Bella Italia

Since our blog will soon be dedicated to our new little one I thought I should at least do one quick post about our amazing trip to Italy this summer.




Everyone always asks us "what was the best part?" I usually say the food (which was amazing)...but honestly it was EVERYTHING!! The architecture, art, history, people, Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Napoli, Sorrento, Mediterranean sea, Pompeii, shops, resturants, on and on...We loved it all!!! It was so fun to see many of the areas that Dave served in as a missionary and discover new places together. His Italian came back to him quickly and he was a great tour guide. So here is a brief recap of our trip of a lifetime.

We didn't want to waste a minute of our time in Italy, right after our 14 hour journey we headed straight to the Collosuem and Forum to see Ancient Rome...It was Spectacular!

Us at The Colloseum and Our Travel Buddies (my parents) Lindy and Cindy. They were the best! We were all Jet Lagged and hot but they were up for ANYTHING, we walked for miles each day and saw everything! We are so glad we got to do this trip with them.

We learned quickly the first day that there are two things that don't exsist in Rome, places to sit and bathrooms...kind of difficult with a bilateral amputee and a pregnant woman...but we improvised well.

The Second Day we saw the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's and all. It was beautiful! That evening we did a night walk of the City.

Amazing art work throughout the Vatican Museum.

Dave in front of a Painting of Sardania, an island he served on for several months. We didn't make it to Sardania, but we figure it is our excuse to get to go back one day.

The beginning of the night walk. It was a beautiful evening. So amazing to see the fountains, buildings and piazza's all lit up. This was also the night we started the standard of having Gellato at least twice a day yum!

The third day we visited the Borghese Gardens and Gallery (beautiful!) and returned to see many of the spots we caught on the night walk during the day.

Day four we were able to go to the same church Dave went to in Rome. In the evening we went for one final walk around ancient Rome, probably one of our favorite spots in the city.

On the fifth day we traveled to Florence where we stayed for three days. Dave has an old companion that lived there who was very eager to show us around his city. We saw far more than we ever would have on our own! It was a beautiful city.

Florence

Sunset on the River in Florence

The Churches in Florence were by far the most Beautiful!

Tuscany!!

Dave's old companion Pietro.

Dave's new companion, me.

Pietro took us to this amazing medival city call San Gimignano. Touristy for a reason!

We found that the best gellato, hands down, was in Florence. Ironically it was also the cheapest!

On our Eighth day we took the train to Napoli.

The View from our Beautiful Hotel, the New Castle, with the Mediterranean and Vesuvius in the background. Our first day we explored the city and ate the most delicious pizza at one of the oldest pizza places in the world. They claim to being the birth place of the Margherita pizza. Napoli was colorful, beautiful and very tasty!

Dave in front of his favorite place to eat on his mission, unfortunately they were closed for the holiday when we were there...I guess we will just have to try again later.

The second day we went to Pompeii. This city was far more vast than I anticipated. It was amazing how well preserved and large it was. We took hundreds of pictures. This one is probably my favorite it is of one of their public baths.

After Pompeii we visted Sorrento and the coast. Apparently you should yeild if you drive into the ocean. Sorrento was a beautiful, small town. We did a lot of shopping (but no buying) and had a delicious pasta lunch.

Our last day in Napoli we shopped (by far the cheapest place we visited in Italy), ate more great pizza, and walked around the busy but beautiful city. We were warned extensively that it is a very dangerous city, but we fortunately had no problems and felt very safe.

Our final night in Italy we returned to beloved Rome....you can guess what we did:



It was a perfect ending to a perfect trip!