...and some more Rome..

1. A view of the Colosseum from Palatine Hill. I think Palatine Hill was my favorite place. It was so pretty, it had great views of Rome on all sides, and it wasn't nearly as crowded as a lot of the tourist sites.

2. A ceiling in one of the hallways at the Vatican Museum. All the buildings have painted ceilings like this. No wonder so many great renaissance artists were in Rome! Every little church needed paintings, and each painting takes years! It's great job security.

3. The Spanish steps. I don't really know what the significance of the Spanish Steps is, but they were pretty and provided a great view of the western side of Rome.

4. The Trevi Fountain. Basically a huge sculpture and fountain in its own little piazza. According to Rick Steves, the Romans built this just to celebrate their knowledge of aqueducts. It really is amazing to think they built this gigantic fountain in the middle of the city hundreds of years ago.

5. St. Peters Basilica, in the Vatican City. This church has Peter's tomb, and a huge shrine dedicated to him. It was dark inside the church, so those pictures didn't turn out well. But it looked a lot like any other huge, overly ornate shrine you'd find in other old churches. St. Peters Basilica is huge, though. It's like a stadium, only with all kinds of paintings and sculptures all over the walls and ceilings. And the floors (in all the buildings, including my hotel) are covered in mosiacs. They were really pretty.

Next stop: Vienna!

More Rome Pictures

1. "School of Athens" by Raphael. It's my favorite painting and the main reason I wanted to go to Rome. It covers a wall of what used to be a room in the private apartment of the old popes. That room is now part of the Vatican Museum. I also saw the Sistine Chapel, but we weren't allowed to take pictures. Anyway, you've seen pictures of it before.

2. Original bronze door on one of the political buildings in the Roman Forum- from the days of Julius Caesar.

3. The Roman Forum- the ancient political and religious center of Rome. Now it's a collection of ruins of political buildings and temples. Notice how amazing the weather is. The first day it rained all afternoon, but the second day it sprinkled a little and then was sunny and perfect the rest of the day. It was around 75 degrees, a welcome change from the snow in Germany the day before. Also notice how green the landscape is. Cyprus trees and another kind of tree (the kind in the background in this picture) are all over. It was so pretty! It turns out the Mediterranean Sea is just a little ways away. I had no idea I was going to the Mediterranean! I need to study my geography.

4. Piazza del Popolo- Around just about every corner is a piazza. Basically just a big carless square with a sculpture or monument in the middle and cool buildings all around. It was so neat to be walking down the street past shops and cafes and then look up and see some ancient or renaissance building. There's so much history scattered about the city.

5. The chains that held Peter when he was in prison. These are in a church dedicated to Peter. I also went to the prison, but the pictures aren't very good. Prisoners were let into the prison through a small hole in the roof, and lowered by ropes about 30 feet to a dark, damp, smelly cell in the basement. It was gross. The column that Peter was chained to is still there, enshrined in a glass case.

Viva la Roma!

I don't know if Viva la Roma means anything, but it sounded good. Rome is an interesting place. It actually reminded me a lot of New York, only a little older. There are no lanes in the roads. Cars and motorcycles and pedestrians just go where ever they fit, and nobody sees a problem with that. The gelato wasn't as good as I expected. I got nutella gelato on my first day and ate it in the rain on the sidewalk. It looked like it had swirls of nutella, but it just tasted like plain jane vanilla, and anybody who knows me well knows that I consider vanilla ice cream to be a waste of calories. I want flavor! The pizza, however was awesome! The first day, I only had a few hours to get in and out of the Vatican before it closed for the weekend, so I was in a mad dash to eat anything and get there. I got pizza from a street vendor, and it was a mistake. If you get pizza to go, they cut it in half, put the halves together like a sandwich, and heat it up. Good idea, right? But street vendor pizza is floppy and flavorless. So sad. But the next day I had cafe pizza, and it was a whole different story! From the 10 or so varieties, I chose potato pizza. It was crust, shredded potatoes, rosemary, lots of olive oil, and some kind of cheese. I've tried making that kind of pizza before, but this was way better than mine ever is. I'll have to try again. Surprisingly, that's all the Roman food I ate. You'd think walking for 5-10 hours straight in one day would make a person hungry, but with all the cigarette smoke floating around, I didn't have much of an appetite. Next interesting thing: on any given day, I think there are way more tourists in Rome than actual residents. And there's an easy way to tell American tourists from European- Americans wear color. Everybody else wears black. I can't imagine having a whole wardrobe of just black. How boring! Hmm...I'm sure there are more interesting things I could tell you, but let's get to the pictures. If I left anything out that you want to know, ask me. I was going to try to add my pictures in a slide show, but I don't know how. If anybody knows, will you tell me? That way I won't have to weed through all my pictures for the best few. Until then, the above pictures are: 1. the Pantheon- I got there right after it closed, so I didn't get to inside. It turns out Nov 1 is All Saints Day, so a lot of stuff was either closed or closed early that day. Bummer. 2. Palatine Hill, where all the old emperors and politicians built their palaces. It's an amazing collection of ruins. One palace had its own personal stadium in the back yard, and the foundation is still there. This particular picture shows the ruins of the house of Romulus, the founder of Rome. I don't know how old it is, but it's pretty old. 3. Constantine Arch, between the Colosseum and Palatine Hill. Constantine built this arch to commemorate his victory over some Pagan army, and thus the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of Rome (Holy Roman Empire). 4 and 5. The Colloseum. The walls coming up from the floor of the Colosseum were under ground. All sorts of wild animals were kept there and then raised to the ground level on elevators, where they would pop out and attack the gladiators. It seems pretty gruesome that all of Rome (75,000-90,000 could fit inside) would turn out to watch somebody die by animal attack, but then I remember what half the movies out there are about today. We haven't changed at all. I'll post some more pictures in another blog, because it's only letting me post 5 at a time.

This post isn't about anything. Just a random sampler. First of all, check out the picture of my latest vegetable discovery. It's called romanesca. It tastes basically like cauliflower, but look at how intricate it is. Every point is made of little spirals, and every little spiral is made of tiny spirals, and every tiny spiral is made of tinier spirals, etc. It's in all the stores here.

The other pictures are the Frankfurt Temple. Our stake relief society went yesterday. I was amazed by the turnout! From my ward, there was just me and the relief society president. As the only non-German speakers, we spent the whole day together. It was fun to get to know her. From the other wards, there were a ton of people! We filled two buses! It's about a three-hour drive to the temple, and when we got there, the temple president and matron spoke to us (one of the members was good enough to translate for the two of us) in the chapel next door. Then we all shuffled into the next room for what they called "a light snack". In America, this means a cookie and Mormon punch. But the room was full of food! And it was all authentic, homemade German food! They had pretzels (the pretzels here are so good. They're big, like American soft pretzels, but they're way better than anything in America. The outside is crispy like a regular small pretzel, but the inside is light and fluffy. They're in all the bakeries here.) They also had lots of pastries filled with cheese, spinach, ham, etc; zweibel kuchen (literally, onion cakes, but basically quiche); all sorts of cakes and breads, and lots of fruit. It was great. Then we went into the temple and did an endowment session, had more food afterwards, and then came home. It was a very long day, but it was fun to hang out with the Germans for the day. They were a lot of fun, and they're all very friendly. And the bus ride gave me a chance to see some of the country side. We passed a few castle ruins. That was kind of cool. And we also passed a lot of vineyards. I didn't realize Germany had vineyards- I thought it'd be too cold. But they were all over. I think that's all I have to say about that.

I've been watching all the tags on other people's blogs, and I've picked my favorite. Here goes (and it's going to be hard, because most of the answers from my sisters' blogs work for me, too, so I'm trying to be orginal):

Someday: I will have my own garden. In the ground; not in pots on my patio.

I usually: eat yogurt with cereal in it for breakfast.

I wonder: why the purple crocuses always seem to sprout and bloom before the white ones.

I regret: being so shy in my earlier life that I missed getting to know a lot of good people.

I love: peanut butter, apples, and hot pajamas straight out of the dryer (not necessarily all together).

I care: about not having any tangles in my hair. Ever.

I always: have "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" or "Redeemer of Israel" running through my head.

I worry: too much about the little things, like what I'll have for dinner tonight, and not enough about the big things, like wearing sunscreen in the middle of summer.

I am not: patient with slow-walking people in the mall, in the halls at work, at the grocery store, etc.


I remember: birthdays of people I barely knew years ago.

I forget: some of my closest friends' birthdays every year.

I believe: just about anything anybody tells me.

I dance: like a mix between Bill Cosby and Elaine Benes.

I sing: hymns and broadway songs in the shower.

I don't always: keep things in perspective.

I argue: whenever anybody blames the economy on Alan Greenspan. He warned us for years and nobody listened.

I write: with the handwriting of a little boy.

I win: very few bets.

I lose: every time I play the Michigan version of Scum. I just don't like that version.

I wish: time would freeze so I didn't have to miss all the happenings in Michigan and Utah while I'm away.

I listen: for the sound of Canadian geese in the fall, bluebirds and cardinals in the summer, and swallows and sparrows in the spring.

I don't understand: why anybody would choose to eat durian more than once. Or bird fetuses ever. Or cabbage that has been rotting in an underground pot for weeks. I guess that's why I was born in America.

I can be found: in the gym every morning at 6.

I am scared: of the dark for weeks after I watch a scary movie.

I need: a good balance between quiet time and social time.

I am happy: in general. And when I'm with my friends. And when I walk out my office door every night.

Oktoberfest

Yesterday I went to Volksfest, Stuttgart's version of Oktoberfest. I had no idea what to expect. I kind of thought it would be one long street of booths to buy beer. But it's actually more like a carnival. There were all sorts of rides and games and food booths, on about the same scale as Lagoon. But there were also beer tents. They were huge tents set up by various beer companies. They had wooden floors and tables and everything, and each one has a live band in the center and hundreds of people inside, and a big decorated wagon with a bunch of big horses out in front. Apparently you can get food in the tents, but most people just get beer. It comes in liter-sized glasses. That's a lot. And most people get more than one. I didn't go into any of the tents because they seemed pretty rowdy, but it looked like everybody was singing and dancing and being "merry". The one thing I really wasn't prepared for in going to Oktoberfest was the clothes. Most people wore regular clothes, jeans, t-shirts, whatever. But a lot of people were wearing leder hosen and dirndls. I kind of always thought that traditional German clothes were worn about as often as people in American wear traditional square dancing or pioneer clothes, meaning never. And they come in all varieties. Some were long, some were short, some had suspenders, some didn't, some were really ornate, some were plain. The best part was that it was mainly the burly, strapping young men who were wearing the lederhosen. Let's just say I have an all new appreciation for lederhosen, and leave it at that.

Germany!

Well, after days of clouds and rain, the sun came out and smiled on me yesterday and I started really discovering Germany. After being inspired by Saturday's conference talks, and before conference started on Sunday, I took a train downtown and saw some sites. Rather than write a long, wordy post, I'll just put up pictures and try to label them (I don't know how to label pictures, so if it works out, I'll be patting myself on the back). Okay- I couldn't figure out the labels. So I'll just tell you what the pictures are: 1. Stuttgart from SchlossPlatz- I rode the Subway and had no idea what to expect when I came out. Last time I was downtown, the sun was going down and I was trying to drive steep and narrow streets and just focus on not going the wrong way on one-way streets or running stop signs that don't look like stop signs, so I really didn't see much to appreciate. But when I came out of the Subway, this view greeted me. It was like the heavens opened and angels were singing, announcing Stuttgart as a beautiful city. Note the yellow banners. They're advertising the Volks Fest, which is Stuttgart's version of Oktoberfest. Did you know Oktoberfest is only in Munich? My coworkers were very clear on that. I think the two festivals are kind of rivals. Anyway, the Stuttgart festival has carnival rides and such, and is the 2nd biggest traveling fair in the world (behind Oktoberfest, but I won't mention that around my coworkers) 2. Altes Schloss- more detail with picture 6. 3. Neues Schloss (new palace), built in 1746 (yes, the new palace was built in 1746- just wait til I tell you when the old palace was built) for Willhelm Wurrtemberg. 4. Schiftskirche (Dad, maybe you can tell me what the correct spelling is, but I think the translation is Collegiate Church) built around the 10th century (that's 900 AD!) and used as a burial for the Wurrtembergs. The windows are stained glass, but you can only see the color from inside. I would have gone inside, but there was a service going on. 5. Me in front of the gardens at Neues Schloss- I found some Americans and asked them to take my picture so I could prove I did actually come to Germany. 6. Altes Schloss (old palace) built between the 10th and 13th centuries. It had a moat and everything until it was remodeled in the renaissance style in the 15th century- next time you think you need a remodel, just remind yourself that you can wait a few more centuries. 7. My office building. It's the tallest building in Vaihingen, just like the building in Michigan- you can see it for miles. How nice.