Europe 2013
This is my photo journal of my vacation to Europe. I vacationed with many different friends and family during this two week vacation.
Rome with Mike (part 1): June 24
I arrived in Rome a few hours before my brother Mike did. I waited for him at Fiumicino airport, then we took the Leonardo Express to the city center. We stayed at Hotel Saturnia near Termini, Rome's main train station, in the smallest hotel room I've ever seen (yes, even smaller than Daniella's smallest room). I had cappuccino, Mike had beer, and we shared a pizza at a pizzeria we found behind our favorite major basilica, Santa Maria Maggiore. When we finished our meal we explored the basilica. We walked around for a bit, headed back to Termini to buy all the train tickets Mike would need for the rest of his trip (to Siena, Bologna, Urbino, then back to Rome), then finished our evening with a great dinner at Nuovo Stella. The next morning, Mike departed early for Siena and I headed over to Piazza Navona to continue my vacation.
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"Buddymoon" day 1: June 25
Next, I met up with my brother James, his newlywed wife Jessalyn, and her parents Bonnie and John. We stayed in an apartment on the Piazza Navona: Agnese in Agone. I found some interesting sculptures at the eastern end of the Piazza Navona, which I'd never seen before. Then I went to the supermercato to gather some goodies for the next day's breakfast. Once we'd settled into the apartment, we walked around Rome, and had dinner at a place that was special to Bonnie and John.
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"Buddymoon" day 2: June 26
I started the day by visiting an exhibit at the Palazzo della Cancelleria: The Genius and His Inventions. I was amazed to see that so many of da Vinci's machines are still in use today, with only minor modifications. For example, we no longer make bicycles or ball bearings out of wood, but other than that, they're still pretty much same as when da Vinci invented them. After the exhibition I took a stroll through the Campo di Fiori market, then we all visited the Caracalla Baths. I'd been there before, but now you can visit a small portion of the underground tunnels where the slaves burned the wood that heated the water for the hot baths. We walked past the Spanish Steps on the way home.
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"Buddymoon" day 3: June 27
On the way to our picnic at the Villa Borghese, we walked by the Palace of Justice (aka "the big bad palace"). Our picnic was spectacular, and we were serenaded by an excellent musician the whole time.
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"Buddymoon" day 4: June 28
The final day of the "buddymoon", we just hung around the beautiful city of Rome. We stopped by the Peace Museum and saw an awesome exhibit of photos (which I was not allowed to photograph), and listened to the concert at the Piazza del Popolo.
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London day 1: June 29
Upon my arrival in London, I deposited my luggage at Victoria station, and headed directly to the British Museum. My goal for visiting London was to see the "Life and Death" exhibit about Herculaneum and Pompeii at the British Museum. I wasn't able to purchase tickets in advance because the exhibit was sold out, so I had to take my chances that one of the 500 tickets they reserve each day would be available. Fortunately, I was able to get a ticket. The exhibit had some short films about the destruction of these two cities by the 79 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, and also had rooms set up as they would have been in a typical house, using actual artifacts recovered from these sites. Unfortunately I was not able to take photographs in the exhibit. After that, I retrieved my luggage from Victoria Station and headed over to the London House Hotel to check in, then grabbed some fish 'n chips for dinner.
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