Day #3 Rome

Our first day in Rome was great! We arrived in Rome at 11:00am to our room. It was a great view of a bunch of other buildings. After dumping our bags off and getting a bite to eat we headed off on our "tour".

The view outside our room window.
The outside of the colosseum. Jason's favorite spot because of Gladiator.

Inside of the Colosseum. You can see the underground area where the slaves and animals were kept. The gladiator (slave) would never know what or how he would be attacked.

If the gladiator survived, they would go to the emporor who would decide their fate. Thumbs down they died and hands waving up he lived. Jason and I giving our call of fate.

This is called the "forum". This was the downtown of ancient Rome. Or at least what remains of it.

This is the "arch of Titus". It was built in 70 A.D. to commemorate Rome's victory over Judea. The Roman's brought back 50,000 jewish slaves. The slaves were forced to build the arch for the Roman's.

Columns that were part of a temple of one of the many emperors in Rome.

This temple was built for Antoninus Pius and his defied wife, Faustina. After the fall of Rome, scavengers tried to pull the columns down for their prescious stone. You can see at the top of the columns where they tried to pull then down (the diagnal lines).

A picture of the forum from Palatine hill. The forum is the city center of Rome. It was the political, religious, and commercial center.

The statue in the background is Marcus Aurelius on his horse. Jason is a big fan of "Gladiator" that had Marcus in it.

This HUGE 1870 monument was to made to celebrate the unification of Italy. The mustache on the guy is over 4 feet wide.

These are the cute narrow streets of Roma

This is infront of the Pantheon, built in 27 BC to worship the Roman Gods

Back side of the Pantheon.

The Romans love their statues and fountains. This one is at the Piazza Navona, near the 4 Rivers fountain.

This was our favorite, the Trevi Fountain, built in 1762. Very pretty at night. This is where street vendors take your pictures and try to sell them to you. Very annoying!!

We ended our day at the 'Spanish Steps' built over 300 years ago. It is a popular hang out spot at night. We had another street vendor 'give' us a rose. I took it and told him thany-you. But he wanted some cash in return. What is up with that. So we gave the rose back.

Tomorrow is Vatican and St. Peters. Another great day. Will update when we can.

London Day#2

I apologize for the brief post we left you with. We had only 20 minutes to post and so we had to be brief. The second day of London, we went and saw the changing of the guards. This is a big spectacle for tourists. This is where the guards from the night shift leave and the guards for the day shift come on. It occurs in front of the Buckingham Palace and a band plays. I am pretty sure I don't get that kind of reception when I get off of work! The flag on the palace was up meaning that the queen is in. However, we never did see her.

We then walked around London, to see the House of Parliment and "Big Ben" (the big clock tower). After we walked by there, we went to probably our most favorite place in London, Westminster Abbey. This is the Church of England and where most of the British King and Queens are buried and many other famous people. Such as Hendel and many other poets and musicians. We continued walking through London taking in the different sights and people which we really enjoyed.

We ended our trip in London with Phantom of the Opera. It was AWESOME!! We enjoyed it greatly and wished our girls could have been with us, they would have loved it!! We left Phantom at 10:00 pm, ran to out hotel, grabbed our bags, then to Victoria Station to catch the last bus to the airport. Our flight for Rome left at 6:15 am and there was no way we could leave early enough to get there on time. So, we took the last bus to the airport and slept a few hours along with at least a hundred other people sleeping on the floor of the airport. This was when we were greatful we didn't have our children. They would have been miserable!

The night before on a bridge that we were able to see Big Ben and the London Eye.

Changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

The band that plays. This was the only place we ever saw the traditional dress up of the London Guards.

Buckingham Palace. The Queen is in.

House of Parliment and Big Ben. The flag was up meaning they were in session.

Westminster Abbey

Jason's finger pointing to where the Prime Minister lives. The black and white house.

The guards that can't smile or move.

Jason and I at the Phantom Theatre House.

Sleeping on the floor at the airport.

London Day 1

Hi, Sierra, Megan, Lindsey and Hunter. We wanted show you guys some pictures of where we have been. We miss and love you. We will update as often as possible. We are having a great time!

The British Museum, can you see Mommy on the steps?

Do you think that we should trade our van in for a car like this one? It fits 2 car seats in the back.


Can you see Daddy on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral?

Mommy with a guard at the Tower of London.

Mommy and Daddy on the big plane to Germany. We had DVD's right in front of us and got to watch Night at the Museum 2. Love you see you soon!

A ZERO Halloween Party!

We will start off with the greatest new of all, Sierra got a 0 on her biopsy. Her and I flew down to California Thursday the 9th. Her biopsy was Friday and she did it awake again. She did great and they called us this morning with the great news that it was negative. Definitely the news we needed to hear before we leave for 2 weeks to Europe.

Sierra and I arrived home Saturday, where we sprinted like crazy to get ready for our annual Halloween Party. Every year we have a Halloween party where we have family over, play games, eat and have home made spudnuts. It is a tradition that I got from growing up and we have been doing it as Bingham's for 11 years now. Everyone was really excited when we realized that next year Justin and Emily will be with us. (Yeahhhhh!!)

I also put in a couple of pictures of Gage's 1 year birthday. It was great fun! Thanks for checking on us.

Jason Bingham Clan. No real theme to our costumes just random.

Jacob clan, Jacob had on leiderhosen and Grandma Bingham yodeled for him.

Grandma and Grandpa, your guess is as good as mine. They were just funny.

Nick and Hilary's Clan, always too cute.

14 kids in all attended with their parents. It was great fun!

Gage after eating his one year birthday cake.

All those that assisted Gage in blowing out his candles.