Ulm . . . Check

Spent a beautiful day (the first in a long time) in Ulm:

World's tallest church steeple . . . check

Leaning tower . . . check

University of Ulm and botanical garden . . . check

Awesome sour cream-nut cake . . . check

Salad spinner . . . check

A Wedding in Rome

I had the honor of attending the wedding of a friend from college in where else but Rome! I spent 4 days in the Eternal City and had a fabulous time.

After arriving at my hotel late the first night I took a little stroll around the area to, well I'll admit it, find some gelato. Luckily I was successful and found great gelato right next to the Trevi Fountain. Lit up at night it is very pretty and all of the people hanging around make it fun.

The next morning I met the families of the bride and groom for a tour of the Vatican. (Another country to cross off the list!) After the hotel's traditional Italian breakfast (and I mean very traditional, only white toast, croissants, and espresso in a big coffee thermos) I decided to walk from the hotel to the Vatican and luckily I gave myself what I thought was way too much time to get there, because I ended up being only right on time. The tour was definitely the way to go for the Vatican. I would have had no idea what all I was looking at and would have probably walked right through the Sistine Chapel without realizing. (Plus with the tour you get to skip ahead in line!) The only bad part was that there was an old man in our tour group and we lost him! About half way through, the guide noticed he wasn't there and even with all of us looking we never did find him. Well I guess now he has an unique souvenir from his tour of the Vatican, the little device that allows you to hear the guide through an earpiece.

After that we all needed a break and headed toward Piazza Navona for lunch where we braved the cars and scooters and went ahead and sat nearly in the narrow street. But we did get some entertainment when a van driving past us coincided with a large crunching noise. Once we decided that it didn't sounds like a person being hit we saw that a guy had just opened his car door as the van passed and well, you get the idea. I felt really bad when we had to watch him try to force the door shut of his tiny car.

Anyway then I headed back with my friend to the apartment they had rented so he could pick up his fiance and meet the priest. The unfortunate part here is that she had been hanging out at the apartment in order to wait for their lost luggage to be delivered. (Don't worry, they are smart people and carried on all the wedding clothes.) So while they went to the meeting with the priest I hung out with one of her friends in the apartment and relaxed, talked, walked to the Spanish Steps (right around the corner), and then had some heavenly Italian coffee. It was a fantastic afternoon hanging out in Rome. Then that night all the friends of the couple went out for dinner together, followed of course by gelato. It was such fun!

The next morning (day of the wedding) I met my friend and his family for a tour of the Forum, Colosseum, and a bit of Palatine Hill. I am really glad we had the tour because otherwise I fear the Forum would be just a bunch of [presumably] really old stones to me. Understanding the history made it much more interesting and impressive. Seeing the Colosseum was really an unique experience and I didn't know what to expect because it is one of those iconic places that you hear and talk about all of the time. I didn't know how I would react to finally seeing it and making this intangible place tangible.

Well, next adventure for the day was the wedding! On my way to the church (in Vatican City!) I was told to take the metro and just as I was taking out my map to verify the stop I heard my name and turned to see my friend, his family, and her family!! Praise the merciful Lord! I would never have made it on my own. Then on the subway he asked if I would do a reading during the ceremony and once I verified it wasn't in Italian or Latin or anything I said of course! The church was just inside the Vatican walls and was beautiful, no flowers needed. The ceremony was very nice (in English thankfully) aside from the random woman in the back digging through her plastic bag collection and the other random woman who was first up for communion during the service. My other favorite part was the photographers who took so many pictures (from the same spot) that they will be able to make a flip book of the ceremony in lieu of a video. Then we followed them around St. Peter's Square taking pictures and you would be amazed how many strangers took their picture too. Why would you want wedding pictures of people you don't know?

Then to the most wonderful reception at the Spanish Steps. We were too early for the restaurant so we hung around the steps and had pre-dinner drinks (mostly beer) from a portable snack stand. Then into the restaurant for dinner on the patio. It was perfect. The food was heavenly (risotto, duck, and brownies with gelato) and the wine never stopped flowing. I had one glass the whole night (ok so really it was just a magic glass that was constantly full). It was such a fun night that when they finally kicked us out at midnight they walked me the long way back to my hotel so we could see the city at night and not let the evening end.

My plan was to sleep in the next morning, but the smell of the Italian espresso got me out of bed by 8. So off to explore the rest of the city. I saw the Pantheon (suggestion: go at 9am because it was just me and about 8 other people there at that point and I have heard that normally you can barely fit in there with all the people), walked through the food stalls at Campo de Flori, had some amazing Italian cookies, went to the Villa Borghese (where I attempted to do some note taking but was so annoyed by the guys trying to give me roses that I left in a huff), and had tartufo at the Tre Scalini Cafe (just a scoop of very good chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks on the outside and whipped cream). Then I accidently found a few more sites while trying to find the Repubblica. Then time for a short siesta. That night I met some of the others in town for the wedding for dinner. Had a great meal (surprise, surprise) and wine.

Next day was spent finishing off the sites. I had more cookies, some pizza bianca, gnocchi, and anything else I could justify. When in Rome . . .

At one point I crossed the river to check out the other side, but decided I must have walked onto a Hollywood sound stage. It was way too stereotypical, so much so that I couldn't bring myself to even take a picture.

Oddly enough one of the highlights of the trip was that the museum directly across the street from my hotel had an Edward Hopper exhibit going on for another week! I was so excited. The exhibit was absolutely amazing. I am not an art (especially painting) person, but his art is something else. I spent a long time in that museum just marveling! It was perfect aside from the little girl crying the whole time and whining for her "mama." Honestly, it was beyond the point of ridiculous, teetering on rude. Which reminds me, I had some run-ins with several rude, or maybe just inconsiderate and oblivious, Italians in Rome. Interesting because this has not been my experience in other Italian cities. I guess Rome is just Rome.

Bavaria's Yosemite

Berchtesgaden and Konigsee are what I would deem the Yosemite of Bavaria, or maybe even Germany for that matter. They are located in the southern most tip of Germany, nestled into Austria.

I visited the area over a long holiday weekend and lucked out that the only 2 days of nice weather we have had during the past month and a half happened to be the 2 days we were there. I can't describe the area in words very well, but the pictures have been posted so you can go and see what I mean. The lake is one of the clearest in Germany and is located right at the base of one of the highest mountains in the country (Watzmann). This is also where the Eagle's Nest is located.

We did some hiking and found some amazing waterfalls and smaller lakes. Then we stopped for a small snack at the farm on the far coast of the lake where they advertised fresh milk and buttermilk and when they say fresh then mean fresh. To get to the little farm house we had to walk through the pasture with the grazing cows. So much fun. Then when we ordered our mug of fresh milk the woman took two mugs and dipped them into a huge bucket of milk in the back. Nothing like lukewarm milk straight from the cow.