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.

Day six of our adventure in Italy (Mon. Ben's birthday!)

So much for some good rest. The street just outside of our hotel must have been on the way to the hospital. There were cars and motorcycles and Ambulances going all night long! You now it probably wouldn't have bothered us so much except we were super tired! We finally feel asleep some time early in the morning and did not wake up until a little after 8:00am. I was the last in the shower so I hurried so we would not miss our complimentary breakfast. Pastry's yogurt and cheese again. The pastry's are really yummy but by this point we were missing scrambled eggs.

We left our room keys with the front desk(That is what you do at all the Hotel's in Italy)and out to the sidewalk we went. We were on our way to see the famous painting by Michael Angelo on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel. We decided to take a taxi there and then work our way back on foot seeing other interesting sites along the way. The driver dropped us off in front of St. Peter's Basilica. Where we were approched almost instantly by people asking if we spoke english and if we wanted to go on a tour, they could save us 20 min. We passed on their offers but asked where the entrance to the Sistine Chapel was. They directed us and we soon found that the line begain at the end of that street. Remember we are here in the off season. So we wait, and walk along in this line for over an hour. We were entertained every so often by a Gypsy trying to help you lose some change. When the Policia were on the street one of them would make a signal and they would all scatter. We were also entertained for a short while by 2 Policia standing next to a trash can that someone had put a lit cancer stick into and it started a fire. it was not doing much but smoking, they seemed to be waiting for a fire engine. Our line started to move and we ended up going around the corner. It ended up taking us over an hour to get into the building to buy our tickets so we could be in the Vatican Museums.( If you would like to see more pictures there is an official website http://www.vaticanmuseums.com/ )

A picture as were entering the door of the Vatican Museums were the Sistene Chapel is.

There were a lot of people in the museums. We just kept walking thru all the people stopped looking at Rugs and Paintings. We just wanted to get to the Sistene Chapel and see the ceiling. So after an hour long walk thru halls,up stairs, down stairs, thru chapels and more halls we finally made it. The famous Sistene Chapel with it's famous ceiling, was so crowded you could hardly move, good thing we were looking at the ceiling and upper walls. It was really amazing.

This is one of the many painted ceilings that was painted after Micheal Angelo had finished the Sistene Chapel.

These are some of the statue's that were in the Museum along the way to the Sistene Chapel.


This is an ancient baptistry.

I believe this is were we entered the Sistine Chapel.

After we had wound our way back out of the Vatican Museums we were greated by some guys handing out discount coupons for a Pizzaria across the main road and down the side street. So that is where we ate lunch, and drank a lot of aqua minerale. Now that we had some food in our bellys we were headed back to ST. Peters. The art work is amazing in this Basilica and the architecture is just amazing as well.

The large fountain in the middle of ST. Peters

ST. Peters the chairs are all set up facing the front of the Basilica. I presume that When the Pope is broadcast live that this is where it takes place.

The Scottish army stands guard at the Basilica.

The art work is amazing in this Basilica and the ceiling in the dome is super high. We went in the dome. We took the elavator to the 2nd floor where you were able to walk on a ledge of sorts along the lower edge of the dome.

The walls ceilings and floors are all very ornate and made of beautiful materials

This is a short video of the upperlevel of the dome.

More art in the dome of ST. Peters.

After looking at the beautiful walls inside the interior of the Dome we began the climb up the over 300 stair to the top of the Dome. It started out fairly easy until we reached the spiral staircase. It got more narrow as it went higher. There we small windows or holes in the block walls that you could look out over the city. We all made it to the top and looked out over a great part of Rome.

Can you see where the old saying "Remember Rome wasn't built in a day" came from!

Also the saying "what goes up must come down" applied to us now. I have to say or myself the going down the stairs was much more fun. We met Jackie in the square, she was going to take us to some shopping areas and then to the Trevy fountain.

I like to call this the spitting lion fountain. This was in another pritty Piazza. Jackie was taking us somewhere, shopping I think.

We rode the Metro back towards the Trevy fountain, when we arrived it was dark and the fountian was so pretty. We walked back to piazza where we were staying and found a resteraunt that was opened to serve dinner. This ended up being our least favorite meal. An explanation will follow tomorrow.

These 2 are about ready to have a meltdown, just kidding it has been a long day and they have been real troopers, we have all been real troopers!

We called to wish Ben a Happy Birthday, we left a message on his cell phone.

Day five of our adventure in Italy (Sun)

Breakfast was the same as yesterday. After we ate we went back to our rooms to pack our bags as today we are leaving for Rome in the afternoon. We are not able to attend Church as there is not a Ward,Branch or even a twig of the Church within walking or water Bus distance. Renting a car and getting it back before we have to be at the Airport is not an option either. So we checked out and wondered around the streets until lunch time.

The pigeons of St. Marks Square loved Nick's new hat!

We ate lunch near the Venice train station at a small family owned resaurant. When we were about halfway thru with our lunch. The chef walked passed us with his hand wrapped in a towel held high by his other hand. I just saw him for a split second, I was not really paying close attention as I was enjoying my Gnocchi and listening to what everyone was saying. Darren on the other hand was fully aware of what was going on. The poor guy had cut his hand very deep. and the other male members off his family were scurrying around trying to get an ambulance there to take him to the hospital. As I have said before the only mode of transportation is feet and boats. So the Ambulances are boats. We had finished our meal and waited at least 15 min. before Darren went to the register to pay. Apparently to add to their very bad day the banks computers were down and the lady who stayed behind to take care of all the customers was doing her best to collect the money. We had cash so hopefully that helped. Anyway as we got on the water bus to go get our bags from the hotel we saw the Ambulance pulling away. The Hospital was a bit of a distance. We had passed it on our way to Morano yesterday. We were all feeling bad and were hoping it wasn't our meal that caused his accident.

It had started to drizzle on our way back to collect our luggage. Venice is all paved in stone and so when it is wet it is slick. I was carrying a carry on bag and my backpack. Everyone else had suitcases or backpacks or both. we were walking pretty fast to try to stay dry so we would not freeze. I slipped, lucky for me the carry on broke my fall and I only hit the ground with one knee. Jeans are a life saver I broke the skin but nothing major. Not too many witnesses and I don't know any of them anyway! We caught a very crowded water bus and Rachel and The kids were able to go inside and sit down. Darren and I stood close to the exit with all our luggage. So we get to the train station and get off first and turn around to wait for everyone else to get off. Rachel and Jackie are standing on the bus waving and yelling at us that we got off to soon. The Italian passangers are looking at them like they are nuts! Darren called Jackie's cell phone and she said we need to be at the land bus station. So we walked to the next stop and got on the next bus to P.ie Roma our stop or so we thought. The Land Bus station was really about a block away from there. That would not be so bad if you were not dragging luggage with you. So our next job was to find the bus with Ryan Air that was only 5 euros per person. We saw a Bus with a Ryan Air paper in the window and thought all right we'll get right on and be set to go. Nope, special bus for people going to Frankfort. So Darren asked the driver how often the Ryan Air buses come. this was at least 10 min into our wait. He didn't get a very clear answer, so he and Rachel wen to talk to the taxi drivers. They came back and said "We'll wait a bit longer". O.K. so we waited longer than Darren could stand it. We ended up taking 2 taxis and arriving well before the people who were on the bus for Frankfort.
Everyone kicking back at the Traversi Areoporto

The view out the front windows of the airport, it is a small airport.

Were were at the Airport in plenty of time for our flight to Rome. This is when I had my first and only Italian Hot Chocolate. Good thing I did, because this day gets even more exciting! We had not checked in yet because it was to early the ticket agents were not there. When the booth opened Darren went up first and we checked our luggage he got our seats and we went to wait near the security line until Rachel and the girls were ready to go. It was taking way longer than it took us. Then I remembered that when we checked into the hotel in Venice that Jackie had forgotten her Passport. Just then she came towards us really upset, they would not let her fly using her Italian student I.D. so she was going to take the next train. Darren went with her and the rest of us once they had left out the door procceeded to go through security. We were a little out of sorts at what had just happened and forgot to discard the water bottles that we had been carrying in Savannah and my backpacks. The guy on my side pointed at it and I said oh sorry can you throw it away. He did, but as I went to go through the x-ray and handed the tickets to the guy on the other side he wanted to know where the 3rd person was. Nick was right behind me, so I tried to explane that he had to go with someone who forgot their Passport. That he was not coming back he was taking the train. Mean while Rachel and Savannah's bags are being checked very carefully because of Savannah's water bottle. They pass them through. and I am still standing there only now the Policia are talking to me about where this Darren Johnson is. I am very calm through the whole ordeal and when they ask if they can keep the ticket I say "keep it, throw it away" Knowing full well they can understand english. Nick wanted to deck them for being a bit arrogant. and that's all it was. So now all we had to do is sit and wait for our plane. A good time to read my book.

Our plane was running about 10 min late, but we were finally on the plane and since we had priority seating we got our seats together. Our flight was 1 hr long and everything went smoothly! After we retreived our luggage we went out to find a taxi to take us to our hotel. Hotel Elvesia. We had a very nice Taxi Driver who spoke some english and he told us what some of the landmarks we were passing were.

Nick checking out his bed for the next couple of nights.

We were so happy to find that our Hotel was a nice clean place near a lot of the sights we wanted to see. The front desk attendants spoke english very well and that was helpful for us as we checked in. They even recommended a place for us to eat. It was almost 9:00pm by the time we got to the restaurant. I remember it was good, I do not remember what I ate. Jackie and Darren did not get to the Hotel until 11:15. We all needed some sleep!