Visiting the Vatican just a few months after Jerusalem was such an awesome experience. While Jerusalem shall always be the spiritual center of Christianity which it shares with Judaism and Islam, the Vatican serves as the center of Roman Catholicism and contains the most beautiful churches and works of art in tribute to Christianity. Thanks to our awesome tour guide, we were able to navigate around the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica and Square with ease. In this album; however, there are no pictures of the Sistine Chapel due to its sensitivity to being photographed. A lot of times, my cousins and I found ourselves making up our own Gregorian Chants as we were walking around the grounds.  The place is definitely conducive to coming up with “religious” sounding chants that don’t actually make sense. If I have but one complaint about St. Peter’s is that though it is the most iconic church in Roman Catholicism, you hardly see anyone praying inside.  People are

After the Colosseum and Roman Forum , we went straight to the Trevi Fountain , which is not only one of Rome’s more iconic tourist spots, but also is apparently, a favorite of pickpockets and snatchers . Upon arriving, I could see why, as tourists were cramped like sardines all over the place! * The beautiful Trevi Fountain which I assume is even more glorious at night when all the lights are turned on. For some reason, I kept on thinking bout that fountain stage in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 .

Rome  was my  biggest disappointment  this whole trip. Disappointment not because I wasn’t moved or impressed by the place but because we had but  one day (8 hours)  to explore  BOTH Rome AND The Vatican.  That would be the equivalent of  spending an hour in Disneyworld . Ideally, I would like to explore the city of  Rome for a whole week , and The  Vatican for a few more days  after. Hopefully one day my cousin  Clark , an even bigger History buff than myself, decides to follow his dream of being an archaeologist and actually move to Rome so that I can come and crash in his place when I visit. * The first view of  Constantine’s Arch  and  The Colosseum . Take note of the  line of tourists  towards the right going inside the Colosseum with an estimated  waiting time of 1 hour and 20min .  Now compare that to the one hour which was the total time we spent here in this part of Rome.

Since I had my cousin’s wedding for majority of the day in Florence , we only actually had about two hours to explore the city center. This resulted in the “ spot-point-click-run " shots below as I was literally running from one part of Florence to another, not stopping to truly appreciate what I think is the most beautiful city in this whole Euro trip. Everything about Florence just screams art , and no wonder this is so as Florence is where the Renaissance was born with the works of Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci dotting the “city of the Medici’s " and where the likes of Dante Alighieri and Niccolo Machiavelli  circulated their literary masterpieces.  Two hours is definitely not enough to spend in Florence and I immediately resolved to return someday and to stay for at least a week! * The Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore , better known as the Duomo , has in my opinion the most impressive outdoor facade of any church that I ha

Being the fan of fairy tales and Disney movies that she is, my cousin, Rachel , decided to get married in an actual medieval castle. And since she is one of my closest female cousins (both in friendship and in age), I was stoked to be there! Originally built in the 13th Century and located a few miles from Florence in the Fiesole Hill , the Castello di Vincigliata has been a family stronghold, a glass production center and a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II before finally settling down to it’s most fitting role, a wedding venue . But it’s not just some medieval castle, it’s a  haunted  medieval castle!