In the city of Flowers

Here we are now in Florence! We finished in Rome with a bang! We got to go to the Borghese gallery! That was absolutely fascinating! That was probably the best collection of art and sculptures that we?'ve seen yet! Inculding the vatican museum, I can't wait to show you all those pictures! Speaking of pictures, I chose this internet cafe solely because it can download photo's, but really they can't. advertising technique? anyways, The next day we spent the entire day pretty much at vatican city. Probably the thing that I was looking forward to the most after the Louvre, and the verdict is... I wouldn't go back! It was such a great dissapointment! First we were standing in line for over 2 hours simply to get into the vatican. then after squeezing through the thousands of people to see the museum, we stood in another 2 hour line to get into the sistine chapel. Once there, we were herded through the chapel to the exit in back by guards. The worst part, is once we were in, there were so many people that we couldn't even gather the group together until we were out! The chapel was amazing, so it was too bad that there were so many people there. After that, we got to spend the rest of the day at st. Peter's basilica. That was amazing! The largest church in the world lived up to it's reputation... GRAND! I was also able to go underneath into the catacombs and look at previous popes tombs, including John Paul II's tomb! It was a very humble tomb compared to the rest.
Yesterday we spent pretty much the entire day travelling. First to Pisa, they had this huge tower that was leaning. I don't know if you've heard of it... and then we got here to florence where we have spend a long long long long long long time looking at art. Italy is truly the artists capital of the world!
Tomorrow we are off to Ravenna and Padova where I don't know what we will do, but I'm excited, and hoping that we make it safe through the gauntlets they call roads!
We love you all!
S&A

When in Rome, do as the Romans!

Where do we even begin? how about the beginning... We got to Rome yesteday, and it has been non-stop ever since, but absolutely awesome! I wish we could upload some pictures, but we have to make a cd first, so I think we will try to do that about once a week. Yesteday after finding the hotel, which by the way is a convent!, we took a stroll down into ancient downtown Rome, and there we spent most of the day. First we went to the Forum, which was like the marketplace, and then we had a little free time, so Alisha and I went and found the mamertine prison where Paul and Peter were kept. That was probably my favorite part of the day. The only entrance was a hole in the ground where they would lower them into the cell which was a circle about 15 feet wide, and 6 feet tall. What a miserable place, and to think that Paul was still able to teach and uplift the saints there! next time you read 2 Timothy keep that in mind. That is one of the pictures that will for sure be added. Then we went to the church that has saint Peters Chains, and the Michaelangelos Moses. Talk about a master. That is for sure something that you should look up on the internet if you have time. Incredible how realistic and intricate it is. From there we went to the collosseum, which is exactely what it says. HUGE! I had no idea how enormous that thing is, but we're talkin BSU stadium times 2! Simply huge. The next place we went was the Trevi fountain, which was Alisha's favorite place, so look that one up on the internet also. Once again the sculptures there are incredible. Lastly we had a romantic dinner in front of the pantheon, where I had the best canelonni I have ever tasted, and Alisha had a spaghetti which was uncomparable to prego! The noodles were hollow!
Today has been a great day also! the two things that I'll mention are the sacred steps, where Jesus walked on the way to be tried by Pilate (They were imported here) and the Church where michaelangelo attended. I don't remember the name, but I will include pictures. Hopefully I will get pictures onto here day after tomorrow. That's my goal.
Anyways, I hope you all are having a great time back at home! We sure wish that we were here with the family! We love you all!
ciaò!
S&A

Goodbye All!!

It's here!! It fiinally came! Tomorrow morning at 5 am we are leaving to begin the adventure! It's been a great 2 weeks learning about the different aspects of Europe. The art, sculpture, architecture, and history was all fascinating, but we finally get to see it all! and First stop: Rome. Roman history and culture is one of the richest, and most interesting with things like the colloseum, sacred steps, and the pantheon. So I'm glad we get to go there first thing so that we have some energy! I hope that we will be able to write and post some pictures soon, but we're pretty busy the first few days, so I will do it as soon as possible. Once again, if you want to see where we are, take a look at the itinerary and you can follow us! We love you all, and wish you were going with us!
Love,
S&A

One last visit to Boise

We got the passport! It took a senator to finally get it! But what matters, is we got it!
We're both getting really excited! We leave in just 5 days!! And honestly, I don't know how to feel, meaning it doesn't seem like it's real! But I'm sure it will hit us hard right in the face when we land in Rome, and eat dinner in front of the pantheon this Thursday! Anyways, I wanted to let you all know that we will be in town this Wednesday before leaving. We would love to see you all, but time is short. So the more we can see, the better! Maybe if we could have a big lunch everyone go out for ice cream or something. Anyways, get back to us if you have any ideas!
Love you all
S&A

Itinerary

First day of class, and we got the Itinerary! Here it is and enjoy!!