Seeing the countryside...

The past few days have been simply relaxing and restorative! My wonderful uncle has driven us around to see parts of England that most don't get the pleasure to see. And of course I've taken pictures CONSTANTLY! The English countryside is spectacular! Along with seeing much of the countryside, he also took us to see many historic cities and towns in the area. We've been to Warwick to see the Warwick Castle (a beautiful medieval castle built in the 11th century). We've also gotten to see the Cotswold area (Chipping Camden), with its charming buildings and lovely little town! We visited Leamington, known for its luxurious spas, where the royals would go spend their vacations to relax. And we’ve also seen many other towns and areas that I can't remember the names of. Needless to say it's been a great experience! Of course we wanted to see London and the sights there but we simply ran out of time and actually it was quite nice, like I said, to see places that most "tourists" don't see.
I have to say though, as AMAZING as this trip has been and we've had an absolute BLAST…we are ready to be home! We miss our own bed, having a car, not being lost, having a washer and dryer and not living out of a suitcase….not to mention we miss family and friends! Even the family and friends that are far away because at least we could talk to them fairly often. So we are so very thankful and blessed to have had this trip but we will be glad to be on the plane headed back to the states tomorrow! Now we just have to pray for safe and smooth travel!

Coventry, England

Day 9

Well, we actually didn't get to do much on our last day in Italy. We woke up early to finish a little laundry before we left, but the dryer ended up taking 3 hours to dry our clothes so we were pretty much stuck in the hotel waiting for our laundry to finish. Obviously, this put a damper on the last day because we had some things planned to see before we flew out.
Once our laundry was finished and we got checked out of the hotel, we decided to make the most of the rest of our time so we headed to Rome to shop a bit before we left.....that didn't work out too well either. We wanted to find a belt for Mikey but we couldn't find what he wanted anywhere so we got back on the train and headed for the airport early (or so we thought).
On the train to the airport, thinking we were going to be about 2 hours early, I realized we were actually only going to get to the airport about an hour before departure because I misread the itinerary and flight time. Once we arrived at the airport we were sent to the wrong terminal SO we nearly killed ourselves dragging luggage through the huge airport, checking in and racing through customs and security to our gate. We managed to arrive at our gate 5 minutes before departure to find that NO ONE WAS THERE! Of course, by this time I'm almost panicking. Luckily 2 other people arrived at the same time (obviously as late as we were) and we all realized they had moved to another gate. So we finally found the right gate and got on the airplane barely in time for departure.......and then....we ended up sitting on the plane for almost an hour because there was a security issue with one of the bags on the plane! Unbelievable right?! Yea, great last day in Italy! LOL....BUT LUCKILY we made it to London safely and got checked into our hotel around 11pm.

Day 10
Luckily, today was a relaxing day, especially after the day we had yesterday! We woke up late, fixed breakfast and then was picked up by my uncle around noon. It was great to see him and quite an experience to drive through London and see the scenery on the way to Coventry. Coventry, where he lives, is in the countryside about 2 hours outside of London so it was a pretty drive! Once we got into the area we went to eat and then spent the rest of the day just talking and catching up. It was a good day and I'm so happy for the time we're getting with my uncle!!

Picking up where I left off...

I'm a few days behind, but I'll try to fill in the gaps....

Day 6-

Our last full day in Venezia.....Luckily, despite the weather forecast calling for rain the entire time we were in Venice, we were blessed with fairly clear skies! It was obviously cold and a bit overcast, but nevertheless we counted our blessings for no rain and especially no more sickness!
We started our day with visiting the Palazzo Ducale di Venezia, the Doge's Palace, constructed in early 1300. For those that don’t know the Doge was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Not only was this a palace, but it was also a prison for a period of time and was graced with the presence of none other than, Giacomo Casanova (who apparently escaped through the roof, re-entered the palace and was let out). Great addition to the prison, wouldn’t you say? LOL. During our tour of the palace, not only did we get to see the rooms and council halls where members of the government met, but we also had the chance to tour the prison cells. It was intriguing to see the vast difference (obviously) between the extremely luxurious and lavish living and social quarters of the elite inside the palace and the bitter desolation and ghastly conditions of the cells below. We were bundled up in coats and other winter attire and we still froze as we explored the prison cells….I can’t imagine how it was for those prisoners that made their beds down there!
After touring the Palazzo Ducale, we decided to spend the rest of our day shopping and walking the streets of Venice. We didn’t really get much accomplished when it came to shopping, but we did manage to try some delicious desserts and pastries as we simply spent time relaxing, sipping cappuccinos. It was wonderful!


Day 7-

We woke up early, packed our bags and headed for Verona. I know many feel a trip to Verona is senseless, seeing as the even existence of Romeo and Juliet is debatable, however….this hopeless romantic couldn’t resist at least seeing the place with which one of my favorite movies is based upon. So we hopped on the train, left our bags at the baggage deposit in the train station and maneuvered our way down to the Casa di Giulietta (House of Juliet). If nothing else, I saw the house for which Shakespeare’s inspiration stemmed from and the filming location for several movies. Touring the Capulet house was definitely interesting, at least for me. I guess I imagined a more grand residence, especially considering the way it is depicted in the movies, and yet in its own way, it was still beautiful! Maybe it was the romanticism behind the old walls, I don’t know…but I enjoyed it! We also saw La Tomba di Giulietta (the tomb of Juliet), which was both interesting and a little creepy. I guess I’m just not accustomed to seeing death from that side, but the care they took in burying their loved ones was touching.
After seeing some of Verona, we got on our train to Firenze. Unfortunately, our train from Verona was running about a half hour late, which in turn made us late for our connecting train in Bologna. Luckily during this time, we met a kind older Italian lady, from Tennessee, but whose parents were from Italy. Apparently, her family has a villa in Sicily and after talking with her for close to 2 ½ hours, she actually gave us her card and invited us to stay at her family’s villa any time we wanted to. So we actually got a nice surprise out of the whole ordeal! After finally being put on a train in Bologna to Firenze, we arrived in Firenze and checked in to our hotel. I will say, we’ve been blessed to stay at some nice hotels and this one was nice as well…..but odd. There is a bidet (or at least I think it was a bidet….mikey thinks otherwise) and a shower and sink in the room with you, with carpeted floors! Odd yea? Anyways, after such a long day, we ate dinner and called it a night.


Day 8-

We woke up early and headed to Pisa…debating whether or not it was worth the time and money, we decided the leaning tower would be a sight we’d hate to miss, even if we were disappointed. Fortunately, we weren’t! I thought it was fascinating to see this world famous faux-paw! Plus the design and architecture of the building is magnificent! Sadly, the majority of the places we’ve visited have been under some sort of reconstruction or repair so there have been scaffolding and various construction platforms around them, but it was still great to see! After walking around taking pictures of the leaning tower, the church and the original city walls and gates to Pisa, we came back to Firenze.
Once back in Firenze, we shopped a bit and found a charming little ristorante with lovely outside seating, called Za Za. Man, was I happy to find this place! It was probably the best food I’ve had since we arrived in Italy! In fact, it was so good I bought their cookbook and Mikey had the cook sign it for me! So now I’ll get the chance to attempt to make these yummy Italian dishes at home!

There's no place like Venice...

Day 5...

Today was our first full day in Venezia (Venice) and we fell in love with it even more today! Particularly because I felt WAY better today and it didn't rain at all! Well, we really began our day by sleeping in. Great way to start the day, don’t you say?! We decided I had been sick for days and we had been getting up early almost every morning since we left so we reckoned we deserved a day to sleep in! Once we woke up, we lazily wandered downstairs for colazione (breakfast) and realized that apparently we were the only ones around here that go to breakfast in our pjs. Oh well! They’ll never see us again, right? So we ate a nice yummy Italian breakfast with pastries and jams and yogurt. It’s actually been a similar yummy breakfast each morning, however, this morning I could actually enjoy it!

After finishing breakfast, we headed down the streets of Venezia to go to Saint Mark’s Basilica, built in 828AD (After getting dressed out of our pjs, of course!). Saint Mark’s was rather different then some of the previous churches we had seen because the interior was all done in byzantine mosaics. It actually was originally the church for the Venetian rulers and stood/still stands as a symbol of wealth and power here because of the elaborate mosaics. Unfortunately, they were doing some restorations on the front of the church so I was unable to take many great pictures of the outside because of the scaffolding but you can bet I got some pretty good ones inside!

Afterwards, we got on the vaporetta and headed to the Galleria Ca’Rezzonico, an art gallery. It was fascinating to see artwork from centuries ago even though we’re not “art people”! We then went and grabbed lunch and I had my first Italian panino. It was a panino kebab and it was molto bene! Obviously, very good!

Following our delicious lunch, we stopped by a lovely little church we stumbled upon and walked around in it for a bit. I can never get enough of the beauty and history that these churches hold so whenever we’re given the chance, we check ‘em out!

After window shopping for a while, we finally decided to try out a gondola ride because what’s a Venice trip without a gondola ride, right? Luckily, my husband is a good negotiator….I guess the car and real estate business has really taught him a lot! He managed to work the gondolier down from 125 Euros to 70 Euros. So we hopped on and went for a romantic gondola ride. The whole ride and scenery really was picturesque! It was (oddly) a quiet night so as we glided down the smooth water of the small canals, all you could hear was the church bells ringing in the distance. Every once in a while the kind little gondolier would speak up saying, “scusi”, and would point out a famous or historical building for us to see. We saw the Doge’s Palace, which was also once a prison, the house of Giaccomo Casanova and several other local Venetian sights. It’s been pretty cold here in Venice….mostly 20s & 30s, but that didn’t ruin our gondola ride. In fact, it just made us snuggle up even closer and enjoy the ride even more! It was truly a magnificent experience and the perfect end to our day!

Day 2, 3, 4...

(Not taken by me because we couldn't take pictures, but I figured I'd show you a photo of the Catacombe di Priscilla...which you'll learn about below.)

Wow...I have so much to tell...

Our second day in Rome...

After breakfast, we decided to go to Le Catacombe di Priscilla, which dated back to the Second Century AD and is ran by the Benedictines of Priscilla (nuns for those like me that wouldn't have figured that one out). Just getting to the catacombs was half the adventure, bearing in mind we were able to walk everywhere on our first day in Rome. So we moseyed down to the train station (il treno stazione) and after some typical touristic behavior, figured out which bus we needed to take and hopped on. Unfortunately, getting on the bus wasn’t even the hard part, it was trying to figure out which stop was the right stop and once we did that, we had to try and figure out which street was the right street to go down….obviously we didn’t have a map. Luckily, I’ve been trying to learn Italian for a little while now so my limited Italian knowledge came in handy. We actually had a kind old Italian man (God bless them!) walk us down the street and point to where we needed to go. So we found our way to Le Catacombe di Priscilla fairly well and made our way inside. I don't think it's the oldest catacombs, nor the biggest but we found it to be pretty interesting nonetheless! It was 3 miles long total, 40,000 tombs and 3 stories deep under the villa of the noble Roman family, Acilius Glabrio. Apparently early on Christians, Jews and other outcasts weren't allowed to be buried within the city walls of Rome so they had to bury them in catacombs such as this one. Apparently these tombs were made out of some sort of soft volcanic material. The body was wrapped in a shroud, laid in these small little burial tombs and then sealed with marble slabs. Unfortunately, the catacombs were raided many years ago and most of the bodies and relics were stolen. They do have a bunch of tombs though that are still in tack (body and all) and even a couple tombs just partially opened that have the bones still very visible. LOL....that was obviously a little creepy for us.
After visiting the disturbingly fascinating catacombs, we decided to go grab lunch and then head to Vatican City. Unfortunately, they close earlier during winter months so we weren’t able to see everything, but we’re hoping to go again at the end of our trip to see what we missed. However, what we did see was breathtaking! Even just standing in the Piazza di San Pietro, you are in awe! You see this place in movies, on the news and in books, but you never imagine you’ll be standing there. For one thing, the architecture is stunning, not to mention the history that it is founded on is again, mind boggling. One big fact that I learned that I didn’t know about the Vatican City is that it is its own sovereign country and is the smallest nation in the world. Guess you learn something new every day, huh?! Maybe someone else will be surprised by that information as well. After taking pictures (of course) and standing in awe for a while in the Piazza, we jumped in the extremely long line to get into the Basilica. Once inside, we were again in awe….which seems to happen a lot on this trip. It was just too much to put into word and really no amount of words would do it justice! Luckily, I did take a lot of pictures, but even those won’t fully suffice. I’ll be sure to share them with y’all though so you can see a bit of what we saw.
Afterwards, we strolled down the main street and happened to stumble upon the Castel Sant'Angelo. Yea, I know you’re thinking, how do you stumble upon a Castle? Well, Rome has built up so much that you don’t see many of the sights until you are right up on them. So we decided to check it out and wow were we glad we did! Apparently, it originally was a mausoleum (built around 130AD) for the Roman Emperor and his family. But later it was used as a prison and then as a castle and fortress for the popes. Obviously now, it’s a museum. :)
So that was an exciting find, which pretty much leads us to the end of day two.

Day Three…

We were SUPPOSED to wake up at 6am and catch the early train to Perugia where I had a special anniversary surprise for Mikey. However, considering how sick I’ve been on and off and how tired we both were, we overslept and didn’t wake up until 9am. So we kicked it in high gear, checked out of our hotel and jumped a train to 9:50am train to Perugia. Obviously, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds, but I’ll spare you the boring details. The train to Perugia was rather unadventurous, mostly because I was sick the whole way, but Mike was pleasantly surprised at what I had waiting for him once we arrived.
For our 7th year anniversary, I had booked a stay at the Castello Di Monterone, a beautiful castle in Perugia. It was built to be a military base (I’m not sure of the date it was built), but around the 13th century was bought by a nobleman. I’m sure there was more history to it than that but I was sick most of the short time we were there so I wasn’t really able to learn all that much about it. BUT it was an amazing place and we were glad we got the chance to stay there, even for a short time.

Day Four…

We woke up, ON TIME, this morning and checked out of our hotel to catch the train to Venice. The train ride was a bit of a journey (about 5 hours), but I think we are getting the hang of things around here and it’s getting easier to get from one train or bus to another. Luckily, I’ve been feeling “a little” better today also so that made it easier as well. Despite the rain we were greeted with when we arrived in Venice, we both really like it here so far! Once we checked into our hotel and dropped off our luggage we headed out, arm in arm, down the rainy streets of Venice to find something to eat. We found a cute little ristorante with some yummy minestrone zuppa….good for a weak stomach and a cold rainy night! And of course, Mikey had to try their pizza. His goal was to try pizza from every town/city we went to that way he could decide which had the best. So far….Venice. We’ll see if that vote withstands the rest of our time here. After eating, we headed back to the hotel because it was getting really dreary out, but not without first stopping along the way to window shop. It’s amazing to me that the streets here are so full of life and character, even in the rain! And there are so many shops! There are Venetian mask shops everywhere! And dolci shops (desserts) and places to shop for clothes & boots! :) Ahh…it’s great! I’ll definitely be taking plenty of pictures to share. I think we’ve found our favorite place!!

P.S. I promise I'll be sure to share pictures of all this ones I get home. I doubt I'll have time before then.

Buon giorno!

Well, we made it. And our arrival definitely didn’t lack excitement or a true Italian welcome. We arrived in Rome yesterday at about 7:45am and FINALLY got our luggage and got out of the airport around 8:45pm. We managed to get ourselves on the right train to the main station in Rome, called the Termini, despite the mass confusion. That in itself was an experience. We arrived at the platform in the station to await our train and as the train arrives, we realize the 50-75 people standing just in our nearby vicinity were going to rush the same tiny 25 inch door within a matter of seconds! So with two 50 pound bags, 2 carry on bags, and a laptop bag, we pushed our way through to the miniature door, like a lively bunch of canned sardines. Despite having to haul our “light” load up the steep steps of the train while the door kept shutting on us, we managed to safely and quickly find seats.
Once we arrived to the Termini in Rome and walked out onto the streets, we realized the real adventure had begun. We had directions to the hotel but could not find any street signs to tell us which direction to start walking…So with bags in tow, we just guessed. Luckily within a block or two we stumbled upon some very nice older Italian men that were kind enough to confirm that our guess was correct and directed us to rest of the way. In fact, we were greeted several times walking down the street with individuals happy to guide us on our way. And surprisingly with no gratuity expected. Unfortunantly, the 700m that google maps said it was to our hotel was a little off. (For those that don’t know that’s almost a half mile.) Apparently we came out of the opposite end of the train station, therefore our half a mile walk became more like a mile walk, pulling our suitcases THE WHOLE WAY! Luckily, our hotel was fairly easy to find and upon entering the elegant little hotel we were greeted by a very nice Italian man who was sincerely happy to see us. Immediately he sat us down for some water and a warm cappuccino while he carried our suitcases up 3 stories of stairs!! Poor guy. And even though our arrival was several hours earlier than check in, he had it cleaned immediately so we wouldn’t have to wait long.
After quickly cleaning up and changing, we headed back out to sightsee. The realization that we’re in Rome still hadn’t quite set in till we saw the Colosseo. It was at that moment that I finally began to really believe we were here. To think that we were standing where the ancient Romans stood and gladiators fought was captivating. The history that we walked upon just boggled my mind.
We had read that we should go to the Roman Forum first and get tickets there and then we would avoid the long lines at the Colosseo, however in our eagerness to see the Colosseo we decided to just try our luck there first. Surprisingly, the line actually wasn’t that bad. I think we waited for about a half hour before getting our tickets. The experience though was, yet again, a true Italian experience. Much to my surprise, there were a lot of Italians waiting in the line. I guess I figured it’d be mostly tourists at sites like this. So not only were we packed into a very small area with a massive amount of people trying to get to a few small ticket windows, but all we heard around us was Italian. And you’d think they would have a better system of lines set up to accommodate the large crowds that come to see it, but that wasn’t the case. So we pushed and shoved our way to the ticket counter (not an exaggeration in any way) along with all the others and finally got our tickets to get in. And we were not disappointed. Wow, what a sight! The Colosseo was amazing! I probably could have walked around there all day taking pictures and still been just as enthralled as I was when we first entered it. We even saw animal bones from bears, boars and horses that they excavated from the site, confirming some of the types of animals they used. It was just amazing!
After spending a couple hours at the Colosseo, we ventured down to the Palatino and Foro Romano. Along the way, we decided to grab lunch and had the change to experience our first REAL Italian pizza! Yummy!
We decided not to get any kind of tour guide for the Palatino or Foro Romano, but just walking around seeing the ancient ruins was a history lesson enough. Plus occasionally, we’d join up with a tour group and eavesdrop to help fill in the blanks about information we didn’t know.
The rest of our day, we spent walking around these impressive ruins and Capitoline Hill, just soaking in everything we could. We walked the famous Capitol steps, designed by Michelangelo himself and even got to tour the inside of the churches there!
After walking till our feet hurt, we decided to head back to the hotel to relax for a bit. (We had only slept for about 3 hours on the plane and had been traveling for over 24 hours) After cleaning up and relaxing for a bit, we ventured out for dinner. Walking the Italian streets at night was everything I imagined and had seen in the movies. It was kind of magical and I loved it! We stumbled upon a cute little hole in the wall Italian restaurant, where we had our first actual Italian meal provided by a very kind old man and his wife. Mmm…it was delicious! Cheese raviolis with meat sauce & a huge calzone, plus fresh bread and homemade Tiramisu! It was great! Following dinner, we picked up a cappuccino and headed back to the hotel. Even though we didn’t want our day to end yet, we decided we’d call it a night so we’d be well rested and prepared for the next day. Therefore, concluding our first day in Rome. It’s been remarkable to say the least so far and we can’t wait to see what else Italy has for us!
Arrivederci!

Italia!!!

Our Italia adventure has begun...

As we've traveled through the airports today, performing the necessary security requirements, I’ve been reminded of one thing.....a lot has changed in 7 years! Especially in regards to our country and the security measures they take now.
For those that don't know, we'll be celebrating our 7 year wedding anniversary this Wednesday.....hence our trip to Italy. Therefore, it has been 7 years since we've gone out of the country (our honeymoon to Mazatlan, Mexico). Obviously we've flown domestic flights since then but it wasn't until we suffered through the whole gauntlet of flying international that I realized how much things had changed. And what's worse...anyone that knows me knows that I'm completely incapable of traveling light! It’s just not in my nature. To imagine packing just one color boots is unthinkable and trying to plan my outfits ahead of time is an impossible feat for me, leaving me to pack several outfits for EACH DAY. Yes, I know it’s exhausting….even to me. So you can imagine the trail of luggage Mikey has had to endure through check-ins, security check points and from gate to gate. Although, believe it or not, Mikey brought just as many bags as I did, all the same size. So it’s not just this clothing obsessed person that has caused our shoulders to ache and our feet to hurt.
Anyways, getting back to my traveling realization….security! Whether you fly international or domestic, we’ve all probably encountered the horrid x-ray machines. Well, being weary of said machinery . we decided we’d opt out of the x-ray machines and take the embarrassing yet healthier route of the pat down option. Well, lucky for me I didn’t get chosen, which is odd because usually I do, but Mikey did. So he had the pleasure of getting felt up by a complete stranger in the middle of the airport. And if you know Mikey, he’s really ticklish! I mean SUPER ticklish! So it was only a matter of seconds after the pat down began that Mikey began to giggle, not laugh….giggle. I’m sure at this point the TSA agent was either really concerned or hating his job and thinking he had a security threat on his hands. So Mikey says to the guy, “sorry, I’m ticklish”. Well, as the guy continues his pat down/feel up (whichever you prefer), Mikey continues to giggle to the point that the TSA agent can’t help but laugh. Apparently though, it looks a little “odd” if a TSA agent is performing a VERY hands on pat down and is laughing because he told Mikey, “they can’t see me laugh”. Obviously once Mikey was “clear” the TSA agent joked around with us about it, but I guess I never gave much thought to Mikey’s fellow CWATs (Comrades who are ticklish). Not only are you embarrassed to stand there while a TSA agent gets up close and personal without buying you dinner first, but then if you’re someone who is ticklish, it’s a whole new experience.
Needless to say, today has been an amusing and good start to our trip. I’m glad that I have my amazing and loving marito by my side. He finds a way to make everything funny and makes traveling anything but boring. I can’t wait to see what else we encounter! It’ll definitely be a trip to remember!

Arrivederci USA, Salve Italia!