Las Vegas

Where did we stay in Las Vegas?

Since we left New York we visited many other places like our friends house and the best part going to Disney World!  But I’ll tell you guys about that when I get back to school.  The hotel that we stayed at was called the Cosmopolitan and is one of the biggest hotels on the Strip.

The Strip

The Strip is a huge main street that runs straight through the center of Las Vegas and has some amazing replicas on either side of the road, some of them being a copy of St Marcs Square in Venice, The Eiffel Tower in Paris, New York’s Chrysler and Empire State Building with a huge rollercoaster going through the center.  The Strip is an amazing place to visit and experience.  Las Vegas is known as the city that never sleep (well all American Cities are like that) and in Vegas there are over 200 casinos that are in mostly every building!  Every hotel has a casino in it and a famous casino on the Strip that some of you might have heard of is called Caesars Palace.  It is the biggest casino in the world and it’s also a hotel.  We managed to look inside and it is amazing.  The feature about a casino is that it is simulated to give the impression that it’s night so people keep going all night long and into the day sometimes.  In Las Vegas people sleep in the day and come out to party at night since it is in the middle of the desert and in the summer can get up to 50 degrees, but at night in the winter it can get to 0 degrees.  I also learnt that on average it only rains about 4 days of the year so it is something to be cherished if your in Las Vegas when it rains.  With the rains in the winter very rarely snow comes and only a few years ago it snowed in Las Vegas, the city in the middle of the desert…

The Shows

Las Vegas is also well known for the shows that it hosts like the best Illusionist in the world was there and we were lucky enough to go and watch perform mind blowing tricks in the Hollywood Theatre!  We also went to watch the amazing ventriloquist (a man that can speak and only open his mouth a tiny bit)!  He was also amazing and really funny.  My mum and dad went to watch the show called “O” by Cirque de Soleil, which they thought, was absolutely amazing as well.  Cirque de Soleil has t least 7 different types of shows one of them being “Love” by the Beatles and a few more.  All of the shows in Las Vegas are guaranteed to be excellent and not boring!

The Helicopter Ride around the Grand Canyon

On the 2^nd to last morning we were in Las Vegas we went on a helicopter ride all over a small part of the Grand Canyon and stopped for lunch over a steep cliff, which looked very inviting.  The Canyon itself was a perfect opportunity to learn about the rocks in the Canyon faces, like the metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous rocks.  I will put that in my science speech.  The best part about going around in a helicopter to see things is that a helicopter can go fast and you can see things all around you clearly!  Even better Steve and I got to sit in the front seat and get the best view!  The Canyon goes 2,500 meters deep and is 700 km long, which is absolutely amazing.  You can do rafting through the Grand Canyon, which takes 2 weeks to a month to complete!  The tour was amazing and I would love to do it again! 

Caesars Palace!

The Grand Canyon

Us and the Helicopter

Us in the Helicopter

Our Hotel

Part of the Strip at Night!

The Arc de Triumph on the Strip!

Venice on the Strip

New York

 

Our Hotel

After flying out of Rome leaving Italy and Europe we arrived in Newark International Airport, which was one hour out of New York.  We were staying right in the center of everything, the Empire State Building, Central Park and much more!  It was a lovely hotel and we were on the 32^nd floor, our room was big and we had a perfect view of the Empire State Building!  The streets of New York don’t have names really it just starts a 1^st Street and goes all the way up to 58^th Street.  There are also avenues that cross the streets called 1^st, 2^nd, and 3rd, 4^th, 5^th and then Park, Madison, Lexington and 9^th Avenue!  So it’s really hard to get lost in New York!  

Times Square

Times Square is not really a square at all, it’s a triangle and it’s surrounded by almost 50 billboards that are all lit up and advertise companies, food and more!  Times Square also has many restaurants surrounding the outside and we had dinner there on the first night.  

 Central Park

Central Park is located right in the center of New York, a big rectangular park that has a huge lake in the center of it.  It’s very popular for people that want to have a rest for the day or go for a morning jog or even walk the dog.  Many movies have been filmed in Central Park like Madagascar, and Home Alone!  Central Park also has a zoo inside it and that was why Madagascar was filmed there.  Central Park is also home to many homeless people that sleep there over night even though you are not really allowed.

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty was a gift given to the Americans by the French to commemorate their friendship.  Over the years it has gotten very light blue because of the air but it makes it look like it belongs there since the light blue is almost the color of the water.  The Statue of Liberty has been out of use for about 1 year because of renovations and trying to restore it.  It is going to reopen again in late October this year though. 

Empire State Building

The Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world at it’s time when it was built and today it is remembered because of it’s 126 floors and being a beautiful building.  We were lucky enough to be able to go up it an hour before it opened to the public and the view from the top was amazing, you could see the Bridges of New York you could see the Statue of Liberty, a lovely view of Central Park and much more!  To get to the top of the Empire State Building took less than 60 seconds in a high-speed lift.  Most of the floors in the Empire State Building are not in use today but were originally in use, the building today is mainly a tourist attraction. 

The 9/11 Sight

On the final morning we were in New York we went to the 9/11 sight.  In the sight itself were two big holes in the ground with water flowing down them and into another hole with water flowing down it.  The water shows how people have to reflect on what happened on September 11^th, 2001.

The Empire State Building

Central Park and it's Lake

The Statue of Liberty

Times Square

A View from the top of the Empire State Building

Highlights

I think that the highlights of New York were going to Central Park because of how big the park was and that it was in the middle of a huge concrete city.  I also enjoyed the Statue of Liberty because I've seen it in many movies and it felt weird to actually be there.    

Rome

We arrived in Rome by train and ventured through the metro system and found our hotel, which was on a huge street that at the end of it was a big Roman Structure that holds the Unknown soldier's tomb.  We were around the corner from most of the most famous monuments in Rome.

Pantheon

The Pantheon was the first historical place we visited - and what an amazing structure!  It is a huge domed structure that was built AD 118-125 by the Roman Emperor Hadrian who was ruler at the time.  Inside the Pantheon are the tomb of Rafael and other Italian kings of modern Italy.  It is really hard to comprehend such a structure could have been designed and built with such precision such a long time ago.  

The Roman Colosseum

We walked down to the Colosseum from the Pantheon - it was great weather not too hot, I can imagine that it would be pretty hot in summer.  It was an great sight to see the towering columns of the in front of me.  Surrounding us on the walk was the Roman Forum - many of the foundations are still very visible - the place was really big.  We entered the Colosseum through one of the arches, the line was really small - lucky for us.  We hired a I-Pod Touch commentary which was really cool as it had video and pictures of the whole place.  Some of the highlights included;  the Colosseum was built in AD 72-80 and was at the time Rome’s greatest amphitheater.  The Colosseum with its 80 arched entrances could fit 50,000 people to view gladiator fights, Man VS Animal fights and many other events.  The Colosseum used to have three outer circles surrounding the Colosseum and the outer one used to be made of marble.  The marble was reused back in the years after Christ to make other theatres and temples.  

The Gladiator School

In the Gladiator School my brother and I got a private gladiator lesson that lasted 2 hours.  We got to fight each other using 5 different attacks and defensive moves that we both mastered (depends on the definition of mastered).  The first hour we were shown how the Roman army fought in battle by fighting in groups and wearing very protective armor and shielding equipment.  They also had many “War Machines” that were very effective during battle and won many of their battles.  The Romans sometimes fought armies bigger than them sometimes only them being 10,000 men against 30,000 men and they still won because of strategy.  We spent the rest of the lesson whacking foamed swords at each other (I could of beat Steve, but I didn’t want to make him cry, just kidding).   

The Vatican City

We took an organized tour through the Vatican - which is the 'headquarters' of the Catholic Church.  The Vatican City is a city in itself and has a wall surrounding the outside, it is also a completely different state to Rome but you don’t need a passport to enter.  Inside the Vatican City is the biggest Catholic Church in the world and is called St Peters Chapel because the Emperor Nero murdered St Peter (he was an apostle of Jesus) there.  He was killed and requested to die upside down on the cross because he did not want to die in the way of Jesus Christ.  He was buried in the gardens of the Vatican and when the Church of St Peter was built it was built on top of his tomb.  After the Church was built the first Pope was announced and now all of the Popes live in the Vatican City and preach in the Church of St Peter.  The Vatican City also holds some of the most beautiful and famous paintings and maps of modern art and art that was painted at the time of Christ.  The artworks stretch out through many parts of the Vatican City and all leads towards St Peters Chapel.  

The most amazing of all the paintings is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  It was painted by Michelangelo - and it took him 8 years.  It depicts the story of book of Genesis and the last judgement.  I can't imagine lying on my back for all those years painting all those works.  

Trevi Fountain

The Fountain was only 1-minute walk from our hotel, which made it easy for us to get there.  The architect Nicola Salvi built the Trevi fountain in the 18th Century and it is to this day the most famous fountain of its time.  The fountains water supply comes from an ancient Roman Aqueduct that starts 28km out of Rome and if you throw a coin into the water than you will come back to Rome again.  In fact the Romans were pretty clever way back, they always designed cities with fresh running water and sewer systems - and they were really clean people (they always had to wash prior to entering the city).  Compare this to other parts of Europe and England in the same times and they were hardly clean and clever about their sanitation.

Piazza Navona

The Square of Piazza Navona is said to be the most beautiful square in Rome and has 3 water fountains in the center of the square.  The main fountain depicts 4 men that represent the 4 main rivers in the world that represent Christianity, being: the Amazon (South America), Ganges (India), the Nile (Egypt) and the Danube (Europe).  The square is shaped like a boat (I have no idea why people call it a square then?) because they used to fill it up with water (using the fountains) and have navy mock ship battles.  The word Navy comes from the word Navona and that is how the word Navy came into the world!

Highlights

I enjoyed the Gladiator school the most since I enjoyed learning a lot about the Roman armies and they’re attacking strategies and being able to be one!  I also enjoyed learning different combat skills and applying them to my brother’s head.  All together I really enjoyed Rome and since I threw a coin in the Trevi fountain I’m definitely coming back to Rome!

The Bike Tour in Rome

The Roman Colosseum

Gladiator Fighting!

Gladiator Fighting!

St Peters Church in the background

The Main Fountain in Piazza Novala

St Peters Church

Florence

The Main Features of Florence

The Ponte Vecchio

The Ponte Veccio is the most well-known and famous bridge in Florence and was originally built in the year 1345 by the artist Neri di Fioravante.  The bridge has three arches and shops that line the sides of the bridge, back in the 14^th century there were gold smiths living and selling gold in the houses.  Today the still are doing that!  In WWII the bridge was going to be destroyed by Hitler but he had a love for art and thought the bridge looked beautiful so he decided not to bomb it.  All of the other bridges though on the canal were destroyed except for that one (they have now been rebuilt).   

The Medici Family

The Medici Family was considered to be one of the wealthiest families in Europe at the time and owned a lot of the land and the houses.  The Medici’s (to show there wealth) supported Michelangelo’s artwork and inspiration to be a famous artist so by the age of 14 he was let into the Medici’s house, to use there art canvases and practice whenever and whatever he wanted.  This is how he became one of the most well known artists in the world!  The Medici’s owned several huge mansions and regularly moved between them.  The main reason for the Medici’s wealth is because of the banks that they owned.  They owned every bank in Florence at the time and they continued to be the wealthiest family in Europe for 200 to 300 years!

The Duomo

The Duomo is the biggest square in the whole of Florence and also holds the biggest cathedral, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.  Various artists completed the cathedral over a period of centuries but no record of the original artist has ever been found.  The huge dome inside the cathedral is a fresco and was painted by an artist called Vasari who was summoned by Cosimo the 1^st Medici.  It took 2 years to paint the dome and in the end it looked beautiful.  We cycled around the Duomo - pretty cool and very crowded, thank goodness for bells on the bike!

Michelangelo

Michelangelo was a famous artist that painted pictures of the Italian Renaissance and got the nickname the “Renaissance Man”.  He was born in March 1479 and died in February 1564 and was an only child born in Caprese, Tuscany and moved very early to Florence after an unexpected death of his mother.  He sculpted and painted many pieces of art all based around the church and the bible.  He regularly wanted attention from some of the well-known artists in Florence and they were surprised by how good he could paint and sculpt.  He moved on in later life to be the man he is today painting and sculpting many things like David’s Statue, The Sistine Chapel Ceiling (in Rome) and many more!

Uffizi Gallery

The Uffizi Gallery holds some of the most famous paintings of it’s time some of them being the “13^th and 14^th Century Painting”, which was a type of Tuscan Art and was made to look like a fresco.  The Gallery also holds the “15^th Century Painting”, which was mainly based around the Renaissance of Florence in the 1400’s and was painted by Lorenzo Ghiberti.  It holds much more pieces of famous art from its time and is still being used to store art today.    We didn't make it into the gallery, for one the line was so long (about a 2 hour wait), and, secondly, I happened to eat an gelato (ice cream) with some nuts in it and was sick for the afternoon!

A Bike Ride Around Florence

The second day we were in Florence we did a bike tour around the main areas and tourist attractions and we saw everything that I listed above.  The bike tour was amazing and fun and we were lucky enough to have a blue sky (it’s always blue though) and a mildly hot temperature.  The alley ways were  tricky to ride through, the surface bumpy with cobble stones and had to dodge people all the time - dodgems on a bike!

A Tour of Tuscany

Sienna

Sienna is a beautiful city that has many wonderful features and events that occur every year.  One of the lovely sights in Sienna is the Cathedral.  It was originally built in 1215 and finished construction in 1263 and was built to compete with the Cathedral in Florence.

Horse race

In Sienna a huge gathering of people going up to about 500,000 all there to watch a bare back horse race.  In Sienna there are 13 different districts each of them represented by an animal (e.g. eagle, rhino, elephant etc.) 10 are randomly selected to race in the annual race, which takes place on the 14^th of July and the 22^nd of August.  The race takes place in the town square and the ground is covered with sand so the horses run easily.  Most times the horses fall over and people can get hurt really badly.   This years race had a pile up just after the start taking out 6 horses leaving only 4 to race it out.

The Cathedral in Sienna

The Cathedral in Florence

Our Train Tickets on the Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre View

Walking!

The Square where the Horse Race is

Photos of the Horse Race

The Leaning Tower of Pisa Leaning on ME!

The Ponte Vecchio

The Highest Tower in San Gimignano

San Gimignano

Going for a swim on the Cinque Terre

Swimming on the Cinque Terre

The Uffizi Gallery

Yummy Gelato!

San Gimignano

San Gimignano is a lovely old town that has a wall running around the outside of it.  The town is famous for it’s towers that most have been destroyed or fallen down now.  A family would build a tower to show how wealthy they were and in the small town it self there were just over 50 towers! We climbed one of the towers - major number of steps but worth it when we got to the top as we could see right over the town and countryside.

Pisa

Our final stop on the tour was the famous town of Pisa with the Leaning Tower of Pisa in it.  We were lucky enough to be able to go to the top of Pisa, which was amazing and scary at the same time.  It felt like you were walking sideways at times as it is REALLY leaning.  The Leaning Tower of Pisa is now completely safe since it was counter-balanced in the 1930’s, and recently experienced a major cleanup and stabilization finishing only a few years ago, before then it was unsafe as it was sinking.   Adding 3 more levels to the top of it that moved the other way balanced the tower.  The tower was built in the 14^th century and was built perfectly straight but they soon realized that it was slowly leaning to one side because of the foundations it was built on.  Many of the buildings around are also a bit crooked as well.

The Cinque Terre Walk

The last full day we were in the Florence area we did a 10 km hike through a region and national park called the Cinque Terre which is on the coast.  The Cinque Terre is made up of 5 different towns all of which are very beautiful.  We started our journey on a 2-hour bus journey to the staring point and enjoyed a lovely walk.  We then stopped for lunch and after started our hike though the beautiful mountains.  The hike was about 1 and half hours long and by the end I was exhausted (since it was mostly uphill).  We went for a swim and then  took a train to the  our final town where we took a boat back to the bus.