Blogging Again

Well, I am attempting to revamp the blog and start again. Don't expect me to be great at this, but I will try to do better. I have some pictures of our "home" to post, but it will have to come on the next one. I'm attempting to discover new ways of posting pictures so that it's not an endless stream of one picture at a time. More to come, but I hope to welcome you all back to the blog soon.

A Day in the Life...

A friend of mine reminded me that I'm horrible at updating the blog. This is true. It's mostly because I have nothing exciting to say. However, I decided I would take her advice and update. For those of you who have been dying to know, I will give you an inside look at my day. (Stewart's day is, of course, very different).

I'm not necessarily a creature of habit, so my days constantly change. They may also change depending on where I live. At any rate, here is a smattering of what I might do in a day:

• Clean the bathrooms
• Make the bed
• Wash, fold, iron, and put away clothes
• Put together a contacts database
• If I can remind myself, I also have some cross stitch I want to finish
• Wash, dry, and put away dishes (or just load/unload the dishwasher)
• Dust
  
• Check my e-mail
• Facebook
• Make and eat food
• Study/practice German
• Clean the kitchen
• Update my movies to see, books to read, and wish lists
• Do logic or other math puzzles
• Talk to my mom on Skype
• Watch a movie
• Listen to music
• Play the piano
• Read
• Search for new recipes and enter them in my database
• Shower
• Sing
• Move songs from the external hard drive to the iPod (which is a ridiculously long--and sometimes tedious--process because it requires listening to them to see whether we even like/want them, in most cases)
• Walk to the store (and shop, of course)
• Sweep
• Watch TV shows on the internet (specifically "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "So You Think You Can Dance," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," or "Who's the Boss")
• Vacuum
• Walk in the woods
  

I don't do all of these things every day (nor do I do them in that order, necessarily), but I have plenty of things to occupy my time. So, in case you were dying of curiosity, there you have it. Doesn't it sound awfully mundane for living in Germany?

Back in Berlin

We made it back to the starting point...literally for now. We are back in Berlin and staying in the same house we lived in before. However, we're only in this apartment until Sunday. It's so nice to be back here! The country is beautiful and peaceful, but it doesn't compare with Berlin! I'm very grateful to be among people who aren't so ridiculously anal about how clean your apartment is! I wouldn't call us the cleanest people in the world, but we're really not that dirty either. We mostly have paper clutter (since I'm a teacher and Stewart is a student/prospective professor). I think people in the city just have a different mentality. Life moves a little faster for them, so being super clean is not as important. Hallelujah! Believe it or not, a person can breathe here!

Madrid Mission Reunion

I have the good fortune of attending my mission reunion this month. You may say it's silly to call it "good fortune" since many mission reunions are held twice a year around General Conference time. Obviously this isn't General Conference time. The "good fortune" comes with the fact that my mission reunion is being held in Madrid! The main reason for this is that the Madrid Temple opened its doors 10 years ago this October. (I arrived 2 months later). So, that makes it a special occasion on two accounts.

I am ridiculously excited! In fact, I leave tomorrow. I know, I know...you're wondering when I'll stop all this traveling. First Barcelona/Athens/Italy, then France/Germany, now Madrid. (My poor Relief Society president must wonder if I'm going inactive, since I'm hardly there to play the piano). Actually, I am getting pretty worn out from all the traveling. It will be nice to just relax, but I wouldn't miss this opportunity. I will have the great pleasure of seeing people that I wouldn't otherwise see: people I taught, missionaries with whom I served, members I knew there. So, despite the cliché-ness of this sentence, this is truly the chance of a lifetime!

Rome - The Eternal City

I'm about 3 weeks late on posting my Rome pictures, but oh well. I have been traveling around France and Germany, so I haven't really had the opportunity. At any rate, here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Venice link: michelleandstewartanderson.blogspot.com/2009/04/venezia-city-of-bridges.html

Milan link: michelleandstewartanderson.blogspot.com/2009/04/milan-aka-mediolanum.html

Athens link: michelleandstewartanderson.blogspot.com/2009/04/blog-post_08.html

Barcelona link: michelleandstewartanderson.blogspot.com/2009/04/barcelona-ciutat-comtal-city-of-counts.html

Santa Maria Maggiore Church

The inside of Santa Maria Maggiore Church

The back of Santa Maria Maggiore Church

Colosseum
Yes, it's worth it!

Inside the Colosseum

The inside of the Colosseum

The Arch of Constantine, as seen from the Colosseum

The Arch of Constantine, as seen from the Colosseum
I just liked this view.

View of the Colosseum from the Roman Forum

Roman Forum

Roman Forum

Palatine Hill
I really think this must have been an incredible sight when it was intact!

Bocca della Verita at the Santa Maria in Cosmedin Church
I had no idea that this was connected to a church. And yes, we left with our hands intact. :)

Piazza Bocca della Verita
This is across the street from the Mouth of Truth.

Rachel by a fountain in Piazza Navona

Street performer in Piazza Navona
This guy was, bar none, my favorite street performer. He was amazing! He looks completely windblown, but there was no wind. He stood like this for hours! Look at how he rigged his hair, tie, jacket, pants... Wow!

Fontana di Trevi
We hadn't intended to visit this at night, but we stumbled onto it after getting lost on the way back to our hostel. So I was able to see it at night and in the day! :)

Columns by the Basilica di San Pietro
Of course we had to go to the Vatican. What would a trip to Rome be without it?

Basilica di San Pietro
For as much hype as this thing gets, it's not nearly as impressive as the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, Italy. In fact, I was rather disappointed with it. And we had to stand in a ridiculously long line just to enter the building.

Ceiling of a dome inside the Basilica di San Pietro
This was the only thing inside that I thought was all that beautiful.

Guards at the Basilica di San Pietro

Courtyard of the Musei Vaticani
What's a visit to the Vatican if you don't go to see the Sistine Chapel?

Wall painting inside the Musei Vaticani
This was impressive! It looks 3-D, but it's just a painting. Wow!

One of the many ceilings inside the Musei Vaticani
They shuttle you through about 50 or 60 different rooms before you reach the Sistine Chapel. In each room, you usually find a beautifully painted ceiling. You can take pictures (no flash of course) in any of these rooms. However, as soon as you enter the Sistine Chapel, you are no longer allowed to take pictures. This is rather ridiculous since you can photograph any of the other rooms, which contain paintings that are just as old (and some older). Needless to say, many people could be seen snapping photos behind the guards' backs. To be quite honest, my favorite painting in the Sistine Chapel was the Garden of Eden painting, not the Creation.

Statue outside the Musei Vaticani
This is Michelangelo on the left and Rafael on the right. Both of these artists painted in the Vatican.

Basilica di San Pietro as seen from Castel Sant' Angelo

Ponte Sant' Angelo

One of the angel statues on Ponte Sant' Angelo with the Basilica di San Pietro in the background

Castel Sant' Angelo and Ponte Sant' Angelo

Santa Maria in Trastevere Church
Yes, it's another crooked picture. This church was even more impressive than St. Peter's Basilica.

Yummy gelato from Blue Ice in the Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere
This particular variety was raspberry and crema...mmm! (And yes, it was windy).

Teatro Marcello

Campidoglio

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II

As we were walking through the streets of Rome, I came across these cute frog curtains! :)

Area Sacra
There was a street funk band playing near this area. They were pretty good.

Santa Maria del Popolo
This was my biggest disappointment in Rome. I was so excited to see the twin churches and attempt to get a side-by-side picture in order to produce the illusion that the image was just flipped. Then this is what we saw...ugh! Not to mention the fact that the Rome Marathon happened to be going on that very day, which left no chance of producing my desired picture.

A fountain in the Piazza del Popolo
Look at those cute doggies sitting there so patiently. :)

The Spanish steps at the Piazza di Spagna
We sat here for a while and watched the marathon.

...and here it is.
Both Rachel and I were thinking how glad we were that it wasn't us running out there. This is not something I aspire to do. We did, however, get to see the leader in the Piazza del Popolo. Whether or not he won, I don't know.

One of the fountains at San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
This is an intersection with a fountain at each corner. Technically, it's associated with the nearby church.

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane Church

Another of the fountains at San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

And another of the fountains at San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

This is the fourth fountain at San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
This was my favorite of the four. If you look in the lower right corner, you can see the Capitoline Wolf suckling the infant twins Romulus and Remus (except there's only one of the twins in the fountain). It's actually an interesting story. You should look it up if you're not already familiar with it.

The fountain at the Piazza della Repubblica

Basilica Santa Maria delgi Angeli e dei Martiri, Piazza della Repubblica
I like the rough exterior on the entrance of this church.

Palazzo delle Esposizioni
We passed by this building and I thought it was beautiful.

A guard at Palazzo del Quirinale
Yes, this is a girl.

By chance, we happened to be in the right place at the right time. We had the opportunity to see the changing of the guard at Palazzo del Quirinale. It seemed like they called in the entire Guardia di Finanza. It was quite the production! The odd thing was that they had changed the guards maybe 15 mins. before this (with much less pomp and circumstance). *shrug*

This was the new guard at Palazzo del Quirinale

Fontana di Trevi
This is the one thing I wanted to see more than anything else, and it did not disappoint. Unfortunately, there are so many people packed in there day and night that it's difficult to get a picture of the whole thing without them.

Here's the official coin toss
If you look closely, you can see my coin right by the mouth of the horse.

Of course I had to take several pictures with it. Unfortunately, this guy was in my picture. :(

Fontana di Trevi
This was my favorite statue on the fountain.

This is the church near the Trevi Fountain...I have been unsuccessful in discovering its name.

Pantheon

A fountain in the piazza by the Pantheon
Right before I took this picture, a guy was making the same face and having his picture taken with this statue. I thought it was pretty funny.

Tempio Adriano

As silly as this may seem, this is the sound of one of our roommates in Rome. I can sleep through just about anything (if I'm already asleep), but it's much more difficult to FALL asleep with this kind of noise. The video doesn't do it justice. However, despite the noise, we slept better the last night than the two nights before. That was due to our previous roommates and is a much longer story.

So, that's it for Rome and my European whirlwind trip. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!