Fall Break Twenty-Twelve

Before Fall Break we had some fun times touring with Francesco... 

Then we had some fun times touring in Sienna...

Then PARIS!

It was great. I thoroughly enjoyed Paris. I even got to eat Pizza Hut pizza. I'm lame...I know. But I thought it was great. As we were coming into Paris, the Eiffel Tower was sparkling. We all commented about how weird it was that it was sparkling, but whatever. THEN on our tour the next day we learned that the Eiffel Tower only sparkles for five minutes every hour. Pretty sweet that we just so happened to be coming in during that five minutes! Nice welcome, Paris. Very nice indeed.

We saw Ponte Vecchio on our tour of Florence with Francesco. Near here there is a place that sells peanut butter gelato!!!

From our Sienna day trip.

Looks just like our duomo in Firenze. Nope, it's in Sienna...

View of Sienna.

This is the roofless church! It was really neat!

Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. It was beautiful. I liked Sacre Coeur better, but unfortunately I couldn't take pictures inside that one.

Notre Dame again.

A picture of how detailed the outside of Notre Dame was!

Side of Notre Dame. Beautiful!

St. Michael fountain. Apparently it was meant to look like Napoleon. 

This is a SUPER expensive hotel where people like Tom Cruise stay. Also, the winner of the Tour de France gets to stay here for free for three nights.

It was soo much bigger than I'd imagined! And heavy looking! Also, fun fact! The tower is painting with three shades of brown. It is an optical illusion. Because it's so tall it would look like different colors if it wasn't painted different shades of brown.

The Louvre at night!

Rome Again.

So, like I never wanted to do, I returned to Rome this past weekend. I spent four days there and went to the canonization of seven saints including two American saints. I stayed with some Felician Fransiscan Sisters. That part of the weekend really was fantastic. I still am not crazy about Rome though.

I was thinking ahead and took pictures of where the Pope was going to be up close the day before the canonization.

This was a chair in the Felician Fransiscans house. Pretty cool, I think.

The canonization was crazy. I didn't especially like it though.

It was cool to be there though, I guess. I feel like I was watching history happen.

Best part of the weekend was probably the fact that the sisters packed me peanut butter sandwiches two days in a row :) :) I certainly do miss peanut butter.

The time I went to London.

London was fantastic. I'm going to live there.

First I went to Pisa.

Yayy!!! Thornton's in London!

Wellington Arch. This is where we started our walking tour of London.

London 1. This is the house where the Dukes of Wellington live. Then there is the statue of THE Duke of Wellington. He didn't like women, poor people, or Catholics. He would have hated me.

They have crosswalk buttons for people on horses on Constitution Hill.

Green Park. King Charles II used to come here to pick flowers for his girlfriends. The queen was not very happy when she discovered this so she ordered all of the flowers to be ripped up and even now it is illegal to plant flowers in this park.

The changing of the guards.

Buckingham Palace.

St James Palace. This is the one Henry VIII lived. 

Where Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes were probably written.

The street where Around the World in 80 Days started and ended.

I spent a few hours in this free museum!

I don't remember the historical significance of this place, but volleyball was here during the Olympics!

The guards in front of the Prime Minster's house.

I think this is a statue of Winston Churchill. I might be wrong though. But I do believe it is outside a museum of Winston Churchill things though... It might be Oliver Cromwell though...

Big Ben =)

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Palace and our tour guide explaining what it means to be hanged, drawn, and quartered because of the Guy Fawkes attempted terrorist attack here.

I felt like a real brit with my fish and chips.

Haha. They drive on the opposite side of the street. Good thing they told us to look right.

Only the queen is allowed to drive through the middle gate. The road is dyed red for "red carpet treatment"

London Tea Time.

M&M world is FOUR LEVELS!

Our hostel was in Wimbledon.

Going to Hogwarts :) Childhood dream fulfilled.

Beatles shop on Abbey Road..

Sherlock Holme's house. 221b Baker Street.