Rose Garden - Golden Gate Park

Rose Garden - Golden Gate Park

I took so many pictures at the rose garden that I decided to put them in a separate album. I love taking pictures of flowers, so I went a little crazy! They turned out beautifully, though, so I hope you enjoy them!

San Francisco 2009

San Francisco 2009

I know it's taken me forever to blog about our vacation, but last month was just crazy - recovering from back to back company and travel, then the moms came for a visit, then I got sick. Basically July was rough for me! But, things are getting back to normal now, so I wanted to share stories and pictures!

We went to SF at the end of June to see Tom and Stephannie before they made the move back to Austin. We had a fabulous time! I will admit that I was worried about the flight with a four and a half month old, but he was stellar for the entire trip! We arrived in the evening, and by about 3pm the next day he had adapted his schedule to the new time zone and that was that. On the way home we had to wake him early for our flight, so he was already back on track for our time zone once we got back!

Stepho was a wonderful tour guide, she drove us all around the city on our first day, showing us the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, Pier 39, the Boudin Sourdough Company, and the Cowgirl Creamery (for artisan cheese to go with our sourdough).

On Saturday we went downtown to the farmer's market, and to see Tom's office. Then we went to the Asian Art Museum for the Lords of the Samurai exhibit. It was very interesting. Isaac enjoyed looking around in the museum too!

Of course we chose a great time to visit San Francisco, during the Pride Celebration. So, outside the art museum it was like a street fair with food and booths. It made for some very interesting people watching opportunities. We also found an It's-It booth, so we were able to experience this legendary San Francisco treat for ourselves...yummy.

On Sunday we went to the Pride Parade. We had a lot of fun. It was as entertaining to watch the spectators as it was the parade entries! I have a ton of pictures from the parade, but I haven't gotten through them all yet. I'll put them up in a separate post once I get through them all.

After the parade Tom and Stephannie took us to Golden Gate Park. We saw the California Academy of Science building where Stephannie volunteers, and we went up into the tower of the De Young Museum for a bird's eye view of the city. We didn't get to see all of the park because it's so huge, but we did visit a beautiful little rose garden.

We got up early on Monday morning to fly back to Austin, and the flight was thankfully non eventful. Isaac enjoyed looking around for a while, and when it was nap time, I just tucked him into the sling and he went right to sleep. We couldn't have asked for a better first trip with the baby! Thanks again to Tom and Stephannie for being such wonderful hosts and showing us around. We had the best time! :-)

Inner Space Cavern

Inner Space Cavern

Michael had to work part of the week that Diana was here, so she and I did a little site-seeing of our own. We spent one day at Inner Space Cavern. It was very interesting, and surprisingly some of the pictures turned out OK, even though there wasn't much light.

San Antonio August 2008

San Antonio: August 2008

In August, Diana came for a visit. While she was here we drove down to San Antonio. We started at the Alamo, then wandered down the river. We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe then continued on our walk along the river. After seeing all we could along the Riverwalk, we went to the Ripley's museum and enjoyed the fun and education exhibits on display.

On the way home we stopped at Oma's House for dinner. This German style restaurant has gotten some hit and miss reviews on the internet, but we all enjoyed our meal. Overall, we had a great day, and enjoyed talking and listening to music on the drive, as well as the sites in San Antonio.

Skipton

Skipton

Michael had to travel to Skipton this week. I decided to join him on his second day and do a little site seeing while he was at work. I didn't end up getting there early enough to do much the first day I arrived. On the second day, I walked into town. I had read about Skipton Castle, and I was anxious to get some pictures. The town was about about a mile and a half from our hotel, which wouldn't have been too bad if I'd been wearing tennis shoes instead of my boots. Oops, didn't really think that one through when I was packing.

Anyway, the town was cute, in the way that small English towns are. The castle was pretty cool. It was a Royalist stronghold during the English Civil War. After a 3-year siege the Royalist finally surrendered. After the surrender the castle roofs were ordered to be removed. The Royalist had constructed elaborate water collection systems on the roof, which helped them to withstand the siege, even when the Parliamentarians cut off the pipeline that brought water from the river into the castle grounds.

I enjoyed the castle and the town. I took some cool pictures - some are signs in the castle that explain a little more about the purpose of some of the rooms.

Tour of the Danube

Budapest 2007-09-02

On Sunday we slept in, and then took a boat tour of the Danube River. Michael had camera duty during the boat tour, and he took some great pictures. After the tour ended we had to collect our things from the hotel and head for the airport. Even though Michael had to work for the first two days, the trip ended up being very fun and relaxing for both of us.

Exploring More of Budapest

2007-09-01.Budapest

After breakfast on Saturday morning we took off down the river in the opposite direction than I had taken the day before. The tour books all said that we should hike, or at least take a tour bus, up Gellért Hill, but after one look at it, we decided we would definitely NOT be hiking up that hill. We thought we could always take a bus later if we wanted to.

So we walked along the river, and then crossed one bridge in order to get a better picture of the church that was built into the side of the mountain. We walked through the park a little ways until we got to the entrance of the cave church and then went in to explore. Outside the entrance to the church there was a beautiful view point. After leaving the church we continued to wander through the park. We came to another great vantage point and took some more pictures.

The next hour or so passed the same way until finally we realized that we had climbed to the very top of the hill we had decided not to climb at all! Once we were at the top we both agreed that it had been worth it. The view was spectacular, and we got a great panorama of the city!

That evening we were both tired by the time we got back to the hotel. We decided to grab dinner in the hotel restaurant and then go to bed early. Unfortunately we weren’t able to go to bed quite as early as we’d hoped. When we got off the elevator to go to our room, the hallway was full of hotel staff with mops, buckets, and towels. Apparently there had been a sprinkler malfunction right in front of our room, so we had to wait a bit before we could go back into our room.

Once we were able to get back into our room we were very happy that the sprinklers had not gone off inside, but we realized that water from the hallway had soaked the carpet in front of the door. The hotel staff realized this as well and tried to offer us a new room, but we were tired, and our stuff wasn’t packed up, so we just decided to stay there. We threw some extra towels onto the floor and just tried to avoid that area. The hotel staff couldn’t understand why we would want to stay – Michael had to spend several minutes on the phone trying to make them understand that we weren’t upset and that we didn’t need another room.

We were finally able to get to bed, but by then we weren’t as tired as we thought. We ended up staying up for hours watching movies on cable. We don’t watch television much, so it was fun for us. It was a fabulous, relaxing day.

Arriving in Budapest

2007-08-31.Budapest

We were able to relax and catch up on laundry the day after we returned from Zurich since it was a bank holiday in London. Then Michael spent the next two days in Lisbon before we left for Budapest on Thursday morning.

It was raining when we arrived at our hotel, so Michael left to go to work, and I just stuck around the hotel that day watching movies and reading. I was worried that it might rain during our whole trip. I worried needlessly, though, as the rest of the weekend was great.

Travel Tip: One thing we realized soon after arriving in Budapest is that, though Hungary is now officially part of the EU, they still use their own currency called the Hungarian Forint. So, unfortunately, the Euro we’d brought with us was useless. Make sure when you’re traveling that you have the right kind of cash – don’t assume anything!

After Michael left for work on Friday, I headed out with the camera. I made my way along the Danube Promenade. The view was great I found a lot of cool things to capture with the camera, such as: The Shoes on the Danube Promenade, a war memorial, Buda Castle, Széchenyi Chain Bridge, and the Hungarian Parliament Building. Then I went to explore Margaret Island before going back to the hotel. I loved watching the music fountain – I could have sat there all day!

Lazy Sunday in Zurich

Zurich - Switzerland

On Sunday morning we slept in, and then took a train to the city after breakfast. We wandered around Zurich – down the river, and up the famous shopping boulevard, Bahnhofstrasse, where we sat on a bench and watched people. It was such a relaxing day.

We finally took the train back to our hotel – the Courtyard Marriot Zurich. It was a great hotel; not far from the city, and only two minutes from the train station. We used points to pay for our two nights there, but it is less expensive than hotels in the city. If we’re in Zurich again, I’m sure we’ll stay there.

We had some time to kill before our flight, so we hung out in the hotel lobby people watching and snacking on pretzels, which we had picked up before we left Zurich.

Eventually we had to leave for the airport. We took the train again – and this time we took it in the right direction!

Travel Tip: If you’re traveling via rail through Europe, then get a Eurail Pass! It was a great experience. It was so easy to get on any train we wanted. It was a very easy way to get around – especially when traveling between countries.

Lake Lucerne and the Swiss Reuss Valley

Lake Luzern - Switzerland

Our wake up call on Saturday morning came at 6am. It was a short night, but the bed was comfortable, and we both rested well. We took breakfast in the hotel, and enjoyed talking with our very chatty waitress, before we took the two minute walk to the nearest train station.

We had stayed the night before planning our day, and trying to figure out which train to take to get to Zurich HB – the main Zurich train depot – where we would catch our train to Lucerne. When we got to the train station, we saw a train with one of the numbers we knew we could take to Zurich, so we hopped on. Once we were moving, though, we realized that we were heading north – away form the city and toward the airport. So, we took a five minute ride to the airport and then had to catch a different train from there to Zurich. At least it was an express train, so the whole detour didn’t cost us more than 15 minutes or so.

The train trip from Zurich to Lucerne was uneventful. Once in Lucerne we had to talk to an agent for the ferry because our reservation vouchers from the London Swiss Travel Center never arrived. The website we had looked at, and the Swiss Travel Center agent I had spoken to weren’t very clear about things. The agent explained that it was too late to make reservations for the William Tell Express train, but we could ride the ferry by just using our rail pass then take any unreserved seat on the train.

The lake cruise was three hours long and was definitely worth it! It was so beautiful, and made for some great photo opps! In Flüelen, our final ferry destination at the south end of Lake Lucernce, we had lunch at a local café. We shared what they called “The Big Plate”. It turned out to be a large wooden platter of local meat, cheese, and veggies. It was fabulous!

Travel Tip: When you’re traveling, don’t be afraid to try to local cuisine. You might be surprised, even if you don’t think you’ll like it.

We had a little time, so we checked out the train schedules. We realized that many of the trains going to Lucarno or Lugano had a panoramic car (panoramowagen in German, which I thought was funny) but the “William Tell Express” had more 1st class cars than the other trains, but it still had just one panoramic car. We had also been under the impression from the website, and the Swiss Travel Center, that there were only two trains each day, but we realized that they had one every hour or so. If it were really busy then it might have been difficult to get a seat on the panoramic car, but we didn’t have nay trouble at all.

The scenery during the train trip was beautiful, but it was difficult to take pictures through the window, so we just sat back and enjoyed the view as we traveled through the Reuss River Valley.

In order to take the train to either Lucarno or Lugano we had to change trains in Bellizona. We were tired, though, after having to get up early, so instead of switching trains just for another 20 minutes or scenery, we decided to catch a train back to Zurich instead. The view was just as spectacular, and we ended up in Zurich an hour earlier than we had originally planned. It was so nice to have a relaxing dinner and have some time to unwind before getting to bed early that night.

Getting to Zurich

We had been standing at the train platform in Füssen for two or three minutes when we heard an announcement over the loud speaker – completely in German – followed by a mass exodus of people from the platform. Michael and I looked at each other in utter confusion. As everyone was rushing away from the platform, we went to the station to get some answers.

We decided to divide and conquer; we stood in different lines, not know which one was moving faster. The attendant inside the station spoke very good English, and I found out from him that the train was not coming. Instead, we would have to take a replacement bus to another station 20 minutes away. I grabbed Michael, and we ran to the bus. Unfortunately, it had taken us so long to figure out what was happening that the bus was completely full. Michael and I tried to squeeze on, but he ended up on the wrong side of the partition – standing right next to the driver.

About that time the driver came onto the bus and said something in German. While Michael and I are still giving each other that clueless look, the man in front of me spoke in German, and then made gestures until I finally realized that he wanted us to move so he could get off the bus. In order to let him off, we both had to get off as well. As we got off we realized that other people were getting off as well. The man from the bus realized we were American and began to speak to us in English (thank goodness, or we might still be standing in that parking lot!). He translated what the bus driver had said – another bus was coming, because there wasn’t enough room on the first bus.

Travel Tip: It’s a good idea to know even a few words in the local language when you’re vacationing in a foreign country. It makes it much easier to get to the right place if you know some basic words for train, plane, airport, bus, north, south, etc. Knowing the words for some of your favorite (of least favorite) foods might mean being able to order something in a restaurant that you’ll actually enjoy eating. Of course, if you don’t know much about the language, then it’s a good idea to stick to the popular tourist locations – you’ll be more likely to find someone who speaks English, and restaurants with English menus.

So we got on the next bus. It was still crowded, but it was better than the first. There was also a large group of Americans traveling together – with one very annoying woman as their self-appointed leader. She was trying to corral everyone and kept announcing (yelling would be more accurate), “We’re going to be on this bus for two hours! Everyone find a seat!” I turned to Michael, who was sitting behind me, and told him that she was mistaken. The station attendant told me that the bus was only taking us to another station up the track – about 20 minutes away. She heard me explaining this and then felt the need to yell this information to the rest of the bus.

Once we were on our way our driver was speaking on a two-way radio, when several other passengers started chuckling at something he said. The nice man from the previous bus was sitting in front of me and was nice enough to translate again. Apparently the other driver didn’t take the right route out of town, and when he told our driver that we was running behind, our driver responded very helpfully by saying, “Well, drive faster!”

As we neared our final destination by bus, our driver took a wrong turn and had to turn around. Just so you know, when you’re on a bus and the driver proceeds to make a K-turn on a highway overpass, it’s a good time to worry. Just as he got us straightened out I heard honking and a collective gasp at the back of the bus. I turned in my seat just in time to see a semi truck that had to pull into the other lane – driving side by side with the bus – in order not to rear-end us. It’s a good thing no there was no traffic from the other direction, so that could have been a catastrophe!

A few minutes later we finally made it to the train. Whew! What a relief! Of course once we were one the train we had to figure out where we were so that we knew when to switch trains. We didn’t know exactly how far up the track we had gone, and we were hoping that we hadn’t already missed our connection. Michael used his cell to look up the rail map on the internet so that we could figure out where to change.

We made it to the right station, and made our connection without any difficulty. The rest of the trip was uneventful – thankfully. We chatted, snacked on our pretzels, and laughed about the bus ride! We arrived at the main train depot in Zurich, and grabbed a quick dinner before finding a taxi to take us to the hotel.

It was a long, but interesting day, but we both enjoyed ourselves. At least the next day was supposed to be a relaxing day, but with our luck you never know…

Füssen, Germany

Fussen - Germany

Oh my goodness! I can not believe that it has been over a month since I blogged! Everyone has probably lost interest by now - except you Steve! Hopefully I’ll get this posted in time for you to have something to read this morning! Thank you all for being patient. It has been one thing after another lately. I barely get a chance to get home and wade through the pictures before there is something else to do. I know that I won’t get caught up before we fly to New York on Friday for Ernie and Jen’s wedding, but I will try to get as much done as possible.

So, without further adieu, the rest of the story…

On Friday morning, our second day in Germany, we slept in and had breakfast in the hotel. It was a fabulous breakfast – great meatballs, homemade yogurt (the cappuccino flavor was my favorite) and cereal, and pretzels! Yum!

We spent the rest of the morning wandering around Füssen, a beautiful, picturesque little town. I used to think that the brightly colored old world “village” scene that you see in pictures or Hummel-like figurines was just a fictitious pseudo world – surely there wasn’t really a place like that – but I was wrong. Walking around in Füssen was like stepping into the pages of a child’s story book.

When we started to get hungry for lunch I wanted to eat pretzels. Michael tried to suggest a sausage stand we saw across the sidewalk. I was disappointed because I’m not a big sausage or bratwurst person (even though everything I’d eaten like that in Germany had been fabulous). So we walked all around the shopping/restaurant area until we finally ended up where we’d started. I was very hungry and getting a little cranky at this point, so I said that we should eat at the sausage place – the same one Michael had suggested in the first place. It’s probably a good time to mention how patient my husband is with me! I’m sure at that point he was ready to throttle me, but instead he bought me a bratwurst, which turned out to be fabulous!

Travel Tip: When you’re in Germany eat pretzels and sausage (and meatballs, bratwurst, etc). They truly know how to make those things taste phenomenal!

After lunch, we sat in a sidewalk café and had ice cream and coffee. Then, we decided to grab a couple of fresh pretzels from a bakery around the corner so that we could have a snack on the train to Zurich. We collected our luggage from the hotel and made our way to the train station. I was sorry to have to leave that wonderful little town, but we had to catch the train to Zurich. It was a great, relaxing day – at least up to this point. The rest of the day was a little crazy, but that’s another story…

Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle - Germany

We flew to Munich last Thursday. We got our Eurail tickets validated and then grabbed a quick lunch of bratwurst and Polish sausage at the train station. Mmmm...they were really yummy.

After lunch we found the train we needed to catch to Fussen. Well, we thought we'd found it anyway. After we started looking at the Eurail schedule book we received with our tickets, we realized that there was a different train that we could take and get there an hour earlier than we were planning. The only problem was that the train was leaving in about 5 minutes and we had no idea what platform it was on. We made a split-second decision to try to make it, and then ran from the train we were on. We glanced at the board as we ran through the station, found our train info, and realized that the platform we needed was on the other side of the station. We made it just in time! Whew! The train wasn't as nice as the one we'd gotten off of, but at least it was direct to Fussen with no changes, and we'd get in a little earlier.

On the train, we were looking at the route we would take the next day on our way to Switzerland. As we looked at the map, we noticed that the most direct route to Zurich took us through Austria. That seemed like a small problem since our Eurail pass was only good in Germany and Switzerland. We checked with the attentant at the station in Fussen and we were able to buy two first class point-to-point tickets to get us through Austria for only €11.50 each. That was much cheaper than it would have been to add Austria to our Eurail pass.

Travel Tip: When you're traveling through Europe via train, make sure that your tickets or Eurail pass is valid for every country that you will be traveling through on your journey. It you're just cutting through a small part of a country, it might be less expensive to get point-to-point supplements instead of adding additional countries to your rail pass.

Since we had arrived in Fussen earlier than we'd planned, we decided to see the Neuschwanstein Castle that day. We checked in to the Hotel Sonne, which was very nice, then took a taxi to the next little town where we could buy the tickets for the castle tour. The castle was really cool. I've been dying to see it in person ever since Billy and Nicole brought us the 3-D puzzle from their honeymoon!

We got some great pictures of the castle and surrounding area, but we weren't allowed to take pictures of the interior. After the tour, we walked a little further up the hill and over to the bridge I had photographed from the castle windows. The view of the castle from the bridge was absolutely amazing!

We walked back down the hill, and just as we were approaching the town, it started to pour. We waited on the porch of a nice hotel, and one of the hotel staff called a cab to take us back to Fussen.

We ate dinner in the hotel that night, and then relaxed in our room for a bit before going to bed. It was a great day, even though we'd been up a long time. I think you'll agree that it was worth it once you see some of the pictures!

Roman Holiday: Day 4 - Piazza del Popolo & Villa Borghese

Roman Holiday: Day 4

On Sunday morning we slept in a bit and then checked out of the hotel after breakfast. We took a leisurely stroll through the Piazza del Popolo, which was just around the corner from our hotel, and then walked up the hill toward the Villa Borghese gardens.

It was a large beautiful park. We enjoyed the scenery – and a lively debate on the virtues and shortcomings of public school vs. home schooling. Kara is a school teacher, and Michael and I are considering home education if we ever have children. Needless to say it was a very interesting discussion.

After leaving the park, we went through a fabulous little museum that contained the notes and sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci and had interactive replicas of his ideas for pulleys, motors, etc. on display. This exhibit will be traveling through the U.S. this year as well.

When we left the museum we decided to get gelato once more before leaving Rome. We sat on the steps of the Santa Maria dei Miracoli and enjoyed watching all the people in the piazza.

Travel Tip: Eat Gelato! There is a reason that no matter where you are in Rome you see a Gelateria on every corner and everyone walking by you with a cone in their hands. It’s heavenly!

We finished our gelato and then wandered around a bit before returning to the hotel to collect our bags and catch our ride to the airport. The hotel call a taxi for us. Well, it wasn’t a traditional taxi – it was a beautiful town car with leather seats. It was a fabulous, relaxing ride, and our driver spoke English very well. We enjoyed talking with him about his upcoming trip to the U.S.

We arrived at the airport and grabbed a bite to eat after checking in. By the way, don’t judge the food in Rome by anything you get at the airport. It was edible, barely, but that’s about all I can say about it.

We boarded our flight and then we were delayed for an hour because we didn’t have clearance to fly over a certain area of our flight plan. They finally got it straightened out and we left the historic, elegant city behind as we traveled back to London.

We were all exhausted by the time we got home. We hiked up the stairs, dropped our bags, and immediately got ready for bed. Michael took Monday off, so we all lazed around the next day.

Overall it was a fabulous vacation. Busy, and exhausting, but we saw and learned so much. I’m so happy to have had the experience, and I’m also thrilled that Kara was able to share it with us. I hope that it will be a trip that none of us will easily forget.

Roman Holiday: Day 3 - Ancient Rome

Roman Holiday: Ancient Rome

After leaving the Colosseum we walked toward the Roman Forum. The area is still being excavated, but there is a great deal to see. It’s so hard to believe that, around 2000 years ago, the people of Rome lived in the middle of a thriving city, with huge buildings.

Augustus Ceasar (known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus) was the first and one of the most important of the Roman Emperors. During his reign he built many of the buildings in what is now ancient Rome. He marked the beginning of a long period of stability which became known as the Pax Romana, which means Roman peace. The Romans welcomed this time of peace in the Roman Empire. There had been a number of conflicts within Rome and within its territories; the Roman people were ready for a time of peace.

Many Romans lived in large cities and at the heart of each city was a forum. A forum was a large open area, used as a market and a public meeting place. Because the only wealthy people had cooking areas in their homes, most people went to the forum to eat their meals. People could buy cooked food from stands in the forum. Temples for worshipping gods and the current emperor were also built in the forum.

Public entertainment was another important aspect of city life. Amphitheaters, such as the Colosseum, and circuses (long race tracks), were built to hold public sporting events. A circus was used for chariot racing. Ttwo or four teams (riders, chariots, and horses) would compete by racing seven times around a long, narrow track which had turning points at each end. Each chariot was pulled on average by four horses that ran side by side. This was a very dangerous sport--men and horses were often killed when chariots crashed. The teams were named after colors; there were the reds, whites, blues, and greens. The people in Ancient Rome supported their favorite charioteers just as we cheer our favorite sports team today.

Many Romans also enjoyed going to public bathhouses. Public bathhouses were places were people went to not only wash their bodies, but to also exercise and socialize. Instead of soap, Romans used olive oil to clean their skin. They rubbed the oil onto their bodies and scraped the oil and the dirt off with a curved metal tool called a strigil (STREE-gil). Some people did this three times a day! I suppose they needed to bathe that frequently after walking up and down all those hills in the middle of summer. Whew! That would have to be hot! The bathhouses had many different rooms with hot or warm water baths, cold water baths, and swimming pools for exercise and entertainment.

The Romans had developed structures called aqueducts to bring water from rivers and lakes into Roman cities. An aqueduct is a channel for carrying water on a bridge across a valley or underground in pipes. It was extremely important to provide a supply of water to the towns, not just for drinking, but to provide water for bathhouses.

We finished exploring the ruins and decided to find a place for lunch. By this time we didn’t care where. We had finished all of our water and any energy from our morning meal was long gone. We stopped at the first place we came to. Definitely not our best meal in Rome, but it was food (and water and Coca-Cola – which probably cost more than our food) so we were happy.

Travel Tip: Drink lots of water! You’ll know that it’s warm, but you don’t really think about how much you’re sweating. You can get dehydrated in a hurry if you’re not careful. It might also be a good idea to carry a small snack with you – a granola bar or piece of fruit would be great. You never know how long you might be out, have to wait in line, or search for a restaurant.

After lunch we felt revived and set off for the Monument of Victor Emmanuel II. This monument has two large fountains on either side of the grand stair case, and also houses the tomb of an unknown soldier complete with eternal flame. Kara took a few minutes to cool her heels in the fountain. We even convinced her to get more than her feet a little wet, although I think she was a little surprised at how cool the water really was!

On our way back to the Metro, we passed the through Trajan’s Forum, which was the last of the great imperial forums of Rome, and Trajan’s Market, much of which is still part of a major archeological excavation. It was quite a sight. I found it interesting to look at different areas and try to imagine what took place there.

We took the Metro to the Spanish Steps. Unfortunately there aren’t any great pictures of this since the front exterior of the building is currently being renovated. I did take get a few great pictures of one of the bell towers, and of Kara with her feet in the fountain again. She was actually waiting on us when we found her there. It’s probably a good thing we came when we did too! Just after she finished putting her shoes on a policeman came over and shouted at everyone around the fountain to move and take their feet out! Oops! I guess they need signs – or maybe we should learn to read Italian?

We stopped for gelato, which was way good, then had a leisurely walk back to the hotel. We napped for a couple of hours and then had dinner close to the hotel. We loved our waitress. She was very nice, gave us just enough attention and spoke English well. We tipped her handsomely when we finished our meal.

It was a good thing that the hotel was just a few steps away. I don’t think any of us were up for walking any more. After three days we were all getting tired. Even after a nap before dinner, all I could think of was a warm bath and a nice bed! And it was heaven. I will tell you that if you’re having trouble sleeping, try walking around Rome – about 10 miles or so a day – for three days in a row. I assure you that it will do the trick!

Roman Holiday: Day 3 - The Colosseum

Coloseum

On Saturday morning, after eating breakfast and purchasing our Metro tickets, we went to the Colosseum. It was early in the day, so the line wasn’t very long when we got there. I found a great spot in line – most people were standing in a single file line and there were 5 tills open, so I went with several other people to stand in a shorter line. After they were sure that I wasn’t going to be attacked by other tourist for “cutting” in line, Michael and Kara joined me.

Travel Tip: At the time of this writing, the Colosseum does not accept any payment other than cash, so make sure that you have enough on hand to cover your entrance fee (€11 when we were there). When you’re like us and depend mostly on credit cards while on vacation, it can really put a dent in your pocket book if you haven’t brought enough cash along for your trip. You might be able to use credit to purchase your tickets online, or purchase the Rome Pass which includes the Colosseum.

Once inside, we all enjoyed the vast sight before us! We took tons of pictures, but they don’t even begin to show what it was like to really be there. In ancient Roman times, the Colosseum housed gladiator fights. These were flights where men would against another gladiator or an animal. Gladiators were usually slaves who were owned by masters or criminals. The contests lasted until one gladiator was killed or badly wounded; the wounded man threw away his weapons and begged for mercy from the crowd and the emperor.

The crowd would shout out its verdict, but the final decision was left up to the emperor. If the gladiator had fought well, the emperor could spare his life by giving the "thumbs-up" sign; if the gladiator had not fought well, the emperor would give the thumbs-down sign and the winner would kill the losing gladiator. If the gladiator won, he would sometimes win his freedom.

We took our time exploring – and listening to some of the other tourists’ impressions. There was a group of 3 or 4 American high school students standing around us at one particular lookout point. We were cracking up by the time they left, and then they became the brunt of our jokes for the remainder of our trip. This might sounds cruel of us, but after you read their conversation, I think you’ll understand.

First Girl: “Wow, this is so…epic!”
Guy: “Yeah, it’s really tight, you know?”
Second Girl: “It’s just so dope, man!”

Now do you understand?!? It was hilarious! I must be getting old. I thought of all the words we used in school and how cool we thought we were way back when. Believe it or not, Mom and Dad, I shook my head and laughed. How funny you must have thought we were!

Roman Holiday: Day 2 - Exploring Rome

Roman Holiday: Day 2 - Exploring Rome

After leaving the Sistine Chapel we began making our way back to the hotel. We stopped at a local pizzeria for a fabulous lunch. As we were sitting down at the table the couple next to us began giggling at something we had said or done. Oh well, we were obviously tourist – what do you expect? The pizza was great. I even ate the bruschetta with tomatoes! It was fabulous!

After a brief rest at the hotel we headed back toward the river. Kara – who loves water – had suggested a river cruise. So, we signed up and set out. It wasn’t really one of Kara’s better ideas! We gave her grief about it for the rest of our trip, but she knows we love her! The walls along the Tiber River are built so high that when you’re on the river there is really nothing to see. Well, nothing except graffiti and more homeless people than you can imagine. I think the most interesting and unusual (at least to us) thing we saw was the advertisement for gay dolls that we saw at the boat pier. I had to take a picture! Homosexuality is definitely more widely accepted in Europe than in the U.S.

Once the tour was finished (and most of us had taken a short nap) we wandered through the streets of Rome. We came to the Piazza Navona and as soon as we emerged from the alley into the piazza it took my breath away! There were artists everywhere! I could have stayed there all day looking at paintings and watching people.

Michael and I had already decided that we wanted to buy a painting to remind us of our trip. We looked for some time for that extra special something and we finally found the perfect one. Well, two actually, but they were small and will look great framed to match! We also bought two paintings while we were in Paris. I hope Michele is planning to be very busy framing all of these for us once we get back!

After great shopping, pictures, and people watching we finally left the piazza. On our way toward the Trevi Fountain, we stopped at the Pantheon. Michael and I were a little disappointed that even this ancient building has been taken over by the church. The Pantheon is located in the Piazza della Rotunda. It was built around 25 B.C. as a Roman temple. Pantheon is a Greek word which means, “to honor all Gods”. Much of the building was destroyed by fire in 80 A.D. and had to be rebuilt.

The interior of the building was interesting. It contains the tombs of several Italian Kings. It was built so that the distance from the floor to the top of the dome is exactly equal to the diameter of the room. There is a large round hole in the ceiling which was meant to allow natural light into the room. The building was turned over to the Pope in 609 who turned it into the Chiesa di Santa Maria ad Martyres. They still hold masses here on special occasions.

The Piazza della Rotunda where the Pantheon is located is a lively place filled with bars, cafes, and restaurants. We saw a lot of street vendors selling their wares. Of course they disappeared in less than 30 seconds when their lookout spotted a police officer. I’ve never seen people move so fast in my life!

Next we saw the Trevi Fountain. It is the most famous and romantic fountain in all of Rome. It was beautiful. There were so many people around that it was difficult to take a great picture because I had to stand so close, but I still think you’ll get the idea that it was lovely! We found a human statue near the fountain that was quite good – Kara tossed a little money his way and was rewarded with a great photo opportunity!

We stopped at a charming outdoor restaurant for dinner on our way back to the hotel. It was my favorite meal during our trip. I don’t even remember the name of it. I only know that it was at the end of the long open area called the Piazza del Parlamento. It’s a little off the main road and made for a peaceful, relaxing dinner.

Travel Tip: If you think you like American coffee, then do not under any circumstances order coffee while in Rome. You will be sadly disappointed to be given the equivalent of mud to drink. You’re much better off to ask for a latte or even espresso. Be willing to try it! The espresso I had after dinner was flavorful and smooth – not bitter at all.

After dinner we continued our leisurely walk back to the hotel. After a full and busy day, we decided to sleep a little later the next day before meeting for breakfast. We knew that we would need our rest before tackling the Colosseum and ancient Rome on Saturday.

Roman Holiday: Day 2 – The Sistine Chapel

Vatican Museum

We were up early on Friday morning so that we could get to the Sistine Chapel before the crowd. After breakfast we went to the Metro Station and bought a daily ticket for each of us. We didn’t attempt to figure out the bus system in the short period of time we had, but the Metro saved us a lot of time.

Travel Tip: Ride the Metro! It is so inexpensive to get a day pass that is good for the local Rome transportation system including the Metro and buses. You’ll save yourself so much time and, most importantly, energy!

Our early start apparently wasn’t early enough, unfortunately. By the time we arrived to the Vatican City, the line for the museum and Sistine Chapel stretched from the entrance on the north wall, around the northeast corner and down the east side of the city. We were about to lose hope when we heard the phrase “two hour wait” – and it was still an hour before the museum opened. We had seen several tour company guides advertising tour groups. Michael and I aren’t usually much on tours, so we had ignored them for the most part. It was Kara who decided to approach them and get more info. That was the most brilliant decision ever (and preemptively made up for the major error in her judgment that I’ll get to later)!

She discovered that for a little more money we could join the tour group that was forming and skip the entire line. We had a lot to see and do while we were in Rome, so the thought of saving three hours of our day made the extra bit of money seem more than reasonable.

We enjoyed the tour, well, for the most part anyway. About 10 minutes into the 3-hour tour, Kara’s headset stopped working. Michael was good enough to give his headset to her so that she could hear what the guide was saying. I think Michael enjoyed the tour better without listening to the guide anyway. Kara and I shared funny or interesting tidbits with him as we went along.

We saw several interesting things in the museum before arriving at the Sistine Chapel. One of the most interesting things was the painting on the ceiling that was made to look like carving or molding.

We learned a lot about Michelangelo and the hidden meanings in his paintings. I don’t even know where to begin! He was fascinated by the human form. At an early age he was allowed to assist in the dissection of male human corpses. He was not allowed to dissect females. Many experts believe this to be the reason that many of Michelangelo’s female sculptures had feminine faces, but masculine bodies.

He (nor anyone else) was allowed to dissect the heart or the brain – where the soul was believed to reside. It is interesting, then, that in the Creation of Adam painting in the Sistine Chapel, The cloud around God is the very image of the brain, and also a human heart turned on its side.

This image is also very controversial for many other reasons. One glaring oddity is the woman wrapped up in the left arm of God. Many scholars claim that it is Eve – mainly because it would be scandalous to think that God was with a beautiful woman in heaven!

It seems that Michelangelo was pretty much ordered by the Pope to paint the Sistine Chapel. Apparently he and the Pope didn’t really get along, and fought frequently. Michelangelo was quite a cheeky fellow, and so exacted his revenge on the Pope through subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) means via his paintings. After one fight, Michelangelo was especially angry. He painted a blatant naked ass on the robe of an angel flying away from God. The Pope was furious! He fired Michelangelo and ordered the entire work to be destroyed. So, the removal of the paintings began. Then, one day shortly after Michelangelo had left, the Pope walked into the Chapel that was now free of the scaffolding and painter’s cloths. He realized immediately upon seeing the masterpiece on the ceiling that he had made a terrible mistake. He stopped the removal of the painting at once. He begged Michelangelo to return and finish. It took the Pope several years to convince him to return. Michelangelo repaired the portion of the ceiling that had been scraped away, but the section was weakened. This section fell during a bombing of Rome and is still missing today.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of the interesting facts we learned, but I won’t bore you. If you're interested, I’m sure that you’ll follow the links above, or do your own research. The rest of Friday was fabulous as well, but it’s getting late, so I’ll have to save it for another blog.

Roman Holiday: Day 1 - The Vatican City

Roman Holiday: Part 1

We left for our trip to Rome early last Thursday morning. Out taxi arrived promptly at 5am, and we lugged all of our baggage down three flights of stairs. The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Rome about 10:30. We took a cab to the hotel. The driver was certainly aggressive. The traffic was horrible and in order to make any progress at all he would create lanes between other cars where no lane really existed. I think Kara was a little scared for a while, but we finally arrived without a scratch.

The hotel was nice. Most of the staff spoke English, so we had no trouble communicating. The location was fabulous – pretty much right in the middle of everything we wanted to see. It was also right across the street from a Gelateria (Ice Cream Shop). Yay! Easy access to ice cream!

After lunch at the hotel we headed for the Vatican City, hoping to see the Sistine Chapel. When we arrived, we stood in a long line just to get through security. We kept seeing signs that said no tank tops, but when we looked at everyone else in line, we thought they just must not be enforcing that rule. That was the hope anyway, as Kara was wearing a sleeveless shirt. Just before we ascended the stairs to enter St. Peter’s Basilica two guards stopped us and told us that Kara couldn’t enter. We looked at the people entering ahead of us, and all these women had whipped scarves and wraps out of their bags to cover their shoulders

We tried to figure out what to do. We weren’t going to go in without Kara. Then I remembered that I had a small towel in my bag – wrapped around the extra lens for protection on the plane. I took it out, but it was much too small to cover her shoulders. I wasn’t having any success trying to rip it, so Kara used the corner of a credit card to start a tear and Michael finished ripping it apart. We took each half and tucked it under her shirt to cover her shoulders. Success! The guards told us we could enter. They even smiled at our ingenuity. They weren’t so happy when I tried to take a picture of Kara in that get up. I think they felt we were making fun of the church, but we just thought she looked funny in her makeshift sleeves.

Travel Tip: If you’re planning to visit any part of the Vatican City while in Rome, make sure that you have something to cover your shoulders and knees. Many vendors sell wraps and scarves, and also paper pants for anyone wearing shorts.

We entered the Basilica and walked toward the line for the Cupola. We couldn’t find any signs directing us to the Sistine Chapel. While we waited in line to go up into the Cupola we chatted with a very nice American couple that had been to Rome before. We learned that we had to enter the Vatican City a different way to get to the Sistine Chapel, but it closed at 3pm. We were too late for that day, but we decided to stay and finish exploring the Basilica.

We purchased tickets and rode the elevator up to the Cupola. After seeing the beautiful view at the base of the Cupola, we decided to climb the remaining 320 stairs to the top. That’s really a lot more stairs than you think. It might have been better except the walls were sloped in, so you had to angle you body away from the walls. It was awkward to say the least. We finally made it to the top. I was worried about Kara because she’d had to stop to rest before reaching the top, but she finally made it after resting and a very nice person offering her some water. The view from the top was beautiful. We had a great bird’s eye view of Rome. It was breathtaking!

After taking a lot of pictures, we decided to call it a day. We left the Vatican City and walked along the Tiber River back toward our hotel. Along the way we came across the most unusual statue. It was a female figure wearing a beautiful dress. She was completely surrounded by a red transparent box. It was quite a striking blend of simplicity, drama, and elegance. The building turned out to be the Valentino Fashion Museum. It was closed for the day, but we enjoyed seeing the beautiful dresses in the windows as we walked by.

We took a brief rest at the hotel before heading out for dinner. We ended up in this nice little restaurant – Italian food of course.

Travel Tip: If you’re not fluent, or at least semi-fluent, in the native language, don’t try to order dinner in anything except English!

While we were eating, a group of seven Americans were seated not far from us. We believe that the younger couple – probably in their early 20’s – was either engaged or at least very close because this girl had been invited along on a family vacation. Apparently she had been learning Italian and felt this more fully qualified her to order dinner for everyone. The waiter came and she began, having to ask one of the family members who did know some Italian how to say different word. Needless to say, she completely butchered the language – more than half of what she said to the Waiter was in English. When she finally realized that the waiter spoke English, she was a little embarrassed, but still seemed pleased with her self. It was hilarious!

On the way back to the hotel, a flower vendor tried to sell us flowers. Of course, first he says he’ll give them to you, and then once you take them he follows you around begging for “just a few coins.”

Travel Tip: Guys, when a flower vendor approaches your wife or girlfriend and you’re playing the romantic – buy the flowers from him before he offers so that you can give your girl a rose. Otherwise he’ll shove it into her hand telling her how beautiful she is and then follow you around begging for money. If you don’t cough up, he’ll take his flowers back. This is a very frequent occurrence so ladies, you need to learn to just tuck your hands away and not take the offered flower every time because otherwise you’ll end up with a hundred of them, a shrinking pocket book, and not even a vase to put them in!

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and crashed for the night. We had only been at it for a half day and we were exhausted. We knew that we would need more sleep before tackling the Sistine Chapel and other sites we wanted to see on Friday. I can't wait to tell you all about it tomorrow!

Roman Holiday

We made it back safely from Rome. I’m sure that everyone is anxious to hear all about our trip, so I wanted to get some information up on the blog. There are so many things that I want to talk about! I’m not going to write everything in one blog – that way you don’t have to wait weeks for me to finish it all. Kara is here until Saturday afternoon, and Rachell and Jeff arrive that same day, so as you can imagine, I’ll be quite busy over the next couple of weeks. I’ll just write when I can and give it to you in smaller installments. I’ll do the pictures that way too. We took over 1700 pictures over the 4 days we spent in Rome, so there is a lot of work ahead of me just to find the best ones for the web album!

When Kara was making plans to come over, she mentioned that she would like to visit a place other than London while she was in Europe. She mentioned southern Europe or the Mediterranean, so we decided on Rome. Michael took 2 days off work so we could have a long weekend to see everything we wanted to see.

Travel tip: Wear tennis shoes! We averaged 10 – 15 miles each day while in Rome. My feet are still sore!

Without keeping you in suspense for too long, I will tell you that we had a great, if exhausting, time. We all enjoyed some things more than others, but overall it was a great vacation. I can’t wait to tell you all about it!