With our sisters busy at Duke, we made it to Rome! We celebrated with lunch just outside of The Colosseum.
The line to enter The Colosseum was quite long but well worth the wait once we were inside. After The Colosseum we put in a full day of sight seeing, going to Palatine Hill, The Forum and Capitoline Hill.
Our first day in Rome was capped off with dinner with our good friends The Goodwins who were there at the same time.
Day two was spent touring The Vatican Museum, The Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Cathedral. All were so beautiful that it was hard to take in. We learned quite a bit about Michelangelo and Raphael.
Here is Jacob mailing a postcard to Oliver and Theo from The Vatican City Post Office.
Jacob taking a rest on a bridge crossing The Tiber River as we walked back from The Vatican.
On our walk back we stopped by The Pantheon. It is hard to believe that it was built almost two thousand years ago. We also got to see the burial site of Raphael while we were there.
Day three and a little cat nap on the train to Florence.
The ceiling of The Medici Chapel in Florence, also painted by Michelangelo, is one of Geoff's favorites.
Day four, Jacob eating gelato in front of the David reproduction outside The Uffizi just before we entered.
A view of The Ponte Vecchio from The Uffizi.
Jacob and Hercules
Our favorite lunch at La Proscuteria after a couple hours of viewing art.
How many incredibly delicious sandwiches can one boy hold?
Daily Chest PT
Enjoying Florence
One of Jacob's favorite spots, having a drink looking at The Duomo.
It looks like Jacob will return to Florence, he rubbed the boars nose.
Day five we took a train Orvieto. Here is Jacob taking the funicular (yes, he learned a cool vocabulary word) over the medieval walls of the city.
We had lunch and walked on the ramparts of Orvieto. Here is Geoff and Jacob with the Umbrian Countryside behind them.
Back on the train to Rome, no sleeping this time.
We ate pizza with the locals.
Day five we were denied the best pizza in the city, gone on vacation through August.
We walked by The Forum one more time coming back from our walk through the Travestere neighborhood.
The Hercules Fountain at night.
Day six, Monday morning we flew to Barcelona. This part of the city may be gothic but it is definitely not ancient after being in Rome.
Dinner at Romarron in a residential part of Barcelona, free music included.
Day Seven began with Chocolate and churros for breakfast!
We toured Casa Batllo and La Pedrera, both designed by Antonin Gaudi.
On the roof of Casa Batllo.
Gaudi and Gilleland
Gaudi also designed furniture for the buildings he created. Geoff and Jacob testing out his connected chairs.
Day Eight began waiting in line for tickets to La Segrada Familia (for one hour to get an entry time at 5:00pm) We left there and took the subway towards the water, first to lunch at a fabulous seafood restaurant full of locals (cash only) and then to the beach.
We toured La Segrada Familia, the church that Gaudi designed and worked on for almost forty years. It is still not complete and they hope to complete it by 2026.
One of the doors to La Segrada Familia
The interior of the church.
Gaudi was inspired by nature and wanted the inside to look like a forest. The church was like nothing any of us had seen before.
Day Nine, our last morning, we visited La Boqueria, a market like no other. There was fruit, vegetables, fresh seafood, ham, chickens, bread and so much more.
Then it was time to return home.
