Vatican City

Day two in Rome; we're up bright and early (before 6 local time) to make it to the Vatican and attempt to beat as much of the massive number of people as possible. A willingness to sign up for the first tour of the day meant we were already ahead of a huge portion of the 25,000 + daily visitors. Just like Versailles a few years ago, we also got very lucky. This time it was rain that kept the crowds low (or at least made them late). We arrived at St. I Peter's Square to see almost no one. Only a few early birds waiting in line for tickets had beat us; but thanks to Lauren's work as always, we did not have to wait in line as we had a tour. We even had time to stop at McDonald's for a brief breakfast and were the first ones there.













Our tour started with the Vatican Museum which is very much like the Louvre; stolen artifacts wall to wall and too big to actually see it all. Our tour guide was great and really hit the highlights, allowing us to skip much of the repetitive stuff. We were able to tour the papal apartments that were painted by Rafael; which were among his first large works and because the Sisteen Chapel was being done at the same time; shows how he learned from Michelangelo from one work to the next.








Of course no tour of the Vatican is really complete without the Sisteen Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. There are no pictures allowed in the Sisteen Chapel; runout amongst the tour guides is that this is because Kodak paid for the revitalization (which is true) and they do not want to share the image rights. Either way images are allowed in the Basilica and both are too magnificent to describe in a blog post. However I will say that the Basilica is so tall that the letters you see going around the upper section are over 9 feet tall; and seem small from the ground.














- Jordan
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Via della Scala,Rome,Italy

Rome with me

After a very long day & night of traveling, we arrived in Rome! I greatly missed business class (man that sounds bad). Thanks to my friend/minion Carson, we had a prearranged driver to drive us to the hotel. We got to see some sights from the car & although he spoke no English, he still knew what to tell us.










I wanted to ease us into Rome, so we headed to the North part of the city center. We got to see a lot of the tourist sites before the rain made us look like sewer rats. We got to see a few churches, the Trevi fountain, the Spanish stairs and Borghese / Pinco Gardens. We got to touch the original city walls of Pax Roma! & Sadly the Augustus Mausoleso was closed so I could not have my Eat, Pray, Love moment.

 
   

The question is did we have a La Dolce Vita moment in the Trevi ?!?

 
  
The weird thing we did was visit the Cappuccin Crypt. This crypt was created with human bones in various forms. To say it is creepy is an understatement. I'm not sure why any one would sort through bones to then make a chapel is still beyond my comprehension.  There were no pictures allowed which is probably a good thing. 

We cheated and ate lunch at Hard Rock. We are up to number eight in the EU. We made up for it at dinner by stopping at a local Trattoria. It was delicious! We turned in early to make sure we were the first people to Vatican City tomorrow!

-Lauren

Location:Via del Boschetto,Rome,Italy

 

Rome. By all means. Rome!

When I found a $400 airline ticket to Rome from CLT, we had to buy it. In fact, I put the ticket on hold within twenty minutes of receiving the flight alert.   I have waited nine years for an Italian adventure; I had parts of this trip planned out already because I have just known one day I would get to Italy. 

The title of this blog is a quote from the movie Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn.   I feel if you are going to go to Rome, you better brush up on your religious, art, cinematic, and classical histories. To say I did a lot of research for this trip is an understatement.  I have watched movies, read non-fiction books, listened to dozens of podcasts, and spent countless hours on webpages.   It took this effort and my favorite travel sites to plan this exciting trip!  We will be traveling by plane, car, metro, boat, train, and scooter around Italy. 

We will start out in Rome; a city obviously loaded with ancient buildings and artifacts.  I cannot wait to see some of the highlights like the Colosseum, the Vatican, and Trevi Fountain.  We also can’t wait for the food and wine! 

To make sure we incorporated the vacation part into this trip, we will venture down to the Amalfi Coast for a few days.  Jordan will be brave enough to drive us on this road trip. Here we will visit ancient Greek Temples, the most beautiful coastline with hilltop towns, beaches, and hopefully Capri!  Yes, Capri is the fancy island that has been alluring famous people since the times of Roman Emperors.   We will be lucky enough to stay in Positano.  This is the sea side city Frances / Diane Lane travels to in Under the Tuscan Sun.  

We will leave the beautiful coast for a few more stops.  We will tour the ruins of Pompeii and then hop over to Naples for a bit.  Yes, I’m nervous when I write that too!   However, we all know I’m a sucker for a world renowned museum.  Naples has the Archeological Museum that houses most of the artifacts from the Pompeii excavations.   Then we will train back to Rome to soak in the Eternal City for one last day. 

  

After all, the closest we have been to the Trevi Fountain is at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas (See, Circa 2006)

La Dolce Vita!  

15 years & Sloth Water

September 2016 marks the fifteenth year Jordan & I have been in each other’s lives.  We made traveling a priority in our relationship and we are both so much richer for it.   So to celebrate this occasion, we ventured to a new continent together!  

As mentioned in the previous post, we traveled to Uruguay for eight days.  We both worked the majority of the trip, but we made sure to make time for eating, tasting new wines, and wandering around the city.  

If you have previously read this blog, you are already aware of our hatred of overnight flights.  Regardless of the seat, we cannot get psyched for these long flights.  The one going to Uruguay was the most memorable for me, as I got very sick on the plane.   As we got off the plane, I was determined to feel better.  We pushed through the day to sightsee, and in the evening we got to the hotel and agreed to just order room service.   The Hilton had a place to get snacks & drinks in the lobby, so I grabbed a one liter bottle of water.  As we are riding up the elevator, I begin to drink the water and I look down to see this creature on the label staring at me.   I quickly put it down and said out loud – Sloth Water!   And that started a mini obsession with the water bottles in Uruguay.  It’s actually just water in a normal bottle, but the bottle has various animals on the label that are native to South America since the company donates part of the proceeds to these endangered creatures.   None of which are actually sloths….but hey I drank a lot of that Sloth Water.

I also learned a lot about their eating and drink habits.  The favorite thing to give tourist is Dulce de Leche.  This is far sweeter than caramel and looks like it in substance.  They like it on pancakes (more crepe than pancake), cookies, strawberries, or anything really.   It’s so very sweet that even I can only handle bit sized bites, but I had a bit every day.  

They truly love their beef; this country has more cattle than people. I ate beef every day for a week for the first time in my life.  I even ate fried beef!  I will admit the quality was impressive.  I am very curious now to compare these steaks to Argentina or Brazil to see who has the best beef.

More recently, the Uruguayans are also trying to give Argentina a bit of a run for the best wine on the continent.  They have really amped up their wine production in the past few years.  They are best known for Tannat wine, which is a red wine.  And of course, they had their own beer brands.

I also loved drinking an authentic Caipirinha, even if they are technically a Brazilian drink.

And we had to eat at the American Hamburger place called Pizza & Love.

 Until next time Montevideo….no seriously, I will see you in October.  Bring on summer on the Rambla!

- Lauren