Now that we have our whine out of the way let us tell you of the things we did like today!

We had planned to get up early and go check out the sisten chapel and then take another train to the coliseum. These plans changed however though when we accidently slept in, despite an alarm being set. Oops. After a very nice and cheap breakfast across the road we made our way to the sisten chapel where we were able to enter the museum with little fuss and queuing. It was wonderful! We did have a look through the museum, you have to as it’s set up in such a way that you have to snake through all the bits and bobs of art and artifacts before you make your way to the infamous sisteen chapel, where you see the art work of the great (and late) Michelangelo. This was AMAZING.

The hall room is jam packed with tourists, you can barely find room to stand, but you don’t mind as the work around you is so breath taking and detailed you forget about everything else. The paintings show so many different aspects of Jesus’ life and ministry and they also show Moses’ story, these paintings are all along the sides of the room.

The roof was made up of all these little paintings showing different apostles, stories, interpretations, all wonderful, and of course, on the roof here is the famous “Hand of David” painting. This painting shows God reaching down to touch David’s. David is weak and limp and Gods hand is strong and powerful and you can tell that by one touch David’s strength will be restored. This is a lovely painting and I took in this one for a very long time!

The biggest and most detailed painting takes up one whole wall. Chris and I interpreted this as being ‘Armageddon’ This painting shows angels above pulling people heavenwards, while others below them blow trumpets and then below them, demons pull at and torment people. Chris really liked this one and appreciated all the work and time that must have gone into painting this masterpiece.

After this (and a few very sneaky, blurry photos) we made our way back out into the blistering heat and made our way towards the Spanish steps. It was very impressive here, huge steps leading up to a grand old building. Chris tried to coax me all the way to the top of the stairs; I only made it half way. Energy had to be reserved I felt as the heat was sapping it straight from me. On the plus side though, we were able to buy a very cheap, not so great looking but practical none the less, sun umbrella to ‘protect’ me somewhat from the nasty rays that would otherwise burn my pale English/Irish skin (can thank my mum for that)

We slowly made our way on towards the Trivi fountain. A HUGE fountain with amazing statues and art work. We were both very impressed by this monument, but so with the amount of tourists! It was crazy how many people were crowding around this semi circle area to take in the site. We had some very quick photos, a very quick ice cream and moved on away from the crush of people and where we could breath.

The pythanon was our next stop. This huge dome is made from marble and has been in use since the day of the Romans, meaning, it’s about 2000 – 3000 years old. Very impressive! It’s rather empty looking inside now, apart from a few catholic statues, an alter and some pews, which we took full use of and sat down in with much delight.

It wasn’t long before we were up and walking again though, making our way slowly on towards the Coliseum. As we walked in this general direction we passed the impressive monument Emanuel II and then past the forum on towards the coliseum.

We didn’t actually go into the Coliseum, but we can say with complete sincerity that this site is HUGE! It’s beautiful and historic and you can just feel the history and past oozing from it! While we would have loved to go in, we just did not have the energy to do so. I know that sounds like a complete cope out but it’s so true. Despite drinking gallons and gallons of water to keep hydrated we were both suffering terribly from the heat with pounding headaches, sore feet and drenched in sweat now. The line up was over 40 minute wait and we near collapsed at the thought of having to line up for that long! We decided not to go in but were delighted when we found a high point while walking around the building that allowed us to see through the ‘windows’ of the Coliseum and into it. While we weren’t able to see everything of course, we were able to get a good idea and feel for it from here. We were a bit chuffed with this discovery as it was in the shade and gave us a free ‘look’ into the site!

We then DRAGGED ourselves back to the Metro, where we stumbled onto the busiest, stuffiest carriage we could find (please note that that is extreme sarcasm) and then made the short ride back to the hotel where we collapsed onto the bed and welcomed the intense air conditioning. We know that with global warming etc at the moment we’re told to take things like air conditioning a little slower, but the professionals suggesting all this have clearly never been to Rome in the summer time. If so they would understand that air conditioning to the extreme is vital for the survival of the Romans and their guests.

A dinner of “pick your own pizza slices to make a full pizza” was had along with a few chilled drinks and we then lazed about the hotel for the rest of the night relaxing and catching up on emails etc. Up early tomorrow to go to Imola and meet some of my wonderful friends!

written by  Chris and Emily on July 24, 2009 from Rome, Italy
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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Once we arrived at Roma’s huge main train station “termini” we set about attempting to find our hotel. The heat in Rome was crazy and as it was close to Midday it was about as hot as the day was going to get, this made wandering the streets trying to find the right one really difficult. I made the mistake of not checking satellite view on Google maps before we left so I didn’t exactly know how the streets related to the train station so we ended up a fair few blocks to far north of where we wanted to be. After some serious huffing and puffing we finally found the hotel and where “delighted” with it’s proximity to the train station! The room was ready so we embraced its comfy bed and air-conditioned bliss and proceeded to have a well deserved siesta for 3 hours before finally heading out into the heat again.

The Metro station was at the main train station so at least we didn’t have trouble finding it; we jumped on the train and headed to Vatican City. We grabbed a drink and a coffee at a café near the metro before heading to VC to have a look around. I had a macchiato and am happy to say that Italian coffee is as good in Rome as it was in Venice a welcome change after some of the interesting things I have been served up when ordering macchiato in other cities.

The Vatican is very impressive a huge round square (if that makes sense) greets you when you pass through the arches of its outer wall. There are two big fountains and a tower thingy with some holy person on top; I suspect either the man himself or his mum can’t tell the all dressed the same back in those days. At the pointy end of the round square is the basilica a pretty impressive looking building that reminds me a lot of st pauls in London, after taking the required photos of the statues, fountains and grandeur of the square (the round one remember) we headed to the queue for the basilica dreading what we might find, but in the end we didn’t want at all just a minute to get through the security scan then straight through, Em was wearing a dress that covered her shoulders but didn’t have sleeves and the dude at the gate looked like he wasn’t going to let her in for a minute, they are very strict on clothing for the basilicas in Italy and it made me chuckle a little when the girl in front of us who’s outfit really wasn’t leaving much to the imagination walked right by 2 or 3 signs depicting the dress code and then looked so amazed that they wouldn’t let her in!

The inside of the basilica was very interesting with all it’s painted roofs, statues and stuff but it’s all pretty similar to the other big churches we have seen, I did like the story of the grave of the apostle Peter that was found back in 150AD or something and was the reason the basilica was built there, you can just see the mosaic of Jesus that the tomb is supposed to be behind.

After the basilica we headed back to the Metro stopping for some Pizza on the way, we ended up with way more food then we could manage even though we hadn’t really eaten all day. Then it was a metro ride and bed.

written by  Chris and Emily on July 23, 2009 from Rome, Italy
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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It was hard to pack our stuff after having a break from it all for so long. None the less, we were able to cram all our stuff back into the packs with just a little effort.

We wanted to be good house guests, so, to achieve this we decided to clean up Koras apartment, it didn’t take long but it was an effort thanks to the extreme heat we experienced today. To treat ourselves (and award ourselves for our gallant effort) we walked to the local ice cream parlour and brought ourselves a cone each, which melted faster than we could lick. It was a messy outing. We then begrudgingly thought that we’d better go to the supermarket to replace some of the goods that we have used throughout the past two weeks. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to buy these things; it was just the fact that it was sooo hot! We brought a few bits and bobs and carried them home as fast as we could, which, thanks to the thick heat, wasn’t very fast at all.

After this outing we didn’t do much but lie about moaning “aaaaarrrrghhhh, it’s SO bloody hot!” and copy some music to our IPods, then before we knew it Max and Kora arrived home.

We always look forward to them returning home, but this time it was tinged with sadness as we knew that this meant that we would soon have to get going. We’ve enjoyed our visit to Germany so much and it’s all been thanks to Max and Kora. Without them we wouldn’t have seen the things we did, experienced the food and drink, had such a great laugh and been able to relax the way we have. We can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for us; we’ll always remember them, and this part of the trip, very very fondly.
Chris here now. I can’t thank Kora enough for looking after us so well and being such a good host and Max for being so kind to us, cooking for us and showing us around, Max would make a very good tour guide he’s very funny and great at explaining the history of stuff… cool stuff like the Porta Nigra in Trier.

When Max and Kora got home they had something quick to eat then we chatted for a while, exchanged last minute details and jumped in the car. Kora drove us to the train station that we thought was about an hour away turn out it’s more like an hour and a half, time seems to pass differently when you are on the Autobahn doing 160km/h but we made it to the train station with 15 minutes to spare. Max being his usually thoughtful and kind self realized that we really hadn’t eaten anything as we were planning to have dinner at the train station as we thought we would have time so Max ran off to get us some food and made it back just before the train pulled up at the station. We clambered onto the train and Max went up the carriage with Em to try and to find what cabin we are in but the train wasn’t stopped at this station for long and before we knew it the whistle was being blown and max had to run through the carriage, give me a quick man hug and jump through the closing door like in a Hollywood movie. Em and I opened the window and waved to them as the train pulled away from the station, also kinda Hollywood. It was so sad to say goodbye to them but hopefully we will be able to catch up with them somehow before we leave Europe. We are planning on heading back to France to go to a holiday house near La Rochelle the end of next month to stay with Inga and with some luck Max might be able to join us there.

We are now on the train heading towards Italy and at the moment our 4 bed cabin is just Em and I but the conductor said another person is joining us in Frankfurt so no more private cabin.

written by  Chris and Emily on July 22, 2009 from Trier, Germany
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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Inga once more put on an amazing spread of food that served as breakfast and as we nibbled on these goodies we discussed what the plan would be today.

We made our way to the museum of German history, which only tells of the history from 1945. I guess they don’t want to relive, or have to remember the past before that. We all know what happened then. It was interesting and it did give you a slightly different perspective than what you originally walked in with. It was here also that we learnt that Bonn was once the capital of Germany that was a very interesting fact! While the museum was interesting and educational, it was the museum shops that I really loved! They had very cool, very fun bits and pieces in them; I spent a lot of time wondering about there!

We didn’t go in per say, but we did also stop to look at the architecture of the modern art museum. It was very very impressive. They have a stair case that is in the shape of an hour glass and a very funky water machine that drops water down in such a way that it makes up words as it falls. It was very entertaining!

Inga then took us up to Petersburg. A hill in Bonn that has a very impressive hotel/restaurant on it and apparently all the presidents who visit Germany go up there for conferences, meals and to stay. The view from up there is fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed sitting out side eating the most fabulous cake and sipping our hot drinks.

The day really flew today and before we knew it we were heading back to Inga’s where we met Kora, had another drink and rest before heading back to Trier to meet Max for dinner. After this we went back to Max’s place to watch some of the IT Crowd series, which we LOVE, it was a nice evening to top off what had already been a lovely day!

written by  Chris and Emily on July 21, 2009 from Bonn, Germany
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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Long sleep in (still recovering from Bruges) popped some washing on, made a potato salad (we have to eat!) and then a day of just lazily lying about playing on the net, with games and reading. Lovely.

We then had to pack our bag once more as tonight we're off to Cologne with Kora to visit her sister (and Chris' other distant rellie) for the night. We will then spend tomorrow in Cologne checking out the sights.

A wonderful, lazy day!

written by  Chris and Emily on July 20, 2009 from Trier, Germany
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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Max returned to the hotel with the important Coke while Chris and I head to the tower in the town centre and climbed the 366 steep stairs to the top to take in the amazing view. It was lovely up there; you can see all of Bruges, which is just like a fairy tale. It was a real hike up to the top, but even more of a pain coming down, the stairs being so narrow and windy made it a little dangerous coming down with not many hand holds to cling too. When we finally made it to ground level we were surprised to see a huge queue of people that snaked out the entry building and out doors. We always seem to have luck in missing the queue!

We then head to the chocolate section of town to sample what was claimed to be ‘the best hot chocolate in town’… and it was SOOOO good!! I don’t think I’ll ever have one as good as that again in my life! We also managed to pick up a few boxes of fresh hand made chocolates for later, and also one for Max and Kora as a thank you gift for the lovely weekend we had.

We all met up an hour or so later and made our way to lunch, which was a quick affair as we had to hit the road again and make our way back to Trier, a 4 hour drive. We stocked up on water and some chocolates and head off, Max driving and making the trip a quick one thankfully.

We all fell into our comfortable seats/beds and put on a film to watch… and decided that the most appropriate to watch would be ‘In Bruges’ and found it fun to be able to sit there and yell out “been there!” or “saw that!” in various sections before putting on another film and relaxing. It was a very quiet night, which was good and we eventually called it a night at around 11pm. Phew, what a day!

written by  Chris and Emily on July 19, 2009 from Brugge, Belgium
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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Bruges is lovely! Full of beautiful old gothic buildings and cobblestoned streets. Horse and cart dominate the streets and tourists stop at every corner to look at the chocolate stores and decide which goodie they’ll eat next.

Bruges is famous for several reasons. Chocolate (obviously) hot chips with various sauces (mayonnaise, tartar sauce, curry sauce, pickles… take your choice) beer, waffles and… the film “In Bruges”. I’m happy to say that our diet went out the window today as we sampled all these high in fat and sugar goodies (I must say that they were all very very delicious) and were able to take a good tour of the town centre where we saw quite a few of the land mark sites from the film. It was a lovely day, we saw so much and were able to take a little boat tour, and it was very nice!

Bruges has many many beautiful cathedrals, buildings, shops and little homes that are situated right on the waterfront, just gorgeous!

We stopped for a quick drink by the water front before moving on as it was just a little chilly by the water, our next stop was dinner. Max and Kora have both been to Bruges before and Max became quite happy as we stumbled upon the restaurant he first ate in during his first visit to Bruges, then as we were seated at the table he had last time. It was very sweet! Dinner was delicious, beer and wine was drunk and then we had waffles, it was a very full, very yummy dinner.

We’d read about a little bar that serves 300 different kinds of beer, so, knowing that Bruges is famous for it’s beer and wanting to sample some of this, we head off. It was little and had an awesome atmosphere, we felt right at home straight off! It was here that we sampled beer (I myself stuck to wine) and met an English actor who now lives in Bruges named Nick. He was quite nice and sat with us through out the night suggesting all the best beer to sample. It was a lovely night filled with much laughter and drinking. The staff there was all really very nice and continued to serve us beer and suggest nice ones to try through out the night until we stumbled out and back towards the hotel at 3am

written by  Chris and Emily on July 18, 2009 from Brugge, Belgium
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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We eventually made our way into Trier city centre where we met up with Max once more. We’d recently discovered that there are quite a number of caches to be found around the city, so, we decided to try and uncover some of these. Our first attempt was unsuccessful, however we were able to uncover the second that we tried for. It’s always a nice feeling when you discover and achieve your goal in caching. Max and Kora both enjoyed their first caching experience too and spoke of getting themselves a GPS system so that they could continue on with this once we’ve left.

After this we Split up, the men going off for a drink while the women went off in search of jeans. Jeans here in Germany are EXTREMELY pricey! In a jean store we were looking at 90 EUROS, that’s almost $200 for a pair! I walked out very quickly, almost gave up on finding a pair, but then… we spotted a pair of nice, easy jeans in a department store… and they were on sale, we were able to score them for 15 Euros. According to Kora there has never been a bargain like this in the whole of Europe, which made me feel quite accomplished and chuffed with my new purchase.

Chris and I had made a promise that we would make Aussie burgers and potato salad while in Germany, and tonight was the night, which was good as I have had the biggest hankering for potato salad these last few days! As there was no BBQ here at Koras we had to buy a little disposable tin foil one that did the job wonderfully, however just slowly. We didn’t end up eating until 10.30pm, but it was worth it! Dinner was lovely but we decided to have an early night tonight as tomorrow we’re off to Bruges for the weekend and we plan to leave bright and early.

written by  Chris and Emily on July 17, 2009 from Trier, Germany
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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Seeing as Chris and I have not been to IKEA before this was a welcome idea and something new for us to do, so we popped our shoes on and then popped into the car and over the boarder into Belgium where there is a HUGE IKEA store.

We were amazed with the size of this store, it would be easy to spend an entire day in there and despite the fact that we got through the store at a decent pace we still managed to spend hours in there! There were many nice house hold items, and if we had a house it would be fantastic and we would have been quite tempted to buy many various items (including a kitchen set up we really really liked!) but as all we have with us are already over stuffed back packs our purchases had to be quite limited. We settled with a small little touch lamp that is in the shape of a cartoon ghost that glows blue. Just what we always wanted!

After this eye opening tour we head back to Horsts home where we were met by Kora, who then, after a quick early dinner drove us back to Germany, which honestly only took 30 minutes. It is not far at all.

We were divided on what we were wanting to do tonight, a quiet night in, out for dinner, out for drinks? So many options! We settled on meeting Max for a quiet drink and then head back home for a ‘Skype date’ with Chris’ dad. It was lovely to talk to him again and catch up with all the news of home and actually chatted for quite some time. It’s always nice to catch up with loved ones.

A few quick games of cards I decided to call it a night as I had quite a headache, however, Chris and Kora both managed to make quite a night for themselves drinking beer until 4am, they seemed to have great fun, laughing and enjoying themselves, but found it a little hard to rise the following morning!

written by  Chris and Emily on July 16, 2009 from Trier, Germany
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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Feeling quite sleepy and just a tad bit tipsy now (I’m kidding, we weren’t really, we were rolling drunk…) we thought we’d better take the rest of the day easy, particularly as we figure we will have a rerun of last nights drinking session tonight and for this reason we all opted to laze about the house, Chris assisting Horst with his computer problems, me catching up with all the blogging, Heidi rearranging the house.. It was a nice way to spend the day, and it was much cooler in the house than outdoors, so that was another good reason to stay indoors!

written by  Chris and Emily on July 15, 2009 from Contern, Luxembourg
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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