Roma Recap!

 Rome. Oh I loved Rome. I ate some of the best food I have ever had in Rome. I loved almost everything about it, except it was pretty hot. BUT. The whole experience was amazing, albeit hot. I tried to minimize my picture sharing...but...well there is still a lot of them. Rome is so full of architecture and ancient ruins. The Piazzas are the social areas where lots of bars and restaurants are. The Piazzas are literally squares, many with fountains in them, where people congregate. These things are old too. Like centuries old. We spent a lot of our time just wandering the streets of Rome and turning corners to see where we ended up next.

Here's what we did in Rome:

Day 1:

• We woke up and went to Pizza Navona (where a Bernini Fountain was), grabbed a cappuccio and croissant on the way. 
• After exploring for most of the morning, we grabbed some pizza to go and then went to the Vatican. We went in St. Peter's Basilica (which was breath-taking, BTW) and then through the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Let me just say this was so crowded. It was hard to take it all in because so many people were there. I felt like a cow being herded, which really wasn't far from the truth. We couldn't take many pictures due to the people and the restrictions on taking pictures. 
• After the Vatican, we got some gelato. It was amazing.
• It was very very hot, so we went back to the hotel to cool off and take a bit of a rest. When it was dinner time we headed toward the Pantheon, where we checked it out and then ate dinner. This meal was one of the best we had the whole trip.

Fountain of the Four Seasons in Pizza Navona

mmm...Gelato

These fountains were all over Rome. Fresh, cool water readily available. We never had to buy bottled water, it was awesome.

The Pieta-- St. Peter's Bascilica

 Day 2:

• Took the bus to Ancient Rome stuff. We saw so many ruins including the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Took a good part of the morning and by the time we were done with Lunch it was so hot, so we headed back to the hotel for a rest and regroup.
• When it was a bit cooler, we went to Castel St. Angelo, which is basically an old fortress/castle that the Popes used, and at one point it was a military outpost. It was very very interesting, and very cool to go in. It also had a very awesome view from the top.
• That evening we made our way to the Trevi Fountain where we tossed in some coins and explored, ending up near the Spanish Steps and in another Piazza.
• we ate dinner at a pizzeria, and they had the best pasta of the whole trip. So tasty and so delicious. I will remember that one for years to come.
• We went back to the Trevi Fountain to see it lit up at night and to see if it was any less busy at 10:30pm (it wasn't). We were both worn out so we headed back to the hotel for the night.

The Colosseum

The Arch of Titus- this is a depiction of the Sack of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

This is apparently a very very well preserved temple. That bronze door is apparently original to the structure and that's amazing because most other ruins had the bronze absconded for money long ago. They think this one got left because it's very thick, very tall, and pretty impossible to move.

St. Peter's Bascilica from the top of the Castel St. Angelo

Trevi Fountain

At the Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps!

Trevi Fountain at Night

Day 3:

• We headed toward Campo Di Fiori, which is an outdoor market, for breakfast and to do a bit of shopping just for fun. It's in the middle of a Piazza and surrounded by lots of resturants and such.
• Took the bus up to Repubblica, to go see the Ecstasy of St. Theresa (in a tiny little church). It ended up being closed when we first stopped by, so we went and took a bus tour until it reopened. Let me just say...skip the green bus tour. It was terrible. TERRIBLE. But it did get us off our feet and took us out to see a few things we might not have seen otherwise. After the bus tour we went back to the Ecstasy of St. Theresa. I didn't photograph it because it seemed very irreverent to do so. The church was tiny and there were people praying, so I didn't want to disturb the sanctity.
• After that we went back to the hotel to cool off (it was so hot) and get everything packed.
• Later, when it had cooled down and we were packed, we went to Trastavere to get dinner and take one last long walk.

Outdoor dinner in Trastavere

A picture of a side street near where we ate dinner in Trastavere. Very very picturesque.

View from a bridge. I thought it was pretty.

Paris ReCap

 Alright, this post is way picture heavy. I couldn't decide which pictures to post and which to not post.

We took the train from London to Paris. It was awesome and I highly recommend the Eurostar; very smooth ride, and two hours later we arrived in Paris.

 After arriving, dropping off luggage, and taking a walk, we met up with our bike tour. We loved the tour! It was a great mix of big touristy stuff and quirkier little things that are just fun to know.

 See that black dot above the window? Yeah, that's a cannon ball from the French Revolution.

 There is a street artist who puts up these Space Invaders all over Paris. They've just left them up. Mostly because they're cool.

 Back end of Notre Dame. It got Photo Bombed. Sorry about that. So the first half of the tour was amazing. But then it started pouring rain and it got a bit miserable. We finished it, we went off to Musee d'Orsay, where many Impressionist Paintings are housed. We couldn't take pictures there, but I definitely recommend it. 

View from our Hotel Balcony

 Our second day in Paris, we went out to Versailles. It was very busy, but very cool. So much history and art there, but I won't put up a bajillion pictures of everything in Versailles.

 After returning from Versailles (which was about an hour outside of Paris), we walked around and did some shopping in St. Michel (see the above fountain. It's St. Michel).

 During our walk, we found a sweet crepe place right by the Pantheon. After enjoying a wonderful crepe, we went to the Pantheon.

 The Pantheon was unexpectedly cool. Voltaire and Rousseau are buried there.

 That evening, we saw the show "How to become a Parisian in 1 hour". Unfortunately, we had lots of trouble finding the theatre and we missed the first 15 minutes of a 1 hour show. It was very funny though, so I'm glad we eventually found it. After the show, which was in the Montmarte area, we walked to the Opera Garnier (the Paris Opera House). Did you know this is the Opera House that the Phantom of the Opera takes place in? We didn't go in because it was late at night, but it was still awesome to see.

Stained Glass in Notre Dame

 Our Third day in Paris we went to Notre Dame. The church is very beautiful, but I was disappointed in the lack of reverence in it. I did enjoy myself and very much enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful stained glass and sculptures inside.

 After Notre Dame, we went to Sacre Couer, which sits up on a gigantic hill. It is a very beautiful church, and there was still some reverence in this one. No pictures inside, but we took lots of the outside. We went all the way to the top to get a great panoramic view.

top of Sacre Coeur

After climbing to the top, we just walked around Montmarte, got some lunch at a crepe place, did some shopping, and just...strolled. We spent a lot of time just enjoying the quaintness of the neighborhood.

Mondrian

 That evening we went to the Centre de Pompidou, which houses lots of Modern Art. We didn't have a ton of time in the museum, so we took a ton of pictures. I love modern art, so this was one of my favorite stops.

Our last day in Paris was spent doing some last minute exploring and shopping. The way our travel fell, we had until 3pm before we had to get to the airport to fly to Rome. Brad really wanted to go to the Arc De Triomphe, and I'm so glad we did. Not only was it just cool to look at, but it had a great view of the city. We still had time to kill, so we went and looked at the Moulin Rouge (we did NOT go in). Then we went back near the Arc De Triomphe and did some shopping before heading back to the hotel and off to the airport. Stay tuned for Rome!

View from Arc De Triomphe

London Recap!

Big Ben. It was rainy. ;)

I thought I would share a few photos and give you a recap of our trip! I know I've already talked to some of you about it, but I know others are still curious. I put up a bunch of photos on Facbook, so I'm not going to put up an excessive amount, but I couldn't resist putting some up. :)

So, we landed in London at 6:30ish AM. The first day or so we were so TIRED, but we still had so much fun. It is a very charming city, and I would like to go back to enjoy it more when I am not so exhausted. After getting through security and customs and all of that, we took the Heathrow Express (which, I like to call the Hogwarts Express. But not when I was in London, I promise) to Paddington Station. Our hotel was nearish to Paddington, but it was a good 15 or 20 minute hike and it was raining. Let's just say this was one of the few tense moments we had on our trip. ;)

Once we got our stuff dropped off, we were STARVING so we got some breakfast at a resturant on our way back to Paddington to go exploring. The food was so-so, but I did discover apparently it is a very British thing to have kidney beans on toast for breakfast. I did not try it. ;) Our next stop was the Tower of London.

There was so much History at the Tower of London. It was nuts! I don't have too many pictures of our visit there, simply because it was quite dark and all the cool places did not allow pictures. Let me just say the Crown Jewels are worth the price of admission... they were so beautiful! Some of those jewels were bigger than my head. That's only a slight exaggeration. Very very cool. It was also cool seeing Tower Bridge with the Olympic Rings on them. You'll probably see it multiple times over the next couple of weeks. ;)

London Eye

After the Tower of London, we just walked down the Thames for a long time. We saw a couple Bridges, shops, restaurants. We did lots of just walking while we were there. It's a great way to see the city! Then we went back to the hotel to grab a shower and get ready for dinner. After dinner we hit the London Eye.

Our next day in London we had breakfast and shared a table with a complete stranger. But I guess that's normal in Europe. It wasn't the only time this happened! We had a bike tour scheduled for our second day in London, but unfortunately we missed it due to a hiccup trying to find it in Waterloo station. So our plan B was to head up to the theatre to buy Phantom of the Opera tickets and do some more exploring of that area of London. Then we went ate lunch at a very yummy pub and hit Westminster Abbey.

Sausage and Mash. Doesn't get much more British than this.

Westminster

Westminster

 We couldn't take pictures in the Abbey, but it was beautiful. My favorite church we went to the whole trip. They stopped every hour on the hour to recite a prayer from the prayer book. During the prayer everyone had to stop and be silent. It was just neat because there was still reverence there, unlike a lot of other churches we went on this trip. After touring the Abbey we did some shopping on Oxford street, grabbed some Afternoon Tea. After a short break to get ready, we saw Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre. It was AWESOME.

Our last day in London we were able to reschedule our bike tour. It was wonderful! I have so many great shots from the tour, so I hope you can go see all of them on Facebook, but here are some of my favorites:

The London Eye

Changing of the Guard

Buckingham Palace

St. Paul's Cathedral

The Millennium Bridge (with St. Paul's Cathedral in the background)

British Museum

 After our tour we ended our last day of London at the British Museum.

 

They had some of the Olympic Gold medals on display. So cool to see that part of Olympic history. 

Overall London was excellent. We had a ton of fun and look forward to going there again. It's hard to pick a favorite thing that we did but I think seeing Phantom was way up there for me. So was Westminster Abbey. Please ask questions if I didn't do a good job explaining or you're curious. I love talking about the trip.