europa day 16 and 17

day sixteen (6.12) : we spent the day in athens on our second to last day in europa. we took a bus tour in the morning, shopped in the afternoon and had the most movie-like dinner i've ever had, on top of a roof with singers and dancers, watching the sun set over athens. seriously the perfect ending to a perfect trip.

standing in front of the modern olympic stadium, built for the first olympics in the 1800's

in front of the parthenon

on top of the acropolis, looking over athens. swimsuit line anyone?

another view of the parthenon. they've been trying to restore it for a while...

day seventeen (6.13) : our last day. we pretty much packed, ate, went to the airport and waited for a couple hours. we took off around 1:00 pm athens time and landed at around 11:30 vegas time. quite literally the longest day of my life. we got back home around 1:30 where i was pleased to find everything in my room on my bed because the carpets had been cleaned a few days prior. cool. not only that but i had to get up at 6 the next morning to go on our stake's pioneer trek for three days. very cool. and when that was over we went straight up to orem to go to my nephew's baby blessing. keep in mind that i hadn't seen or talked to my mother in three weeks because she was stuck in provo with mono. so pretty much i didn't relax until about 5 days after i got back to the states. i rock.

mine is the little red duffel bag. compare that to the bags next to it, which is pretty much what everyone else brought. let's just say i had an easier time walking up the stairs with that. i am a master packer.

i am so grateful for the opportunity to visit all those amazing places! i hope you all have the chance to travel to your heart's desire some day. if you believe you can, you will. trust me.

and thanks for letting me share this trip with you and not getting too fed up :)

europa day 14 and 15

day fourteen (6.10) : we woke up on the ferry, packed, docked and left by noon. we went to an orthodox church before arriving at our hotel. for the rest of the day we swam, laid out, and relaxed. in greece. it really doesn't get any better than that...

how awesome was our hotel?!

day fifteen (6.11) : we woke up, ate breakfast and left for athens. on the way, we stopped by delphi. it was really neat and had so much history behind it. we toured through the apollo ruins and went through the museum before we left. way cool.

the ruins were all so neat.

at the stadium at the top of the mountain. i am the champion. my friends.

our bus was massive.

overlooking delphi.

europa day 13

today was the day of pompeii. yeah, we went to freaking pompeii. how cool is that?! the entire time i was there i kept thinking was how i remembered learning about it in middle school or whatever and here i was. it was crazy cool. the tour guide described it as very modern for it's time.
after we walked through pompeii, we drove to board our overnight ferry where a few of us girls watched sisterhood of the traveling pants in honor of entering greece the next day. kostas anyone?

mount vesuvius, the volcano that destroyed the entire city of pompeii

i think this used to be a temple...

a lot of things and people's shapes were somewhat preserved from the ashes. kinda cool, but also really sad. can you tell that the bottom picture is a pregnant woman?

overlooking some of the city

in an amphitheater

oh hey kostas.

europa day 12

this was probably one of my most favorite days. we woke up early and left rome for naples. from there we took a ferry to capri. capri is an island off the coast of italy. if i could compare it to anything it would probably be catalina, which is off the coast of san diego. but capri was about ten times better. yes. it is possible. we left capri after a few hours and took a ferry to sorrento where we stayed the night.

the island of capri. it really is a dream.

look how blue the water is. it was like that everywhere! we took a little boat tour into some coves and around the island. so so beautiful.

we be friends.

look how cool our capri tour guide was. i was in awe at his style. he seriously belongs on the sartorialist. and i don't know but he looks a lot like tom cruise to me. do you see it?

i am seriously going back one day.

europa day 11

today we pretty much roamed rome. yeah. i just said that.

arches are cool.

the colosseum. we didnt go inside but it was still pretty cool to see. and huge.

oh moses.

the pantheon. it has a hole in the top. also cool.

i almost saw lizzie and paolo. but then i didnt.

funny story: some friends and i were just walking around, looking at stores and what not, you know, minding our own business when we turned a corner and BAM! there's the trevi fountain and we were like, oh hey trevi fountain. where'd you come from?

that's seriously how it is in rome. everywhere your turn there is some important monument or some amazing piece of art. incredible.

europa day 9 and 10

remember this was my trip three years ago... ok just checkin...

day nine (6.6) : this day we ran around florence like it was nobody's business. we saw david as well as the grave of galileo and had some wonderful gelato.

in front of the piazza del duomo.

hercules beating the centaur nessus by giambologna. look at that detail!

the rape of the sabine women also by giambologna. this is one of my favorite sculptures. i love the movement and energy of it. i may have written a few papers on it...

ponte vecchio, "old bridge". those used to be houses and now they're stores. so dreamy.

saw these along the river. mmmmm would love to take those babies for a spin....

day ten (6.7) : woke up and took a four hour motor coach to rome. we checked into the hotel and went straight to vatican city. it was so amazing! the sistine chapel was incredible but sadly you can't take any pictures in there... i did holla at the pope though. jk. just kidding.

the front of vatican city

laocoon and his sons. my sister told me all about this piece before i left so i was really excited when i finally got to see it. look at that expression. so crazy.

the oh so famous center of the vatican.

in front of st peter's tomb.

europa day 8

we pretty much just woke up, packed, went shopping around for a bit and then went to the train station where we headed on an overnight ride to florence, italy.

said goodbye to our awesome hotel room. yes, that is the eiffel tower.

the group chillin in the lobby of the hotel. this day was actually the only day i talked to my mom on the phone the entire trip. why we decided to not get a phone card, i have no idea.

in our awesome train car room thing. very much harry potter-esque. we felt cool. we stayed up and talked for a while. can you tell how small that room is? and there were six of us in there. craziness.

europa day 7

this was a busy busy day. we woke up early and went up to monmartre (moulin rouge anyone?). this was probably my favorite part of all of paris. it was so quiet and sunny and it overlooked the entire city. we ate pastries and looked at art shops, and then all the artists came out wanting to draw our pictures. it was really neat.

this is the basilica of the sacre coeur at the top of monmartre.

a lot of artists like picasso, van gogh and monet gathered in this house.

after spending the morning in monmartre, we got on the bus and drove to versailles and stayed for the afternoon. it was so beautiful and when i saw marie antoinette later i think i was able to appreciate it more.

in front of versailles.

my favorite painting of the whole trip. it's called coronation of napoleon by jacques-louis david. i love how huge and overwhelming it is (it took up an entire wall!). the detail is pretty amazing too.

the whole gang.

me and judd in front of [part of] the gardens of versailles. we be hot.

it was so pretty. check out that couple kissing on the side. awww.

we went back to paris, had some dinner and then a few of us went to the eiffel tower. unfortunately we got there too late to go to the top so we went on the middle deck (which was still pretty dang high). next time, next time...

the eiffel tower lights up every hour on the hour for ten minutes. it's done this since the millenium. it was pretty spectacular.