Vernazza, Cinque Terre...one of my favorite places yet!!!

We were lucky enough to spend 4 nights in Cinque Terre. We got to complete the trail between all five coastal towns, explore Vernazza, meet some awesome people and fall in love with the simple way of life. This is from the third town called Cornigla (pronounced Cornelia). The flowers were so beautiful everywhere we went!
This is a view of the town we stayed in called Vernazza. It is the fourth town, out of the five. You could walk the span of the town, top to bottom, in about 10 min or less. The town had 2 bakeries, a few restaurants and 3-4 wineries! It was so laid back and so fun to stay in!
This is a view from our apartment window. It was, by far, one of the best people-watching spots ever! We could watch everything on the main street from our 3rd story window! This was "the cave" which is very famous for it's history and night life. We didn't learn too much about it though...just that it's famous!
Another view from our apartment! You can see the terraced hills behind the town. They are very proud of the wine they make in Vernazza from these vineyards. The local pesto is amazing also!
On our Cinque Terre hikes, we budgeted in gelato stops instead of lunch stops. We have very strict priorities! If you know Eric, this shouldn't be surprising!!!
The colors and windows on the buildings fascinated me!!! All the towns were like their own little art shows!
One of the many vineyards we walked through on the hikes to the different towns. We also got to walk through lemon tree groves, apricot orchards and olive groves. The ocean wasn't too bad to look at either.
On the last day in Vernazza, while doing our laundry, we met a really cool couple (Mel and Michelle) from Australia. We later went for a 25 min swim with them in the freezing cold harbor. Since we were all freezing, we decided to make a delicious dinner of spaghetti and wine at our sweet apartment! It's so fun meeting the nicest people on these trips! Thanks Mel and Michelle for a great night!
This is a view of our apartment! It was so nice and had two great people-watching windows, a kitchen and a comfy bed. We cooked all our meals here and were quite entertained with all the people that walked below us! The windowsill was the best place to have a cup of tea!!! I didn't want to leave here. I loved every minute of my time here and I can't wait to go back...Katie

When in Rome

As you have probably noticed i have really been loving the Panoramic pictures recently. As always just click on it to get a full view of the action!

We made it to the Colosseum a couple of times. It is pretty crazy to learn more about what actually happened here. How violent it really was.
It was really cool to see the "underground" portion in person. to see the 80+ elevators that could lift animals and stuff at any point in the "show" into the arena!

Right next to the coloseum was the Roman forum. This is where Julius Cesare was killed and buried. It was cool to walk where all of these "famous" Romans had walked.

This is also the site of the prison that Paul and Peter from the bible were held in. You can go in there and see where it is said that Peter was actually chained up. Its so crazy that some of these buildings are well over 2000 years old.

The VATICAN CITY...

We made it to ROME and our first stop was the Vatican City. I was really pumped to go see it, and it didn't let me down. The whole city is so royal and lavish. We went through the Vatican Museum (that houses the Sistine Chapel) and then headed to St. Peter's Basilica. This is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo (it's bigger than a football field).
This is one of the many crazy hallways leading up to the Sistine Chapel. We kept thinking that we were in it, but, no...it was just another hallway! We were super nerdy in Rome and downloaded audio guides to all of the big places...Rick Steves is the man!
Just marveling at the statues in the museum courtyard! It's sometimes hard to take it seriously with all the anatomically correct-ness!!!
Saint Peter's Basilica was one of the most breath-taking places I've ever been. It is so impressive and huge. We got there in the evening, when the sunbeams were dancing all over the church! The afternoon mass was going on, the organ was doing it's thing and the crowd was dwindling...it was magical! A nun (below) waits to go into confession.
The church from the outside. There is so much symbolism in the architecture and artwork. It was totally worth it to be nerdy and have the audio guides!!!
This is the altar, inside the altar. The bronze altar was built by Michelangelo and is meant to make the space feel more homey and intimate (not quite sure he accomplished that feeling). It is only used by the Pope when he conducts mass here! The altar behind it is where everyday mass is held.
Peter himself...in all his glory. This statue is meant to bring you good luck if you rub his right foot. The basilica itself is built on the hill where Peter was crucified upside down. It is such an intense feeling to know you are standing where these great men died for their faith!
The Square outside the Basilica. So many Christians were once murdered here, before it was legal to believe in Christ.
Eric and I outside of the Basilica.
This is the famous statue of Mary with her dead son, Christ. It is held behind bullet proof glass...crazy!
I loved visiting the Vatican and seeing the artwork and history. It was very moving for me to be inside the church and kept thinking of my Grandpa Mike! Wish he could have been our tour guide...he'd have made the tour much more exciting than Rick Steves!! ...Katie

Souvlaki!!!! oh yeah...and the Acropolis :-)

So, our travels took us to Athens for one night...giving us just the right amount of time to fall in love with the city and want to stay longer. We managed to pack in 3 souvlaki rounds, a tour around the ancient buildings and a sunset over the city into 24 hours! The Parthenon was spectacular! It was cool to be standing where so much history has been made!
This is my favorite Greek delight! Souvlaki! Basically, it is roasted lamb with tomatoes and yogurt sauce in a pita! Eric actually liked it too! We ate it for lunch, dinner and breakfast...delicious.
The Parthenon at night!!! So beautiful!!!
This was at the amphitheater that Aristotle used to teach at...so crazy!
The buildings were fantastic at night! You could see the columns and details so much better! They just towered over the city...watching over Athens.
We were lucky enough to get two of the cheapest "deck seats" on the ferry from Athens to Ancona, Italy. We camped out here...at the very front of the ship for the whole night. It was a crazy experience...but, we met some other people and got to see some beautiful, ocean views. We set up chairs into make-shift beds and tried to sleep! There was a super loud snore-er who kept us up though...I wanted to throw a shoe at him!...Katie

CRATER DAY!

We went into the Ngorogoro Crater. It was sooo crazy to see all of these animals in one place! It is the perfect spot for them. They can all get all of the food they need in this crater. This first photo was from the top look out spot. It is about 10-12 photos put together(thanks Photoshop) to make one panoramic photo. It was soooo amazing and made us feel sooo small. Also thank you Macks (www.Bluebeanie.com) for making the photo look cool with the filters. Click on it and make it bigger to really see what was going on.





This is where we stopped to eat lunch. It was beautiful. We had to eat lunch in the truck or the birds would swoop down and steal it. The picture below of Katie was also taken at this lunch spot next to the lake that was there.
The elephants in Africa are so much bigger than the ones in asia. It was pretty cool to see these now that we have seen the asian elephants and pick out the differences. The African ones have way bigger heads and ears that are shaped like Africa. shown below

This was a common site. There were so many places where zebras and wildebeests would just hang out and watch out for each other. Lions and cheetahs were everywhere(even though we only saw one lion and just barely)This is Peter. He was our guide. He was super knowledgeable and was super patient with the annoying people that were also on our Safari tour. (notice there are no pictures of them) I actually asked them to take this picture of us:)
Trying to figure out where to go. Since rainy season(The Long Rain) had began many of the roads looked like this.
.....Eric