Italy

It is really hard to narrow down 1000 pictures. But, I chose a few to show you what we saw on our wonderful trip.

ROME:
We started the trip in Rome. This was a really neat city filled with so much church history. I wish we could have taken field trips to Rome while we were in high school. I think I would have enjoyed history so much more.

This is the colosseum where the emperors would pay for all the citizens of Rome to come and watch the gladiators and animals fight. This was mainly propaganda to make the citizens like them. It was so elaborate. It is interesting to think of such ancient civilizations living so extravigantly. Before it was finished being built they even flooded it to have naval games in the arena. Pretty cool huh? It is also sad to think of all the Christians that were made to fight in these games. But, many of the gladiators chose to fight just for fame. They were like modern day football players. It is all ruined because the church took all the marble and bronze to build the Vatican after it wasn't being used anymore.



Here is the Trevi Fountain. Rome is full of fountains. Everywhere you go there is another square with an elaborate fountain in it. There is fresh water everywhere in the city to fill up your water bottles. The Romans built the aquaducts to bring the water into the city and it is still flowing to this day. It was really cold and good water.


The Vatican- We went on a tour through the Vatican museums and ended in St. Peter's Basilica and Square. It is interesting that Peter didn't even want to be crucified the same way as Jesus was and now they have built a gigantic (our Statue of Liberty would fit inside of the dome) basilica in his name. hhmmm???? It was beautiful. But, it makes you realize the corruption of the church.


PISA:
After we finished in Rome, we rented a car and headed north. On our way to our next destination we stopped in Pisa for some lunch and to see the famous leaning tower. Andrew wanted to climb it,but you had to get tickets in advance. Plus it looked pretty precarious. I am not sure how it is standing after all this time. The tower is pretty much all there is to see in Pisa. So, we headed on.



CINQUE TERRE:
The name means "5 Towns". We stayed in Monterosso which is behind us in the picture below. We drove over several mountains to get here. But, it was worth it. It was a gorgeous town along the Meditteranean Sea. We took a train to the other 4 cities as well. They are really cute towns full of colorful homes climbing up the sides of mountains. We also found the convent that cappuchino got its name from. I think it was named after the monks robes because they had a cream color on the top of their hats.


SAN GIMIGNANO:
After our time along the coast we headed in towards Tuscany. This is the view from Andrew's parents' hotel room. It was just beautiful.

San Gimignano was an old medieval town that was pretty much ruined because of the plague. So, hopefully there weren't any strains of the plague still hanging around. Someone in Italy described it as a Mini Medieval Manhattan because it has many high towers. And of course Andrew wanted to climb a tower. I am not sure why he wanted to climb every tower that he saw. It really wasn't tempting to me.

FLORENCE:

We drove on to Florence where we saw the Uffizi Museum full of ancient and famous artwork.

We stayed near the Old Bridge which is full of jewelry shops.

And of course there is Michelangelo's "The David". This is a replica of the statue. We saw the real statue as well. It is in a museum where you can't take pictures. But, of course everybody still takes them while the guards yell, "no foto, no foto!"

Even though McDonald's is everywhere in Italy, we had it for the first time in Florence. You know that a little American food was needed if even Andrew's mom can get this excited about McDonald's.

On our way to Venice we stopped in Ferrarra for lunch. There wasn't much in this town except a castle with a moat and a church. So, here is a picture of our rental car that took us all over Italy.

VENICE:

Our last destination. Venice is truly a unique city. It was beautiful. There really are no cars anywhere. In fact, we almost got ran over at the airport because we got used not having to pay attention to any cars. We saw fire boats, mail boats, police boats, DHL boats, trash boats, any kind of boat you could think of.

We went to the famous St. Mark's Square where all the pigeons are. I didn't really care for the pigeons. They were kind of grose. But, this little boy seemed to enjoy them.

We also went to Murano which is the major glassblowing island near Venice. So, Andrew got to see the big factories there and some really cool glass pieces.

We never really rode in a gondola. They were really expensive and they looked really hot out in the sun. But, we found a boat that looked like a gondola but it was called a Treghetta and it only cost 50 cents. They would take you across the Grand Canal if there wasn't a bridge too nearby. So, I guess in a way we got our gondola ride in.

This is in the back of our water taxi on the way to the airport. We got stuck in a little traffic jam on the way. A big lumber boat was taking up a whole canal along with a trash boat and other boats. It was like being back in DC. :) We also saw the Alps on the way to the airport. They were covered in snow. It was really beautiful.

We had a great time in Italy. I think everyone should go. There is so much to see and learn that just can't be put in a short blog. So, thank you Paul and Marg for such a wonderful trip!