Berlin, Germany

My fourth and final stop was in Berlin Germany. I stayed in Berlin from June 24-27. I had a room at the Sofitel Berlin Gendarmenmarkt. That was my hotel. The first place I toured was The Reichstag. It is a large parlimentary building with big pillars on the front. It was awesome! It was constructed between 1884 and 1894. It has a huge glass dome on the top which let in a lot of light. It was so pretty! The second place I visited was the Kollwitzplatz.  There is a water tower, the district’s landmark, and one of the oldest synagogues of Berlin is located very close to the Kollwitzplatz. It is in a rectangular square in the heart of Prenzlauer Berg. After the Kollwitzplatz I went to Sea Life Berlin. It is an aquarium with thousands of animals. It didn't only have ocean animals but also lake and river creatures too. It was so cool to see different types of animals than the regular ones in America. The next place I went was the Neue Synagogue. It is built in Moorish style. The front of the building, is richly ornamented with shaped bricks and terracotta accented by coloured glazed bricks. The buildings alignments change to mesh with the pre-existing structures. Inside there are about 3,000 seats! There is a large, central dome with two smaller ones on each side. This was like no church I have ever seen before. Well, I am now on my way home from my Europe trip and I really enjoyed every minute of it. It was an amazing adventure.

The Neue Synagogue

To learn more about the Reichstag check out this link.

The Reichstag

Barcelona, Spain

My third stop on my European trip was Spain. I stayed in Barcelona from June 20-23. Barcelona was beautiful! The buildings and cities were just amazing! I stayed at the Hotel Inglaterra Barcelona. It was just a great as the rest of the city. The first place I visited in Barcelona was Palau del Lloctinent. This is a Gothic style building with a few Renaissance elements. This building isn't as decorated on the inside but is amazing on the inside! There are a lot of plants on the inside but it looks old on the outside. If you didn't go inside you would never think that this building would look so pretty on the inside! The second place I cvisited was the Montserrat. The Montserrat has huge limestone pinnacles rising over gorges! It is so beautiful! It was founded in 1025 to commemorate visions of the Virgin Mary. Many tourists come to see a wooden sculptue of Mary and the baby Jesus. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. After I toured the Monsterrat I decided I would tour the city. I went to the Zoo de Barcelona first. The zoo had over 7,000 animals! There were so many! There were Gorillas and everything else you could imagine, it was there. Then I went to The Jardins del Mossen Cinto de Verdaguer. This is a garden with any kind of plant there is. There were so many! They have plants I have never even heard of! There were even aquatic plants such as the Lotus and the Water Lily. This was just another one of my great experiences!

If you would like to see more click on this link

The Monsterrat

The Barcelona Zoo

Athens, Greece

After visiting Rome I went to Athens, Greece. Again, I had a great time! Athens was just as beautiful as Rome. I stayed in Greece June 18th and 19th. The language they speak there is Greek so I bought a Grek to English dictionary so I could understand some of what they were saying. The currency there is the Euro like it was in Rome. I had to get my American dollar traded for the Euro. I stayed in the Eridonis Art Luxery Hotel which was once a mansion of a famous Athenian family. Which was really neat! Of course it has been remodeled but it was still really neat! The first place I visited was The Acropolis. The architechture was amazing! It took a long time to get to the top and it got really hot up there but the weather couldn't take away from the amzing view. The Parthenon is one of the main buildings of the Acropolis. It was built by Pericles in the fifth century BC as a monument to the cultural and politicak achievements of the inhabitants of Athens. Acropolis means upper city. After I visited the Acropolis I went to the National Gardens. The gardens are located behind the Greek Parliment building. It has some of the ancient ruins in it and so many plants. It was formely known as the King's Garden. There were a lot of ducks! They were everywhere. There isn't only ducks however there is a turtle population. It was so neat!! The third place I visited was Spondi which is a Greek restruant. This restaurant was very fancy and had great food. I was able to try some new things and I really enjoyed it! Now I have just borded the train and I am one my way to Spain.

For more information about the Gardens check out this link

National Gardens

To see more about the Acropolis, see this link

The Acropolis

Pompeii and Rome, Italy

My first stop on my backpacking trip was Italy. I just left Rome and I am headed to Greece. Italy was amazing! I had a great time the three days I was there. I would love to go back and stay longer if I could! I first arrived in Pompeii to spend the day exploring Mount Vesuvius. This was the first place I visited on my Europe trip. Vesuvius is so BIG! I couldn't believe I was actually standing beside an active volcano. It is 4,190 feet tall! I found out that the last eruption was in 1994 and I'm glad it didn't erupt while I was there! After I visited Pomeii for most of the day. I took the railroad to Rome. Before I got there I heard so many great things about Rome and I was really excited. I got there pretty late so I decided just to stay at the hotel and tour the city in the morning. The Colosseum was the first place I visited the next day. It is the largeset ampitheater in the world! It holds so many people. It was four stories high and on the second and third stories the arches are filled with statues. It was so cool! The colosseum is built with the old Roman architechture. You can tell that it was an ancient structure but it still looks awesome! The second place I visited was the Trevi Fountain. When I got there the the first thing I did was throw in a quarter and make a wish. I heard that the legend is you are supposed to throw the coin over your shoulder with your back to the fountain. I've never seen a fountain that looked anything like this one. It was beautiful and I thought that I would come back that night and see it at night. I didn't think it could look any more beautiful then it did during the day but it did! The lights made it look so much more peaceful and beautiful. There is a statue in the center of Neptune, the god of the sea riding in his chariot pulled by two sea horses.

If you would like to see more visit this link The Roman Colosseum

If you would like to see more visit this link The Trevi Fountain