The Rowley Family: Europe Trip Part One: Italy

Europe Trip Part 1: Italy (Beware of the one hundred thousand pictures)

As most of you know Shane and I were lucky enough to take three weeks this summer and head to Europe. When we got married three years ago we knew that going back to Shane's mission in Spain was something that we wanted to do together, so we started saving for the trip then. This year when the dream started becoming a reality, everything fell into place. Shane was able to take off work for three weeks. Our family was VERY kind and watched Anabelle. I was nervous about leaving her, but I think it was a lot harder on me than her ;) We also decided to see some of Italy and Paris as well. The whole time I was there I couldn't believe it. I felt so lucky and grateful to be there. For me it was a dream come true to see so many amazing things with the man of my dreams. It's going to be a great memory to have together.

Thursday June 21st:
Left SLC early in the morning. Thank you Emo for taking us to the airport!

Friday June 22nd:
Arrived in Rome and headed to the Vatican. That place was amazingly huge and historic. St. Peter's Basilica was astounding. I was surprised by the statues, sculptures and details of everything. Later we headed to the vatican museum for a tour and enjoyed historic art there and the Sistine Chapel of course. The Sistine Chapel was a great reward at the end of a long and somewhat boring tour. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but our tour guide was SO slow and monotone. The jet lag was kicking in as well. To actually be in the Sistine Chapel was really neat. And to see Michaelangelo's painting's up close was very memorable. We also ate some Italian Gelato that was pretty memorable as well :)

Pieta

Vatican Museum

Shane must have accidentally snapped a couple pics inside the Sistine Chapel on his phone. Oops.

Saturday June 23rd:

We hit the town, mostly by foot and saw everything in Rome that we wanted to see. My eye's were in ancient-architecture heaven. We started at the Colosseum, built only 50 years after Christ. Wow. That was a huge part of their society and culture it was. I loved stepping back in time and learning about everything. Then we walked though the Roman Forums and Gardens. Some forums stood when Christ was on the earth. I thought that was so neat to see something that was around at the time of his life. A few other highlights were the beautiful plazas, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain.

Arch of Constantine

Palatino Hill & Roman Imperial Forums

Campidoglio

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain - it was so much bigger than I imagined!

Plaza Navona

Sunday June 24th: We took a train from Rome to Pisa. I loved getting out of the city and seeing the beautiful country. Tuscany Italy was absolutely gorgeous! I loved seeing the coast and the fields of sunflowers. The leaning tower of Pisa was crazy. It definitely looked like it was leaning and when we climbed the stairs, we really were leaning against the walls as we came around each time. It was a weird sensation. I felt kind of motion sick. After Pisa we took another train to Florence. We saw the very impressive (and real) statue of David. That City was definitely a highlight of the trip for me. We enjoyed a beautiful evening listening to the bells on the bridge and eating yummy pizza and pasta. At the end of the night we took a train back to Rome.

Look at the marble staircase. The stairs were completely warn from everyone walking on the side that the tower was leaning to.

Almost to the top

Shane took the picture of me from the down side of the tower

I took the picture of Shane from the up side of the tower. Notice the difference?!

Michaelangelo's David. Oops, Shane you did it again... control that phone of yours ;)

The middle statue in the plaza is the replica.

Isn't Florence gorgeous?!

I loved all of the little restaurants outside.

Monday June 25th: We took a bus outside of the main part of the city to go see what will be the Rome Temple. It took us forever because one of the buses we took the wrong direction and then we waited forever for the bus to come back around and pick us up. LUCKILY we made it back in time to catch our flight to Paris. At the airport, it was my sweet skills that took us from the back of the line to the the very front. Seriously it was a miracle :) We made it to Paris and met up with Shane's parents. They greeted and treated us with a fancy French dinner at a beyond picture-esk courtyard restaurant. I wish I would have taken some better photos.