Venice, Italy

One of the prettiest places we visited during the summer of 2011 was Venice, Italy. Truly, I enjoyed Venice. We took a tour of the city, and then we had "free time" to venture out into the city in our groups. At one point, I remember sitting at a table eating an Italian sandwich thinking, "I'm in Venice, Italy!" Wow. It's impressive.

Venice is a city in northeast Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It's also known for Murano glass. There are no vehicles in Venice; that's an interesting thing to see in itself!

Venice is also known at the "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals". It's also been described in the New York Times as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man".

The city stretches across 117 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea. It was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades, as well as a very important center of commerce and are in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. This made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Who wouldn't want to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa? The tower is famous enough in itself that a visit to Pisa is worth it, JUST to visit the tower. Really, that's all that is there. Pisa is more of a tourist destination that doesn't quite live up to its hype, however, I'm so glad I was able to see it.

I actually really enjoyed the "shopping" that went along with visiting Pisa. You can buy just about anything from the street vendors that surround it. I ended up buying a purse, keychains, magnets, postcards, and I bought Dad a golf polo while I was there, too.

The tower is something you see and will remember forever. Some were even able to pay money to go up inside the tower, but we didn't have enough time to do that.

The Tower of Pisa is a freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa's Cathedral Square after the Cathedral and the Baptistry. The height of the tower is 183.27 feet from the ground on the low side and 186.02 feet on the high side. The tower has 296 steps or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase.

On the day of our visit, the sky was a perfect blue. None of my pictures were altered in any way. Some of my favorite pictures from the summer of 2011 were from Pisa. Absolutely beautiful!

This is a picture of all the vendors surrounding the cathedral, tower, etc. There's even more vendors outside of this area, as you walk to the tower.

Strasbourg Cathedral

Strasbourg, France: One of the amazing buildings we were able to see in Europe was the Strasbourg Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg. This cathedral's construction took place from 1176 to 1439.

It is considered to be among the finest examples of high, or late, Gothic architecture. At 466 feet, it was the world's tallest building from 1647-1874. Today it is the sixth-tallest church in the world.

Victor Hugo described it as a "gigantic and delicate marvel." The cathedral is visible far across the plains of Alsace and can be seen from as far off as the Vosges Mountains or the Black Forest on the other side of the Rhine.