"What'd you do the past month?"

"What'd you do the past month?" Is the question I got in the office about an hour ago. Hmmm...how do I tell someone the 100s of awesome things I saw??? Well just in case you want the play-by-play, here's a list of the sites that my dad and I visisted!

Spain:
Madrid
Prado Museum – Paintings of Velazquez, Goya, Rubens, Rembrandt, El Greco
Royal Palace – 3rd largest palace in Europe
Plaza Mayor – Madrid’s main square after Plaza de Sol
Templo de Debod - An authentic 2nd Century BC Egyptian temple
Madrid Cathedral – Madrid’s largest church, built once they moved the capital from Toledo
Plaza de Espana – Sweet sculpture of Cervantes from Don Quixote
Reina Sofia Museum – Picasso's Guernica
Puerto de Alcalá – somewhere pretty to take your picture by
Retiro Park – Madrid’s main park
The Crystal Palace – awesome glass palace, AKA a lot of windows
The Boating Lake
Rosaleda (Rose Garden)
Figueres - small town where Salvador Dali was born
Dali Museum – a museum designed by Dali for the viewer to experience the artists’ world

Barcelona
Sagrade Familia- architect Gaudi started building this church
Hard Rock Cafe Barcelona – I took my dad out for a late birthday present
Beach – Basically the only think we did was lay on the beach

Italy:
Rome
Vatican:
Museum – Belvedere Torso, School of Athens by Raphael, and a lot of Mary
Sistine Chapel – Famous ceiling and Last Judgment
St. Peter’s Basilica – Michelangelo’s Pieta, St. Peter’s tomb, where St. Peter was crucified, crypt with tombs of the Popes
Dome – I road the elevator to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica for a great view
Pantheon – Built by Hadrian with a domed room that inspired many other famous churches, Raphael and Italy’s first 2 kings are buried here
Roman Forum – downtown ancient Rome, filled with Roman ruins
Palatine Hill – the remains of Ancient Rome’s palaces
Colosseum – 2,000 years old and AWESOME
Trajan’s Column – column telling Trajan’s victories
Arch of Constantine – marks the victory for Constantine that made Christianity mainstream
Spanish Steps – A place to sit with other tourists
St. Peter-in-Chains Church – holds Michelangelo’s Moses, has the chains that held St. Peter
Trevi Fountain – built to celebrate the reopening of the ancient aqueduct that powers it
Capitol Hill Square – Designed by Michelangelo, beautiful government buildings
Castel Sant-Angelo – a church/castle connected to the Vatican underground

Florence
Accademia (Museum) – Michelangelo’s David
Duomo – Gothic cathedral that has the 3rd longest nave in Christendom


France:
Paris
Versailles: Largest palace in Europe
The Chateau - main palace
Estate of Marie-Antoinette
Gardens – huge and awesome
Walked down Champs-Elysees – city’s largest square and famous boulevard
Arc de Triumph – Napoleon made it to commemorate a victorious battle
Eiffel Tower at sunset, walked down the last 2 flights,
Louvre – Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, other Raphael, De Vinci, etc.
Notre-Dame – 700 years old famous Church
Latin Quarter – Sorbonne University
Pont Neuf – Paris’ oldest bridge
Deportation Memorial – memorial to the 200,000 French victims of the Nazi concentration camps