1st Couple Days in Italy!!!

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Day 1-3, Can't believe we left Tuesday monring and here it is already Thursday evening. The first day was long and tiring, starting with an early visit to LAX meeting there at 4:00am. After a 5 1/2 hour flight to New York, a two hour lay over and then an additional 8 1/2 hours on a plane to Europe we finally landed in Italy. It felt great to finally stretch my legs out. We then took a short bus ride from the airport to hotel where after checking we all took a much needed nap, after all by this time it was now Wednesday morning.

After our nap we had dinner at a pizza place but ate no pizza. We had some salad, pasta, pork loin and deep fried potatoes. Then real tiramisu for dessert. After that we headed out on our first tourn. We walked around and saw the Piazza Navaro and the Trevi Fountain. Our guide, Paulo, told us all kinds of stories and facts along the way, as well as the ledgend of the fountain where most of us threw our three coins in. The first coin was for good luck, the 2nd coin was for a wish, and the 3rd coin was to marry an Italian. I had to throw an amreican coin in on the third one or my fiance would have killed me. :-)

After walking around we then boarded a bus and headed around the city seeing many famous sites all lite up. The Colossuem, the Vatican, and some other ancient ruins. After that we headed back to the hotel for a much needed nights rest.


Today(Thursday, June 24) we got up and had some breakfast at the hotel. Typical European breakfast, of breads, cheese and deli meats. After our meal we boarded a bus and headed out for the day. We made our way to the Vatican for a guided tour and a chance to hang out for a while with the Pope. Turns out he is a Laker fan as well, he was wearing his Kobe jersey around the church. At the Vatican we walked through the Sisteen Chapel which was absolutely amazing. We weren't allowed to take and pictures inside, but as soon as my camera battery charges I will downloaded the ones I was able to sneak by the gaurds. We also walked through St. Peters Basilia and the square. What an amazing place. I can not image how hard it was for one guy to paint that entire ceiling. He must have had carpal tunnel afterwards.

From there we then started off on a walk to find some food and see more sights. We finally got our first taste of Italian pizza and it couldn't have come at a better time. I was about to have my head cut off by Callan and Emily and a few others if we didn't eat soon. After refueling on lunch we then walked some more seeing th palace of the first king and the tomb of the unknow soldier. From there we made our way down to the Colosseum. We started off on a tourn so we could get in the place without waiting in line. It was very informative informaton but after about 20 minutes we had enough of our guide and just walked around on our own. We were hoping to catch Spartucus and his gang but they are on break for the summer so we just took pictures with Cesar instead.(Will see pics later).

After the Colosseum we decided to take the Metro(subway) back to our hotel. After all it was nearly a mile walk and they were getting pretty grumpy. Well let me tell you, when that first train pulled up and saw no empty space on that thing I was like NO WAY! We waited for another train to come by and shoved our way one. Trust me I made it clear we were going 2 stops only and to hold on to your belongings tightly! We survived and made it back safely just in time to see Italy lose their game in the world cup and now are eliminated! Good thing the USA is still in it!

Well that bringss us to right now, the girls are probably napping and getting ready to go out for another big night. Next time you hear from us we will be in Camogli! I will update with pictures as soon as I can. Took so many pics today my camera battery died.

Hope all is well and you guys are practicing hard! See you all soon.

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