Rome in one day...

I’m sure to truly explore Rome and all it’s rich history and relics you need a week or even more...too bad we had exactly one day!  We arrived in Termini train station around 9 PM where we headed straight for the nearest food we could find...McDonalds :o( but we were starving, as they didn’t have food on the train and our snack stash was depleted.  After dinner we made the short walk to our hotel and headed straight to bed.  Poor Autumn’s sleep schedule is already so out of whack...ah, the challenges of traveling with a toddler.  We were determined to see as much of Rome as we could so after a short nights rest and a quick breakfast we were off to explore.

We arrived at the Colosseum right around 9 AM via the metro and luckily the line was still relatively short.  We wandered around the magnificent structure listing to Rick Steve’s on our i-pods as we imagined the amazingly horrific things that happened here long ago.  I was amazed at the 80 elevator shafts that used to be under the arena floor that could hoist a gladiator or lion or poor helpless slave up in to the arena in a flash...likely to meet it’s gory end.  Autumn just liked the fact that animals used to be here and for the rest of the day kept asking where the animals were.

After the Colosseum we headed straight for the Forum across the street.  We accidentally entered through a side entrance, so while we listened to our Rick Steve’s podcast we were completely lost and couldn’t find anything he was describing.  We should have turned it off until we arrived in the right location, because unfortunately it ruined the Forum a bit for me as I was constantly looking for a clue of where we were and not listening to the information he was providing.  There were definitely some amazing things to look at though...even if we didn’t understand exactly what they all were.  Guess we’ll have to go back some day and do it again :o)

Next up we hiked up over capital hill where we saw two different bride and groom couples emerging from church.  It was a beautiful sunshiny day in Rome, so after a quick water break we kept walking to the Pantheon.  It was amazing to see the huge 40 foot columns at the front and the large dome in the back.  The most amazing column was definitely that of the sunshine beam that came through the hole at the center of the dome. 

We had planned to take a cab from here to Vatican city, but decided it didn’t look too far on the map, so we might as well press on.  We passed the Piazza Navona, a lively area with artists galore and exactly what you picture when you think “Italy.”  The place was alive with tourists and street performers and I definitely could have lingered here longer if we weren’t already pressed for time.  

We grabbed some lunch en route and let Autumn do a quick ride on the merry-go-round and then arrived at Vatican City right around 2 PM.  I had taken some shorthand notes from Rick Steves about how best to navigate the Vatican Museum, Sistine chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica, but my notes weren’t thorough enough and I couldn’t quite remember where we were supposed to enter.  We ended up succumbing to one of the many people on the streets offering tours to all three that would get you around the huge lines.  It was only $20 per person, so not a bad deal.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, but a little rough around the edges...he offered a few more opinions that I would generally like, but he did also give us a wealth of information about what we saw.  Oh, and he kept me from being thrown out of the Sistine chapel for stealing a few quick photos...I couldn’t help myself...I think it’s ridiculous that they don’t let you take pictures just so you buy their guidebooks...and everyone was taking pictures...so, it was worth being yelled at :o)  We visited the vast St. Peter’s Basilica just before a service was staring.  We had to take turns inside as no strollers allowed...I have no idea why, but those are the rules :o)  Here are my best shots of the Sistine chapel.

Next we headed back to the metro and took the train to the Spanish steps.  We ate dinner at a lovely little italian restaurant with the most amazing cheese sticks I have ever had...I mean seriously, I may go back to Rome for these cheese sticks alone...ha!  And the waitstaff was so cute with Autumn...bringing her her own special little fork...making her a napkin hat...and making her her own homemade pasta with oil so she could eat it with no worries about the allergies...it was awesome!

After dinner, with bellies full of pasta, Autumn and I hiked the 138 steps up to the top of the Spanish steps where we took in the lovely view of Rome at dusk.  

We met Daddy down at the bottom where we all navigated our way to the Trevi fountain.  I’m sure this fountain is beautiful during the day, but the way that it glows at night is just beautiful.  We found an opening where we could sneak down to the water and take turns throwing our coins in while we made a wish.  I’m pretty sure Autumn made about 10 wishes as she through coin after coin in...asking for “more, more!”  

We wandered back to the Pantheon, grabbed some gelato and then headed back to the Colosseum for a few more pictures before getting back on the metro and back to our hotel.  It was a LONG day...and LOTS of walking, but we saw everything on our list and definitely took advantage of the short time we had in Rome.  We got to sleep in a little bit the next morning before we headed back to the train station to hop on a train and head for our big floating hotel where we’ll spend the next 7 nights.

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Planes, Trains, & Automobiles - A trip to Venice

And boats and buses...oh my! :o)  We have been on all of them in the past 24 hours (ok well not the train yet, but that will be tomorrow...close enough).  Wednesday night officially started our whirlwind Italian and cruise adventure.  We were leaving from Charleroi airport (an hour outside of Brussels) early Thursday morning so we decided to stay the night at a cheap hotel by the airport.  Our trip started by taking a bus to the midi station where we planned to hop a bus to the airport (to save on 13 days worth of parking fees).  When we got there we were somehow convinced by a cab driver that it was a better idea to ride with him to Charleroi as it would be easier and faster...and he was not kidding.  Jacob said he was driving over 100 most of the way.  I was completely freaking out, holding on to Autumn as tight as I could and seriously regretting our decision, but we were stuck.  Thankfully our 30 minute ride of terror ended and we made it there safely and vowed to stay out of cabs whenever possible.  From there we took a shuttle to our hotel and went straight to sleep.  We may as well have slept on the shuttle though because we were back on it at 4:30 the next morning. 

We boarded our flight to Venice (barely skimming by without yet another $50 excess baggage fee as I put on several of my shirts at once so the suitcase would fit...ha!) And by 10:00 AM after a short bus ride we were in lovely charming Venice.  I booked the Carlton Capri hotel that was quite close to the train station (as we were lugging two large suitcases, one small, and two carry on bags...oh and the BOB).  We only had to navigate across two small bridges thankfully and found it relatively easily.  I’ve heard Venice can be quite a challenge to navigate with lots of small alleys and bridges, etc.  It all adds to the charm, but also the difficulty of finding your way around.

As soon as we dumped all our stuff we set off to explore.  Jacob opted to carry Autumn in the backpack to avoid carrying the BOB over the many, many bridges.  There weren’t a lot of things on our “itinerary” in Venice...mostly just to explore the city.

We wandered aimlessly for most of the day, found some yummy rolled pizza and a sandwich for lunch and a quaint park to eat it in...Autumn fed most of her sandwich to the birdies :o)  

We ended up in St. Mark’s Square with St. Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace.  We’ve been using Rick Steve’s guidebooks somewhat for our trips and discovered you could download free audio tours on his website...that’s right I said free!  So we wandered around the square while we listened to Rick explain the history behind it all.  It was nice to actually know what we were looking at.  

After we toured the square, we did the unthinkable...we took a gondola ride!  These things aren’t cheap, but really, how often are you in Venice.  And it was totally worth it.  We were worn out and tired so it was just the break we needed and a lovely way to tour around Venice.  Autumn especially loved our gondolier...she was making eyes at him most of the trip...hehe :o)  She’s such a flirt.

That evening we had dinner in a cute little restaurant and then sat on the steps of a building on the grand canal to watch the sunset.  It was the perfect way to end a wonderful day.

The next morning we wandered around a bit more, but stayed close to our hotel as we prepared for our afternoon train to Rome.  The charm of Venice was intoxicating and I loved the simplicity of this city.  It left us open to just wander and take in all the quaint little aspects that make it so fantastic...the only agenda for Venice is to walk and enjoy!

Click here to view the full album from Venice.

Next up...Rome! 

Lovely London

Jacob's parents came for a visit last week and we didn't do too much last weekend...headed to Brugge of course, but mostly just hung out around Brussels.  They had fun spending time with Autumn and even took a few days exploring Paris, but for this weekend we decided to all head to London.  This was our first time in the UK and I just have to say, it is so lovely being somewhere that the main language is English.  We can read signs and menus and ask for directions if we're lost...it's the small things...and it makes such a difference.

We got an early start on Friday and took the Euro tunnel over.  It was an interesting experience...with your car on a train and going under the English channel, but it was the cheaper route.  We were also worried about the drive in London because Jacob got lots of tips that it was going to be tough driving on the other side of the road with London traffic.  But aside from turning down a bus only street at one point we actually did really well...and I think we would definitely recommend it and will likely do it again.  When we arrived at our hotel, Park Plaza Riverbank we were pleasantly surprised.  It was really nice, we were just across the river from Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, and we got a great deal on Expedia...it was perfect.  We took our stuff to our room and headed right out to explore.

First we saw the House of Parliament...

Then Westminster Abbey

And Big Ben (which is actually quite little)

We found Piccadilly Circus (similar to like NY Time Square)

And Buckingham Palace

That night Jacob and I had the rare treat to go out on the town by ourselves.  We saw the musical Wicked and it was FANTASTIC!!  I've seen it once before, but it was such a special treat to see it in London.   That is definitely a night to remember

On Saturday we bought a train pass and just planned to see the city.  We visited The London Tower and The Tower bridge...so cool!!

We popped in to The British Museum for a bit since it was free and we had a tip that it was cool. Autumn was in full toddler swing after just napping so we didn't stay long because we figured our fellow patrons didn't appreciate our running, screaming, cutie pie as much as we did :o)

We then walked over to Covent Garden...a lovely open air market and shopping area with lots of street performers and personality.  It was a fun little area that if we had more time and money it would have been fun to hang around longer.  They even had their own Build a Bear & Disney store...I haven't seen those in awhile :o)  Autumn's favorite part was chasing away the pigeons...here she is quite proud of herself :o)

Our last stop of the day was Notting Hill.  We didn't really expect to find anything from the movie here...we just wanted to experience a small quant area of the city.  It was a nice little area...not really much too see, but on a beautiful day it was fun wandering around checking out all the beautiful houses and gardens.  By this time we were all quite tired and ready to head back to the room.

On Sunday we felt like we really had seen all the main tourist attractions, so we ended up heading back home a bit early. I'm sure we'll be visiting lovely London again soon...maybe even during the upcoming Olympics.  It was nice to get home early enough to enjoy some nice weather in Brussels and have some down time to close out another fun weekend.  We need all the down time we can get because we leave in just three short days for our next trip!!  Time to get laundry and packing going again :o)

Click here to view the full London album.

On the Road Again...

Eight countries in four days!  I should probably change the title of this post to what were we thinking...ha!  Actually it was a great weekend and although it was LOTS of time in the car, it was such a beautiful landscape we really didn't mind.  So here is the list of countries we traveled through...

Belgium
The Netherlands
Germany
Austria
Liechtenstein
Switzerland
France
Luxembourg

We started out super early Saturday morning en route to Stuttgart, Germany.  Jacob's cousin Brandt and his wife Anna and their adorable newborn daughter Solfried live there and we were due to pay them a visit.  They were so nice to feed us a delicious lunch and give us a great break from the car before we continued on our journey down to Hohenschwangau, Germany to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle...better known as Sleeping Beauty's castle.  I absolutely LOVED this part of Germany.  We were down in the Alps and the scenery was just breathtaking!  Seriously there is something magical about water and mountains next to each other...it just makes you want to fall to your knees and thank the Lord for creating such an amazing backdrop for us to live in.  I am so thankful we get to visit all these amazing places!

Neuschwanstein Castle (view from Marienbruecke...Mary's bridge)

Hohenschwangau Castle (we could see this one out our hotel window)

Autumn trying out a new hairstyle :o) 

After checking out the castles (from the outside as we did not take the time to tour them) we packed back in the car and headed to Innsbruck, Austria.  Turns out we were only about a mile or two from Austria...we had no idea we were so close.  It was about an hour and a half drive to Innsbruck and we enjoyed every second of our drive through the mountains!  We arrived in Innsbruck just before lunch and found some yummy sausages to snack on while taking in this view!

Seriously...isn't Innsbruck gorgeous!  I just couldn't get over how lovely and charming this town is. No wonder it's been the host of two separate winter olympic games.  Our hotel was the peach colored one towards the middle.  Not too shabby :o)  After our lunch we decided to head UP the mountain.  That's right...see all those white snow covered peaks up there...that is where we were headed!  We bought an Innsbruck day pass that paid for the trip up on the Nordpark Cable Railways (and even gave us free admission to the Alpine Zoo...among other things).  There are three different tracks that take you to the top and the views are well worth the trip!

Slightly hazy, but gorgeous!  After our trip up the mountain we wandered around town a bit and then had dinner outside right on the river.  The sunshine and warm weather made this trip so much better.  We've really been missing it in Brussels.

The next morning we had to bid adieu to Innsbruck and were back on the road...today we were off to Switzerland.  We made a quick detour through the teeny tiny country of Liechtenstein.  There wasn't much to see in this tiny country of only about 35,000 people.  Liechtenstein is the smallest yet richest German-speaking country in the world and the only country to lie entirely within the Alps.  The drive to and through Switzerland was beautiful...like this beautiful Alpsee (I stuck my toes in it just to see how freezing it was since it was fed by the melting snow...and it was quite chilly)

Once we arrived at our final destination we were kinda bummed we chose the big city of Basel to stay in and wished we had stopped at one of the small towns along the way.  It worked for our last night though and it was still charming enough.

The next morning it was time to head home.  We packed up the car one last time and headed out. We stopped for lunch in a small town in France and ate possibly the best burger I have ever had (ok, maybe it was just nice to not be eating McDonalds finally, but it was so delicious).  There was no bun, it was on top of like a large hash brown type thing...and had crunchy little onion sprinkles on top.  Seriously, I never would have thought of this combination, but yum!  And this was maybe the most "Americanized" restaurant we have seen here yet...it was similar to like a texas roadhouse or something.  If we ever come across another "La Ferme" restaurant, we will definitely be stopping.

And now we're home safe and sound from our whirlwind trip.  It was another great adventure with my two favorite people and I can't wait for our next one!

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