ciao mondo bello

just a few pictures... the trip report is too long to type out, but these are some of my favorite pictures.  sorry for the lack of order - i tried.  apparently blogger does not like to do what i say.

clayton and alexia and i on a bridge in florence... alexia and clayton just had the most amazing sandwiches they have ever eaten... you can just see the satisfaction in their eyes.

this is laocoon and his sons - a really old marble statue that is now housed in the vatican museum.  i was really excited to stumble upon this because i was always liked it when studying art in school.  (this might have been my favorite part of the vatican... i was underwhelmed by the sistine chapel, but excited to see this!)

on our way to florence, we stopped for a few hours in assisi.  i loved it.  assisi was exactly what italy was in my head - small town with cute old italians in tiny little shops.  quiet, stone streets with narrow roads and tiny little cars.  and pretty views of countryside.  

florence was lovely.  this was a bridge that the shops are built outside the bridge, hanging over the water.  also seemed classic italian - and made the top 25 in our florence travel book... 

i was VERY excited to see the pantheon.  everyone told me i would be disappointed, but i was not.  this was one of my favorite studies in art history, and it was exactly how i imagined it.  (i took about 25 pictures in front of this, and was totally the embarrassing tourist.  i think if they made a foam hat pantheon... i would have bought one.)

this was in the roman forum.  i know, it is not an ancient column, but i thought it was a pretty rose bush.  tom was a pretty good sport and didnt complain about my need to take a picture in front of everything.... (though he doesnt look thrilled this time).  who knows, this could have been a very pivotal rose bush in ancient rome.

clayton and i at the roman forum.  this is the more classic picture...  i was amazed at how many columns there were, just sort of lying around!

the boys and i in front of the colosseum.  this was a trip highlight - i felt prepped by modern marvels (thanks todd) and was impressed to be there.  this would have been amazing to see in real time.  tom is hoping for some sort of an eternal tivo that we can just review the tapes in heaven... we will probably need to watch this one a couple of times.

just a pretty shot of rome.  we did a lot of walking, and a lot of searching for the perfect roman background...

while waiting for the train from florence to rome... i made everyone tell me (again) how small my backpack was and what a great packer i was.  just for proof, we took a picture.  i knew mom and dad would be proud.  (i know, i have a backpack now... i am so granola.)

this was day one in rome... we were so excited to be there!  no one slept on the plane...!  (jet lag set in half-way through dinner... tom and clayton fell asleep! turns out alexia and i are captivating company.)

this was one of the silliest things i have ever seen or been a part of.  we were at these gardens in rome, and saw people biking around on these little carts.  we thought it looked fun, but really it was just hard.  it was hardest on tom and clayton because alexia and i got laughter weakness and could not pedal.  i really was trying, but it felt as ridiculous as it looks.  AND, my steering wheel was fake.  i kept forgetting though, and was trying to drive.  i think everyone considers this a high and low of the trip... there was laughing and yelling.

assisi was so beautiful.  we took a bus to the top of the hill (mostly) and walked the rest.  by the time we got here, we were exhausted (and grateful we were light packers).  we asked some strangers to take our picture, and were so happy with how this turned out.  we might have finally asked the only italian that could take a well positioned picture.  

also in assisi - all of the buildings were so pretty.  i like this picture because clayton's arms look like eagle wings swooping over alexia and i's humps.