London (Days 2 and 3)

All of the streets in London have either "Look Right" or "Look Left" painted on them, depending on where traffic is coming from. Just in case you couldn't tell by actually looking at traffic.The ravens at the tower of London. There's a cool story about them (Google it!).

The queen's quarters at the tower of London. Despite the fact that no queen has lived here for hundreds of years, they still have a guard posted at the door per tradition. Interior buildings at the Tower of London. The one on the left houses the crown jewels (no pics allowed).


Traitor's gate, where such traitors as Sir Walter Raleigh and Anne Boleyn were brought in.More of the Tower of London...the wall on the left is the Bloody Tower. Cool stories about that exist as well. Check them out.

The Middle Tower, where you enter the Tower of London.The Gherkin. Also called "London's Egg". Dirty jokes abound.

Exterior of the Tower of London. One of my favorite places from the trip.

Obligatory red telephone booth pic.Roses outside of St. Paul's Cathedral.

Big Ben - is the bell! Not the clock! Not the tower!Me in front of Buckingham Palace. Not much of a palace if you ask me. Where are the turrets?

Guards lining the street outside of Buckingham Palace. I wanted to touch the hats so bad.Me and a guard outside the palace where Prince Henry and Prince William live when in town (which they weren't - I checked).

I really wanted to get a "Mind the Gap" t-shirt but kept forgetting.
I love that elevators are 'lifts'. I also love their symbol for women - look at her cute poofy skirt!
Tower of London, which was really freaking cool.Victoria Station. I don't know why I took a picture except it was pretty.

Westminster Church (NOT Abbey), where we went to church on Sunday, instead of getting to shop more.London cop on motorcycle and also the Sweetest. Picture. Ever.

The palace where the princes stay when in town. I couldn't find a way in. I tried.I don't know why I took a picture of this, either. I think there's a palace back there somewhere. It's a safe bet. There're all over the place. (Update: Apparently, it's Parliment.)

The London Eye and County Hall. St. Paul's Cathedral, the second largest church in the world.
View out my hotel window. Booyah.Covent Garden, where you can buy anything. Miles of vendors. Note the POURING F-ING RAIN.

Fountain at Leiscester Square. I want that fish.View of London Streets from Trafalgar (spelling? too lazy to look it up) Square.

Me looking damn cute in front of a lion at Trafalgar Square.The troupe of girls walking down the street. Note the restaurant on the right named "EAT." I think that's the most brilliant name for a restaurant ever.

Paris (Days 4, 5, and 6)

View looking up at Sacre Coeur from Champs Elysees.Me and a student in front of Champs Elysses street sign.

Looking up at the Arc d'Triumpe. It was much more elaborate than I expected. But hey, that's Napoleon for you.

My sister, me, and her friend Rosemary on the night train to Florence. Just a little cramped. And there were three more girls in that space with us!My sister's friend Eimile getting visually molested by some dude named Dan from Sacramento. Dan! She's 17! You're 30! Jailbait!

Me with my new car (it should be arriving in the States any day now).French graffiti. Anyone know what it says? I could Bablefish it but I'm far too lazy for that.

The Palace at Versailles. So freaking huge.The gates surrounding Versailles.

The chaple inside Versailles where Marie Antoinette was married.Detail of a fireplace decoration. This doesn't explain the French Revolution at all.

Wall and ceiling detail at Versailles. I think they said there is five kinds of marble here.

A life-sized gold relief statue above a fireplace at Versailles.One of the royal beds. And to dispel a myth that the beds were so short because the people where much shorter back in the day - it's true, they were shorter, but not that much. The beds were smaller because people slept in a sitting-up postion because they thought it was healthier (since laying down was for the dead).

Hall at Versailles.Door at Versailles.

Chandelier at Versailles.Marie Antoinette's jewelry box. HER JEWELRY BOX! Look at how huge it was!

Marie Antoinette's bed. If you look closely you can even see an "MA" on the headboard.The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.


Detail of the canopy of a bed in one of the royal bedrooms.Pictures hanging at Versailles. Note the velvet wallpaper.

The gardens at Versailles. Bit o' history for you: French gardens are so symetrical and manicured because good old Louis XVI (the "Sun" king) wanted to prove that he was in control of everything, even nature.

Smart Car. Three words for you: I. Want. One.Our first view of Paris as we left the train station.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace at the Louvre.The Venus de Milo at the Louvre.

A Roman mummy at the Louvre.The Mona Effing Lisa (behind glass and lots of people, so hard to get a good picture).
Interior of the Louvre. When visiting you have to remember it used to be a palace, so it's just as interesting to see the intricate details on the walls and ceilings as it is the actual art.Exterior of the Louvre. And the Pyramid, just like in Da Vinci Code!

Sacre Coeur Church, the highest point in Paris. Really beautiful.Montmatre, an artist's district near Sacre Coeur.

View of the Eiffel Tower from Sacre Coeur.View of Paris from Sacre Coeur.

Sacre Coeur Church.Looking up at the structural detail of the Eiffel Tower.

Views of Paris from the first deck of the Eiffel Tower (a tripod would have been helpful here, but I steady-handed it as best I could).

Another view of Paris from the Eiffel Tower.Another view of the structure.

Walking up to the Eiffel Tower. The thing is seriously huge. Much bigger than I thought it would be.Eiffel Tower at night.

The Eiffel Tower at dusk.Robo cops outside the Eiffel Tower.

Notre Dame exterior. Notice the group of people in front getting their picture taken? I didn't.Interior Notre Dame. Very gothic.

Interior Notre Dame.A really cool building/church/thing near Notre Dame. I love the architecture.

The Conciergerie. Like everything else, it used to be a fortress and then was a palace and now is a museum. It's where Marie Antoinette was kept prisoner.A city street. Every pharmacy in Europe has these neon crosses outside them. Pretty helpful if you are looking for one, I guess.

Louis Vuitton was remodeling their store on the Champs Elysees and covered the work with a giant Louis Vuitton bag.Le Dome Church, where Napoleon is buried.


Going down a metro stop.Exterior Notre Dame.

Paris city streets near Notre Dame. So pretty!The Opera. Lots of cool shops around there.

The Arc d'Triumpe.A military academy where Napoleon studied.

Houseboats on the River Seine. Detail of the Alexander III (I think, that's what my notes say but I could have been writing about something else) bridge.

Alexander III bridge.

Florence, Pisa, and Montecatini Treme (Day 7)

Fruit stand in Florence. Everything is so fresh and so big and so succulent...mmm.The gorgeous, quaint, movie-like streets of Florence. Seriously, how gorgeousare they??

Street performer dressed as a bronze statue. He was GOOD.Statue of David outside of the Florence city hall. The real David is in Florence, too, but we didn't see him because it was a two-hour wait.

Courtyard outside of Santa Croce.Tomb of Machiavelli.

Interior of Doumo Cathedral in Florence. That is the oldest working mechanical clock.Streets of Florence. Cannot. Get. Enough.

Statue of "The Rape of Sabine," which I remember learning about in art - it was the first statue designed to be viewed from all angles.Streets of Florence - at one time in history it was possible to go from one end of the city to the other without leaving the buildings. Or so the tour guide said.

Florence city hall. It kind of looks like it was made from Legos.More of the streets of Florence. Seriously, I can't get enough.

The Doumo Cathedral. Third largest church in the world.Detail of the Doumo.

Interior of the Doumo looking up at the dome.Santa Croce church.

Michelangelo's tomb in Santa Croce. The three statues represent the three art muses - art, sculpture, and architecture. Since Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor, she is the only one mourning his death. And there you have yourself a little art lesson.
Courtyard of Santa Croce.

Florence main square.Me getting molested by a street performer dressed as a marble statue. He was creepy...he kept...petting people.

Interior Doumo cathedral in Florence.Obligatory picture of me fixing the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Gorgeous skies! It's not leaning so much here, I must have tilted the camera a bit.
The Cathedral and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The Tower and a statue.The street vendors surrounding the Tower.

The walls surrounding the city of Pisa.The cathedral at Pisa.

Two views of the cathedral at Pisa.

Our hotel in Montecatini Treme.Me in front of a fountain in Montecatini Treme.

The streets of Montecatini Treme at night.

Assisi (Day 8)

Driving up to Assisi. Beautiful area!McDonald's that we drove past. They...were...EVERYWHERE. The McDrive sign says "Order, Pay, Go!"

The views from Assisi were amazing...the city sits on top of a hill and you can see for miles. So I had to ruin the view by standing in front of it.The infamous absinthe. I did not purchase it at this first sighting.

Gorgeous little spot off one of the main roads. I wanted my picture in front of it.Then I decided it was prettier on its own.

This was in a wall...I don't know what it is but it looks old and important.

Another view from Assisi. The silvery grey trees in the foreground are olive trees. No olives, though, I checked.The main drag into Assisi.

Streets of Assisi...a lot like Florence, I just loved them!A stone in a wall showing a date of 1477. 1477! And it's just sitting there!

Two more views of the streets of Assisi. Gorgeous...

A monk walking down the street. They were cool.Another view of the countryside.

View of the city.Me, with the absinthe I finally decided to buy. I mean, not buy. This is not the absinthe you are looking for!

Vatican City (Day 9)

The long, long line to get in. Most of those girls are with my group, but if you look on the right you can see a group of tiny little Asian ladies that tried to cut us. Crazy bitches.The giant wall surrounding Vatican City, and the line stretching around it.
The Swiss Guards outside the gates. Michelangelo designed those lovely uniforms.The actual city in Vatican City.

St. Peter's. The pope's residence is to the right.

The Jubilee Door, which is only opened once every 25 years.An archway outside the church.

An illegal picture taken inside the Sistine Chapel. It was very...busy.The dome of St. Peter's.

The Vatican Museum. The longest hall in the museum, I believe on the way to the Sistine Chapel.A gorgeous floor mosaic made with lapis and jade.

Statues inside the museum. This one is one of the oldest intact statues ever found. It was originally completely painted, and you can still see the eyes are colored.Another statue - note the fig leaf. The church added that at some point to prevent the indecency of having NUDES in the church. They ruined billions of dollars of priceless art.

Ceiling at the museum.The foot of a statue that would have been HUGE. The foot alone was at least three feet night.


A Roman mosaic at the museum. This was actually like a menu that would have hung outside a restaurant showing what you could get inside.Michelangelo's Pieta. Seeing this statue was incredibly moving. There are interesting stories about American marines saving the statue from a crazy person and why Michelangelo signed this piece of work. Look them up!

A dead pope. Pope John XXIIII to be specific.

Rome (Day 9)

This was an ancient Roman temple that they (the Christians) decided to build a church inside. Look at the top of the columns and you can see grooves that they cut into the stone in order to tie ropes around them and pull them down - except they were so well built that they wouldn't fall. So they just build around it. Christians are CRAZY!A street performer in Piazza Navona. He is standing completely still, and his clothes were wired to make them stay that way.

Me and AMS (the little sister) making out with a parakeet on the streets of Rome.Speaking of which...here are the streets of Rome!

An original Roman water fountain that still works, and is still supplied by an aquaduct. The water was, if I may say so, the best water I've ever had. Or, it could have been that it was a fazillion degrees out and I hadn't had any water all day.Ruins on Capitol Hill.

Walking up to the Coloseum (AKA Colisseum) - our first glimpse of it! It was unbelieveable.Me in front of the Coloseum. Did you read that? THE COLOSEUM. I WAS THERE.

The inside of the Coloseum. Because, you know, I was inside of it. The Coloseum, that is.Me in front of an arc d'triumphe (no, the one in Paris is not the only one; they are everywhere!).

The interior of the Coloseum.Me looking extremely awkward in the Coloseum.

Me eating gelato for probably the sixth time that day.The streets of Rome (this is actually right outside Vatican City).

The streets of Rome right outside the Coloseum.The Colo-freakin-seum.

Looking up at the Coloseum.The hallway that runs around the Coloseum.

More of the interior of the Coloseum.Looking out at the gladiator quarters and an arc d'triumphe from the Coloseum.

Ruins outside the Coloseum.Ruins at Capitol Hill.

More ruins at Capitol Hill.A building (I think it's a museum...or the capitol building) at the Michelangelo-designed Capitoline Square (Piazza de Campidoglio) and a statue of Marcus Aurelius.

Trevi Fountain.Me and AMS outside Trevi Fountain.

The Pantheon. THE PANTHEON!Interior of the THE PANTHEON (just in case you didn't get it...I was IN the PANTHEON!).

View of St. Peter's Cathedral from a bridge across the Tiber River.

Pompeii and Sorrento (Day 10)

This is the courtyard of a wealthy family's house. That empty hole would have been a pool.The same family's house.

The waiting room of the public spa. The holes in the wall were lockers.Detail of one the plaster cast of one of the victims. Notice that you can even see the straps from his sandal.

Plaster cast of one of the victims.They had gutters and drains in the streets! It was amazing how modern it looked.

Ruins along the street. If you can see the hole in the curb, that was where people hitched their horse or donkey as they shopped at that store.Writing outside a store that advertised what was available inside.
Looking down the streets of Pompeii.Ruins of government buildings with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

Standing in the midst of the ruins, looking out to the modern city of Pompeii below.


The area was so gorgeous and green and lush. I can understand why people would want to live there, even with an active volcanoe just an eruption away.

A mosiac tile floor. Can you believe how well preseved it is?Yes. That is a penis carved into the street. It points the way to the brothels! Apparently, the joke in that time was that merchants and visitors would ask locals where the brothels were, and the locals would say "Just follow your penis!" Pompeii was very decadent and "sinful" - like the Las Vegas of ancient times.

Me in the doorway of a family house.The ampitheatre.

A two-story building.Local wildlife!

A row of merchant stores. These stepping stones were built so when the streets flooded with rain, the locals could walk across the street without getting wet.


This is a merchant's store. The large vats would hold olive oil, rice, wheat, etc., and customers would come up to the counter and order what they wanted.

Sorrento! The most gorgeous place I've ever been. This is the view as we were driving to our hotel.This is down at the beach. Our hotel is right at the top of the cliff. That is a road in the middle of the picture - super narrow and super twisty. It was a loooooong walk, but it was fun watching the cars try to navigate.


Houses and shops in Sorrento.Walking down the twisty road from the hotel to the beach. You can see how narrow the road is in the lower left corner.


The cliffs of Sorrento - those are coves for the boats to go into when docked.

One of the main roads in Sorrento.Again looking down the road to the beach and docks.

Oh. My. Lord. Too beautiful for words.This is looking out our hotel balcony. It's some kind of citrus grove. Maybe oranges. I have no idea what the little houses are. They're like three stories up...?

More prettiness.Detail of the twisty road to the beach.
Me at the hotel at sunset.Me on the beach at sunset.


Views of the ocean from the hotel at sunset.


One of my favorite pictures. This was on the roof of the hotel.Leaving Sorrento on the way to the ferry that we would be taking to Naples.

Down at the ferry dock looking back up at the city.

Capri and Naples (Day 11)

A garden in Capri.A road in Capri that was built by some rich bored guy. Before the built the road, there was no way to get up or down that cliff.

Looking down the cliffs to the gorgeous turquoise water.Me in front of the ocean.


We took a boat tour around Capri, and this was a rock in the middle of the ocean called the Love Rock. When a couple gets married, they traditionally go under this arch three times. Our guide serenaded us with "That's amore" while we were going under.A little grotto carved into the cliffs. There's a statue of the Virgin Mary in there.

The shores of Capri.On the boat tour looking back at Capri.


The Love Rock from a distance. Looking back at Capri.

Looking down at the city of Capri. A tree in one of the gardens.

The hard rock beaches of Capri. It hurt to walk on, but it was kind of like a rough massage to lay down. There's no nudes. I looked.

A fortress in Naples. We just drove through, so we didn't really get to see much of the city.A cruise liner docked in Naples.