ROMA RO-MA-MA~ Rome Pt I

Let the honeymoon saga begin!  As many of you know, Kyle and I took a very budget friendly trip after our wedding to save up for a phenomenal vacation once we were living in Europe.  It only took twelve and a half months, but we (or should I say, Kyle) mapped out an awesome Mediterranean tour starting in Rome.  Well, the journey actually began in Metz at our trusty downtown shuttle which whisked us off to a glorious parking lot in Luxembourg.  There we abandoned the shuttle for a huge bus to drive through windy, hill country into Germany.  It dropped us off late on a Sunday night at Hahn airport (near Frankfurt).  We were ready to flash our passports and squeeze our backpacks into Ryanair's limited overhead compartments, but alas, (earwax) our flight was not scheduled until the following morning at 6:30.  I'm so very grateful that times have changed.  Once upon a time in this situation, it would have meant sleeping in an airport (with great company~Meredith P., Will H., and Tiny!)  I'm in my upper-20s, no longer a college student (even though my husband was until very recently); we don't sleep in public plastic chairs or on the floor.  We had a lovely frau pick us up and take us to her auberge where we enjoyed a comfortable (albeit, short) night near the airport.  Our stay wasn't completely uneventful; Kyle found this treasure...

Let's see, you got your Fanta, your Sprite, generic cola... oh, and Bitburger Bier.  No ID required~just pocket change.    Ein Bit bitte!

 We were swept away to Italy sans probleme!  Kyle and I checked into our beautiful hotel early and took a restorative nap.  Like all classy European hotels, we were offered a free pizza and the restaurant around the block just by showing our room keys.  My very first Italian meal ever was a small tomato, cheese pie.  It would only have been more cliche if Kyle and I split a bowl of pasta and shared that Lady & The Tramp moment.  Spaghetti and smooches!  Once we were well rested and had full bellies, we were ready to spend our afternoon touring ancient Rome.  Where to start?  The Colosseum, naturally! 

A friendly tourist snapped this shot of us right after we arrived.

My handsome plaidiator poses in front of the Arch of Constantine.

Amphitheatrum Flavium

Nasty looters poked all those holes into the structure.

A view of the Colosseum from the Forum.

So I read tourist books (thank you GTL summer students) and signs around the Colosseum.  I even found a Roman book at my parents' home in Florida that my grandmother purchased in Italy decades ago.  However, I never learn as much about history as when I turn to wikipedia.  Since it's a well-known questionable source, I wouldn't be bothered if all the information was untrue.  Here's the amusing and amazing true (maybe..) story of the Colosseum~ 

The Colosseum has been many things to many people.  Initially it was used for gladiatorial contests, animal hunts, executions, and a variety of performances like mock sea battles, re-enactments of famous battles, and classic dramas.  After the fall of the empire a small church had been built into the structure.  The arena was converted into a cemetery.  The vaulted spaces under the seating were converted into housing and workshops.  Around 1200 the Frangipani family took over the Colosseum and fortified it using it as their own personal castle.  In the late 1500s, Pope Sixtus V planned to turn the building into a wool factory to employ Rome's prostitutes; unfortunately his proposal fell through with his untimely death. By the 1600s Cardinal Altieri authorized its use for bullfights, but a public's horror forced the idea to be hastily abandoned.

There you have it.  Let's continue our stroll through history by taking a closer look at the Forum.  This place was packed with ancient architectural artifacts.  We saw the remnants of aqueducts, temples, arches, the Circus Maximus~ you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting something absolutely historic.  We didn't have dead cats, but alive ones weren't in short supply.

See, there's one cat.

Just lovely

Sometimes Kyle pronounces "ancient" like "anxious".  Phonetically it's like ank-chent.  He's really cute.

Some lovely American girls captured this timeless moment.

Farewell Forum, for now.

Our final destination for the day was the Altare della Patria (or the Monument of Victor Emmanuel II). 

Practically brand new in its antique neighborhood

Day 2 and 3 in Italy are on the way.  Buona Sera!

Gonna take some time to do the things we never have

Well well well... In a previous post I had mentioned a box we had picked up at a bakery in the nearby neighborhood of Queuleu (pronounced coo-loo).  The circumstances of obtaining said package were so absurd that I chose not to mention what was in the box (a bland topic in comparison).  For those who have been waiting with bated breath, fear no more.  I give you...

Air mattress with pump (not pictured).  Note:  JT sold separately.

Kyle and I hope to host many visitors over the next couple of months;  JT was our first guest.  I'm pumped about our air mattress (lame, I shouldn't have gone there...), and I really really really hope that it occurs to my parents that now we have somewhere nice for a guest to sleep in the old dorm, they'll red rover Anna on over sometime this year. 

If you've never met JT, he's one of Kyle's best friends from North Carolina.  Surprisingly they got closer after they were in college even though they were worlds apart.  JT has been in Ethiopia for the last couple of years working on development and looking for opportunities to encourage economic growth.  To say he loves Ethiopia is an understatement.  You can read more about it here on his blog.  We were fortunate to receive a visit on his way through Europe before heading back to the U.S.

Last Saturday was his first day in Metz.  Here's a few highlights of the things we did~ ate baguettes non-stop, walked through the enormous cemetery, visited the top rated boulangerie in the Moselle region, explored Porte des Allemands, tasted Tunisian pastries, strolled the Covered Market, escaped the cold to drink a beer at Les Berthom, and dined finely at La Winstub where JT tasted escargot for the first time.  It was a grand time.

JT kindly gives a thumbs up with Kyle who can't help but to do it with his damaged digit.

Sunday morning we skipped town by train to pass the day in Trier, Germany.  It was a short trip, and unlike France stores were open and people were out and about.  It was as if we weren't in Europe (especially because the town was full of people with North American English accents~very unexpected and kind of shocking).  Here are some of Trier's attractive attractions:

The Porta Nigra~it's a Roman city gate built between 186-200 AD.  Kyle and JT are marveling at the architecture.  Like JT's hat?

The ruins of Roman baths

The fellas are posing in front of the entrance to the Roman amphitheatre~it was a brief visit as they were charging too many euros to see the real deal in that window behind Kyle.  Needless to say, it was lame.

Trierer Dom

Trier has a really fascinating history.  It's the birth place of Karl Marx (though we didn't visit his childhood home~I'm not really a fan...).  Trier claims to be the oldest city in Germany having celebrated its 2000th anniversary in 1984.  It has been invaded by France five times, and they ultimately were successful in occupying it from 1794 to 1815.  On top of the history really interesting me, here are a few other items I found highly amusing:

The fashionable H&M located on the corner of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus

Skeletor resides in the Trierer Dom.  Catholics are hardcore in Germany.

Any town square is incomplete without a bronze butcher preparing for a pig pickin'.

Here lies Jacob.

The best sight was all our happy faces after sprinting to the train station to catch our train.  We made it in time only to learn it was running 15 minutes behind schedule.  I thought German transportation would be more reliable than it is in France.

As the day's travels drew to a close, a night of festivities began.  No trip to Metz is complete without a legit raclette meal with some of our university friends.  Thankfully the French guys were kind enough to speak in English during the meal.

Could life get any better? Potatoes, meat, cheese, beer, and friends.  Pierre and Nordhal (our friends from Normandy) have acquiesced and now give the phalange salute.

Inspired by the French lifestyle, we Americans shared a late night romantic assemblage.  Scented candles, a box of chocolates, and a mattress filled with air~oo la la!

JT stayed with us through Tuesday morning.  I had to work on Monday and missed a second day in town with the boys.  For the ladies, I'll include the pictures Kyle took of JT at a couple of Metz's most lovely spots.

JT and the oldest church in all of France

JT and God's lantern

Okay...not a picture of JT, but he did buy this delicious Mirabelle tarte for dessert Monday night.

Our first visit from a friend was a hit.  Chez Hamilton is now open for business.  Seriously, come and see us.  We have friends from whom we can borrow another air mattress.  And you most certainly don't have to be frightened of Kyle's thumb any longer if that is deterring you.  JT convinced him to puncture the nail to drain the wound and release the pressure.  It was a smart move~if only we had rugged buddies right off the plane from Africa always to assist us in our times of need.  

On a side note, you ought to be my best friend if you know the origins of this entry's title as well as the reference under the picture of the foot and me.  Hope you are well.  Happy Spring forward to friends in the states.  We are officially only 5 hours apart until March 28th.  I know I feel closer to you.  Happy St. Patrick's day as well.  It's a good time to be Irish.  A plus!

Road trip!

Last weekend Kyle and I set out on our first road trip.  Thankfully we could go with our buddy Chandler right before he moves back to the good ole U.S. of A.  It's always restorative to get quality time with a friend from home every now and again; every few months makes it really nice.  We soon anticipate to have a visitor from Ethiopia.  Hopefully the Brits will invade soon (though, not actually British hopefully we'll see some Birmingham friends in the next month or so).  The Hamiltons will also arrive for our second road trip in April.  It all should be good fun, and it gives us plenty to look forward to.

Friday afternoon Kyle rented a car from our train station and we set out for Tubingen, Germany (location of Unterwegs~the German Globalscope).  They had just had their end of the year/semester dinner so we missed out on seeing the ministry in action.  But it was the perfect time to get away for a weekend.  Chandler gave us a nice walking tour of the city while enjoying ice cream cones.  It's definitely a lovely little town.  Next we shopped groceries to make dinner.  Chandler cooked and we just talked with him and Tyler for a bit.

Downtown Tubingen in the dark

Secret Tubingen passage way

The men folk chatting while making dinner

Unlike other trips where the goal is to see landmarks and learn more about the history of a certain location, we just enjoyed the beauty of the Alps this weekend.  Saturday morning we got up early and drove through Germany and Austria to arrive in lovely, little Liechtenstein.  We visited a castle belonging to the king...no entry for unauthorized personnel.  Just a little ways up the mountain on which we found the castle, there was a plethora of snow and a whole ski village filled with (surprisingly) English-speaking ski folks.  I think I'm the only person I know who has never seen ski slopes; it was nice to hear the fellas talk about their snow skiing and boarding experiences.  We ducked out of the snow to have pizza and beers for lunch.

 Forgot to mention the frozen river we played on...

Enjoy this video!

Forbidden Castle entrance

Just up the hill from the castle

Happy group enjoying happy beers at the pizza place

It's snowing!  We like wintery terrain

On the way out of town, I dozed off and miraculously awoke at a dairy farm in Switzerland.  Kyle reserved a place for us in the best little bed and breakfast I've ever been to.  After dropping off our backpacks, we drove down to town to see what we could see.  We ended up at a small lake watching ducks and swans for a while before it got dark and really cold.  We grabbed some food to make sandwiches back at the B&B and to take in the view from our little kitchen.  At our arrival, the lady that owned the B&B invited us to see the baby cows who were less than a week old.  It's astounding how big new born baby cows are.  We got a little education (thanks to Chandler's translation) on dairy cows and such.

Switzerland!

Husband looking majestic on the lake

Our B&B bedroom!

Beer refrigerator

Baby cows and Kyle pulling my leg

Breakfast Sunday morning was insane delish!   We awoke to a table full of bread, jam, butter, coffee, cheese, and milk fresh from the cow.  Our hostess was kind enough to check on us and send her children to make sure everything was alright every now and then.  We were seriously spoiled.

 View out our window

Another view out our window in the morning light

Posing with our B&B sign

Glorious breakfast!

On the road again...

 
On our leisurely drive Sunday morning we came across two beautiful bridges.  We stopped to look at one to find it was nearly as old as America (built in 1789).  Our next destination was Konstanz in Germany.  It's right over the boarder from Switzerland and as we tried navigating our way around, we kept ending up at places to cross back to the land of the Swiss instead of finding reasonable parking in Germany.  Eventually we settled in and began our walking tour of the town.  The weather was amazing; people were out walking everywhere.  It was a good town to stretch our legs and sight see.

 The two bridges

 Built in 1789

Random place where we stopped before leaving Switzerland

 Free from the car!

The car which took us through 5 countries

 Konstanz

Horse (which reminds me that Switzerland was covered with crucifixes with a golden Jesus...what is that about?)

 Germany is wonderful.

Crazy talking bird startled us when he laughed at us in a Konstanz park.

With nowhere definitely left to go we determined to just go where the wind would blow us.  In the Black Forest we spotted castle ruins on the top of a mountain.  I about had a panic attack as Kyle veered ever so carefully up the one lane, two way drive way.  Yikes!  We finally made it to the top of the mountain to find extraordinary views and snow covered castle (not off-limits).  We even managed to scale icy stairs to explore another section of the ruins.  It's hard to imagine how someone could build a huge fortress on such a steep mountain.  I don't even know where we were, but I really enjoyed this stop.

Antenna likely for television reception

When asked to pose in a "cool" way, I heard "cold".

Lookin' good, Kyle!

I wish you could tell how high up we were...

The dangerous job of traversing icy steps

Sunday night we were back in Tubingen.  Kyle made risotto with brats; it was super tasty.  We wound down the weekend watching a movie and just hanging out at Chandler's apartment.  Monday the last leg of the trip meant returning to France where it is rainy and will be rainy all week.  It was nice to escape the gross weather we were having and explore new places with my sweet husband and our buddy Chandler.  Bon voyage, indeed.  Hope you are having a lovely day whatever day it is wherever you may be.  Take care!