It's Not the Paris Metro...

What a day. What a day.

Let me just first say that we are ready to come home! We miss lots of things about the good-ole USA and are looking forward to getting back to them. But we know we must make the most of our time here, so here is Rome…

We didn't get into town until kind of late. After a 40-minute bus ride, 30-minute train ride, 2-hour regional train ride, 15 minutes on the metro, and 15 minutes on the bus again- plus all the waiting in between- it was a long day of travel! Whew! And let me just say that the undergrond Metro here in Rome is dirty and not nearly as organized as Paris. The Paris Metro was like a well-oiled machine, and we loved it. With that said... So we hit the town around 5pm, making it with the perfect amount of time to see the Colosseum…

What an amazing place! But not as big as you'd think it is (hey, it's Cameron adding some commentary to Wendi's post--I thought it was pretty dang big), well at least not what I imagined from watching Gladiator last night. But still very very cool.

We did the audio-tour and learned some fascinating stuff. We walked all around the top floor, and around the outer rim of the lower level.

I will mention that it was raining the ENTIRE time, definitely puts a damper on things when you're freezing and wet.

But things turned around when we got lost looking for the Trevi Fountain and ended up at the Spanish Steps. Yep they turned around because right next to the Spanish Steps are all the name-brand stores! So I felt much better.

We walked the streets with the hundreds of other tourists and ended up at our real destination, the Trevi Fountain. For some reason, Cameron and I both thought it was a circular fountain that you could walk around. Shows you how much we know, but it was so beautiful!

So we both took some change from our pocket and threw it over our shoulder. They say if you do that then you are sure to return to Rome again someday.

We had dinner at a lovely little restaurant just up the street from the fountain, another 3 course meal with some delicious gelato for dessert. I can't say we'll miss the pizza when we get home. I can't even count how many times I've had it since we've been here!

We walked around a bit more, and made our way back to our hostel. Yes. ANOTHER hostel. But at least this time we aren't sharing a room with anyone, just a bathroom down the hall. For only 42 Euros a night, it's all we could afford at the end of our trip. But the name of the hostel is the best part. Peter Pan Hostel. Seriously? We have no clue what prompted them to name it that, but there are totally paintings of Peter and the Lost Boys on the walls in this building. Weird.

Tomorrow is our last day! It will be fun but I'm excited to come home. We miss our kids, and our car, and food with protein, and ice, and much much more.

Goodnight!

-Wendi

The Amalfi Coast

South of Naples is a small peninsula with some cool small towns. We are in an area known as the Amalfi Coast on the southern part of that peninsula. These towns have been built into the side of the mountains and are connected by crazy switch-back roads. Our hotel is up in top of the mountains in a small town called Agerola. The buses connect all of these towns pretty well, so we have been using them as our main source of transportation.

Amalfi

So why are we here? A buddy of mine sat down next to me in Elders Quorum the week before we left and started talking to me about Italy. He said that we should try to make it to the Amalfi Coast because it was the most beautiful place on earth--you almost have to check a place out if someone makes such a claim. We had a few extra days so we figured we'd give it a shot, and we are so glad we did. The weather has been perfect and the sights have been even better. Every other place we've visited has been overcast for most of the day, but here it was sunny all day long. We first arrived at our hotel yesterday in the evening (it took us 6 hours to get here from Florence). The Hotel is very nice and quiet, but has no wifi--bummer. So I'm writing this on my computer and I'll post it when we get to Rome.

Riding on the bus here is quite an experience. The roads are tiny and the turns are 180 degree turns, so the drivers are pros. They can squeeze into the craziest places with such accuracy and speed--not so good for the motion sickness though, we usually had to walk around for an hour before we could get on another bus. Just to give you some perspective, we easily descended 2,000 feet when driving from our hotel to the coast, but our hotel is only 1/2 mile from the coast as the crow flies--hence the mad switch-backs all the way down.

The drive was worth it though, the coastal towns are beautiful. We spent our first evening exploring Amalfi, but the real fun started today. We first made our way back down to Amalfi (where the bus hub is) and decided to take a ferry ride over to the next town, Positano.

Us on the ferry

Amalfi from the ferry

We loved Positano the most, you can see why

There was a beach, but due to poor foresight on our part we didn't bring along our swimsuits, nor did we wear shorts, instead they sat in our bags never to be worn. So sad, the one day we could actually wear shorts and we didn't. So we rolled up our jeans, took off our shoes and walked down the shoreline. The sand was a little rocky and the water a little cold, but I still would have laid out and swam. And(drum roll please), we ran into some topless european sunbathers. Our experience is now complete. I told Wendi to join them, but she did't go for it.

Wendi's favorite fountain in Amalfi

In Positano we saw quite a few artists painting the small town and coastline. Wendi wants to decorate out bathroom with a Mediterranean theme now, we seriously should have bought a painting, they were so cool. What a beautiful place.

From there we took a bus up and over the mountain to Sorrento. It was a long ride, but we both fell asleep, so that was nice. Sorrento is a port of call town for a few cruise ships, so there were lots of tourists around. It had some cool shopping streets, but nothing to see other than that. We had toyed around with the idea of renting a scooter to go and see more of the peninsula, but by the time we found a place with a decent price it was too late in the day--oh well.

We finished the night with 2 pizzas and 2 Fantas from the local pizza place. It's actually pretty cool, they make it right in front of you and cook it in a ceramic-type oven with a log fire inside. I seriously didn't even know what I was ordering, I saw some kind of cheese and some olives plus something else and I figured it would be good. Turns out that the other thing was artichokes, but I enjoyed my authentic italian pizza. We went back to our hotel and watched Gladiator--in preparation for Rome--while we ate.

Tomorrow is Rome, our last stop. I can't lie, we are excited that we are going to be coming home soon. We really will need a vacation from our vacation, but not before seeing Rome!

Safe and sound

We made it safe to our hotel on the Amalfi Coast, but no internet (we are at an internet cafe right now) so no real blog entry tonight or tomorrow. We will catch you up when we are in Rome!

We walked and walked and walked...

We actually DID wake up to our alarm this morning - hooray!

First things first... shower. Except after letting the water fun for more than 10 minutes, we discovered there was no hot water. Ugh. So we used the sink that's in our room to the best of our ability, but still with freezing cold water. We were out the door earlier than we thought (didn't actually know what time it was due to the lack of a watch still), and took our time strolling the early morning streets of Florence before our reservations at 9:30am. It was fun to see the hustle and bustle of people off to open their little shops, and smell the alluring aroma of fresh pastries in the bakeries.

We still arrived early at our reservation at the Galeria delgi Uffizi, but thankfully they let us in anyways. This place was huge. The building itself housed govenment officials back in the day, and the third floor of the gallery was/is home to an enormous collection of artwork that was owned by the Medici Family. I believe that there are over 3200 paintings and 1500 statues in the entire collection. The Medici Family ended up giving their Collection to the city on only one condition: that it never leave the city of Florence. So here it stays.

This was another place where cameras were not allowed. But the security wasn't too strong, so Cameron snapped away where he could. (I was always on the other side of the room when he took the photos, so he could take all the heat if he got in trouble.)

To me, the ceiling was the most amazing part of the whole gallery. I just wanted to lay down on the ground and stare (but we've been told that just isn't allowed). The ENTIRE ceiling was covered with artwork, not one part the same as another.

This is a Michelangelo.

Museum Fatigue...

Afterwards we headed out to cross the famous bridge, Ponte Vecchio.

It's very cool because the bridge is lined with jewelry stores. The kind of jewelry stores we couldn't even afford to go in. But very cool to look through the window.

I saw a lot of "some day" jewelry.

Then it was over to the Piazzale Michelangeolo for a panorama of the city center.

We climbed a lot of these...

A very beautiful climb.

And climbed more of these...

To get to this...

Such a view!

At the top was a replica of "David"...

And this guy playing the most beautiful music on his electric guitar,

but he was playing it like a piano. Very interesting!

The walk/hike over took quite a long time, so we hopped on a bus for the way back down.

We grabbed some lunch and walked and walked and walked some more. Mostly just admiring the beauty of the Renaissance time period, and me throughly enjoying all the "window" shopping. You know, Florence is known for it's leather goods and it's shoes! So you can imagine how much I really do enjoy it.

We came back to the hotel and took like a 2 hour nap - best nap of my life I swear.

Had a delicious 4 course meal for dinner:

Appetizer - Bruschietta

1st Course - Some kind of pasta with meat sauce

2nd Course - I had balsamic chicken with salad, Cameron had a pork steak with lemon

Lots of bread with oil/bals. vineger

Dessert - We decided to upgrade from regular Gelati to this...

So there's our seriously long day.

We leave tomorrow and head south for the Amalfi Coast.

Until then...

-Wendi

Florence

So last night we watched the Count of Monte Cristo--great show. We weren't really sleepy after our day in Venice, so we stayed up way past our bedtime to watch the movie. I set our alarm for the morning, but I must have been half asleep because it didn't work, so we slept in. We had intended on walking around Venice in the morning, but instead we just headed to Florence.

Wendi and I are very funny. We planned this trip so that we had a rough outline of where we would go but could make spontaneous decisions about how long to stay. We wanted a good mix of quantity and quality, but you can't have that without a few regrets along the way. "Oh if we had another night in Paris," was last week's regret. Now this week it will be Venice. Such wonderful places that will hold a special place in our hearts for the rest of our lives--what an amazing experience.

We don't miss Venice because we don't like Florence, on the contrary. We love Florence! This renaissance city is still alive with what I imagine to be the renaissance spirit. Street merchants line many of the streets with their canvas covered tops and try to entice you towards their goods. They have everything from fine leather purses, wallets, and coats to magnets and cheesy, copyright infringement (no doubt) Simpson's shirts. Gelato (Italian ice cream) shops are on every corner, as are pizzerias, and the streets are made of cobblestone.

It has a very different feel than Venice. I didn't think much of it, but I didn't see one car (or scooter) the entire time we were there. We were walking down a side street (in Venice) and saw this guy running down an adjacent street hauling a little carriage carrying an old man. At first I thought it was some kind of makeshift human taxi, but Wendi pointed out that the man was wearing a paramedic outfit and another paramedic was jogging about 10 seconds behind. Cars are so convenient.

But we left Venice, so let's talk more about Florence. Our little hotel is very nice, up on the third floor. We are very close to the city center where all the sights are, so we don't have to use buses--yay! One of the huge tourist attractions here is Michelangelo's David. I had seen pictures of it but never thought much about it. I would have to say that it is the most amazing piece of art I have ever seen. The Mona Lisa was cool, at the Louvre, but this statue was astounding. It stands probably about 15 feet tall and was carved from a single block of marble, and it took Michelangelo almost 3 years to complete. When we walked into the museum room containing David my jaw literally dropped. The detail is so fine and I can't even write it in words. There was a description in front of the statue and an art critic was quoted saying that you would never need to see any other statue for the rest of your life because David is so perfect--or something like that. Wow. We weren't allowed to take pictures for whatever reason, and they had these guards everywhere yelling at anyone who had a camera out in the open. So, needless to say, I am very proud of this picture:

We also went into Florence's Duomo. Milan also has a Duomo, but it looks completely different. Florence's Duomo is much less flashy inside with the architecture. Inside it is very plain, resembling it's renaissance surroundings, but outside it is made of marble with a red tiled dome. It's really big too--the biggest of any cathedral church we've been in so far. It's nearly impossible to get a good photo of it when you're standing in the piazza because it's just so big. Tomorrow we are heading to a panorama viewpoint on a large hill overlooking the city, we should be able to get a good photo then.

The Florence Duomo

Inside the Dome

Inside the Duomo

Outside the Duomo

The Duomo from a side street

It started to rain midway through the afternoon. It was a bummer at first because we got soaking wet, but it turned beautiful when the rain let up. The sunset shined across the buildings and the Duomo, the cobblestone streets glistened and showed a slight reflection of the spectacular scene--it truly was beautiful.

As it got dark and everything started to close we decided that we needed to get some laundry done. The weather hasn't really been like what we thought. I only brought one pair of pants, but that's all I've worn since we got here. We did a load in Paris, so I was due for another. It was kinda fun. We brought down my laptop to laundromat and watched Mission Impossible (the first one) while we waited--and as soon as I'm done with this post we will finish.

We ate in random places, had gelato in random places, and tomorrow we'll do it all again and more.

Mmmmore, Gelato

-Cameron

Venice...

So we decided to come to Venice! And boy are we glad we did! Venice is AMAZING! We have loved every second of it and can't wait to come back again someday. We're making this a quick trip here so we can spend a little more time in Florence. We've heard there is a lot do to in Florence.

So we arrived into the San Lucia Train Station here in Venice a little after 2pm. And we were fortunate enough to have to pay for transport to our hotel. But it was a loooong walk. Especially with Cameron continually saying he knew where we were going and "we're almost there" every 5 minutes. It felt like we walked around half the island before he would let me finally convince him to ask for directions. So after two people guiding us in the RIGHT direction, we were standing in front of our little hotel. Not the nicest, but for only 50 Euros a night, we'd take it. We walked up the stairs to find that the toilet (bathroom) in our room was not working and they were trying to fix it, so we couldn't go in until it was ready. We left our bags and went out on the town!

Instantly we were amazed at the canals, buildings, people, shopping, piazzas, and historic sites. So many churches that we would love to go in, but we're kind of on a tight schedule so we stuck with the main ones. The coolest was the Basilica di San Marco - wow. We weren't allowed to take bags or cameras or anything in with us, which we don't really understand. But there's a lot of things that most people don't understand about our religion so we didn't question. It was so beautiful inside! From half the way up the walls and covering the ceiling was a magnificent gold mosaic, dated back over 950 years. I did happen to sneak in the exit, which I saw a few other people do first, and snapped a couple shots of this beautiful artwork. Inside we saw St Mark's sarcophagus (coffin/remains) with a hidden treasure behind it that includes over 2000 emeralds, sapphires, rubies, pearls, and other precious gems. This really was an amazing place. Such history!

Then we walked around Piazza San Marco for a while, admiring all the beauty of the shops (which included all the stores we saw in Milan and more!). My most favorite thing to look at was the jewelry and decor made out of the murano glass. Truly gorgeous. I would LOVE to go over to the island Murano and see how it is made. I picked out a few pieces that I wanted to come back and buy next time.

On top of the Rialto Bridge.

We ended up back at our hotel around 6pm so we could officially "check in" and rest our feet for a bit before we headed out to see the town at night. I guess they never got the bathroom fixed because they moved us into the spare room at one of the employee's apartments. He's this cute little old man who has a nice apartment in residential Venice, and this place we're staying is waaay nicer than what we would've had at the hotel. And best of all it is super close to the train station, so there's not too many ways Cameron can get us lost on the way out tomorrow!

We spoke to our host for a bit, getting tips on the town. The Italians are extremely friendly! Sometimes they even go out of their way to help us! After we changed into our "evening-wear" (sounds fancy huh? i just mean long-sleeve shirts:), we went out looking for some cheap delicious pizza and more gelato (we'd already had some earlier in the afternoon- yes it's THAT good!). We walked and walked and walked, and everyone was gone! Earlier, this island was packed with all kinds of people, and I swear they all just vanished in that hour we were inside! All the shops had closed down for the night, and some restaurants. All the expensive ones were still open, sure, but we'd have to starve before we ate at any of those! Eventually, on the way to where we heard there was an internet cafe, we found a little corner shop that had one table still outside. So we took a seat and the waiter brought us each a nice huge slice of italian pizza (and a delicious Fanta - which tastes so much better here than back home). It was a wonderful night! As I'm sure you can tell from the pictures. We did end up finding some people walking around by the canal. And we walked with them as we ate our gelato (three scoops each - yummmm). So I guess this isn't really a hopping town at night, but that's alright with us. We're ready to turn in anyways.

Goodnight to you all! Tomorrow is Florence!

-Wendi

To My Sweeties...

So today is Mother's Day, and I know it's supposed to be all about "mom" but my mom always said- "Without my kids I wouldn't BE a mom!" So Tyler and Jill, this one is for you...

Your dad and I are on a trip, and quite the trip it has been! We are in Europe, and we are sooo far away from you! We're having so much fun, but think about you lots of times every day. Today has been kind of hard for me though, as my heart has been aching for you! We were on a train, on our way to Italy, and I read a book about being a Mom, which probably wasn't a good idea with today being Mother's Day. But it made me think of the days that you were both born and those feelings I felt when I first held you in my arms.

Tyler, when you were born I remember when you were first handed to me, I had so many different emotions running through me. I was excited to finally be a mom, nervous that I didn't know what to do, and in love with the cutest little boy I had ever laid eyes on! I remember thinking that you were SOOO handsome! Just like your dad. That was more than five years ago and I love you more and more every day. Sometimes I don't know how I could possibly love you more, but somehow with each day that passes my love continues to grow. You are learning to read now and it is so exciting to see your little mind work. You are a VERY smart boy, and I am so proud of you for always trying so hard! I know it can be tough at times, but I promise that you can do anything if you keep trying.

Jill, it's been almost three years since I first held you. I can't believe how big you are! When I first held you I instantly felt a special bond that can only be felt between a mother and a daughter. I am so excited to continue to watch you grow. You make me laugh every day! I love to watch you dance, and I love to do girly things with you like paint your toes and put on mommy's make-up! You are so cute when you play mommy to your dolls, you will make a wonderful mommy someday! You are such a funny little girl. You have loved shoes and dressing up since before you could walk. And someday I will bring you to Europe and we will go shopping and buy shoes and dress up in fancy clothes together!

I have been so lucky to be able to stay home with you guys while your dad has been in school. Some days are harder than others, but we have so much fun together! We like to be silly, and dance, and play!

You two are so special to me, and I hope that you always know how much I love you. I am so blessed to be your mommy and I am so happy that I get to be with you forever and ever. I promise that I will always be the best mommy that I can. I promise to be there to kiss you goodbye every morning before school. I promise to hold you every time you fall down and get hurt. I promise to take care of you when you are sick. I promise to be there when your heart gets broken. I promise that I will always be there to give you advice when you do and even when you don't need it. I promise to teach you all the things that my mom taught me, and maybe even a few other things I have learned. I promise to teach you the Gospel, and to help you gain your own testimony. I promise to be the best mom that I can, because you only deserve the best.

I am sad that I don't get to talk to you today and tell you how grateful I am to be your mom, and what great kids you are! But I know that you are having fun being spoiled silly by everyone watching you while me and dad are gone.

I love you Tyler.
I love you Jillian.

Don't you ever forget it.

Lots and lots of hugs and kisses!

-Mom

Milan dahling

I wish I had some crazy fun things to report today, but I don't really have much. It's Sunday and it's raining, so a lot of the shops in Milan were closed and walking around was a little wet. Of course, that didn't deter Wendi, I mean we ARE in Milan, so we window shopped a bit and went into a few stores. All the big designers in fashion have flagship stores here in Milan, so you name it and we at least walked by it. We went into Versace and Giorgio Armani, and a few others that I had never heard of. We walked by a whole bunch, but I can only remember Prada, Toni & Guy, and the Ferrari store--it was clothing, not cars. There were street merchants on every corner trying to sell us an umbrella, so finally Wendi convinced me and we bought one. It's looking like it might have been a good investment, a huge storm is hitting Italy all next week--bummer. So we will try to stay optimistic.

Prada flagship store

There aren't very many sights to see in Milan, mostly just shopping, but there is the Duomo. The Duomo is the Milan's large Cathedral that sits in the middle of city center. The outside is pretty unique and doesn't really look like some of the other church-types that we have seen. It is said that one of the nails used to nail Christ to the cross is kept in the Duomo, but it's kept up very high and only brought down to the ground once a year or something. Very interesting.

Milan Duomo

inside the Duomo

We ate at this little street restaurant for our dinner. We ordered little sandwiches, Wendi got a water and I got a Fanta...most expensive soda I have ever bought. Yikes, it cost €5, which is $7, just for a can of soda. Ouch, wish I had known that before I bought it. Then, when it was time to pay, their credit card machine was down, so I had to run and find an ATM and get cash. It was all fine though, our waiter was cool about it all.

So I was really hoping that I would be able to say with pride that I took Wendi shopping in Milan for Mother's Day, but I can't really take any credit because we didn't buy anything. Of course everything was expensive, we knew it would be, so I promised her that the next time I bring her to Milan that she can buy whatever she wants...so it may be a while.

This next picture is Wendi in our hostel room from yesterday. She is wonderful and I just wanted to type up something telling her how much I love her. She is the person I love having all my adventures with. I love my little family and wouldn't want it any other way. I know it's been a hard day for her being without our kids--and putting up with my lack excitement to window shop in the rain--she is such a great mom. I love you, honey. You are beautiful.

Happy Mother's Day

We made it back to our little hotel and finished the night watching The Da Vinci Code--we were having Paris withdrawals. We will probably watch Angels and Demons when we get to Rome, we'll see. Now we have to decide if we're off to Venice or Florence. Tough call, given the rain. I will leave you in suspense till tomorrow about our decision.

-Cameron

Our nice time in Nice

We got to sleep in and it felt great. The weather was forecast as rainy all day, so we weren't too concerned about missing out on the Mediterranean coastal city. To our surprise, when we woke up it was only partly cloudy. So our mood was brightened and we headed out. Nice is quite large, but there is a historical center of the city called Old Town that is beautiful. The buildings are tall, the streets are narrow, and the colors are warm--so different from Paris.

It wasn't warm enough to enjoy the beach at all, so we just walked around. We walked down the promenade, through many of the markets, and bought some food from a few vendors. We had lunch at a little sandwich shop in Old Town, it was very cool.

We dropped back to the hostel because the camera battery was dead. On our way we got a little lost, but that was also an adventure--it was my fault. But Wendi got us back on the right track. We eventually made our way back into town and followed a path that led to a huge hill overlooking the city. By then the clouds had come in and it was getting windy, but it was a really cool view.

It started to rain on our way back down so we found a little pasta shop and had some dinner. It was a nice relaxing day.

Our only problem now is deciding where to go for the rest of our trip. We probably need to drop a city, so we have to make some hard decisions. Will we give up shopping in Milan or a gondola ride in Venice? Hmmm...