Venice

 Often referred to as "The Floating City", Venice is actually comprised of 117 small islands.  It is a city in the Adriatic Sea, with hundreds of bridges and canals running all throughout.

Not only is Venice a city floating on water, it is also unique because there are no cars.  None.  Instead, the canals have become like highways and boats are the primary mode of transportation.  And with how confusing the streets are, boats are by far the quickest and most efficient way to move around.

Venice is especially famous for one particular type of boat, the gondola.  These can be found everywhere, and are a great way to see the city and to get around.  They operate like a taxi: you ask the man who captains the gondola to take you somewhere, then you sit back and relax as he paddles you through the maze of canals to your destination.  (This is very expensive though; Stanley and I decided to walk instead).  Below is a picture of two typical gondolas.

At times I wish we had taken a gondola instead of walking.  We discovered the hard way that it is extremely easy to get lost in Venice.  There is not always a bridge when you need one, and some of the streets lead you to a watery dead end.

Though frustrating, Venice is a gorgeous city with lots to see and to discover.  

Croatia and Slovenia

After Sarajevo came the Croatian coast, on the Adriatic Sea.  In the city of Zadar, we found a nice beach overlooking the amazingly clear waters of the Adriatic.

We didn't spend much time in Zadar, though.  Went for a quick swim, then headed north to Plitvice, a Croatian National Park, for some spectacular views.

After Croatia came my personal favorite part of the entire trip, Slovenia.  An absolutely beautiful country, Slovenia does not have nearly as many tourists as the other places we have been.  So it is much more peaceful and relaxing, and we were able to enjoy the sights even more.  Sights like Lake Bled.  At Lake Bled, you feel like you are in a postcard.

The island in the middle of the lake is swimmable (though I didn't try), and has a small church on it.  If the winter is cold enough, the whole lake freezes over and it is possible to walk (or skate) to the island!

And on the left, overlooking the Lake, is the 900-year-old Bled Castle.

Its hard to top Bled, but the Triglav National Park in northwest Slovenia came close.  The most famous attraction there is the Savica Waterfall.  My friends and I hiked for an hour and a half only to find that we had to pay €2.50 just to go see the waterfall!!  Well, instead of paying we decided to cross a river and go past the "entrance".  Probably not the smartest idea, but at the time we thought "why should we have to pay to see a waterfall, a natural occurrence?!".  ANYWAY, the waterfall itself, although beautiful, was not quite what we were hoping for.  As it was so hot this day, we were hoping we would be able to get close to it, stand underneath it, maybe swim in the river.  But the area was closed off, and this is as close as they let anyone get:

The water from this waterfall runs down the mountain to Lake Bohinj, yet another beautiful Slovenian lake.

I definitely hope I can come back to Slovenia someday.

Sarajevo

Sarajevo is perhaps the most interesting place of the trip so far.  It is a city with a very dark past, though.  Between 1992 and 1995, war came to Sarajevo.  The city itself was almost completely surrounded for 4 years, receiving explosion after explosion and bullet after bullet.  Many people were killed before the conflict finally ended at the end of 1995.  And the scars, still felt by the people who survived, can also be seen all around the city.  Most buildings are covered with bullet holes, and the sidewalks are cracked and broken from grenade and artillery explosions.

This building was almost completely destroyed in the war, but the government has decided to leave it as it is, to constantly remind people of the horrors of war.

The surrounding area, which is mostly beautiful mountains, was also affected.  One particularly eerie reminder of the war remains in the mountains.  In 1984, Sarajevo hosted the winter olympics; and for the event they built what was, at the time, the biggest and best bobsled run in the world.  The run did not survive the war intact.  Only small sections of it remain.

Despite these very visible scars, Sarajevo is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited.  It is completely surrounded by tall mountains, so no matter which direction you look you will find a magnificent view.

And the people here, rising above everything they have endured, are extremely kind and generous.  I think Stanley and I will both miss Sarajevo.  But, legend has it that if you drink the water from one particular fountain in the old town, you will someday return to the city. 

Time to go, I'm feeling thirsty...

The Baltic States and Central Europe

Unfortunately, we were in a rush after Finland.  We had to go pick up a friend from the airport in Poznan, Poland.  So as soon as we got off the ferry in Tallin, Estonia, we started driving.  And we didn't stop.  So, Stanley and I didn't get to see much of Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania.  But I did stop to take one picture, of the amazing forests next to the highway.  For about 50 miles, this is all we could see on either side of us.  It was very nice.

After we got our friend in Poznan, we spent a few days in Poland.  I'm sorry though, I barely took any pictures there.  All you really need to know, though, is that Polish drivers are crazy and it seems like every single road is under construction.  VERY frustrating.  So I was happy to leave.

And our next destination was a familiar one for Stanley, the gorgeous city of Prague.

Stanley and I were in Prague last summer as well, and it is just as beautiful as we remember.  This time, however, we had some friends with us:

The two guys are my traveling buddies (Dan, from England, on the left and Jon, from France, on the right).  The girl on the far left is Almut, Dan's girlfriend.  The girl next to Jon is his girlfriend, Julie; and the girl on the far right is Sophie, a friend of Julie's.  Can you spot Flat Stanley?

One day while in Prague we decided to take a day trip to a small town in the Czech Republic called Pilsen (spelled Plžen in Czech). 

It is the city where my grandmother was born, and it is also a very important city historically.  It was the last city that US troops liberated from the Nazis in World War II.  For that reason, Pilsen loves America!

After leaving the Czech Republic, we headed to Hungary, and the capital city of Budapest.  Budapest is an interesting city because it is actually two cities.  The city of Buda is on one side of the river (the Danube), and on the other is the city of Pest.  It is a city known for its beautiful buildings and bridges.

 

One of the most amazing buildings is the Hungarian Parliament building.  It is one of the oldest Parliament buildings in Europe and it is the largest building in all of Hungary.  

Hungary has the second oldest government in Europe.  Their constitution was written in the year 1222!

The picture below is at Heroes' Square in Budapest, a square dedicated to all of the people who gave their lives for the freedom and independence of the Hungarian people throughout their history, which goes back thousands of years.

After leaving Budapest, we went to a beautiful lake in Southern Hungary called Lake Balaton.  It is the largest lake in Central Europe.

 

Balaton was lovely, with people all along the edges of the lake fishing, cycling, BBQ-ing, running.  It was very peaceful.  We camped next to a much smaller lake near Balaton, in the city of Tihany.

After Balaton, we went south across Croatia and into Bosnia & Hercegovina.  At these two border crossings I finally got some new stamps in my passport.  Because most  European countries are a part of the Schengen Agreement, there are no more border crossings.  So, we can pass from Poland to Germany to the Czech Republic to Hungary etc. just as easily as we can go from Colorado to Kansas to Missouri etc.  But this also means that I dont get any stamps in my passport, which is a bit of a bummer.  So it was nice to get some in Croatia and Bosnia, countries which are not part of the Schengen Agreement.

That was a lot of explanation for not much information, and I only said it because I like getting stamps in my passport.  Sorry.  In any case, Sarajevo will be the next post!

The Netherlands and Scandinavia

I apologize for the delay, Stanley and I have travelled very far since our last post.  We went to the Netherlands to visit a friend in Rotterdam.  She took us to the countryside and showed us some of what The Netherlands is perhaps most famous for, its windmills.

The windmills were originally built because much of the country is below sea level.  So the windmills were used to move water uphill and dump it into nearby rivers.  One windmill pumps the water up slightly higher, and it flows to the next windmill, on and on until it reaches the height of the river.  That is why there are so many of them across the landscape.  Today, hydraulic pumps do most of the work that the windmills used to.

Our next stop was Scandinavia, starting with Denmark.  On our first day in Denmark we found a beautiful beach in Saksild and decided to spend the night there.  So we set up our tents and camped on the beach.

Scandinavia is known for its lakes, Sweden especially.  There are probably as many, if not more, lakes per square mile in Sweden as there are in Minnesota.

Stockholm was our next stop, the capital of Sweden.  It is a beautiful city, but we did not spend much time there because the friend we were meeting lives north of Stockholm.

In the countryside near the town of Uppsala, we went on a walk and found some ancient burial sites.  Thousands of years ago, Swedish kings and other nobility were buried under these big hills.  The bigger the hill, the more important the person.

Originally, we were going to drive all the way up Sweden to Lappland (where Santa supposedly lives) and cross over into Finland there.  But we were short on time, so we decided to take the ferry and cross the Baltic Sea instead.  The ferry went from Stockholm to Turku and lasted almost 12 hours.  But the Baltic Sea was very peaceful.

Finland is also dotted with thousands of lakes.  This one, near Karjalohja, was amazingly beautiful and there were only a few people there.  We ate our lunch on the dock and went for a swim in the calm waters.

We went to Helsinki and took the ferry from there to Tallin, Estonia.  I will put up another post as soon as I can, but just an update on our current status: we are in Budapest, Hungary.  Leaving for Serbia either tomorrow (the 8th) or the day after.  See you soon!

The French Alps and Southern Germany

Stanley and I flew to Geneva to meet up with our friends Dan and Jon.  We travelled around the city only briefly, but one of the sights that you simply cant miss is the 459 foot high fountain in the middle of Lake Geneva.  In French it is called the Jet d'Eau, and the water leaves the nozzle at 124 miles per hour! 

Near Geneva are the famous CERN laboratories, where scientists from all over the world are studying how atoms work and learning more every day about how the universe works.  Most of the work is done underground in a 16 mile long circular tunnel, but there is some cool stuff above ground as well.  Here, Stanley is outside of an exhibit which explains all of the work being done underground.

The Alps are some of the biggest mountains in the world (bigger than the Rockies), so Stanley and his friends couldn't pass up the opportunity to hike to the top of one of the mountains.  In this picture, we are about halfway up.  The house belongs to a farmer who makes his own cheese from the cows he owns and sells it to all of the hikers going past each day.

On our way up the mountain, we got very lucky and stumbled upon some young mountain goats!  They were so curious that they got within arms length of us at times.  Beautiful animals!

Here we are at the top of the mountain!

After Switzerland, Stanley and I went to the South of Germany to visit some more friends.  This picture was taken in Heidelberg, but its not a very good picture.  There is a castle in the background, but it is hard to make out.  In any case, the first picture of Stanley and I together!