Italy was truly amazing. Venice was probably my favourite. No cars, no bikes, just lots of water and walking. You walked all over the place and it was really very nice. You used boats like you use the metro so that was different. But they took us everywhere! We went to 3 other island other than Venice and they were all so cute and quaint.
We did a day trip to the Dolomite Mountains. They had the Winter Olympics there in the 50's. It was really amazing as you could see in the pictures. They were huge and the clouds just rested on top. After Venice, we left for Varenna which is on Lake Como. It took a couple hours to get there (via Milan) because it's up near Austria and Switzerland. Lake Como is amazing and I can see why George Clooney has a home there. It's a nice quiet lake. It was almost like you could hear a pin drop! And Varenna was just this cute little city, no more than like 800 people. From there we went back to Milan and onto Florence. Florence was really nice but probably my least favourite. But my friends Mike and Lauren had spent a lot of time here in school so I really tried to like it. We spent a couple nights in Florence and went onto Rome. I was most looking forward to Rome. The Vatican City was amazing. Sistine Chapel was beautiful and hiking up to the dome of St. Peter's was worth it! The elevator was broken so we had to climb some 800 steps or so! St. Peter's looked just like it does on Christmas Eve. For some reason my family and I always flip on the "telle" and watch the Christmas eve ceremony in st. peter's. So it was really cool to see it in real life. We saw lots of things, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, etc.
The best was the Coliseum. I have always wanted to go so it was great. And seeing all the ruins in the Roman Forum were amazing as well. It's sooooooo old and preserved just as they would have been during the roman times. I had to leave for Rome the night they won the world cup. I can't even tell you how big the world cup is over here in Europe. But I got to see many of the Italy games in Italy so that was great. Mom & Dad ventured on down the coast and had a ball. We all got them this amazing camera for Christmas and it takes the most amazing pictures I have ever seen. I will send you some highlights when I post them.
Mat is coming over next Thursday and I can't wait! This is the longest that we have gone without seeing each other. I think the last time he was here was in May. He is coming over with Jose and all their friends. Jose and Pavan's wedding is on Sunday so get ready for pictures of that! I will be in a Sari; my mom will be in a hat and mat in complete Indian garb!! Your head must be covered! This will be quite a hoot! But thank god they are getting married and getting it over with! Mat also booked a ticket to come over after my rotation so we are trying to make plans for that vacation. We have narrowed it down to Spain, Switzerland or Greece.
Mom and dad are doing lots of sightseeing around London and taking some day trips. We are going to Edinburgh, Scotland this weekend so that should be a good time. It's been nice having them here. Cooking me dinner, washing dishes, doing laundry, and just keeping the house tidy. It's been really nice to have someone to come home too in this huge town! They will be here through the triathlon and leave soon after. It's coming up, August 6….Yikes!!
So that's about it from me. Hope you all are doing well and staying cool. It was the hottest that it has even been in London yesterday. So hot that the streets were melting and people's flip flops were getting stuck! It was even hot inside our building yesterday. The A/C couldn't keep up! Anyway, stay cool!
