Day 2: Rome is amazing!

Our second full day found us waking up, having our breakfast (a juice, like apricot or something, granola, and yogurt) and learning from the bed and breakfast people the best way to get to the Colosseum, which was the main place we wanted to go.

So we took the local bus 64 from a couple of blocks away and made it to Italy's tomb of the unknown soldier. It's got a different name, but I can't remember it. Maybe it's just 'Tomb of the Unknown Soldier' in Italian. It originally was some other palace by somebody, but the Italians thought it was boring, so they finally found a use for it as the tomb of the unknown soldier. It's weird to think that just 60 years ago we were bitter enemies with the Italians. By the way, this isn't my picture. The right side was under a lot of scaffolding. That's another interesting thing about Rome and I think Italy in general. Being such an old city, there's a lot of scaffolding as they restore older buildings and try to keep them up. But on all the scaffolding, they have a picture - well, more like a drawing - of what the architecture behind it looks like. Very interesting. I took a couple of pictures of those - let me see if I can find one to show what that looks like.



So from there we walked down the road towards the Colosseum. Our host at the Bed and Breakfast said we should also take in the Palantine and the surrounding area. The surrounding area were all the forums of the ancient Romans. The couple of pictures I took below of course don't give it justice. But you can see Ceasar's Forum, the Roman Forum, Trajan's Forum, and so many other once great buildings. I think I mentioned on here before that if I could go back to my college days, I'd tell myself to study archaeology. It's so amazing to see these ruins and imagine what they looked like in all of their glory and bustling with life. The Palatine hill is where the rich people of Rome lived, those with connections to the Ceasars.


Overlooking one of the ancient forums. I think this was the Temple of Peace. I could easily do a couple of posts on the Forums themselves. After my mom had to rest (her feet were really hurting her on this trip) while we were exploring, I went all around trying to see new stuff. I went to the hill overlooking the old Circus Maximus (now just a grass field), the former houses of Ceaser Augustus and his close circle of friends. It was so amazing and vast, that I had to stop myself so my mom wasn't alone too long and we could go to the Colosseum.

They called this the Stadium. I guess it was a Circus, but for foot races. It might have originally been built as a garden in the shape of a stadium.

So if you find yourself in Rome, definitely go to both the Colosseum and the Palantine and Forums. Amazing!

So we finally made it to the Colosseum. It's funny that it's actually smaller than you would think. We're so used to our large colosseums and stadiums these days that this ancient wonder seems kind of small. And as I mentioned in yesterday's post, most of the marble in the Colosseum and the Forums was removed when they were building St. Peter's Basillica and other structures. Now the mindset back then was there were all these old buildings nobody's doing anything with, we might as well put them to good use. They didn't think of how people would want to see these structures in their original beauty - it wasn't a concept they could comprehend at the time. Sad, but at least we have parts of it.

Here's the Colosseum. They have some of these weird modern statues all around these ancient sites. Anyway, you can see the inner wall and part of the outer wall that's largely been removed.


The inside of the Colosseum. These tunnels used to hold gladiators and animals before the competitions. It was all covered by a wooden floor and sand, and elevators and pulleys would bring the animals, gladiators, and props up to the spectators. In the back, you can see a recreation of the wood floor. Before these tunnels were built, it was a large tank, and they could fill it and recreate great naval battles for the public to see. Amazing!

Walking around the Colosseum was amazing. Just imagining being there was fantastic.

After we left, we went around to try to find something to eat. Europe's expensive. You have to pay three or four euros for a soft drink (about $6 or $7), and they don't just give you a glass of water.

We decided to get the sightseeing bus tickets to see more of the sites. I got to see the U.S. Embassy (a pink building that used to be a palace), and several other sites. We were told to go see the Trevi Fountain at night, so we made it there that night. IT IS AMAZING. Such a beautiful fountain. And there were hordes of people there. Now, legend has it that if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain that you will one day return to Rome. So of course I did.


Just amazing, the Fontana di Trevi!

We then retired back to the room to rest up for our last few hours before heading to the cruise ship!

Day 1: Starting off our adventure: The Vatican

Sorry for the long time, no post thing. Christmas, recovering from the trip, and my birthday kept me busy. Anyway, I want to document my trip, but couldn't figure out how to select only a few pictures. So I'm going to break it up. I'll post each day of the trip as a separate entry. Hopefully I'll get through at least one of these a day.

Anyway, my mom and I started on our trip by getting a ride to the airport with my friend Stephen. But once we got to the airport, we found out there was about a five hour delay. Our aircraft had a hydraulic leak and they needed to fly out a new bird to us. Of course I was glad for the safety, but annoyed we had to wait so long.

Eventually, we got on the flight and after 10 hours (luckily mostly at night so I was in sleepy sleeply land) we arrived in Rome. We ended up paying the taxi service to get us to our stop. Our bed and breakfast was basically part of an apartment, so it was hard to find. It was a nice little place about three or four blocks from the Vatican.

Our first day found us checking out the Vatican. After walking past St. Peter's Square, we went to the Vatican Museums.


St. Peter's Square - where the Pope speaks

The Vatican Museums are a collection of museums, including an Egyptian museum, Etruscan museum, and most famously, the Sistine Chapel. The pictures I have here aren't enough to show you how awesome it is. There is so much art on the walls and the ceilings on the way to the Sistine Chapel, it's amazing. Check my Facebook or hopefully soon my flickr account to see all the pictures. These will be a select favorites.

Just an example of how beautiful the cuppolas and ceilings are.

My mom and me

After going through the Sistine Chapel and leaving the Vatican Museums, we went to St. Peter's Basilica. We started going to the Cuppola, not really realizing what was involved with going there. What it is is a trip up the big cuppola of St. Peter's. Basically, I walked to the top. Luckily Mom realized very quickly she couldn't make it up. I barely did. You walk up these steep narrow stairs, and for the first so many steps, there was no place to pull over and rest and let others pass you by, so you had to just keep walking. It was VERY tiring. It took me forever to walk up there.


I made it to the top. You can see how red my face is from walking up over 300 steep stairs.

St. Peter's Square from up on top of the Basilica. AWESOME views of Rome and the Vatican!

By the time I got down and then rested, it started getting dark, so we made our way inside the Basilica. We got to see so much great architecture and such beautiful decorations (damper later when I realized all the marble pretty much came from the area around the the Colosseum and is part of the reason why that place is so picked over). It is amazing.


Inside St. Peter's is The Pieta, by Michaelangelo, which shows Mary holding the body of her son, Jesus Christ. Just amazing.

After that, we went to find some authentic (but expensive) Italian food. It didn't taste that much different to me. That was kind of a disappointment. Then we went back to the bed and breakfast and rested up for our journey into the rest of Rome the next day.

I'm back

I got back Friday. Now I'm going through my photos to present the true gems. Basically, I'm putting all of my photos on flickr, about a thousand or so on Facebook, printing off about 70-80, and put about 20 on here, so it's a long filter process.

And I really want to go see The Blind Side, New Moon, and a couple of other pictures that have come out since I've been gone.

I'm leavin' on a jet plane (then a cruise ship)

Well, I'll soon be boarding a jet just like this and head out to Rome


I wish this was our Lufthansa pilot, but he's a bit too busy these days to do that anymore.


Then I'll be boarding this ship for a couple of weeks. After my 7 night cruise in Alaska, I really felt like the Celebrity Infinity was my home, even going so far as making a special trip to San Francisco just to see it as it was repositiong and had a stopover there, so I can imagine after 10 nights I'll be even more attached to this ship.

States I've Visited

create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

Just for fun, here's my list of states I've visited. I need to have an east coast trip sometime soon.

I like maps

This is my list of countries I've visited now:


create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide


and this is my map in two and a half weeks:



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or check our Venice travel guide


I could almost count Germany, but I'll only be in the airport for that, so I won't count it. I've got to actually touch un-airported ground.

I can't wait! Tons of pictures when I get back!

A much needed (almost) Girl's Night Out

One of the best things about going to the Halloween Dance last Friday night was reconnecting with my friend Amy. She invited me to her 25th birthday party going to the Cheesecake Factory in San Francisco. I just really enjoy going to San Francisco. We had such a great time! It was almost a girls night out, except for Amy's brother that met us there.

We met in Napa and decided we needed to take two cars, so I went with Jill to go pick up our friend Monica at her home. That was really good, because we got to talk a bit, which I really needed to talk to someone who has certain things in common with me. It was really great talking to her. We picked up Monica and drove into the city, then got lost first trying to find Union Square, then when we found it, trying to get back to it to park. Crazy San Francisco streets! And crazy people almost walking in front of Jill's car. We ended up parking a few blocks away and walking over to Macys at Union Square. The Cheesecake Factory is on top of Macys.

We had fun going up the escalators of each floor - everybody wanted to shop on different floors. We finally ended up at the Cheesecake Factory and had a short wait until our tables were ready. We ended up sitting at two tables side by side to allow us to move in and out to the bathroom. Jill, Monica, Christina, and I sat at one table, with the Hansen family and Sara sitting at the other. We decided just to get the appetizer sampler and then later get cheesecake. It was good! And I got the Snickers cheesecake. It was good, just not the best I've ever had there.

When we were done, we posed for pictures out on the balcony, then everyone else left and Monica, Jill and I walked over to the Westin St. Francis to go up their elevators. They have the elevators that are on the outside of the building. We rode up the elevators about 10 times, flirting with the guys that would get on occassionally and taking pictures in various poses. It was such a blast.

We finally walked back to the car and Jill drove us back. I really tried to stay awake, but it just wasn't happening, and I had a nice snooze (judging by my dry throat, I think I seranaded Jill with my snores) back to Monica's house and then back to Napa. Luckily by then I was awake enough to drive home, although Jill did offer her place if I couldn't make it.

It was such a great night - just the type of night that I needed. (More pictures of the fun in the elevator when my friend posts them)


I like this picture other than I look huge.

My friend Jill. She is such a fun person! (and I don't just say that because she reads my blog).

The birthday girl herself!

Sara and I

I don't have pictures with Monica, and I love her! She's so very entertaining! So I'm sad I have no pictures with her.

This is Halloween

This past Saturday was Halloween, and I decided I wanted a new costume this year. It started when I was at Disneyland. I really wanted to dress up as Goofy after seeing the big Goofy hat at Disneyland. So I thought about getting the hat and the gloves, then saw the price tag on them and realized I'd be spending $50 just on that, and still would need the rest of the costume. So I said no.

But when I came home, I still wanted a costume, so after checking the local Spirit store, and not finding anything I liked, I stopped by Party City and found the costume I wanted. It wasn't built for larger people, so I had to try it on. I loved it, even though it does kind of show my love handles... er, love handlebar, or love roll? It was fun to dress up and I enjoyed seeing everyone at a Halloween eve dance where 95% of people were dressed up, and on Halloween where I went to two ward parties, had dinner with friends, and went to another dance. It was good to be queen, as I was the Evil Queen from Snow White. After feeling down last weekend, it really helped lift my spirits.

Some of my friends before the dance

Having fun dancing

Michelle, Amy, Sara, Me, and the safety handle

I don't know these people. They just wanted a picture together. I don't know if Snow White and Prince Charming even knew each other.

These girls are so cute, and thanks to Lauren for letting me use her arm to hide an embarassing salsa spill

I like this shot because it makes my head seem smaller

I have a feeling I'll have a real disagreement with her later in life. Oh stepdaughters! Actually, I don't remember who's baby this is, but she really wanted me to take a picture with her daughter.

Trying to give an apple to a friend at Ward Party #1

Hey, I'll take anyone who's interested. Oh wait, he doesn't exactly look excited. :(

Don't Stop Believing

Darn Glee cast can cheer me up so much! Halloween was fun and helped me at least temporarily get out of my funk.

Glee - Don't Stop Believe
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What's the word to describe how I'm feeling?

I'm not quite sure how to describe how I'm feeling these days. Depressed isn't the word. I'm generally happy, and realize I'm lucky to have the things I have, a new house, some great friends, and a wonderful family. But I think as my 35th birthday gets closer it really hits me that not only am I not married, I haven't ever really been in a relationship. That just sucks. Right now, the prospects aren't good. I tried checking out a singles ward, but although it seems like a fantastic ward, it's a little old for me. I just don't think I want to hope to date someone that might have served in Vietnam with my dad.

So, I'm going to check a mid-singles ward in Sacramento. Supposedly it's pretty big. That's what she said (dang Office quotes going through my head). I hope so. I decided to move in part to hopefully help jump start my social life. But I've found making single friends to be quite difficult when you don't have a YSA ward to meet them in. That's also part of my funk. I in general don't have a lot of friends calling me wanting to hang out. It's led to a feeling of nobody wanting me around. It's difficult when a lot of my friends are twenty miles away for them to just call and want to hang out. That's part of the reason I moved to Fairfield, to be in more of the area where people my age might be. In Vallejo, all my friends were either in Benicia or Napa (places I couldn't afford), and back when I went to Institute, in Fairfield. So now I'm here, but too old to go to the YSA ward (well, I could go, but as I get more and more 18 year old friends, I realize how that's not really helping me to grow).

I'm kind of embarassed to put this on my blog. Especially because I have really good friends who read this. I hate that sometimes I feel like such a loser. Right now I feel like I live in exile from my family and my friends. As much as I'd love living closer to my family, I just know that if I did, I'd only hang out with my family and wouldn't meet anyone else other than friends of theirs.

I hope this doesn't come across as whining, and I hope this doesn't make anyone worried about me. Like I said, it's not really so much a depression, although I am worried about getting out of this funk before it becomes one. So, although I'm somewhat embarassed to put this up, I'm curious of what my friends think. Maybe I'm just fishing for compliments (I wouldn't mind :). As my post below mentions, I'm also somewhat worried about my job. I might very quickly delete this post, but for now, I'll do it.

So, what would you do if you found yourself in my funk? I appreciate your help. Oh, and have a Happy Halloween!