Ashley's trip to Italy

Hello all:) This time it will be me (Ashley) doing an update about my amazing trip to Italy.

For those who didn't know I was going on a trip, my Grandma, and I took a two week touring trip to Italy. We seemed to go all over the boot! We started out in Naples, which is toward the bottom of the "boot", and we went all the way up to Locarno Switzerland. On the way we got to visit lots of Basilicas, Churches, beautiful towns, and all kinds of incredible structures! Such as the Roman Colosseum.

I really enjoyed it, and I think that it's so amazing that ordinary people could build such incredible structures without our modern day equipment!

I also really enjoyed my time with my Grandma:)

Now, Maddy, and I have been able to experience life outside of the U.S, which I then thought not too many people get to have that kind of opportunity, so that makes me even more thankful that I got to experience life in Italy:)

I'm not sure how many parts I will post, due to the fact that I took over 33 hundred pictures in Italy:)

When we landed in Italy, the first thing we did was head to the peaceful town of Sorrento which is also located at the bottom part of the country.

Our second day in Italy, we went to the docks to board a Ferry headed for the Island of Capri

This is our Italian guide, Enrico with our group flag:) Big Bird:)

The docks were absolutely beautiful!

This is our ferry, and it was huge!

The sail on the way to Capri was so pretty.

This was the view of Capri Island

We unfortunately didn't get to visit the Blue Grotto, which is an under water cave, that you would take a boat into, and the water is a crystal clear blue. But we took a nice little motor boat around the Island, and we got to see some caves with the same color water as the Blue Grotto:)

Our guide and boat driver:)

Mini Blue Grotto:)

We sailed through this giant rock:)

We all agreed that this rock was a dragon:)

Harriet, and Phyllis, the sisters who put this trip together:)

The Island of Capri

For additional photos, click here to go to the travel blog Harriet put together for the trip.

After we finished our boat ride around the Island, we took the local Funicular ( form of train) to the top of the Island, for the spectacular view!

We stopped at this Restaurant for lunch.

They don't say "bathrooms" in Italy;)

We then, had a walking tour of the upper part of Capri, which was really beautiful:)

In Italy, they have an abundance of many Gardens, and they have really good apricots:)

This was an old Abbey.

These palm trees always reminded me of giant pineapples:)

Liked this sign:)

Grandma, and I. I don't look fully awake in this picture:)

The view was spectacular!

An ancient road built by a King from hundreds of years ago.

Our group

Capri is famous for their "Lemoncellos" which is a Lemon slush basically, and they are really good:)

Our guide said that this is the smaller, Italian, yellow version of the White House:)

Giant rock we sailed through earlier

Harriet:) reminded me so much of Anna:) things weren't too serious for her:)

Selfie? With cannon camera? Hmm...... It was rather difficult:)

They take foot ware very seriously in Italy:)

We got to visit the beach to end a really fun day:)

Well, after we visited Capri, we spent one last night in Sorrento, then we left early the next morning for Rome. On the way we got to visit Pompeii, a town buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

When we arrived in Pompeii, it was raining pretty hard, but the Lord blessed us again, with blue skies, as we continued our tour. I still can't believe that I got to see Pompeii in person! Just standing on the old stone roads, with the preserved chariot tracks engraved in them was so amazing! It was definitely a big highlight to our trip.

We started our tour in this lovely courtyard:)

This was an old Theater

I wanted to get a picture of what Pompeii was buried in for so long.

This was an old snack bar:) there were quite a few of these all over the town.

Walk way rocks, to cross the street

There's the preserved chariot tracks

Mt. Vesuvius

Another snack bar.

The decorated walls on the inside of a rich family's house

These were little pools that you would see in a lot of buildings, they were used to gather water from when it rained, there were holes cut out in the roofs when you saw these.

But, the water was used to wash your feet, or anything you needed water for.

This was a rich family's house.

I think these are from some of the people who were buried when Mt Vesuvius erupted.

These were the family's gods, that they worshiped.

This was a room where the family would keep their jewels, and valuable things.

More pictures of Pompeii:)

Napping dog on the streets of Pompeii:)

My favorite view of the whole tour:)

Once the sun came out Mt. Vesuvius was beautiful!

Grandma, and I

This was on the drive, when we were leaving.

After we left Pompeii, we continued our journey, and went to beautiful Rome. I was kind of surprised that there was a lot of graffiti everywhere, and lots of run down old buildings:) but under all of that, it was one of the most beautiful city's I have ever seen:) My favorite part though, was all the old structures:) I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures, as much as I had taking them:)

All of these pictures are from when we first arrived in Rome, and they were all taken from the bus, so I apologize for the reflections in the window.

Mt, Vesuvius

The clouds added to the beautiful scenery:)

Arriving in Rome

There were the prettiest flowers along the side of the roads:)

As we were driving around in circles a couple of times trying to get into our hotel, we passed the Coliseum which was really amazing!

Lots of Basilicas and Churches in Rome:)

This temple was my favorite in Rome:) I thought it was so beautiful, I can't remember what it's name is, but our guide for Rome told us that this was where she was married:) and her husband got the two temples mixed up:)

After our first night in Rome, we headed the next morning, to Vatican City, or Museum. And also St. Peters Basilica, and Square. That was really amazing! after reading about, and seeing pictures of it, and to acually be there! it was just incredible! I really enjoyed seeing all of it! Oh! we also got to see the Sistine Chapel, with Michelangelo's Dome, that was really AMAZING!!! There's just no other way to put it:)

We went up this spiral ramp thing:)

Inside the Museum, the ceilings were pretty much all Domes:)

BEAUTIFUL

I actually didnt' notice that this was cracked when we were there, I noticed it after I got home:)

It was so neat to see how much work they put into the cielings and walls!

These were giant carpets with New, and Old Testament times weved into them.

This was a really amazing hall, I beleive that's real Gold in the ceiling.

Heading to the Sistine Chapel, They wouldnt' let you take pictures down there, but..... I still got a couple on the iPod:)

A few more pictures of Vatican City:)

Typical water fountain:)

All the Basilicas we got to see had these giant doors with the engravings in them, they are known as Holy Doors

They would have engravings of Jesus' life and death on earth

St. Peters Basilica

St. Peters Square

The Roman Forum:

The Roman Forum were a group of temples dedicated to many gods, most of which aren't there anymore, some of them only have 3 pillars left! But we were able to see a picture of what they think the Forum could have looked like, and I really pictured it in my mind, which made it all the more interesting! I hope you enjoy these pictures, and I hope your not getting dreadfully bored with all these pictures!:) ( I know Maddy is)!

Here is that temple again, (the one our guide was married in)

Some of the Forum

They set up these barrier stones so you could have an idea of where one of the temples was located.

The Arch of Titus

See? there's only three pillars left from that one!

I thought this tree looked somewhat like a horse:)

St. Peter in chains:

St. Peter in Chains, is a beautiful church, that houses the " Chains" and also the life large statue of Moses by Michelangelo.

Statue of Moses by Michelangelo

The Chains

Moses

What it looked like on the outside

St. Paul's Basilica:

I hope I'm not overloading you all with all these pictures! I really enjoy posting about my trip, because I'm going through looking at my pictures again, deciding which ones to post, and I can remember them like they were yesterday. So I hope I'm not borring you all with them!

Well, now here are some pictures of St. Paul Basilica:) Which was another beautiful stop!

I thought this was really neat! It's Peter, and Paul on either side of Jesus holding the Key, and the Sword

St. Paul

Holy Door, every Basilica has one

Now here's the pictures of the inside of St Paul's Basilica. Again another beautiful church!

St. Paul

The Pope

They turned on the lights up there, so it made it really beautiful for a few minutes, before they turned the lights back off:)

This is supposed to be a statue of satan

Right after we left this beautiful church, we got to tour the catacombs, which were underground burial chambers where the earlier Christians met for secret worship, and also where many of them were buried. It was very interesting, but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures down there:( But it was so cool to feel the wet dirt all around, and walk through the " Bunk Beds" of tombs.

St. Peter's Square:

After we got to see the inside of the incredible Church of St. Peter, we got to walk through St. Peters Square, and there are also photos of the drive to St. Paul's Basilica, which we got to visit right after our lunch break.