Day fourteen of our adventure in Italy(Tue)

We woke up early and pcked our bags, ate a quick breakfast and met the same taxi that dropped us off last night. He drove us to the airport were we said good bye to Jackie. She went to the train and we checked in for our flights home. We were early and so had a few minutes to shop and read before boarding the plane.

Our flight to DC was smooth and uneventful. We breezed through customs and then said our good bye's and headed to our seperate gates. Saying Good Bye was too hard so we said See Ya soon. We had the best time on this trip with the Pennington girls!!!!!! we will always remember Thanksgiving in Italy!

Day thirteen of our adventure in Italy(Mon)

Ah a morning to sleep in. After a quick breakfast we wandered around Viterbo. We found a shop that was open and I bought some cool Italian Tennis shoes. We sat at a fountain and watched people for a while.

This is a Smart car, they are very popular in Italy!

We walked up to Jackies school and waited for her to get through with class. After she was finished we went to eat lunch at the Spagetteria. They serve over 100 different sauces. I had pesto on mine.

Where Jackie goes to school.

We walked back to our hotel and collected our luggage and walked to the train station just out side the city wall. We missed the train we planned on taking by 10 min. So we caught the next train to Rome which took us to the Fiumicino airport. We took a taxi to our Hotel, Hotel Club Isola Sacra. We ate dinner in the Hotel Restaurant. Rachel ordered fried fish, and that is exactly what she got, Head and all. Nick ordered a Hamburger and that is all he got, a patty on lettuce. Not the best food, probably the worst food of our whole trip. We watched Harry Potter 5 and then to sleep.

Day twelve of our adventure in Italy(Sun)

We ate an Italian Buffet breakfast and then packed our bags and left them in a holding room. We needed to check out before we left for Church. The front desk called 2 taxi's for us and we waited out front for them. They drove us about 15min. away and dropped us off in front of the building where the ward met. We went in the door and there was a stairway, we climbed 3 flights of stairs and there were 2 doors, they were both locked so we waited a few min. hoping someone else would come or the door would open. That didn't happen so we knocked and the door was opened we could see that we were in the right place and wer greeted by a Sr. Missionary serving from Utah with his wife. They were working i the Mission office. We enjoyed attending Sacrament mtg. It was there Primary sacrament presentation. We could understand the songs even if we did'nt know the words. There were 2 sets of Missionary's Elders & Sisters. We met a Sister who helped get a few translator speakers and one of the Elders translated for us and a family from the Phillipeans. After church one of the Sisters helped us figure out which train to take to get to the center of Milan to see the Duomo.

We found the Duomo but could not get tickets to see the Painting of the Last supper. So we walked around and then found a place to eat some lunch. We took a cab back to our hotel and picked up our luggage so we could catch our train to Viterbo. We finally got to ride Harry Potter Style in a Compartment!

Day Eleven of our adventure in Italy (Sat Switzerland)

After breakfast we took a taxi to the train station and walked to the car rental businesses to see if someone had an available car.

We ended up renting a small Fiat from Sixt for the day. We were off to Switzerland to see the Alps and buy some Chocolate. We followed the Blue Road signs which were the free Hwy. The drive was nice even though it was rainy and kind if hazy. We stopped along Como Lake and got out to take a few pictures. It is a beautiful Lake on the south(SUD) side of the Alps.

We continued North(NORD) to the boarder of Italy and Switzerland. The Swiss border patrol waved us onward with out a stop. So much for a swiss stamp in our passports. We drove to the city of Lugano which is borders Lake Lugano in the Alps. The Mountains jut right out of the Lake and the city is built up on the mountain sides.

We parked in a parking garage that was connected to a supermarket, we had to walk thru it to get to the street. We saw a huge Chocolate isle and that is where we planned to shop on our way back to the car! It was 13:34/1:34 when we got to the garage and we were very hungry. So our first stop after getting on the street was Time Out Grill. We ate L.A. syle Hambergers, Chicken nuggets and fries. The waiter spoke English & Italian.

After eating we walked over to the Lake and took a few pictures. We were walking back toward the shopping when a low flying plane over the lake dropped 4 Swiss Army troops with parachutes.

Day Ten of our adventures in Italy (Fri)

Today we headed to Milan. And of course we traveled by train. We arrived in the evening and hailed a Taxi to take us to our hotel. It would have been a bit far to walk at night with all our luggage. After we checked in to our rooms we walked down the block and the Pennington's ate Kebop's a Turkish type of food Kind of like a wrap. They had to get to sleep because they were leaving for Paris very early Sat Morning. We waited until a resteraunt opened after 7:00pm and had a nice dinner. Darren had Swordfish. We walked around a bit and then headed back to our room to watch a little Italian T.V.. We are getting good at watching Italian T.V. now.

Day Nine of our adventure in Italy (Thur. Thanksgiving in the U.S.A)

We slept very well until the workers out side started banging things around at 6:30am. As the sun began to come up.
Our room with an Italian renaissance era painting above the Bed. A nice desk area with satellite T.V..

We met down stairs at 9:00am for breakfast. I had yogurt and a chocolate muffin. It was yummy. We were off to see the leaning tower of Pisa, Darren driving and Rachel Navigating.

Nicks seat for today!

Our drive to Pisa was wonderful, the country side was beautiful and the weather was fantastic, we did not have to wear coats! We drove through the town of Pisa and just out side of the city is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We enjoyed taking pictures of our selves posing as if we were holding the tower up or trying to push it over.

Savannah

Nick

Rachel

Savannah & Jackie

Most streets in Italy are made from some type of stone or brick.

Darren

We shopped for a little while and then headed back to Florence so we could turn the car in by noon. After we turned the car in we walked to the Center of Florence to see the Duomo, we stopped at a Pizza cafe and ate a piece of pizza while admiring the workmanship of the exterior of the Duomo(Cathedral of Santa Maria de Fiore). We did go inside but did not take any photo's.

Reflections of the cityscape on the Arno River near the Ponte Vecchio.

The Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River, Florence Italy

A Merry-Go-Round in one of the many Piazza's in Florence.

The Pennington girls shopped on Ponte Vecchio. We headed back to the wonderful leather venders setup in the streets and Piazza's. They had everything that is made with leather in Italy. Darren & Nick picked out new belts. I found a leather coat, it is made from Lamb skin and is very soft leather. We walked back to the Hotel and Rachel, Savannah and I did our laundry at the laundry mat down the street. I started my 2nd book New Moon while we waited on our clothes. Savannah read Twilight and Rachel was reading Eclipse. After we finished our laundry we picked every one else up at the hotel and walked 2 doors down to a wonderful restaurant for some fantastic Italian food! My favorite was the roasted herbed potatoes, it was everyones favorite food in Florence. It was late by the time we finished dinner so we returned to our room and went to bed.

Day eight of our adventure in Italy(Wed)

Off to Florence on the train. Our first attempt at catching a train in Italy without the help of Jackie! We managed all right and after a 1 1/2 hour train ride we arrived at Firenze S.M.A, our stop. Our Hotel was only a block and a half walk from the train station. As soon as we checked in Rachel and Darren walked to the car Rental place and brought back a Fiat.

Our little rental Fiat parked in the hotels Parking Garage down the street.

We drove to Maranella where Ferrarri's are made it took about 2hrs and we only got lost once! We toured the Ferrari Gallarie(Museum) and shopped at the official and unofficial Ferrari stores. I'm pritty sure this was the highlight of the trip for Nick and Darren!
Look Mom It's just like Dad's!

Darren made me pose by the ultimate road Ferrari I am quite sure you will never see me in a Ferrari add.

I really don't think these two are having any fun.

I like this cute blue one:)

The sun set while we were in Maranella and we attempted to get a few pictures in front of the Ferrari factory before we drove back to Florence. We needed to get back and meet Jackie at the train station.

After meeting Jackie at the Train Station we did the unthinkable while in Italy, we had Mc Donalds for dinner, yes hot salty french fries. Some were more excited about it then others. The funny thing is...we almost never eat Mc Donalds, if we do it's breakfast.

Day Seven of our adventures in Italy(Tue)

Nick was really sick in the night last night and Savannah woke up not feeling well this morning. We think they may have gotten food poisoning or have the flu. After resting a bit, Nick decided he would try to walk to see the Colosseo.

Nick was still really weak from being sick all night and so this was all he saw of the Colosseo. We walked back to the Hotel. We all took a much needed nap. The Pennington's went to see the Spanish steps. They did not stay long either, Savannah was really not feeling well. Later after everyone was doing a bit better we went back to the Colosseo to see the inside. It is very impressive. The rock/stone, cement and brick work is amazing. we walked around some of the other sites near the Colosseo. There was an interesting rode/walkway, out in front that was made of large smooth stones, it was different from the brick or cobblestone roads that are still in use today around Rome. We walked back to the Hotel for another sleepless night. No rest for the weary travelers! The street that our Hotel was on must have been the route to the Hospital.

The following pictures I took while standing in the colosseo looking out toward the southeast. You will see a yellow and a red double decker bus in the pictures these are for tourists. Citizens don't usually use these they use the metro and city busses.