All This Happened in a Week?

April 15-22, 2012

Spring Break in Europe definitely differs from spring break in America.
Day 1: Florence is the first city we visited.  We only spent a day there but, thanks to many miles of walking, we managed to see a lot of the city.  The main attractions were The Duomo, the Ponte Vechio, and Piazzale Michelangelo.  The city was beautiful and full of life.  Michelangelo Square overlooked the entire city which looked like it was from a storybook.  

 Standing on the Ponte Vechio Bridge

 Heading up to Michelangelo Square. It was quite a climb!

 The view from Michelangelo Square. 

 Standing on the Ponte Vechio Bridge. 

The Duomo. The detail on this building is incredible!

Day 2&3: Rome is my favorite city in Italy.  I would love to visit it again someday because two days wasn't quite enough.  We visited the Foro Romano (biggest collection of roman ruins in the world), Fontana di Trevi, the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, and Vatican City.  Rome is unique with the city being built around the ancient ruins.  It's very strange to see ancient and modern located so close together.  

 My first glimpse of the Colosseum was so surreal! 

 Trevi Fountain--most famous fountain in Rome

 The Vatican

 Part of our five-hour tour of the Vatican Museum.

 I was so excited to be inside the Colosseum!

Day 4: Sardegna is the island we went to for some serious rest and relaxation. We stayed in a bed & breakfast on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea and didn't do much of anything--it was wonderful! If we had more time it would've been fun to explore the island a little more.

 Farming Sardegna style. The birds were following in the tractor's tracks. 

 Beautiful Sardegna beach.

The view from our Bed & Breakfast.

Days 5, 6, 7: Barcelona was my favorite city overall.  It was beautiful, lively, and fun.  We saw La Sagrada de Familia (cathedral that looks like it's carved from a mountain), Parc Guell (big, beautiful park overlooking the city), Mercat de la Boqueria (a huge outdoor market), Vila Olimpica (Olympic Harbor), Barceloneta (Barcelona's main beach), and Ramblas (a main street in downtown Barcelona).  The city was beautiful no matter where we were.  It was also fun to be in a country where the people are (almost) as loud as Americans. Saturday was a huge day in Barcelona with the Barcelona-Madrid soccer game.  Lisa and I invested in some Barcelona soccer jerseys and proudly wore them around this wonderful city!  

 Le Sagrada de Familia. This church looked like it was carved out of a mountain.

 Enjoying the beautiful beach. 

 Walking along Ramblas. A main street in the city.

 Boqueria Market. There were so many stands selling fresh food. 

 Christopher Columbus pointing to South America. 

Our spring break group having a great time on the beach.

Overall we had a wonderful week of travel. It was definitely one of the craziest weeks of my life. I've never had to take so many different modes of transportation, but somehow we always managed to get where we needed to be.  I feel so blessed to be having such incredible opportunities!