One of my goals this summer, in addition to getting married and getting a new puppy, was to remodel the laundry room in the garage.  My friend Dave offered to help, and we thought it would be a fairly simple project of replacing some water damaged paneling and flooring.  As we began to pull off the paneling, we discovered that damage was far worse than we had anticipated.  The sheet rock was crumbling and moldy, and the sill and several studs had been devoured by insects.  The window was barely held in place, and Dave worried that the wall wasn’t supporting the roof, so we decided to rebuild the entire wall.

Fortunately, Dave already owns a pair of house jacks so we were able to support the roof.  Working on and off (it is summer vacation after all), the rebuild only took a few days.  The trickiest part of the process was rebuilding the window.  Since we wanted to reuse my vinyl siding, we had to get the window exactly where it was previously.  To make matters worse, we also had to recreate an oddly shaped window frame in order to get the customized flashing to fit right.  Dave used the phrase gumption trap a few times.

After a couple of days of trying out different ideas, Dave was able to figure it out.  Meanwhile, I demolished the interior walls that were also water damaged.  After the window was installed, it took only a short while to install the remaining siding.

Now that the wall is complete, I’m going to hold off on rebuilding the laundry room until after the wedding.

Last night while grilling some garden burgers, I didn’t notice that a wrapper to a slice of processed cheese had blown off the table. It didn’t take long for our new puppy, Hurley, to find it. While chasing him around the yard to get it back, I couldn’t help but think about the lolcats and their ongoing quest for cheezburgers.

Notes: this gallery was created with the new “Gallery” feature in Wordpress 2.5. It doesn’t look my theme is compatible with 2.5, so it doesn’t have the previous/next feature to navigate the photos, but I still think it is pretty cool.  The first three pictures were taken with my new camera phone.

Here are some links to help you browse through the photos;

1. Main Gallery page with sub-albums for each city.
2. Blog entries updated with links to photo galleries.

We woke early the next morning, pressed ourselves onto a rush-hour metro car, and stood in line for the Vatican Museum. Despite being there before it opened, we had to wait for two hours in a line that wrapped around the fortified walls of the holy city. The Vatican Museum has an an impressive collection of religious art and Greek/Roman sculptures, but everyone is really there for the Sistine Chapel. After passing through room after room of paintings, tapestries, and maps, you first enter the Papal apartments that were painted by Raphael. My personal favorite fresco there is The School of Athens. A few corridors later and you enter in the Sistine Chapel, packed with tourists standing shoulder to shoulder and bending their necks back to look at the ceiling. The ceiling fresco by Michelangelo is easily one of the most impressive and awe-inspiring works of art in Europe, though I personally consider The Last Judgment, painted on the wall 20 years later by Michelangelo, to be more powerful and thought provoking. I was also impressed that the museum guards made a strong effort to keep the tourists from taking photos, unlike the museum guards in the Louvre.

After a really bad lunch in a touristy restaurant nearby, we returned to visit the basilica of San Pietro, which is the largest Catholic Church in the world (though I read that there is a replica of San Pietro somewhere in Africa that slightly beats it in length). The mosaics here were the most realistic we had seen yet. We then climbed the steps of the dome, which was designed by Michelangelo, to the highest point in Rome. The view was great, but the platform was really crowded.

The next day, our last full day in Europe, we set out to visit the ruins of ancient Rome. We toured through the Coliseum, wandered the ruins of the forum, then explored the rubble of emperors’ palaces on the Palatine Hill. According to Roman legend, Rome began on this hill when Romulus and Remus were found by a she-wolf. For us, it was nearly the end. We then made just a few quick stops by the Victor Emmanuel monument, Trajan’s column, and one more Michelangelo statue, Moses, at the Saint Peter-in-Chains church.

From there, we had one last pasta dinner then headed back to the hotel to pack. Our flight the next morning was pretty much uneventful, which provided many hours to read. After sighting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the window of a bookstore in Venice, we decided to purchase it in Florence. By reading during our train trip and at night, LeAnn had read over half of the final installment in the Harry Potter series, and I had finished a few chapters. Since I was further behind, I got first turn at reading it on the flight, and was able to finish it. LeAnn almost finished it too, but she needed a nap so she had to finish it at home. I don’t want to say too much and risk giving away secrets, but I thought this was by far the most exciting book and the ending certainly did not disappoint (though I am puzzled about a few events in the end).

Oops, I almost forgot this was a post about our Europe trip… We are home now, after 20+ hours of travel from Rome with a layover in Philadelphia. I’ve uploaded 1,400+ pictures to my computer, and now I need to edit the collection down to a more manageable size. Hopefully, I will be able to post some pictures of our adventure in a week or so!

Update: view photos of Rome.

When we arrived we decided to climb to the highest point of the city and made it to the top of Brunelleschi’s dome. (the main cathedral) There were about 473 steps to the top and the views of the Tuscan hills were definitely worth it. Once again it gave us a great perspective on what we were going to see in the city. Of course after we came down, we were really hot, so we had some gelato to cool us off.

The next day we visited the Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens (no pizza!), Santa Croce Cathedral and the Uffizi gallery. At the Pitti Palace we saw a bunch of Raffaellos and some elaborately decorated rooms. As we walked through the Boboli Gardens we were already exhausted and skipped the “grotto”, which we later learned housed some Michaelangelo statues. Santa Croce had some famous paintings too, but we can’t remember what they were right now. The Uffizi gallery had the 2 most famous Boticelli paintings, “The Birth of Venus” and “La Primavera”. The audioguide was extremely disappointing, so we cheered ourselves up with having some gelato afterwards.

The next day we saw “David” in the Accademia Gallery and then visited a series of galleries and churches with works by Donatello, Massacio, Fra Lippi, Giotto, and Luca Della Robia. You always hear about how amazing David is, but until you see it in person, you can’t imagine how impressive it really is. Look at the back of your hand, you see that vein? Well, Michaelangelo, somehow carved that into David’s hand, which is made of marble… The details are amazingly precise and slightly overwhelming.

Since we saw so much of Florence the first two days, on the third day we took a tour to Siena and San Gimignano. Yes, a tour, that just explains to you how tired we were and how much we didn’t want to figure out the bus schedule on our own. The Tuscan countryside is truly beautiful. We didn’t have much time in Siena but saw the ornately decorated cathedral and an altar painting by Duccio. San Gimignano was another walled city (we’ve managed to hit quite a few on this trip). What made San G pretty unique was its 14 towers and of course its gelato! We probably had the best gelato of the entire trip here, although that might be because it was so hot.

Tomorrow morning we leave Rome for home. See you soon!

Update: view photos of Florence.

Venice has a way of immediately winning you over. As soon as you step out of the train station, the Grand Canal greets you, and you are surrounded by palaces still showing signs of a glorious age. We took a vaporetto, which is a boat that functions as a public bus, the length of the Grand Canal to our hotel, passing by countless palaces, bobbing gondolas, and the Rialto Bridge.

During our first afternoon there, we climbed the campanile (bell tower) on San Marco (Saint Mark’s Square). This was a great way to get they lay of the land, so to speak. That night we hung out in a cafe/bar on the square that charged a steep cover, but provided live music and great wine.

The following morning, we returned to San Marco to visit the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica. Because of Venice’s position on the Adriatic Sea, it had a strong connection with trading centers in the Middle East, thus its art and architecture reflects the Byzantine Style. We were amazed by the opulence of the Doge’s (Venetian Duke) palace, which was on par with Versailles in terms of living in autocratic style. We were also impressed by the basilica, the only one we visited on this trip in the Byzantine orthodox style. The gold mosaics lining every inch of the dome were beautiful. We also visited the treasury, filled with treasures looted during the crusades, and saw some horse statues that date back to the era of Alexander the Great.

Despite being worn out from the heat and walking, we decided to squeeze in a trip to Murano Island late that afternoon. We took a half-hour long vaporetto ride that circled the island, and arrived a little too late to see a glass blowing demostration, but we did get to purchase some traditional Venetian glass.

We did not take a gondola ride during this visit, which we considered too expensive for the thrill of being run over by a vaporetto, but we did take a short traghetto ride, which is crossing the Grand Canal via a gondola in areas that lack a bridge. The traghetto cost .50 euros, vs. 90+ for a gondola ride.

The next morning, we caught an early train for Florence. By the time we get a chance to write about that, we may be back in Seattle. LeAnn just posted about our time in the Cinque Terre, so read below for a post about our trek up and down the terraced cliffs. We are now in Rome and we return home in two days.

Update: view photos of Venice.

I converted my backpack to a roller bag, thinking it would be easier to maneuver the streets. HA! We begun our climb up the town’s main street, a hill, but the hill never seemed to end, we began to sweat, badly. By the time we made it to the top, found our hotel and went to check in, we were dripping. It must have been quite a sight and I believe we left some small pools on the floor. I know that Eric had a little trouble signing the paper because the pen for some reason was extremely slippery. So then we had to walk up a steep flight of stairs to our room. But it was well worth it, we had a little balcony, air conditioning and a FAN! A little oasis…

Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small hillside towns, and they mean hillside! Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterrosso are only about 7 miles apart. Vernazza and Monterrosso are the most resorty and Monterosso actually ships in sand so they can create a beach for the tourists. This is an absolutely beautiful area, so we decided we should attempt the treacherous walk between all five towns.

The “walk”, more like a grueling hike at points, was amazing. The pink and orange buildings of the towns seem to be barely standing straight, and seem to come from nowhere. Much of the area has terraced farming and I saw my first olive tree, and my first lemon tree. The view of the sea is of course magnificent. In an attempt to make sure we kept cool, I think it was around 90 degrees that day, we had stopped at the hardware store to get a bottle with a sprayer to use as a mister, however, it was pretty leaky by town 3. I guess that is what 2 euros in the boonies will buy you. If only we had remembered to pack our mister.

So the hike between town 4 and 5, Vernazza and Monterosso, we read was suppose to be pretty tough. Rick Steves wasn’t kidding. Uneven rock stairs straight up, for what seemed like forever…narrow pathways, and if you peer down far, far below waves crash on the rocky coastline. I will admit at this point I was hurtin and really wanted to quit. It seemed like too late to turn back and by the time we got close to the last town it was all downhill. I’m just really glad we didn’t have to walk up that direction, it was much worse.

The next day we hiked (yes, again) to a small sort of sanctuary for the flora in the area. Of course the views were incredible and it was well worth the burn in the quads. There also happened to be a train strike that day, so we decided it was the perfect day to take the ferry to another town. Of course the sea was furious for the first time and just walking the gangplank to get on the boat was quite scary. It didn’t help that the boat people were in encouraging us to move really quickly. Of course I was a little worried that my previous seasickness would occur again, but it wasn’t too bad. The girl downstairs was much worse off. After many ups and downs we made it to the resort town of Monterosso. It was amazing viewing the towns from a different perspective. Eric captured some great pics and even took one of the cliff restaurant we ate in the day before. We could actually see the path we took the day before and it was nice to brag on the ship about how we had hiked ALL of the towns the day previously. Although I think people were more thinking that we were crazy rather than being impressed. We spent a little time in the town, had lunch, walked around and headed back.

That evening we took another walk down the Via Del Amore from Riomaggiore to Manarola and had a fabulous dinner in this little family run place. The tiramisu was the best we’ve EVER had and the owner actually brought us some dessert wine and little biscuits (real biscuits) to dip in it. We were thinking oh, that’s so nice, I bet it is just like a sweet white wine. No sirree Bob, this stuff was wicked, stick to your throat burn, but surprisingly good. I actually used most of the biscuits to get the stuff down. The walk back with the moon reflecting on the water, well, you don’t get to see that very often, truly spectacular.

Cinque Terre is definitely one relaxing and beautiful place that I know will stick with me forever.

Update: view photos of the Cinque Terre.

It was harder than expected to catch a train out of Barcelona becuase the one we wanted was fully booked. As a result, we didn’t arrive in Carcasonne until late in the early evening, after the main attractions had closed. Carcassone is considred Europes most heavily fortified and well preserved medieval city. It has fairy tale views of castle walls. I was able to get some great pictures of medieval defense systems, but didn’t see much more than that because we had to leave early the next morning.

We spent two nights in Nice, which included climbing two hills for some amazing views and a visit to Monacco. We were able to explore Old Nice and ate a local specialty called socca.

From there, we travelled to the Cinque Terre in Italy, and LeAnn is writing about that right now. That’s all I have time to write for now, I’ll add some more detail later.

Update: view photos of Carcasonne and Nice.