Our Adventure Is At A Close

Last night we took a night tour of Rome. We met a fellow teacher from MN who was also exploring Europe. We had a great time seeing all of Rome after dark!

We are packed and ready for our return to Tulsa!! We had a great time and learned many, varied and unusal things!

A Correction

The building in the June 9 post is actually Monument Victor Emmanuele. Our map reading got a little off.

In the Country, Below the Country, and a Surprise

We rode out of the city a ways and went to the Catocombe San Callisto. Thousands of Christians were buried here centuries ago. There are three levels of catacombes. All robbed in antiquity.

We happened upon what we thought was a little church not far from our hotel. Basilica S. Maria degli Angeli hides an amazing inside behind a nondescript outside. There is a huge organ (as the picture shows). We were lucky enough to hear and see a demonstration of it being played.

Flat Stanley Visits the Colosseum

Today Flat Stanley went to the Colosseum. It is huge!!! You could almost hear the crowds roar!!

Under Construction

They are working on most of the buildings. It's the pits getting old! We went to the Pantheon today, the inside is unbelievable.

Finding Our Way Around

Finding places in Rome is a challenge. The streets do not run parallel and perpendicular to each other. Also, they are not all labeled, or labeled on the map. It makes it quite interesting. We briefly saw the Colosseum yesterday and were able to go in the Sistine Chapel. It was better than you could imagine. We didn´t go into St. Peter's Basilica. The Pope was home as well as a few thousand of his guests.

This building is the Palazzo Venetia. It was once the Pope's palace.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

We had plenty of time to reflect on our 16 hour train to Rome and made a list of all the ways that we have traveled since we began our journey.

1. automobile

2. plane

3. feet

4 .bus

5. metro

6. train

7. coach bus

8. boat

9. Eurostar train

10. taxi

11. water cruise boat

12. sleeper train

It has been worth every step to see the places that we have only read about!

Today after dreaming about the Trevi Fountain we finally got to see it with our very own eyes and hear it with our very own ears!!!!

A Night in Paris

We took an illuminations tour of Paris last night. We saw the Eiffel Tower, took a cruise down the Seine, and toured the city by bus. It does not get dark until 10:30! What a difference a few thousand miles makes.

Excuse the typos and grammer as we are using French spellcheck and a European keyboard. What a hoot!!!! Everything converts to French.

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley was so excited in London when he saw children playing at school that he decided to stay and play awhile. Their playgroud was underground and very narrow. It made us thankful that our school has a large playground.

While in Paris Flat Stanley went to Musee d' Orsay to see the great Impressionist paintings, and to Sacre Coeur to attend church.

Monet's Garden

After dreaming about where Monet painted for many years we finally got to see it with our own eyes! The gardens look just like the pictures that are so famous! Beautiful, peaceful, and colorful!

We stopped at a challet in the country for lunch. It was such a charming setting with a working water mill. We had salad, salmon pate, duck and whipped potatoes, for desert apple torte. We moved on to Versailles to see the famous palace. It is so huge!! The bedroon where Marie Antoinette slept with the original fabric bed cover was amazing. Such a shame she lost her head!

Sunny Day in Paris - Finally!

We finally saw the sun today. It took most of the day to come out but it finally did. We, along with everyone else in Paris, went to the Louvre. The picture was taken at the plaza in front of the Louvre.

You Think the Traffic is Bad!!!!!

So this is Paris!!! Beautiful!!!!