an intercity train

imagine a local intercity express train packed to the gills-literally! heading from roma to napoli!

My journey there included a bus from downtown to the metro then upstairs to the train depot. I scanned the train departure list....There was a train leaving within a few minutes so I jumped on. I had 2 minutes! Yes! I made it!

There were SO many people, the space between cars was PACKED!! I was like a sardine!

I decided to try and navigate thru cars to find some space...hah hah !

Every Seat in every car was occupied, standing room only, there was no ROOM to even move forward thru the mad crush of peeople! IT was AWEsOME!!

i decided to return to my original post. It was still full and filling as more and more people tried to rearrange themselves! hah hah!! I loved it!

At each succeeding stop, some people got off but barely enough to make a difference. The doors were open for entry AND AIR into the compartments but it got stuffy. Lucky for me, I mauevered to a corner, sat on my rolly-wheels bag and was content amidst all the people.

It stayed that way for over an hour! iT was Great!! I loved the crush of people!

I was greeted at Napoli by my friends and a great slice of pizza!

ROMA!!

we are in Rome!! I abSolutely LOVE IT!!
we were met at the train station by my friends uncle! He led us thru the metro system with lots of subways covered in graffiti! It was SO Awesome!

We all held hands and closed our eyes to be met by the Grand View of the COlosseum lite up at night! It was glorious!! Absolutely Gorgeous!

since then, we have been tooling around, exploring ruins, The Partheneon, the trevi fountain, The Musei Vaticana, navigating thru a maze of alleys....absolutely Loving it!

We have definitely eaten more in Rome-every night we are stuffed to past-full capacity!

Pizza, Sandwiches....yum yum!

more to come!

ruhrgebiet

my dear friend fredericka found me in göttingen and travelled to her hometown.

today we travelled to hattingen the only town that was not bombed during WWII in this area

it was very beautiful. i loved the old buildings

we navigated no thanks to the help of an awlful and funny GPS system it was funny because everz direction was late and given

we returned home to a delicioius salmon pasta and Quark kind of like yogurt and cream mixed with fruit for our dessert. YUM !!!!!

a day in Gyor

what a beautiful and COld day!

we are staying with friends, just outside of Budapest.....where to begin!
So much has happened and its only been a week and a half!

WOW! talk about adventure!

today we took a walk that led to a great panoramic visa stretching out to include budapest and brakislaw ?

and ohh the bakery!!

Lisa took us to a local bakery- we got delicious rolls for our lunch tomorrow and a true LOAF of bread- massive! It felt like i was carrying a baby in my arms! We are going nuts for hungarian butter and bread- it is quite a delectable treat!

I wish i had my "i love toast" teeshirt from the blackbird cafe!

There is a mystique about breathing in cold fresh air, twinkling stars, staring up at the dark night sky and several bright cathedrals in the not to distant horizon.

bathed in warm water.

ohhhhhh!

we also explored an old Abby-that is still in use by monks today.

BEautiful archietecture, stories of royalty using it as shelter, homage to St. Stephan and

ohh the library! Literally several hundred THOUSAND books.

it is public, so i'm in heaven, if only i could read in hungarian or russian.

Floor to Floor shelves stacked with books!! My kind of place!!!

YOu could feel the old. a certain sanctity-past and present, must be recognized.

we are all just travellers, passing through.

Europa! Here we come!!

IT is the night before we take our leave.....

are we Excited or What!! ??? !!!!!!

I woke up in seattle. it was pouring rain! I loved it. what a day to start off the trip.

i arrived in late afternoon To the streaming sunshine of LAX

our pre-departure movie: Angels and Demons

to gear us up for Rome, le Parthenon and italia!

viva la Vida!