Rome

We've now come to the end of our vacation (or close to it). Tired of flying the small regional airlines we opted instead to hop a high speed train from Venice to Rome. This may have to do with our observation of the crack security forces in all European airports. Our basic observation was that if you were in a hurry you could opt out of security screenings. We watched time and time again as people sprinted through security screenings, bags and all, yelling something about how they were going to miss their flight. Sirens sounded, lights flashed, but the guards barely blinked an eye.  The good news is that only 10 - 15 of these security-skipping travelers were on our different flights.
Terrorism threats aside, we took the train from the doorstep of one hotel to the doorstep of another. It was refreshing to not have to pay a baggage fee, or a credit card fee, or a "security" fee, or cab fare/metro fare, etc. While the actual plane ticket was usually cheaper, the incidental costs are what end up getting you in the end. The train on the other hand was much easier to work with.
We snagged a hotel in Rome a few blocks away from the train station, Roma Termini. We took a very wandering tour through Rome over the next few days. We popped a head into this church and that museum. We toured the ruins and ate all manner of delicious food. This stop was by far our favorite on the trip. Everything was reasonably priced, the sights we wanted to see were all within walking distance, and we spent most of our time eating gelato and taking in the beautiful 70 degree weather. In a word it was - perfect.

One of Rome's must see sights... the Trevi fountain. We now have a design for our future pool!

A random fountain                           and                   the Spanish steps

Again, it seems like all of Italy was designed to be seen by moonlight. Everything

just seem more beautiful, more dramatic, and more imposing at night.

Can you see why we loved the food?

That's one benefit of driving a shoebox

Piazza Navona and Bernini's Four Rivers fountain

Angels and Demons anyone?

The vatican museum                              and      the only handout Jen gave in Europe

Priceless art.

                                    A happy camel                    and one of the oldest sculptures in the Vatican

We really didn't want to take pictures in the Sistine chapel. But, as we saw everyone else do it we couldn't resist just taking one little video.

There are these little side hallways on the way to the Vatican with more modern works. It seems that

in everyone's hurry to see the famous ceiling they skip over some of these smaller rooms. Don't!

We popped our head in and saw some of the most famous artists in the modern era. Paul Gaugin, Vincent Van Gogh, and Salvador Dali to name a few. 

They literally built their church on Peter. Or at least they think they did.

The weather there just served to whet our appetite for spring!

It pays to pop into these little side churches. You might even see the bones of an old nun

From Rome we flew to Milan and on to Bordeaux, again facing the same airport experiences we had seen before. Once in Bordeaux we got the full French treatment one last time. We booked a room at an airport hotel (Comfort Inn actually). We found a hotel that had wireless internet, an airport shuttle, a restaurant in the hotel, and free breakfast. Well, turns out that the shuttle only ran from 9 to 5 during the weekdays which didn't help us at all because we flew in on Sunday night and out Monday morning at 8 a.m. So, we had to walk from the airport to the hotel and back again the next day. That's o.k because we didn't have to go anywhere for dinner or breakfast right? Wrong again. The restaurant was only open on certain days for limited times. What about the free breakfast you ask? Well it was actually 8 euro per person (about $12 U.S.). We ended up walking a couple of miles to finally find a fast food restaurant and almost had to settle for KFC while in France! Luckily there was a Quick restaurant (French version of McDonald's) on the same corner. We flew home the next day cursing the French and loving the Italians.

And then we came home to this!

We sure missed you little Bryn! But you really should put a shirt or some underwear on...

Close enough...