2010 in Pictures

As a perfectionist, I always find it hard to say that a year was good,. A year is far too long an amount of time to be able to classify it as one thing. Parts were great, parts were utter rubbish, there were bits that made me laugh, bits that made me cry, bits I'll never forget, and bits I hope I don't remember.
I will say that 2010 was a year of change. Change is something I'm quite used to, but this is the first real year it's been change I've dealt with by myself. It's the first year I've gotten to do whatever I like and really just had myself to answer to. With that in mind, I'm happy with the choices I've made in this past year.
So without further rambling, here's a summary, in pictures, of where I went this year.

There was a little bit of England

And a lot of Scotland

Monaco

Santorini

Rome

Nice
And of course, I can't forget the beautiful west coast. Somewhere I still consider a bit like home.

There were also two weeks spent in Spain where I didn't take a single photo. You can just guess how lazy that holiday was.

So if I had to classify traveling in 2010, it would definitely go in the "good" category. Although there were no more regular family holidays, no more getting everything paid for, and we did get stranded in airports on a few occasions, I had fun, I got to choose where I wanted to go and do and I saw a lot of wonderful places.

Hopefully 2011 will bring lots of new adventures for all of us.
Thanks for reading!

Photos from Rome (part 2)

Please listen to this song while reading this post, as it was playing in my head most of the time I was in Rome (thanks to the Lizzie McGuire movie...yes, I should probably stop admitting that these terrible chick flicks made me want to go to some of the most wonderful places on earth).

These are the final noteworthy pictures from Rome.

Trevi Fountain

Roman Forum

Museum (...the type of which I have already forgotten)

We stayed at the Kame Hall which was in a good location, nice and clean, and since it's not a proper hotel, not too expensive. As I mentioned before, all the main attractions are within reasonable walking distance of each other...so if you find a hotel near one attraction, you won't be too far from the others. There were no restaurants for breakfast or lunch in the hotel, but since we were so close to pizzerias, cafes, and shops it really didn't matter.

I'm already trying to work out when I can afford to go back as it is a truly magical place.

Rome (part 1)

Rome was absolutely incredible, it's impossible to even describe in a single blog post. I loved just wandering around the city eating melon flavoured gelatto. We tried to squeeze everything Rome has to offer into three short days and came pretty close, we saw all the sights we wanted to see except for the Villa Borghese. What we did see included the Colosseum, St Peter's Cathedral, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Roman Forum and the Vatican. Also saw numerous piazzas which have all blurred into one if I'm being honest.
We got on a city bus tour which isn't entirely necessary because you are able to walk between all the major attractions (which we didn't realize at first, assuming that a big city like Rome would be very spread out) however it was nice to be able to admire the city while sitting on the open top bus.

Must eat: Gelateria Old Bridge on Viale dei Bastioni di Michelangelo: the best ice cream I have ever tasted in my life. Try the melon or cinnamon.

We also had lots of delicious and inexpensive pizza as many cafes sell pizza by weight which makes for a great walking lunch or snack.

More photos to come after I have sorted through them all.