~ Rome ~ Florence ~ Venice ~ Salzburg ~ Weimar ~ Berlin ~

17.05.03: Flight to London, spend night in airport--yea for Ryanair.

18.05.03: Early flight to Rome.  Check into fabulous hostel Cassanova.  St. Peter's Basilica--climb cupola,Villa Borghese--gelato, nap in the sun, cool random performances in Piazza del Popolo below, great view of sunset.

                                                                              St. Peter's Basilica                                                                                                                                                        Villa Borghese

19.05.03: Met cool Australian girl in hostel, Liz. Vatican museums, Sistine chapel, Roman Forum, Colosseum, Palazzo Nuovo, Trastavere--fun neighborhood of narrow medieval streets, amazing tiramisu gelato.

                                                                Vatican Museums                                                                                                                                                                    Roman Forum

                           Around Roman Forum                                                                                                                                                   Palatine Hill

                                                        Colosseum                                                                                                            Palazzo Nuovo                                                                        Trastavere

20.05.03: Train to Florence. Duomo--climb cupola (fighting off claustrophobia in tiny 462-step stairwell), Palazzo Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio, Piazzale Michelangelo to escape massive hordes of tour groups, real Italian pasta.

                                Duomo                                                                    View from Duomo                            Loggia della Signoria          Piazzale Michelangelo

21.05.03: Uffizi Gallery (line for 1.5 hrs, gallery for 2 hrs). Train to Venice--definitely my favorite place of the trip, beautiful and peaceful. Fun wandering around in the rain, finding tiny isolated dock on main canal for sunset. Met awesome Canadians in hostel, Cat, Eli, Fletcher.

                                                 My pictures                                                                                                                                   Webshots pictures

(My pictures are clearly  absolutely terrible--the weather was nowhere near as bad as it looks and everything was MUCH more colorful--so I've added pictures I found on Webshots to do this incredibly beautiful city a little more justice)

22.05.03: More walking around city.  Train to Salzburg with Cat. Walking around city, making friends with policemen & getting to see backs of heads of 16 European presidents in town for EU meetings, met another fun Canadian in hostel bar, Chavon.

23.05.03: LOTS of walking all over Salzburg with Cat.  Schloss Mirabelle park, lots of churches, St. Peter's Abbey & Catacombs, hike up Kapuzinerberg hill for view of castle, met Chavon for picnic dinner on river with crazy swarm of bees, long walk down river in search of Von Trapp house before giving up and settling for bridge with sunset view, coffee at ritzy restaurant with Cat (along with cookies & nutella, which was very much frowned on), hanging out in park with guys from hostel.

Schloss Mirabelle                     St. Peter's Abbey                         View from Kapuzinerberg           EU Meetings                            Cat & Chavon

24.05.03: Long train ride to Weimar, long walk to find hostel.

25.05.03: Bauhaus Universität, Bauhaus Museum, Neue Museum (modern art), Buchenwald Concentration Camp & Memorial.

        Bauhaus Universität                                                                                                                                   Buchenwald

26.05.03: Train to Berlin. Figure out incredibly confusing but good metro system. Berliner Dom, Deutsches Historisches Museum (in I.M. Pei's absolutely incredible exhibition hall--I think I'm in love), Reichstag, Franciscan Abbey remains, East Side Gallery--longest remaining stretch of Berlin Wall, playing cards with Australians in hostel.

                Berliner Dom                                                         Reichstag                                           Franciscan Abbey                                                         Berlin Wall--East Side Gallery

                                                                                                                                                    Deutsches Historisches Museum

27.05.03: Back to Deutsches Historisches Museum for rest of history exhibit & exhibit of Pei's other major buildings, more standing in awe of exhibition hall. Train back to Århus.

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SWEDEN

       Camping-öland                                                      Borgholm Castle, öland

                                                                              Stockholm

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My main site: https://www.angelfire.com/tx6/meredithmcclure

Email: meri_deth@hotmail.com