Day 10 - Thursday

Well.....sniff......today was our last full day in Rome. We have to get up at the crack of dawn (yet again) to catch our flight from Rome to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Little Rock, and finally driving back to a Fayetteville. Blah. Oh it's a hard knock life, isn't it? Lol

We actually got to sleep in today! Miracle of miracles! After breakfast we headed over to San Giovanni or St. John's. This is the Pope's church and THE church of Rome. Most people think St. Peter's is, but nope. It was amazingly gorgeous and is my personal favorite.

After that we took the subway to the other side of the city and toured the Vatican!
It was very interesting....so many rooms. Since it's used for touring, the diversity is great, but I was telling Jonathan that I had no idea what they did with all this space back when it was used privately. It's around 9 Miles long!!!! Crazy to think of living in a space that huge. Sure was beautiful!

At the very end of the tour is the Sistine Chapel or the Cappella Sistina. It was much larger than I thought, with the ceiling being almost 70 ft high! All the walls were painted as well. Saw the most famous scene of God stretching out his finger to a very nonchalant man. Jonathan and I were both close to tears as we took in the carefully crafted images before us.

As soon as we exited the Vatican, we went around the corner to get in line for St. Peter's or San Pietro. It was the largest building I've ever seen in my life! And once we got inside!!! Holy moly!!
Just when we thought we had see. Everything, there was more!! Definitely the most ornate building we've seen and the grandest church by far! It's my understanding that it has the largest dome in the world!

We had pretty much had enough for one day, so we hopped on the subway back to our hotel. We had an amazing, authentic Italian dinner or linguini and crab! (I know it was authentic, because our waitress couldn't speak English.) heehee

This has been the most awesome trip I have ever been on! I am so grateful for my husband, who has been excited for me to see places he's already been and to share our love of history, architecture, and beautiful things.

We are excited to return home tomorrow and see you all in person. I'm sure we'll be full of stories that didn't make it on here because I was too exhausted to write them. Lol.

I hope you enjoyed our blog! Jonathan and I are going on a Bible tour in October and will be raising support to go share the love of Jesus in the Muslim world. I'll be blogging again at that time and hope you enjoyed this enough to join me next time! Until then, dear readers, auf wiedersehen and ciao!!

~Jonathan and Kara Story

Day 9 - Wednesday

We got up at the crack of dawn and were in Rome by 10am.
We dropped our bags off at the hotel and went straight towards the Colosseum. The line was 3 days long, so we walked further down the street to the Victor Emmanuelle Memorial. One of the grandest buildings I have ever seen as far as size and having sculptures everywhere!

We went to the Trevi fountain next, but unfortunately it had been drain and was covered in scaffolding for repairs. Bummer!! So we didn't even bother with pictures.

The Spanish steps were after that and while they were cool, the church that they lead up to was also closed for repairs! What is the deal????

We went by a church,

which was spectacular, on our way to the Pantheon!

We stopped for gelato and some water since we were pouring sweat and took a bus back to the Colosseum. The line was muuuuuuch shorter this time and we only had to wait about 30 minutes.
We took a guided tour so we could go underneath where the slaves were and also to the very top. All the English tours were booked months in advance, so we just took the next available tour which was in Spanish. (Why not, right?)

Our tour guide was the best ever! There were other English speaking couples who shared our plight, so our guide gave the speech first in Spanish, then in English. Yay!!

We had been walking for about 7 hours at this point, so we found a cafe to eat at close to St. John's and then retired early. Tomorrow is a big day with a tour of the Vatican!! So excited!!! Stay tuned!!

Day 8 - Tuesday

After an awesome breakfast at our hotel, we headed out to see Michelangelo's David at the Academia Galleria.

What can I say? It was an amazing site! He was so much bigger than I anticipated...definitely worth the trip and euros.

After that, we headed across town to the Uffizi Galleria and looked at all the famous art work and sculptures.

Just across the street was the Palazzo Vecchio, so we said, why not? Paid our euros and began soaking in yet another palace!

We had the most scrumptious lunch of pizza and fettuccine alfredo with ham before we went back to the hotel for some rest.

Turns out, I misunderstood the guy at the front desk when he explained about the laundry, so I used this time to hand wash some clothes and let them air dry off the balcony rail of our room.
I'm really hoping they don't fall to the street below and get trampled by one of the many horse and carriages or stolen by gypsies! Eek!

After resting up, we walked down to see the Duomo Cathedral. While absolutely stunning and colorful on the outside (the pictures don't do it justice), it's rather plain on the inside.

We finished up our day with the Palazzo Medici. If you don't know much about the Medici family, I encourage you to look them up. They controlled Florence and were mega rich and powerful.
They once defied King Charles of France when he demanded free passage through Florence or face being sacked, but ended up backing down when he realized he would have all the Florentines to deal with!

So now we are off to find another cute cafe to have dinner and are going to bed early. We have an 8:30 train to catch to Rome in the morning. We have more to see there than the other cities, so decided we needed a head start!!

The trip isn't over yet, so hang tight and Ciao for now!!

Day 7 -Monday

Today was another travel day. We left Venice to head to Florence and hit a few snags along the way, so ended up at our hotel around 6pm instead of 1:30pm. Oh well.

When we arrived we headed straight for the Ponte Vecchio after dumping off our bags.

We had dinner at a cafe in the Plaza Vecchio, while being serenaded by beautiful music!

We looked around a bit and ended up at an outdoor concert. It was a youth orchestra from Hamburg and they were amazing!
They played Mozart, Wagner, and Beethoven. Multo bene!! Bravissimi!!!!

We went back to our hotel and crashed. Tomorrow....more adventures!!!!

Day 6 - Sunday

What a day this has been! What a rare mood I'm in! It's almost like being.....ok...cheesy, I know, but seriously!! This has been the best day ever!

It actually started out kind of strange however. I got up and headed to the shower...Jonathan was still in bed. While I was rinsing the lovely smelling Garnia Fructis from my hair, I look over to see this piece of string with a red plastic tip hanging from the window. It's attached to what looks like a light switch panel. So naturally I pull on it. I mean, you would have done the same thing, right??
Well it does absolutely nothing, so I move on to the part of the shower where I condition my hair.

All of a sudden I hear someone burst into our room and say, "Hello??? Are you ok!?!?!?"
Jonathan, who is still in bed, very calming (and very confused I might add) just says...."yeah?"
The guy looks around the room, shrugs, and leaves. Jonathan comes into the bathroom to tell me just went on and that also there is a panel by our door that us blinking the words HELP.

Soooooo......apparently the string in the shower set off an alarm and is there in case you slip and fall or something. My bad!

We had breakfast in our hotel and took off to see the sights of Venice!

We went to San Marco square and into the basilica. I was wearing shorts and a tank top, so they wouldn't let me in. I ended up buying two pieces of material so I could cover my legs and shoulders. It was actually a pretty horrible feeling. I made the most of it though and we laughed it off.

Next was the Palazzo Ducale or the Doge's Palace. I can honestly say that I have never seen anything so magnificent in my entire life and doubt I ever will. I was literally speechless roaming from room to room. The size of some of the rooms, the gold that accented everything, the canvas paintings that stretch 20 meters long. It was amazing!

We had lunch in San Marco square and headed back to our hotel for a siesta.
Afterward we went in a gondola ride. It was so relaxing and such a fun thing to do! Our gondolier say the whole way and to top it all off, he looks exactly like Humphrey Bogart!! It was great!

We were ready for dinner at that point, so we found a little cafe and had some amazing seafood and pasta. Jonathan actually ordered shark and is already trying to find a place in Fayetteville that might serve it!
While we were eating, a man came by who was selling roses, so Jonathan bought me some. I told him not to waste his money, but he insisted and presented me with my roses while absolutely beaming! Gotta love him!! I was pretty much a puddle on the floor. ;)

We came back to our hotel room, freshened up, and headed by water bus to an old palace where we saw a Venitian opera! It was the comedy, The Barber of Seville.. It is a three act opera and every act was in a different room. It was so charming and it was a wonderful end to our time in Venice.

Tomorrow we head to Florence for two days.
So stay tune for more laughs, mishaps, romantic gestures, and an all around good time!!

Day 5 - Saturday

Not a whole lot to tell for today.
Jonathan had his last lesson with Dr. Lucke

and then we left Salzburg and hopped on the train to Venice, which ended up being around a nine hour journey.
We saw so many castles along the way and the countryside was filled with vineyards!

When we finally arrived, four trains later, turns out we didn't go far enough. So we caught a cab into the heart of Venice. It just so happened to be the one day a year that they have fireworks, celebrating the elimination of the Black Plague.

Around 11pm we grabbed a quick bite and headed for the balcony of our hotel to watch the fireworks being shot off from San Marco's square.

We crashed after that, so like I said, not too much to tell, but still a wonderful day!!

Day 4 - Friday

This morning Jonathan got up way early to practice his piece for the concert and when he got back, we had breakfast at the cafe Mozart used to go to in Old Town called Cafe Tomaselli.

On the way back to our hotel we stopped by the cathedral and St. Peter's one last time. I posted videos on Facebook this time so you can get an idea of the size and grandeur.
We're sad that this is our last full day in Salzburg. I could easily spend all summer here....

We hiked several miles to a tiny old castle called Franziskischossl. Here is a link with some info:
http://www.visit-salzburg.net/sights/franziskischloessl.htm

On the way there we passed an old monastery.

The incline was super steep and it took us 30 minutes to walk uphill the whole way there.
At the 3/4 point, we stopped to soak in the breathtaking countryside below and of course the ever looming fortress in the distance. One of the most awe inspiring and breath taking scenes of my life.

As I was getting ready for Jonathan's concert, I was startled by the sound of cannon fire. Yup...you read that right...cannons! I have no idea what it was for, but hey, a new experience!
I also tried using my straightener (big mistake) and blew the braker. My converter box started smoking and I quickly shut the bathroom door and opened a window before the smoke alarm went off and drench us all in water. Oops!!

Jonathan's concert was a HUGE success!!! Dr. Lucke kept telling me what an amazing musician Jonathan is and how he picks up on the changes so quickly. He was absolutely flabbergasted and went on and on about how impressed he was with Jonathan's playing. We left the Golden Hall with certificate in hand and joy in our hearts. What a night! To top it all off we were told that the woman who sponsors the program specifically mentioned Jonathan while talking to Dr. Lucke and said, "The American was the best." Being one of eight organists, what a way to represent! He scored one for the home team! Whoohoo!!!!

The video of Jonathan's performance is on my Facebook and his. Enjoy!!