London

London Tower




Pompeii




Capri


Capri


Positano


Naples




Venice

Venice

Venice

Hello again! We are back in London and are flying home later tonight. Yesterday we flew out of Treviso Italy to London and spent most of the day here. It feels really good to be back in a country where one speaks English, also its a lot cooler here in London compared to the heat we have been dealing with the past 2 days so that is nice. Last Tuesday we left Naples for Verona. We spent Wednesday in Verona and we really enjoyed our stay there. We visited these really old gardens that had a small maze. We also saw Romeo and Juliet's fake houses. Later that night we went to the Verona Jazz Festival and listened to some blues. The next day we went to Venice. It was cool to see all the canals and gondolas. In Venice we took an elevator (because they wouldnt let us climb) to the top of the bell tower. From there we saw the whole city, it was really nice. We also went into the Basilica Di San Marco, which was so beautiful. The ceiling was covered in gold mosaics and it was really pretty. The next day we went to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum which Orry really enjoyed alot. It was full of really modern art like Picasso, Dali, Jackson Pollock, Max Ernest, and alot of other really talented artists. We also had alot of gellati and it was sooo good.

So now we are here in London catching up on what we missed last time we were here. Yesterday we did the Tower of London. It was really cool to see all the prisoner's graffiti from hundreds of years ago and also the Royal Jewels. We also went to Camden Market last night but everything was closed. It was a really cool area though and maybe we will get to it today when everything is open. Well thats it for our trip! We had a really great time here and saw so many amazing and unforgetable sites. Thanks to everyone who has left us messages, it was really nice to hear from back home. We will leave you guys with pictures from Naples and from the past week. See you all soon!

Love, Melissa and Orry

Napoli

Ciao! The past 3 nights we have been staying in Naples and taking day trips out of here. Sorry we dont have any pictures to show you, we cant upload any on this computer. I dont think we will be able to upload any photos the rest of our trip because we will mostly be staying in B&B and cheap hotels. But we will see. So our first day in Naples we took a day trip to Pompeii. The excavation site was huge and it was really neat to see all the ruins and the brightly painted frecos that survived. There wasnt as many plastered casts of the bodies as you would think. We only saw about 5, so Melissa was alittle disappointed about that. Yesterday we took a day trip to the Island of Capri with a guy from New Zealand named Anthony. Capri was really beautiful and the water was so blue. We took a hike up the mountain in Capri to Villa Jovis, which is the ruins of Emperor Tiberius' estate. We saw amazing views from the top. Today we took a trip to Sorrento and Positano. We were in search of a beach but when we got to Sorrento we only found a lame whimpy beach. So we took a bus ride to Positano. The bus ride was really cool, we went up this long winding roads all along the coast. The bus dropped us off at the top of the town in Positano and we had to walk all the way down to the bottom, but we finally found a beach! Unfortunately we didnt spend too long at the beach because the clouds started to come in. So we had to walk all the way back to the top, which was really tiring. We then had to wait forever for the bus back to Sorrento because the first bus was too full to get on. So tomorrow we are just going to explore the city of Naples and take it easy until we head up north again to Verona. We have a 6 hour train ride the next day to Verona and then 2 days after we are going to Venice. Hope everything is well.
Love, Melissa and Orry

Roma

Florence

Spanish Steps

Roman Forum

Roman Soldiers

Top of the Duomo

Florence

Can you spot Tom Hank's side head?

Hello again! We have been in Rome the past two days and we have seen alot. Yesterday we went to Palatine Hill where Augustus' house was. We then did the Roman Forum, which both of us thought was really cool. We were trying to imagine what it would have looked like when it was in it's prime. Then we made our way to the Colosseum and walked all around it. Orry was amazed how big it was. We did get suckered in yesterday though by some Gladiator shaisters. There were guys dressed up as Roman soldiers and Melissa wanted to take a picture with them. It ended up costing us 5 dollars...we have now learned that there are shaisters all over the world.

Today we walked around the center city. We made our way down the Spanish Steps, saw the Trevi Fountain, and best of all TOM HANKS! While we were making our way back from seeing the Pantheon they were filming a shot from the new movie "Angels and Demons", we watched them film a scene and even got a picture of the side of Tom Hank's head from a distance (we will post the picture, you just have to look closely.) After our run in with fame we walked over to see the Column of Trajan, Orry thought it was cool to see it because he learned about it in his art history class. Now we are updating to you and we will leave you with lots of photos. Some are from Florence and the others are from the past two days. Tomorrow we are going to see the Vatican. We heard the Pope comes out at noon on Wednesdays to bless the crowd so maybe we will get to see him. On Thursday we are leaving Rome for Naples and taking day trips to Pompeii, Capri and Positano. We heard Naples is a bit smelly because of a garbage crisis having to do with the mafia. Hopefully it wont be too unbearable. Well thats it for now. Hope everything is well. (And mom let me know what credit card company that bill is for-Melissa)

Love, Melissa and Orry

Florence

Bonjorno!
We are finally in Italy and much has happend since our last update. Tuesday we were in Genoa and walked around the city. There wasnt much to see there but it was a nice little town. The next day we went to Pisa which was pretty awesome. The leaning tower doesnt really look as big as it does in pictures. We didnt climb it though because it was too expensive. After our little day trip in Pisa we headed over to Lucca. This place was also a small city surrounded by an a fortified wall. Our main plans were to ride bikes around the wall, however the day we went to ride around it started pouring. So that screwed up our plans. The good part of the trip was that Orry bought some olive oil worth 15.50. Lets hope it was worth the money. After our plans were ruined in Lucca we took the train to Florence. The place we are staying in is a really cool place with amazing views of the city. Its a campsite with tents sets up already and there are bunk beds inside with a wooden floor. Yesterday we spent most of the day exploring the city. We got up early and went to the Uffizi so we didnt have to wait in line. It was a little disappointing after going to the Louvre. After that we climbed up to the Duomo. It took 463 steps to reach the top. We saw amazing views of the city and it while we were up there 12 oclock struck and all the bells from all the different churches started ringing. It was pretty neat. Afterwards we walked passed "the gates of paradise" which are these famous doors made from gold that are on the baptistry doors. Today we woke up early again to go see the Statue of David in the Galleria dell Accademia. The statue of David was very impressive and a lot bigger than we had imagined it to be. So now we are here in an internet cafe updating our blog because its too expensive at the campsite. Unfortunately we cant upload any pictures. Hopefully within the next couple of days we can show you some more photos of our trip. Tomorrow we are heading to Rome for the next 4 days. Hope everyone is doing okay and Melissa wants some more phone calls from home! Ciao for now!

Love,
Orry and Melissa

Nice

Hello everyone. Tonight is our last night in France and we had a great day in Nice. As you all know last night we took the night train from Paris to Nice and it sucked! We didnt get too much sleep and it was really uncomfortable. Despite the night train Nice is extremely "Nice"! The beaches are really beautiful and the water is really blue. It definately doesnt feel like we are in France. The only downfall here is that the beaches are all rocks and not a lot of sand. This really takes a toll on your feet. Today we also took the bus to Monaco which wasnt too spectacular unless your really rich and you like to gamble. But the bus ride was worth it because the views were AMAZING! Tomorrow we are heading into Italy and our first stop is Genoa. We hope to eat a lot of Genoa salami and hopefully there will be some cool things to see there. The following day we are going to Lucca where we will be renting bikes to ride around the city wall. After that its off to Pisa and Florence. We dont know when the next time we will have internet access so we might not update for a while. Hope everyone is doing fine in the states and so long for now!

Love,

Melissa and Orry

Night Train To Nice

Hello everyone,

Just stopping in for a quick message. Tonight Melissa and I are taking the night train to Nice, France. Today we went to the Musee D'Orsey, the Sacre Coeur, and this small Dali exhibit. The Musee D'Orsey was pretty cool. This Musuem had some famous paintings from Monet, and Van Gogh. It was cool to see actual paintings of Monet as opposed to the ones hung in my living room. The Sacre Coeur was pretty nice. It's a church located on the top of a hill so there is a beautiful view of Paris from there. The Dali exhibit was kind of disapointing. It was rather small and there weren't any of his famous paintings in there. That's all for now. We will post again as soon as we have access to the interent.

Love,
Orry and Melissa