Pictures of Venice and Rome

Venice

Eating pizza on the Grand Canal

Rome

Toss a coin in to return to Rome one day

Sea Bass Italy style

Half way to the top of the dome

Climbing

The view from the top

Venice

Venice, Rome, and Athens

Venice

The city to get lost in! We had an amazing place to stay! If anyone ever goes to Venice, let us know because we have a great place, (just hard to find at first). According to the Italian man who walked me to the apartment, Johnny Deep is remodeling next door.  But that was in broken English, so I could have understood wrong! We walked every square inch of the 120 islands. We never took a boat, we just traveled by foot. It is a good thing that we only have a pack, because we would be buying some cool stuff!  When I look to buy something, I think to myself “Is it worth carrying?” usually the answer is no!

Rome

We took the train from Venice to Rome; once we got off the train we found our way to the hotel. So our hotel elevator was very very small. We both had our packs on and the bell boy took us to our room. I said we would take the stairs, but the bell boy said no. Chris and I were stuck on the lift with our packs. I never took that lift again!  We spent the rest of the day walking around Rome. We would just walk until we run into something special. We started with the Coliseum and the Ancient Ruins. Chris needed a nap, so we found our way back to the hotel. The rest of the night we spent walking and sightseeing. The Spanish Steps was such an amazing view and a very beautiful church. Walking around Rome, we found a free wifi area, so we were able to call home with skype. Modern technology is great! I usually talk to my dad everyday after work, so it just different only talking to him once in the past 2 weeks. It is weird to be so disconnected from our life at home! It sounds like Maggie and Riley are okay, hopefully they won’t be to mad at us when we return.  After talking to our parents and Charlie (our neighbor who watches out for us and the house), we had dinner in Trastevere.

My lovely dinner was sea bass, unlike most American restaurants; my plate had the entire fish. Chris could not believe what he was seeing, and refused to try it. There are some pictures with the fish! It was good, but next time I could do without the fish’s head.

The next day we got up early to go the Vatican City.  We started with the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.  It started to rain a little, so we had a nice lunch next to the Vatican. After lunch it stopped raining and there were no lines for St. Peter’s Basilica. We toured the huge amazing church and listened to a mass. We left the church and went back in line to climb the dome of the church.  We climb another 550 stairs to the top. Chris said they lied to us because they were much larger steps.  It was a beautiful view of Rome, and it was worth the climb.  I think by the end of this trip Chris will automatically take the stairs!

Rome was great but there were a lot of people. I think I am getting old because it has really bothered me when I am standing in a line and people just cut in front of you. This happen yesterday in the line for the Vatican, but it wasn’t young people it was old! There were so many times yesterday that old ladies tried to run us over to see something, or cut in line! We were at a Holy place, and I would think you would want to be on your best behavior.

Our flight out of Rome was at 6:40, and we left the hotel at 4:45. Chris made me promise never to book flights that early again! We arrived in Athens and took the bus to the city. I found our way to the hotel. The plan is to enjoy Athens for 2 days, and then we are renting a car to drive to Thessonilki on May 5. We will stop and see stuff on our way there. This could be interesting because the language and road signs are in Greek! This might be the toughest language barrier! We will fly back to Germany and hang out with Rob until Sunday when we fly back.  

Tell next time!

Map? Not Venice

When you read about Venice, they say everyone will get lost. That is so true! We got off the train around 9. We walked with the packs for about three hours until Chris decided to do some laundry. I walked the streets of Venice looking for our hotel. Finally some guy notice I looked lost and decided to help me. The funny thing is we walked past the place about 3 times. The place we are staying in is like an apartment and you check in at a resident's house. The guy walked with me to the apartment for 20 minutues and then I had to go find Chris! I never felt so lost before plus I had no money to get back. Venice is beautiful with lots of streets to get lost on. After we found our apartment again we just wonder the streets for hours, and had a beautiful Italian meal. Drinking wine is cheaper than drinking water! Also if you want to get into churches you have to wear sleeves and it cost money to use restrooms that are not clean! You have to love that America has tons of clean and free toliets/water! Well as long as Chris does not pick the place!

Tomorrow Rome!

No pictures today, we are at an internet cafe.

South of France and Switzerland

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. The past couple of days we have traveled through the French countryside and Switzerland. Paris is great, but the France countryside is better. You get a good sense of what French life is like. Towns are unique with lots of history and culture. The boys decided it would be best not to take national roads instead we took countryside roads. We were able to run across many different castles and churches. For most of the drive we were in Dijon country and champagne country. There were tons of yellow fields of dijon. On Easter Sunday we came across a castle and went to a wine tasting festival. There were 15 wines to taste for 10 euros. Chris enjoyed his time in the wine cellar. Then we started to head to the Swiss Alps.

We stopped in Bern for the night and headed to Interlaken for the day. This is a city between two beautiful lakes. Chris and Rob enjoyed taking every back road the could find, especially in the Alps. They decided to take a side road as we headed up the mountain a sign stated mountain passes are closed on the road, but they decided to continue on. About an hour later we come across snow blocking the road. So back down the mountain we go. It was a rough ride for me. Switzerland is very beautiful and the people are very kind. Right now we are staying in Brescia, Italy and will take a train to Venice at 6:00 am. We will spend the next two days there then head to Rome for two days. Saturday, our Greece adventure starts. Here are some pictures of the past couple of days. Pictures of Chris at the wine tasting will come later!

We had to go back to the Eiffel Tower because we forgot to take a picture in front of it.

Driving along the French countryside.

Swiss Alps

The road was closed on the mountain pass, and we had to turn around and go back down the mountain.

 

Chris got his snow vacation, and now it is time for the beach!

Arrivedeci

Jill & Chris

Paris!

London went by so fast! It was so beautiful. We decided the red double decker bus would be our best option to see everything. Chris was pretty jet lag, so he slept most of the bus trip around the city. London was preparing for the big wedding. It was amazing to see all the work they are doing for next week. On Wednesday, we decided to see the Windsor Castle, well we ended up on the wrong train and almost made it to the very south of England. By the time we made it back to the castle at 4:09, they had just closed at 4:00. We took a nice river trip and ate dinner then headed back to London.  We went on the London Eye and walked around London for the rest of the night.

The next day our trip started at 3:00 am and we are not morning people but we got up in time to catch a bus to the airport to catch a flight to Paris. Chris forgave me for the early flight after we got check in and were able to sleep for an hour. Our first day in Paris we went Basilique du Sacre-Cour. We climb up the giant hill then we climb up to the dome (300 steps!) Chris was about to kill me when he found out there was a train! The church was amazing, and all my Catholic education came in handy! We took many long walks and ended the night eating dinner by the Eiffel Tower.

Today we started the day by heading to Versailles. Very big and beautilful, we could have been there the whole day exploring the Chateau and the gardens. We headed back to the city to see the Mona Lisa. Now I can say "I saw the Mona Lisa" but the Louvre has so many cooler pictures and sculptures. Probably the best part of the day was the Eiffel Tower. There are two options for getting to the top, one is the stairs to the second level, or there is an elevator. Well the line was shorter for the stairs, so up we went! Chris again wanted to kill me, but how many times can you climb the Eiffel Tower? He survived and we were able to see the sunset. Amazing! On the way down we took the stairs yet again!

Our backpacks! It teaches you to pack light! It is not fun carrying this beast!

Chris sleeping on the double decker red bus in London.

On the bus

London Eye 4-D experience.

Big Ben

The Church with a lot of stairs!

The Louvre

Versailles

Mona Lisa

Climbing the stairs of the Eiffel Tower

Sunset on the Eiffel Tower

Tomorrow we will start early to see few more things then we are catching a train to Reims. Rob is meeting us there, and then we will drive to Dijon, then into Switzerland and Italy on Monday. The plan is to spend some time in Venice and Rome before April 30th when we head to Athens. We will post again when we find internet.

Germany and London

The time is flying by so fast. When we got to Germany, Rob was waiting for us at the airport. According to Chris, Germany is where my people are at. Chris looked very American, but everyone spoke to me in German. My brother would fit in perfectly here. Ordering food was a big task, specially since I am a picky eater and it was in German. I was able to manage with a turkey salad and Chris with a pig's leg and sauerkraut.  We spent the night walking around Rob's town.

The next morning Rob took us to the airport to fly to London. My bag only ways about 25 pounds but wow it is heavy to walk around with. I am getting kicked off the hostel computer but tomorrow in Paris we should have internet on the laptop. 

More to come like Chris falling asleep on the big red bus and getting lost on the train system today!

Tomorrow Paris!! 

Europe

So once again, we have a wonderful opportunity to travel and could not pass this up! Chris's groom man Rob is living in Germany, and that is how our trip got started. Traveling has always been something we really enjoy. Like many things in our lives, we tend to think big when we have opportunities, so our trip will be 3 weeks and six countries. Our first flight leaves out on April 17th and we will return to Indy on May 8th. The plan is to travel to Germany, London, Paris, Southern France, Italy, Greece and back to Germany.

The last time we took a three week trip was our honeymoon to Australia and Fiji. It is definitely scarier leaving for this long because we are adults now with lots of responsibilities. This is probably our last big trip for a long time. Hopefully Maggie and Riley will be OK, and my parents can survive three dogs. I am very fortunate to have wonderful co-workers and a boss who are covering my unit for me! I have the best job and co-workers ever!

This blog is something new we are trying, our goal is to post pictures and stories of our journey through Europe. Our next goal is to continue this when we return home, so we can continue telling our crazy journeys through life together.