Rome, Italy {Part 2}

next we went to the Pantheon, the best conserved building of Ancient Rome

inside is huge open dome, it was quite amazing

walking back out, this is the entrance into the pantheon

and out in the piazza, another beautiful fountain

so pretty

we spent the rest of the evening just exploring Rome, and ran into this, the Momumento a vittorio Emanuele II, something we hadn't read about yet, but wow, what a building!

we continued wondering, and somehow ran into this building over, and over and over, just when we thought we knew which direction we were headed, we would see this building again. so we ended up not loving seeing this building, it was pretty hilarious

we hadn't planned on hitting Trevi fountain this day, but when we walked right into it... how could we resist!

if you throw a coin into Trevi Fountain it will guarantee your return to Rome one day... so we sealed our fate! We will return again someday for sure!

lots of other people wanted to ensure their return to Rome too!

we wandered back to one of our favorite places of the day, and had a candlelit dinner... under heaters, right in front of the pantheon. it was so romantic.

and so delish

and so cute...

and we were serenaded by an Italian to some mood setting music.

it was such a fabulous day.

Rome, Italy {Part 1}

Our final stop was in Rome.

We stayed at this incredible hotel, the Grand Hotel Flora by Marriott.

Just down the street from our hotel was Piazza Barberini

and the Spanish steps. So we went there first, and came up on this...

we found a little street stand selling paninis and grabbed some for lunch as we sat on the spanish steps and took in the view.

At the base of the Spanish Steps was La Barcaccia fontana. There are fountains everywhere in Rome, and you can actually drink the water that comes out of them!! How cool is that!? Of course I had to try! Most pure, fresh water, for real.

We wandered around the streets of Rome for a while...

and eventually ran into the Saint Angelo Castle

then walked over to Piazza Novona. It was such a lively and art-filled area. They also had those nuts you see at the bottom of the picture for sale on almost every corner. We never tried them, but they looked warm!!

Piazza Novona is full of fountains, the Fountain of Neptune...

Another type of fountain, we saw a bunch of these too, that you could drink right out of, or fill up your water bottle.

the fountain of the four rivers

isn't it so beautiful?

Fontana del Moro

one of my favorite things about traveling in ancient cities, is when you randomly run into things like this, something that wasn't even in our travel book, but yet is SO incredible...

more coming soon :)

Berlin, Germany

Our next stop was Berlin. We stayed right downtown, near Checkpoint Charlie, one of the main crossing points of the Berlin Wall.

We took a hop on hop off double decker bus tour, so we could see lots of Berlin.

The thing we were most excited to see in Berlin was definitely the Berlin wall. This is the only part of the wall still standing. They had artists from all over the world come and paint murals depicting the history of the Berlin Wall. We learned so much about freedom, and rights, and it really made us grateful for our freedoms.

a jewish memorial

the Brandenburg Gate

the Reichstag

the Berlin Victory Column

we had to try Curry Wurst. It was deliSH. Super spicy, super yummy. It was freezing outside, but they had a tent set up with heaters, so we got to warm up!!

Then we went over to Ka De We, the 2nd largest department store in Europe. It was huge. There were different floors, with all different things, but we went up to the 7th & 8th floors to see the food. They say they have 2 football fields of food, from all over the world. We didn't eat there, just wandered, and did a little sampling.

Cam's favorites, including hearts of palm

more of Cam's favs, huge olive bar... like couldn't take a picture of it, it was so big

my favorites, more sweets than I could ever imagine. yum. They had Lindt Chocolate chefs there making little Lindor Truffles, we sat there watching him make them, and then I ATE one he had just made. Ohmygoodness gracious, most delectable little chocolate I have ever tasted in my life.

now that my mouth is watering again, here are a couple images to stop that watering... kinda cool though

more meats than i have ever wanted to see :)

We took the bus over to the Jewish Museum, and spent the rest of our evening there. It was a moving experience, and really no pictures to show for it.

and that's it! It was quick, but wow, what an adventure, so glad we were able to experience Berlin!