. The dialects in a few cities were difficult to follow, but for the most part I think I could understand the vast majority of what people were saying. The problem is trying to respond for me, but I guess that just takes practice.We went into Italy just for 2 days, staying in Venice. That has to be one of the worst places I have ever been. I don't understand how an island with only 60,000 inhabitants can be so incredibly rude to tourists, when it is virtually their only industry. Almost everyone on the island works in a place that is kept afloat by tourists, yet they treat us like crap. Now its understandable that it would be annoying having flocks of people about, but it is basically their livelyhood. Maybe an occasional rude person who is having a bad day is okay, but when almost every native I encountered treated me horribly. The city as a whole simply smells awful, and we were there when it was supposedly better than normal. The water is disgusting, and the fact that during a high tide it actually leaks up into the city's lower points flooding the major square makes it even worse. It literally stains your shoes if you step in it. Anyways, it was just not enjoyable, sorta crappy I had to turn 19 there but what can you do. Everything else made up for it.
Vienna and Nuernberg were definately my favorite cities. Vienna is just a great city; it simply has a nice atmosphere. It is very well laid out and designed, so it doesn't feel like there are over a million people living there. The public transportation system runs very efficently, especially when I come from a city with virtually no public transportation that is feesible. Nuernberg was awesome simply because of the history there. We walked around the giant stadium the Nazi's used for rallies, along with the parade grounds. Definately goose bumps formed when I was looking up at the place where Hitler stood only 60-70 years ago.
The most moving place was definately Buchenwald. The memorial site there is a very intense experience. Most of the buildings have been destroyed, but the crematory remained along wtih a few various other buildings. It is an odd feeling looking at a picture of where you are standing when there were literally thousands of corpses stacked in that area. Seeing the ovens was definately moving. While it wasn't an extermination camp, still many people did end up dying there due to the horrible conditions. The "best" part, and I use that term not in a positive way, was just standing in the middle of the camp alone. Due to the lack of buildings you could basically see the complete area of the camp just by turning. It was actually very peaceful there, no other sounds besides the birds in the surounding forest.
Sorry for makign such a long post, but I just got in a groove I guess. I'm definately glad to be back home in my own bed. I hope I didn't miss too much, maybe someone could fill me in on anything important happenings of the past ~2 weeks. Hopefully the warez in the Hardware forum didn't get out of hand, I'd hate to miss the once in a half of a year chance to use my mod powers...
