Cinque Terra, Italy

Note: I didn't take any of these pictures. They are compliments of Katie.  Jill and I didn't bring our cameras around with us during the day and a half we were there for fear that they'd get damaged on the beach or trails.  We did have Jill's disposable, but I don't have copies yet.

Cinque Terra is 5 small towns set into the cliffs along the coast, connected to each other by hiking trails.  The homes are brightly colored and set up on the cliffs. The region is known for their pesto, white wine, and hiking trails.  We had some amazing food here - fresh seafood and homemade pasta....and the gnocchi with pesto was my favorite. 

The evening we arrived, we sat on this large rock and absorbed their scenery.  We walked up the trail a bit and watched the sun set.  For dinner, we took a local recommendation on a restaurant. We sampled the locale wine and had fresh seafood with lasagna pasta.

Day 2: Jill woke up early in search of kayaks, but nothing was open yet.  We met up when I woke up, got some breakfast, then took the train to the 5th town and laid out on the beach.  It was there that Jill found her kayaks.  After a couple hours on the beach, we headed to the trails to head back to our town, Manarola (2nd).  While on the trail, we passed under olive trees and past vineyards. 
We hiked one trail for 2 hours. We thought we were over at least 2 towns. Nope! We had only made it over one town. We decided that a train back was our best bet because it was getting late. It was in the restaurant under our hostel that we had the homemade gnocchi - so good. We headed out early the next morning to Venice.

Pisa, Italy

The 2 Canadian girls we hung out with each had 2 days worth of travel left on their Eurail passes, and they were kind enough to give them to Jill and me.  The girl from florida, Jenny, came with us to Pisa and Cinque Terra afterwards. The guy in the picture above looks like Budzyn (for those of you who know him). I was really surprised that they let people climb the Leaning Tower. I swore that I learned at one point that you used to be able to go inside, but then they stopped allowing people in for safety and preservation reasons.
Below: classic pushing the tower over picture (me)

Below: Jill holding the Tower up

Rome

Trevi Fountain - this is the end of the second day in Rome (as far as MY pictures go anyway). Note also, we did see the Sistine Chapel, but you aren't allowed to photograph or videotape it.

We had a lovely dinner with our friends and ate gelato.  We also went to an Irish pub (in Rome, mind you) and talked to some people from the Netherlands and Germany.

Day 3. I left my camera at the hostel by mistake and Jill's was dead.  We took a couple pictures with a disposable, but I don't have copies yet. On day 3, we walked around the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum wasn't much to look at, but we stumbled upon a free guided tour and learned some interesting things.  For example, the saying "all roads lead to Rome" came about because in the center of the forum was a list of the distances of other cities to Rome.  Also, the guy who traded the Pantheon to the church...his memorial, a free standing column, still stands in the forum.

The pictures below are of the friends we made the last night.  They knew the girls we hung out with from the hostel.  The picture below goes along with the conversation about how few American cars there were in Europe and how you'd never see a pickup truck there.  I looked around and pointed out the ford 4-door pickup that was 50ft away....so there had to be a picture with it.
Diane and me
Below: our sleeping beauties. Diane fell asleep at the Roman forum and also at the Irish Pub the night before. Jill falls asleep any time she's in a moving vehicle.
Below: this guy was a Scott (former SPRO manager) look-alike

Rome - The Vatican

The main alter of St. Peter's. I love the picture below; it's one of my favorites from the whole trip.  You can see at the bottom, a hand reaching up...it's one of the statues, but I love the feel of it.

Rome - The Vatican

Above: the halls inside the museum.

Below: Paintings by Raphael
Below: Raphael's the School of Athens
Inside St. Peter's, below is the Pieta of Michelangelo

Rome - Vatican museum

Above: The Scraper

Below: Artemis
Below: the Laocoon Group
Below: really awesome statue. Really, I just like the great picture I took of awesome statue....lol
The mosaics are extremely detailed and made with tiny stones. This one decorates the floor...

Rome - to and at the Vatican

Apparently, this building is in the book Angels and Demons...
Below... straight shot view of St. Peter's

Another Panorama from inside St. Peter's Square. I took a video of it as well...
The bottom is a view from inside the Vatican Museum, which is around the block from the complex.