Italy 2013

Andy and I recently were able to take a trip to Italy with the Clemson Men's Basketball team. My parents graciously kept all three girls while we were away for 10 days. Don't worry, I brought them wine back to help them recover;) I am finding out that there are a lot of pro's and con's about having your husband work for a big-time D1 school in athletics. Of course, one of the TOP pro's is that we get to travel to places we'd never be able to visit on our own (like Italy for 10 days!! Disney World over Thanksgiving last year, and next year going to St. Thomas for a few days!). 

We had a packed agenda while in Italy. The guys had 4 games in 4 different towns, so we ended up staying in 4 different hotels. The games were late in the evenings, so we had all day for the scheduled tours and for just walking the towns. It was a great experience and I loved getting to actually see all these old historic sights.

After 24+ hours of flying, we arrived in Rome and immediately went on a tour of the Colosseum. It's even more amazing in person! Our tour guide was awesome and told us some really interesting facts about the Colosseum and nearby sites. 

What a massive space this was. It was completely covered in marble as well...that had to cost a pretty penny (or euro!)

We decided we'd have a picture taken of us at every town we were in...30+ hours of being awake, and counting;)

Bright and early the next morning, we toured Vatican City (more like the Sistine Chapel, museums and St. Peter's). We couldn't take any pictures of the Sistine Chapel (rumor has it that the Chinese own the Sistine and the Vatican would have to pay money to the Chinese for all the pictures taken...hmmm) but it was breath-taking. We were also told some pretty hilarious stories about Michaelangelo's "doings" while he worked on both projects, the ceiling and the "Day of Judgement" in the Sistine Chapel:)

After the Sistine, we checked out St. Peter's. What an incredible (and huge) church it was! Very ornate and full of dead Pope's open caskets...weird. This statue below, was one of Michaelangelo's first works of art (he didn't classify painting as art...). He wanted to know what people were saying about it, so he mingled with the crowd listening. Lots of people thought it was incredible, but lots also thought this statue was created by another, more famous sculpter. Of course, Michaelangelo was mad, so he decided to sign this piece of art. Right across Mary's breast, he signed "Michaelangelo made this". Haha! It was the only piece he signed:)

This is the "canopy" above the alter of the church. Right in front of the alter were steps leading down to the catacombs. To give you an idea of how big the church really is...those words above the alter inside the dome are over 6 feet tall...each! HUGE

St. Peter's from the front

ta-da...we were there;)

The next day we had a completely free day to site-see on our own. We teamed up with 2 others and spent the day getting lost and seeing incredible parts of Rome. We figured that we had walked over 13miles that day...we definitely deserved some serious amounts of pasta and huge servings of gelato;)

we made it to the Trevi Fountain...it looked like a water park to me...I wanted to go swimming;)

While we were touring around, we happened to walk past St. Peter's around lunch time...and we got to see the Pope:) He gave a blessing and a mini sermon (all in Italian) and waved to the crowd. It was neat getting ot see the Pope on our trip. The Italians who were hosting this trip said that we got lucky because he normally goes on vacation this week.

the Pantheon...such a neat building...

 the hole in the center. We were told that churches back then left a hole in the ceiling because they put their baptismal font under it and when it rained, it would fill up and then they could baptize people:)

Us again:)

We found ourselves all the way on the opposite side of Rome that afternoon...here's the Capital building. They first started calling the highest Government building the "Capital" because when they decapitated people, they wanted to heads to roll down the hill so others would see it (and there would be less clean up!). So, thats' how the main government buildings became known as "Capital". Hmmm, what about ours? ;)

a view of the Colosseum from the Capital

After a few days in Rome, we headed to Florence. We stopped and got a "full" view of Florence before we made our way into town. 

Our hotel had a rooftop bar and this is part of the view from up there. I could have spent all my time up there:)

Here we are standing in front of the church (or really beside it) that is int he picture above

 

that church again...I am blanking on the name...we didn't get to go in this church.

A bridge in Florence that had many shops on it...very old bridge

Sunset in Florence from the rooftop bar

Next we went off to Vicenza! We stayed in a hotel up in the mountains and it had AMAZING views! Andy and I got up for the sunrise.

We took a boat tour into Venice and then were able to walk around on our own. Venice is made up of 120 sandy islands and now has over 500 bridges connecting the islands...and it's sinking. Venice floods all the time!

The last place we visited was Como. This was my absolute favorite place. I loved being on the water and getting to hike in the mountains. Such a gorgeous place to be!

Andy and I hiked up to the top and here was the view:) We hiked the "pre-alps" side

we took a boat tour from Como to Bellagio and past by George Clooney's house. His doors were open so the tour guide said he was there:) 

Here is Richard Branson's house...you can rent it for $30, 00 Euros (or $40,000) A DAY...if you want...HA

Pulling into Bellagio. Do you see the little Monk monastery up in the mountains...

docked in Bellagio

the Alps

Typical Italian village on the coast of Lake Como

a natural waterfall...and the bridge in front is over 2,000 years old...and still useable...

Good-bye Italy!! What a great trip!