Rome in 5 Pictures
The Hallway of the Vatican Colosseum Roman Forum Quirinal Palace Trevi Fountain
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Stop #5 - Rome, Italy
Our European adventure culminated in Rome. This was the country with the most dated history and the greatest retention of old monuments. The colosseum, which has been standing for centuries, was still well maintained. Just a piece of advice to anyone traveling, do not go to Rome in the middle of July. It was approximately 95 degrees everyday with high levels of humidity, which is not great weather for exploring a city on foot. I am a little more adventurous than my family and forced them to take me to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, two things with immense historical impacts in Rome. The city of Rome was beautiful, however there was a lot of graffiti that really detracted from the beauty of the old city. It was sad to see such an important place in history tarnished, however the city did a good job maintaining the important monuments and insuring that there was not graffiti on these buildings. This country also housed family members, an...
Sorrento in 5 Pictures
Sorrento Sunsets View of the Deck Majestic Bird Morning in Sorrento Capri, Italy
Stop #4 - Sorrento, Italy
After two days in France, we flew to Italy. Our first stop was Sorrento, a coastal city. This, similar to Portsmouth, was a less busy place relative to the big cities, however it still had a very strong cultural presence. The streets were narrow, a trademark of Italy, and the shops set up on the side of the road sold incredible food. Italy is known for its pizza and pasta, and Sorrento did not disappoint. This was the first place that we went to that felt like a vacation instead of a tourist trip. We stayed at a very nice resort with a pool and a deck on the sea. The interesting thing about Sorrento is that it was developed on a cliff, so there is very little beach area, so most of the resorts built docks off the base of the cliffs where the visitors could relax and swim in the sea. Sorrento had some of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen, and it was just a place of genuine joy, everybody seemed full of life. At this point in...
Stop #3 - Paris, France
After our two week soiree in England, we took the train under the English Channel (also known as the Chunnel) and arrived in Paris. We were only scheduled to spend two days in France, but that did not stop us from checking every item off of our list. We first visited the Louvre, which was an incredible feat of architecture and housed many famous pieces of artwork, something that has always been important in the history of France. Often on the walk people would try to sell us little trinkets that they had made themselves regardless of whether they had a permit to do so. It was interesting to see how nicely people treated those who built things themselves. Almost every time I walked by there was somebody buying something, regardless of how overpriced it was, just to support the worker. These workers were always friendly and never pushy with what they were selling, and it was prevalent that there was passion behind the artwork. This was the first c...
