Bled, Slovenia

Bled Castle.  Pretty great location, but I would hate to be on the construction team.

They just give away alcohol all over the place.  Renee got a little too much...

Bled is famous for rowing competitions, ridiculously green mountains, a gorgeous emerald green lake and this little island with a church on it.

Another view from a small peak.  The snails and slugs on the trail were ENORMOUS!

The water was sooo clear.  You could see forever down into it.  This one is from a rowboat we went out on.

Inside the church on the island there is a rope you can pull to ring the "lucky bell." 

Scrumptious Slovenian pastries. 

Vintgar Gorge.  This little wooden bridge crosses the river half a dozen times and clings to cliffs throughout the gorge.  It was wonderful.

Waterfall at the end of Vintgar Gorge

Venice (aka: the menu)

Our first meal in Venice was pizza.  This place was amazing, and we were the last ones they let in before they closed.  When we tried to come back the next day and the day after that, it was all closed down.

Did we mention that the pizza was absolutely spectacular?

Gondolas are very pretty to look at.

Pasta the next night was Dane's dream: a good carbonara. 

buffalo and blue cheese ravioli

Best frickin lasagna I've ever had.  In case you didn't notice, the food was definitely a major focal point in Italy.

The Venetian masks are so creatively done and each one unique.  Except for the ones that say "made in china" on the back.

The evening before our night train departure.  Venice wanted to say goodbye the right way.

Roma

The Trevi fountain.  A life goal realized for Renee.

Oh, did I mention that part of the goal was to eat gelatto there?  It was divine.  Renee's favorites were cherry combined with chocolate or pistachio all by itself.  Dane prefers the fruits like Melon, Strawberry and Lemon.

I'm pretty sure you can figure out where this one is.  It's a neat feeling to actually be inside that building.

Some original wall decoration from more than 2000 years ago.  It was neat to see high fashion from that time.  Although it didn't look a day over seventy-five.

The Pantheon.  With modern building materials a dome like this would crumble under its own weight.

We finally figured out where Dane gets his curly hair.  It's from ancient Greeks.  At least we think this was a Greek statue... It didn't say.  Or maybe it's just a couple years old, and Dane forgot to tell me that he used to pose for sculptors.

The Vatican museums were amazing.  Their artwork is not hung on walls, but rather is painted directly onto the walls or, as in this case, on the ceiling.

Alibaba had lunch with Nomads

Dades Gorge. Morocco. Those are ruins of Kasbahs (mud and straw houses people once and still live in)

Erg Chebbi,Waiting in the Sahara Desert for a camel Trek

We went on an overnight camel trek, we can not decide if this or Fez has been our favorite part of Morocco.

The Nomads made us a very very delicious Couscous for lunch

The hotel workers, our guide, market vendors, and basically everyone in Morocco calls Dane Alibaba

The dunes in Erg Chebbi

Sunset

The dunes can get up to 180 meters tall

Sunrise and the end of our camel trek

Renees first Moroccan meal: chicken kebabs, rice and fries. Best tasting meal after a 12 hour bus ride to Fez.

Renee got Henna in Fez. This design is supposed to bring luck and safety

This is a very large and very intricately designed drinking fountain in Fez

Flamanco!!!

This is the "farm" Dane and I stayed at for a few days.  The entire lot was covered in wild flowers

This was the room/storage area Dane and I stayed in at the farm

Some of the decor in a Spanish Cathedral.

The people of Spain liked us so much they asked Renee to be queen. That crown is SOLID GOLD with thousands of dazzling diamonds!!!

While in Seville there was a Flamanco festival so about seventy percent of all the people we saw were wearing a Flamanco outfit.

In Tarifa Spain Dane could see AFRICA!

The End of Spain

A view from the palace Alhambra

Watching the sunset with our workstay host, Pia, and another worker in Bolonia

Mezquita in Cordoba. This was a palace courtyard  built by the Moors when the Catholics took over they turned it in to a Cathedral. It is an incredible building with hundreds of arches

So the Alhambra was a palace lived in by the Moors way back in the day. Almost all of the decor consists of Arabic writing and spectacular tile work. The palace is most well known for its incredible architecture.