Durres, Albania

So let's just say with every good thing there has to be the bad. That being said I have to say that our one day stay in Albania was more then enough.

The good parts...

We stayed at the Airbnb at Troy Apts ironically right behind the restaurant Troy. The room was  a great location. Only across the street from the beach. Great location and a great place to stay.

Outdoors is where you find the stoves here.

The water was beautiful! Nice and cool. The salty fresh water and air was much needed.

We found this restaurant owned by a family that was fantastic. 200 Macedonian denars (MKD) for a beer and less then 300 MKD for your meal. It was by far the best food we had there.

We got to experience some Albanian music and dance!

The not so good...

According to trip advisor. Troy restaurant is #1 in all of the area for its food (it's funny, we found out that the owner for our Airbnb also owns the restaurant

Not even picture worthy...

It was by far the worst food we had this entire trip (This includes Kosovo since I'm a bit behind). The only thing they got going on was the mochiatto. Otherwise don't go to Troy for food.

Other then the taxi driver and the people who worked at Troy. No one seemed to speak English. Fine with me.
However, because we were a foreigner. We had the luxury of paying anywhere from 2x to 7x the normal price for things.
I was so livid at one point in this part of our trip because I was charged 1400  which equals to about 23 Euros... For 2 beers!!!!
If it was not for Antonietta I would have flipped out on them!

Us waiting to be picked up!

Overall, we could not wait to leave and we were so glad to see my friends Fjolla and Adelina who got us from Durres and bring us to Kosovo.

St. Peter's Basilica - 7/3/17

After going through the Vatican museum we ended the tour in front of the St Peter's Basilica.

This church is the tallest building in all of Rome and it's illegal for anyone to build anything higher.

It was massive!

I have been to churches all over france including the Notre Dame. None of them were bigger then this. After some research, I learned that the St. Peter's Basilaca is in fact the biggest church in the world.

Much like everything in Rome. The attention to detail is awe-inspiring.

Mother Mary holding Jesus.

The Colosseo & Ancient Rome

What. A. Day.

Not only did we get to experience the Colosseo (which by the way is actually the correct way to name the "colosseum"), but we got to experience the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum -- all with a tour guide. We found that having tour guides really help with gaining knowledge about the historybut not so helpful if your deaf and can't hear the guides even with a use of headphones because their accent is so strong. There also really isn't much accessibility here for the deaf and those in wheelchair. Even some of the metro stations are not wheelchair accessible. Speaking of deaf, we just happened to meet an Italian deaf couple on the metro that only knew ISL (Italian Sign Language). It was so fascinating to see some of the signs totally different from ASL. Thank you means the same. Boy, girl, woman, and men were totally different! I was glad to have that experience.

We always arrive early to see where we need to meet the guide then go relax.

We relaxed in the shade with the perfect view of the Colosseo.

Of course! Ballet everywhere! :-)

 Gladiator Andrew thinks he's macho! :-)

Where we ate while waiting.

We finally go inside!

 What it looked like...

 What it looks like now...

And...

 And this as well...

The view from Colosseo...  The Palatine Hill!

 Then...

 Now...

 Back in Colosseo...

 Overtime, the remains...

Now, we are going into Palatine Hill -
is the centremost of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. It stands 40 meters above the Roman Forum, looking down upon it on one side, and upon the Circus Maximus on the other (Wiki).
And the Roman Forum - a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum (Wiki). 

Surviving structures	Tabularium, Gemonian stairs, Temple of Saturn, Temple of Vespasian and Titus, Arch of Septimius Severus, Curia Julia, Rostra, Basilica Aemilia, Forum Main Square, Basilica Iulia, Temple of Caesar, Regia, Temple of Castor and Pollux, Temple of Vesta

I saw this while walking towards the fountain. I believe this is the embassy.

We stopped for food at a fancy restaurant... 

Meats sampler

 Homemade ravioli with salmon cream sauce...

Homemade lasagne

Tiramisu!

Alas! The most famous Trevi Fountain!

Another cool architecture with the moon...

As we made our way home to the metro...

An Italian pastry chef decorating his cake in the middle of the walkway...

Parakeets kissing on my head...

And then we found the Spanish Steps by mistake! Lol

We were sooo after today!! Crashed once again after we hit the pillow.