Back in the Spring Rick and I found some pretty good prices on flights in and out of Rome. We had been wanting to get to some temples in Europe that we had never been to before. We especially wanted to get to the new Rome temple that was dedicated back in March. We bought the tickets and here we are! We invited Larry and Darla to come along with us and they decided to join us in a couple of places on our tour.
We flew into Rome on the 16th of September. Darla an Larry had left the week before and were stationed in the North of France doing some sightseeing in that area. They flew into Rome and we had a fun couple of days with them there.
We flew the red eye so after arriving and getting settled into our hotel (The Roma Sheraton) we freshened up a bit and set out to do some sightseeing with the Allens.
Here is our first picture together on our trip.
After finding how to get to the train that would take us into downtown Rome (about a fifteen minute walk from our hotel) we headed out.
We got off at the Spanish Steps stop and there we were. The spanish steps are stairs leading to a cathedral and connect the cathedral to the plaza below. There were a lot of people and a lot of steps but it was fun getting to the top and exploring a little in the cathedral.
The view from the top
After enjoying our time at the Spanish Steps the next order of business was finding a pizzeria. There is no pizza in the world quite like the Italians make it! We found this gem of a place and enjoyed not only pizza but some bruschetta as well!
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A street salesman caught Darla at the spanish Steps and "persuaded" her to buy this cool selfie stick! We used it a number of times while we were together.
The next order of business was to get some gelato from the gelateria right next door to the pizzeria.
We didn't waste any time getting on that! The first of many gelatos....
After lunch we wound our way through the streets of Rome to find the Trevi Fountain. Lots of street vendors and artists. This one was sculpting a dog out of sand.
The Trevi Fountain. So magnificent!
Another fun sight to see on the streets of Rome are the restaurants making fresh pasta. This one was making ravioli. Another one we saw was making fettucini. They looked sooo yummy. Too bad we were stuffed from our pizza and gelato!
Next we made our way over to the Pantheon. It is an ancient Roman Temple and was built somewhere around 126 AD. It is now used as a church.
The rotunda inside was amazing!
After seeing these couple of sights our jet lag was kicking in and we were tired of walking. We grabbed a taxi to get us closer to the train station and headed back to the hotel. It was a really warm day so I was excited to get in the cool pool. Rick was dismayed to realize he forgot to pack his swimsuit: ( He watched me swim:)) Afterwards, we got a quick bite in the concierge lounge (which wasn't that great) and got into bed for a nice sleep.
We woke the next day excited because this was our Rome Temple Day. We got a taxi with Darla and Larry and got to the temple within 45 minutes.
Our first view from the taxi.
We walked into the visitor's center and this beautiful stained glass was the first thing we saw.
It was so spectacular! This stained glass has many symbols of the Savior's teachings and parables.
The sister missionary that greeted us spent time with us showing the different representations of the Saviors life in the stained glass. Such a marvelous piece of art!
I wanted to stay and find more gems in this glass but we had a session to catch. We had a wonderful experience in the temple with Larry and Darla. It was a full session and was done in English because there were so many English speaking members on the session.
After finishing our work in the temple we enjoyed more time on the grounds and in the visitors' center. I was so excited to see the Christus and the Twelve Apostles statues
Olive trees are very prevalent in Italy. They are very symbolic of the Savior as well. There were a few planted in the gardens of the temple. Here is one of them. They say these trees are over five hundred years old!
After the temple we split ways with the Allens. They were catching a flight later in the day and wanted to get to the Mamertine Prison. We bid them farewell with plans to meet them in Ghent in a few days. Rick and I headed out for some much needed lunch (pizza again, of course!) And gelato too!
The day before I had been looking to get a new leather backpack but hadn't found the right one. When I walked past this bright yellow one hanging in the display I knew I had found the right one!
I love it! That backpack went everywhere with me for the remainder of our trip!
While walking back to the Trevi Fountain we found a flower stand.
I had to get a picture of me with the flowers!
We were super tired (jet lag is usually worse the second day) but didn't want to leave the hubbub of the city center so we found a curb and just watched people for a while. eventually we decided we better get back to the hotel to pack up our stuff for our early morning flight to Germany.
It was a whirlwind two days in such a fun, busy city. Rome is amazing! With so many things to see we could have stayed for many more days seeing the sights. Thankfully, we had seen some of the other sights (The Vatican, Sistine Chapel, The Colosseum, and The Forum) on a previous trip so the highlight of this trip was the temple.
I'm thankful to have been able to see and experience that sacred place.
The next morning we got to the airport bright and early for our flight to Frankfurt. It was a two hour flight and we were able to sleep on the plane. After renting our car we had a forty five minute ride to get to the Frankfurt Temple. As we got close we stopped at a little cafe for some brunch. It was fun watching the people come in and out of this little cafe, speaking a different language than the one we had been listening to the previous couple of days. While Rome was quite toasty there was a definite chill in the air in Germany. A jacket was needed for pretty much the rest of our trip.
We got to the Frankfurt Temple which had just been remodeled and in the open house stage. We were surprised to see that there was a steeple but it was not on top of the temple but on the ground in the courtyard. Apparently this is the way it has always been at this temple because of the city codes. Hmm? Who knew? I had never seen that before and it was pretty impressive to see!
Inside the temple was some really beautiful artwork! We had a younger gentleman who spoke English give us a tour of the different rooms. It is a smaller temple but the rooms were beautiful and the Germans were so happy to have their wonderful temple back! It was neat to see how pleased the members were of their newly remodeled temple.
After the temple we drove three hours to get to Dusseldorf where we we going to stay for the night. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard, and near the hotel we found an Italian restaurant. (We didn't get enough in Italy:) We both loved our meals and ate to our hearts' content.
We didn't have dessert there but found another place down the street. We had noticed it while we were going over to our restaurant, and it looked so yummy. I was stuffed but had a few bites of our molten lava cake with ice cream. It looked so pretty!
The next morning we got up early and drove into The Netherlands. It was about a three hour drive to get to The Hague Temple. Both the temple and the grounds are so beautiful! It is another small temple but we enjoyed doing some initiatory work here.
Temple number THREE!
Our cute rental car served us well! It was the first Citroen that we have rented. So grateful for my chauffeur! he got us to where we needed to be.....with a little help from the GPS;)
After our temple experience we found an adorable walking street right behind the temple. It was like a postcard; cute little shops with hanging baskets, people riding by on their bicycles, and people milling about. Such a quaint little street. We parked our car and went looking for some grub. We found a cute little cafe housed in an old school. We could tell immediately as we walked into it there was something different about this place. The workers were all individuals with special needs of one type or another. The manager helped us to get our food ordered. It was very much a Dutch speaking community, and we were thankful her English was pretty good. I had a hamburger which I rarely eat, and it was super good! Rick had a soup and sandwich. We had a bottled apple drink that was delicious! Afterward, the manager mentioned that there was a chocolate store connected to the cafe. She took us over, and low and behold, there were more people with special needs working in the chocolate store! They each had a part in the making and molding of the chocolate. So neat! We were both very impressed with the concept of this business...to employ those with special needs and give them opportunity to work and achieve. We bought a few pieces of chocolate and were on our way! It was a nice treat on our drive to Ghent!
We knew in planning our trip that we HAD to get back to Ghent. It is one of our most favorite places in Europe! It is an amazing medieval city full of history. We got checked in to the Ghent Marriott Hotel and were on the third floor. The view from our room was WON-DER-FUL!! We overlooked the river right over to these medieval buildings! A bell tower and a clock tower right in front of us. Super cool! (this was the view from the window of our room)
We immediately headed out for a jaunt around the area. The sun was going down and cast a beautiful glow on the old buildings.
This is a shot of our hotel.
...and of our view at night!
Rick in front of the old tax collector building. It is the smallest building on the street.
That evening we ate dinner at a beautiful riverside restaurant near our hotel. I loved the squash soup that was served as an appetizer! Afterwards, Rick was so excited to get his Belgian Waffle. Delish!
The next morning we got out early and rented bikes for a couple of hours. We rode all around the downtown area. We stopped at the castle and took a few pictures. I didn't remember the cobblestone streets bothering me on the bike before but they made the bike ride super uncomfortable. Rick didn't seem to mind but my rear end was hurting from all of that bumpiness!
We got some beautiful sights of the city in, though!
Darla and Larry met us around 11 for a day in Ghent. Our first stop was getting tickets for the boat tour. We had an hour to kill before our tour so we walked over to the castle. Man, I would have loved to walk through it but we didn't have enough time!
Our boat ride was very relaxing while learning some of the history of Ghent.
We found some street food to tide us over until dinner.....
Our next stop was the bell tower. It was neat to go up into the tower and see and hear how the bell system works!
Our view of the St. Nicholas Church.
Our view of St. Bavo's Cathedral.
We ended our evening with a fun dinner and dessert in a street-side restaurant.
Aaaah, Ghent! We love you!!
The next morning was Sunday. The town of Ghent was to be shut down for the day with no driving allowed so we decided to leave early and meet Larry and Darla at a church in Dunkirk, Fance for the 10 AM meeting. We got to Dunkirk only to find that no one was there! Larry and Darla were waiting in the parking lot but the church was locked up and empty. We saw that there was a ward in Lille about an hour from Dunkirk and it started at 11, so we hopped in our cars to try to make it to that ward. We got there only to find that it was also empty and locked up. We decided that they must have been having stake conference (which we later found out to be correct) and thought we would have our own meeting. We sat on the steps of the church and had a Come Follow Me lesson just the four of us:) Other than not being able to recieve the Sacrament, it turned out great!
Our two meeting houses. Dunkirk and Lille.
After church we went into the town center of Lille to grab some lunch. This is the only picture I got but it was nice to sit and eat and visit:)
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