Italia!

A visit through pictures...many pictures...

Our first destination :: ROME!


Our B&B was in the perfect location, just a 10 min walk from the Colosseum and the Forum. We had a hard time getting settled in because being a B&B, there isn't a concierge waiting for you and I forgot to read the fine print in the email confirmation saying I had to call when we arrived so someone could meet us. Oops. But that's okay, we finally got settled, took a much needed jet lag nap, and got on our way. 1st sight - The Borghese Gallery. No pics. 2nd sight - dinner. You better believe we took a pic of that moment of deliciousness. Geez the pizza there is to DIE for. I mean, we were blown away.



Sooo the Pope, apparently a big deal there ;), just had to be blessing the city that day. Of course he did. So that meant that for the weekend and the following few days things were going to be periodically shut down for him. Not entirely sure why the Colosseum and Forum had to be shut down for him when he was going to be at the Vatican the whole day, but you know, it's Rome and he's the Papa so you can't argue. So our Sunday plans were completely shot and we had to rearrange to fill the time. We decided to do both Night Walks in one day. Basically we walked the entire city in a day and it was a gorgeous day to do it. We saw the Pantheon, the 4 Rivers Fountain, the Trevi Fountain, basically all the fountains, the Spanish Step, the world's fanciest McDonalds... you know, we hit the town. We did the elevator thing at the top of their capital building that showed up the entire city, which is breathtaking. We also went to Giolitti's, which I'll be honest, is the best gelato (best ice cream/gelato/cold solid form of dairy) I have EVER had. We craved it so much we had to go back the next night despite being exhausted! I still crave it today. I want some right now.




Inside the Pantheon - not exactly the empty, reverent church as seen in Angels and Demons. But I guess that was the Pope's fault too. There were like a million extra people in the city because of the party.

Trevi Fountain

Me throwing a coin in, I hope it means we'll be back soon!


Monday we had to fit in the Vatican AND the Colosseum and Forum in one day! I knew I would probably go into pre-term labor, but we didn't have a choice, we were leaving the next morning for Florence. The Vatican museum was really cool and the Sistine Chapel was, of course, amazing. I was blown away by Michaelangelo's talent and spiritual wisdom at such a young age. It was beautiful. We were done with the museum and on our way over to St. Mark's Square and the Basilica when we were refused entry because, once again, the Pope and the big celebration. Sake's alive. I was so annoyed. That meant we'd have to wake up super early and try to fit it in before checkout and the train the next morning. If you click on the pic below you can see just how crowded St. Peter's Square was for the celebration.


The rest of the day was spent at the ancient sites touring the Colosseum and the Forum. We took zillions of pics, but none really that would interest you/me/the blog. It was really cool and there were lots of ruins. The whole time I just kept replaying the movie Gladiator in my head. It was surprising helpful and really got me in the Roman mood. ;)

The next morning we did in fact squeeze in the rest of the Vatican and I am sooo grateful we did because it was by far my favorite sightseeing of the trip. The basilica was breathtaking and magnanimous. There really aren't better words to describe the enormity and the decadence of the entire thing. And Bernini's sculptures were so amazing. He is by far the best sculptor, in my opinion, and just made the basilica that much more beautiful. Michealangelo's David comes in a very close second.



Later that day :: Florence

After a train ride north, we made our way to our second hotel. We only had about 24 hours there, so we immediately headed out to see The David. No pics allowed, so sorry. But it was also amazing. I could have sat for at least an hour just staring at him, and in fact we did probably sit and stare from all angles for about a half hour at least. Loved it.

Me in front of the Bronze doors at the Baptistry across from the Duomo. It was raining a lot and we were EXHAUSTED from the past few days so we did not hike to the top of the Duomo as we had so ambitiously planned.


We did however, have one of the best dinners we've ever had in our lives at the recommendation of my sister, Laurel. It was called Acqua al 2 (or Duo) and we just told the waiter to bring whatever the chef had planned. It was adventurous and it totally paid off. The pastas were unbelievable. But the steak. Oh, the steak. It was a filet covered in a sweet blueberry sauce. And another filet in a balsamic sauce. Yah, drool because it was that good. Look the place up and if you're ever in D.C. or San Diego you have to make an effort to go to one of those locations.

Next stop :: The Cinque Terre
(I know, not much in Florence, and it was raining the whole time.)

These five little coastal towns are all nestled into the hillside and provided us with the much needed r&r our vacation needed. We had two days there and two nights. We hiked the coast (some, not all, I wasn't that hardcore at 15 weeks), went the beach and actually got in the water, got sunburns, had yummy gelato, and just plain explored. It was beautiful and needless to say, Bart took like 500 of his 1100+ pics just in those two days. Best part was the pesto. I've never had such delicious pesto before.





Next Stop :: Venice

Venice was our final stop and being well rested from the Cinque Terre, we were able to enjoy our last full day in this strange floating city. I really enjoyed Venice, but guess who had to crash the party? Papaaaa... Ya, the Pope decided to bless Venice that weekend too, so there were like 100,000+ extra people in the city, which meant DisneyLand lines to get into St. Mark's Square and Basilica, and laughably clogged streets. Now Venice is either water, building, or small cobbled streets, so it's not like you could escape those crowds. It meant heading out to the less touristy spots and enjoying my hotel room at night because everything shut down. I've never seen such crazy 'fans'. I mean our President doesn't even get this much buzz and attention. It was kind of nuts.

Quick crazy side story - On Saturday, Bart found a poster advertising a reggae concert happening that night just outside of Venice on the mainland. Of course, he had to go and somehow he found his way off the island, to the venue, and back before our early flight the next morning. It was a little nuts, but he loved it and it just made his trip that much more fun for him. So spontaneous and adventurous! I could never do that and that is why I stayed back at the hotel and had 2 nutella crepes and a good night sleep. ;)


Our hotel was really close to the Basilica, which was fun because we felt like we were in the thick of things. I took this pic from our room window. There were singing gondolas right below us which was just adorable and set the quaintest ambiance. Loved it.

Needless to say, we had a fantastic time with good weather when it counted and a flexible enough schedule to just go with it and have fun. We loved the food, the gelato, the romantic atmostphere, and the time spent together. I'm thinking maybe we should have these trips more often then every seven years, what do you think?