Europe Trip
May 11 - May 28, 2015
London
Churchill War Rooms
Sightseeing on the Double-Decker Bus Tour
The British Museum
Shakespeare Globe Theatre
Les Miserables
It was pretty cool to see an enigma machine in the Churchill Museum!
Nick had both of our drivers licences in his pocket while we were on the double-decker bus tour. When he took his phone out to take a picture our licenses fell out and we didn't notice! A few minutes after getting off the bus, we realized that they were missing- luckily the bus was still in sight so we started chasing it down the street. I was trying to snap pictures while we ran so that we could track the license plate on the bus! We were able to catch up while it was caught in traffic and the driver let us on even though it wasn't an official stop. Everyone on the top level helped us find our licenses! Whew!
Nick fits right in with these guys!
Holland
Amsterdam, Wassenaar, Utrecht, Haarlem
Visited Nick's Old House and School
Dinner with Sister Karlson
Corrie Ten Boom House
Keukenhof
Ann Frank House
Rijksmuseum
Canal Tour
Nick's Dad joined us in Holland!
We ate lots of cheese in Amsterdam! Yum!
Nick's school in Wassenaar.
The Anderson's old house.
We got to visit Nick's cousin on her mission in Utrecht. We ate at this awesome pizza place right on a canal.
Famous organ in a church in Haarlem played by Mozart and Handel
One our our favorite books is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. We had the chance to see her home- it was amazing. This is the place in the stairs where they hid the stolen ration cards that ultimately gave them away.
The entrance to the hiding place.
The hiding place in Corrie's room.
Fresh stroopwaffles!!!
The Keukenhof was full of beautiful tulips and flowers.
The Night Watch by Rembrandt
Poffertjes are now one of my favorite treats!
Paris
Eiffel Tower
Arc de Triomphe
Notre Dame
Musee d'Orsay
Seine River Cruise
Paris Catacombs
A beautiful view from the top of the Eiffel Tower
We ran into Kei Nishikori and Maria Sharapova in Paris!
View of Paris from the towers of Notre Dame
The Musee d'Orsay
The Musee d'Orsay was our favorite museum!
Feeling museum burn-out! This is one of my favorite pics from our trip :)
The Paris Catacombs were super weird- bones after bones after bones...
Venice
Doge's Palace
St. Mark's Basilica
Canal Tour
Venice was absolutely beautiful. However, we quickly learned that many Venetians are NOT very nice. We got kicked out of a restaurant for no reason at all but still had a great time.
It was extremely easy to get lost! Sometimes we would turn the corner and the sidewalk would just turn into water.
Pretty views and bridges everywhere!
In the Doge's Palace
From the inside of the Bridge of Sighs (connects the Doge's Palace to the prison, named after the sighs of prisoners)
Prison beds
My goofy hubby
St. Mark's Basilica
Florence
Duomo
Accademia Gallery
Renaissance walk
Gorgeous view of Florence!
The David was extremely impressive. One of the more interesting things that we learned and observed was how confident David looks from the front (right) but when you see him from the side, he seems nervous (left).
One of the unfinished prisoners. It was really cool to see the chisel marks left by Michelangelo.
This was our very favorite meal in Europe! IT WAS SOO GOOD. Weirdly, it was a vegan place but everything tasted like perfection! It had a really neat ambiance as well (it looked like they turned an old bookstore into a restaurant).
Cinque Terre
Day Trip to All 5 Villages
So picturesque!
Doing a little shopping
We had lunch overlooking the third village.
Four mile hike from village 3 to village 4 (they have names, i'm just too lazy to look them up).
We hit up the lemon festival in Monterosso al Mare! We had lemonade, lemon cakes, and lemon gelato!
Took a boat along the coast to see all 5 villages from the water.
Our tour guides in Cinque Terre
Rome
Pantheon
Spanish Steps
Trevi Fountain
Colosseum
Roman Forum
Vatican Museum
St. Peter's Basilica
The Trevi Fountain was under construction but that didn't stop us from throwing some coins in. :)
Our fancy dates always included European Fanta instead of wine.
I love this one of us and Rome.
The Roman Forum
We started out smiling in pictures at the Colosseum but the more that we read and learned, the less it seemed right...haha
We ate tons of pizza, pasta, pastries, and gelato!
by Leonardo da Vinci
St. Peter's Basilica
Waiting in a 2 hour line and not very excited about it. This was by far the worst line that we waited in (there were fights, groups cutting in line, and a downpour of rain).
Feeling pretty good until the rain hit.
The basilica was HUGE and amazing.
A preserved Pope
The Pietà by Michelangelo
Celebrating our trip with a final toast!
