Rømø in the rain

Greetings Everyone! Today Joe and I got to go on a road trip, that’s right we had a car and DROVE somewhere, no train, no bike, a cute little tiny car that one of Joe’s co-workers let us borrow this week while he’s on holiday and doesn’t need both of their cars. It was extremely nice and him and some type of treat will be in order to say thank you but in the mean time we get to go places, how exciting!

Our wheels :)

So yesterday I was on a mission to discover where we should go this weekend. We decided that today we would go to the island of Rømø which is in the South Jutland area slightly over an hour from where we are. We packed a picnic lunch, our books and headed to the beach.

The ride was very nice. Again, I got to see just how beautiful Denmark is and it was fun to go on a road trip with Joe. We got to the beach area and of course it was looking cloudy and kind of yucky (so typical Denmark weather). Joe had been smart before we left and suggested bringing coats and an umbrella which was a good call because not only did it look like it was going to rain but it was super windy. We parked the car, got our stuff and headed towards the water.

Reminder, it’s cold and gray and looks as though it’s going to rain any second, this is not your typical beach experience, nevertheless we made the best of it and had a fun adventure. We walked over to the water and got to see a bunch of people wind surfing. That really looked like it could be a lot of fun! I was impressed by how many people were out there! Though this beach is one of the best in Denmark to windsurf so if you’re into that this is the place to be. As we were walking around it started to rain......but we decided to continue the adventure and find a nice spot behind a sand dune and have our picnic lunch. Joe found us a good spot that was shielded from the wind and we sat down to enjoy some lunch (At this point it had stopped raining but still looked threatening). Right by where we were sitting was a big field with cows and sheep and of course all the dunes and grass. It was very pretty. Half way through our lunch it started to rain again and so I got the umbrella out and we ate our lunch under the umbrella. It was actually a lot of fun to be huddled under the umbrella to eat. We finished our lunch and headed back towards the car because we knew the rain wasn’t going to stop.

Windsurfing at the beach

Watching the sand blow in the wind

Joe at the beachI'm so excited to be at the beach!

Picnic under the umbrella :)

In the car we tried to decide what else we might want to do. It was only about 3pm so we didn’t want to head back to Kolding just yet. We tossed around a few ideas and then Joe decided we would head to Middlefart and walk around there for a while. Middlefart is really pretty. We went over a cool bridge and stopped at a cafe and walked around the dock area. It was really cool looking in the water because there were lots of jelly fish in there. I always think its fun to see jellyfish. :) After a little stroll around we headed back to Kolding.

Bridge to Middlefart

A shot of Middlefart by the water

So tomorrow we’re still trying to decide what to do. We thought about going to Nordborg but may wait to do that. We also want to go see Egeskov castle near Odense so we might do that tomorrow if it’s not raining. Either way we have the car until next Sunday so lots of time to do fun things in Denmark!

Love from Amanda

Day 10: Homeward bound

Again our day started way to early with an alarm at 3:50am. I swear people just shouldn’t be up this early for ANYTHING! We managed to get ourselves together and out the door. (Joe actually opted to stay awake all night again so it was only me who had to deal with a 3:50 alarm!) We got to the bus and headed to the airport. This time the trip only took 20 minutes since there wasn’t so much traffic.

Joe and I slept through most of the flight and sadly that meant I missed flying over the Swiss alps! (boo!) The flight was just fine, got to Billund 20 minutes early so we had no problems catching the 11am bus back to Kolding. It was nice to be back pretty early because that allowed us the whole afternoon to relax and take a nap.

Our second trip was really awesome and amazing. Overall I would say that I liked Barcelona a lot better than Rome but I also enjoyed many aspects of Rome. Barcelona felt more relaxed, the atmosphere of the city was light and fun and of course the beach was amazing! Rome was also fun but in different ways. I really enjoyed learning more about Roman history and seeing so many of the ruins from that time period. Joe and I found Rome to be more chaotic though. Things just didn’t seem to run as smoothly in Rome and I swear we took our lives in our hands every time we crossed the street. Rome had a very different feel to it and I’m not sure I would choose to go back there. I would certainly pick other places in Italy before visiting Rome again but I do think it was a great experience and I did enjoy our time there.

I feel so grateful that Joe and I had the opportunity to travel to 7 major cities so far on this trip. We’re hoping to maybe hit Hamburg for a weekend trip next weekend but we don’t have anything planned for sure yet. We’re also planning a day trip to Copenhagen to go to some museums that we missed when we were there for my birthday. It’s been wonderful to see and explore new places and I love that we were able to fit so much in while I’ve been here. What am amazing summer this has been and it will certainly be one I treasure forever.

More adventures to come. Sadly I only have 3 more weeks left in Europe with Joe. I still feel like there’s so much I want to do and see and might not get to it all, but even if I don’t this has been the best summer ever! Despite the fact that it’s hard to be 4000 miles apart from each other this summer has been one of the benefits of Joe being here in Denmark. I’m looking forward to doing more fun things in the last few weeks I’m here so I’ll report more as we have our adventures.

Love from Amanda

Day 9: "Clean-up" tourism, everything we didn't see before

Our final day in Rome we decided to see all the things we didn’t get a chance to see the other days. I had this whole plan for what to do every day but sometimes things take longer than expected so we had to cut them out for the day and stick them into the last day. It all worked out though and we got to see everything we wanted to.

We started the day at some churches looking to see the famous Bernini sculpture, The ecstasy of St. Teresa. We went into two churches and again were able to enjoy the beautiful artwork inside. The Bernini sculpture was really cool.

The Ecstasy of St. Teresa

I looked back in our book to find out what church had the Caravaggio painting and discovered it was one at the Piazza del Popolo. We headed back in that direction and walked through the Villa Borghese. This was really a beautiful park. They had this cool water clock as well and the area was very relaxing. We spent some time here eating some snacks and enjoying the park then we headed down to the church in the Piazza. Still no luck on the Caravaggio but there was still one more place to visit where we could see his work.

Water clock

We walked down the Via Del Corso towards the Piazza Venezia which was our next stop on the list. This street was full of clothing stores which made it extremely tempting not to want to buy everything there. Italian fashion really appealed to me but because we had limited weight for our checked bag I opted not to buy anything. Somehow, I might need to shop online for these clothes. :) One of the store we have in Baltimore, so I’ll check it out when I get home. :)

Via Del Corso

We made it to the Venezia and got to see the monument for the first King of the unified Italy, Vittorio Emanuell II. Italy wasn’t unified until 1861. Not all that long ago. They also have a memorial for the unknown solider which was very beautiful. Like the memorial in the States there were two eternal flames and the memorial was heavily guarded. Inside the building we discovered a free museum outlining some of the history of the Italian army. It was interesting to note that not much was said about WWII except for what happened at then end when the Italian army was cut in size. I guess that’s because Italy was part of the bad guys during that war.

Piazza Venezia

Unknown solider memorial

We also got to see the Imperial Forum area. The area has actually been divided by a big highway but it was really cool to see some of the old buildings and we even saw some tiles still on one of the walls. The imperial forum consists of Caesar’s Forum, Augustus’ Forum, Trajan’s Forum, and some temples.

Imperial Forum

Tiles at the Imperial Forum

This whole time Joe and I were hoping to find a pasty shop for a yummy snack. No such luck. I don’t know if we were just not looking in the right areas or if they don’t really exist in Rome but all I wanted was a delicious cannoli and we had no luck finding one. We found a Burger King and just got some fries for a snack and a soda then debated what we should do for the rest of the afternoon.

We decided to check out the Capitoline Museums that I had read about in the Europe book. According the the book there were several more sculptures and other artwork and FINALLY a Caravaggio! So we went over to the museum and started the tour. We got a free audio guide which was pretty helpful in explaining some of the history. We learned about how the sculptures went from terra-cotta to marble and that the huge statues weren’t all made of marble but mostly wood so they wouldn’t weigh too much. We also got to see some furniture and other household pieces which was pretty cool.

Capitoline Museums

Caravaggio

After the audio guide was over we returned it and saw the rest of the museum. We went up to the picture gallery first and finally got to see the Caravaggio painting. It was really beautiful. From this one painting you can tell he was a very talented artist.

We then headed back downstairs to see more statues and the bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius. They also had parts of the Temple of Jupiter which was really neat to see. We got to walk across the basement area and came to an overlook of the Roman Forum. It was fun to see the whole area from a different perspective. We took a few pictures and headed to the second building where we saw more statues and busts of several of the Roman emperors and philosophers. One things for sure, the Romans loved their statues and I’m pretty sure we saw several hundred of them during the trip to the Vatican museum and this one! We finished up the tour exhausted and headed back towards the hotel for dinner.

Bronze Statue of Marcus Aurelius

Temple of Jupiter

View of the Roman Forum from the Museum

Joe and Amanda at the museum

Again we ate at the Rom Antica and enjoyed more delicious food. This time Joe got the penne with vodka sauce and I picked farfalle with asparagus and cream sauce. Delicious! We got some ice cream again at the ice cream shop and headed back to the hotel to sadly pack up and get ready for another early morning trip to the train station in order to get the bus to the airport. So long Roma!

Day 8: Roman History Day

And now it’s time for a history lesson. Back some 2000 plus years ago and until about 460 AD the Romans were enjoying their power and kicking some serious butt around the Europe area. They were building lots of stuff, conquering land, being smart and taking part in some pretty violent “games” but all in all were enjoying their lives. Fast forward to the year 2010 and you get Joe and Amanda wandering around the Roman Ruins learning all about the people who lived in these areas so long ago.

Lets start the day by deciding where to buy tickets to enjoy all this stuff. I had read in the MTV Europe book (Thanks to Liz for letting Joe and I borrow this book!) that if the line is really long at the Colosseum that you can also buy tickets at Palatine Hill, so that’s just what we did. We started at Palatine Hill and got to see all the old buildings from that area. Palatine hill was part of the downtown area in Rome and was a place where many of the emperors lived in palaces. What was really cool was that in several places you could still see the mosaic patterns on what would have been the floors of the buildings and also the marble stones on the walkways. There was a museum here that had several different artifacts the oldest being from 1000 BC. I think it’s so amazing that we’ve found things from civilizations that were around 3000 years ago! How amazing is that?! What was also really cool is that while visiting the hill and the Roman Forum we saw several groups of archeologist digging. I love how we’re still finding stuff from this time period and how even now there’s still so much to learn about the Romans! From the hill we could also see Circus Maximus where they did all the chariot races. There’s not much left of this area except a bunch of dead grass but it was fun to picture the races taking place there. :) A little farther in the distance we could also see the Baths of Caracalla. We didn’t actually end up visiting them, but it was cool to see them from a distance.

Walking towards the ruins from the metro stop


Palatine Hill
Ruins at Palatine Hill


Archeologists digging


Palace at Palatine


Circus Maximus

One of the Arch's at the Roman Ruins

After we finally finished wandering around Palatine we headed over the the Roman Forum. (I forgot to mention that today was the hottest day in Rome and I was thankful for my hat. After the Forum we ended up finding a hat for Joe too because the sun was just beating down on us and having a hat was very helpful!) So we wandered around the Forum and got to see many of the old temples and basilicas as well as the Curia that was build by Julius Caesar. This was the building where the senate sat. We also saw the Area Sacra which is where Caesar was killed on the Ides of March. It was really impressive how well preserved the ruins were and how much we still have of them.

Roman Forum

One of the temples at the Forum

The square looking building on the right is the Curia

On to the Colosseum!!!!! The highlight of the day. Now my Uncle and Aunt who recently honeymooned in Rome said that the Colosseum was one of the coolest things that was a MUST see and I have to agree. This time we decided to pay the extra money for the audio guide so we could learn more about the Colosseum. We started off at the bottom reading all kinds of informaton about how and when the colosseum was built, what a typical day was like and how 3 major earthquakes contributed to the destruction of the Colosseum but also helped preserve parts of it because the lower levels were filled with dirt. So now here’s some serious history for you while I give you information about the Colosseum.

Joe and Amanda with the Colosseum

A typical day started with a big parade to the Colosseum with all those involved in the games. The games included wild animal fights, death sentences for prisoners and the always anticipated event, the gladiator fights! When the Colosseum opened in 80 AD there were 100 days of games. These games were carried out at the colosseum for the next 4 centuries! The games were free to go to but you did have to have a ticket which listed your specific seat. The seating was arranged by status and the higher up your were the lower your social status. The emperors and the senators sat closest to the arena floor and the poorest people at the very top. No one is really sure how many people the Colosseum would hold but they say about 50,000 people could be seated there. The women were seated separately from the men during the events as well.

Roman Colosseum

Interior of the Colosseum

The stage area was amazing. The floor had many trapped doors where animals could be released during fights. You could see underneath the area to the rooms below where they would have kept the animals and you can also see the blocks where the ropes would have been to move and open the doors. I was really amazed by the advanced technology they had in this arena.

Arena Floor

We learned about the gladiators and found out that these guys were often prisoners or war, prisoners or slaves with the occasional free man signing up for the job. Gladiators would fight anywhere between 3 and 40 fights during their careers and lived and trained together. The editor was the one who had the final say whether a the losing gladiator would be killed or shown mercy. Not a very easy life for these 17-18 year old guys and certainly a pretty violent living but the Romans liked their violence!

After 4 centuries of use the Colosseum feel victim to neglect and several earthquakes damaged the structure and filled in many of the areas with dirt. It wasn’t until 1995 that the Colosseum was uncovered and became a place to visit. (Sadly I just learned that in August they will be showing the underground level where the animals were held to visitors! Lame, we’re going to have missed that!) It’s so amazing to me that they can bring back such old structures and how well engineered this building was that it’s survived for so long! Certainly the coolest Roman Ruin we saw!

Just a little more history for you. The Colosseum was declared a sacred sight in 1749 by Pope Benedict XIV. It was believed that many Christians were killed at the Colosseum, fed to the lions, but there is no written documentation to support this. The Romans did kill some Christians but the killings did not occur inside the Colosseum.

Cross marking the Colosseum as a sacred place

We headed back to the hotel, got some pizza for dinner and ate on our little balcony. Our last day in Rome we decided to do the “clean up” tourism and see the rest of the places we didn’t get to on the other days.

Day 7: Vatican City

Today we spent the day at Vatican City. We got the subway to the closest stop and then walked the rest of the way to St. Peter’s Square. The square is really pretty and has a great view of the Basilica. We took several pictures before getting in line to go into the Basilica. They took things pretty serious to get in there and we had to go through metal detectors and they werechecking bags. The rules at the Vatican are very strict and you must be dressed appropriately with no tank tops, sleeveless shirts or short skirts or shorts. I came prepared with a t-shirt and longer skirt so I was good to go. We headed into the Basilica and were absolutely AMAZED! The inside just took my breath away. I can’t believe they were able to build such an amazing church without all the heavy machinery we have today! I loved exploring in the basilica and seeing all the details and artwork. It was just beautiful After we were done in the church we went down to the tombs and got to see where most of the popes and other important people are buried. It was really interesting to be down there and know that so many important people in the Catholic church are buried there. The tomb for Pope John Paul II is heavily guarded and many people make pilgrimages to his tomb. It was definitely an important place to see. We opted not to go up to the dome because the line was ridiculously long and we didn’t want to spend the money on it. We did see several Swiss Guard guys while at the Vatican which I have to say was pretty awesome! We found a place to have some snacks and then headed to the Vatican Museum.

St Peter's Square and Basilica

Joe and Amanda at St. Peter's Square

Ceiling in St. Peter's


The inside of St. Peter's

More interior

Swiss Guard

The museum is just crazy! I can’t believe how much stuff the church owns. it just kept going on and on and some of the areas was even closed. Some of the highlights included seeing an original painting by Raphael and Da Vinci but missed out on the Caravaggio because it was on loan for the 400th celebration of his life. (But we did eventually get to see one of his paintings so it made up for it!) We also got to see some of the old carriages and other transportation means for the Pope’s which was cool and then saw several Roman statues, (by the time we left this trip I think we might have seen close to a thousand, maybe not that many but several hundred!!!!!) Egyptian artifacts including some mummies, several tapestries which I’m always amazed bysince they can make such clear pictures on them, old maps, the round room and the Hall of Constantine. The last big stop before the Sistine Chapel were the Raphael Rooms that were all painted by Raphael and were once used as apartments by the Popes. I was mesmerized by the paintings and found them to be very beautiful. We saw some modern art and then made it to the Sistine Chapel.

Entrance to the museum

Raphael painting

Da Vinci Painting


Pope Transportation

Ceiling in the museum

Statues

One of the Raphael rooms

WOW, that’s about all I can say about the Sistine Chapel. Every inch of the chapel is painted and the artwork is just amazing! I had read that while painting this chapel Michael Angelo permanently hurt his back and went blind from all the paint dripping into his eyes. But, the end result was just beautiful. It was so wonderful to be able to appreciate such amazing works of art while visiting the Vatican.

Paintings in the Sistine Chapel

Famous Michael Angelo painting in the Sistine Chapel

We walked through several more areas and saw other church artifacts and religious relics before finally making it to the exit.

Tonight we ate at the most amazing restaurant! It’s called Rom Antica and the food was DELICIOUS! I think this was the best Italian I’ve ever had. We started with some bruchetta and then I order penne alla vodka, one of my favorites, and Joe got Veal Marsala. The food was delicious! That was by far the best penne alla vodka I’d ever had. Our waiter was fantastic and we ended dinner with some delicious tiramusu! It was an excellent end to the day.

Tomorrow was suppose to be our trip to Pompei and Naples but after some discussion we decided that 6 hours of traveling wasn’t really worth it (plus getting up at 7:00am and not returning until 11:00pm wasn’t sounded appealing) so we decided to stay in Rome and planned to see all the Roman sights the next day.