when in Rome...

I'm taking you to Italy...

I eventually fell asleep in the London Gatwick airport, which made the time go by a lot faster. I set my alarm to wake me up in order to greet the family when they got off the plane, but I must have slept through it. Fortunately, I woke up by myself right as their plane was landing! I waited for a long time for them to get through passport control, but they finally came through the doors! Aaron was forging on ahead of Mom and Dad. Now why were Mom and Dad so far behind...? Well, one reason is because Aaron is just like my Papa was, and he just wanders off by himself and leaves us to all wonder where he went... :)


And the second reason is BECAUSE THEIR BAGS WERE HUGE! :) Aaron and I both told Mom not to bring so much, but she didn't listen.. yeah, Mom, we told you so!! :) However, I'll admit that I've been enjoying lots of the stuff that she brought. Anyway, we made it onto our train and headed into London. The train didn't take long, and as soon as we got off of it we got on the tube and went to Buckingham to watch the changing of the guard. Truthfully, it wasn't too great, but we didn't have the best view. They just march around and switch places. What's the big deal?

We decided to head to the hotel after the guard change in order to drop off our luggage, but it was a little confusing.. We weren't exactly sure where our hotel was located, and people kept telling us different ways to go, and as it turns out, all of the ways were WRONG! Eventually we broke and got a taxi to our hotel, which turned out to be a very good choice! We had lunch, left our luggage, and headed to the London Tower.


We got there just in time; a tour was just starting! We joined the tour and followed the "Beef Eater" around the grounds as he told us stories of the past involving a little love and lots of gore! Apparently spending an afternoon watching a beheading was a popular activity back in the day -- gross! We saw the chopping block and the axes and all sorts of armor. It was really neat. We also got to see the Jewel Tower of the Royal Family, which was ridiculous! So much gold.. so many diamonds.. crazy but beautiful!


We stopped for a little family photo action by the Tower Bridge. It was really pretty, too! By this time, it was starting to lightly rain and we were all extremely tired, so we headed to the Westminster area for dinner. We stayed loyal to America and ate at McDonald's, and it was definitely the most expensive meal from McDonald's we've ever had! Stupid exchange rate! The timing was perfect, though; as soon as we finished eating, it was getting dark, so we jumped on the London Eye. The lights of London were sooo beautiful from the ferris wheel! It was really neat to be able to look out and see Parliament and Big Ben all lit up!

We rode the famous London buses back to our hotel that night. The most amazing thing happened; Mom had a "Herrin twin moment" across the ocean! For those of you who are NOT related to us, "Herrin twin moments" usually occur when Mom is thinking about or near her sister, Jill. Basically, it means that they both always say really silly things around each other, and we sometimes wonder if they have the ability to lower each other's IQs. Well, despite Jill being 5,000 miles away, they must still be connected in their souls because Mom definitely said the funniest thing ever. She said, and I quote, "We wouldn't be seeing all of this right now if we weren't here." Yup, that's right, Mommy. We wouldn't. :)

I think we all slept pretty good in the hotel that night, and the next morning we headed straight to St. Paul's Cathedral.

The outside of it was HUGE! It was also really pretty.

However, the inside was even better. St. Paul's definitely beats any cathedral I've seen thus far in Europe. There were the smallest, most beautiful details everywhere. Plus, it was really cool to think that we were standing where Chuck and Di got married, Churchill's funeral was, etc. St. Paul's is extra special for Americans; Britain made a memorial inside of St. Paul's for American soldiers who lost their lives during WWII in order to show their appreciation to the U.S. for helping them survive. There are stained glass panels representing all 50 states, and there's also a book naming each solider. It was a very nice memorial.

Aaron and I decided to climb the 400+ stairs to the top. It was a lovely view looking down onto the cathedral, and it was also neat to be able to look all over London from the top of St. Paul's dome. Once again, the stairs were winding and narrow, though. Oh well, it was worth it!

From St. Paul's, we got on a train to go to Windsor Castle. We ate lunch first, and Mom and Dad had the traditional fish and chips. Aaron and I opted for Italian.


Windsor Castle was enormous. The Queen was actually there when we were! Apparently she likes to go there on the weekends. The grounds were really beautiful. We saw her sitting rooms, the dining rooms, etc. They were all very lavish and historic, but the guide told us that her actual quarters are pretty modernized, which is good because we didn't see one TV throughout the whole thing. How boring would that be! I also got in trouble for taking pictures inside of the cathedral; in fact, the worker called me rude. Oops!

Dad was full of funny things in London. For one, he constantly tried to fake an accent, and he said the most off-the-wall things that made people stare at us. Also, he enjoyed going into Costa, which is like the London version of Starbucks, and saying, "How much does that costa?" And let's not forget going down the tube and hearing "Hey, Jude" on the intercom except having him switch the words to "Hey, tube". Dad definitely makes things more entertaining, even if he also makes everyone stare at us! :)

We went to Piccidilly Circus that night, but we were all pretty dead, so we didn't do a lot. We went to the hotel, packed, and then woke up around 3AM to get ready to head to our bus stop for the airport. We almost missed our bus because the taxi was late and didn't know where he was going, but somehow, we made it! I got to see Stansted Airport again, which reminded me of all those great nights that Emily and I spent there.. My bag also got called out while going through security, and I had to take EVERYTHING out. So what set it off? LIP GLOSS! It was the stuff Krissy gave me for Christmas.. so thanks, Krissy! :)

Our flight to Rome was pretty boring. I slept most of the way, except Aaron woke me up twice because one time I was leaning my shoulder on him and the other time I was inching my head into the lap of the strange man sitting next to me. Oops! As soon as we stepped off the plane, we were surrounded by the Italian language. Fortunately, we were able to point at a map and tell the taxi driver where we wanted to go, and he brought us straight to our hostel. Compared to anywhere Em and I have stayed, this place is amazing! :)

As soon as we checked in, we headed to the center of Rome, and our first stop was the Trevi Fountains.


The fountains were gorgeous, and it's even more awesome to think that they were built int he 1700s! We did as the Romans do, or I guess I should say as the tourists do, and we threw a coin into the fountains backwards over our heads. Supposedly that means you'll be returning to Rome soon.. I guess we'll see!

The Pantheon is right down the road, so we went there next.


It was enormous. And awesome. To stand in something that was completed in 120 AD is an amazing feeling. To look around and see how well it was built and how intricate everything is leaves you in awe. How did they do it? How do you build something like that without modern machines? And how does it remain standing today? It was simply amazing.

We went to Plaza Novona, Plaza del Poppolo, and the Spanish steps after that. All were pretty amazing. It's just so weird to walk around the corner and see these huge, ancient, extravagant buildings everywhere. However, when you look to the ground, Rome is kind of a dirty place. There is litter everywhere, and so many buildings have graffiti on them. It's a little sad, but you just have to look past it and think about all of the amazing history that has taken place here!

We rounded out our night with gelato. Mm! My favorite! :) Tomorrow we're waking up really early and going to the Vatican and the Colosseum. Then, we're flying to Valencia tomorrow night. Although we're not getting a lot of sleep, we're having a lot of fun and creating perfect memories! And there are tons of pictures! We can't wait to share everything with you all when we return. Love you all!

...we're gonna sail to Rome.