!!! ITALY !!!

Okay, posting all of these pic's and trying to write about them is harder than I thought it would be. It is hard to try and place the pictures where I want them so this will just have to do.
Above: This is Rivers appetizer and salad on the plane. Can you believe we got to fly First Class from Atlanta to Rome and then back from Milan to Atlanta. It was amazing. We could lay our seats back and adjust our foot rests until we were practicly laying. We were given down pillows and blankets, little Delta toiletry bags, and great food including icecream sundays. :) Talk about Swanky!! We almost felt guilty as all of the coach passengers had to walk by us as we were settling into our cushy seats and getting our movies started on our individual screens. Thanks Aaron!!! The best part was just being comfortable enough to sleep so that we didn't have to waste a day once we got to Rome. Rivers is spoiled now and doesn't know what it feels like to be crammed into coach for 10 hours.

The other picture is of our first night in Rome: we did a walk from the Campo di Fiori to the Trevi fountains. It was my favorite night in Rome and the most Romantic. Tons of people, pizza, gelato, and fun.

Below: Pantheon at Night. Saint Peters Basilica at night




Our second day was the most historic. We did the Coloseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and then that night we did an after hours tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel.


The coloseum was exciting. It was awesome seeing as you turn down the road and then it is right there in front of you. We also climbed up over 300 stairs to the top of the Dome on St. Peters Basilica and from there you could see 360* around Rome. It was breathtaking (the climb and the view :).

Here is a picture of part of the Vatican City. Us climbing to the top of the Dome.




As neat as Rome is we were ready to be on to our next location. Rome has some amazing sites, but it was very hot and crowded. Big city. So we were really excited to be able to spend 3 nights in a little town called Monterosso. It is the 5th seaside village in the Cinque Terre. There is a hike that connects all five towns and all of them except one is built right up from the water on the Ligurian sea. This was definetely one of our favorite spots. Mostly, because it was more relaxed, not a ton of museums or cathedrals or anything, just beautiful scenery and time spent strolling the beach at night.


We found a good spot in Manarola where some of the local boys were cliff jumping. So Rivers decided to join in. The water was beautiful and it felt great to be able to swim since it was so warm.

Note: The Italians have got to be some of the best parallel parkers we have ever seen.


Here are more pic's of Cinque Terre. We got a kick out of all the girls that would walk around with no tops. I guess they are trained early :) Yes, there were a few times when we were privy to a little more than we would have liked to see of the adult locals.

This is also the view from our window at our hotel. We had a side room so this is out the west side. But when we would walk out the front of the hotel you were directly in front of the Beach. There were all these little outside restaurants and bars that you could just sit, eat, and watch the sun set into the ocean.



Here we are one the hike from Monterosso to Vernazza. Pictures can't describe how neat it was.



Venice



This was one of those cities where it really is as neat as the movies make it seem. We bought a 3 day pass for the Vaporetti and just spent time hopping on and off the water buses to go explore the different ally's of Venice. There was also a really fun fish market we got to see one morning.





Lake Como
Our last two nights were in Milan. We opted on seeing what we could of Milan the first evening and then early the next day we headed up to Lake Como. This is where the real Bellagio is. Nothing like the one in Vegas. The lake District was one of our favorites as well. There is a scene from Casino Royale that is filmed here. It is when he wakes up after he has been tortured and he is sitting at some waterfront villa/facility.