Hola! Bonjour! Ciao!

I know. I need to post about Europe. It just seems such a daunting task, I've had a hard time sitting down to do it. I've decided that I just need to go for brevity. Highlights. So here they are (in no particular order).

• Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii

We hiked to the top of Vesuvius and skirted the crater. This is a view inside the humongous crater. And here's us at the top....

Pompeii was incredible. We would definitely go back here. So much to see and learn about this time period. Super interesting, amazing, thought provoking....one of our favorites, for sure.

• Rome

Kendall outside the Colosseum, me inside. We had an audio commentary downloaded on our MP3 that we listened to as we walked around. Very interesting, pretty amazing.

Making a wish in Trevi Fountain. The Sistine Chapel. Unbelievable.

• Florence/Pisa We were debating whether or not we'd stop here. It was right on the way back to the port from Florence, though, so we made a quick stop. I'm so glad we did! We got off the bus and walked toward the square, as we approached a wall with an arched entrance way, there it was! Just through the archway, the Leaning tower of Pisa. It really was neat to see in person, though we didn't need more than a half hour there.
  
  
  David. Not the authentic, Michelangelo made one. This is a replica, the real one was in a museum that we didn't go to. But even the replica was pretty amazing. I love the look on David's face...it's a confidence born from faith. This represents our visit to Florence. I loved Florence. Quiet, beautiful, full of character....very much what I would picture Italy to be (after Naples and Rome, which weren't at all what I imagined).

• Villefranche (the French Riviera)
  
  

This place was beautiful as well.

We went to a medieval village called "Eze". It's completely pedestrian...small, narrow, winding stone streets with little shops or houses along the sides. Eze is perched right up on a cliff and there is a garden at the top where you can see a great view of the coast line.

• The boat.

We were on a cruise. Did I mention that? Every day, we'd get off the boat and spend the day in a different city or even country. Then, we'd get back on at night, have a wonderful dinner, go to a show, get some sleep and then wake up in a new place. It's was awesome.

• Barcelona

Our cruise started and ended in Barcelona. We stayed there one night before our cruise left. We did a hop on hop off bus tour to get as much of the city in a short period of time as possible. We loved Barcelona. I would definitely go back to see more of Spain. These are pictures of "Sagrada Familia", a famous cathedral. It was amazing. The stained glass inside the chapel was breathtaking. We happened to be here on a Sunday and attended mass. It was a really neat experience.

We stayed at a hostel on a busy, bustling, street called "Las Ramblas". This is the view right outside our window in the middle of the night. There was a lot going on all night long. It was a fun place to stay a night.

• A whirlwind in London

We had a 6 hour layover in London before getting to Barcelona. So, we decided to hop on the train and go see something. We got off at Piccadilly Circus and walked down some street and through a park and ended up at Buckingham Palace. Then, we had to turn around an head back. It was fun to go to London, if only for a minute.

There's so much more to say. But that will be it. Europe, we loved you. Hopefully, we will be back again someday!