Big Ben--It was a little rainy that morning, but not too bad. Big Ben just recently celebrated 150 years! It was a little smaller than I had expected, but still amazing. 
Red Telephone Booth-- You can't go to London and not take a picture by one of these! To be honest, I had to use hand sanitizer after leaning against this..I could see a million people's handprints on the windows!
HILARIOUS!-- We were walking in the Buckingham Palace Park, and the squirrels were not afraid of people at all. I had a few that walked right along the path with me..right beside my feet. I looked up, and I saw this squirrel finishing someone's vanilla ice cream cone! Priceless..
Buckingham Palace-- This is were the Queen lives. Usually there are red flowers planted in those soil spots, but the guide told us that they always get another frost in May or June. We didn't get to see the Changing of the Guard because it was a holiday :(
Paris, France
Eiffel Tower-- This was the view from the front of our hotel!! It was so awesome to be so close! We got to go to the 2nd floor of the tower and overlook the city. Paris is quite the big city and absolutely beautiful!
Dinner-- Our first night in Paris, we ate at this wonderful restaurant with fun entertainment! I was even apart of the entertainment..I sang "Yesterday" by the Beatles for the entire restaurant, while the guy in the picture played the guitar! For my meal, I enjoyed frog legs and veal! Clint had French Onion soup and duck..both meals were delicious. Frog legs taste like chicken by the way :)
Louvre-- Oh my goodness..this world famous art musuem is huge and takes up many blocks in Paris. The walls and ceilings were filled with paintings, and the halls filled with statues. I got to see the Mona Lisa, which is way smaller than I thought. We only saw a small portion of the museum, and of what I saw I was completely amazed.
Lucerne, Switzerland
Lake Lucerne-- Switzerland was very picturesque. We took a boat out on to Lake Lucerne, and you got a great view of the rolling hills and the Alps! In this picture, this is a statue of Jesus overlooking the waters.
Mount Pilatus-- On day 2 in Lucerne, we took 1 small cable car that you sit in, and then a very large cable car that you stood in, to the top of Mount Pilatus at 7000ft! The 2nd cable car was so scary, because the angle was steep and for about 3 minutes all you could see was extreme white fog! Here is me at the top of Mount Pilatus in the ALPS!!
Cogwheel Train-- On the way back down the mountain, we took the oldest cogwheel train. It goes down the mountain pretty slowly, but at a 45 degree angle (very steep)! The view of the landscape was AMAZING..here is a shot from our seat.
Lion Monument-- This was an awesome sculpture carved into glacier rock. It represented the Swiss Guards that were massacred during the French Revolution. The spear in the back symbolized how the French betrayed the Swiss, who gave up their lives for the French King.
Salzburg, Austria
Gardens-- The Sound of Music did some filming in these gardens. This is where Julie Andrews taught the children to sing by the fountain-- at least that is what the guide said. I've personally never seen the movie!
Mozart-- Mozart was born and raised in Salzburg, but wrote about how much he hated it all the time! This was his "birth house", which is now a museum.
Eagle's Nest-- (Actually in Germany, just outside of Salzburg) This was Hitler's 50th Birthday present from his close private secretary, Martin Bormann . It was just a "tea house", however it had a large conference room where Hitler and his Nazi soldiers discussed critical plans for the war. It was overlooking the breath-taking Bavarian Alps, but it was also creepy to walk in the same halls as Hilter and his men!
Sea of Clouds-- The Eagle's Nest had some of the most amazing views on the way up...I felt like I could just dive into an ocean of clouds. The mountains were gorgeous and still had snow on them. This was definitely one of my favorite excursions.
Canals of Venice-- These are the homes of the Venezians, and the roads are the waterways and canals. Transportation was only by water taxis, water buses, gondolas, or private boats! There are absolutely ZERO cars in Venice. It was hot and beautiful in parts, and then stinky and trashy in other parts.
Gondola Rides-- Clint and I went on a gondola ride with our tour group, so six of us were in the same boat. It was a little shaky at first when we were all getting in, and you had to stay in your exact spot or else it might tip over! It wasn't quite as romantic as I had always dreamed..haha. I was a little disappointed that our guide didn't seranade us either.
St. Mark's Square-- This was a beautiful cathederal that was ginormous! This was just a small portion of it..the whole thing didn't fit in the picture. If you look really closely you can see the bride that was getting her wedding pictures taken in the background. She had an amazing dress!
Hotel Corner-- We didn't stay on Venice Island, instead we stayed on the Island of the Lido, which wasn't far from Venice at all. I'm glad we stayed here though, it was beautiful and quiet. Our hotel was like a country cottage.Florence, Italy
Statue of David-- This is only the replica because we could not take pictures of the real statue that was in the musuem. The real one is huge and very impressive.
Cathederal-- I believe each city had at least a million churches! They were always so enormous and intricately detailed. I think they looked even larger against the beautiful blue skies, with the rolling clouds.
Tower of the Cathederal-- I thought this was just an awesome picture..looking up to this huge tower, with that beautiful view of the sky in the background!Tuscany & Pisa, Italy
Tuscan Hills-- Seriously, this was one of my favorite spots in Italy. It was just absolutely beautiful--the vineyards, olive trees, and rolling hills.
Dinner in Tuscany-- Oh man..this was a super yummy night! This restaurant has it's own vineyward, olive trees, tomatoes, and herbs. All of their food comes from their own land--except the meats of course! This was a very romantic night.
Leaning Tower of Pisa-- It was interesting to note how man towers were leaning in Europe. Pisa definitely is not the only leaning tower, but I would say that it probably leans worse than most of the towers we saw. I loved this classic picture...Clint's so buff :)
Rome, Italy and The Vatican
Forum of Rome-- These are the remains of the columns dated back to Caesar's time!! Caesar once stood in the same area as where this picture is taken. CRAZY! This used to all be under ground b/c the Tiber river flooded and there were earthquakes. Now, it's an escavation site.
The Colosseum-- We got to go inside this massive entertainment building, where long ago man v man, man v animal, and animal v animal were displayed for enjoyment!
St. Peter's Square-- This was in the Vatican taken right oustide of St. Peter's Basilica. This is where the Pope resides and the Sistene Chapel is located. We got to see the masterpieces done by Michaelangelo, but we were not allowed to take pictures. You can see Angels & Demons and see many of the sites we saw!
Gino!-- He was our bus driver for the whole tour. He's Italian and lives in a city outside of Rome. He truly reminded me of an Italian Stallion Grandpa! haha. He gave me kisses on both of my cheeks to say goodbye...Arrivederci, Gino!
4 comments:
Wow is right. I am glad you had such a good time!
Looks like a really fun trip! Thanks for sharing such great pics. It was almost as if I was there, well not really but I can pretend. :)
I have been waiting to hear about the trip. We should get together and you can share your contacts and plans. I love Europe and need to plan a little trip. Maybe in a while, but your pictures make me miss it. It looks like you have a fabulous time!
OH..it was an amazing trip! We were definitely lucky to be able to go..and hopefully we can go back someday!!
Post a Comment