A Stop In Milan And Then Into Switzerland!

We were literally in Milan for only 24 hours but we loved it. I was such a refreshing break from the madness of Italy and tourists, most of whom don't make it that far north. One thing we noticed about all the cities we visited was that they all had a "Duomo". We had no clue what that meant before but now we couldn't be more sure. Thankfully Switzerland is Duomo free. Oh and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, it is basically a big famous church with an impressive dome - or something like that. Anyways, Milan's duomo was our favorite. We checked that out and then went shopping at our very first H&M Store. For those of you not in the know, H&M is a famous European clothing store that has really trendy and inexpensive clothes and there are only like 3 of these store in the States. So anyways, we updated our wardrobe a tad (I mean we were in Milan...what else were we supposed to do?).

We spent one night and in the morning we headed to Lucerne, Switzerland. So far, if we decided to live anywhere else, it would be Lucerne. It is definitely a city but small so there's close community and it is surrounded by lakes, the alps and real villages with cows that wear bells and farmers dressed in traditional outfits playing the accordion on the front porch. No joke, it truly is amazing! We were there from Oct. 12th - 15th.



The Duomo in Milan.


The most famous postcard shot of Lucerne with the Chapel Bridge behind us.


On the ferry and headed to Mount Rigi for a day of exploring. It was really foggy that day but on top of the mountain it was blue skies and you couldn't see anything below you except white fluff. It was really neat.


Mountain goats on Mount Rigi. Some had huge horns. It was the farm animals that made us realize what city kids we were. Every shaggy cow, goat, pig, sheep, whatever that we came across we would just take a ton of pictures and get all into it. The bells around their necks sound so beautiful and while you hike there is a consistent chime somewhere in the distance.


Standing at the highest peak on Mount Pilatus. They say you can see Austria and France from up here but to be honest, we really didn't know what to look for so we just assume we saw it!


About halfway down Mount Pilatus was a ropes-course and this crazy odd metal toboggan slide that was really long. I was a nervous wreck going down it. Not really my thing.

Italy: Headed North

So we have definitely realized that you could spend a very long time exploring all of Italy. We saw Naples with side trips to the ancient cities of Pompeii and Heracleum. Pompeii was buried in volcanic ash and Heracleum is more recently discovered and much less excavated because it was buried in lava and is much better preserved because of it.

The pizza in Naples is unbelievable even though everyone is very skimpy with toppings (3 olives and 5 slices of salami! What?). The pizza elsewhere is over priced and terrible in comparison. Italian food really isn't that great. We sought out a very cute, authentic, local spot and spent a lot of money and the food made us wish we were at Old Spaghetti Factory spending much less money. That's too bad.

We are trying to learn how to not expect anything. It's hard, but it's worse when you don't get what you expect. We should be writing down all the lessons we have learned but it seems daunting.

Rome was insane and packed with tourists. We saw all the major stuff and then ran for our lives to Florence which is mellow in comparison yet still packed to the gills with tourists. Rome was awesome though. We saw the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, the largest church (ever I think) and of course the Colosseum and everything around there.

Gelatto in Italy is so amazing. I will never eat ice cream again! We found a place that makes Champagne Gellato-with real Champagne so it melts pretty quickly but is so wonderful.

Today we are in Florence. We are camping and our tent mate is a girl named Megan. We met her IN Patras, Greece almost 2 weeks ago-she was in the ticket line for the ferry in front of us. We said our hellos and re-met once we got off the boat in Bari, Italy. We traveled together to the train station and parted ways. We went to Naples and she went to Rome. On 9/28 we arrived in Rome and saw her sitting at a bus stop in front of our camp site. She had been staying there and was leaving to Florence. On 10/2 we showed up in Florence at our campsite and opened the tent door to see Megan in our room! It was all random but awesome. Yesterday she took us with her all over Florence and gave us an amazing tour of some of the greatest art. She is an art history major and I think we wouldn't have appreciated this place as much without her.

Tomorrow all three of us are going to go on a day trip to Pisa to check out the leaning tower. Then it's off the the Cinque Terra coast where we will probably be visited by Megan again (she is staying in Florence).

That's all for now!

Pictures...a long time coming

WARNING!!! THESE PICTURES AREN'T IN ORDER, WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO FIX THEM ALL.

START AT THE BOTTOM

HOPE YOU ENJOY THEM

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Us eating or campsite made gourmet dinner. It was Italian made pasta with pesto, panccetta, and olives. The olives filled with garlic are by far the best.

This is Positano!!!! Our favorite beach spot so far. It was BEAUTIFUL. Half way between Sorrento and Amalfi. We are defiantly coming back here.

This is me holding a pizza in Amalfi.

More Pompeii in the rain.

Here is the cabin we stayed in during an outrageous thunder storm.

Beautiful view of Sorrento, Italy. Where we camped.

Drinking fountain powered by an aqueduct in the street of Pompeii. You can see on the right of the face a dip in the stone. That was made from years of Pomeiians grasping on there to get a drink of water.

Preserved corpse of a slave (notice the thick belt) in Pompeii. All his bones are still in place.

Ruins of Pompeii in the rain guided by the racist Italian.

The Famous sunset of Oia. Sorry for the neck ache

Me in Oia.

Santorini sun rise as we prepared for a rocky ride back to Athens.

Heidi eating the deliciously beautiful sunset in Santorini.

The famous red beach, which wasn't that cool by the way.

This is me at the southern most tip of Santorini.

The moderate party of Greece. He is on his way to the Parliament.

Turn your head for a very amusing pic of us celebrating with the Athenians, the practice of Democracy. This is it's origins. P.S. the President/Prime Minister was re-elected.

Picture perfect shot of Fira. A main, but still small town in Santorini.

Athens

The view from the Acropolis of Mars Hill.

This is were Paul declared to the Greeks that Jesus is God. Acts 17. Also known as Mars Hill (Ares Apogus)

The Sea of Galilee, we only were able to spend a short time here because of the Jewish New Year, all the buses home stopped running early.

View form our hostel in Nazareth (the old town). Very common neighborhood in Arabic fashion.


The Acropolis is going to be covered in scaffolding until 2010. Boo. It was still amazing though