Rome, Italy

While my parents were visiting us over the last month we had planned on a number of activities: First, Anthony and I would go to Paris while they babysat, second, we would all go to Zermatt together, and third, the two of them would go to Italy. Well, the first and second trips went off without a hitch (as you can see from our previous posts), but on my parents first day in Rome they called sounding like two giddy little kids, "you have to come to Rome while we are visiting you. We'll watch the kids so you can really see this place." We gladly took them up on their offer to add one last minute trip to our list of activities (as well as their short excursion to Rothenburg, Germany). We spent two amazing days in Rome and were blown away just as much as they were. This city is amazing. Here are the pics:

Day 1:

Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica

Spanish Steps

Day 2:

Palatine Hill, Roman Forum and Colosseum

(with our friends Janelle and Josh Frampton who went with us)

Piazza Navona

(Footnote: When Anthony and I first moved to Europe I presented him with my project: although he was by far the better photographer, it was my goal to capture the charming windows and doors of Europe. Piazza Navona seemed to be my personal photography dream. We even found some perfect oils on canvas to take home with us to really capture the scene.)

Pantheon

St. Moritz

Anthony with our neighbor, Dan Hemmert, enjoying the blue skies at a work event in St. Moritz.

Zermatt

We just happened to pick the most beautiful day to spend in Zermatt, with a perfectly clear view of the Matterhorn. Anthony and Ashley got to ski while Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed the cute shops and spent the most they had ever spent at a McDonalds. The kids got a kick out the sled rides and to top the trip off we stumbled upon an Alphorn concert.

Paris, France

Sans kiddos in the City of Lights (thank you Grandma and Grandpa)!

Day One:

We stopped at way too many of these pastry shops

La Sainte Chapelle

Outside the Louvre

Inside the Louvre

Day Two:

Château de Versailles

Marie Antoinette's hamlet at Versailles

Arc de Triomphe

Day Three:

Notre Dame

The Pantheon

The Eiffel Tower

Day Four:

The Orsay Museum

Bye Bye Christmas Tree

This year we joined the Swiss in their traditional disposal of Christmas trees. "Bye-bye Christmas tree in the hot fire" and hello 2008.

Salzburg, Austria

We spent New Year's Eve in Salzburg, watching the Sound of Music in our hotel room due to food poisoning. Fortunately, we were on the 10th floor and had a great view of the fireworks, which was better than any 4th of July we've seen. The show lasted about six hours, with people shooting off fireworks (most of which would be highly-illegal in the U.S.) out of hotel windows and off rooftops in every direction.

When we finally made it out into town, we found adorable shops and of course, more Christmas ornaments! Fortunately, everything was closed on New Year's Day.