Lauren's Trip to Italy

I (Lauren) got the chance to spend 2 weeks in Italy. I went with my sister Michelle, her husband Chris, and their two boys Zach (age 4) and Ethan (age 2). Despite long flights, missing flights, and feeling sick on the plane we made it to Italy. Our bags were not so lucky, mine arrived about 3 days late and theirs 4-5.

We traveled from Milan (in the north near the Swiss Alps) across to Venice. The canals and bridges were amazing. It is amazing that there are no cars, only boats. You park your car in a large parking garage and from there it is boats or walking. We watched the glass blowers on Moreno Island, explored St. Mark's square and Basilica, and rode a Gondala!

St. Mark's square- pigeons and tourists!

Gondala ride!

From Venice we visited some friends from Chis's mission in Ascoli (more towards the south and east). They were so gracious and fed us more food than I ever thought I could eat, especially at 9 o'clock at night. Not being able to communicate was a little hard because they talked for hours, but I enjoyed the sights and sounds. There was an antique market in the Piatza the two days we were there and everyone was out enjoying the sunshine. The funny thing is they were all still bundled up, while we were in short sleeves enjoying what felt like Alaska summer.

Next, we traveled to Rome. It was really a step back in time as we walked around the Coleseum, the Pantheon, the Spanish steps, etc. and ate great Gelato (ice cream). Mark downloaded audio tours to my i-pod so I could understand what I was looking at. It made the trip very enjoyable. We also went to the Vatican City where we saw the Sistene Chapel. It was absolutly amazing! They have cleaned it recently and the colors are so vivid and vibrant. It is amazing that Michealangelo was able to paint standing up looking at a ceiling. AMAZING! No cameras aloud :(

After Rome we headed to the island of Sardenia. This is another place that Chirs served while on his mission. We got to go look at castles and play at the beach. It was a little too windy to be just in a bathing suit but it was still the beach!

It was an amazing trip! It was very tiring with the little boys but they were definatly troopers. We found several parks for them to play at and run around. They are happy boys and I enjoyed spending more time with them. I did have to sit in the back seat of our rental car, between two car seats, for lot's of long hours. That is the one thing I will not miss!

Now that I am back in Alaska I am recovering from jt lag. We got in around 1 am and I had to be at work at 8 for a week of parent/teacher confrences. My stomach is having the hardest time adjusting back to Alaska. I am also fallig asleep very early and haven't even told Mark about the whole trip becuase I get really tired so early. All in all it was a wonderful experience. I've been to Europe!! My only wish is that Mark could have come along to enjoy all of the adventures. More pictures on the slide show. There were over 500 pictures when I got home so I tried to choose some fun ones to show the whole trip.