Italy--Roma

Don't worry, we did go to Italy. I just get overwhelmed thinking about getting all my pictures ready to put on the blog. I have to export them all from I Photo to the desktop...anyway its very time consuming. But here we are. Italy was great, if you can imagine! We left SL on saturday morning, flew to Cincinnati and them to Rome. We got into Rome about 11 am sunday morning, lots of traveling! Fortunately we flew business class and got to sleep. Russ and Erica picked us up and we went straight to sightseeing in Rome! It was fantastic!!! Hot and humid, and we walked all over. Most of the touristy sights were within walking distance of each other so that was nice. we went to the Roman Forum which I believe used to be temples for different Roman Gods all in ruins now, but fascinating if you like that kind of stuff. I loved it! Sorry this blog is going to have lots of pictures it is hard to choose which ones to put in hopefully you enjoy I figured at least Caroline will like it! Here are some pic's of the Forum:





The inside of an arch, and some standing columns




Ryan drinking out of a city fountain, more Forum





Russ, Erica, Ryan and I at Forum, some government buildings





Here is a frieze on the arch at the Forum, me at a small fountain people were wading in, and a huge fountain with lots of sculptures it was beautiful!



Here is the pantheon the building with the hole in the middle, we didn't get to go in because it was closed by the time we got there, but here is the view from the outside, and Ryan and Russ inside the Peter and Paul's prison.




Here are some more columns still standing in the forum and now for the Colosseum pictures!






And here is the Vatican City. St. Peters we didn't get to go inside once again it was closed when we got there but the outside was cool. There is a spot you can stand and look at the 4 rows of columns and it looks like there is only one. we didn't get to see the Sistine Chapel either which is in the Vatican, closed, nor the Pope!




On to Elba island, that is right the island where Napoleon was exiled! Here is a view of the island, Napoleon's fortress, and Ryan and I on the boat. Elba is a very popular european vacation spot, I think we were the only American's on the island. We did walk around the fortress but we didn't go inside, expensive!




Our first day on the island we stayed on the beach below our campsite. Oh yes we camped the whole trip. It wasn't too bad actually they had pretty nice showers and the camp sites were flat and no rocks. To get to the beach you had to walk down a little cliff trial to a rocky beach. It literally was a rock beach, no sand but the water was nice.



Here I am at the top of the trial to the beach, some of the water we snorkeled in and a pic of the beautiful sunset.


Our second day on Elba we rented a boat and drove around the island and snorkeled in different places. Ryan even got stung by a little purple jelly fish, I was a little wary to get in the water after that. But he is fine.

It is kind of hard to see in this pic. but Ryan got stung on top of his foot, and it was swollen and red for awhile.

After our long car ride across and up Italy in a small European car which I unfortunately did not get a picture of, we went to Pordenone close to where Erica is from. Actually we got to her house ate at a delicious pizzeria and went to bed. The next morning we went to the airport, but Lufthansa airlines went on strike shortly after we arrived in Italy canceling their Trans-Altantic flight aka flights home for us and putting all their passengers on Delta flights, which means standby passengers such as our selves got the boot! Needless to say we did not make our flight Russ and Erica volunteered to stay and be put on a different flight but they wouldn't let them so we stayed and went back to Erica's house with her family. They were so very kind and hospitable. Erica's family was in town from all over and so her brother and his wife took us shopping in Pordenone. So here we are in the little shopping streets. And some of the buildings even had original paint(?) but most came off when the plague came through and they covered all the buildings with some kind of mortar ruining the old frescoes.




That night we went to a little beach town north of Venice with Erica's family



For dinner we had seafood of course. Erica's dad asked us if we liked fish we said yes and off we went. At the restaurant there was no fish on the menu. Her dad ordered for us a seafood sampler, and a seafood spaghetti plate. The sampler included: octapus, squid, shrimp, some kind of little lobster and some other things I have forgotten now. We tried them all and most of it was pretty good I have to admit although I don't think I would order them again for fear they aren't fresh and cooked well and are too rubbery! Our main course of spaghetti included clams which was my first time (well a first for all of this!) and they were really good, there was some lobster and squid and then there was a sea creature her dad called a scampi--I just couldn't do it. You had to break it open to get the meat, the whole creature was just laying in you spaghetti!!! Ryan was brave and tried it! So if you are in Italy and someone asks if you like fish just be aware that you are most likely not getting "Fish."


The next morning we went to the airport at 5:00 am because they had to take their son to the airport for a 6am flight ours wasn't until 11:00 so we spent a few hours in the Venice Marco Polo airport, sleeping on benches. We actually made that flight. By some miracle they let all the stand-by passengers on, probably to get rid of them some people had been trying to get home for 3 days!! We even got business class on the way back. I have never been so happy to get on a plane! Next to being able to get our of JFK! So we had a great trip!


Sorry this post is sooo long you might have to take a nap in the middle, but it is finally up and i am so happy!