ROMA

After a wonderful morning at St. Peter's Betty and I headed over to the hop-on hop-off bus. Anna wanted to do her own thing.

The first thing we did was ride the entire route, just to regain our strength after the 700 steps.

We got off to see The Pantheon and Piazza Navona, but first found a restaurant for lunch in a quaint little square. We sat outside, serenaded by a group of musicians and enjoyed...pasta...of course.

We then headed out to find our way, walking along the cobblestone streets and then we turn a corner and BAM!!! smacked in the face with the more beautiful piazza we've seen...Piazza Navona and sitting in the middle a beautiful fountain...Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651). We strolled along the piazza, again cluttered with hawkers, and then decided to find the Pantheon.

Just a few blocks away, we found it, and it too was breathtaking. It has been used as a church since the 7th century.

BARCELONA, SPAIN

....copied from my 'other blog' Original travel date...November 24, 2013

 Great flight, a little bumpy but nothing too bad… Only problem was a four hour layover. And when you can't sleep on the plane it really hurts trying to stay awake in an airline lounge with businessmen all over the place. But I made it…

Barcelona is beautiful! Just flying in the city looks gorgeous with the tan rooftops, sitting on the Mediterranean Sea, beautiful blue water, and oh so adorable men! I wasn't able to explore too much as we had a briefing at 3 o'clock. And I got in around 430 and we took a stroll down the posh Pg. De Gracia with all the great designers but we'll wait till Thursday night because they're having a open party along the boulevard. All the stores will be open serving free kava and showing off their beautiful wares.

Our tour director, Paloma, suggested a couple of restaurants that we can try that are frequented by the locals. We went to a tapas bar, Catalina, and it was really good. I should've taken some pictures but we were too hungry and devoured the cannelloni and mushrooms before I even had a chance to pull the iPad out.

Has Anna and I were strolling along the boulevard, we passed a couple of Gaudily buildings. Unusual architecture… It reminded me of Vienna with the Kunderwassen buildings.

We start off early tomorrow morning at 9 AM to do the city tour and then will be able to explore on our own in the afternoon. I'm really looking forward to getting down to the harbour and actually see and maybe even put my toes in the Mediterranean Sea.

It's been a long day even though it's only 8:30 PM I've been up for 36 hours and am ready for bed see you tomorrow.