See how incredibly inhumane we 

treat animals, skinning them 

alive, beating them to death. Eat 

less meat and eat animals that 

actually have a chance to live.

Earthlings 

Bonjourno Italia!

We arrived in Rome and were picked up at the airport and driven to a lovely family's home. Homemade pizza and pie awaited us . . . we were finally in the land of pasta, pizza, gelato, canolis, and oh yea some of the greatest art of all time.

Sightseeing in Rome was something like competing in the Amazing Race with 5,000 other contestants. So you say it's October how is that possible? That's exactly the problem, everyone had the same idea as us...go to Italy in October to avoid the crowds! Boy were we dead wrong...although I don't even want to imagine what Italy is like in the summer. 

But we realize it was all worth it to see the architectural masterpiece, the Pantheon, and absolutely amazing yet incredibly cruel Colosseum 

The Pantheon built in 120AD

The Pantheons architectural ingenuity--the largest dome built in it's time and would remain that for over a thousand years . . . the walls are over 20 feet thick with heavy concrete and brick! 

The Spanish Steps overrun by tourists

Saint Peter's Basilica...we picked the wrong day, the Pope (we believe) gave a speech and thousands of people came

The Vatican Museum was probably the most amazing museum I've ever been to

Sneaking a pic at Michelangelo's the Creation of Adam (not enough light in the room so blurry photo)

It's truly magnificent in person

Ryman falling in love with one of the many incredible marble statues

Lost as usual!

A Breath of Fresh Air . . .

Just outside of Rome we had the opportunity to explore the ruins of Pompeii and Ostia Antigua

A cafe from the 1st Century AD!

Many of the sites in Pompeii were closed off but we didn't let that stop us! We didn't come all the way there not to see the garden of fugitives so we hopped over the fence and snapped a few photos (without flash of course). We were even able to take photos for other American tourists that couldn't make the jump

:)

I can't even fathom what these people must have went through

Bed at a brothel in Pompeii...sad

Pompeii was one of the most amazing sites i've been to

Typical Pompeii Villa

It's so hard to believe wall paintings lasted ..

Back to Sightseeing in Rome!

So exhausted!

Horse Race Track

Mmmm Pizza!

ExAuStIoN was an at an all time high when we realized that we didn't, or I didn't, read the house rules before booking our stay with the family we in Rome. We had to wake up every morning at 7:30AM, be down at breakfast at 8AM and out the door shortly after. We also couldn't come home until 4PM...so if you didn't do the math, that's 8 hours a day of walkn round and these legs were not made for walkin'!

So it was bitter sweet to say arrivederci 

Our 2 doggies

The Fraschettis are such a nice sweet family..thank you!

Off to Viarregio, Florence and Venice!

Kalymnos Greece- A Climbers Paradise

A Lesson on What Not to Do

Take Our Advice on How to NOT Get to Kalymnos:

Train and Bus to Athens Port
14 hour ferry (2nd class of course) to a small Greek isalnd Kos
Bus from Kos port to other side of island
30 minute Ferry from  Kos to Kalymnos
Taxi to our place

Total: 24 Hours!

On the 14 hour ferry ride we maybe slept 2 hours as our class only had plastic chairs on the OUTSIDE deck...it brought me back to Titanic times . . . as I scoured the boat I thought to myself, wow if we hit an iceberg in the Meditteranean there is definitely a shortage of life boats and we are just like Jack, 2nd class...I may just die at the jaws of the worst animals on the planet--sharks of course. BUT we didn't die, and we slept for 2 days straight to recover :)

So WE ARRIVED

And of course got right on that rock

The NorthFace Competition!!! Dun dun Dun

Two days of non-stop marathon climbing in the blistering heat (9am-5pm). The goal is to climb as many of the hardest routes until you just can't go on.  Having to hike for 45 minutes straight up crumbly rocks just to get to the cliffs was enough to make us want to stop, but our competitive natures just wouldn't let us.

Wearing the Kalymnos Competition shirt on the first day

 Quick Carbs!

The guy in the background with one leg actually won 1st place in the hardest division besides pros (7a-8a)!  

Ryman is dead from the first day of climbing

Finisshhheeeddd

Finisheddddd!!

It was truly grueling, Ryman said he was going to climb his last route about 5 times but we kept going as the skin on our feet and hands became so raw you could see blood through them

SCORES

Total Routes Climbed: 43 (20 Harm/23 Rym)

Average height of each route: 75 feet

Total feet climbed: 3,225 feet

The Pros Winning the Big Money

The Participants

For some reason Ryman and I always ended up being surrounded by the pros.....it was nice until they all got called up on stage and we were the only ones left haha

The Pros--Anna Stohr, Kilian Fischuber, Johnathan Seigel, Dani Andrada, Dalia Ohera, and others 

We didn't win but we fought our hardest

Lesson on what not to do: Don't not cheat

 Although we would like to blame our loss on others cheating (which we legitimately witnessed a few of the winners do) we simply were not training enough as we have been too busy with drinking pina coladas out of coconuts and whatnot

And 8 Days After We Arrived, it was Time to Say Goodbye

Off to Italia!!