Feeling Hot Hot Hot! The Rain Curse is Broken! Two Weeks of Fun in the Sun! COMPLETE

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I remember going into the Gucci store near the Spanish steps and our jaws dropped at the prices.

That first day in Rome we were dropped off here:

We were given free time and our instructions were to meet at Planet Hollywood for dinner. Once again the girls and I stuck together, who knows where the chaperons went. All I can say is that it is a good thing we did not get lost wandering around Rome on our own. We went into lots of clothing stores. We found a store that was selling angel and devil shirts. We each got one as a souvenir of our trip. I still have the two shirts that I bought, they were very cute. One thing we discovered in these clothing stores was the communal changing room. It was just a sheet at the back of the store with an open space behind it. No privacy!

The second day in Rome was dedicated to The Vatican and visiting a few other churches.

The Vatican has a very strict dress code. Your knees and shoulders have to be covered. It was very hot and we did not want to be covered up the whole day so we all came up with an interesting mix of clothing that we could easily put on to cover ourselves while in the churches and then whip off once outside.

We visited the Vatican Museum where the Sistine Chapel is located and we also went into St. Peter's itself. Bother were absolutely beautiful.

We had our farewell dinner that night at a lovely little restaurant and we left early the next day to fly back home.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures! You can see why I need to go back so badly. It was an absolutely beautiful country and I need better pictures! The camera I had back then was terrible! It was a film camera since digital was not yet on the market and the quality of the images was not good, I was also very restricted in regards to the amount of pictures I could take due to the cost of film. I can't wait to go back with a nice camera and get some quality photos.

Comparing Venice to the Italy pavilion at Epcot, don't you think they did an amazing job?

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Very cool Italy pictures! I'd love to go there some day. It is funny seeing pictures/TV shows/movies that are set in the countries found in World Showcase because you can see all the detail and research the Imagineers put into each pavilion to make it authentic.

I hope to visit all the countries represented around World Showcase so I can compare the pavilion to the country to see how well it is recreated.

 

[dilligaf212]

lol @ your step mom... your trip to Italy looked awesome.. what an experience that must have been as a teenager..Italy is on my to do list someday i will make it there

 

[NancyLuvsMickey]

Love your Italy TR... What an amazing experience to have...

Your chaperons on the other hand... Oh brother...

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

lol @ your step mom... your trip to Italy looked awesome.. what an experience that must have been as a teenager..Italy is on my to do list someday i will make it there

My stepmother is very easy to laugh at, pretty much everything about her is ridiculous!

I am so glad that my mother persuaded my dad to let me go on that trip to Italy, it was an amazing experience.

Love your Italy TR... What an amazing experience to have...

Your chaperons on the other hand... Oh brother...

What, you don't want to hire them to take care of your kids?

 

[GeminiAngel]

So nice to see your lovely photos of Italy. It brought back some memories.

I visited: rome, florence, Naples, capri, pompeii in 1998.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

So nice to see your lovely photos of Italy. It brought back some memories.

I visited: rome, florence, Naples, capri, pompeii in 1998.

Wasn't it just wonderful? I'm really hoping DCL offers Eastern Med cruises in 2013, I would book one of those for sure.

 

[KatMark]

Lessa, thank you again for reliving your trip to Italy and sharing with us. I definitely think you should go again and take more pictures to share with us.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Lessa, thank you again for reliving your trip to Italy and sharing with us. I definitely think you should go again and take more pictures to share with us.

Hopefully I'll get to! Armed with a digital camera and an endless supply of memory cards you can be sure that I would photograph everything I laid my eyes on.

 

[AKL LOVER]

It is amazing how good picture quality is now compared to those taken "back in the day". I don't really think about it that often, but the difference is obvious in your TR.

Italy, however, looks beautiful no matter what the picture quality is. I hope to get to visit one day!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

It is amazing how good picture quality is now compared to those taken "back in the day". I don't really think about it that often, but the difference is obvious in your TR.

Italy, however, looks beautiful no matter what the picture quality is. I hope to get to visit one day!

The difference in quality is crazy although admittedly I did not have the best camera back then and I was a rather poor shot.

I would really love to get a DSLR and take a class to learn how to use it properly so that I could get some amazing shots. That will have to wait a few years, until then I am perfectly happy with my little point and shoot.

 

[englishrose47]

Great ending to your Italy Trip Lessa !!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Great ending to your Italy Trip Lessa !!!

Glad you liked it Rosie. I had the pictures in photobucket already and since I had just posted about the Italy pavilion I thought that I would share.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

May 14th continued

We continued to make our way around World Showcase. When we reached the African Outpost Alek and Erich went to get some slushies while I took some pictures of the Lion King topiaries and then waited with Mom at one of the tables facing the lagoon.

I had been eying the Duffy bears and all the cute outfits all trip. I was very tempted to buy one for myself.

Not looking too nice out there...

It was starting to sprinkle again so once the boys had their drinks in hand we hustled over to China and once again just made it before the rain started to come down in earnest.

We relaxed on the benches in the main room of the temple and decided that we would wait for the next showing of the China movie.

We had seen it before but I remembered it being my favourite movie in World Showcase and I was right. China looks so beautiful and I would love to visit someday. It is not really the cities that interest me but the beautiful countryside and the mountains, absolutely beautiful.

After the movie we wandered around the giant gift shop where I saw lots of stuff that I would like to buy but it would not have been practical for me to do so for money and transport reasons.

Gotta love pandas!

I thought these lights were so pretty and they were a reasonable price. Wouldn't have been easy to get them home though.

After we were done with the store we peeked outside and saw that the rain had slowed down to a drizzle so we continued on.

I thought these umbrellas were super cute.

Alek and Erich wanted to go on Maelstrom but the line was out the door although the wait time said 15 minutes. I knew that could not be accurate so we skipped it and said we would come back the next day.

Since the rain was picking up again we sought shelter in Mexico.

We all loved these handmade painted wood carvings but they were really expensive.

We saw that Donald was out for pictures and quickly got in line, our timing was good as the CM cut the line off right after us.

Mom said she had to get a picture by herself with Donald.

When in Mexico you are pretty much required to don a sombrero for a photo op. Alek and Erich took it one step further.

Alek in Mexico

There was a guy sitting on the wall behind Alek who was glaring at us. Dude, lighten up, you are in WDW!

Erich took a bit longer to get prepared, he not only wanted to be wearing a sombrero but he wanted a poncho as well.

Erich in Mexico

We then decided to go on the Gran Fiesta boat ride. There was actually a line for this, probably because of the rain. A lady in front of us decided to take her stroller right up to where you get on the boats and then she just left it there. The CM's were ticked and I was annoyed at the rudeness of it.

Once the stroller was disposed of by the CM's we were loaded into our boat. Alek and I sat in the back row with Mom and Erich in front. In front of them there was a lady and her family.

At some point during the ride Erich said a "bad word" which was not really a bad word although I guess opinions vary on what is considered bad. The woman in front of Erich turned around and glared at him, Mom then got angry with him for saying a "bad word" although she was only angry because the woman glared. We thought it was a bit ridiculous, he didn't say anything terrible and if you want your kid to be that sheltered well then you better not turn on a tv, send them to school, take them to the mall/grocery store etc. let alone WDW where there are thousands of people. Flame me if you want but come on. I could understand if he had cursed or said something really filthy but he didn't so I thought the reaction was a bit silly.

What does one do after a family disagreement? Take a happy family photo! There was a photopass photographer set up inside another location I have never seen them in before.

[post="42048729"]Click here to continue[/post]

 

[IheartDDuck]

Ha ha, I love the videos of the guys in Mexico.

Okay, taking your stroller all the way through the queue and then leaving it? Totally bizarre, and I agree, completely rude.

Phooey to the glaring lady! It cracks me up when people act so shocked when they hear a "bad" word. It's like, get over it already!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Phooey to the glaring lady! It cracks me up when people act so shocked when they hear a "bad" word. It's like, get over it already!

I agree! It wasn't even "bad". I could understand getting glared at if he had been cussing up a storm or dropping the f-bomb in front of a bunch of kids, we were at WDW after all, but he said "pissed" once, definitely did not warrant the death glare,

 

[lovethattink]

I am behind in reading. But somewhere recently, you asked if the Rapunzel tower was still there. Walked by Germany tonight and it was gone.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I am behind in reading. But somewhere recently, you asked if the Rapunzel tower was still there. Walked by Germany tonight and it was gone.

Darn, I guess that means it is just up for Flower and Garden.

 

[englishrose47]

Loved the Mexican Duo !!!Boys after my own heart !!The sombero its them just like they do me !!

Phoey on the Lady !!! When I get mad and do use bad words at work my staff crack up cuz they say it even sounds sophisticated with my english accent In fact I think they egg me on just to have a good laugh!!

 

[jcc0621]

We all loved these handmade painted wood carvings but they were really expensive.

At Fockerfest Jim bought Jimmy one. A $25 2 1/2 inch toucan WHich mind sits up on a shelf high up in his room where he can't get to it because I don't want him to break it

At some point during the ride Erich said a "bad word" which was not really a bad word although I guess opinions vary on what is considered bad. The woman in front of Erich turned around and glared at him, Mom then got angry with him for saying a "bad word" although she was only angry because the woman glared. We thought it was a bit ridiculous, he didn't say anything terrible and if you want your kid to be that sheltered well then you better not turn on a tv, send them to school, take them to the mall/grocery store etc. let alone WDW where there are thousands of people. Flame me if you want but come on. I could understand if he had cursed or said something really filthy but he didn't so I thought the reaction was a bit silly.

Really? Was the kid school age? Probably heard worse there. I understand her point of not wanting her kid to hear.say those words, but lady....then you TEACH them what's right and what's not. I've dropped a word or two in front of Jimmy and then I'm like oops, sorry. Nope don't say that it's not nice.