Duke...More Info

I wanted to post quickly while we were in Europe and found out that Stephen got accepted to the Duke MBA, just to announce the news to all of our friends and family. Since then I have had a lot of questions, here is some more info.

Stephen has accepted admissions and he is officially starting school at the beginning of August!

We are not moving to North Carolina. I am sure we would love it there but this program is the executive cross-continent program which means Stephen will keep his current job and be working throughout the program. His classes will be online and every couple of months he will travel for two weeks at a time to somewhere in the world for what they call "residencies" where he will have class in person. The destinations are the Duke campus in North Carolina, Dubai, Shanghai, St. Petersburg, and New Delhi. I probably won't be traveling with him to most of the places because I will be working but we might see if it can work that I could go sometime.

The program is 16 months long so he will start this August and finish classes in December 2013. His official graduation will be in May of 2014 with all of the other Duke MBA groups.

We are excited for this opportunity and even though the next year and a half might be stressful, we think it will be worth it! If you want to know more about the program, here is a link to their website. Thanks to all for the congratulations and support!

The Vatican

On our last day in Italy we went on an in depth tour of the Vatican. It was very interesting and informative. There was (and still is) a lot that I didn't know about the history of the Catholic church and even though I am not Catholic it was cool to be in the place where so much Christian history has actually happened. This picture is of Saint Peter's Basilica. It's one of the largest domes in the world and it is built over the spot where Peter was supposed to have been crucified. 

Saint Peter's square is the entrance to the church and this part of the Vatican.

It's hard to believe (especially from this picture) how massive that dome is. Our favorite thing inside the church is that all of the designs and paintings and writing on the walls is mosaic. Those black letters you can see in the gold above me are all mosaic and each letter is a meter and a half tall.

This is a of the front of the basilica.

It was a long journey home and we were ready. Our friends picked us up from the airport complete with congratulations balloons for Stephen getting in to an MBA program! I am excited for the relaxing part of my summer to begin and glad that we have a few weeks before the craziness of Stephen's school starts!

Duke

We just got back to our hotel to wind down for the night and got the email we've been waiting for....

Stephen has been accepted to the Duke MBA program starting THIS August! We are so excited and proud. This has all been a little bit last minute so we're going to need let it soak in. Congrats to my brilliant and wonderful husband. 

La Dolce Vita

The past two days have been busy and we'll be the fist to admit that we're getting a little burnt out. You aren't in Europe every day though so we've been pushing through. We went to the Pantheon, one of the oldest most well preserved buildings in Rome. That dome is just amazing, what a feat of architecture. 

The Castle Saint Angelo has a beautiful bridge leading up to it with Bernini statues lining the way. We walked there to take a look. Stephen has decided he's Bernini's new number one fan.

We made sure to stay out late last night to see some of the sights all lit up. We got some gelato...of course. We might be having a gelato a day but hey, we're on vacation.

It was hard to get a good night shot of the Colosseum but you can just google that, this is proof we were here! It was stunning at night.

The Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps are two very crowded tourist sites and we have heard they are great if you can make it there at a deserted time of day/night. We went during the day...



And then we went during the night! We got a 3:00 am wake up call, put on our running gear, and went for a middle of the night jog to these two sites hoping for a serene and unique experience. It was pretty deserted but we weren't the only ones up that late..or early.

If you look close (not too close please) we have some friends in this picture. This couple got to the Spanish Steps at the same time as us and just as we settled in to take a picture, they settled in to...well...you can see what they settled in to do. We tried to wait them out and although it was great weather and so quiet and peaceful with (almost) no one else around, they didn't seem like they were going anywhere soon so they just got to be in our picture.

We went back to bed for a long time after our early morning run. When we finally got up and about we took a stroll in the Borghese gardens and hit up the Galeria Borghese (for Stephen to get his daily Bernini fix).

The gardens were beautiful and we went rowing on this little lake. This picture isn't of us but you get the idea of the lake and the little row boats.

It was a romantic and relaxing afternoon. 

We hit up a delicious pizzaria for dinner and while we have been loving all of the food here, this meal was special for me because I finally got some crushed red pepper to add to my Italian food! This is big for me, word to the wise (Chris) they do have crushed red pepper as a pizza condiment here, it's not just American and don't eat several pizzas in Italy before you ask for it.

Roma

We had a half day to spend exploring Florence before our train ride back to Rome. Here is a picture of their main bridge, The Ponte Vecchio. I think Florence and Tuscany would be wonderful to spend more time in, we just had the crash course.  

We made it to Rome (on the correct train) and so far it's been wonderful. We spent our first day in ancient Rome seeing the Roman Forum, Colosseum, and Palatine Hill. The Colosseum was no let down, it is amazing that they were able to build such a large and well preserved building in 72 AD.

There was a great view of the city from the top of Palatine Hill.

We did the ipod video/audio tour inside the Colosseum, it was so informative. What an amazing and gruesome history there is here.

Cinque Terre

Yesterday we went on a day tour to Cinque Terre. It was probably our single favorite thing we have done so far on this trip, a truly stunning place. Cinque Terra in means "Five Lands" in Italian. The "lands" or villages are all along the Italian Riviera and connected by train or hiking trails. Our pictures (especially with no editing) can not do this place justice. I like the Lonely Planet page describing this place, if you're interested.  

We visited all five villages, some by train and others by trail and boat.

Manarola

Corniglia

Lunch overlooking the Mediterranean and the quaint village...

Vernazza

On the hike to Monterrosso

The hiking trail...

Corniglia again from the boat, clouds had rolled in by this time but it was later in the day...

and Riomaggiore

We would have loved to spend more time there and would definitely go back if we ever had the chance. It was straight out of a postcard. You can see in some of the pictures that they have made terraces all up the mountains for farming and gardening grapes, olives, lemons, and much more. The climate was amazing and the air was fresh and smelled like flowers and sea breeze. Thank you Heather and Adrienne for the raving reviews, it did not disappoint!

Firenze, We Made It!...Barely

Our flight from Paris to Rome went pretty well. We made it through the subway and trains to the airport, found our terminal (a more amazing feat than it should be because of the craziness of the Charles de Gaulle airport), and got to our gate in time. The train station in Rome was a different story. We barely made it on a train bound for Florence and realized it wasn't our train. Our train was supposed to be pretty nice and make no stops and get us to Florence in about two hours. The train we got on wasn't too bad but didn't have much space, stopped at least 15 times, and got us to Florence in over three and a half hours. At least we made it!

We didn't to too much the night we got here, just ate some great Italian food and walked around. We found the main Duomo...

Last Days in France

We had a fun end to our time in Paris. We visited the Orsay museum where there are a lot of paintings that are recognizable even to the art history challenged, like Stephen and I. There were dozens of paintings by Monet, those were my favorites. The museum is in an old train station and it makes a nice effect. 

We took a tour of the Paris Opera House that was great. It was a little disappointing to learn that the Phantom of the Opera is mostly just a story that Americans have embellished and run with but it was a beautiful building. 

We spent the evening in the Latin Quarter where we found an adorable restaurant. Stephen ordered escargot and had to figure out the tools to eat them with.

After dinner we were just strolling along and ran into the Pantheon. We didn't have time to visit it so it was fun to at least happen upon the outside and get a picture.

When we were crossing the Champs Elysses to get back to our hotel we got stuck in the middle of the street  (the pedestrian lights will sometimes just let you walk half way at a time) with a great view of the Arc de Triomphe.

The next morning we did a little high end shopping at the Louie Vuitton where I got a great gift for Lyndsay ;) and we got some macaroons at Laduree. They were delicious!

Then we headed to the Louvre for hours of art education, thanks to their Nintendo DS interactive audio guides.

It was a mad house but we managed to see the Mona Lisa along with other favorites.

Stephen took this beautiful picture later while we walked back to the Eiffel Tower for the night time lights.

We got a few good pictures in front of the tower at night but they mostly need editing and since I don't have the capacity here, this is the best one for now.

We laid on the grass for a long time waiting for the sparkling lights. It was great weather and so pretty when the lights went off, it was definitely worth the wait.