Bootman and Xenia Come to Visit

Well, last Thursday evening my dear friends from UMass, Bootman (real name: Andrew) and Xenia, came to visit me. I have never had such a crazy, amazing week!

On Friday I took them around Freiburg and into the Black Forest, we climbed all the way up one of the hills, and up the spiral-staircased tower that goes waayyyy above Freiburg and above the Forest. On Saturday we went to France, and although I’ve already been to Strasbourg once, this time was much better. When I went in March it was freezing and cloudy and miserable, but this time we could not have asked for better weather! It was very nice to see how much my friends were enjoying themselves, especially as it was Bootman’s first trip to Europe. We had the most delicious crepes I’ve ever had and saw much more of the charming little city than I did on my last trip.

On Sunday Xenia’s cousin from Cologne, Constantin (who I met before on his trip to America), came to see us. We were all sitting by the lake when he made a suggestion: why don’t we rent a car and go to Italy? In the most spontaneous move of my life, one hour later we were reserving a car and beds in a hostel for the next day.

The drive was absolutely staggering, unfortunately I don’t think any of the crappy pictures I took in the trip will be able to convey what I saw. We drove through the most rural parts of the Swiss Alps, through northern Italy and the Tuscan countryside, bound for Florence.

I thought Rome was the most breathtaking thing I had ever seen- but Florence might possibly eclipse it. The art, the architecture, the food. Absolutely amazing! I saw works by Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, Caravaggio, El Greco, and so on. I saw the tombs of Dante, Galileo, and Michelangelo. I climbed up to the Palace of Michelangelo (i dont think he lived there, i think its named after him) and saw the whole city spread out before me. We ate real tuscan food- I have never tasted pasta, pesto, ice cream, a calzone, or panna cotta like this.  (haha- that really makes me sound like a pig, but I had to eat something in three days!) We also saw the biggest cathedral dome in Europe (if not the world), the Santa Maria de Fiore (possibly misspelled) which was completely decorated on the outside with white, pink, and green marble. On the ceiling of the dome was an absolutely crazy painting of the last judgement.

We got to leave on Wednesday morning, and learn that our tire was cut! I suspect that it had something to do with parking a German car on the edge of Republic Square on Republic Day. However, we found out later that our purchasing a new tire saved us 100 euro, as if we hadn’t, the rental place in Freiburg would have charged us 174 euro for a new tire and servicing the car. After that ordeal was over with, we realized we’d have to cut our detour to Pisa, but luckily we still had time for Zurich.

Zurich’s old city center is much more beautiful than I expected, but people were right in saying it’s one of the most expensive city in Europe! Holy crap! But Xenia treated us to a nice dinner, and we concluded our travels on a very high note.

Last night the two of them left for Frankfurt, but I wish they could have stayed longer! Now I have no excuse not to do work…

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