"...a rock, also sand and water... i just built a beach!"

location: vienna, austria
time: 21:56
number of mannerschnitten eaten: an embarrassing number...

well hello there!
apologies on my utter failure to keep this puppy updated! lots to report on so lets get to it!!

when last we were together i was in freiberg, germany. its a wonderful small town with an amazing mineral museum and beautiful church in the center of town. we left freiberg after two nigts and made our way to berlin by bus.

in berlin we were once again blessed with wonderful hosts! we spent quite a bit of time lost on the trains which never seemed to go the same way twice! we visited the brandenburg gate, read the time line billboard at checkpoint charlie, saw where the wall once stood, visited the jewish musuem (we spent most of our time in an extremely interesting and horrifying exhibit called 'deathly medicine') and went to the zoo, visited the huge dinosaur skeletons at the natural history musuem, and even went to the movies! at the zoo we were able to see knut,
the baby polar bear who was rescued and raised there. he's not such a baby anymore but very cute none the less! after a rather harrowing night in the berlin airport we boarded the plane and were on our way to italy!

we arrived in milan on the morning of the 28th. we took trains to lake como where we eventually met up with our amazing servas host, lilli. We spent our only full day in como riding the funicular up to brunate which gave us a spectacular view of como! we also went to a dress rehearsal for lilli's choir and then went out for pizzas. we met so many wonderful people and enjoyed the restful time in como immensely!

a train ride later and we were back in florence where gemma spent last semester studying. we were lucky enough to find a very cheap cute little apartment for the four nights we were there. we had a great time visiting all of gemma's favorite spots and also got to see arielle (another friend from dana hall who is studying in florence at the moment also) which was so wonderful! i got an amazing platypus key chain at the market in the center of florence :) it was very hot and there were some episodes of torrential rain but nothing too serious... we enjoyed our fair share of gelato to battle the heat, marveled at the domo, and wandered around florence before packing up our bags for the last time. on gemma's last night all tree of us went out to dinner at a little restaurant where gemma knew the waiter and had a great meal and fun spending time together.

gemma flew home yesterday and i left for vienna in the evening by train. these past two months have been fantastic. we saw and learned so much, met wonderful people and adventured with the best of 'em! i miss gemma already but am also excited to get the chance to catch up with friends and family here.

as for the blog... i am not really sure what i will do with it from here on in... i might update randomly on what i have been up to slash where i am. and other then that it will go into hibernation until the next time i strap on the backpack!!

much love to all,
peace.
a