Road Trip

Last weekend was another Bank Holiday, so David and I decided to rent a car and take our first road trip in the UK.

David has been driving a little bit using the local Streetcar (a short-term car rental service for people that live in the city without vehicles). Mostly, we’ve used the service to drive to and from baseball games outside the city and to B&Q (also known as Home Depot in the states) for gardening/lawn supplies. But we’ve never driven through the city or as far as we did this weekend… and it was TERRIFYING!

David is very focused driving on the opposite side of the road.

We decided to drive to England’s Southeast coast for our mini-vacation. Only problem is, we live in West London. So to avoid driving through the city to get East, David printed MapQuest directions that took us around the outskirts of the city, instead of the “faster” route straight through. Well… after about 10 minutes of driving, we realized we took a wrong turn and were headed straight into the city!

Crap!

I quickly pulled out my handy dandy iPhone GPS and rerouted us. And then before we knew it, we were driving past Hyde Park and Harrod’s and the Wellington Arch! Once we got to Victoria, the traffic and rain and darkness finally got to us and we took another wrong turn. David maneuvered us into a double-decker bus only lane (luckily there were no buses around) to get us back on track. Finally we crossed the Thames into East London and things slowed down a bit. Traffic was terrible in this part of the city, though, and it ended up taking us 45 minutes to drive 3 miles. Never again!

Our first stop was Canterbury. Canterbury is mostly known for its massive cathedral, a pilgrimage site since the late 1100s. David and I had booked a hotel room on the grounds of the cathedral, but since we arrived so late, all of the cathedral gates were closed. So our final hurdle on Leg 1 of our road trip was actually getting to the hotel once in the city. We drove around the block a couple of times before finally pulling over and asking someone. When we finally found the gate, we did feel a little stupid since it is obviously a huge, historic marker…

Cathedral Gate - It does look really obvious in the daylight!

On Saturday morning, we enjoyed the breakfast part of our bed and breakfast and then walked the few steps to the cathedral. We took a self-guided tour through the nave, the beautiful quire, and finally the crypt. The focal point was the spot where Thomas Becket was murdered by King Henry II’s knights. He became an instant martyr, inspiring pilgrims from all over the world to visit the cathedral. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer tells the stories of the pilgrims’ voyages.

The Quire

I asked David to take a picture of this plaque for me. 

How sweet that they loved their auditor that much!

David loved this stained glass window... 

It reminded him of our beloved Disney characters.

After the tour of the cathedral, we walked a couple of blocks to the main city center, where the Saturday markets were taking place. We couldn’t resist the kettle corn, so we grabbed a bag while we window-shopped. Then we went to the Roman museum.

Much like last year’s trip to Bath, we discovered that Canterbury was a Roman town about 2,000 years ago. No one knew this because the town was deserted and the Roman buildings were buried under new structures. It wasn’t until WWII when Canterbury was shelled by German bombers that some ruins were found in the craters. David and I paid for our museum tickets and then took the steps to get underground. We came out into a colorful room with mannequins of archaeologists and Romans. It turns out the Roman museum is a children’s museum! Haha! We made the best of it, though, and still learned a lot! David even got into the arts and crafts section, putting together a mosaic much like the mosaic floors of the Roman houses and baths discovered!

After the museum, we walked to the Norman Castle, which has been reduced to a four-walled open-air stone structure with a partially flooded staircase.

We had lunch at a gastro pub recommended to us by TripAdvisor called Deesons. The fresh-baked bread was so good and all the ciders and ales were local. David had the best steak sandwich ever. I don’t even like horseradish, but even I couldn’t get enough of this sandwich! For dessert we split the deconstructed strawberry shortcake.

Then we hopped back in the car and got ready to drive 30 minutes to Dover. We took a quick detour as we got outside the city center to Martyr’s Field, where Bloody Mary ordered 41 heretics to be burned at the stake. When we got to the address though, it was all houses! We were in the middle of suburbia and there was no field left!

A little disappointed, we got back on the road headed to the coast.

We stayed at another bed and breakfast on the beach in Dover. Once we checked in, we decided to head to Dover Castle. I whipped out my trusty GPS again and saw that it would take about 19 minutes to walk up the hill to the castle and the last admission was in 11 minutes. We didn’t want to rush the castle or wind ourselves running up the hill for no reason, so we decided to just hike up to the famous white chalk cliffs instead. We enjoyed some local blackberries and saw lots of horses grazing in the fields. Once the weather cleared up a bit, we could even see France across the channel. I couldn’t believe how close it was!

A ferry headed to France - they have white cliffs too!

We didn’t do the full four mile cliff hike to the lighthouse and back but we were still hungry and tired once we hiked back down after a couple of miles. We walked to The Allotment, supposedly the best bistro in Dover. The reviews were right – it was really, really good. For starters we had the prawns with garlic chili sauce and goat cheese crostini. David had fish with buerre blanc as his main and I had the beef tips with potatoes dauphinoise. For dessert, we split the blueberry cheesecake. Everyone at the restaurant was so nice, and even though we didn’t have a reservation, they seated us anyway. It was an open layout, so we could watch our food being made in the kitchen across from us.

The cutest little church we found on our way to the restaurant.

Saturday morning we woke up early to take the ferry to Calais. Dover is the world’s busiest ferry port. Both ships we took (there and back) were packed full of tour buses and motorists. And the ferries were like mini-cruise ships! There was a duty free shop, restaurant and cafeteria, a bar, a coffee shop, outdoor decks, and a casino. All of that for an hour and a half journey across the channel!

The view of the Dover Cliffs from the ferry to France

Being an important strategic location along the French coast with such close proximity to England, Calais is no stranger to conflict. Hundreds of years ago the English and French battled it out to gain possession of the tiny port town. At first, the English won, but eventually the French took it back! During WWII, the Germans occupied the city and over 70% of it was destroyed. Eventually, it had to be evacuated, until it was finally liberated by the Canadians.

Because so much of the historic city was destroyed in the war, there is not that much to do in Calais. So we had a long, leisurely, French lunch that ended up lasting almost 3 hours. Thanks again to TripAdvisor, we discovered Aux Moulettes, a seafood restaurant near the beach. We both got a little fish amuse bouche to begin and David was so proud of me when I actually ate it (I don’t like regular fish, only shellfish).

For my main, I had the prawn beignets with some crusty French bread and David had garlic scallops and fried steak. The dessert was the best part! David got a sampler with his meal that included chocolate mousse cake, profiteroles, and a strawberry custard tart.

To work off our delectable yet heavy French lunch, next we climbed almost 300 stairs to the top of the Calais lighthouse. Then we walked down the street to Notre Dame church where Charles de Gaulle, WWI and II veteran and French president, was married. On our way to the Hotel de Ville, or City Hall, we passed a 13th century watch tower and lighthouse (or what was left of it). Unfortunately, City Hall was under construction, but it was still a really pretty area.

Calais Lighthouse

Notre Dame Church

Hotel de Ville

In front of the Hotel de Ville is the famous ‘Six Burghers of Calais’ statue by Rodin, honoring six brave men who were willing to give up their lives for their fellow citizens. In the 1340s, the town was under siege by Edward III of England. The locals held up within the city walls but after about 10 months, they were running out of food and water. The story goes that 500 children and elderly were finally let out of the citadel, but the English wouldn’t aid them and they ended up starving to death. Finally, everyone was ready to surrender. But when a town has held out for that long, the king usually kills everyone anyway. So six brave men came forward and offered their lives in exchange for the remaining citizens. Edward’s wife was so moved by the sacrifice, that she convinced Edward to spare everyone. Nice, but where was she when the 500 children and elderly were dying in front of her??

Across from City Hall is the St. Pierre Park. Inside this beautiful park is a hideous concrete bunker that houses the WWII museum. We had some time to kill before our ferry, so we decided to go inside. It was a great museum and we learned a ton! There were old plane parts and guns and other things found in the channel from the Battle of Britain. Nazi flags and old war posters were hung on the walls behind glass cases, and there were recreations of war control rooms. One of the best parts of the museum is all of the old newspapers along the walls. One front-page story from a British paper had a picture of the King and Queen after the famous ‘King’s Speech.’ The entire speech was re-printed on the front page… just like in the movie. It really put you in the mindset of someone living during that time, from both the French point of view (defeated but still holding out hope) and English (doing whatever it took to keep the Germans out).

We had also heard about La Coupole and Blockhaus at Eperlecques, massive underground bunkers built by the Nazis to launch the V2 rockets (first missiles to reach the stratosphere). The rockets would have destroyed London but thankfully the bunkers were bombed by the Allies before they could ever be launched. We really wanted to visit La Coupole because it is supposed to be a really moving, educational site but it was also about 30 minutes outside the city and we hadn’t driven our rental car onto the ferry.

So after the park, we headed to a café for David to watch his Man U football match. Then it was time to head back to England.

On Sunday morning, we enjoyed another full English breakfast on the terrace of our hotel overlooking the sailboats and crazy-ass swimmers in the channel. That water must be so cold and they weren’t even in wetsuits! I was too much of a baby even to stick my toes in! The swimming clubs in the area are hugely popular though and every morning we noticed groups of swimmers and divers.

The Start/Finish line for Channel swimmers

After checking out of the hotel and loading up the car, we drove to Dover Castle.

The castle is enormous! It not only has a medieval history, but the castle was also used as recently as the 1960s when the UK government planned to have their headquarters there in case of a nuclear attack. We went from exploring the medieval tunnel system around the moat to taking a tour of the tunnel system used during WWII. Operation Dynamo, code name of the evacuation of 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk, was planned within the tunnels of Dover Castle. The line to see these war rooms was an hour long, so David and I opted for the much shorter tour of the underground hospital instead.

The tour was fascinating. Visitors follow the story of a pilot shot down over the channel, arriving with shrapnel wounds to his leg. You follow the team through reception to the operating room, with lights flickering in and out and air raid sirens going off. After the operation, you tour the rest of the facilities – from the bathroom to the kitchen to the tiny living quarters. During raids, over 600 people camped out in the tunnels. Winston Churchill visited on many occasions to meet with the soldiers and watch air battles over the channel.

Because it was a holiday, the castle also put on a lot of shows for the local kids. They had pirate reenactments and at one point, King Henry II even held court!

King Henry II's Court

We also saw one of the only remaining Roman structures, a pharos, or lighthouse, outside the castle walls, and a Saxon church. The church was used by servicemen stationed at Dover and King Richard the Lionhearted even stayed there before he and his knights sailed off for the Crusades. Graffiti from the knights can still be seen carved into the wall next to the pulpit.

The Saxon church and Roman lighthouse

After about four hours at the castle, we decided to head back to London. This time, the drive only took a couple of hours and we went Southwest instead of driving directly through the city! Much better!

This holiday weekend was the last now until Christmas. It’s going to be a LONG Fall….

The Kurzweg's European Adventure - Part IV

On Tuesday morning, we said goodbye to David at the Rome airport. He had to get back to the office, while the rest of us had to get to the Amalfi Coast!

Ten years ago during our big Europe trip, my family was planning on staying in Naples until our travel agent horrified us with one too many mafia stories. So we changed our itinerary and decided to stay in Sorrento, a beautiful coastal town in Naples Bay, instead. This was the best decision of the trip! We loved it there and we were all looking forward to heading back!

Elizabeth and Carrie were sleepy from the early morning flight to Naples, but we made them stay awake for the coastal drive.

And once we arrived in Sorrento, we immediately changed into our uniforms for the rest of the week – swimsuits and flip flops!

After we got into the water, Elizabeth exclaimed that this was her favorite part of the trip so far! After all that history, all those amazing sites, all the food – swimming in the Mediterranean was her favorite thing!

Elizabeth does look pretty happy in this picture!

We spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach, which in Sorrento is more like a private deck. There aren’t very many sandy beaches around, so we paid a few Euros for access to the water from the deck and some chairs. Umbrellas were extra!

The towns along the Amalfi Coast are built on top of sheer cliffs that overlook the Mediterranean. So the city centers are always at the top of the cliffs and the beaches are below. They’ve built these really cool pathways through the cliff rock for people to walk down to the beaches and ferries. They’re like mini-caves. Last time we were in Sorrento, we stayed in the city center. This time around we wanted to be on the water, so we stayed in the fishing-village area of town. This felt like a different town altogether, away from all of the other tourists. Every night, a group of older men would get together to watch the sunset on a bench next to the fishing boats and kids would play in the street while their moms and grandmothers watched them from their apartment balconies.

The little restaurants in this area were all family-owned, with the owners greeting and serving you. And all of the seafood was obviously very fresh, coming straight off the boats docked next door to the restaurants. One night Dad ordered the fried seafood platter, not realizing the seafood was literally fished out of the ocean, dropped in a deep fryer, and then put on his plate. He had to pick it apart, bones, eyeballs, everything before eating it.

After a long day of flying and driving and swimming, we hiked up the many, many steps to the city center and grabbed dinner and gelato. The gelato was well worth the hike!

On Wednesday morning, we took the ferry across the bay to the Island of Capri. You can see the island from Sorrento and we had wanted to visit last time but never got around to it, so this time we made a point to just get on the ferry and go! There was no pre-planning done on anyone’s part, so once we were on the ferry, we signed up for a tour of the island with 15 other tourists.

Once we docked, our tour guide led everyone to a teeny-tiny bus and crammed us all inside. It was one of the scariest bus rides of my life. With all the stairs and now the terrifying bus ride, this area of Italy was reminding me more and more of Greece. Carrie, who’s afraid of heights, kept it together really well as we rode along. The woman across from her was not as brave and could barely hold back her tears.

We drove around the island from the Marina Grande to the Blue Grotto, a cave bathed in iridescent blue light. We walked down steps along the water to a little landing, where boats would pull up and pick us up to row us into the cave. At the height of tourist season, it was madness trying to vie for a spot inside the cave.

At one point, another boat cut us off and we were rocked dangerously close to the rocks. But we trusted our rower and he got us in and out safely. All 5 of us did have to fit into one itty-bitty rowboat, though. It was Dad and the girls in the back, all kind of piled on top of each other with Mom lying on top of me in the front. I managed to take a video, but the entire time Mom was yelling at me to lie down so I wouldn’t get decapitated going into the cave. No worries – I made it!

After our cave adventure, we drove to Anacapri, the second town on the island (yes – there are only two), for lunch. We ended the day in Capri, the main (or first) town. We walked through the town and tried the local lemonade made from the biggest lemons I’ve ever seen in my life! They were about as big as our heads – no joke!

We then walked through Augustus’s Garden. Emperor Augustus had his summer home on the island, and his heir, Tiberius, also built a palace there where he ruled in his later years. From the garden, there was a great view of the sea and the rock formation I Faraglioni.

After taking the funicular back down to the beach, we swam around for a couple of hours and then took the ferry back to Sorrento. It was my parent’s wedding anniversary, so that night they had a private dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant and I was in charge of the girls.

I took them to another family-owned restaurant in the fishing village. The waiter must have liked us, because he brought us free bruschetta to start, and then free Limoncello for our after-dinner drinks. All week, the girls had been trying different red and white wines in France and Italy. They hated all of them. So this was their chance to try the local lemon drink. First, they said it smelled like Carrie’s lemon-scented nail polish remover and refused to drink it. When I insisted that I couldn’t finish all three drinks, Carrie tried it and Elizabeth followed. I have no worries that Elizabeth will be peer-pressured into drinking after that experience. She could barely swallow the small sip she took and afterwards said it tasted even worse than the wine, which was also disgusting. So I did end up drinking all three glasses... I didn’t want to offend the waiter!

On Thursday morning we hiked up the steps to the train station to get to Pompeii. Mom, Dad, and I showed Elizabeth and Carrie all the places we’d seen a decade ago (I feel really old when I say a decade ago). And it was just as hot as we remembered ten years ago too! That place just bakes in the heat. There are no trees or shelter anywhere… just an exposed archaeological site. The site is so well preserved because of all the ash that fell on it after Mt. Vesuvius erupted. In the House of Mysteries, a huge farmhouse outside the main city, most of the paintings are still visible on the bedroom walls. When the city was excavated a little over 250 years ago, even the bodies of the victims were found preserved. Casts were made and are randomly found in parts of the city today.

The Temple of Isis

Interior of the House of Mysteries

Forum with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

After spending hours walking around in the heat, it was time to get back to the beach! Dad and Mom had had enough of walking up and down the cliff stairs, so once we walked down from the train station, Dad declared that he would be enjoying the beach next to the hotel and eating at a local restaurant famous for once hosting Sophia Loren. At which point, Elizabeth asked, “Who’s Sophia Loren??”

Elizabeth, Carrie, and I didn’t mind the stairs, though, and we had wanted to try out a different beach with blue floats tied to the deck. We thought we could by-pass walking UP to get back DOWN by either swimming to the other beach (which we soon realized was way too far away) or using a paddle-boat. Earlier in the week we had seen a bunch of kids renting a paddleboat with a waterslide. But when we went to the beach to rent the boat, we were told it had been broken earlier in the day. Stupid kids!

So we walked up to the city, and then back down to the other beach. While we were tanning on the floats, Elizabeth and Carrie noticed another paddle-boat with a slide. But it was already being used, so I went back up to read on the deck and about fifteen minutes later, the girls came running up to me laughing hysterically.

They had swum around the paddleboat for a while waiting for the kids using it to get bored, or trying to work up the courage to ask them if they could try out the slide. The girls never got the courage to ask, but finally the kids did get bored and tied up the boat to a buoy before swimming back to shore. Elizabeth and Carrie decided this was their chance to “borrow” the boat! So they untied it and hopped on, ready to paddle away when a little Italian boy saw them and started yelling. All they could make out was “No! No!” Then the whole gang of kids jumped back into the water and started swimming toward them! Elizabeth and Carrie panicked, jumped off the boat, and swam back to the deck. It’s a good thing the deck was one of those “private beaches” so those little Italian kids couldn’t follow them!

After their botched boat-jacking, Elizabeth and Carrie got bored and hungry and headed back to the hotel. I closed down the beach, staying until dusk when they literally had to kick me out. I met the family for dinner at the Sophia Loren place, where Dad had his really, really fresh seafood meal.

The next morning we caught our flight back to London. The flight home included an 8-hour layover in Milan, so once we got off the flight from Naples, we bought train tickets into the city center. First stop was lunch! We had heard the focaccia in Milan is the best, so Mom and I both ordered a plate. It was ENORMOUS! The plates were the size of large pizza plates and the focaccia still spilled over the side of them! There were a couple of Americans sitting at the table next to us about to order the same thing and when they saw how huge our meals were, they decided to split! Mom was nice enough not to say, “I told you so!”

After lunch, we walked to the Duomo, one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in the world. Everyone except Mom and Dad was dressed in inappropriate summer clothes, so they took a tour inside while we were banished to the square outside.

After they came out, we walked through the Galleria, a beautiful shopping center designed with mosaic floors and a huge metal and glass dome.

We then walked back towards the train station to the Castello Sforzesco, a Renaissance palace that now contains multiple museums. We walked through the courtyards to the Sempione Park. Here we took a break and hung out in the park eating ice cream and playing Phase 10, a great card game introduced to us by Grandma Cocchiarella.

Before we knew it, it was time to get back to the airport to catch our flight home. We loved Italy, and like I said before, especially spending the time together and seeing the sites through the girl’s eyes for the first time.

After a relaxing weekend back in London, it was time for the family vacation to come to an end. On Monday morning, the Texans packed up and headed back to the heat. We were sad to see them go, but this adventure was amazing and something that we will remember and cherish forever!

The Kurzweg's European Adventure - Part III

After a great weekend in Paris, we flew out to Rome. Our first stop, after checking into our hotel, was the nearby Spanish Steps.

Mom and Dad at the bottom of the Spanish Steps

We snapped some photos in the plaza and then walked through the fashion district to find a restaurant for lunch. We discovered a great Italian bistro where David and I split the melon with prosciutto and pepper/pecorino pasta. Mom and Dad split the cannelloni and Elizabeth and Carrie split the spaghetti bolognese.

Our first meal in Italy

My mom has this thing with splitting food. She works out every day and is in great shape, but she doesn’t eat that much. So every meal she would try to get someone to split something with her. For instance, at our last dinner in Paris, she decided she would just have half of Elizabeth’s roasted chicken… without telling Elizabeth. So when the plates arrived and my mom didn’t have anything, Elizabeth was guilted into giving up half her chicken. Most of the time it worked out, but once we hit Italy and all of that delicious Italian food, we said enough is enough! And after that first lunch, there were no more halfsies. (In retrospect, Italy is probably the worst place to order full meals for yourself, though, because the pasta and pizza dishes are HUGE.)

After lunch we walked to the Trevi Fountain (after a slight detour to Bernini’s Triton Fountain – my mistake). At the Trevi Fountain, we had gelato and tossed in some coins wishing to be back one day. Last time we went to Rome, it was the last leg of our long, tiring trip and Mama had decided she did not like Rome. Maybe it was the heat, maybe the crowds and walking and touring had finally gotten to her. She also thought the fountain was dirty… so she didn’t throw in a coin. And she was back anyway – muahaha! This time she was really enjoying the trip, though, so she even tossed in a coin! :)

Then we walked to the Coliseum and took the audio guide tour. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that to get to the top level of the Coliseum and underneath the stage to the animal’s and slave’s quarters, you have to do a private guided tour (which is actually a little cheaper than the audio guide). So keep that in mind, anyone reading this blog and thinking about going to the Coliseum.

Another great shot courtesy of David House  

I read in my guidebook that the Forum closes an hour before sunset (which again, is much later in Europe). So we headed across the street only to find out the Forum closed at 6, which is well over an hour before sunset. Our Vatican tour the next day was scheduled from 1-4 so Dad suggested we just come back after that. But I was a bit nervous about cutting it too close again and I still wanted to do the Pantheon the next day. Good thing I listened to my instinct because our Vatican tour ended up being a 5 hour tour instead of 3 (more to come on that). So David and I convinced Dad and Elizabeth to wake up bright and early on Monday to see the Forum right when it opened at 8:30.

On the way to the Forum the next morning, we also saw Constantine’s Forum and Column and the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of unified Italy.

Constantine's Forum and Column 

Victor Emmanuel II Monument

Because we were there early, the Forum was almost completely empty.

We found a great photo op in front of the Coliseum

And of course the guys wanted in on the fun too!

The other great thing about getting up early is the cooler temperature. We were able to enjoy our walk through the archaeological site without pushing through all of the other tourists or constantly stopping for water breaks.

We did stop for one water break, though.

Our water bottles were getting empty and Rome has great public water fountains available all over the city. These are even marked on maps. When we were in the Palatine section of the city, above the Forum, we saw a water feature and decided to refill our bottles. I looked for the marking on the map telling me this was a designated fountain, but I couldn’t find it. As David and Elizabeth started drinking the cold water, Dad walked a bit further up the path and noticed a disgusting, scum-filled pond draining down into the water feature we had just filled our water bottles up in!

Oops!

David and Elizabeth immediately spit out the water and dumped out their bottles. Then we had a quick prayer session begging God not to give anyone dysentery on our vacation. He must’ve been listening because David and Elizabeth stayed healthy as horses!

Back to the Forum – to Dad’s great disappointment, the Circus Maximus was closed. When we also saw that the entrances to the emperor’s residences in the Palatine were also closed, we decided to be rule-breakers and just jump the fence. Dad hesitated but when David chided, “Come on Dave! Don’t be afraid of history!” he hopped those fences faster and better than any of us!

Some of the exhibits that weren’t closed were the old temples, the Senate building (which was not as big or cool as we all thought it would be), and the tunnels beneath the Palatine for servants/slaves.

House of the Vestal Virgins.  If those girls broke their

vows of chastity, they were buried alive!

On our way back to the hotel to pick up Mom and Carrie, we grabbed some pizzas. Then we met up with the rest of the group, got changed into some Vatican-appropriate attire, and took a taxi to Vatican City.

I was not prepared for the madness of the Vatican that day.

You see, David and I have gotten used to vacationing during the off-season. We don’t have kids and we’re not teachers, which means our travel schedule is not dictated to Spring Break, Summer, or Winter Break. We’ve usually avoided crowds and lines. But Rome in the middle of the summer is a different story. Let’s just say we were very thankful that we paid a few extra Euros for an official tour of the Vatican, which allowed us to skip the line.

After getting some gelato to hold us over for the tour, we began.

Prepping for our tour

The reason the tour took two hours longer than originally scheduled was due to the congestion of foot traffic inside the museum. You literally could not walk anywhere… it was more of a shuffle. It’s a good thing none of us are claustrophobic.

We tried not to focus on the crowd, though, and our tour guide was so good, we didn’t even realize it was 5:30 when we exited the Sistine Chapel!

The dome of St. Peter's Basilica from inside the Vatican gardens

A crazy twisty statue - our guide's favorite

Emperor Nero's bird bath... No wonder everyone hated that guy!

There are really no words to describe the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, or St. Peter’s Basilica. There is so much history inside there and the works of art are so amazing, we felt very blessed to be able to see these things in-person. A couple of remarkable things we saw were the original maps of Italy, which you can still use today. Most of the “paintings” you think you’re seeing inside the museums and basilica are actually mosaics, teeny-tiny mosaics that seen as a whole, look like paintings. The basilica has the largest interior of any other Christian church in the world. It is so huge that as you walk up the center aisle, there are markings of other famous churches around the world that fit inside. To give you an idea of how huge St. Peter’s is, Westminster Abbey’s marking doesn’t even reach the main alter of St. Peter’s.

“God rays” coming through the dome of St. Peter’s

Michelangelo's La Pieta

We took in the awesomeness of the basilica and Michelangelo’s La Pieta before walking down the street to the Castel Sant’Angelo, where we took some pictures on Bernini’s famous bridge before hopping in a cab to the Pantheon.

After a quick stop inside the Pantheon, we went to a local pizzeria for dinner (where we should’ve split those giant pizzas). We had a lot of fun at our last meal in Rome, singing with the maître d’ to get our picture taken and going around the table with our favorite stories from the trip so far.

The fourth and final blog coming up next...