The Journey Home

We started moving Tuesday and we wont stop 'til Portland.  We left Rome from the Fiumicino Airport and headed up to Levanto.  Going to this small little costal town from Rome was like falling off a cliff into a pool of calmness.  From Levanto we drove through the Alps to Beaune, France one of the great wine regions and had a great dinner.  Finally, we drove back to Paris and are all geared up for our flight tomorrow.  Here are some pictures of the journey.

Not much going on in Levanto except good views.

There are some awesome homes there.

From Paris to Rome we drove through these fields of a yellow flower crop.  We wish we knew what they were used for.

The Alps are huge.

There are lots of little small towns in them.

There's a big one.

We had a great time Europe!!!  See you next time.

Vatican City

This was by far the most breath taking spot we've been to.  Just coming to Rome and only seeing Vatican City would leave you satified with what you did.  We got up early that day and started walking towards St. Peter's Basilica.  You can see it from just about everywhere with in Rome.  We kept walking towards it... it got bigger and bigger, and we kept walking and walking... and it still got bigger and bigger and FINALLY, we got to St. Peter's Square.  Here are the pictures:

Not to be reduntant, but... you start walking towards it.

And you keep walking...

Then Boom!!!  We made it.  From here we got into a line for security.  It was long but it only took ~20 minutes to get through.  We then went to the entrance to the Pope's tombs.  We saw Pope John Paul II's tomb and St. Peter's tomb. We paid our respects, then the exit takes you out into the middle of the Basilica.  This is what you see when you come out of the tombs.

There's a mass going on infront of us.  The place is huge.

I wish there was something in this picture that could give you a sence of how big it is.

Here's the central dome.

Here's one of many fantastic sculptures.

Another awesome dome.

This is as large of a view our camera could take of the inside of the Basilica. Just ahead (the brown columns on either side with the adornment on top) is the top of St Peter's tomb. So what next?!?!?! 

TO THE TOP!!!

5 Euro lets you walk up.  First you walk to the top of the roof, and then it's on to the tunnels that take you to the top of the Basilic's Dome.

Close up of the largest dome of the Basilica.

It's not that high up...

Almost there!!!

The view is awesome.

Sweaty but still alive!

On to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.

Once you get through the lines and about 3-4 trinket shops the Museum starts.

The sulpture collection that they have is amazing.

The cielings in the Museum are just as awesome as the stuff they put in it.  ie the Sistine Chapel

They had a great Egyptian section.  Here's a mummy!

Cool god of something or another.  It's not the pro-cat god that's for sure.

The hall before the Sistine Chapel.  Unfortunately they don't let you take pictures in chapel.

So we went to the Trevi Fountain and threw our coins in so we would come back again one day.  Now it's a 3 day journy back to France with stops in Levanto and Beaux.  Rome was deffinently the finnally of our trip.  Now it's to two small peaceful villiages where we'll decompress from all the excitement then back to Portland.  Arividerchi Roma!

Viva la Roma!!!

We took a train from Florence to Rome. It was pretty easy to do. The train station in Rome is inside the city enough to make it easy to walk to your next destination. Saying Rome is big would be an understatement. You would have to add busy, crowded, and chaotic. The city operates on some sort of rule set that isn't written down but understood by the residents. We saw a lot the first day so here are some pictures:

Here's the Florence train station.  Pretty easy to understand and clean too.

View from our hotel room in Rome.  It's within walking distance for a lot of things here.

The Colosseum was a short walk down a very large street and through the biggest traffic circle we've ever seen.

Kate inside the structure.  The Italians are having some national cultural week so admission to a lot of these sites is free right now.  Lucky us!

This place is huge!!!

Kate about to go up Palatine Hill.

Ceasar's house.

The part of the Roman Forum.

Another section of the Roman Forum.

And the big picture.  Next we headed to the Pantheon.

There it is.  It's still impressive.

There's the hole.  How'd they do that?

Raphael's tomb.  We should see a lot of him at Vatican City.

It's still a used church on the inside.  Here's a picture of the alter area.

More to come later.  Right now we have to get off to Vatican City.