End of Europe

    Monday we woke up and had breakfast at the café across the street again.  For some reason I was not feeling it and my stomach bugged me the rest of the morning!  We took a taxi to the train station to go rent our car for the day.  It was quite an ordeal trying to find a car……especially since we left our passports at the hotel.  We finally found a place and that would let us rent without a passport and they happened to be a great deal as well.  The rental ended up being $70 rather than $400 for train tickets for all 4 of us!  We hit the road for Pompeii and it was a little over 2 hours.  Getting out of Rome was a bit harry (drivers there were INSANE, expecially in the city centers). Thank goodness that car had a navigation system of I don’t know how we could have ever done it!!  Along the way we stopped at gas station to fill up and take a potty break.  My toilet was broken and a while after I sat down it started flushing and would stop.  This wasn’t your average flush.  The entire bowl got a massive tidal wave that washed sick toilet water ALL over my undercarriage…..I wanted to hurl!  It was like a bedae except with sick dirty water that was probably swimming with disease….very special experience!  Pompeii was definitely worth the drive.

 That place is so amazing and literally transports you back in time.  For those who don’t know….It’s an ancient roman city that was hit suddenly by an erupting volcano (Mt. Vesuvius).  It hit so fast and sudden that life was literallyfrozed in time.  It was buried under a thick layer of volcanic material and persevered really well!  It’s unreal how civilized they really were.  They had many of the conveniences we have today!  This is a person that had crouched over trying to escape the fumes and died in this position.

 Its fun to see how brightly everything was colored!

 This was in the brothel.  They had a "menu" painted all along the walls to tell you what you could "order" haha

 This is the amphitheater they had

 We walked around for almost 4 hours in awe just imagining what life might have been like!  We decided we needed to stop in Naples and have a true Italian pizza.  Once we got in the city we realized it was a major mistake.  The city was filthy and looked extremely sketchy.  Our guidebooks told us this city is notorious for crimes.  They have a lot of theft, pick-pocketing and have a thriving mafia.  The traffic was even worse than Rome and so we got back on the freeway as fast as we could.  We didn’t get back and get the car dropped off til about 8:30.  We walked to the train station and caught a taxi to a restaurant we found in Rick Steve’s book.  It was a cute little pizzeria on a cobble stone road.  The food was great and it was so fun eating along the road.

 We were laughing so hard though because the boys were sitting on the edge and there was nothing between them and the cars.  It was a very narrow street and the cars were just inches away from them!

 Dinner took a while because Italy moves at a very slow pace.  After dinner we caught a taxi home and found out taxi rates go up after 10pm, lame!   We finally got home and were all exhausted!

     Tuesday was the day we had our tour that Nana booked 3 months ago with a guide named John Tinto. He picked us up at 7:30 in the morning and we walked over to the Vatican to enter the Sistine Chapel. Don’t worry that we were the first ones in the chapel and it was AMAZING!!!!!!! He talked through the different aspects and lengths it took Michelangelo to paint the masterpiece the Sistine Chapel is, and he didn’t want to do it. We spent about 90 minutes in there and were all star-struck, you cannot believe the detail that is in every painting. I was so bummed that you can't take photos in there!  We then went back through the Vatican museum and our guide pointed out the highlights of the billion dollars of artifacts that are in there. We ended in St. Peter's Basilica which was gorgeous inside! 

 This was a massive amazing painting in there done by Raphael

 Overall we spent about 5 hours in the Vatican city and had a blast; it is hard to put into words the way the paintings, sculptures, and other things they had displayed there.  We grabbed a taxi over to the Forum and ate lunch at a cute little street café overlooking the Roman ruins that are 2000 years old, and of course I had my REAL Italian pizza. Once we wrapped up lunch we headed over to the Forum and looked at more 2,000 year old ruins.

 After seeing the major things in the Forum we walked over to the Coliseum; I was in heaven because Blake kept asking me to take pictures. He was Maximus from the Gladiator and was in heaven. I was too just because he kept requesting pictures.  

 It in unbelievable to think that they created a building so massive and so elaborate so many years ago…..and in just 8 years!  It’s awful to think what went on in that building but it really is a very impressive bulding!  Blake could have stayed there all day!

 This is us with our awesome tour guide John

 Our last stop was the pantheon.  We walked past it our fist night in Rome but it was closed so we couldn’t go inside.  It was amazing to see the inside.  It is the best preserved ancient structure inside.  So cool to see their amazing decoration and design!  The top is an open dome and I still don’t understand how they were able to build a building like that!  John dropped us off at his favorite Gelato shop across from the pantheon.  Getting a tour guide was not cheap but it was worth every penny.  His knowledge was invaluable.  He literally made history come to life (for a girl that has always hated history).  Being with a guide allowed us to bypass all the lines allowing us to be alone in the Sistine Chapel and to not waste any time waiting in lines (the Coliseum line was well over an hour!)  We were absolutely exhausted after and just wanted to sit back and enjoy Rome.  We sat at a restaurant right in front of the pantheon and had the perfect table.  We sat forever sipping Coke Lights and talking about all the fun things we’ve been up to.  It was really fun.

 After 2 hours we decided we were hungry.  Rather than losing our amazing table we just stayed at the same restaurant and ordered dinner.  The food was really good (and of course I had to have my farewell Italy pizza).  While we ate we were serenaded by an accordion.  Pop found a new toy he wanted to buy from on of the guys walking past selling stuff but he just couldn't get it to work haha.

It was the perfect way to end the perfect trip. We caught a taxi back to the hotel because we could not walk another inch!  When we got back we had to pack our bags.  We were so sad!  We stayed up pretty late rubbing each other’s feet and backs, our bodies were very sore and exhausted!  

    Wednesday morning our ride picked us up right at seven and we headed to the airport.  As usual the airport was a nightmare.  We got dropped at wrong terminal (we booked with Delta but they switched us to Airitalia).  After trying all night to check in online somehow I got checked in and Blake didn’t, they didn’t have any seats left together.  When we got to security we had to say goodbye to Pres and Sandy, they were heading to Greece for another 2 week tour following the apostle Paul.  We were so sad to leave them.  What an amazing adventure we had together!  It was such a treat to see Blake and his dad in Germany reminiscing and speaking their German together.  How lucky we are to have such wonderful family that we love to spend time with!  The gate was pure chaos and after standing in a line for 30 minutes to try and change our seats we found out we were in the wrong line.  We finally got to the right place and switch our seats (Hallelujah!)  It was for sure one the most uncomfortable planes I’ve ever been on and we had a man behind that snored the entire flight soooooo loud!  It was a joy haha!  I knew that the Delta terminal at JFK had a Red Mango and so you better believe I made Blake hunt it down with me……..it was HEAVEN!!!!  When we got back to our gate to board they informed us they changed planes and that they needed to reprint our tickets……of course our new seats were no where near each other.  We asked to change again so we’d be together.  Thankfully they were able to.  Boarding the plane was a nightmare and took forever! It was another VERY long ride and we both had a major case of restless legs!  We couldn't get to SLC fast enough!  My mom picked us up and took us to dinner at Pei Wei, so yummy.  We grabbed our car at Pres and Sandy's and headed home.  We unpacked for a minute and then crashed super early.

    This morning we both woke up around 5 because our bodies are still on Europe time.  We couldn't go back to sleep so we went to the store and got milk and made ourselves breakfast.  Blake just headed to work and I'm trying to get everything back in order again.  What an amazing trip we had!  We feel so lucky to have been able to visit his mission together.  Every detail of the trip was absolutely perfect and we wouldn't have changed one thing!  It was an unforgettable trip that we will look back on for the rest of our lives and smile!!!