Right. Starting where I left off...
ITALY
Italy seemed like a kinda laid back country, with a bunch of wine farms and (yum!) pizza. We stayed in a bunch of farmhouses and AirBnB houses and other houses. There was this place with three dogs all called Ben. There was a big one, who we called Big Ben, a small one which we called Mini Ben, and a medium-sized one called Puppy Ben. I liked Big Ben the best; he was the friendliest and always came over to us when he saw us. Puppy Ben was more energetic and chased birds around the property, and Mini Ben bit me and Angus twice, and Grandma once.
The most predominant part of Italy I remembered was probably Sicily (which, technically is a separate country until like fifteen years ago) There was a place with cats that we petted. After dinner, Papa found a long stick with some fluff attached to the end, so we watched the cat chase it, and then the cat caught it, then tore it to shreds like Kylo Ren. So.
There were really nice beaches and hills that were interesting. Mostly, the waves ranged from Whee, this is fun to float over! to OH CRUD! REMEMBER ME, but the deadly waves were kind of fun to get pounded by. At least until the ocean decided I needed a good powerwashing and cranked up the wave machine to Full. Then I decided I should scale a ten-foot wave and it wiped the ground with me. Anyway, good times.
I like Italy for a few reasons. One, pizza. Two, fun swimming seas. Three, um, the language is closeish to Spanish, so I could figure out a few bits of talking here and there. Ok, onto to Austria and Germany!
GERMANY/AUSTRIA
We mostly went to Austria, but they speak the same language and they're right next to each other, so. Austria was a nice country; big cities, nice forests, awe-filled sunsets and yummy sausages. Also Mama could speak fluently in German so we were all set with communication.
We saw a ski jump that made me want to curl up and cackle hysterically; 140 METERS. WHAT. I had recently seen the movie Eddie the Eagle, which is about Britain's first ski jumper, and that gave me a pretty good idea what you do in ski jumping. Anyway, I think I already made a blog post about this. Read it if you want.
I really liked all the ancient stone buildings (I've lost count how many ancient stone buildings we've seen, but I still like 'em), especially this one painted golden statue that was a big sphere of the world with a guy on top of it. I forgot what he was doing up there; maybe trying to see the city from above. Maybe he was checking the sky for something. Anyway, it made me sad that people spray-painting their signatures onto the reachable parts of it. It was a little depressing.e
This was about the time I became interested in Civilization VI, so I researched Civ 6's leaders for Germany and Austria. Sadly, there is no Austria in Civ 6, but Germany has Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor of Germany. His rule started in 1155, until his death, sometime later, presumably. The theme song of Germany is Ich hab die Nacht geträumet. If you want to hear how Firaxis remixed it, it's right here.
(Atomic-Information version, so if you want to hear the Ancient-Classical, the Medieval-Renaissance or the Industrial-Modern versions, just Google 'em).
Me, I liked Austria. We only stayed one night in Germany, but it seemed pretty much the same as Austria. The accent was different, but I assume the German accent is the original way it was spoken, and it's the Austrians who have the accent. Anyway, I liked Germany and Austria both. I may visit again one day.
The Bit After
In part three I'll talk about India, and maybe Indonesia.
See you next time!
Oscar