Blast From the Past

I had fun reminiscing on my first Europe trip! Both trips were so fun! I am so grateful I was able to go...both times! 

 

Day 11-Rome

We were off the boat by 8 o'clock, ready to come home! But we had one more day in Rome. We decided to go to St. Peter's Basilica. We spent over 3 hours there, we saw all the things, climbed 551 stairs to the dome...and back down, then went to the Grotto (Pope crypt). By this time we are pretty hungry, we ate at a place called Homebaked. It was delicious...and it was America food ran by an American. I think we have had more pasta this week then should be legal! We headed to our room to check in. By the time we got settled in, it was about 4:30. I was ready to be done for the day, but Mike was not! We decided to give the Pantheon another try...remember last time it closed early. This time we made it and finished up around dusk. Then we decided to go see everything in the dark! We saw the back of the Pantheon, Obelisk of the Minerva, Vittoriano, the Roman Forum from the street, the Colosseum, the Ark of Constantine, the Mouth of Truth (which was locked up), a couple of bridges, Castel Sant'Angelo, and St. Peter's Basilica. Because why not?! I am so glad we went back out! We had a lot of fun! We walked over 20,000 steps today!😅Now we are definitely ready to come home!

Day 10-Livorno

Our stop today was Livorno. Our excursion took us to Florence and Pisa. We started out the day with an hour bus ride to Florence. We were given so much information! Florence is a city you should spend days in not hours. We both said that Florence is place we would go back to. Some of the high lights were Piazza Della Santissima Annumziata. You could drop of children, no questions asked and they would receive and education and be taken care of.

Florence Cathedral there is a large baptistery with the "Golden Gate" doors. Our tour guide told us you weren't allowed to go into the church unless you were baptized, and back then they used to immerse you completely in water.😏

We saw a replica of the David in the Piazza Della Signoria. Along with some other naked statues.😳Next was Galleria Delgi Uffizi. Saw the longest river in Tuscany, Arno, and the Ponte Vecchio (gold market). Then we had lunch, more pasta. Then we wandered around for a bit, got more gelato. Then we met back up with our tour group and headed to Pisa. It was funny because the tower is leaning so much,  but when we were taking pictures it really doesn't look that bad! The tower is just a bell tower, that took 200 year to build because of wars and things. They started in 1173 and completed in 1372! It was reinforced in 1990-2001, so it won't tip over. 

It was a good day to end the cruise on. We walked about 18,000 steps today. We get off the boat tomorrow morning and have one more night in Rome.