August 10- Flight home

This morning we left Rome on Alitalia flight 7710 at 6:10am. We land in Amsterdam at 8:45am. Then we leave on Continental flight 59 at10:10am and land in Houston at 1:30pm. The last leg of our journey is Continental flight 1672 from Houston at 2:25pm to Phoenix and we land at 3:15pm. See you soon!

Our last blog

Well, the trip has come to an end. We spent most of today at the beach soaking up our remaining hours in Europe. We took the train to the beach and discovered that Italians don't really believe in public beaches. Most of the beaches you had to pay to get in and there were a ton of umbrellas and lounge chairs. We found a tiny bit of public beach and it was as crowded as it could be. It was difficult to even walk down to the beach because there was no space between beach towels. Everybody was squeezed in right next to each other. And it seemed like it was all locals there too. It was fun to sit and watch the people. It seemed that most of the people were there with friends rather than family. There were very few young children. In fact, I would say the majority of people were over 30. There was also the usual peddlers trying to sell all kinds of stuff. We just ignored them and they left us alone. After a few hours soaking up the sun, we got so hungry we decided to leave. Because it was crowded, I feel like we really got to see Roman culture up close.

On our way back we stopped at a middle eastern restaurant for a mid-afternoon meal. I know, middle eastern food in Rome? But everything else is closed on Sunday so we didn't have a lot of choices. And it was really delicious! The good thing about going to the beach is that we spent hardly any money today. We realized that we had better use up all our Euros because we won't need them anymore. So we took out just as much money as we would need for dinner and the airport shuttle from the ATM. We calculated how much we've spent and how much we saved, and we went over our budget exactly $35! I am so happy with that. Of course that doesn't include our flight back to Denver, but we didn't include that in our budget anyways.

We're checked into our flight and pretty much packed up. We will get up at about 3:30 tomorrow morning to get to the airport in time for our 6:10am flight. Our flight to Amsterdam is about 2 1/2 hours, then a 90minute layover, and then our long flight to Houston. We have an hour layover there before we fly to Phoenix and land around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Which will be close to midnight in Europe! But I don't think we will be tired. We will be excited to see our families and wear some clean clothes.

Adios, Au Revoir, Auf Wiedersehen, and Ciao! And goodbye!

August 9- Vatican City and Rome

Today we will finish up Rome and the Vatican City. Anything we didn't get a chance to see before we will do today. We may also do some shopping since we leave tomorrow! Tonight is our last night in Hotel Colors and our last night in Europe.

Vatican City

This morning we woke up fairly early and walked 5 minutes to Vatican City. We met up with our tour. There were less than 20 people o nthe tour which was really nice. Our guide, Steve, was also from the U.S. He has been doing tours in Rome for 6 years. We got little headsets so we could hear his voice right into our ear. That was also nice because we didn't have to be right close to him to hear what he was saying.

We walked to the Vatican right past the HUGE line. It must have been at least an hour wait in the hot sun. But instead we went right through security, through the turn styles and right into the Vatican Museums. Then he sat us down in a shady spot on some stairs and went through the whole Sistine Chapel.

Tour guides are not allowed to talk inside the church, so they have to explain everything ahead of time. He had a little book with lots of pictures so we could see what he was talking about. He knew so much, it was incredible. He answered every single question we had without hesitation. The most interesting thing I learned was that Michaelangelo was picked to paint the ceiling because everybody wanted him to fail. The Pope Julius II asked his head architect who he should ask to paint the ceiling. Everybody but the Pope knew that Michaelangelo was an accomplished sculptor- not a painter. And everybody hated him because he got so much money and was always grumpy and never finished his commissioned pieces on time. So the architect told the Pope to ask Michaelangelo to do it. Michaelangelo couldn't turn down the project because that would ruin his whole career. So everybody expected him to fail miserably. And look what happened! I also thought it was interesting that when he started painting, he made these really detailed small people and crammed them into a small space. Then he looked up at the ceiling and realized he was wasting his time because you couldn't see that much detail from the floor. So if you look at the ceiling, you can tell where he started with lots of detail and then the figures get bigger and simpler as he went along. What Daniel thought was most interesting was the story that all of the panels told and how easy it was to figure it out.

Before we actually went into the Chapel, our guide took us through the museums. Once again I was so glad we went with a guided tour. He told us exactly what was important and why and moved us quickly through the unimportant stuff. I think if we got an audio guide we would have been in there for hours listening to information about insignificant stuff and we would have missed the big important stuff. My favorite was looking at these ancient Roman baths that were carved out of a really hard stone. The stone was so hard that a diamond tipped blade would take 1 hour to cut 3 milimeters into the stone. We have no idea how they carved it: that technology was lost when the Roman Empire fell. Daniel's favorite part of the museums was seeing one sculpture that had the eyes replaced. Most of the sculptures we saw were marble duplicates that the Romans made from Greek originals. The Greek originals were in bronze and painted to look lifelike. So the museum curators added the eyes back into the sculpture to show us what it would have looked like.

Finally we navigated through the crazy crowds and made it to the Sistine Chapel. It was full of people, you couldn't even move. But it was incredible. I love the iconic panel of God holding out his finger to breathe life into Adam. Steve, our guide, told us that this panel was scandalous because God's legs are showing. We couldn't even get into the chapel if we were dressed like God! And there is a part of it that shows Bartholomew holding his skin (he was flayed alive for being a Christian) and Michaelangelo showed the skin as a self-portrait. That was his way of saying he's so tired and beaten down and oppressed. He was a grumpy man. The guards tried desperately to make everyone be silent, but of course everyone talked anyways. And we saw a guy get kicked out for taking a picture.

Finally, our guide led us around to Saint Peter's Basilica. He described some things to look for inside it and then let us go to explore it on our own. I loved Michaelangelo's Pieta. It was so beautiful. Our guide told us how a crazy guy tried to hack it to pieces in the 70s. And incredibly many of the "paintings" in the Basilica are actually mosaics made with really really tiny tiles. That was cool to see as well.

So you can see how much we learned today! I want to write it all down so I don't forget, but that's not possible. Anyways, I wrote the highlights. So we were done around 2 and found a place to eat lunch. I had pizza again. It was still really good. I just love Italian food I think. We found the main shopping street that goes from the Vatican to the river. It was fun to look in all the stores. We found ourselves right back at our hotel without even realizing it. So we stopped there to take a break from the hot Roman sun. We ended up napping for about an hour and a half. Rome has been so busy, we really needed the break. In the late afternoon we set off for Piazza Popolo.

We got there around 7, right when the church closed so we didn't get to go inside. I thought this Piazza was the most beautiful in Rome. It was a big circle with a fountain in the middle. Unexpectedly, a huge crowd came walking in from a side street. They were singing and waving flags. They were all wearing light blue. We recognized the Italian soccer team's jerseys that a lot of the people were wearing. So somehow we ended up right in the middle of a big pep rally on the street! They started to set off firecrackers so we got out of there. We walked down the center street that leads to the piazza. It was lined with tons of stores. We got gelato along the way for dinner. Where else would you get gelato for dinner but in Italy? It was so delicious! We found ourselves back in Piazza Navona, and it was crowded! There were tons of street performers. The most interesting ones we've seen yet I think. Lots of musical performers, artists, dancers, and the typical "human statues." We sat down at a table and ordered the house wine and just sat and watched all the people go by. There was a particularly entertaining old man right in front of us. He sat on a bench with an amp next to him and a microphone. He was playing a CD of an Italian singer and lip syncing along really terribly. It was obvious he was not actually singing. He waved his arm around. It was so funny that he actually thought people would think he was singing!

It was such a great morning learning so much about the Vatican and Michaelangelo, and a beautiful evening enjoying the fountains lit up and all the street performers. Today was a great day! We asked Steve what to do tomorrow. On Sunday everything in Rome is closed so we had no idea what to do all day. He recommended going to the beach and told us how to get there. So we'll sleep in and soak up the sun. Then the morning after we're off to the airport around 4am. What a fabulous weekend in Rome!

Ancient Rome

Today was a yet again a very busy and exhausting day! We woke up a little late at around 9 and had breakfast. After that, we headed towards the Coliseum. We took the metro since it is on the opposite side of Rome from Vatican City, where our hotel is. When we first saw it, we were astounded. It is a huge structure! There were tons of people taking pictures. We couldn't even figure out where the entrance was. As we walked around the side, we noticed a guy offering guided tours in English. We were very tired of the audio guides and decided that we wanted a live guide this time. He told us that it was 11 euros admission, plus 10 euros for the tour. The tour included the Coliseum, and nearby Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. And we didn't have to wait in line at all since we were going with a group. The individual line was about 45 minutes long! We were already planning on seeing Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum after the Coliseum, so we went for it. We were both a little nervous because it seemed kind of sketchy. I mean this guy was just standing outside the Coliseum yelling out "English tours!" But it worked. And we were so happy we did it. The tour guide knew everything not only about the Coliseum, but about ancient Roman life. He described to us the different social classes in ancient Rome and all about the training of Gladiators. I thought it was all fascinating. I couldn't begin to tell you everything we learned, but here's some of the highlights:

The Coliseum was built around 70 AD and it took 8 years to build. It can hold 50,000 spectators. Each level was for a specific social class, with women of all social classes sitting at the very tippy top. Tickets didn't cost any money. The Emperor paid for it all. When the Coliseum opened, there was 100 straight days of games and festivities. There were 80 separate gates that people could enter through. We learned about gladiators too: They were runaway slaves, or convicts, or soldiers that deserted. Being made into a Gladiator was a serious punishment. They had to endure hours of grueling physical training every day and were fed only barley and wine to make them big and strong. After winning 11 or 12 fights, they were sometimes awarded their freedom by the Emperor as a reward. But most of the time, they didn't survive that long or weren't good enough to ever get that many victories. The games consisted of gladiators fighting each other, or wild animals, or reenacting a hunt of some kind. They shipped in exotic animals from all over the world like tigers from India and lions and ostriches from Africa to be used in the fights. They starved the animals so they would be hungry. The animals and gladiators were kept under the stage and there were 40 elevators that could raise up an animal or gladiator to the stage. Our guide especially liked describing the gory details of the games that took place in the Coliseum. It was a terrific tour and we really enjoyed it.

At the end of the Coliseum, our guide told us that we would meet our next guide at the top of the stairs. A girl named Jill came over and introduced herself. She sounded like she was from the U.S. Later we found out she was from North Carolina. She walked us right next door to Palatine Hill. We already had tickets to get in and didn't have to wait in line again. She told us all about the ruins. Palatine Hill was the place that all the Emperors built their palaces. We saw the remnants of arches and temples that they built. She also explained a little about the history of the Roman Empire and how it came about. She made it sound like a juicy soap opera. Emperor Augustus, the first emperor, divorced his wife on the day she gave birth to their first child and then ordered his best friend to divorce his wife so he could marry her to gain more power and prestige. That was just part of the story. All the following emperors built on top of the previous Emperor's palace to associate themselves with that Emperor and gain more prestige and fame. When they became Emperors, they became Gods. So when the people went to the temple, they prayed to the Emperor and paid money to gain favor with the Gods. In addition to taxes, the emperors had this great source of income to pay for the army and keep their kingdom. This was why they didn't like Jews: Jews only had one God and therefore would never pay money to worship the Emperor. It was all so interesting! So she showed us where the cobblestones were that Romans walked on thousands of years ago, and where the houses were of all the rich and famous ancient Romans. One of the most astounding things she told us is that ancient Romans were very small. They were only the size of a 10-12 year old child today! Can you believe that? Julius Caesar was a giant to them, and he was 5'6"! So she told us not to be afraid of Gladiators, because we could beat them up in a second.

So after the tour was over we wandered around the grounds a bit more to discover some of the ruins Jill didn't mention. It was already about 1:00pm by the time we were done with the tour. Our hotel receptionist had told us that just across the river was the best area to find good restaurants, so we walked there for lunch. By the time we got there it was past 3. We found a restaurant that was still opened and got a quick lunch. Then we explored the neighborhood a bit. It's called "Trastavere." We looked inside a church and discovered a wedding taking place. This church was the site of the very first Christian church. We walked up a big hill and sat at a fountain. Daniel dipped his feet in. It was so unbelievably hot today. All day we went out of our way to stay in the shade and went through bottle after bottle of water. It must have been 95 at least. And obviously very humid. The fountain helped cool us off. I was so tired from walking all day and the heat I just wanted to rest for a while.

About 5:00 we left the fountain and walked back across the river to catch the metro back at the Coliseum. We took the metro over to Plaza de Spagna to see the famous Spanish steps. We were pretty unimpressed. We didn't quite understand why the steps are so famous. They were much smaller than I pictured. The plaza was so crowded with people and the same annoying people selling junk. After 4 weeks, I am sick and tired of people begging for money and even more sick of people trying to sell junk. They get up in our faces and try to convince us that we need this little toy or a flower for the pretty girl. We just want to be left alone! Anyways, we didn't really understand what all the hype was about. But we took some pictures and then walked through the streets trying to find a place to eat.

We found a little restaurant a couple blocks away and got some dinner. The service was pretty terrible. I think they only had one waiter for about 8 tables, so he was really busy. But the food was good enough that we still enjoyed it. And once the sun went down, the heat wasn't so unbearable.

Overall, it was a great day. I enjoyed the ruins so much. My favorite part of history is learning about everyday people and that's exactly what we heard about today. It's fascinating to think about how those people lived and walked on the same steps that we walked on. It's too bad they weren't more well preserved. The Coliseum was severely damaged by an Earthquake in 1430-something and the Popes encouraged people to take whatever they wanted off the building for a couple hundred years (they didn't like the Pagan symbol it represented, so they wanted to get rid of it). Imagine what it would look like if people didn't take chunks of the marble out for their own houses!

Tomorrow we are spending the whole day in Vatican City. We are going with the same tour group through the museums and the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's Basilica. So no waiting in lines for us! I'm so excited.

August 8-Vatican City

Today we will spend the whole day in Vatican City. We will hopefully take a guided tour. We also want to light a candle for Daniel's Abuela. She is a devout Catholic and is very happy that we are visiting the Vatican City. Tonight we will stay in Hotel Colors.

August 7- Rome

Today we will continue to see all the popular sites in Rome. These include Campo de Fiori, Santa Maria in Trestevere, the Jewish Ghetto, the Catacombs, Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. We will stay in Hotel Colors again tonight.

Pompeii

Remember that 7:25 am train we told you about, that came and went and we decided, as we have in the past, that not waking up that early was more important than catching our train. I guess that one of the many lessons we have learned on this trip is that we don't want to wake up really early on vacation. We got up at around 9 and after breakfast at our hotel, we headed to the train station. We got a new ticket for a train that left for Naples at 10:40. When we got to Naples, we headed right to the train that took us to Pompeii. It was a pretty quick ride and we heard a guy on the train telling another couple about how he had just been pick pocketed. :-( It was a sad, but a nice reminder to be very careful. We had a quick lunch right across the street from the entrance to the ruins and then got our audio guide and our tickets and headed off into the dust. It was fascinating. I expected a city that was built in the 2nd century B.C.E. to be very simple with no real plan, containing unimpressive, small, buildings. But Pompeii was not like that at all! The streets were paved with stones and mostly straight. There were obvious main streets and minor ones. Also, there were a lot of stray dogs there. They were all friendly and just slept, but it was still very odd. We learned about their complex government system and saw where each of their three branches met. We saw their court room and learned about how the judges and juries made decisions (sound familiar?). They had a performing arts center with two theaters and a large "lobby" area in between. They told us that the smaller theater was designed to have great acoustics. It was all very impressive and difficult to imagine that this was the way that it was in 72 C.E. when everything ended for them.

Some of my favorite buildings we were able to go in were the baths and the lupo-something (sorry I forgot the name). The baths consisted of a dressing room with shelves where the Romans could leave their personal items and clothes while they went inside. This was followed by a sports area and swimming pool. The Romans would work out before bathing. The next step was, for a fee, the massages and rubs. They had a whole room full of salts, oils, ointments, and soaps that they could get rubbed with. After their massages, they went to the hot bath. This was a large room with a hot pool in it. They could use it as a hot tub or a sauna or both as the whole room was heated. They heated it by the walls and floor of the hot room being hollow. There was a big fire in another room that connected to and heated the gaps in the walls and floors. I think that is brilliant and so cool! There was a window on a piece of the floor and a chunk of one of the walls missing so we could see the gaps. After the hot bath they went through a transition room where only one of the walls was heated so it was just warm. Past that was the cold bath. They took a dip into a bath that was fed water by a nearby spring, so you can imagine how cold it must have been. At that point they went back into the dressing room and if their clothes were still there, they got dressed and went home. Many people would have their slaves sit and watch their stuff or would pay someone to watch it.

The lupo-something was the brothel. The one we went in was the most well organized one of 25 in the city!This one had 10 small rooms, each with a stone bed built into the wall. They put a mattress on top of it. There was a bathroom in it too, the nicest one we saw with a seat and everything! The funniest part was the frescos on the walls. They had painted erotic scenes on the walls "to inspire the clients to try some new positions," said our audio guide. There were some interesting ones up there too. It is so weird to think of the Romans that were alive in the 1st century CE having sex for pleasure and being so creative and blatant about it.

At around dinner time we took the regional train back to the train station where I grabbed a slice of pizza and we got on the train to go back to Rome. For the last few days, we have seen a lot of people wearing these nametags that say "keep an eye out" or "watch out" or something like that I don't remember exactly. I thought it was a pickpocket awareness program. On the train two woman wearing those nametags sat next to us. I asked them about it and she just said, "Oh, well we're Jahova's Witnesses here on a big conference! You should come to our big program this weekend." Our immediate thought was, "Oh no, we're going to get preached at for the next hour," but they didn't bring it up again. We talked about school and told them about our trip and asked about theirs. Then I read the USA today and Rachel watched TED talks.

We got back to Rome and got some dinner then came home.

To Rome

Sorry, we didn't have internet last night

We are both so exhausted tonight. It's only 9:30, but we are ready for bed. I still want to write while everything is fresh in my mind. Tomorrow will be a long day and I know I won't remember everything that happened today.

We woke up around 8 and got ready quickly. I had just enough time to call my parents before our train left at 9:18am. It was late in Phoenix, after 11pm, but I knew my parents would be happy that I called anyways. It was nice to talk to them and hear about my mom's new job. It's hard to believe I haven't talked to them in over 3 weeks.

The train ride was only 90 minutes and it went very quickly. When we arrived in Rome, we had to take the metro and then walk a couple blocks to our hostel. We found it pretty quickly. Though it was before noon, our room was already cleaned and ready for us. Once again, we got lucky! We have a room with a bathroom despite paying a discounted rate for no private bathroom. The hostel is colorful (as its name suggests) and very fun. There is a kitchen for us to use on our floor. The hostel is very near Vatican City. We decided to leave Vatican City for a day when we had more time to devote. So we walked across the river to the Pantheon. I think it is so exciting when you turn the corner from a narrow alleyway into a plaza and see a great monument or huge cathedral. It is such a great feeling. Today, seeing the Pantheon, I definitely got that feeling. When you see it, you know that it's the Pantheon without seeing a sign or anything. The crowds of tourists kind of help give it away.

There was no line and no entrance fee for once, so we just walked right in. The first thing that struck me was the giant hole in the roof. They call it the "copula." That is the only source of light for the Pantheon. It was very dim inside except for a very bright circle on the floor where the sun shone through the hole. The inside was covered in different colored marble. There were sections around the center sectioned off like different chapels in a cathedral. The most exciting thing was Raphael's tomb. In the 19th century, the Pope ordered it exhumed to verify the validity of his body. It was indeed Raphael's body, so they put it back and there it is today. Daniel joked that it was the body of the ninja turtle Raphael. I couldn't believe that this structure has been here for over 2000 years! It was built around 27 B.C. and changed to its current circular form in 125 A.D.

Our Rome guide book had a page with a whole bunch of things to see right around the Pantheon. We followed their instructions and walked a block over to a nearby church. This church was called Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The outside was very plain looking, but the inside was gorgeous! It had the characteristic colored marble and frescoes. I really enjoyed the roof. It was bright blue with the gothic arches crossing over the knave (are you impressed with my cathedral vocabulary?). In each section was a different biblical character. Also notable in this church was a sculpture of Jesus Christ by Michaelangelo. Daniel noticed that there was an "after-market" cloth draped over his mid-section to hide certain male anatomy. It seems not everyone appreciates Michaelangelo's anatomical correctness.

Then we continued a few more blocks to Sant' Ignazio church. This one was notable for its frescoes. The roof of the knave was painted to look like buildings were extending up into the sky. The artist used perspective to make it look like the roof continued up further. It was sectioned off into Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. Each continent had characters rising up into Paradise. It was beautiful. Daniel and I stood right in the middle of the knave on a marble circle to look up and see the perspective perfectly.

Nearby was the Piazza Navona, a popular tourist square. There is one big fountain in the middle and two smaller fountains on either side. In between are tons of artists (presumably) selling their artwork. There were selling charicatures, portraits, landscapes, and duplicates of famous works. We enjoyed looking at all the different styles. Our guidebook also recommended getting some gelato at one of the cafes lining the piazza. At Tre Scalini we got a special kind of gelato called tortufo. It's chocolate gelato with pieces of chocolate in it and a cherry in the middle. There's also whipped cream on top. It was absolutely delicious and a wonderful way to beat the heat in Rome.

Then we walked across the river to Castel Saint'Angelo. As Daniel informed me, this structure was built around AD 150 to house the Pope. It was sort of a Palace for the Pope. This castle has been filled over the years with extravagant treasures reflecting the corrupt papacy. During the plague, Saint Angelo went to the top of the Castle and proclaimed that the plague would no longer affect Rome. And it came true! Nobody else died of the plague. So the castle was named after him. Now it is no longer the Pope's residence, of course, but a museum of sorts. Daniel and I were surprised at the cost, 9,50 euros each. But our book said it was one of those things "not to miss" in Rome, so we paid and went inside. The structure is like a giant circle with courtyards in the middle. We went round and round and round looking at artifacts. Some were really old, like the 1st century AD, and some were from the 19th century. Overall, we were very unimpressed and actually a bit bored. The only cool part was climbing to the very top to get an awesome 360 degree view of Rome. There are so many landmarks you can see from up there. It's like a history lesson identifying all of them.

We walked back towards Piazza Navona to go into a store that was mentioned in our book. All of the goods in the store are made by the monks and nuns. They had candy, chocolate, soap, cosmetics, honey, jam, and liqueur. I bought a set of 6 small jars of different kinds of honey, and two bottles of jam. Daniel of course bought some liqueur. It's chocolate and rum. Sounds good, I can't wait to try all of them.

We followed another recommendation from our book and walked to another piazza. It was really nothing special and kind of a waste of time. But at least we got to see some more narrow alleyways and really old buildings in Rome. We walked through the neighborhoods we spent the day exploring, past the Pantheon, past Piazza Navona, and ended up at Trevi Fountain. It was the same kind of feeling where you turn the corner, and there it is. This thing that you have heard so much about but never thought you would be standing in front of. It was SO much bigger than I thought. It was HUGE! And just crowded with people. We took a few pictures and then quickly went off to find a place to eat.

We were very hungry by this point. There are tons of restaurants around the fountain, so we had no problem. We have taken advantage of the "tourist" menu, which is a fixed price for a certain 3-course meal. Daniel got lasagna and veal, and I got spaghetti. We also each got half a bottle of water and a quarter liter of house white wine. And we each got a slice of cheesecake for dessert. It was pretty good food. The restaurant's atmosphere was very nice as well. There were frescoes covering the walls done in a modern style. It was cool to see modern art done in such an old style.

After dinner we went back to the fountain to watch the sun go down and the fountain light up. We got a good spot on a bench right down next to the fountain. It was so much fun to watch all the people come up and throw a coin in over their shoulder. We each threw our coin in to ensure our return to Rome. As it got darker, we asked a nearby tourist to take our picture in front of the fountain and made the long walk back to our hotel. By the time we got back it was about 9pm and we were so tired. We fit in so much in half a day! We checked many things off our "have to do" list.

Tomorrow we have an even longer day. Our train leaves at 7:25am and arrives in Naples at 8:45am. We don't leave to come back to Rome until 7pm. So it will be a very long day. We heard that there's tons to see at Pompeii, so I know we will be tired.

August 6- Pompeii

Today will be a very long day. We will take the train to Naples and then on to Pompeii. It is a long train ride, about 3 hours. We hope to take a tour through the ruins with a guide, or maybe just a tape recording. We may spend some time in the city of Naples on the way back to Rome. Tonight we are again staying in Hotel Colors.

August 5- Rome

Today is our first day in Rome. We will take the 2.5 hour train ride in the morning and arrive in Rome around noon. Today we hope to fit in Capitoline Hill, Roman Forum, Colusseum, Palatine Hill, Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain. Tonight we will stay in Hotel Colors. The website is hotelcolorsrome.com.

Florence

Today we learned so much about Renaissance art.

We woke up at about 9:30am and made it to the Accademia Gallery at 10:30am. We were so glad that we had reservations! The line to get in was two blocks long, but our line was aboug 20 people long. We got right in. The tickets were a bit more expensive, but we thought it was worth it. Our facorite part of the museum was of course Michaelangelo's David. Daniel in particular really enjoyed it. It was much bigger than I was expecting. Just looking at his hands and feet was so powerful. I overheard a tour guide talking about Michaelangelo. She said that he was famous for accepting every job offered to him. He wanted the prestige and the money, even though he was overwhelmed by the amount of work it required. So he made his employers mad by not finishing the works in time. Consequently, there were many of his unfinished statues on display at the museum. There was also a temporary exhibit of photographs by Robert Mappleton. I found those interesting as well.

We spent the morning there, and then had lunch. Daniel has been looking for shoes since the ones he brought have gotten worn out. So we walked a few blocks to a big flea market where there was lots of leather goods for sale, among other things. We both bought a wallet for ourselves. I also got a cashmere scarf and Daniel got a tie. Everything was so cheap, we couldn't believe it! A cashmere scarf for 5 euros and a 100% silk tie for 3 euros! We bought more than we probably should have, but we had a great time bargaining and looking at all the neat stuff for sale. Our hotel was right down the block, so we dropped off our purchases.

Yesterday we noticed a bunch of locks on the Ponte Vecchio bridge. Daniel looked up on the internet what that was about. We read that "couples must write their names with a felt-tipped pen, on one side of the lock, adding the date of their passage through Florence on the other side, before throwing the keys into the river." Read more at http://www.vivitoscana.net/cgi-bin/news/gi_pub8_det_lun.cgi/id=647/sezione=folklore/Loving%20locks....html

So we grabbed the lock that we brought in case we needed to lock up our luggage. We wrote our names on one side, and today's date on the other (in Europe they write the day, then the month, then the year; so today was 4-8-09 instead of 8-4-09). We also read that you can get fined 50 euros for it, so we had to be a bit sneaky. We walked onto the bridge and Daniel discreetly attached the lock onto the bridge. Then I tossed the key over the side and watched it sink to the bottom. It was very exciting and nerve-wracking and romantic. Our lock will be there forever! Or more likely, about a week before the government cuts it off. But the idea is nice anyways. :-)

Right near the bridge is the Uffizi so we headed in that direction. There were many caricature artists offering their services outside and more street performers and musicians too. We got in line for the museum about 15 minutes before our scheduled time at 5:30. This time we wanted to get the audio guide. Both of us know next to nothing about Renaissance art, so the audio guide helped a lot. The museum was est up in a way that really helped me see the evolution over the years. From statue-like figures with muted colors in the 13th century, to more movement and lines and brighter colors in the 15th century, to the development of perspective in the 16th and 17th centuries. My absolute favorite work was a painting by Michaelangelo.

It's called the "Holy Family." Our audio guide described it as revolutionary. He depicted Mary as more real and less idealistic. And it shows Jesus instead of laying obediently in Mary's arms, as a toddler intent on climbing over her shoulder.

By the time we were done in the Uffizi, we were tired and hungry. It was about 8pm, so time for dinner. There was a nice little restaurant right across the street from the exit that had very good prices. The food was delicious! Some of the best we've had yet. Daniel got a calzone with ham in it, and I got a "quattro formaggi" or four cheese pizza. We also got a 1/2 bottle of the house white wine, which was really good too. And for dessert we each got a small cup of chocolate gelato. Yummy!

Overall, Florence has been relatively unimpressive. I really enjoyed learning more about renaissance art today and getting to see many of Michaelangelo's original works was definitely a treat. The city itself is not nearly as beautiful as many other cities we have seen. The hostel was a big highlight as well.

Our room at Luna Rossa

August 4- Florence

Today is our last day in Florence. We want to see Academy Gallery, Palazzo Vecchio, and Mercato Centrale. We will stay in Luna Rossa again tonight.

Firenze (Florence)

Today was a lovely day. We woke up and headed to the train station to go to the second to last city of our trip. We got to the train station with plenty of time, and we were at the right one for a change. We easily got on our train and took our correct seats. This was the easiest trip we have gone on. There wasn't a single problem all the way to our destination! We shared a booth (four seats facing each other with a small table in between the rows) with a couple from Sydney, Australia. They both were geologists, but neither worked in the field. I talked with them for a lot of the train ride about our trip, their trip, skiing, and school.

We got to Firenze at around lunch time. We found our hotel very easily and checked in. The receptionist got our passport number and stuff then told us that they had upgraded us to a room in a different building that has its own bathroom. We couldn't complain about that. She also told us that if you don't make reservations for the museums in Florence you have to wait up to two hours to get in. She offered to make the reservation for us. We obviously took advantage of that and then the owner of the hotels, Marco, took us to our room. He took both of our bags and rolled them the few blocks to our hotel and then carried them up two flights of stairs! When he showed us our room he also showed us the computer in our room that we can use and how to skype reception if we need anything or have any questions. He showed us how to use the laundry and the phone and said we can use it as much as we would like. We clarified, "we can call the US for free?!" "Absolutely, just dial 001 then the area code and number." We couldn’t believe it, but were happy about it.

After we got settled in for a few minutes we hit the town. Today we saw the Duomo, the third biggest cathidral in Europe. It was incredible. It was marble, white green and pink on the outside and many more colors on the floor of the inside. It was huge! Like most of the old churches it was built in the shape of the Roman cross and at the intersection of the 't' there was a huge dome. It was painted beautifully. We just stood there and stared at it until our necks hurt and then looked a little while longer. The dome and the floors were the most impressive to me. Also the outside was captivating. Right outside of the church was a baptistery. It was awesome (in the sense that it left us in awe). The whole ceiling was gold mosaic. It was so detailed. We could easily follow the stories that were being told. The pieces seemed so small, the image looked like it was painted, not masaiced.

After that we went to another church then walked to Pointa Vecchio, a big impressive bridge. We got some gelato then went over. It used to be the home to butchers and fish markets, but the nobels didn't like the smell and they had to cross the bridge every day so they raised the rents so only goldsmiths could afford to work there. Since the 1500's the bridge has been the center of the thriving gold and jewelry trade here. We went in one shop and Rachel tried on a few wedding bands to see how they would look with her engagement ring.

We continued across the bridge to the Pitti Palace, another royal palace that was closed today. We sat there for a bit in the shade. It is hot here too, not like Venice, but it is still exhausting. We walked by the river to the highest point in Florence, the MichaelAngelo Square. Up there, there was another church with a cool cemetery. We had a beautiful view of the city and looked out over Florence for a time. We started to head home at that point.

We decided to just get a pizza to go somewhere and a bottle of wine and call our parents. We had a quiet dinner in the kitchen right outside our room then figured out the phone. We called my Dad then my Mom and talked to each for about 15 minutes. We tried to get a hold of grandma and grandpa, but they weren’t there. :-( Then we called Rachel's parents and left a message. It was so nice to talk to my parents!

We realized today that we only have one week left of our trip. It has flown by! The first day when we were sitting outside of Palacio Real in Madrid, we thought it would drag, but we can't believe we only have a week left.

August 3- Florence

We will start off this morning taking the train from Venice to Florence. This is about a 2.5 hour train ride. Once in Florence, we want to see Uffizi, Duomo, Baptistery, and Campanile. Tonight we will stay in Luna Rossa, a very popular hostel. You can see a video, pictures, and reviews of the hostel at http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Luna-Rossa/Florence/11760.

It is so HOT here!!

That was one of the main thoughts of the day. It is so hot here, but worse, it is very, very humid. It just makes everything more difficult and a little more unpleasant. We started the day with a big list of things to do. We woke up, ate breakfast in out hotel and hit the town. We headed toward the main square in town, the Piazza San Marco. We walked there because the town is pretty small and the bus costs 6 euros a trip. We stopped on the Rialto bridge, the biggest and most beautiful bridge in all of Venice. Also a major tourist attraction. It crosses over the Grand Canal and marks the half way point of the canal. By this time I was dripping with sweat. It was so uncomfortable. At least everyone around you is really sweaty too so it doesn't make you self conscious. After the bridge, we made it to the plaza and the main attraction there, the basilica of San Marco. We waited in a long line and Rachel had to pay 1 euro for a paper "shawl" to cover her shoulders. When we got to the front, we realized that it was closed, and people were only aloud up into the museum which costs 4 euros each. We didn't want to pay for that so we got out of line and went to a nearby museum called the Palazzo Ducale, or the Doge's Palace. We didn't really know anything about it so we got the audio guide. They had a deal where you could get one and two people could share, one just with the guide and one with connected headphones! We have found those audioguides extremely helpful. You don't get the personal attention or personality of a real guide, but they have so much information and you can go at your own pace. Anyway, we toured the palace and learned about the old Venetian government. It was very interesting.

After that, we got some lunch at a place on one of the main streets. I had a caprese salad and Rachel had a pizza. I just couldn't order something hot it was just too hot outside.

After lunch the basilica was open so we waited in the same line as before to get in. We had some gelato while we waited. Inside was beautiful! Every basilica we have gone in so far has been in a gothic style and they were all starting to look the same. This one however is in a baroque style! It was surprising and beautiful. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all mosaic. Big, beautiful, detailed pictures were created with the tiny pieces. It was so colorful and refreshing. The ceiling mosaic was mostly gold. At the end of our walk we each lit a candle.

San Marco Basilica

We took a long walk to another church and went in. We found the first bench we could find and sat down. The heat was getting to us. We just sat there for a while and enjoyed the air conditioning. We walked out to the edge of the island where we were surrounded by water on three sides. We sat down there and had a lot of difficulty getting up because we were in the shade and there was a cool breeze. We decided to just go back to our hotel and relax a little until dinner. We had seen all of the major attractions in Venezia and it was just miserable outside, and inside. We began the long walk back to our hotel; our feet became heavier with each step. We made it and took the three flights of stairs up to our room. Before we left this morning we closed the shutters to keep out the light and left the fan on. Our room was cool! It was a oasis. I hopped in the shower and rinsed in cold water for a few minutes. We took a nap for till the bells chimed 7 times (literally not figuratively). We headed back for the streets for dinner. We walked around quite a bit till we found a restaurant to our liking. We sat down and the waiter poured sparkling wine into our glasses, for free! "Good choice," we thought. I ordered lasagna and Rachel got spaghetti with crab and prawns in it. For dessert we got tiramisu and chocolate mousse.

We wanted to get on a gondola right after dinner so we could watch the sun set from the boat. But by the time we were done with dinner, the sun had started setting. We rushed to a few sights where we had seen gondolas during the day, but there wasn't any at our first few stops. We eventually found one and hopped in. It was beautiful! Our gondolier told us about important buildings we were passing and hummed to himself. We saw Marco Polo's house from the 13th century and Mozarts house which is now a music school. He also told us that some of the appartment's right on the canals can cost up to 40,000 euros for a square meter! Can you imagine?! We went under bridges so low, we actually had to lean the boat really far over to fit through. We almost got into a crash with another gondola once around a blind turn in a very narrow canal, but both gondoliers were skilled enough to avoid the inevitable. I was very impressed. The ride was very expensive, but was unforgettable and romantic. When are we going to be in Venice again?

After the ride we walked around a little more and supported the local economy. We bought two paintings from a local artist. They are watercolors and are very nice. I think we are going to put them in our bathroom. We also were tempted into a Venetian glass store. We have been looking for clocks in every city to go in our kitchen. We saw one there that we knew was the one! It is black and red, our color scheme and was really cool. After a lot of discussion about the expense we decided it was worth it and bought it. The shop keeper packed it up in 4 layers of bubble wrap to keep it safe.

We took the long way home and enjoyed a last look at Venice.

August 2- Venice

Today we want to see all of Venice that we can. On our list is Piazza San Marco, Basilica of San Marco, Palazzo Ducale, Grand Canal, Bridge of Sighs, and Campanile. We will stay in Hotel Bernardi Semenzato again tonight.

A travel day

We don't have much to talk about today. We spent 6 hours on a train. We had breakfast in our hotel and checked out at about 10:30am. Everything was closed in Bern because it was a national holiday. So basically all we could do was window shop until our train left at 1:30pm. We were a little confused about our train because it didn't actually say it went to Venice. It had Milan, Veronia, Vicenza... but not Venezia. But we double checked and it was the right train. Before we left we stopped in the only grocery store that was open- it was very crowded. We got the best swiss cheese (gruyere) and some bread for lunch. We also got a tray of little pieces of cheese with different seasonings on top, an orange, and some cookies. We had such a long train ride we wanted to make sure we wouldn't get hungry.

The train ride was fairly uneventful. There was some confusion with seating. We reserved seats ahead of time. When we got on the train, there were two guys about our age already in our seats. So we just took some seats across from them that were empty. Then when we got to the next city, some people got on the train that had reserved the seats we were in. So we had to move to other open seats. In the next city, some people had THOSE seats reserved. So we kind of played musical chairs. I was a little annoyed that the guys didn't take their seats in the first place, but they didn't speak English so we couldn't communicate the situation to them.

When we arrived in Venice, we realized that we weren't quite in Venice. There are two train stations. So we caught a quick train from Venezia Mestre to Venezia Santa Lucia. When we stepped out of the train station, we were on the Grand Canal. It took my breath away. I mean, I knew that Venice was surrounded by water, but this was unbelievable! We had directions to our hotel and knew we needed to take Waterbus 1. The tickets were 6 euros for one-way! Very expensive. Hopefully we won't need to take the waterbus again. Once we got off, we had to walk to our hotel. The GPS helped, but it didn't really seem to know where we were. There are so many really narrow alleyways. It was hard to tell what was a street and what was an alley. But eventually we found it. After dropping off our stuff we were ready for dinner. It was already going on 9pm and I was hungry. Luckily there were tons of places to eat right around the corner. We just sat down at some outside tables and a waiter came right over. I love Italian food so I was so excited for our first Italian meal. I ordered spaghetti with meatballs and Daniel ordered a margherita pizza. We also got some house white wine to celebrate our first night in Italy. It was all delicious. I think I may have ate too much, because I have a tummyache now. But it was worth it! There was even a pianist playing right outside the restaurant. We watched the sun set and all the tourists go by while we ate. We also had to get gelato for dessert. It was also delicious. We walked around a little bit, but it was hard to get a feel for the city at night. It was dark already and there's not really much nightlife here. As our hotel receptionist told us, everything closes at 11:30. I am so excited to see the city tomorrow! We only have one day here, so we have to make it count.

August 1- Train to Venice

We will spend the morning finishing up anything we didn't get to see in Bern. Then we will take the 6 hour train to Venice. That will take up most of the day. We will check into Hotel Bernardi Semenzato for the night. The website is hotelbernardi.com.

Our day in Bern

This is Bern!

Bern is even more beautiful than Geneva.

We woke up this morning and checked out of our hostel. We stopped at a grocery store to get some toothpaste (our little travel tube didn't hold up) and some breakfast. We got to the train station about an hour before our train left. We weren't taking any chances this time! I also found another USA Today at the newsstands :-) So we settled onto a bench to eat breakfast and read the news. Our train came along about 11:30am and we were off. This was not a high speed train, so it took us 90 minutes to get to Bern. The scenery was just beautiful. We saw all the typical Switzerland stuff- the mountains, green hills, cows munching on grass, corn fields, little houses with red tiled roofs, hay bales in big fields. It was so much fun.

When we arrived in Bern, we were completely lost for a solid 30 minutes. We read on the hotel's website to take bus 20. The problem is, we didn't know which direction or what stop to get off on. There was a map on the platform that showed the tourism office. But we were so confused, we couldn't figure out where we were on the map or how to get to the tourism office. After wandering around the station for close to 20 minutes, we happened upon all the restaurants and shopping that signify the main part of the train station. The tourism office was extremely helpful-as usual. They gave us a map and when we told them our hotel, the girl knew exactly where it was without even having to look it up. She told us we could take the bus, but it was also easily walkable even with our luggage. Daniel also asked for a few German words to get us through the day. She told us that everyone here knows English and we would be perfectly fine saying Please, Thank You, Hello, and Goodbye in plain old English. That was a relief.

A really long German word- we have such a hard time speaking these words, we just laugh.

We found our hotel with no problem. They even have street signs that say all the nearby hotels and point where to go. Once again, our hotel is wonderful. We have a beautiful room on the third floor, right next to the shower that is shared between five rooms. There is a sink in our room. They even left little cookies on the bed that are a Swiss tradition. We have free wi-fi and free breakfast tomorrow morning. There is even a balcony outside our french doors. We are a 10 minute walk from the entire tourist area.

The front of our hotel

We crossed a huge beautiful bridge to get to the "Old Town." This city is the most beautiful city I have ever been in. The river forms a "U" around the Old Town. It is bright teal fast-flowing water. There are lots of tall, narrow houses along the river with red tiled roofs. We saw the tower of the big cathedral. Unfortunately, half of it was covered in scaffolding. You can't have everything I guess. As we have done in the past few towns, we just started wandering. We immediately found the famous Clock Tower. There is a big clock on the top, and a calendar clock on the bottom. We found it difficult to read, but somehow it tells you the day of the week, month, and all that. We had lunch at a cute little Italian restaurant. I know, we're in Switzerland, but you can only have so much cheese fondue. It was delicious anyways. On the map we were given from the tourism office there was a clear path that went through Old Town and covered pretty much every important landmark. We followed it and saw Einstein's house, City Hall, the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul, the Bear Pits, another big cathedral, the University, House of Parliament, another huge bridge with a gorgeous view of the city, and lots of fountains. We were very disappointed to find out that the Bear Pits were empty. The last bear died on April 30 and they haven't put any new ones in. They are in the process of creating a new enclosure where the bears will be able to roam free throughout 20 hectares of land. This will open in October of this year.

The clock tower

The empty bear pits.

Daniel is a statue on top of the fountain.

Between all these landmarks was tons of shopping. Daniel especially enjoyed looking at all the (very) expensive watches. He wanted to buy one, but we couldn't really find one for less than about 100 CHF. That's almost equal to 100 dollars. We also stopped in H&M. Daniel's pants have been getting bigger over the last 2 weeks (or maybe he's getting smaller) and he needed a belt to hold his pants up. We didn't find any belts, but came out with 3 new polo shirts. Since he shrunk all his clothes at Christmas, it was time for some new ones anyways.

We took a break in a little plaza and watched some old men playing chess. They had a chess board on the ground that was about 10 feet by 10 feet. The pieces were 2-3 feet tall and carved out of wood. The players picked up the pieces and walked over to place them on another square. It was so fun to watch. Then we walked back over to city hall. Earlier we noticed that they were setting up a stage and saw an ad for a jazz band performing at 20 hour. Daniel got a bratwurst and a beer for dinner, but I was still full from lunch. The band was okay, and after an hour we were ready to leave. Earlier we bought a bottle of wine from a liquor store. We wanted to try Swiss wine to compare it to Spanish wine and French wine. The man at the store helped us pick one out that was made in Bern.

The giant chess game

Daniel eating dinner

So here we are, sitting on our balcony, watching the very end of the sunset, drinking our Swiss wine. I think this town is so beautiful. Daniel and I decided that some day, when we're rich, we are going to have a second home in Switzerland. We'll buy it right after we buy our private jet to fly here :-) I am so glad that we worked this country into our itinerary. We were only here for about 3 days, but it's been delightful. And we're getting out of here just in time- tomorrow is a Swiss national holiday and there are already fireworks going off tonight. All the stores closed early tonight and they are closed tomorrow. I can't believe tomorrow night we'll be in Italy!!

July 31- Geneva and Bern

We will take the train to Bern which takes about 2 hours. In Bern, we want to see Old Town including Barengraben, Rosengarten, and Zytgloggenturm, Klotzlikeller, Stadttheater, and Bern Casino. Tonight we have reservations at Hotel-Pension Marthahaus Bern. The website is http://www.marthahaus.ch/e/index.html.

Geneva Dinner

We came home to sit down for a min and relax before dinner (when Rachel posted last). While we were here Rachel googled places to eat here and we found a place that Frommer's recommended that is very close to where we are staying. We got there and ordered salmon and cheese fondue.

In case you didn't know, cause I didn't, fondue was invented in Switzerland and is a very typical meal here. All of the restaurents serve it. We ordered and as we have found is typical here it took a long time. After a while our waiter brought out a salad for Rachel and some bread. We shared both. Then eventually he brought out our salmon and fondue. The food was very yummy. We also enjoyed sitting outside and watching all the fancy cars drive by. Everyone here must be very wealthy. After dinner, we walked back to our hostel. Just down the street we stopped at a bar and got some drinks. The bartender recommended a caipirinha. It's kind of like a mojito, but from Brazil. I really liked it. The owner of the bar came and talked to us. He told us that the bar was only 3 weeks old and when he found out I was Cuban (in reference to the mojito), he wanted to talk in Spanish. He said that he speaks much better Spanish than English. So we spoke in Spanish for a while.

It was a fun night and we got to experience real Swiss food.

Geneva

We're blogging a little early tonight since we paid for internet for 24 hours.

We slept in this morning until about 9am and got breakfast just around the corner in a little cafe. The first thing we wanted to do was go to the U.N. In Geneva is one of the two headquarters for the United Nations (the other is in New York City). When we got there, we had to go through security and they even took Daniel's picture and printed out a security badge right there! Then we walked through the building to the area where the tour starts. We got there just in time for the English tour. There were about 30 people on our tour, and only one other group was from the US! There were people from Russia, Finland, Peru, Canada, India, and more. Our guide was fantastic. He knew so much about the U.N. and the Palais des Nations. We got to see the conference rooms where big important people discuss things like world hunger and human rights. He explained that New York is in charge of world security and disarmament and stuff like that. Geneva deals more with human rights. The tour was about 1 1/2 hours and Daniel and I both learned so much.

Daniel in one of the many conference rooms. The walls were painted by a Spanish artist in 1930.

All the flags outside the U.N.

After the tour, we crossed the street to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent museum. They had a lovely cafe where we had lunch. We learned all about how the Red Cross was started and how it was expanded. I didn't know that it actually started to help specifically with injured soldiers on the battlefield. Then when WWI ended, the organization figured they should expand into something else since there was no big war to help with. So that's when they started helping with natural disaster relief. In WWII, they discovered that they couldn't help people in concentration camps because their bylaws state that they only help military people, not civilians. So after WWII they fixed that and now they have helped establish rules that protect prisoners of war, civilians, and refugees. We also learned that Muslim nations take offense to the "Red Cross" emblem, so they use the Red Crescent instead.

We took the bus across town to the Old Town. We wandered through the English Gardens which are currently a big carnival. It took us a while, but eventually we found the flower clock.

We headed towards the big cathedral in town. Along the way, we came across a cute little chocolate shop. Of course we had to buy some real swiss chocolate. We saw in the back where they make all the chocolate right there.

At the cathedral, we were surprised to see a neoclassical structure. In the 19th century, the facade of the cathedral was redone in a neoclassical style. We climbed up what seemed like a million steps to get to the top of the tower and got a magnificent view of Geneva. It is such a beautiful city.

We walked through Old Town a little more and got to a small park. Inside the park is the "Reformation Wall." There are sculptures of lots of famous Reformationists built into the wall. There were even some English words inscribed into the wall. Some of them were about the Puritans taking the Mayflower over to the new world. And the Lord's Prayer was inscribed there too. We took the bus, and then a boat across the lake back to our hostel. It's so cool that there are boats here that function just like the busses.

Now we are trying to find a place to eat. It seems so difficult to find a reasonably priced restaurant. Maybe because we are still confused about the conversion rate to Swiss Francs. Everything here seems so much more expensive until we realize that 50 CHF is only 30 euros (which is 40 dollars). How confusing!

Tomorrow morning we check out at 10am and take the train to Bern. We will arrive there about 1:30pm.