A 3,040 word blog

That little speck in the air is the Gondola that we jumped from. That even smaller speck is a person in mid fall. And that water, 430 feet below, is how far we fell.
And yet, the cow seems unimpressed.

Things that make our moms worry..

What weighs 175 lbs and falls like a mishapen bag of rocks through the chilly swiss air?

(perfect comedic timing)

An American tourist falling 450 feet from a gandola above a lake with a rubber band tied to his feet!

So, in case you haven't heard, we went bungy jumping in Switzerland yesterday. It is the longest free fall of any bungy jump in the world, and we plummeted all 450 feet of it. So, just for perspective:
-The Marriot building downtown is 13 stories. We fell roughly three times that height.
-We fell one and a half football fields.
-The height of 43 NBA basketball hoops, end to end.
-From home plate to deep center field, plus a hundred feet (in most ball parks)
Basically, it was a long drop, with a hell of rebound. I would try to describe the sensation, but I don't think I could do it justice in a blog. Although, it was completely different from skydiving. From and airplane, there is so much wind resistance that you really feel as though you are flying, but from the gondola, you feel as though someone just kicked you in the butt as you peered over the edge of a building. The rush is insane, and you can feel the adrenaline throughout your entire body. Plus, the scenery in the little swiss valley wasn't half bad either.
And I know we haven't posted about Vienna, but I'll leave that to James. Trust me, it'll be good. There was a buffet, unlimited beer, and an eating contest...

Rome, part (however you say two in italian)

So, up to this point the whole train thing had been working perfectly. But, between James and myself, with our overwhelming intellects and extreme levels of maturity, it had to happen sooner or later. So, long story short, we missed a subway train by less than two minutes, that made us five minutes later than planned. This five minute delay had a domino effect that made us miss a sleeper half way across italy later that night.
Crap.
So, seeing as we were stuck in Rome for the night, we went straight back to the hostel we had stayed at before, and begged for a room. We ended up in the exact same room as before. And, since tradition was holding, we went back to the same restaurant we ate at so much the first time. We got the same waiter, and the same food. We then spent the next day on the same beach, being grossed out by the same old naked Italians. All in all, a very enjoyable mistake.

I am so blessed. Wow.

I just sat here in Budapest watching a music video. The theme of the video was to show people lip syncing to the song in as many cool places around the world as possible. What is amazing to me is how many of these places I have been to. They were singing in front of the bramburg gate, times square, huntington beach, chicago skyline, los angeles skyline, paris, prague, and long beach. As I watched it, I could not believe how many of these places I have been and recognized instantly.
I have been so blessed.

It was only a matter of time before one of us ended up bleeding....

We are in San Agnello, Italy right now. We are about two kilometers west of Sorrento, one of the most beautiful places in the world. Yesterday, we went on a boat tour of the Gulf of Naples and the island of Capri.
Capri is hands down one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The entire island is a massive piece of limestone just sticking out of the ocean. It is a lot like Hawaii, just with a rocky beach and not as jungle like. To put it in perspective, real estate is $18,000 per square foot on Capri. Yes, per square foot. Needless to say, it is really nice. But, now on to the bloodshed.

Our boat tour included cliff jumping and cave diving. We spent a while jumping off of a forty five foot cliff, which was a blast. I've discovered that this is just the right distance for a person to have fully formed thoughts and ponder wonders of the universe while falling like a sack of rocks into the open ocean. Even though we had to wait a half hour for one of the Canadian girls to jump from a twenty foot cliff, it was still fun. Sadly, our guide would not let us jump from the ninety foot cliff. I am still kind of mad about that.
From the cliffs we went around to different caves that you have to swim into. The cool thing about this is that each cave produces a different color based on the type of coral and algae that grows on the rocks below you. When you first swim in, it just looks dark, but once you have turned around the light bounces off the bottom and turns the water a vivid color. It was an otherworldly effect, much like something out of a bad movie set. There is a white cave, a green cave, and the blue grotto which is supposedly world famous even though we'd never heard of it.
After seeing the white cave, our guide, Captain Augustino (I think he deemed himself a captain...) told us that if you swim down under a rock wall, you can come up on the other side into another small but very cool cave.

At this point, I need to digress for a second. I had always heard coral refered to as being razor sharp, and I never really believed it. I mean, its coral for hell's sake, how can it be razor sharp? Well, its true. But anyways...

So I went to swim under the coral covered limestone wall. I'm not sure if the captain pointed me in slightly the wrong angle, or what, but either way I didn't make it. I swam under the wall, and when I came up to surface, rather than hitting air, I promply ran the top of my head into a bunch of coral where two rocks formed an inverted V. This wasn't quite the worst part though. There was no air in the crevace that my head was almost lodged in. So, after shouting obscenities that probably offended many conservative fish, I realized I was now stuck under very sharp rocks, with no air in my lungs, and I didn't entirely know where I was supposed to be going. Rather than try to make it to the other side, I decided to go back. Seeing as I was slightly knocked stupid, bleeding a bit from my head, and kind of freaking out, I was swimming frantically back. In the process, I dragged my back along several feet of coral before I got to the surface. When I got back to the boat, we washed the blood out of my hair and off my back. My back now looks like I got clawed by an angry animal, and I have three goose eggs on my head and one small jagged cut. And all I wanted was to see the damn cave!
But, once we were sure that I wasn't going to die, we went to a few more caves and the blue grotto. (and just for the record, three hours of salt water in fresh cuts doesn't feel too great)
The blue grotto was the last cave that you normally have to pay to enter, but we got there late enough that the patrol was gone. It is about 25 yards square, and when you get inside the light and coral creates the most incredible electric blue color I have ever seen. I had no idea that nature can produce such intense colors with so much depth and vibrancy. I really don't think that any camera could do that place justice. It was such an incredible experience to be in there.

Also, James and I both now understand the rationale behind siestas. It is almost hot beyond description in Italy in the middle of the day. It feels like someone has just soaked a blanket in extremely hot water, and then wraps you up in it and laughs the whole time. But hey, we can't complain too much, we are in Italy :)

Pisa and Florence: leany things and pretty stuff

Well here we are in Florence. We spent last night in Pisa, in a double wide. Seriously. Our hostel was a trailer park where they have a few permanent ones set up that they rent out among the people that live in the park. It was a crazy set up, but it was kinda cool. I felt all red neckish while in Italy. I never thought that could happen.
We spent about an hour in Pisa actually doing touristy things. That is really all you need; there is the tower (which really leans at a crazy angle) a cathedral (that you have to pay to go into, yeah, right) and a baptistry. Other than that, there is just a bunch of shops and Nigerian dudes selling 'Rolexs'.
An hour and a half later we were in Florence. This city is exactly what my American brain thinks that all of Italy should look like. It is a city surrounded by rolling hills and tall thin trees. The buildings are all the color of old stucco with clay tile roofs. This city is gorgeous, and probably didn't look much different five hundred years ago. The skyline is still dominated by the cathedral, the river is nasty, and restaurants are everywhere. In short, this city is absolutely gorgeous. When we see more tomorrow, we'll have much more to tell.
Ciao.

Rome: "We put the Holy in Holy Merciful Crap!"

Well here we are in Rome. Our hostel looks like a cathedral inspired villa, it is almost totally empty, we can hear, see, and smell the ocean without leaving the parking lot, and we are full of the best pizza in the world and gelato. Life is good.

Oh yeah, and we saw priceless works of art and the foundations of possibly the greatest civilization in the history of mankind. (and they still make amazing pizza, by the way)

Well, yesterday we went to the Colosseum. To say it was unreal is an understatement. Of course there were the moments when we had to nerd it up and examine the style of columns and the endless barrel vaulting that made the concourse, but luckily we kinda zoomed out and realized "holy crap, we're in the colosseum!".
As you stand were the seats were, you can almost hear the roar of the crowd. You can now see the maze of underground tunnels where the tigers, lions, bears, and other dangerous angry animals were starved for weeks then set loose on christians and gladiators. You can see the elevators where the animals, soldiers, and even landscaping magically appeared out of no where. It is a massive structure, in every sense of the word. It is tall, heavy, imposing, and possibly one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I could write about this for hours, but honestly the best way to understand it is to go. You can't really get a grasp for the size and engineering that went into the building. It is creeping up on two thousand years old, holds as many people as rice eccles at full capacity, could be filled for naval battles, and is built out of rocks.

After that, we trekked to the Roman Forum. ( the romans were smart dudes, the trek consisted of sitting in the shade for ten minutes, then walking across the street)
The forum was a great experience. To be able to walk the grounds and know what happened there was a rush. We walked where emperors have walked, where the senate debated, and where conquering leaders had victory parades. Needless to say, it was pretty cool.

Today, we went to the Vatican. The Vatican has a large museum.
Wait, let me rephrase that.
The Vatican's museum is a monstrosity that is outdone only by the Louvre, but not for lack of trying. Where most museums have a specality or one thing they have a lot of, the Vatican goes for a shot gun effect. They have a lot of a lot of things. The Etruscian and Roman collections were incredible. I have never seen so many original marbles in such good shape in one place. Usually bits are reconstructed so that you don't stare at fragmented torsos all day, but there was very little of that. Most of what was put out to see was in very good shape and original.
*side note for other art nerds that might be reading this: we saw laocoon. he is amazing.

Of course, the best part of the Vatican museum was the Sistine Chapel. Pictures don't do it justice. The colors, the anatomy, the play of light, the positioning of figures, the scale, and the otherworldly effect it has when it all comes together is hard to describe. There is just a feeling of magnitude when you see it. A person could be utterly ignorant of all the importance of the work Michelangelo did to art, and still be wowed by it.

After that, we strolled over to St. Peter's to see what all the hubub was about. The only way that I can describe the inside of the basillica is enormous. That building is bigger than big. It is beyond cavernous. Google a picture of the inside, admire how everyone looks like ants infront of any of the pillars, paintings, or statues, then accept the fact that pictures are futile in trying to convey the gigantic-ness of the building. I've seen a few cathedrals in my day (thanks to Cheryl), but this was the cathedral to end all cathedrals. Everything about it is just on a different scale from anything I have ever seen. The height, the light, the stretch of the nave, it is all in its own little universe of amazing church stuff. The play of the light reflecting from the golden roof (and walls, and everything else..) off of the red marble, to the white marble, and then to the statues (which are rather large, also) will take your breath away. I had to make an effort to admire the art and proportional beauty and avoid being awed by how big it was.

So, now you are all caught up on our galavanting about in Rome. Add in your own witty comments about lots of pizza and the mystery of why only flabby old women take advantage of the topless beach policy, and it is as if you came too. Although honestly, if I had been fully aware of the abuse of the whole beach thing, I might have had second thoughts. But only maybe.

Ramstein: a vacation vacation

We spent the last few days with our friend JP. We met him in the dorms at the U, and he lives in Germany, so we figured why not go see him for a bit. It was a perfectly timed break from all the traveling (even though we spent 12 hours on trains to get to him). He lives in a villiage just off of Ramstein Airbase, which means he lives right in the middle of the biggest population of Americans outside of the states.
Because his dad is a civilian contractor with the air force, we got to go galavant about on base and enjoy all the wonderful Americaness there. Just for the record, hearing large amounts of english is a beautiful thing, as is going to chili's.
While we were there, his dad was nice enough to take a day off of work and take us to a few small towns along the Rhein and some awesome castles. I can't even tell you how beautiful that country is. I have never seen such thick forests outside of a rainforest. You can sit and watch the wind roll over the wheat fields for as far as you can see. It was really a beautiful place to be, and a nice chance to stop traveling and eating stuff on the run.
Here is the part to make our moms feel better:
We got warm beds provided by someone that we aren't afraid might rob us. We had breakfast made in the morning, hot dinner at night, and laundry washed and dried in the Bavarian sun. And yes, we had showers with as much hot water and pressure as we wanted. It was a beautiful thing.

After a night train from Munich, we are now in Rome. Our hostel is way out of down town Rome but it is right on the beach and huge. So far, all we've done is eat panninis and get an initial sunburn, and I'm totally okay with that.
Have fun at home everyone, and if you are reading this, you are being missed.