The most beautiful city ever

Not much more to say. Ahh the Cinque Terre...




















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Location:Via M. Carattino,Vernazza,Italy

Rome (Day 2) The Football Game!

So after our Vatican sightseeing half day Jay had to watch the Italy soccer game where the locals do. After much asking around he found out that there was one of I think six FIFA Fan Fest in Rome. We figured out what area it was in but still were not sure exactly where it was. Well once we got off the Metro there were just flocks of Italians in gear all heading to the same place. We knew where to go from there. Follow the swarms of Italians!

I don't think either of us expected this. We thought they would just be showing the game but it was a full fledged festival.

The fans were all geared up and ready to support Italy. Maybe one of Jays happiest moments of his life.

This was when they were singing the Italian national anthem. So much pride I can't express it in words. Sorry USA, Italy pride beats ours by a million. As most of you know, Italy lost. There were many with tears in their eyes. But it was an awesome experience. Probably our best memory so far.

Rome (Day 2)

Today was a biggie. We saw the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and Square.

The museums had some awesome sculptures.

The Sistine Chapel's fresco's were awesome but I got no pictures of them (its forbidden) but got some good pics of other fresco's. Maybe Jason would have more to say on these. Again, I am not the biggest art lover here, but I was definitely enjoyed learning about how fresco's are created and was awed by the neck breaking work that goes into them.


I think my favorite was the Basilica. The museums were great and the art was amazing but the scale of the basilica just blew me away.


This was only half of a day! I will write about the rest in the next post.

Roma (day 1)

It's been a long 2 days. We had tough time right off our train from the airport. Jay assured me that his iPhone GPS would work here so I only wrote down the addresses. Of course it did not work so we were pretty stressed about what to do. We found a store that had a bunch of maps and jay took some pics of it and we found it from that.
The hostel itself is pretty nice. We were actually taken to a different place than we booked but it's a brand new condo closer to the train station so we couldn't compain. I think we might be the first two people to stay in it! Georgio is our host. He barely speaks any english but he is trying very hard to learn and is taking great care of us.
Once we got settled in it was about 9pm. We headed out to take a look around our neihborhood. We found a great little place for dinner and had our first Roma pizza.







Mmmmm, it was awesome. That was it for our first night.

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Location:Via Muzio Clementi,Rome,Italy

Great start

So I am in London on a layover. The first leg of our flight went great. We got bumped up to not quite first class but one step below it. Jay got a complmentary british news paper which was all about the world cup so he was happy and they gave us free wine with dinner! what more could we ask for :)

One more hour and we will be on our way to Rome!






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Location:London heathrow

Welcome

This is where I will be posting updates on my big trip. Jay and I will be doing Italy together and then I will meet up with a friend from work to tour Spain. I plan to post here everyday and make this my travel journal. Here is a recap of my plans so far:

Travel dates: June 22 - August 10

Italy Plans:
Rome (4 nights) June 23, 24, 25, 26 (staying at Bavaria B&B & Hostel)

Florence (1 night) June 27 (staying at Leonardo House)

Cinque Terre (3 nights) June 28, 29, 30 (staying at Room Elisabetta in Vernazza)

Siena (2 nights) July 1, 2 (staying at La Casa delle Terme o Casa di Antonella)

Sorrento (2 nights) July 3, 4 (staying at Casa Sorrentina)

Palombaro (2 nights) July 5, 6 (no reservations yet, plan on staying at Hotel Vittoria)

Overnight train from Pescara to Venice – July 7th

Venice (2 nights) July 8, 9 (staying at Alloggi Gerotto Calderan)

Milan (2 nights) July 10, 11 (I will be here on my own, staying at Hotel Serena)

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Fly to Madrid!! Will met up with my friend Lori.

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Spanish Spree Tour (Contiki):
Madrid (2 nights) July 12, 13 (Staying at Hotel Amaral Madrid)

Bilbao (1 night) July 14 (Staying at Abba Parque de Bilbao)

Pamplona (1 night) July 15 (Staying at Abba Reino De Navarra Pamplona)

Barcelona (2 nights) July 16, 17 (Staying at Abba Garden Barcelona)

Ibiza (2 nights) July 18, 19 (Staying at El Puerto Hotel Ibiza)

Granada (2 nights) July 20, 21 (Staying at Los Angeles Hotel Granada)

Seville (1 night) July 22 (Staying at Hotel Catalonia Hispalis Seville)

Cordoba (1 night) July 23 (Staying at NH Califa Hotel Cordoba)

Madrid (2 nights) July 24, 25 (Staying at Hotel Amaral Madrid)

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After this I have no idea what I am doing. I hope to meet people on the tour and then travel with them to Portugal, France, Germany or wherever! And if that doesn't happen then I can just go to my cousin Mike's in Germany or my friend Sarah's in London, which is where I will be flying out of.