Florence and Pisa

Our final stop in Italy was in Florence/Pisa. We had to take another long train ride to get to these places so we didn't have tons of time in either but saw the major stuff everyone talks about...

This is the Duomo- a church with the craziest facade I have ever seen in my life.... covered in carvings and sculptures

The doors to the baptistry at the duomo picturing famous biblical scenes

The inside of this church was rather austere compared to other churches we saw. However, this was my favorite church that we visited because we had this awesome tour guide who really drew you in to the tour and the history of the church... Look at those arches!

At a sculpture garden in Florence

An unfinished Michelangelo... This was another beautiful sculpture like the Pieta

The famous leaning tower!

We had to take these pictures of course

This was one of my favorite stops in Italy... if you're going there definitely check these cities out!

Rome!

 Our next stop was Rome! The port for Rome is actually like a two hour train ride away from Rome so we didn't have very much time in the actual city at all. We were there on a Sunday so we did not get to see the Sistine Chapel- however we did get to go inside the Vatican City and see St. Peter's Basilica and the Colosseum. Both were awesome!  

Inside the Vatican

I couldn't help but laugh at these awesome uniforms the Vatican Guards have to wear....

Jesus and the twelve apostles on the top of St. Peter's Basilica

The Pieta by Michelangelo - I loved this sculpture of Mary holding Jesus after the crucifixion. It was behind bullet proof glass so you didn't get a really good look at it but beautiful none the less

I guess some Popes have themselves preserved in wax after they die and then their bodies are displayed in St. Peter's forever. This was legitimately one of the creepiest things I've ever seen though...

The Dome of St. Peters

We walked to the very top of the St. Peter's dome up a million stairs in these crazy stairwells that were teeny tiny and eventually you had to move up the stairs at an angle because you were up so high in the dome! It was sooo crazy!

We finally made it to the top!

The Pope's residence- visible from the top of another dome we trekked up to

And the reward for our labors... the most wonderful pistachio gelato!

Another shot of the top of St. Peter's

On the roof of St. Peter's- you can the sculptures of Jesus and the apostles in the background

After St. Peter's we headed over the Colosseum

a panoramic shot of the inside of the Colosseum

This building- though I can't remember what it is- was made from granite that was taken from the Colosseum after it was no longer in use... I guess the whole outside and inside of the Colosseum was originally covered in beautiful granite that was bit by bit taken and used elsewhere in Rome to build other magnificent structures... pretty funny huh?

Naples, Italy

 Naples was our next stop... this was my least favorite city but I loved the excursion we took... does that make sense? 

Let me explain. The morning we got to Naples, it was gray and rainy and everything was wet. Naples is big city, therefore it was dirty and a little stinky in the rain... basically I felt like I was going to contract some kind of disease if I touched anything. Once we got through the train and bus stations we headed out to Herculaneum. I had never heard of this place before but it is similar to Pompeii. Although instead being buried in lava, it was buried in pyroclastic mud. Our guide told us that the mud was actually a better preservative than the lava because it let less oxygen in, so the paintings and many other things were preserved very true to their original form. 

We found an awesome guide, Victor I think was his name. He was an older guy who spoke numerous languages and had been a tour guide for many years.

 Top view of Herculaneum

 Ancient take out restaurant... the holes are actually the tops of clay pots that held different types of food. People would come and pick out what they wanted!

 The main drag of the town

 Mt. Vesuvius- we had an excursion to go up there but since it was raining they closed it! So like Athens, we looked at it from afar :)

 

 After Herculaneum, we stopped at a local pizza shop to see if pizza really tastes better where it was invented. None of the people who worked here spoke English and their menu was in Italian so we were left to fend for ourselves here. Steve happened to see what someone else ordered and thought it looked good. He asked the waitress what type of pizza it was and she replied "Pizza con tono". Steve told everyone that he was getting the sausage pizza and that it was called pizza con tono. Well turns out almost everyone wanted sausage pizza so I think 5/9 people ordered this type of pizza. When it came out it looked.... well... looked not very sausage like. Turns out pizza con tono is actually cheese pizza with a can of tuna dumped in the middle of it- juices and all. YUM. Not. Actually it stunk and looked disgusting... I was one of the lucky ones that ordered four cheese pizza. Good one Steve, good one. 

Mykonos, Greece

We had a short stop in Mykonos/Santorini, Greece, one of the picturesque Greek Islands that you see in the movies. Everything is whitewashed with bright blue and red paint. We only had a few hours here, but were able to fit in a delicious lunch, a swim in the Mediterranean Sea and a little bit of souvenir shopping. Steve and I also risked missing the ship to grab a piece of authentic Greek baklava- we made it to the ship but it may have been worth it even if we missed the ship- it was that good!

 Jordan developed a real affinity for white linen in Europe... We tried to get him to buy these $120 white linen pants but Laura wouldn't let him pull the trigger!