names and photos of the victimizers.

So often, these spaces serve (honorably so) only to memorialize those who suffered so needlessly, but I was so impressed with how this space called out those who carried out the atrocities. People with faces and names so similar to their victims. So similar to me, really. How this isn’t necessarily something that happens far away by other people, but that it can happen to us. It was chilling and raw.

With both Memento Park and the House of Terror (framed as it is, literally, as if to point out even to casual passers by “this happened here!”), I am so in awe of the Hungarian people’s ability and willingness to name this awful aspect of their (fairly recent) history. To publicly acknowledge something that would be so much easier to forget.

Looking around in a Ruin Pub

Slightly disoriented, we made our way to Instant, a ruin pub. These are bars that the young folks created in unclaimed ruins of homes, businesses, etc. We purposely went before evening to avoid the party crowd. It was interesting to peek around the different rooms to see how they’d been decorated!

No picnic is complete without a cosmonaut cup full of wine.

As the sun began to set, we decided to bookend our stay with another picnic on the Danube, seeing now not only pretty buildings, but also shadows of red stars and monuments of soldiers, being able to direct passers-by to the Holocaust memorial we’d passed the night before, and reflecting on the power of people to stand up for humanity. It is a beautiful city, yes. But more than that, it is strong, tenacious, and proud.

So due to some complications that I’m sure will be addressed eventually, not to mention how the day ended, this post is coming two days late. It covers July 11th.

Jessie is great at planning. I’m not. When putting this trip together, I essentially listed off places that I’d like to go, figured out an order, and arranged transportation. Jessie spent a lot of time thinking about fun activities to do in various places.

The night before, we had decided on a very specific schedule, which looked something like this:

8-10 am: Eat breakfast at nearby Briós Kavezo.
10-2 pm: Terror Museum
2-3 pm: Lunch at Great Market Hall
3-6 pm: National Art Museum
7-9 pm: Drinking wine on a boat
10-11pm: Write post

That is not what ended up happening. Instead, we slept in. We’re hard working travelers, on our feet for 10+ hours a day! We deserve some rest. Breakfast was skipped.

We made our way over to the Terror Museum, which promised to be a heartbreaking exhibit chronicling Hungary’s resolve while under the control of the Nazis and Soviets. However, it was a Monday. Monday means that no museums are open.

With our day’s schedule changed, we make our way to the first planned stop. The Great Market Hall is a beautiful giant building that looks almost like it was once a great train station. The basement and first floor house produce vendors selling meats, cheeses, paprikas, breads, and tourist kitsch. The second floor was what we had really come for: Hungarian Street Food

Lángos

Kolbice

Jessie and I split a few different food items. First, was Lángos, which is a fried dough traditionally with cheese and sour cream. It has since evolved into a more pizza like food, where you add whatever sounds good to you and your gut at the time. Next up was Kolbice, which is several sausages in a baked cone of bread. We doctored ours to have chili sauce, mustard, and sauerkraut. Not an easy thing to eat, and even more difficult to set down.

Reconfiguring our schedule, we decided that today was the day to visit the baths. Budapest is situated on top of a large number of hot springs. Some of the baths that are now in use date back to the Ottoman Empire. There were a lot to choose from, but we chose Király due to its relative proximity as well as allowing both men and women at the same time.

Király contains a series of pools of different sizes and temperatures, various sauna rooms, a steam room, jacuzzis, massage room, and a relaxing courtyard. Unable to read the directions on the wall, we were sure we were doing something wrong, or in the wrong order, but we enjoyed it all the same. The main pool was underneath a dome and was lit naturally by a series of small overhead windows. The water was from the hot springs and contained a list of different nutrients. I’m not entirely sure that I pulled the medicine from the water, but I definitely smelled like a hard boiled egg at the end.

We entered the steam room not entirely knowing what to expect. The air inside was very hot and damp. Breathing in through my nose scalded my sinuses. If I breathed through my mouth, I couldn’t feel the air move in and out. It took a second try to actually sit in the room for any real amount of time, but it was worth it for the plunge into the cold water bath just outside the door.

After the baths we went home to drop off some things, and then we made a quick dash to the convenience store. Knowing that we were about to have 7 glasses of wine, it may be a good idea to put some food in our collective bellies.

The wine boat ride was a bit silly. We were situated at a table with two Swiss men. They and their wives had been biking along the river for several days, stopping at various towns along the way. They were fun companions, the ideal wine snobs who thumbed their noses at all but 2 of the offerings. Clearly the unsophisticated Americans, Jessie and I happily drank what was served as the boat swam up and down the Danube.

There was a string trio that was fascinating me. They were clearly very skilled musicians, and were eager to play folk, gypsy, contemporary, or classical music, expecting a tip. They played excellently, but they were loud to the point where you couldn’t hear the people at your own table. The violinist would walk table to table, expecting requests, then tips, then for you to buy a CD. It was quite a racket they had going for them. It was like subway performers who don’t leave. 

The viola player played his viola sideways, using his prodigious girth as a shoulder rest of sorts. I’ll need to try this when I get back to the States.

The night ended shortly after. We made it home safely, and quickly fell asleep.

-Ray

This morning we had a few of our remaining nectarines from yesterday on our way tour our Budapest tour. Our guide is from here originally and works for the airlines. Confirming our suspicions, she informed us that Hungarian is one of the most difficult languages to learn, containing 44 characters. She taught us a few words, including “Szia” (sounds like “see ya”) for hello, “Hello” for goodbye, and (I may have this wrong) “megkaposztasitottalanitottatok” which means something to the effect of “you didn’t put enough cabbage in that food.”

The tour was really nice, though less about history than many of our tours so far – it was much more about the current Budapest. Which, in retrospect, makes sense given that their history is not exactly a happy one. They were occupied by the Nazis during WWII and then “liberated” by the Soviets who then held power until as late as 1989. So it’s really no wonder they are more interested in talking about the future and where they are going as an independent nation than about their sad history.

Budapest is split down the middle by the Danube River (which, by the way we can see out the window of our room! And yes, it is blue at night in contrast with the orange lights of the city). On the Western side is Buda, on the Eastern side is Pest. Our guide said there are two kinds of people here: those who live in Buda and those who want to live in Buda. Though, I must say from what I’ve seen so far, Pest (where we are staying) has a great deal to offer!

At the top of Castle Hill. On the left is the Parliament building. The place we’re staying is right behind it. The bridge is the Chain Bridge, and the other tallest building (on the right) is St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

Chimney Cake!

Our tour took us around Pest first, and then across the chain bride into Buda. Before ascending Castle Hill, we had to try some Lángos (essentially a sausage wrapped in cheese, wrapped in bread, deep fried, salted, and smothered in garlic). It was pretty awesome. Thankfully our hike up the hill burned off all those calories (right?!). After our tour we meandered around Buda a bit more, taking a peek inside the palace (now an art museum) and snacking on Kürtőskalács or Chimney Cake.

Chimes Concert

We retraced our steps back to Pest, hitting a local artist market and listening to a “chimes concert” in front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. on our way to Andrássy út.

Andrássy út (street) is a long boulevard passing old elegant homes. It ends at Városliget, a park housing a zoo, thermal baths, a monument park and more. We walked around a bit before finding a spot to sit with our books near the man-made lake. We are guessing it is also directly above a subway line because we could hear and feel clanking and vibrating below us on a regular basis.

After some time reading, napping, watching boats, and ducks, and tightrope walkers, we were ready for dinner.

As per our Airbnb host’s recommendation, we stopped at Menza where we tried traditional Hungarian goulash, stuffed cabbage, pork loin, a spritzer (soda water was invented here!), and Pálinka (a Hungarian fruit brandy aperitif).

Pork Loin

Stuffed Cabbage

Today was primarily a travel day, so there is not much to report. The shuttle, flight, shuttle, and arrival were all smooth and uneventful, so I’ll leave out the details.

Instead, I will tell you how beautiful this city is. Getting off of our last stop before arriving at our destination, we walk across a plaza containing the Hungarian Parliament Building. This building is a youngster compared to everything we saw in Rome. It was built in 1904 out of white stone, and overlooks the Danube.

The weather here feels much cooler, although it’s fairly comparable to the weather in Rome. There are some gigantic differences between the two.

Firstly, the small amount we’ve seen is very green. There are several parks with lush grass and trees. Secondly, the area seems a lot more open. The streets are open, and the calm river seems like a gigantic park connecting the two halves: Buda and Pest. Third: It’s so clean here. Where in Barcelona, Rome, London, Glasgow, and pretty much everywhere else we’ve been, you get used to seeing trash lining the streets, here it’s a rare occurrence.

We are hosted a block away from the parliament building, between two parks and the river. For dinner today, we went to the nearby Aldi to pick up some wine, nectarines, sandwich materials, and a Hungarian poppy seed pastry. The sun set on us as we had a great picnic and watched the boats go by.

-Ray

With sore feet and heavy hearts from the news the night before, we let ourselves sleep in this morning. We took the day relatively easy. Our agenda today was primarily to see “the sights.”

First things first, though, we had to go about the business of finding a place to print our plane tickets. For some reason, RyanAir insists that you print your tickets. We aimed for a printing place we’d found on Google, but it was not there. In the scorching sun, we hiked around the streets trying to find another one and finally stopped in at a hotel where the clerk graciously agreed to print them for us.

Our first stop was the Roman Forum. This was essentially the “downtown” of ancient Rome. We had another audio tour from Rick Steves which really helped to understand what we were looking at. We spent the majority of the time sitting on a toppled column gazing at the ruins and listening to stories of Julius Cesar’s betrayal and death, the Vestal Virgins’ punishment if they became “unchaste,” the Jewish diaspora, and more. What was most fascinating to me was how much of what we now know as part of Catholicism had its roots in Ancient Rome. For example, the courthouses they called Basilicas. Because nearly every town had a Basilica already, turning those into churches helped the spread of Christianity around the Roman world. Especially impressive considering that only 100 years before it became the official religion of Rome, being a Christian was a crime punishable by death.

From here we hiked up Palatine Hill where all of the Emperors built their palaces. Having seen Hadrian’s palace yesterday and with the midday sun scorching (my sandals literally stuck to the ground if I stood still too long), we didn’t feel too bad about ducking into the museum that featured artwork recovered from the palaces. In all honesty, seeing these artifacts really helped me understand the evolution of the role of the Emperors from one to another – through their tastes in art.

We’d neglected to eat yet and figured we ought to do that before heading on to the Colosseum. The water misters on the sidewalk cafe near the ruins drew us in. We had some mediocre, overpriced pizza, but there was a LOT of it, so we ended up not needing to eat for the rest of the day!

Finally, we made our way to the Colosseum. The lines at this time of day were graciously shorter than earlier in the day and we were able to get in relatively quickly. Listening to another audio tour, we found shade and took in the hugeness of the space.

We thought it’d be nice to end the day at a park and overheard a guide talking about the old horse racing area, the Circus Maximus, and headed that way. Unfortunately, Rome is not known for its soft green grass. After a couple minutes tromping through dusty, prickly grass in search of a shade tree to no avail, we turned back. Romans apparently do not care for people to sit down: we passed through three other parks with no benches before finally finding one that worked.

Ray got a text message about an urgent issue at work, so we headed back. I showered (boy, did we get grimy!) while Ray worked. At sunset, we went to grab a couple glasses of wine at the little place across the street and toasted our last night in Rome.

I started writing a post last night, but with news about the recent shootings in Falcon Heights and Baton Rouge, I needed a second to process. Apparently I’m not going to get it with what just happened in Dallas. But I’m not going to talk about any of that.

We spent the better part of a late night researching the best day trip that we could take that would give us the best balance in travel time, cost, and things to see. Initial thoughts were to go to Naples and Pompeii, but the travel time ended up being close to 4 hours one way, and the travel cost ended up being an average of €30 each way.

Instead, we went to Tivoli. Tivoli is located only about 20 miles east of Rome. The train goes pretty slowly, so it still took us about an hour to get there, but I love riding trains, so I didn’t complain!

Tivoli is an ancient city that houses several parks and villas. It was a favorite retreat spot of Hadrian, the ancient Roman emperor who built the Pantheon and the famous Hadrian’s Wall that separates Scotland and England. He also built a huge villa in Tivoli.

Another villa, Villa d’Este, is the reason you may have heard of Tivoli before. Paris, once upon a time, had a large park named Tivoli that was based off of Villa d’Este. Then Copenhagen has an amusement park based on the Parisian park (that I’ve skirted the outside of back in 2010, but never got to visit). For a full list of things named after Tivoli, go here.

After getting off the train, we followed the two other small groups of tourists, stopping at the same convenience store for bus tickets, then stopping again at the same bus stop. It was like Jessie and I had stumbled on tour guides, and didn’t have to ask any difficult questions. We just jumped on the bus, and rode it down the side of the mountain to the valley where Villa Adriana (Hadrian’s Villa) was situated.

The villa was a marvel. It was designed by Hadrian itself, and sprawls over 250 acres of baths, libraries, courtyards, reflecting ponds, military stations, tunnels, and orchards. Much of the original villa has collapsed and been buried over time, leaving a large collection of ruined brick buildings.

We opted to take the audio tour, which I am reasonably confident was a good idea. The audio guide used directions like, “On the left, on the right”, without telling us where we were supposed to be. It also used words, like “triclinium,” “portico,” and “heliocaminus,” with little or no explanation.

We spent a good 5 hours wandering. The villa proves hard to write about, because so much of the allure of the place was in its antiquity and ruin. Photos don’t really give the sense of scale that you feel there either. But I’ll try:

From there, we returned to town on the bus, ending up at our next stop. Before we got embarked on another villa, we needed some food. We quickly found a little restaurant / pizzeria. The woman behind the counter didn’t speak any english, but was willing to try to help us out. This was a refreshing change of pace from the impatient Romans who are worn from centuries of tourism. We learned that they did not accept card, but there was an ATM down the road and to the left. We returned, and had a great pair of paninis.

The Villa d’Este was built onto the side of a hill. Unlike the Villa Adriana, this location was contained to a single building. This building had room after room of frescos and artifacts. After seeing the Vatican Museum, I was pretty tired of ancient roman artifacts and frescos, so we eagerly buzzed from room to room to make it to the main attraction: the gardens.

The Villa’s gardens are a multi-level park of fountain after fountain. contrasting the cool wet air with the hot dry air just down the mountain at Adriana, this place was a paradise. We stopped at every fountain, soaking our feet, trying to cool off. You couldn’t help but be in a good mood when you were there. After seeing the main attractions, we sat at the reflecting pool opposite the main fountain, dipped our feet in, and relaxed, (sneaking an orange or three from the nearby orange trees) until the place closed.

The train ride home went more or less smoothly… except that we were charged €50 per person for not validating our €2.60 tickets. This was a disappointing set back, bringing the cost of travel still less than going to Pompei. Jessie and I are still pretty sore about that. (Seriously, that clause was written in light gray on the back of our white ticket. I’ll be very careful next time I buy tickets to a movie from now on. Always read the fine print.)

We returned to rome at Tiburtina station, took the subway to the colosseum station, and stopped for food once again at Luzzi. This late in the night, it was much busier. We were book-ended by Italians who were talking about America. They ended up criticizing Jessie’s food choice. “Chicken? You come to Rome and get Chicken?)

I’ve been thinking a lot about why traveling is worth while. I think the goal is to try and be more of a visitor than a tourist. So far, Rome has been the hardest place to avoid sticking out, but I think that’s part of the whole experience. There are many more places let to see in Italy, so I’d better get used to it if I ever want to see them!

This city.

It is just about as romantic as they say. I never really knew what people meant when they said a city was “romantic” but now I get it (and not only because it is the city at the core of the word itself!).

For this morning, we had scheduled a walking tour of the city. On the way, we kept our eyes peeled for somewhere to eat breakfast. According to what I’ve read, Italians don’t really do breakfast. The closest you can get is “cappuccino e cornetto” – a teeny strong frothy coffee and croissant. The internet experts say that Italians take their coffee VERY seriously and consider it a sacrilege to have your coffee to go. However, we were in a hurry, so we grabbed and go’d.

We met up with our guide at the Spanish Steps (which were being repaired and therefore a little less impressive than I’m sure they would be otherwise). All told, this was not the best tour we’ve had, but it was interesting and we got to see some things we probably wouldn’t have come across otherwise including this impressive painted dome. The architect knew that putting a real dome on the building would cause it to sink, so instead they chose to paint one on canvas in forced perspective. Pretty neat!

My favorite thing we saw was the Pantheon which has been in existence since 118-128AD. I have zero concept of how old that is. Originally dedicated to the Roman gods, it is still in use today as a Catholic church (the hole at the top is called the demon’s hole because, supposedly, when it was dedicated as a Catholic church, all of the pagan demons fled through the hole). The dome is made of a cement which features volcanic ash and is the largest dome that is not supported by a metal framework.

After our tour we headed toward the Vatican. As tired as our feet are at the end of the day, there is so much more one can see on foot than on public transit! We stopped for cheesy sandwiches at a little cafe along the way. All of these restaurants charge extra if you sit, so we took full advantage and rested our feet until our server finally asked, in a highly implied manner, if we needed coffee or something.

After a bit of scouting around the walls of Vatican City, we finally found the entrance to the Vatican Museums, where the Sistine Chapel is located. Masses of people on a mission to see the chapel slowly crawled through many many rooms containing various artifacts and gifts donated to / acquired by different popes through the ages. Finally, we reached the Sistine Chapel. At first look, I was surprised at how relatively small it was.

Ray had the foresight to download some audio tours from Rick Steves which really shed amazing meaning on the frescos. And, yes, they absolutely live up to the hype. It was so clear that Michelangelo was a sculptor before he was a painter. His knowledge and precise renderings of the human form and perspective is beyond words. A few of my favorite characters (the Libyan Sibyl and Jonah) were larger than life and seemed to really be sitting, as giants, on the ceiling.

My favorite piece though, surprisingly, was a piece Michelangelo did nearly 30 years after the ceiling behind the alter depicting the last judgement. There are over 300 bodies in this piece, each a remarkable artistic study of the human form. My favorite tidbit from the audio tour: If you look at the man to the right of Jesus’ foot, he is holding a flayed skin. This was Michelangelo’s self portrait. He seems to, after years of working tirelessly on this chapel, not see himself as fit to enter heaven.

In the Vatican Museums with St. Peter’s Basilica in the background

We took a little rest on the grounds outside before making our way to St. Peter’s Basilica – the security lines were SO much shorter than at the beginning of the day! Ray had also downloaded an audioguide for this and I’m so glad he did. Not being raised Catholic, St. Peter’s significance never occurred to me. All I knew was that Jesus had a disciple named Peter who denied him, who cut off a guard’s ear, and who was told he was the rock upon which he would build his church. Oh, and he guards the gates of heaven.

Turns out Peter went to the “evil city of Rome” to spread the word and was crucified by Nero. Supposedly, he was buried where St Peter’s Basilica now stands. The rock. I get it. And, each succeeding pope has carried on Peter’s legacy and holy charge.

The Basilica itself, from a purely architectural standpoint, is incredible. Two football fields long, with 7 foot tall lettering around the top, adult-size sculptures of babies, and a dome taller than one football field. It is an impressive sight. And yet, the architects managed to make it feel cozy, by enhancing forced perspective to make the ceiling and the main altar seem closer. It is truly marvelous.

We ended our touring in St. Peter’s Square, watching children chase birds as the sun began to set, reflecting on the need for kindness and understanding in the world.

With rumbly tummies, we stopped at Bonci Pizzarium, a virtual smorgasbord of different kinds of pizzas. We each ordered two kinds and split them. And we discovered that pigeons do not care for red peppers.

We decided to walk the 2.5 miles back to our place. With the sun setting, it became immensely clear why so many amazing artists came from this city. It is truly truly beautiful.

Barcelona is hot. Certainly, there are places that are hotter, but there is a reason that I live as far north as I do. Our room had a giant door which takes up most of the rear facing wall. In order to keep ourselves cool, we left that door open.

At 3:30 in the morning, I woke up from a combination of terribly annoying sea birds and itches from what must be mosquitos. I went to grab a glass of water from the kitchen, but felt wide awake. Accidentally slamming the door, I woke Jessie. We both had our various methods of getting back to sleep. Mine was to read, hers was to answer work e-mails.

We awoke in the morning from the alarm, packed and left for the airport. There was a plan to go visit Park Güell early in the morning, but our lack rest made the choice to skip it an easy one.

Our flight from Barcelona to Rome was easy, and brought us into town in the evening. The bus from the airport primed us for the marvels we were about to see. Ruined walls and old churches were everywhere! You could see traces of an aqueduct following the road up the the termini.

Arriving in town, we met with our gracious AirBnB host, who showed us our spacious room, offered us a bottle of water, and listed places to go. We made our way towards the Colosseum, stopping for dinner at Luzzi.

Surprisingly, the area was not overrun by tourists. We were able to walk around and enjoy the blue skies, fresh air, and ancient ruins. Most places were closed off, requiring tickets that we didn’t have, so we were limited to just the exterior, but the little that we did see was transcendental in its own right. Two thousand years is almost unfathomable, but you can see the passage of time shaken into the foundation of these antique buildings, and share the same sense of awe that an ancient Roman felt in their presence.

-Ray