The Jungfrau Joch....

Today I woke up quite late in the day, I could not feel the hot Italian sunshine on my shoulders, but I could smell the clean, frosty mountain air all around us. I decided to check the weather to dress appropriately.

After unlatching the frosty window a gust of frrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeezing air hit me right in the face and smacked me back, two things came to me - in this order

1. Look at that!!!

2. c-c-c Cold!

 

 

 

 

By breakfast, 30 minutes, later I hadn't warmed up and was still shivering. Luckily the hotel gave us snow jackets to borrow, big bulky things. mine was green and white and very warm.

A bit like a massive teddy bear.

 

 

 

 

The mountain cloud was very clear today so we decided to do the thing we came to Switzerland for - the Jungfrau or Young maiden mountain,

The mountain itself is called the Jungfrau but the train that goes up is called the Jungfraubahn/joch and the place we were going - the reserch station and viewing point is known as the Top of Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

I was so excited, Drew and I just couldnt stop laughing. We bounced around till all the doors around our room had put up the dont disturb sign.

oops!!!

 

We had to catch 3 trains to get to the top of the Jungfrau

1. Laterbrunen to Wëngen
2. Wëngen to Kleine Scheidig (or something like that)
3. the Jungfrau bahn

All of these train took roughly 20 - 30 minutes

 

The Jungfrau Joch has been going 101 years. it was built in a time that only skilled mountaineers could make a perilous journey to the top of this amazing place. One of these mountaineers (Adolf Guyer - Zeller) decided that the summit should be seen be everyone, and so, he designed the Jungfrau railway, the very 1st mountain train, allowing old and young to see the world from a higher perspective.

Since then (1912) things have been added to just a view such as an outdoor terrace and "snow fun". This was going to be the best thing EVER!

It is now the seconded best thing ever as snow fun was closed due to avalanches. (killjoys!!!)

 

 

 

This was very upseting to me as I'd wated all day to go outside, suck an icicle and play in the snow for hours... skiing, tubing, tobogganing, huskies even snow golf!

 

The rest of the Jungfrau was very fun and kid friendly however. the makers had made a massive snow-dome full of moving parts showing the daily life in the Swiss mountains and moving wooden models! The best thing about it was the amazing creativity. the lights would create patterns to represent snow and the room was round to capture sound.

 

They also had a sculpture gallery where the walls, floors and art was all made in ice! that was amazing but, personally, I thought it was veryyyy cold plastic with a thin layer of water frozen on. Apparently they have to actually cool the gallery because so many tourists come there that their body temperature melts the sculptures.

Here are some pictures...

 

Ice age

 

 

 

After a lot of ooos and aaaaahs we left the station and departed to catch the train from Jungfrau to Kleine shnideg. The train ride wasn't so long, and we had a little sleep, but on the way down it started to do something very special

It started to snow

 

 

 

We leapt off the train and flung ourselves out into the blanket of white.

Snow is about 100x colder than rain. the feel of the stuff is amazing. an incredible mix of ice and petals. it can look like foam or like a corn flake but when it falls it always looks like one thing.

Snow

There is no other way to really explain it

 

After frolicking in the snow for a whole 45 minutes we decided that being chilled to the bone wasn't so fun and decided to head back to sunny little Lauterbrunnen where we are staying.

After looking back on it I reflected on two thoughts

1. When fun is set for you its not nearly as fun as fun you make yourself.
2. Things you do, don't always seem special at the time, sometimes its only afterwards the real experience comes.

loving-here-but-missing-you

Zo-on-the-go

 

 

Me o happy me

Cinque Terre

Today we arrived in Cinque Terre or "5 lands".

 

 

 

 

 

This blog might be a bit short because my parents are giving me only 45 minutes to write and post it.

We stayed at a hotel called Swiss Bellevue (don't worry, you're not hallucinating, we not in Switzerland yet.)

At the hotel it was very windy as it is high on a hill with the ocean below.

 

 

The view from our hotel

 

The Cinque Terre is a 5 town-hike, which became popular in the last 15 years. It takes five hours to walk the Cinque Terre without stopping, people from all over the world flock to the beautiful seaside villages and walk the hikes to the top of the mountains nearby. According to Our guide by Rick Steve's, popular travel novelist, Monterosso is the nicest of the five towns. Even when booking in advance it was hard to find a hotel.

The towns in order are: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manorola and Riomaggiore.

 

In Monterosso there are 3 things you can do

1. Relax
2. Walk
3. and the lesser known option of explore.

 

 

We started with number 3 and explored the new and old town until we found somewhere to eat. A little, seaside restaurant, a bit pricy (as so is everything) but absolutely scrummy.

 

 

The next day we started the hike from Monterosso to Vernazza.

 

 

Me on the hike

 

 

On the hike I felt really sick, like a fever getting worse every step, in the end I managed to conquer the walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking back at Monterosso

 

 

 

The hike from monterosso was beautiful.

If I come here again I will definitely do that walk again, it was one of the most calming thing I've ever done, like drinking a cup of warm jasmine tea on a cold day. The shivers and prickly waves of warm and calm just pour upon you. All this, even though i felt sick.

As we arrived in Vernazza, we stopped for ice cream and pizza. The town was destroyed in a flood and landslide a few years ago but is now mostly rebuilt.

Vernazza

Damage caused by the floods and landslides

We tried to continue along our walk to the next town of Corniglia. The walk from Vernazzo to Corniglia was closed and only the walk from Manorola to Corniglia was open so we decided to try that. Unfortunatel, the next train was in an hour so we took the arriving train to Riomaggiore then after a quick look around, took a train to Manorola and tried to find the trail to Corniglia.

Manorola

Unfortunatley the coastal trail was closed so we had to look for a sign saying trail 6 and then go over the mountain in a big detour.

 

 

The hard to find number 6 sign

 

 

 

 

 

bit more walkin

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learn the power of the moustache

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Moody

 

 

 

 

Take me home

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take me home

 

 

 

 

 

Cinque Terre is a place that was once underappreciated and not really known to tourists. Now its a bubbling mass of tourism, shops and kiosks trying to make a living of tourists. In a way, being underapprecaited, allows you to remain cv more yourself.

 

Next stop Milan for a night then on to Switzerland and Spain.

 

Me o happy me

3 short days...

I love Florence, its the best place I've been, but now we have to leave

 

 

However I won't forget what we've done

1. Visited the brilliant, interactive, Leonardo Di Vinci Museum
2. Visited the great and interesting Academia Museum
3. Visited the OK, packed with tourists, Uffizi Museum
4. Visited the terrible, staid, Galileo Museum
5. Chimed in with the great ICE CREAM Festival
6. Bought new boots
7. Explored Florence

 

 

We started our trip with the Leonardo da Vinci museum.

It consisted of 5 rooms, each better than the last, full of different inventions that Leonardo made. I loved it because it was full of information, but also very interactive - I could test Archimedes screw, I could build Leonardo's bridge. The museum pulled information and interactivity together in the perfect balance. For this reason it was a fantastic measum.

here are some pictures.

 

 

The world famous Zoelisa

 

 

 

This was one of my favourite inventions, a fire is heated with this contraption on top, the fan is spun by the hot air - this connects to the spit then turns it, the hotter the fire, the faster the turn!

 

 

 

This is Leanardo's breathing apparatus.

 

 

 

A form of dividing up pictures, making them Eisner to draw

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Academia Museum and gallery holds the world famous statue of David. The statue was one of Michelangelo's best works and a revolutionary work of art...

 

My 3 favourite things in the Academia were,

1. The Stradivarius viola

This viola is the oldest unaltered Stradivarius in existence. It was made for Lorenzo Medici (one of the members of the famous Medici family). The reason this viola is the highlight of the gallery for me, is because this viola is completely intact, nothing has been replaced, not the bridge or the fingerboard, nothing. They also have there several other Stradivarius instruments, a violin cello and a violin to name a few. However these have bits replaced and are not entirely original.

 

 

2. The statue of David

The statue of David is an awesome statue. According to me,(and others) the best in existence. It was made by Michelangelo and banged around a lot in its time. Its arm has been lopped of and it's covered in rain streaks. Poor David! However it's arm has been replaced and he has been thoroughly scrubbed, and, to improve its appearance greatly, they've put it at the end of a long cream coloured corridor with a slit of light at the end, it was BEAUTIFUL. We saw 3 exact copies of David around Florence- I wonder how they did that...

 

 

David

 

 

3.The plaster gallery

The plaster gallery was an area of the Museum totally dedicated to the art of plaster models. These modules were the work source of some very famous artists.

The process was explained to us in a video. First a clay model is made then plaster would be spread on. A little while later they would cut it apart, make a new Batch of plaster and fill the mould. Chip off the mould and hey presto, plaster model!

With this plaster module they could make there metal or marble statues again and again with the same model, you can also scale your statue correctly to make an enormous version if you wanted to. Some statues I have seen are as big as 3 daddy's on top of each other!

 

 

After walking in the streets of Florence for a while, I spotted, tried on, oooed an aaahed and finally decided to buy some awesome

 

boots!!!

 

 

on the way home we stumbled across ( totally be accident. ; ) honest!)...

 

THE GREAT ICE CREAM FESTIVAL

 

 

We have 15 ice cream vouchers to use up and I'm ecstatically happy

We ate almost all of them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ones we didn't use we gave to a nice Australian couple with 2 kids,they took them gratefully and with many On my GOD!!!' s and thank you's

SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

And now... GREEK JUSTICE by ANNEMARIE DEMBO (guaranteed - All statues stolen by Italians outside Palazzo Vecchio).

 

 

Greek justice

 

 

 

The statues of David and of Hercules are at the entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio. They represent spiritual strength (David) and physical strength (Hercules).

In the picture, Drew represents a kid with an umbrella.

 

 

There's a rainbow on you!

 

 

 

Now it's time to leave Florence.

this is the place I'm going to miss most think, Surprises are easy to find, but never when your looking for them

Missing you

Zoe

 

 

Me o happy me

Florence day 1

Today we arrived from Venice into Florence at 2:00pm and immediately, for some weird reason, I felt at home.

 

I'd just stepped out the train. My heart stopped. I gazed in wonder at...

THE DALI UNIVERSE!!!

 

 

 

I immediately ran to dad.

 

 

 

 

 

The Dali museum.

You're not supposed to take pictures in the gallery, but guess what, we did any way just like everyone else was! It was just to cool.

This is a souvenir from the Dali museum. A real, ticking, melting watch!

 

 

 

Dali wasn't only a painter as he is well known for. He was also a writer and illustrator of children's books. But, Salvador Dali is here, most remembered for his sculptures. (In fact, the gallery didn't have one painting by him!)

 

 

Adam and Eve ( Salvador Dali, bronze)

 

 

 

Alice in Wonder land (Salvador Dali, bronze)

 

 

 

The above sculpture is Salvador's favourite sculpture. He looked up to her in a way. The forever child - someone who went into the land of wonder, stared at humour, smelt sorrow and a posed serene and remained unchanged by her experience.

 

She was someone who could not be bound by time.

 

 

Snail of the angle (Salvador Dali, bronze)/ Kung fu snail.

 

 

 

The human being (Salvador Dali, bronze)

 

 

 

The sculpture above is by far my favourite sculpture. It is, in every way, a persons sub-conscious. The cubist (dull coloured) person, shows the straight-ness and chained up way of everyday life. The realist (shiny figure) like flowing water represents the land of the mind which can take you places the body can't or the cubist could never go to - an unreal and smooth way of un-painful life.

Both figures seem to be pointing to the same thing, showing that the stereotypes can be defied and that both could be joined together inside of you.

 

 

Lips couch. (Salvador Dali, velvet and metal)

 

 

 

This couch is based on Mae West a famous movie star New York who had big red lips. This couch was dedicated to her.

 

 

Mafalda Davies cutlery set (Salvador Dali, bronze and enamel)

 

 

 

His other friend (from London) was the host and supporter of many parties for Dali and famous artists to compare their work and boost their spirits on tough days. Dali (to thank her) took her cutlery design and made her a set. It's beautiful and even though they have been used would not be my first choice (also, not dishwasher safe)

 

 

Tik Tok Tik Tok.

 

 

 

And finally, one of Dali's most famous works, which, as you know Mrs. M we've studied relentlessly. Well here it is folks, theeeeeee meeeeeeltinng cloooooooooock (sculpture form).

"The Persistence of Memory" (Salvador Dali, bronze)

 

 

 

All of these things are priceless but I bought something Cool for just €2

 

Love that badge

 

 

 

 

After that amazing experience we trekked off. Then we stumbled across the gigantic church

 

There are 3 main parts of the church. The baptistery, the main basilica and the Dome. The whole building is known as the Duomo but that really just means Cathedral (not Dome according to my dad).

This church is a very important part of Florentine history and is very beautiful although some nasty Italians once called it the church in green and white pyjamas.

 

This is a movie about the construction of the Dome and how the Medici came to power. It's about 40 minutes so I'd watch it after you've finished reading.

 

 

 

We decided to pay a small entry fee and climb the dome. The dome is very famous. It was designed by Bruneleschi who was a genius architect. Nobody had built a dome that size since the time of the Romans 1000 years before. Before Bruneleschi came along, the church had been without a dome for around 100 years.

Right traveler fans, any one who wants to skip St. Peters and climb the much more impressive, higher and not packed with tourists Dormo is a much smarter guy than your average tourist.

All i can say is musty, cramped, then Oh my GOD!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WALLLLE

 

 

 

My 1st day in Florence has been amazing, and i think I'm going to dig tommorow even more

 

 

 

Missing y'all

Zo - on - the - go

 

Me o happy me