Ciao Bella, Italia

Rome

“Veni, vidi, vici” – Julius Caesar

This quote made famous by a Roman, does not depict Rome itself. I do not think you could spend ENOUGH days in this great city. I traveled to Rome in August 2010 with my now wife and brother. This was my second trip to Europe, my wife’s second time to Rome and my brother’s first time out of the country. There is way too much we saw to name all but our routes after each day indicate other attractions we saw. If you want the shorten version of must see, then try our 5 things you MUST see in Rome post. Here is our trip recap! Enjoy!

Manuel and us at a Pub Crawl

What? Two toilets next to each other?

This time around we decided to try Couch Surfing (www.couchsurfing.org) for some of our trip. I was skeptical at first and protective because it was not only me, but my brother and wife. I did some extensive research and thought I finally found someone trust worthy. I let him know our plans and he told me where to meet. Living in Houston, 20 miles or 30 km is still pretty close to the city, so when he said he was 20 km from Rome, I figured perfect. Once we got there, we realized it was a bit further from downtown than we anticipated. But it didn't matter… it was worth it. Where he lived was across

The view from Manuel's place!

Lago Albano from the Pope’s Summer Home Castel Gandolfo. His family owned a restaurant right around the corner and he gave us a taste and it was well worth it!

We spent most of the day going through Customs and getting to Manuel’s place. After a quick nap we headed back to the city to see one of the most iconic structures of the ancient Rome: The Colosseum.

The inside

Thanks and Gig 'Em!

From the outside

The Flavian Amphitheater is the center piece of most people’s “To See” list as it is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. And rightfully so. Emperor Vespasian started this masterpiece in 70 AD and it was completed 10 years later. Estimated to hold 50,000 – 80,000 spectators to view the gladiators. Remarkably, it could also be flooded and mock sea battles. Very impressive engineering. Even more impressive is majority of it is still standing today. My recommendation on getting inside to view is to buy the tickets ahead of time. I try to stay open to ideas but this is one thing we planned. I am not sure how this works today but back in 2010, the Roma Pass was a good purchase (http://www.romapass.it). It got us free public transport for 3 days, free entry to our first 2 visited museums/archaeological sites. Please note other than the Colosseum, most museums are CLOSED on Mondays.

Arc de Constantine is visible from the Colosseum

The After Pub Crawl at the Pool

The Colosseum is great to see but other than walking around there was not a whole lot else to see. The Arc de Constantine was near by, so we headed there. We met up with Manuel and headed to the Palatine Hill, which is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. It is believe this was the residence of the past emperors. Unfortunately, the entrance was closed so we headed to the Circus Maximus where the chariot races where. By now the sun was setting and we were getting hungry.  We grabbed a bite with some “fast food” pizza which is very cheap! We were done with the sightseeing and ready to party! We met at the Spanish Steps for the Pub Crawl (http://highlanderome.com). For €25 we got in with the 1^st hour of open bar. We were the only Americans which much of the group being Irish, Aussie, and French. We had a good time bar hopping and mingling with our group and locals. Never be shy. We did somehow branch off and end up at some pool party that we ended up getting kicked out of because one of the Aussies lit a table on fire.

More or Less Day 1 Route

Day 2 started off earlier. We didn't want to be a nuisance to our host so we caught a bus into town. The Trevi Fountain was our first stop. A very extravagant fountain from the 1700’s.  

The Oculus of the Pantheon

It is most known for coin throwing where you throw a Euro with your right hand over your left shoulder. I believe it is supposed to bring you back to Rome some day but I am not sure. The Pantheon was something I was looking forward to. I studied Art History the semester before and this was one of our covered topics. The Pantheon was one of the largest domes for some time and regularly used since it was constructed in 126 AD. The renowned piece is the oculus of the dome. This is the opening to the sky. To get the dome the size it is, small pots and porous rocks were used to fill volume in the upper layers of the dome. This reduced the weight of the dome. In addition the chambers formed a
honeycomb structure that eliminated more weight. Afterwards we revisited the Palatine Hill. The ruins were very weathered and the hill was laid out with underground tunnels and a maze like system. We ended the evening walking the Villa Borghese. The gardens were nice and beautiful fountains. We told Manuel we were going to get a Hostel due to our planned long day at the Vatican. We ended up staying at Hostel Alessandro (http://www.hostelsalessandro.com). It was a decent place (lots of options for sleeping arrangements) that hosted a pub crawl… so we joined that! You always meet the best people at Pub Crawls, so don't be afraid!

Day 2: Our route wasn't as A to B as this but close enough!

Day 3

The Vatican is another reservation I would recommend. We set ours up for 8am because I say the less people to get in my way, the better Reserve your ticket here. I can sleep on the train later. Plus the queue was already long where we got there.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

We enter the Museum and immediately in awe. The museum is full of painting galleries that cover many centuries, an Egyptian sector in the Cortile della Pigna (included statues, mummy heads, ancient artifacts, etc), Museo Pio Clementino (Roman artifacts) among others. Of course the centerpiece is the Sistine Chapel and the “Last Judgment” painting at that. The back breaking masterpiece by Michelangelo started in the early 1500’s is supposed to be off limits to photograph. My wife lives on the edge and attempted a photo. Then got a talkin to! We took a step outside in St. Peter’s Square to take a breather. It was amazing to see how many people come to this site! We re-grouped and headed to St. Peter’s Basilica, which is huge.
It is actually only 3 feet shorter in diameter than the Pantheon but much taller. This was one of the largest churches for some time. In the church is a statue of St. Peter that people rub the foot… I am not sure why, but we didn't break tradition. We finished up at the Vatican and headed towards the train station. We grabbed a bite to eat on the train and on our way to Florence. We tried one of the faster trains… more expensive but we arrived in no time!

Swiss Guards!

Highlights: 

The Colosseum

The Pantheon

Gelato and other food

Pub Crawl

The Vatican
Check out the overview of them here on our 5 MUST SEE Attractions

Would do differently:

Try not to cram so much into a day... This city has a lot to offer. 3 days was not enough!

For all you romantics... try this 1.5 mile walk at late evening (try to end at the Spanish Steps when it's dark, plenty of people there selling roses too).

Munich and surrounding areas

Growing up my family was pretty contained. We mostly stuck to what we knew. There were times we ventured out, like a road trip to Yellowstone when I was 17; The go-to trip of Disney World when I was 6; I took a chartered trip to Washington D.C. when I was 13 and I think outside of those 3 major events, all our trips involved seeing family. Before August 2009 I have been out of the country twice. My entire family took a cruise to Cancun and once we drove down to South Padre Island and hopped across the border for a day. Both times were before passports were required for Americans going to Mexico. Becky on the other hand had been to South America and numerous Central American countries growing up. Upon graduation she took a chartered tour with her high school all over Europe. One night at a graduation celebration for one of my roommate’s many cousins, I made plans to go to Europe. After many beers, I had wiggled my way into a trip with my roommate’s cousin, her boyfriend (who was also my friend) and her uncle, who had been to Europe before.

We flew Dallas – Atlanta – Dublin – Memmigan then train ride to Munich. My first tip… while Ryan Air (www.ryanair.com) is a great resource for cheap flights (based out of Dublin), they have many restrictions on baggage and fly to non-main hubs… much like the Southwest Airlines of Europe. I also won’t have many recommendations for much outside of attractions as I was more of a passenger on this trip.

Of course our first visit was to the Hofbrauhaus. This is the cliché bar seen in most images regarding Germany – the very attractive women holding huge 1 litre mugs of beer… most the time multiples. The place is set up like a huge dining hall with large tables encouraging you to sit with strangers. All the times we were there, an old school polka band played. The food is as hearty as the beer. All around delicious fun.

You may think our entire vacation centered around beer because next we went to the Spaten Brewery. This is the oldest brewery in Munich which was founded in 1397. 

This brewery was established 100 years before the western hemisphere was found. Amazing. It is your typical tour with interesting past – like an intact beer that survived the Hindenburg explosion. 

Katie’s uncle works for restaurants promoting and some privileges include beer tours. We had lunch and Spaten beer on top of the brewery overlooking the city.

Afterwards we took the subway out to the 

Olympic Park. It always amazes me how much a city will transform itself to prepare for the Olympics. I am a big swimmer, well sports fan for that matter. Other than the bombing and kidnapping that went on, Mark Spitz set the record for the most gold medals (7) in a single Olympics. This was until Michael Phelps broke this record. I wanted to check out the pool and maybe do a lap or two. Unfortunately, the pool was drained but it was still neat to see the Olympic Park design. It reminded me of a circus tent.

Dachau is easily the most powerful symbol in the city. Dachau opened in 1933 with “Arbeit Macht Frei” on the front gate meaning "work makes free". This was the first concentration camp and set the model for the rest. This tour was amazing. It was very deep and hits you hard. We toured the barracks where they were crammed into and where the public beatings and hangings were held. It is amazing how green and alive the perimeter is compared to the bleak dull interior. This had to be very demoralizing. The crematorium was opened in 1940 and only in operation for 3 years and managed to be responsible for 11,000 lives. The gas chambers really struck me. They were designed as showers to encourage the prisoners to clean themselves. Once all loaded inside, chemicals were instead exposed to the trapped prisoners. There are numerous memorials around the site with inspirational words.

The English Beer Garden was a fun side attraction. It’s a great to relax or play some sport. This garden is the largest park in Europe. We even saw some kids trying to ride a surf on a river that runs through the park! Most people were either sun bathing or playing futbol. Do not be shocked to see some topless females catching some rays. We grabbed a beer and just breathed some fresh air.

Making friends who live all over the world has its perks. Katie had a foreign exchange student in high school she kept in touch with. We decided to visit him in his hometown of Horb. We took a nice train ride through the rolling hills of Southern Germany from Munich to Horb. We were welcomed with a traditional Bavarian Sunday lunch of pork, cauliflower, and a German pasta. I was given a local beer “Rothaus” that reminded me much of our homemade brew “Shiner”. He then took us to a nearby castle “Burg Hohenzollern”. This is a young castle to the Europeans, having been built less than 200 years ago. To me that is old, as it is older than most things in the USA and almost all things in Texas. This castle was home to the Kiaser Wilhelm I. It was a steep climb to the top but worth it. Very beautiful views. On the way home, I rode shotgun and we hit 210 km/hr on the Autobahn… I enjoyed it very much. He did tell me of some interesting German laws like passing in the right lane is illegal and it is very difficult and expensive to get your drivers license… something they should implement in the USA?

 I love natural attractions and the Rhine Falls was close to us. The falls are located on the German-Swiss border. They are about 150m wide and 20m drop. This is nothing jaw dropping but it was a nice side attraction on our way to Zurich. We took a little boat out that got us very close to the crashing water.
There is a huge boulder that splits the falls into two but is all accessible so that was the next stop. We took some good photos and videos of the falls. The weather was so hot but the water felt so refreshing. Zurich was another pleasant surprise. This city is situated at the foot of the Alps with a major river running through it. It is absolutely beautiful and picturesque. Slightly pricy city, but delicious sweets. After lunch, we loaded up on and headed back to Horb. We got lost on our way back and ended up in the Black Forest. This was not a bad thing. The Black Forest is beautiful with many tall trees. There was some god hiking but it was unbelievable how much cooler it was than at the Rhine Falls.

My brother just got back from Germany... literally yesterday. So 4 years later, here is what he has to add:
Church visits such as St. Michael's and St. Peters. You can take the 306 flight up to get great views of the city. The New Town Hall is where their government meets. It has a very gothic style and kind of creepy. The Viktualienmarkt (closed Sunday) is a giant farmer's market that is widely know and fun to people watch.

Outside the Hofbrauhaus

Band playing in the Hofbrauhaus

St. Michael's Church

Climbing St. Peter's Tower

Viktualienmarkt

I addition, outside of Munich there is also the Tirol border area where the castles stand as tall as the Alps. A very picturesque area that will help you relive fairy tales. A must is the famous Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein Castle that Disney based their design off. Fussen is a great spot to use as a base to tour the many castles in the area (Hohenschwagau & Ehrenberg Ruins also). Look at getting the Mehrtagesticket if you plan on visiting multiple castles, this can be picked up in Munich.

In front of Neuschwanstein