Pictures!!!

Follow the links below to see all of my pictures from Europe!! Organized by week. :) ENJOY!

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6 (Part 1)
Week 6 (Part 2)

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Last Day!

We woke up at the crack of 9:30. Haha! We got to sleep an extra hour because today is daylight savings time in Europe! Score!

We ate breakfast then called Delta to change our flight. They changed our flight to where we had two layovers instead of one. So we had them switch it to a flight that goes from Athens to New York, then to Dallas. So now we have a 4 hour layover in NYC! Oh the possibilities.

We booked an extra night since now we don't have to be at the airport at 3:00am. Our hotel is super nice. Not only did they keep us in the same room, but they are charging the super cheap rate that we booked online! Yay!

We started packing up our stuff to get a bit organized. Then finally headed out about noon. We went to the Plaka again and got some last minute souvenirs.

We stopped by the temple of Olympic Zeus and got pics. Then we went to the Olympic arena. It was where the first modern Olympics were held in the 1800s. Not to be confused with the 2004 Olympic area of Athens.

From there we went to Syntagma square. There were no protests today, thank goodness. We saw Parliment and the guards.

Then somehow ended up in the Plaka...again. Its one of the best parts of Athens! Not to mention to get there we passed the most popular cat hang out. :P

We stopped and played with the swarm of kitties. One we named Moustache. He would follow us down the street and hopped into Heather's lap and started purring and kneading her leg. :) cats can totally sense Cat Lovers. Its precious.

We stopped at Antica for dinner. It was a tiny resteraunt next to ancient Agora. It was such a good way to end our trip!! We had meatballs and sauce for an appetizer, which were so good. Then for dinner I had the best pizza I have ever tasted! It was so good I sort of cried...but I'm not ashamed. That pizza was like magic! Heather had a plate of pork gyros, which were also delicious. Such a good send off dinner!

We got back to our hotel and are finishing our final journal entries, packing up, and watching Greek-dubbed Spongebob.

Its surreal that we are going home tomorrow! Where has the time gone?! I have such mixed feelings. It will be really great to get back to our own place with the kitties. But on the other hand...to leave Europe....its really hard. We have spent 12% of the year here!

Not to mention, I have really enjoyed blogging about the trip! I will update with pics when we get home. Then who knows...maybe we will blog again on our next great adventure! Until then...

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

3 Islands in One Day!

We got up super early (6:30) and caught a one-day cruise tour! We took a bus to the harbor then got on a tiny cruise ship with a bunch of other tour groups.

It took a little over an hour and a half to get to our first island, Hydra. We were met by 13 cats on the dock!! I love how many cats are running around Greece! Its even more crazy that they were all over an island!

We only had an hour or so at each island. So we walked along the coast on a cat hunting tour. In a little over an hour we saw 37 different cats on Hydra! Including super cute kittens. One was all alone and shivering, but Heather took her up to where there was some food. After that she tried to follow Heather! We named her Pippi Longstocking.

The water in Greece is so beautiful. Shades of blues and greens like I have never seen! We went down to a little beach area...or a swimming pier. It was so gorgeous! But it was super windy and there were whitecaps everywhere and lots of sea spray.

We grabbed some delicious panninis on the way back to our boat. Petted all of the harbor cats goodbye and sailed for Poros.

The ride to Poros was super rough. Heather was getting sea sick so we kept moving to different levels on the boat to try and make her feel better. I rubbed her back while she took a nap before we docked.

We got to Poros and it is super small! We only had about an hour so we ate some ice cream. Because Heather decided it would settle her tummy...and it did! We sat on the harbor and enjoyed our treats before walking around a bit. We made it back to the boat just in time to leave!

Lunch was included in the tour price. We had Greek salad, pork, rice and potatos. I didn't like it that much because the sauce they put on it. But for dessert we had really good cake with honey! So it made up for it.

Heather was a bit sick again (it was a ridiculously rough sea today!!) So we laid down and napped between islands.

Our last island was Aegina. It was the biggest of the three and we had an hour and 40 minutes to explore. All I have wanted for the last two weeks was to play on a beach. We have been thwarted numerous times...but today I got my wish!

Just beside the harbor was a small sandy beach area!! I couldn't kick my shoes off and roll my pants up quick enough! It was a little chilly to swim, so we just waded around and played in the shallows. I love beaches! Especially super clear water like on Aegina!!

We wanted to build a sandcastle...but this is Greece!! So we decided it was better to build a sand Parthenon. :) It was awesome.

There was an archaeological site that looked cool, but it was closed. So we walked around it and ended up finding a really pretty secret beach!

We enjoyed the sunset from there before heading back to our boat.

Back on board we were entertained by a folk dance show. They did 7 types of traditional Greek dances, in Greek garb. It was really fun!!

We made it back to Athens about 19:30 and went back to our hotel. We decided to stay in and relax. Ordered room service, watched MTV and just having a wonderful romantic evening.

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

I <3 Athens!!

This morning we had the best breakfast of the trip. Bread/ toast (not a lot of places offered a toaster!), homemade jams, fruits, yogurt, eggs, crispy bacon, cereals (with actual cereal bowls!), frapps, juice...and cakes!! They had a cremé cake and banana cream pie and some other devilish delights. It was delicious!

We got ready and headed out to see ancient Athens. Since its a free-admission day everything was pretty busy. But it was worth the money we saved!

We started at the Acropolis. We wandered around the ruins and ancient theatre then climbed the hill to the Parthenon!! Atop of one of the highest points in Athens lays the infamous Parthenon which dates back to 4th century BC.

Its massive! And the amount of original columns and marble structures is mind blowing. It was truly a sight to see.

We also saw the temple of Athena Nike, which still has some of its original sculptures in tact!

We have noticed a large number of stray cats and dogs in Greece. But who would of thought we would find them way up at the Parthenon!? We found a family of 4 cats. Which we named: Zeus, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. I made friends with Athena and wanted to take her home. (Haha, just what we need...a 5th cat!?! Ummm, no)

After descending the hill we discovered the ruins of ancient Agora. Walking through ruins from a civilization that thrived in 4th century B.C. is a humbling experience.

Must have been a day for animals, because we found two tortoises out for a stroll in the grass! Heather of course got pics with both of them. You can take the girl out of Petsmart, but you can't take the Petsmart out of the girl. ;)

We then explored the shops around the Plaka area of Athens. All the while stopping in to different monuments/ruins here and there...because they were free!! Heather bought herself a cool copper replica of Athena's helmet. 

We ate dinner at a place called Estia. We had vine leaf rolls for an appetizer. They are minced pork with rice and seasonings, wrapped in a vine leaf and covered in a cheese fondue. So delicious!! I was tearing those up!! Who knew I'd like something Greek?? Heather had traditional Greek chicken souvlaki and I had a burger. Which we weren't entirely sure was beef...I suspect veal. But alas, it was yummy. (Sorry Bambi!) We splurged and had dessert too! We split a white hot chocolate and a crepé with Nutella and strawberries. Best dinner ever.

After dinner we booked it to the New Acropolis Museum, which houses most of the sculptures from the Parthenon. We were hearded like cattle to get in. They were open late tonight for the holiday, and it was swamped!!

The museum was voted best in the world...and I can tell why. Its is three stories and there is a path laid out on the map for the best tour. There are glass floors where you can see the current work on excavations below, galleries of sculptures...then there is the Parthenon. Sort of.

The top floor has metal columns laid out to-scale like the Parthenon, with all of the sculptures on display as they used to be on the actual building. It was very innovative! You could really get a feel for how gorgeous the original building was!!

We ended up spending three hours in the museum and left when they were closing. We swung by the temple of Olympic Zeus, then back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we are going on a day cruise around some of the gorgeous islands!! We get to see Hydra, Poros, and Aegina! I'm stoked. Hopefully we can finally play on the beach!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Patra, Greece

Woke up and took our sweet time getting to breakfast. It was really good! Breads, cereals, yogurt, fruits, eggs, bacon & sausages! I missed real breakfast!

As expected, the view from our room is even more gorgeous in the day. We checked out and left our packs at the hotel then went to play in Patra.

Well turns out, there's really not a lot going on there! We wanted to see the ancient acropolis. So we followed the walking directions from our Eurail book which lead us up a flight of 197 steep stairs. We found the ruins at the top of the hill...but they were closed! So we climbed the 197 steps back down.

Then we went and found St. Nicholas' church. But after 6 weeks in Europe viewing some of the most goregous cathedrals in the world....you get jaded.

Finally we decided to go the beach. We are in Greece afterall! I had looked up the nearest beach last night and it said it was only 2km away. So we set out to find it.

Well we walked for almost an hour and ended up back at the south harbor where our ferry docked last night! We asked a taxi driver about the beach and he looked like we were crazy. Apparenlty it was still about 8km away.... so I probably saw 12km online and thought it was only 2km. Oops!

We went back to the hotel with absolutely nothing accomplished. We hung out for a couple of hours and tried to find a day trip to Olympia from Athens. It doesn't look like we'll get to go. :( Everything was full or not running because of the work on the rail system.

Speaking of work on the rail system, our trip to Athens was... interesting! We had to take a bus from Patra to Kioto. That was about an hour and a half. Then took a train from Kioto to Ano Liossia. Then finally switched to the train to Athens. Mind you all of the stops were in Greek characters. So it was a really stressful trip.

We finally got to Athens and planned to walk to our hotel. Except all of the streets are obviously in Greek, and even though I wrote the directions with the Greek names...we couldn't figure it out. We ended up taking a taxi. Except HE didn't know where our hotel was....even though I gave him the address. He ended up driving in circles before finding it, then charged us €10! I was pissed. Ugh! No more taxis!!

We are staying at the Lotus Hotel. Its a 31 room 4-star 'boutique' hotel. Its family run and super nice. Its supposed to run €200/ night but through Booking.com I got it for €209 total for THREE nights. :) I love that website!!

We ordered room service for dinner while looking over the Athens tour options that reception gave us upon check-in. Room service was super cheap! €14 for both of our dinners and no extra service charges! I had the best Ceasar salad ever. Heather had a club sandwich.

H wasn't feeling too hot because she had taken a Dramamine on the bus earlier, on an empty stomach. I wanted to help her feel better so I went to the mini-mart next to the hotel and got her some Sprite. That seemed to do the trick! She is finally sleeping.

I'm chilling and watching MTV. Its funny what you end up watching in foreign countries, because its the only English channel.

Guess I should sleep! We're going to the Acropolis/ Parthenon tomorrow!! Its a national holiday here so all of the museums and national monuments have free entry! w00t!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Accomplishments!

Today I was bored and calculated how far we had traveled in the last six weeks.

Visited 14 countries, 40 cities, and the sovereign state of Vatican City.

Approximate distance walked on a dily basis, 3.5 miles (5.6 km). Total of 150 miles (241 km) on foot.

Total distance covered....

Counting air travel: 21, 416 miles (34,467 km)
Just travel in Europe: 13,055 miles (21,011 km)

13,055 miles is the same as driving from San Francisco, CA to New York City, NY 5 times. FIVE TIMES!!

I think those are some pretty awesome stats. :)

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Stuck in Bari/ Longest Ferry Ride Ever

We got up this morning. Checked out of the hostel, skipped "snackfast". We caught the Metro, then an early train to Caserta. Then had an hour between connections. Then a 3 hour train to Bari.

Once in Bari we took the bus to what we thought would be the harbor. 40 minutes later we were told we were on the wrong bus. We were on #20 and we wanted #20/ ... so we had to get off and wait for the #20 going back to the station. We waited for 30 minutes and got back on the same bus we started on, but it was now going to other way.

Got back to the station waited another 30 minutes for the #20/ to the harbor. Took that bus and got to the harbor 15 minutes later.

Got off the bus and went to the port terminal, about a 10 minute walk. Found out it was the wrong side of the port. Walked 15 minutes to the right building. Waited in line for a while then booked our tickets for the ferry.

Turns out due to a 3 day strike the daily 20:00 ferry wasn't leaving til 23:30!!!! So it was only 15:30 and we had nothing to do. We asked about luggage storage while we waited for 6 hours until we boarded. Turns out they were back at the first building! Ugh!!

Once we finally stored our packs we had about 5.5 hours until we had to be back. We decided to explore Bari, with no information and no map. We found a castle and went through it. It was being restored so you could only go through two rooms for €1,50. We were bored so it was worth it.

Then we ate some dinner at a small café. Bari is a port town, but not really touristy being on the east side of Italy. We had a wonderful dinner, beer, and gelato for €16!! It was awesome.

By this time it was only 18:15. We walked around found a pretty church and a park. We sat around and played 20 questions for a long time before going back to the harbor.

We still waited an hour before getting our packs. Then we sat around and waited some more until we could board.

We had to go through a security screening before boarding which caused some stir seeing as Heather has a pocket knife, dagger and sword. I also have a pocket knife. So that was a huge to-do. It was rather funny trying to communicate that the blades were souvenirs.

We FINALLY got on board at around 21:50. Our Eurail pass only got us free deck passage. If we wanted to stay in a recliner seat or a cbin it was very costly. The recliner seats were €50/ person! However, deck passage meant we could only sit on the deck chairs or in the lounge for the duration of the journey (which was supposed to ne 15.5 hours) Luckily, the guy checking our tickets just gave us two recliner chairs.

We were supposed to leave at 23:30, but we didn't embark until about 1:00! I slept most of the night, Heather apparently. Didn't get to sleep for a while.

I slept in, which was impressive since we were in airplane-type chairs! Woke up at about 9:00 and went out on deck. Spent some time exploring the ferry, then came back to wake H up about 11.

We did a lot of sitting around. Played some cards. Heather played Gameboy. I took a shower (thank goodness they had a shower!) Ate lunch about 13:00. Sat around more. Took a nap.

Then FINALLY we got to Patra, Greece at 18:30!! 21 hours on a freaking ferry!! So boring! Ironically, the company was 'SuperFast Ferries' LOL

So here we are in Patra! We are staying at a super swanky hotel, because things are super cheap in Greece right now. We have a great balcony overlooking the sea! It should be gorgeous in the morning.

Tomorrow we are going to explore Patra then head to Athens!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Capri

We got up early to do laundry. The laundry room opened at 8:00 so we started our load then went to breakfast. If we thought Florence breakfast was bad...Naples was ridiculous. You got one 5oz drink and 1 croissant filled with jam. If you want another drink it cost €1, no telling how much another pastry would cost!

The washer took an hour and 20 minutes and the dryer took over an hour (because the first cycle didn't dry our clothes!) The rooms have a lock out period from 10:00 -14:00 for cleaning but by the time we were done with laundry it was about 10:45. We snuck back in our room to drop off our clothes and hang the ones that were still damp.

We ate sandwiches from the Metro vending machines again. It was much more filling than our snackfast. We got to the train station and exchanged our tickets for tomorrow for an earlier time. The ones we booked originally would not have given us enough time to get to our ferry. Luckily they exchanged them with no issues.

With our chores done, we headed to Capri! It was overcast but not cold. So we had high hopes. We got to the harbor at about 12:40 but we were told the next ferry left two hours later. Or we could take the really slow ferry that also takes cars and it was leaving in 20 minutes. We opted for the slow one and ran to 3 different ticket counters until we found the right company. We bought out tickets at 12:58 and departed at 13:00!

Our ferry was pretty empty, as to be expected on a weekday afternoon in late October. We sat up top to enjoy the view, but it started raining almost immediately after departing! We still sat outside, we just chilled under a overhang for the rest of the ride.

By the time we got to Capri it was pouring down rain. Luckily, it still wasn't cold out. I pulled on my poncho and Heather put on her jacket and we set off to see what Capri had to offer. We browsed souvenir shops and tasted homemade Limoncello, along with chocolate candies with Limoncello centers (so good!) Then we found a little business that does boat tours around the island, including the 3 famous grottos. We booked two tickets and went to enjoy some homemade gelato while we waited for our departure.

We came back when it was time to depart but they decided to cancel the tour due to rough seas and the weather. We got a refund, but then had absolutely no plans. We asked the tourist office what there was to do in the rain and he reccomended the villas on the other side of the island. However, they closed in an hour. We decided to save our money and went to a rocky beach area next to the harbor.

I at least got to touch the water! Which, despite the rain, was really warm. Perfect swimming water!! All I wanted to do was swim on the beach of Capri!! >:(

As if Mother Nature were laughing at us, the rain picked up and it started to thunder and lightening. We opted to head back to Naples, completely defeated. So we only spent 2 hours on Capri, doing absolutely nothing except getting soaking wet. :(

We got back to Naples and the storm had followed us. We walked back to the train station, only stopping once for a donut. I have been craving donuts for about a week! We found a little café selling donuts from a display case on the street. For a typical glazed donut here it is usually €1,50! Highway robbery! But this café had enormous donuts and they were only €0,60! It was the single best donut I have ever eaten. It was so good that after having a bite of mine, Heather went back and got her own! Those donuts were easily the best part of the whole day.

We got to the station and asked the tourist office for a resteraunt reccomendation. She pointed out a pizzeria on the map, which was back where we had just come from. So we went back out in the rain and went to find it. We didn't make it to the one she reccomended because we were hungry, wet and grumpy.

We ate at Pizzeria D'Angelo instead. Heather had spaghetti carbonara, which was completely different than what you get in the states. I had a thick pasta with bolganase. The sauce had carrots, basil, and onions in with the pork. But I was very hungry and didn't care to be picky. I ate it all! We got a pizza to-go for lunch tomorrow. It is divided up in quadrants with olives, mushrooms, proscutto, and artichokes. Hopefully it will be good cold!

The rain finally stopped by the time we got to the hostel. They don't offer a kitchen, but the reception guy let us keep our pizza in the staff fridge. He's such a sweet guy!

We packed up our stuff and now its time for bed! Tomorrow will be an extremely long travel day. We start with an 8:02 train to Caserta, 10:02 train to Bari. Spend 5 hours in Bari, then take the 15 hour ferry to Patra, Greece.

The one good thing about going to Greece while there is political turmoil, is that hotels are way cheap!! Our hotel in Patra is a 5 star facility and only cost €85 for the night. :) at that rate we may stay somewhere nice in Athens for the final leg of our epic journey!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Napoli & Pompei

We got to Napoli this morning after a nice train ride through the Italian country side. Time flies on the trains because there is always something beautiful to see.

We went to our hostel, which is about a 15 minute trip on the metro. Its on the outskirts of town, but it has spectacular views of Naples since it is up on a hill. We left our packs and went out to explore.

We took the Metro to the station then caught a regional train to Pompei. The train took 40 minutes, which I spent napping. Despite the robust Italian family sitting near us and arguing most of the way.

The ruins of Pompei cost €11, but there is SO much to seee! Pompei used to be an important city in the ancient days. But in 79 A.D. Mount Vesuvious erupted and encased the entire city in over 15 feet of ash & lava. The inhabitants were petrified under the ash before the lava destroyed the town. The entire city is amazingly preserved with original buildings, items, art & more. There are even corpses of the victims, perfectly preserved in ash. Almost like mummies, but instead they look like sculptures.

The ruins of Pompei are open to the public to explore. You have to remember, this is an entire city! When we go in they offer a map, so you don't get lost. We opted to just free roam, as we usually do.

Street, after street, after street of amazingly preserved buildings. It was gorgeous! There is an entire ampitheatre, bath house, brothel, and multiple temples among the best kept buildings.

It was really fun to get to roam around the city at our leisure. There were tons of group tours but they didn't seem to do much of the side streets. They just did a tour of the main roads. Some of our favorite places ended up being way off the beaten path!

We took 4.5 hours to walk the city!  by the end of our exploration we were beat and hungry. We stopped by the cafeteria (which is in the forum! Haha) and bought some dinner. They were closing so the guy gave us about €26 worth of food for only €14!! We got a pizza and a half, fruit cup, fries, and a soda! Score!

We made our way back to the station and made the long journey back to the hostel. Walking back to our hostel we found a family of stray cats! There were even some kittens. :) automatically adds to the hostel's "cool score".

We're in a 4 bed female with only one roommate. The hostel is a HI hostel, so its very nice. The only thing is they only have 2 showers for our entire floor! So we showered tonight to beat the morning rush.

Tomorrow we are going to the romantic island of Capri! I'm so excited!!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Vatican City aka The Pope's House

Woke up feeling slightly rested. The hall bathroom proved to be noisier than expected. Ugh! And our bed was so uncomfortable. Took my Aleve first thing this morning!

The hotel breakfast matched everything else. A bit of a let down. It was just bread and cereal, which would be acceptable at a hostel...but this is a hotel! I'm spoiled and want hot foods for breakfast to give me fuel for a long day!

We had 11:30 tickets to the Vatican so we left about 10:15. Good thing too, the Metro was crazy busy because it is Saturday. Luckily we planned for this and we still made it to the Vtican with time to spare! We couldn't help but feel bad for the hundreds of people in line when we got there. We just cut in front of all of them with our online tickets!

If you have never been to the Vatican museum, it's size is comparable to that of the Louvre in Paris. If you have never been to the Louvre...then just imagine a really, really big museum!! There are SOOO many galleries!! From sculptures to paintings, the Vatican museum has a bit of everything! It was extremely impressive. You start in a court yard, then go into a hall of marble busts & sculptures. From there you go into a room of statues. Then up a set of stairs to rooms of sculptures. Through another courtyard of raman baths & statues. Then a gallery of granite sculptures of animals. Then 2 more rooms of sculptures. Then a round room with huge sculptures of granite and bronze. Then through another long hallway with paintings covering walls & ceiling. Then another staircase to a section of Egyptian art & mummies. From there you go on an outside passage to another 5 galleries of painted walls & ceilings. Up a staircase to 6 rooms of Roman vases. Then down some stairs, through 2 more halls...and now you arrive at the Sistine Chapel.

Let me say, if you see Michelangelo's work sometime in your life (which I hope you do)...don't see David before the Sistine Chapel! It puts the massive painting to shame. Michelangelo was firstly a sculpture, that is for sure. The Sistine Chapel is beautiful, but it does not ellicit the admiration that David does. Also, you are being moved around like heards of cattle in the tight space...so that loses some effect too. Of course it is still a Holy place so you aren't allowed to talk, although everyone is. And they don't allow pictures....but somehow I have some that magically appeared on my camera! After all of the other art you spent 3.5 hours looking at prior to the Sistine Chapel....it is truly hard to take it all in for the infamous piece of art that it is. It was sad!

After the Sistine Chapel, there were still 3 galleries before the exit!! What an incredible collection!

When we left there was a ridiculously long line to get in. We are so happy that we bought in advance!!

We walked over to the actual Vatican and toyed with the idea of a tour. However, the line to get in there wrapped 2/3 of the way around the plaza!! I took a video of it, it takes 45 seconds to scroll the entire line!! Heck no.

We instead headed back to the other side of the city to sxee if the Colliseum was open today. No such luck. Today the sign read "Closed due to technical issues" haha! Not sure what that means. Oh well. While we were hanging out around the Colliseum we met a stray kitty!! She came right up to us and rolled over for belly pets. She didn't have fleas or look sickly, so we indulged her. Makes us a little less home sick, I think. We sure do miss our babies!!

We had dinner by the Colliseum at Cafe 183. I had some tortillini with cream and ham, and Heather had a mushroom pasta. Delicious!!

After dinner we went souvenir shopping and Heather found a wonderful Roman short sword for her weaponry collection!! Its simply gorgeous. She is beyond ecstatic with it.

With all of our money spent, we headed back to the hotel early. We stopped by the internet cafe to look up some info we need for Greece then settled in for the night.

Rome is simply amazing!! There is so much history and so many reminders of the ancient world!! This is easily one of the top cities we've seen.

Tomorrow we leave for Naples! Which means Pompei & Capri. :)

Safe Travels,

- Kit & Heather

When In Rome

We got to Rome early this afternoon. Immediately we were in awe. There were ruins all along side the train tracks and ruins visible everywhere outside of the train station!

Our hotel is across the street from the station, but that's all it has going for it. It's the Hotel Marsala, and it is possibly the most run down hotel we've ever stayed in. Our room is on the fourth floor, right next to the shared bathroom. We booked a room ensuite, but for the guests who don't have a bathroom in their room...they use the one outside our door. All night. Our bathroom looks the same as it did probably 40 years ago. The toilet tank is on the wall near the ceiling and it takes 10 minutes (of really annoying dripping sounds) for it to fill back up after you flush. The bath/shower looks like it should be in a retirement home. It is a sit down basin with a hand sprayer. No curtain, so you have to try very hard not to soak the bathroom when you bathe. The sink only has hot water sometimes. The bed is essentially springs and a sheet. Its too big for the room so you have to climb over the bed to get back and forth from the bathroom. There is a cabinet/closet but the door is falling off of its hinges. The tv works great though. And we have a phone...which doesn't even ring reception. Our front door is paper thin, as are the walls. We could hear someones cell phone ringing two rooms down...and our room doesn't connect to anyone else's!! All in all its a really funny situation. But,its clean and its safe. So that's all we care about.

After checking in we bought a map and went on a Roman adventure. Maybe we are crazy, or maybe we were just excited...because we saw A LOT today!!

We started at the Culture & Heritage National Monument. Its the most massive building I have ever seen. Its pretty much all granite and done in ancient Roman style. Its really awesome.

Then we walked along the ruins of the Roman Forum. Best quote, "There are so many ruins! I don't know where to look!" That was Heather's reaction as soon as we came upon the forum.

At the end of the street we walked around the Colliseum. Unfortunately, it was closed today. I guess it has been closed for two days, but no one seems to know why. There was simply a sign that said "The colliseum is closed due to reasons outside one's control" We overheard someone saying it was due to rain over the last few days. It makes sense that if it were wet and lots of people walked around it would worsen the condition.

So heavy hearted we went back to the national monument and wandered around. Then it was off to the Pantheon. Which is REALLY big!! Wow! We walked around inside and enjoyed its ancient wonders.

Next stop was Trevi fountain. The infamous fountain for good luck. We each threw in a coin. The fountain is incredible!! There were so many people there though, we didn't stay long.

We went over to the Spanish steps and tooks pics. We didn't climb them, because there were (once again) too many people. Its ok, my knee was not interested in climbing anyway.

After all of the walking around we stopped for dinner. Every resteraunt offers a menu out front so you can decide if you want to eat there. Anytime we look over a menu Heather asks "Is there something you'd eat?" To which I always reply "Are we still in Italy!?" I mean pizza + pasta are my specialties!!

We finished dinner and made the long trek back to our hotel. We watched some CNN, (HURRAY FOR BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME!!). Then we were too tired to even journal for the day!!

At least I blogged...but now it is time to PASS OUT!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather