3 F(x) Ice Cream and Waffles

I took these pictures with my cell phone, so they're not great, but the ice cream at 3 F(x) Ice Cream and Waffles is! (See what I did there?) This place takes milk and your choice of flavor (we chose fresh raspberries) and changes it from this: 

                                                  to this-------------------->


and then finally to the delicious ice cream at the beginning of this post! You can add up to two toppings for free (we chose chocolate and white chocolate chips) and it all is frozen by the freezing hibachi like thing you see above. They also make filled fish shaped waffles and fresh coffee. The people behind the counter were super friendly and (I think) the owner even joked with us while he made my sister in law's mango ice cream.  I highly recommend that you check it out if you're in Jacksonville!!

Walking the Main Street Bridge

One of my favorite things to do from time to time is to experience my city as a tourist...it helps you to see things in a new light and to appreciate the majesty and beauty of our surroundings! Alright, now dialing back the pretentious bs talk: there are always cool things to do in your city...enough so that an outsider would pay money to visit where you live and that goes for everyone!

In Jacksonville, we take for granted the fact that our downtown is right on a river and it's gorgeous. After a few drinks and dinner at Fionn Maccool's at The Landing, we took a leisurely stroll across the St. John's River on the Main Street Bridge to the Friendship Fountain which has recently been reopened after a $3.2 million renovation. It's really pretty at night because the bridges and fountain are lit up. Makes for a romantic ending to a wonderful evening :)

Last day in Rome

For our last day in Rome, we all decided to hit the beach! We were so excited to visit the Mediterranean Sea that we were fully unprepared for what we would find in Ostia Lido (Lido is Italian for beach)....the worst beach of all time! Okay, that's maybe not entirely fair because it might have been quite a bit nicer if we had paid about 10 Euro for the private beach (includes chair and towel) but we didn't and we ended up sitting on a tiny, crowded patch of beach that just seemed kinda skeezy and we only stayed for about half an hour before heading back into the city. I'm glad that we went because now we can say that we have been there and it was kinda nice to see but other than that, I'd say save your day trips for another place! Our first choice was Florence but we were told they were getting a lot of rain that day so we settled on the beach. If you have time, Ryan says that Cinque Terre is amazing, but we just didn't have enough time during this trip.

Even though the beach was a bust, we were able to get a picture in front of the Trevi Fountain (above) that doesn't have 8 million tourists in the shot! I also had an authentic Roman breakfast standing at the bar to enjoy a cappuccino and pastry. Handy tip: many Roman restaurants and bars (coffee shops) charge less if you eat at the bar. It can be up to a few Euro more to sit down and can be even more to sit outside.

After we left the beach, we said goodbye to our London friends who had to catch a flight home that afternoon. The rest of us did a little souvenir shopping and met up that evening for a final Italian dinner and a walk to Mamertine Prison which gave us the opportunity for a last look at the Colosseum and Forum lit up at night. Our trip to Rome was coming to a end but we had an amazing time and I can't wait to go back to Italy! 

Roma not Rema

On our third day in Rome, we took a guided tour of the Vatican with Italy With Us. Our tour guide, Kathy, was from the US and she was hilarious in addition to being very informative about the history of the Vatican and it's popes, artists, etc. She even threw in the story of Romulus and Remus and said that Romulus killing Remus is the reason why Rome is now "Roma, not Rema". We made our way past beautiful and priceless works of art and stood in awe of Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel. 

On our way out of Vatican City, I stopped to mail some postcards from their post office after our tour guide told us how remarkably efficient they are compared to the Italian post office(she was right! One of them made it to Michigan in 2 or 3 days). We also "cheesed some bread" near the entrance of Vatican City which is Ryan-speak for putting cheese on bread. We were able to refill our water bottles (at one of the many public drinking fountains that can be found throughout Rome) and enjoy our cheesed bread, apples, snacks and the purest water you will ever find in a public fountain in an area that would have been jam packed if the Pope had been scheduled to speak. 

We then took to the metro to the Spanish Steps and from there walked to Villa Borghese Park where we saw the Italian version of our cat Tiny Paws of Fury!

That evening, we headed back to our hostel to cook dinner and everyone joined us for fresh pasta, caprese salad and lots of wine :) This was my favorite part of our trip, it was just so nice to hang out and enjoy each others company in one of the best cities in the world!

After the family left for their hotel, we went to an Irish pub, Druid's Rock,  with our London friends for a few pints of beer (Strongbow for me!), Irish car bomb shots and "Italian shots" which were Absinthe, grenadine and some white liquor, I can't remember what it was...the colors of the Italian flag. We didn't stay out too late though because wanted to be rested for our next day at the beach...

Random Photos

The Swiss guards at the Vatican

Vatican City

Cheers to Rome!

The lost pictures of Paris

Ryan has been holding out on us!!! Here is a sampling of the newest uploads today for our viewing pleasure:

Imagine this one without all of the people...magnificent hall in Versailles Palace

My favorite room in Versailles

Part of the garden of Versailles