Rome

Highlights:

1. The Colosseum. TC's favorite. It's big, and amazing.






2. The Vatican. Gordita's favorite. We climbed to the top of St. Peter's dome. Great views, lots of fresh air which is helpful when you've climbed 400 or so steps and it's warm and not everyone around you believes in anti-perspirant.


In front of St. Peter's Cathedral.


Kacy and TC half-way up to the top.


View from the top.


More view from the top.


Gordita in front of the shrine above Peter's tomb.


Hail to the priest.


Jesus giving Peter the keys.


Modesty strictly enforced.


And no on the pocket knives.



3. The Pantheon. TC's second favorite. So big and donut holey.



TC sure is excited to go in!


One of the giant columns.


The hole.


The outside.



4. Gelato. It was love at first taste. Every day we were in Italy we searched obsessively for the best deal on gelato, but none matched the creaminess and excellence of La Dolce Vita, our first love.




5. The Spanish Steps.

TC sitting on the steps.


TC and Gordita on the steps. We are so grateful to the girls behind us who posed in every photo taken of us. We're glad to have their smiling faces forever recorded in our minds, and in our hearts.


The church at the top of the steps.




Sunset from the top.



Lowlights:
1. Sistine Chapel. Rundown: silence demanded; photos prohibited; camera put away; shouting ensued; silence demanded; lots of stinky people packed in the chapel; cameras confiscated (not ours); no ventilation; no light; no explanation of paintings; blanks stares toward ceiling; shouts for silence; left with inside joke about "Silence please" forever. Our advice: buy a great book about the Sistine Chapel.

2. Food. Weird right? We found out later that one must be careful of touristy restaurants that aren't restaurants at all. They have a microwave in back and warm up your frozen meal for you. Plus side: service is really fast. Down side: it tastes like Stouffer's and the servicio is lame.



Overall:
Rome is a must see, it's just not all puffy hearts and fluffy pillows.

Barcelona

Highlights:
1. Seeing Esteban. He was a great tour guide, and we just love spending time with him no matter where we are.

Los hermanitos.

2. Font Mágica at Montjuic. Great show. Better than the one in Vegas. Seriously.

Gordita and TC posing in front of the fountain.

3. Barri Gotic. The narrow, winding streets were enchanting. We got lost intentionally, and enjoyed every minute of it. The balconies with flower beds hanging from the railing, the narrow streets that trucks drive up and down, the charm and history in every detail mixed with the modern. While wandering we saw a bride and groom emerge from a church. What a romantic place to be married! Also while wandering we witnessed two little boys arguing in Catalan and chasing each other down one of those narrow streets.

Esteban in a narrow street. Charming, no?


How does this truck fit in this street with pedestrians and all? It takes talent my friends, raw talent.


The arguing children in a narrow street.


4. The Metro system. Seriously well organized, fast, clean, frequent, and cheap, all that one could ask for in a public transportation system.



Esteban walking along one of the many clean and well organized corridors connecting one metro line to another. He is blissfully unaware that we are snapping a photo of his gait.


5. The plazas. There are plazas near seemingly every important statue, monument or building. Each plaza is lovely and a nice place to rest. There are benches, fountains, trees and aggressive pigeons in nearly every plaza.

TC in a plaza.



Gordita and TC walking through a plaza.



Gordita and TC in front of a fountain in a plaza.



Gordita with a statue in a plaza.



Palm trees in a plaza. Can you imagine living in one of these apartments that overlooks this stunning plaza?


Aggressive pigeons in a plaza.


6. Gaudi's unique architecture. He designed all kinds of buildings in Barcelona, namely the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. What impressed us about this cathedral are the spires and towers. There are so many of them and none of them have flying buttresses or other visible supports. This building has been under construction for over 100 years now.


Spires and scaffolding.


7. The number of motorcycles. Astounding!

Motorcycles.


Motorcycles parked in front of an old Roman building.


More motorcycles in front of Hard Rock Cafe.


Overall: Barcelona was my second favorite stop on this trip. It oozes charm and enchantment. Barcelona was exactly what we pictured an old European city to be. The people were the friendliest, and it seemed to be the least touristy. We feel like we might have actually gotten a taste for what the every day Barcelonian lives. Esteban was the best tour guide we could have asked for (despite what he might think), and saved us a bunch of money, not on car insurance, but by giving us several lifts, even though it was far out of his way (and early in the morning).

Off to see the world.

In what is likely my last post of the month, I bid you all adieu, adios, arrivederci, au revoir and cheerio! We are on our way to see new places and people. And I am more excited than I can possibly express. We're nearly packed, have kind friends to take care of our plants, passports in hand and e-tickets in the other. Thank you for all your well-wishes. We'll post photos once we get back.

I've got my purse and everything that's important to me, and I'm all ready to go.

5 Stars

How would you like to stay in this hotel:




It's breath-taking right? We stumbled on this beautiful hotel for our Europe trip and are excited to stay for 2 nights. It's a beauty with comforts like fluffy bathrobe (their words), slippers (no more cold feet Shannon), and complimentary magazines! Magazines! I can refresh in the large marble bathroom, or keep in touch with wireless internet access. I can swim lengths in the exclusive rooftop pool or experience complete relaxation at the Fitness and Wellness Center.


Well, that's enough copy-paste-edit for now.

Announcement.

The Compensator and I have decided to make an announcement. It's something we are excited about and have waited a long time for. Wait for it... Don't jump to conclusions just yet... No, it's not that... It's something we're doing. Guess again. It's fun and exciting and will provide us with many opportunities to take photos. Nope, not that... Okay, I'll just tell you.


What we are so excited about is we are going to Europe. We are leaving in two weeks and will be there for two weeks. Super exciting! TC and I have wanted to travel to Europe for years, but our travel budget has always been dedicated to visiting family in the land down under (not that land down under, different hemisphere). But we decided that as a capstone to the whole The Compensator is done with school celebration, we will travel to Europe and see Spain, Italy, France and England, in a very abbreviated way. We will only have a few days in each place, so we'll have to make the most of our time.


What we realized is that despite our love for travel, we have only once traveled entirely for pleasure, and that was last year when we went to Disneyland. There was no hidden agenda of visiting people or anything. Just pure, unadulterated fun. And boy was it fun. So we are hoping to have more of that this trip: just fun and sightseeing and touristy activities involving fanny packs, Hawaiian shirts and cameras. (Just kidding on the fanny pack. I'd rather perforate my eyelids than wear a fanny pack. And from what I understand it's not polite to say the word "fanny" in England. I need to brush up on my British.)


Speaking of languages, I need to brush up on my French. Despite the fact that I studied French for 5 years, the only phrases I remember are the following:
1. Qu'est-ce que c'est? C'est nous partouts dans la foret. (Which translates to What is it? It's us everywhere in the forest. This will be useful when we are in the forest of Paris and want to announce that we are all over the place.)
2. Tu veux une claque et allez a coucher sans diner? (This will be useful when I want to ask a native Parisian if they want a slap and to go to bed without dinner.)
3. Les tomates sonnes ecrase. (This will be helpful in a street market when I want to explain that I do not want to buy those particular tomatoes because they are crushed.)
4. J'ai faim. (Okay so this one is actually useful. I can announce to all of Paris as if they cared that I, humble American who speaks really no French, am hungry.)
5. Je suis fatigue. (I'm tired. It could come in handy. I'm sure it could. Yeah. I'm imagining it now, in my head.)
6. Fromage. (Cheese. It's not a phrase, but it could come in handy.)
7. Je m'appelle Gordita. (My name is Gordita. I can introduce myself to any French-speaker I see. Of course, the conversation will have to end there unless they are interested in hearing about how the tomatoes are crushed and that we're everywhere in the forest.)
8. Zut alors! (It's an exclamation. I am not aware of the actual meaning. But the French chef in the movie "The Little Mermaid" says it. "Zut alors! I have missed one. Sacre bleu! What is this? How on earth could I miss such a sweet little succulent crab?")
9. Je voudrais... (I would like... Now if only I knew how to say words other than fromage and tomates.)

That's just my French. That's not saying anything about my Spanish (luckily TC can take care of that one for me), nor my Italian (which consists of lasagne, bologna, fortifica tuo fratelli, and Ferrari).

My Superhero

The Compensator is my superhero. He has super human intelligence, the power to sense the slightest human suffering (name that show and get 50 points), is strong, can fix anything and keeps me safe. He can fly; he once flew 800 miles just to comfort me. He is willing to stand for justice. He goes the extra mile. He is my superhero in no uncertain terms. I'm a lucky gal to have the Compensator on my team.

We Belong

It's Friday, and I'm tired. This week has been exceptionally long. So here's a favorite of Gordita's (that's me) AND the Compensator's. Enjoy!

Pachanga! Celebration for TC.

On Saturday the 13th, we had a Defense Passing Party (DPP) for TC. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the people who came to celebrate with us. We had people from our ward come, friends who came from far away, and family who came from far away too. It was great to have so many people we care about in one place.

Since I was busy hosting I didn't have a chance to shoot many photos. Here are two that turned out.


TC with friends Nick and Mike playing the Wii. Mike was nice enough to bring a TV and his Wii so we all could enjoy playing games.




TC brought down his PS3 so we could play off-road racing games, and Karaoke Revolution: American Idol Encore. This picture is of Matias racing an ATV. Note his crossed legs.

Summer of George is gone...

This summer of 2008 was supposed to be the Summer of George.


I had wanted to attend every festival, enjoy the State Fair, ride roller coasters (no matter how dinky) at the Lagoon, spend a day in the sun on the grass, ride my bike until it gets dark like I did when I was a kid, stay up late watching movies, take a spontaneous trip out of town, go to the zoo, go for a drive in the canyons...





But instead, the State Fair didn't fit into our schedules, some festivals seemed like a waste of money, Lagoon really isn't all that it's cracked up to be when you've been to bigger amusement parks, in order to spend a day in the sun I have to apply and reapply sunscreen by the liters, I tried riding my bike and fell off and injured myself, I get sleepy at 10pm and will fall asleep watching any movie past that hour, spontaneity is overrated, the zoo is... well I don't have an excuse for that one, and a drive in the canyons doesn't have to be a summer activity, so I don't know why I'm whining.


If you've read this far, I'm impressed with your loyalty. When it comes down to it, my summer wasn't the Summer of George because I didn't make it the Summer of George. But I still had a lovely summer. I went bowling, had a campfire, saw two parades, watched fireworks up close, threw a big party, went to the Farmers' Market, rode my bike on Antelope Island, lounged by a pool, took photos just for the sake of taking photos, went to Park City one day on a whim, baked a cake for no reason, sewed for people other than myself, and, best of all, I spent an unprecedented amount of time with TC, my favorite person of all time.




And, as if this post wasn't going on for long enough, I made new friends. I no longer feel like I have no where to turn (besides TC) when things get rough. Even though this summer didn't turn out to be the Summer of George I expected it to, it turned out even better.

Introducing... The Family Doctor

On Friday TC had his defense, where he presented the research he has completed in the last few years to the public and to his committee of professors, and he passed! This means, that he is now The Compensator, PhD. How exciting is that?

For the past four years he's worked his tail off, and in that time he received his masters of science, and now PhD. What a stinking smart, hard working, wonderful man. So when you see him, if you feel so inclined, remind him that he's a doctor now. And if you want to hold off on the "what comes next?" questions, we won't be offended. We're still floating on the "he's done with school" bubble. In a week or so, after we complete our obligatory and celebratory partying hard, we can come back down to earth and face the reality that finishing school means job hunting.

Congratulations TC!