http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/jlocker/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from jlocker en-us Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:06:32 +0000 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:06:32 +0000 Hooray We checked out of our awful hotel in Venice this morning Just a quick bit of information about the hotel the bathrooms are SO small that the toilet is right next to the shower space separated only by a shower curtain. Therefore if you sit on the toilet your feet are actually in the shower. It was a SPECIAL hotel So we left Venice and drove toward Assisi but again we stopped http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-175853.html Ah Venice This has got to be the most beautiful city I have seen on this trip if not the most beautiful city I've ever seen PERIOD I absolutely LOVED my day in Venice We rode our bus from the hotel to a port. Since Venice is actually a series of about 120 islands connected together by bridges the only way to get there was by boat. We got on our boat just as a bunch of people were arriving http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-175827.html This morning the bus dropped us off again in the city center of Florence for some more free time for exploration. The only thing I hadn't seen yet that was on my list was the Ponte Vecchio a bridge spanning the river which is famous for its scenic views and its expensive jewelry shops. I walked over there with a couple of the ladies from the group who wanted to see it too. We took some picture http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-175789.html On June 10 we started our adventure in Florence or Firenze as it is known in Italy. We first visited the gallery of the Academy where we saw many wonderful works of art but none more impressive than the original of Michaelangelo's David. This piece is incredibly beautiful and HUGE I never realized from the many pictures I've seen of this piece how large it actually is. We also saw his pr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-175386.html This morning we checked out of our hotel in Sorrento and made the relatively quick bus ride to the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. Our guide for the Pompeii tour was the wife of Mariano our guide from the previous day It was amazing to see how well preserved these ruins actually are. Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. destroying the city killing tens of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Pompei/blog-172844.html We had to be up bright and early to pack up the bus and leave Rome. We took a nice drive about 3 hours down to Naples or Napoli to the Italians. We really only saw the city as we drove through to the port since it was not our main destination. At the port we boarded a hydrofoil boat and went approximately 45 minutes across the water to the tiny island of Capri. In Capri we took a small c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Capri/blog-172842.html Hi to all. I have gone a few days without internet access so I am trying to catch up with what's been going on here. On Thursday we finished up our initial time in Rome. We started the day by picking up our guide Gloria same guide from the Vatican Museums and traveling to the Colosseum. First outside of the Colosseum we looked at Constantine's Arch. Then she took us through the Colosseu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-172840.html Buona sera Good evening Our first full day in Italy was really busy but extremely memorable Our day was spent at the Vatican home of the Roman Catholic Church and its leader Pope Benedict XVI. We had to get up very early 600 am so we could arrive in St. Peter's Square by 800 to get good seats for the pope's weekly General Audience which is open to the public. I couldn't believe what http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Vatican-City/Vatican-City/blog-172838.html Hello allWell it is 940 pm in Rome Italy 340 pm in Florida. We left Miami at 945 last night after waiting on the runway for an hour for some unknown delay. We flew into London this morning at about 1100 am and I tested my international cell phone by calling mom. It worked fine. We finally got into Rome this evening at about 500 pm. We had to drive around the city a good way to get to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-172837.html