Summer Plans!!!

I looked at many options for the summer and struggled to make up my mind, but I am very excited to be going to Costa Rica this summer!!!!!!! I signed up for a 16 day adventure vacation through GAP Adventures. They offer many different kinds of vacations, but the one I signed up for is called Costa Rica Adventure. We will be travelling throughout the country and our destinations include San Jose(the capital), Puerto Viejo de Talamanca(caribbean coast), Tortuguero National Park, Rara Avis(rainforest lodge), Arenal Volcano, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio National Park (pacific coast).

While in each of our destinations I will be able to choose what activities I want to do. Some of my options will include snorkeling, white water rafting, zip lining, swimming at the base of waterfalls, caving, and lots of guided hikes to see the wildlife. I will meet the rest of my group when I arrive in Costa Rica. The information I read said there is a maximum of 15 people.

I have been reading a lot about Costa Rica and I am overwhelmed by the amazing things to see there. One of the most exciting parts of the trip for me will be staying at the Rara Avis Rainforest Lodge. It is a 4 hour trip just to get there which involves a tractor drawn cart up a muddy hill! We will get guided hikes into the rainforest to learn about the plants and wildlife. There is no electricity as we are far removed from civilization. During our stay there meals are provided, but on the rest of the trip I will get to choose where I eat, which will be nice.

My next step is to book my flights and purchase some travel insurance. I will post more about the trip soon!

Training Update

My training for the half-marathon in April continues. It has been much more difficult than I had hoped due to all of the snow we have been getting. I have struggled to keep my running consistent, but with the burst of sunshine this weekend I am hopeful that spring is not far away! I have had some knee pain as a result of the running, but with a few days of rest it goes away. Hopefully, it will not turn into anything serious. I am up to run/walking 6 miles. I have a lot of work to do to get ready for the 13.1 miles of the half-marathon, but I am feeling good about it.

I have also started looking into possible travel options for myself this summer! I have some exciting options in mind, but I am not ready to make up my mind. So I am keeping quiet for now.

What's In Store for 2010

2009 was a really great year for me so it is going to be tough to top it, but I plan to try. As far as travelling goes I am still keeping my options open for 2010. I have definitely been thinking of possible destinations and even doing a little online research, but I have decided that I need to focus on other goals right now.

I have signed up for a Half-Marathon(13.1 miles) in April! I plan to run/walk and I bought my very first pair of running shoes over the holiday. I also signed up to participate in the training that is offered since I am a beginner. There will be group runs on Saturdays and the rest is up to me. Due to the cold temperatures and short days I will be taking advantage of my Dad's treadmill, but I hope to run outside when I can. My goal at this point is simply to complete the half-marathon. I am sure once I have been training for a while I will be able to set a time goal for myself as well. I will keep you posted on my progress.
Happy New Year!

My Favorite Things in Rome!!

The Pantheon
Inside Pantheon
GELATO!!
I loved so many things about Rome it is hard to pick my favorites. Everything we did was fun and exciting. Most of all I loved the atmosphere and feel of the city. The cobblestone streets, endless restaraunts, and the huge buildings that contain so much history. The Pantheon was one of my favorites because it was less than 5 minutes from our hotel. We walked by it almost everyday and we even went inside. It is now a church and it's huge columns are hard to stop looking at.

We also enjoyed a lot of good food. Everyday we had pizza and pasta. I never got tired of it though. The best thing I ate was of course the gelato!!! It is basically ice cream only better. We had gelato everyday and sometimes twice a day. I was in heaven. The trip was wonderful and it was especially great to share the experience with my family. I am one lucky girl!

More Churches & The Holy Stairs

St. John Lateran

On Saturday we headed out to see the last things on our list for Rome. We started at St. John Lateran the Pope's home church. This was one of the most beautiful churches we saw. Inside it had statues of all the apostles and my favorite statue of Mary and Jesus. Across the street was the Santa Scala or Holy Staircase. These are believed to be the stairs Jesus walked up before his trial in front of Pontius Pilot. The staircase was among one of the many relics St. Helen brought to Rome in c.326 AD. Now covered in walnut wood you may only climb the staircase on your knees.

We went to another church that contained relics from the Crucifixtion; one of the nails, thorns, and wood from the cross. They were preserved in such a way that we really couldn't see them well. The most unique church we went to was the bone church. Underneath the church there was a long hallway that was decorated with the bones and skeletons of the church's monks. It was pretty creepy to see real human bones used for decoration.

Florence

Il Duomo/Santa Maria Cathedral
View from the top of Il Duomo
On Thanksgiving Day we woke up early and took a train to Florence. We took the slow train so it took us almost 4 hours. Once we arrived we walked to our hotel and got settled in. We first went to see the huge cathedral in Florence - Il Duomo/Santa Maria. The outside of this church is so ornate. The inside was beautiful as well. We decide to pay to go up in the dome. 463 steps later we were at the top!!! The views were amazing so it was worth it. Afterwards we went to the Gallery Academia. The best thing we saw there was Michaelangelo's David statue. We were not allowed to take any pictures though. I did however, snap a pic of a replica that sits in the piazza. We finished the afternoon with gelato and shopping. There are a lot of markets in Florence so we got some great deals. That night we had our Italian take on Thanksgiving dinner by going to a restaraunt called ZaZa's. We enjoyed some delicious pasta and actually ordered some meat and potatoes too.

The next day Beth, Sara and I headed to the Gallery Uffizi. We enjoyed all of the paintings, especially Michaelangelo's depiction of the Holy Family. We saw another church, which had a lot of construction going on so we were a little disappointed. We caught our train back to Rome that afternoon. I enjoyed Florence, but I was very excited to be back in Rome.

The Vatican & The Pope

Sculpture inside Vatican Museum
Altar inside St. Peter's

On Tuesday, we took the bus to the Vatican. We had reservations for the museum. We first made our way to the Sistine Chapel(no pictures allowed). It was a little overwhelming because the walls and ceiling are completely covered with paintings. It was hard to know where to look, but it was very beautiful. Then we walked through the Vatican Museum, which was my favorite museum. The building itself was so ornate. It had some really cool sculptures and paintings. Our favorite was Raphael's Transfiguration painting. I was sad to not be able to take a picture of it.
After exploring the museum we got to see St. Peter's Basilica. This was of course the largest and most ornate church we saw our entire time in Rome. I took picture after picture. There were a lot of sculptures inside mostly of Popes and Saints. The altar is spectacular with black columns that twist. We also got to go beneath the church to see the tombs of former Popes.
One of our goals for the day was to find out how to get tickets to the audience with the Pope on Wednesday. Luckily my sister-in-law Amber was brave enough to approach the Swiss Guards and ask. She scored us all tickets!! So Wednesday morning we returned to the Vatican for an audience with the Pope. It was very cool to be a room with people from ALL over the world. The entire celebration was said in seven different languages (Italian, French, Spanish, English, Russian, Portugese, German) Our view of the Pope wasn't that great, but he did bless us and our families.