Rome-Pt. 1 Hotel, Colosseum and Palatine Hill

 The view from my room. I felt like I was in the ghetto, but the hotel was nice enough.

 My room.

 "For washing off your backside, right?" Ha! Ten points if you can name that move.

 SPQR! On the sewer!

 This was the bus stop near my hotel. I bought my 24 hour ticket at the news stand behind the post. The cost was six euro and they do not except credit.

 Route 85 and 16. From my hotel the 85 stopped near the Colosseum and Trivia Fountain.

 I was in the bus and we drove over a hill and tada! The Colosseum. I was pretty excited to see it. It was crammed in a lot more than it appears to be in the movies though. I was a little surprised.

 The ceiling in the Colosseum. Pretty ornate, but most of it is gone now. It's really too bad.

My tour guide is standing in front of the cross with his hand raised. He was a fun guide. I paid 35 euro for a two part tour to the Colosseum and Palatine hill. It seems like a lot, but I also got to go straight in to both places, instead of waiting in the hour long line, in the blistering heat. It was really worth it, and after everything it was only about 10 euro more.

 

 These were some artifacts that were found in the arena: including animal bones and an animal skull.

 This was my second tour guide. His name was Max and he was pretty funny also.

 He took us through Palatine Hill. This was the Arena on top of the hill.

Apparently Palatine Hill used to be covered from top to bottom in marble. The brick walls in the background would've been covered in marble. The tour guide said that the marble had been taken, but said that The Vatican didn't like to use that word, they preferred to use the word "recycled." I thought that was pretty funny. You can see St. Peters, in the Vatican from here.  It's the domed building in the background.

P.S. Just because you can see something in the distance doesn't mean you can walk to it.

This was a fountain on Palatine Hill. It has spring water that is piped throughout the city from the mountains. It's fresh and cool. I filled my water bottle here twice.

The London Eye

I paid 18 pounds to go on the eye. It's about a thirty minute ride around. 

 Batman!

 There's the Gourd in the middle of the picture. I don't know why I am so fascinated with these buildings...

 This was a garden below The Eye.

 The Shard... again fascinated.

 Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

I took these pictures on the Tuesday before leaving London. This was my last big activity. The rest of the time was spent studying for my final and packing. 

I'll have one more night in London before returning home.

Dublin, Ireland - Pt. 5 Creepy Organ Music at Christ Church Cathedral

Dublin, Ireland - Pt. 4 Christ's Church Cathedral and the Mumified Cat.

The pit is ruins on the site. 

Inside the Cathedral.

 Some dead guy...

The CATacombs. Hee hee hee. 

Where the cat and rat are! Okay, so there was a rat too.

 But really I came for the cat. Seemed funny considering that my mom is the cat lady from the Simpsons.

More of the catacombs.

These were in the catacombs too. Not sure why, but I liked them.

Dublin, Ireland - Pt. 3

Check it out! Hey--is it just me or does the guy playing the drums kind of look like Jordan?

Dublin, Ireland - Pt. 2 Street Art

I stared at this one for awhile. Any guesses?

This was my favorite. 

This guy was in this spat at ten am and when I passed it again at three, he was still there. 

Not really street art, but I loved the, "Yeah, we know." Made me chuckle; had to take a picture.

Dublin, Ireland - Pt. 1

This was the room I stayed in in Dublin. The bed was really nice. 

 I went to see the Book of Kells, which is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book, written in Latin. It contains the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. One of the things that makes it so special is the art work inside of it. Hours upon hours were spent on it. It's definitely worth Googling. We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the actual text.

 The Book of Kells is at Trinity College. I believe it was 4 euro to get inside, but that was with a student discount. So probably 6 euro without a student card.

 This is part of Trinity College. Beautiful old campus.

This canal ran throughout the entire city. I saw boats on this on a couple of occasions. It seems surprising, because if you'll notice a waterfall at the end, you might wonder how it's done? There are different levers that the boatsman use to drain and raise the water levels so they can get the boats up and down the canals. The canal is much bigger than this in most places. 

 If you'll notice the signs, you'll see that they are written in two languages: English and Irish. I never knew!

 This was common throughout the city. Artist's would set up their paintings down a strip of road for purchase. The artist of these paintings happens to be just to the right. He's painting another masterpiece. My favorite thing about him was his beret.Ha!

 A street in Dublin.

 The Olympia Theatre. Pretty famous. Sweet awesome.

 I just couldn't resist taking a picture of this. It seemed so quaint.

 This was quaint also. There were pubs all up and down this street.

This was a door of a pub. I almost walked right past it. Then something caught my eye, and I did a double take. Just think--I could've missed this jewel.