London in a day

Saturday, March 14

We had another early morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed we were headed to the airport by 4:00am. We arrived at our hotel in London around 9:00am. Our hotel (The Park Inn) was great – exactly what we needed, it looked like a room in an Ikea catalog. The hotel staff was nice enough to let us check in a few hours early (check in was at 3:00pm.) After crashing for a few hours we headed into the city.

Lunch was our first destination. We hit the Hard Rock Cafe, found it on the first try with no problems at all maneuvering the underground tunnels. Jen seems to have mastered getting around Central London without a map. Spring had arrived in full force in London, the flowering trees were in bloom and the fields of spring flowers were such a refreshing sight. We walked over to Buckingham Palace, (the queen was at Windsor) strolled along the Birdcage Walk to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. Our time in London wasn’t just spent seeing the typical tourist spots, we were on a mission for a souvenir for Jen's Mom. We went to Covent Garden, Knightsbridge, Piccadilly Circus, Harrods and every little shop we could find. After hours of walking and wandering we decided it was time to head back to the hotel to pack everything up for our trip home. (Needless to say, we finally found what we were searching for the next morning at the airport.)

Buckingham Palace
London, England

Cherry Blossoms
London, England

Flowers Along the Birdcage Walk
London, England

The Tower of Big Ben
London, England

Westminster Abbey
London, England

Ruins, Ruins and More Ruins!

Friday, March 13th

Our plan for Friday was to visit the Ancient Centre of Rome. Our first stop was the Coliseum, which opened to the public in 80 A.D. (Just about as old as Cleveland Municipal Stadium was.) This was quite an impressive sight since the structure is just mammoth. Growing up hearing and learning about the animal and gladiator fights became very real; you could almost visualize 55,000 people enjoying a sunny afternoon of sports activities. (Once again we can tie this to the Browns, except people get killed – oh wait . . . never mind)

Inside the Coliseum
Rome, Italy

The Coliseum
Rome, Italy

We wandered through the Palatine, which had been the royal residence for Roman Emperors, on our way to the Forum. In the shadow of the Coliseum lies The Forum, which is what remains of ancient temples, arches and churches. We even had a chance to see the House of the Vestal Virgins. (It's neat to finally know what they are referring to in the song “Whiter Shade of Pale”.)

The Palatine
Rome, Italy

The Forum
Rome, Italy

The final piece to our day in Ancient Rome was the Pantheon. Built in 118 AD this temple (and church since the 600's) deceives the on looker by appearing to be a rectangular structure from the front, when in reality it is a perfect cylinder (equal in height and diameter) with a domed concrete roof. The temple is the burial place for many important people in Italian history – including Raphael and some Italian Monarchs.

The Pantheon
Rome, Italy

The Dome of the Pantheon
Rome, Italy

On our final afternoon in Rome we did lunch at a bustling restaurant, the description in our tour book said the service was efficient and boy were they serious. Customers were packed in like sardines and the wait staff was running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The food was good, and inexpensive for a change (most of our meals in Italy were not cheap.) After lunch we wandered around Rome some more, exploring the little shops that peaked our interest. Finally we ended up back at the Trevi fountain for our afternoon gelato.

Catholicism 101

Thursday, March 12th

We had a date with the Pope at 10:00am – he didn’t show, so we went to the Vatican Museum instead. That thing sure is big! They have a large collection of Egyptian artifacts, tons of statues, lots of tapestries, ancient maps and some pretty nice paintings. Some of their nicest works are painted right onto the walls themselves – what’s up with that? As kids we always had to use paper!!!! Needless to say, the works by Raphael and Michelangelo were something to behold. The Sistine Chapel was really neat to get to visit, although the paintings weren’t as vibrant as Jen thought they would be. It took us about 4 hours in total to weave our way through the museum. From there we stopped in the carriage house and got to see old Pope-Mobiles (really cool).

One of Many Marble Statues
Vatican Museum
Vatican City

A Map Room
Vatican Museum
Vatican City

School of Athens
Vatican Museum
Vatican City



The Sistine Chapel
Vatican Museum
Vatican City

After the museum we went to St. Peter’s Basilica. We entered through the grotto, saw John Paul II’s grave and saw the traditional location of St. Peter’s grave. From there we walked up into the Basilica which was absolutely breathtaking.

Saint Peter's Basilica
Vatican City

Saint Peter's Basilica
Vatican City

Saint Peter's Basilica
Vatican City

Saint Peter's Square
Vatican City

The Spanish Steps were next on our list of attractions to visit, they were alright. Really crowded and full of people. We didn’t really didn’t spend much time there. We then headed by foot over to the Trevi Fountain, which ended up being even more crowded then the Spanish Steps. The area around the Trevi fountain was full of little shops and gelato stands. So we helped ourselves to some gelato and people watched. (They had this amazing mixed berry flavor – it was wonderful! You could see the chunks of berries. Jenny had that mixed with the lemon which was just so fresh!)

Spanish Steps
Rome, Italy

Trevi Fountain
Rome, Italy

After exploring the touristy sights of Rome we headed back to the hotel before dinner. We headed by foot to a great little restaurant that was made popular by Elizabeth Taylor during the filming of Cleopatra. Dinner was delicious! The walk back to the hotel made us feel better about having dessert with dinner.