Pics: St. Peters Basilica, Italy


St. Peters Basilica

nave

bronze canopy above the altar and the supposed location of Peter's grave

Michelangelo's dome

dove window at end of nave

Michelangelo's Pieta
St. Peter statue holding "keys"

Pics: Ostia Antica: ancient Roman port town

baths of Neptune

theatre and ruins of nearby temple

Roman God: Darrenisus :)
tomb of San Sebastiano (martyred when found to be a Christian)

Pics: random

laundry day

yummy pizza at Dar Poeta. My favorite so far: Ruspante (potatoes, mushrooms & ham)

quaint streets and cafes


Pics: Roman Forum, Rome, Italy

columns
temples

The National Museum of Rome: The Boxer, 5 B.C.

crazy detailed sepulchre

ancient Roman coin, cated 210 BC

Pics: Colloseum, Rome, Italy

      



Colloseum (arches, underground tunnels & elevators)


Vestals courtyard

Pics: Pantheon & Piazza Navona

Pantheon ceiling
Pantheon at night
Four Rivers Fountain


Piazza Navona (our favorite piazza)

Pics: Vatican & Trevi Fountain, Italy

sculptures outside the Vatican
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Sistine Chapel ceiling

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dome
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hallway in the Vatican
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Trevi Fountain
throwing in coins, wishing for a return trip








Here's the scoop...

After the last post I figured I owed everyone an explanation, so here it goes. If all goes as planned, Darren and I will be leaving the country on May 14. Where you ask? A little bit of everywhere (well maybe not everywhere but it's a start) . Our travels will begin in Rome, Italy and end near Lima, Peru. I know what you're thinking. Italy? Peru? What in the world? Well...the idea all started one night, blah, blah, blah....too many details. The short version is we are going to spend an amazing 2.5 months trekking through Europe followed by a 6-7 month adventure in South America. We will first spend some time in Italy (Rome, Umbria region (Cortona, Assisi, etc) Tuscany region (Siena, Volterra, etc), Cinque Terre, Florence and Venice), then we will make our way up to Salzburg, Hallstatt, Melk, and Vienna, Austria. From there we will go to Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic and end in Prague. After our final week in Prague we will fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina where we will volunteer with L.I.F.E. Argentina. Click here to read more about it. It's a really cool program and we are so excited to be a part of it. After 2-3 months in Argentina we will make our way to Chile. As of right now we plan on spending a month or so in Chile sightseeing (hopefully not too much has been damaged) and traveling up north to Darren's mission area (Antofagasta). It's going to take us a whole month just to get up there! Man Chile is a long country! We have an opportunity to volunteer with an organization based in Santiago but as of right now we're not sure the timing will work out because after Chile we will be volunteering in Peru! There are two programs we've applied to and they are both so amazing that we haven't decided which one we will do yet. One is in Huaraz, Peru and the other one is in Trujillo. Click on the names to find out more about them. So that's the scoop. We will be gone a total of 9-10 months and maybe longer if any other opportunities arise and out funds hold out. We have already bought our plane tickets and we have had people coming by to pick up stuff we are selling on Craigslist. I can't believe we are actually going to do this. It's crazy!! I have moments of excitement and moments of fear (especially as our house becomes more bare). It is something that Darren and I have always wanted to do and we were just lucky enough to marry someone who had the same dream. So as crazy as it is, here's to making dreams come true :)

This trip definitely deserves an entry in "The Browns Traveler" so unless our converters and adapters don't work and we end up frying our laptop, we will be adding pics and comments as our trip progresses. Stay tuned to see some fun stuff!! :)