Grenoble, France

we made it to France!


Grenoble is a really beautiful French city surrounded by the Alps. mountains on all sides.




we were so, so lucky to get hooked up with such kind people in Grenoble. another connection made through Ryan from Delay, a super friendly guy named Guillaume who plays in a band called Chicken's Call took us into his home. everyone that lived at and hung out at this house was super friendly and great to be around. so, so nice. super great to be part of their meals (pizza party) and feel crazy comfortable.



on the last night, we made crepes! first crepes in France.



our outings in Grenoble revolved mostly around hiking. we usually walk a lot, a lot everywhere we go. this was a whole other experience. way up there. super strenous sport.








and you could run down this mountain! ah, so fun! you sort of just slide down on these rocks and they give you all this momentum and you just kind of run/surf down.



in an unprecedented achievement in this blog, we have the first ever video. of course, its terrible quality and sideways but its still awesome. dward filmed it and fell on his ass at the end.


not meant for this world...


big super thumbs up for Grenoble and all the friends we made. really made it a great time for us. France rules. more on that later.


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these pictures are for Paul Callahan

Cinque Terre, Italy

dward has formed a mild addiction to Nutella.

Cinque Terre is one of the most beatiful places on earth. seriouslly.



comprised of five small villages built into the mountainside along the Ligurian Sea, Cinque Terre is one of these insanley precious, idyllic pieces of the world that would feel like absolute paradise if it weren't for all the tourists, pickpockets, and inevitable fact that it really is only a place you can visit and not stay forever in.

the first day there off the train we got rained out. however, that didn't stop us from walking around up a mountain in a thunder and lightning storm, driking wine and even seeing a mini landslide!


the view was really amazing at twilight.



the next day was beatiful and we woke up to this...


we went to the beach, took glamour shots, and napped. maybe one of the best swimming spots ever.





all the villages are connected by footpaths going alongside the mountain. the nature is one of the real big pleasures of this place. this is the view walking into one of the towns. i swam here while the sun was setting.



the trains in italy suck. so does their customer service. we ended up spending a very long extra-day in Cinque Terre. not the worst place to get stuck but it's never fun to wait at a train station from 11 at night til 4 in the morning. this is a story for another time.

the last day was yet another swimming spot. we woke up early because i thought we were catching the train out and i was determined to go to the ocean one last time. the rest of the day was overcast so i'm really glad i went it when i did. probabally the last time i get to swim in the ocean for awhile. sort of like a bittersweet sendoff to summer. it always makes me a little sad and sentimental. fall officaly began September 22nd.

this was a good way to spend the last few days

Rome, Italy

there were no plans to stop in Rome when originally deciding upon where to go when travelling through Europe. our stint in the countryside, also unmeditated prior to actually being overseas, put us only about an hour or two away from the city. out of the neccesity to not regret it later and the compulsion to visit such a grandiose hub of architecture and history, we spent two very busy days in the urban bustle that is Italy's capital city.






one of the really brilliant aspects of exploring this city is how one can just seem to run into some of the most stunning, sought-after sights in the world while simply walking down the street. ancient ruins, epic churches, and huge government buildings are intermingled in the fast paced heart of Rome with shopping districts and resturants. the streets are filled with buses, cars, fleets of businessmen and women on scotters, and the seemingly constant whine of ambulances and police cars. it's a very modern city with a lot of old history, mostly all crammed together so that most major sight-seeing spots are nearly around the corner from one another.

S. Maria Basilica




Coliseum


Vittoriano E Piazza Veneiza



Castel Sant'Angelo



The Pantheon





The Trevi Fountain


this was one the hardest places to find, the fountain being tucked into an intersection of small, windy streets. really beatiful, though. this is the place in Rome to visit to throw your coins.



St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City


Vaitcan City is it's own soverign city-state within Rome. it even has it's own postal service.

the most impressive, quintesentially awe-inspiring Roman attraction was our visit to the Vatican museum, a huge collection built up by the church for hundreds of years. really, really amazing and exspansive, a testement to the power and wealth of the church.

pope-mobile












to be more specific, what was really amazing about the Vatican was the oppurtunity to visit the Sistine Chapel, Michelangos masterpiece. the walk towards the chapel is amazing in itself.



and the chapel itself packs a big pay-off. really hard to capture why this place is so incredible. it doesn't come close in size to many of the mega-churches throughout Europe, but it's probabally one of the most famous and, in my opionion, the most captivating. pictures weren't allowed but i managed to take a few while the security was busy "shush"ing all the people inside, trying to maintain a practically impossible silence amongst the crowd.




a pretty damn remarkable place, i'm glad to have visited Rome.