In 34 degree temperatures, we marched over to the Vatican museum to see the Sistine Chapel.  Things are far more organized than they were when we were last here.  It’s all set up  so that you end up doing a self guided tour rather than wandering aimlessly.  Much better, as you see alot more.  We actually found that most of the museums are set up this way now. 

Inside the Sistine Chapel - the last judgement

Inside the Sistine Chapel - creation of man

It’s been a great trip, a wonderful experience for our family.  None of can believe that we’ve been away for 3 weeks – it went by so quickly! 

Like all good things, this too must come to an end.  We’ll be back….

I woke up early to go out to get some things for lunches and dinner (we’re eating in tonight).  The market was in full swing in Campo dei Fiori!  Vendors were selling everything from fresh vegetables, cheese, meat, oils and vinegars, to spices and national drinks (aka limoncella).  Will insert pic later today.

Came back to the apartment (just 200 mt) from the square in a building built in 1700′s.  We would definitely rent this one again!  It’s a bit bigger than our place in Mexico, with one master bedroom, a small single bedroom, queensize pullout couch, a dining table for six, and a separate kitchen area.  I’ll take pics before we leave.  This is our front door from the inside!

More to come after our treks through the streets today…..

We walked for 5 hours in total in 30 degree temperatures.  It is hot but the trip to the colliseum and the forum were amazing.  They’ve done alot of excavation work on both since Iwas here 16  years ago.  The colliseum now has alot of documentation posted describing roman life and identifying different parts of the colliseum.  The forum has gone through a 20 ft excavation exposing much more than what I remember.  Mike was really taken with the sites and wants to come back again! 

guess what this is...

inside the colliseum

view of the forum from the colliseum

inside the forum

inside the forum

inside the forum

Last time I was here (16 yrs ago) the ground was at the bottom of the pillars.  They have excavated about 20 ft since then to uncover a ton of ruins!

We’re off for the nightly Ranfam stroll – like we don’t already do enough walking???

• 

  Piazza Navona at night

Ciao Bella

St. Peters square and the Vatican

INSIDE THE VATICAN

light shining through the Vatican roof - divine intervention???

Pope John 23 - yes, he's real, but the face is a mask

St. Peter

Sunday Service at the Vatican

Unfortunately the Sistine Chapel is not open on Sundays, so we’ll have to plan that for another day. 

Instead, we decided to go to the Castel Sant’Angelo.  This is the castle where the Popes go when the country is at war, and where the book Angels and Demons (Dan Brown – really good book if you haven’t read it) takes place.

There is a private walkway that provides a direct link between the Vatican and the castle.  Unfortunately we had to walk around the Vatican to get to the castle….they didn’t think we were important enough to provide direct access!

Castel Sant'Angelo

View of the Vatican from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo

she's not bored yet!

Enough churches and castles, it was gelato time!  We walked back to Campo dei Fiori (close to the apartment).  I had white chocolate and strawberry.  I’m sure I’ve gained about 10 pounds.  We’ve had gelato every day since our first day in Paris! 

After a much needed nap, we headed over to Piazza Navona, the Trevi fountain, and the Pantheon.

Piazza Navona

Trevi fountain

Pantheon

We finally sat down to dinner at  a restaurant in Campo di Fiori.  The food here is sooooo good. 

Off to the forum and the colliseum tomorrow!

Michaelangelo's David

The Firenze Duomo, and view from the top!

LAST LUNCH IN FIRENZE

Will she finish?

He da man, aka 'cool dude in new white linen shirt!'

Now, she was cute!

Our train to Pisa was once again through beautiful countryside.  Huge fields of sunflowers and rolling hill lined with terra cotta houses. 

I would love to rent a villa in Tuscany some day – Lizzy, are you reading this?

Pisa, in comparison to the other cities we have toured is pretty small.  We went to check in to our hotel, and they had no record of our reservation, so we ended up with a family room at a hotel down the road.  It was a great room with a bedroom with 2 single beds for the kids, and a separate bedroom with a queensize bed for us.  We had a window right in front of our bed that overlooked a beautiful garden!

view from my bed

Like all good tourists, we took pictures of the kids holding up the leaning tower, as we strolled through the gardens and market stalls.

 We didn’t know that Pisa was originally a walled city!

Dinner was at a small restaurant with pasta, salads and veal, and then off to bed so that we could catch the 11:00 am train to Rome tomorrow.  We’ve taken over 1000 pictures so far, and Rome will be chapter 6 in our European vacation story.

We love hearing from everyone back home in your comments.  Keep them coming!!

Ciao, Ciao

Breakfast at hotel Bavaria

Boticelli's Venus

After lunch, we strolled through the streets and met up with the friends from yesterdays train ride.  Michael and Colin are touring Europe with their grandmother, and then Michael will head back to Utah, and Colin will spend another two weeks with his grandmother who lives in Helsinki, Finland.  It is a right of passage in their family when they turn 13 to visit grandma. 

 Our afternoon stroll took us to the market where we made some purchases.  Becky bought a cotton/silk blend dress, Rob bought some linen shirts and a leather briefcase, and I bought a small purse. 

With tired feet, we decided to head back to the hotel for some r&r before dinner.

The Doges Palace houses the worlds largest oil painting, stretching 27 meters across one whole wall. 

The palace ceilings are covered in bright coloured frescoes that are framed by hand carved guilded frames.  They are truly beautiful, unlike anything I have ever seen. 

We also toured the dungeons in the basement.  Many of the cells had the prisoners names (self carved) into the stone.  Unfortunately, we could not take pictures, so to see it, you will have to travel to Venice yourself! 

The train ride from Venice to Florence gave us a chance to sit back and enjoy the rolling hills of Tuscany.  We met a family Michael (17), Colin (13)  from Utah, and their grandmother from Finland.  They have been doing a whirlwind tour of Europe.

Michael, Colin, Becky and Mike

We felt like we were truly experiencing the countryside, as the air conditioning in our train car was broken, and the temperature hit 32 degrees celcius, although we got some relief when we used the washroom in the car next to us! 

The good news is, when we reached Florence, we felt cool, because the outside air temperature was only 29! 

We took a cab to our hotel,  dumped our bags, and proceeded to walk the streets, check out Del Signora square and the Ponto Vecchia.  Becky found a pair of gladiator sandals (the real reason she traveled to Italy)!

Arno River, Firenze

The Duomo

Starving Artist

Dinner was at a great restaurant with delicious salads and assorted pasta dishes, and then home to bed to rest our weary feet.

dinner in Firenze

They even captured the bubbles!

This one is for Jan, Tara, Lindz, and Alex

Murano glass

Piazza San Marco

Basillica San Marco is stunning.  I think the most impressive site within the church is the golden alter screen.  It houses hundreds of rubies, emeralds, garnets, amethysts and pearls.  The floors and ceilings are all done with intricate mosaic tiling, and lots of gold.  Unfortunately we cannot take pictures inside.   Mike and Becky are really taken with the churches due to their size, stature, and artwork.

Basillica San Marco

Our next stop was the bell tower in Piazza San Marco.  It  is the red brick tower next to the Basillica and stands 80 meters high.  The view of Venice from the top is breathtaking.  The photos don’t even begin to describe it.  We got up to the top of the tower just as a storm was rolling in and watched it as it descended upon the city. 

Bell Tower, Piazza San Marco

Becky at the bell tower

Mike at the bell tower

Veiw from the bell tower

Our first rain since we arrived on June 25!

 We ended up getting caught in the rain at the bottom of the tower, and ran for cover (it was  lunch time anyway).  By the time we got to a covered restaurant, we were drenched, but didn’t mind because it was a relief from the heat and humidity.

 After lunch, we walked over to the Museum Academia where we spent a couple of hours viewing period works of art by the masters of Venice.

 Out last stop for the day was the Doges Palace, but by then it was 6:00 and it required 3 hours to go through it properly.  We decided to get up early the next morning and tour it then.

Our Italian relative....This is where Mike got his passion for music!

The streets of Venice

What a beautiful place.  As a lover of water, I think this is my favourite city so far.  Full of canals, narrow streets (aka alleyways) great food, and great shopping if you like murano glass and soccer shirts!

We have some soccer fans

View from Rialto bridge

Rock 'n Roll in Venice

Canal at night

Ciao Bella….

Thank goodness our apartment has many windows and we are able to get a cross breeze.  The heat has lifted somewhat, but without air conditioning, we can still feel it!

Our last day included packing up and navigating our way through the Bercy station where our train was leaving from to the Gare de l’Est station where we had to store our luggage.  Apparently Bercy is only a satellite station and does not have luggage storage.  It took us a while to find the storage lockers, but once found, we were pleasantly surprised that a large locker would accomodate all of our suitcases (rememer we only packed carry on size for a reason!).

We ventured out from Gare de l’Est over to Notre Dame for the big climb to the top.  I decided to find a quiet park and read my book while the others got thier exercise.  I’ve done it before, and I really felt like some      r & r time on my own.  The view from the top of Notre Dame is magnificent, and it’s really neat to see the gargoyles up close.

Gargoyles at the top of Notre Dame

After the trek up to the top of  Notre Dame, the Ranfam reunites for one last exploration of the streets of Paris before heading off on the overnight train to Venice.

Rooms with a view!

After a late start, we decided once again to go separate ways.  Rob and Mike journeyed over to la Place de la Concorde, Champs Elysees, and L’arc de Triomphe, and Becky and I ventured out to find the Picasso Museum.

The Arc

The latest at the Peugeot dealership on the Champs Elysee

Becky and I spent about an hour in the museum trying to get inside Picasso’s head.  He was one very weird dude!  His early paintings are quite normal, but later in life his work becomes very different.  He seems to be preoccupied with distorted figures and faces, with a focus on women, the beach and string instruments.  We both really had to wonder what was going on inside his head when he created his later works.  They are totally bizarre.

We headed down to the Latin Quarter again for dinner – great value for a family of 4! 

Rob & Becky at in the Latin Quarter

Came back to the apartment early so that we could pack up and get organized for tomorrow. 

We are hoping that we can find storage lockers at the train station, and then head over to climb the 500 plus steps to the top of Notre Dame.  We’ll have dinner before we board the train, and then we have an overnight journey to Venice. 

 We’ve taken over 800 pics so far, and we’re only half way through our vacation.  You’ve gotta love digital cameras! 

14 Rue du Perche - our apt - blue door is the entrance, we're on the 4th floor

Will post photos and another blog segment once we’re in Venice with internet access.