Italy

Amazing.  Unbelievable.  Surreal.

I could list a thousand different words to describe our vacation to Italy.  But none of them will be able to fully paint a clear picture of our experiences.  I wish I could have recorded every second of our vacation in order to show friends and famliy every image we saw.  I feel so incredibly blessed to have been able to take this vacation.  The entire trip exceeded all of my expectations and just looking through our pictures gives me goosebumps.  I miss Rome already and hope it will be sooner rather than later before we return.  

Now when I say vacation, by no means was it relaxing.  Nick and I both knew this heading into the trip and were well prepared.  We knew there would be miles of walking and therefore packed comfortable shoes and clothes.  But boy oh boy!  We easily walked 7-8 miles every single day.  We were exhausted by the time our feet hit the bed but recharged for sight seeing the next morning.  We were filled with adrenaline each day.  Or at least I was.  Nick's idea of a vacation is laying on a beach, drinking margaritas, and not doing a darn thing.  So basically this whole vacation was my idea, my thrill, my dream.  In about 7 months after Fox Company graduates, I promised Nick he can choose wherever he wants to go.  I know without a doubt he enjoyed this vacation and appreciated every ruin, every piece of art, every church.  But he definitely let me plan each day, mapped out with each specific spot to visit.  I gladly accepted the challenge.

Ok...back on track.  We took 586 pictures.  I uploaded 190 onto Snapfish and will email everyone with that album.  I wrote captions for most of the pictures, so hopefully everyone will get a chance to see what we experienced.  It took me 2 hours and would have taken much longer if I posted the pictures on here.  Bad thing is that I feel I cannot fully write about all the experiences without the pictures, so I'll quickly do a synopsis of each day.  Sorry if this is entirely way too long.  I feel I could talk about this trip for hours.

Day 1-Traveled overnight on a 8.5 hour flight.  I arranged for RomeCabs to pick us up at the airport to avoid the scam artist taxi drivers, and this turned out to be one of Nick's highlights of the trip:  being picked up in a Mercedes.  But really, Mercedes are so abundant in Italy, no one gives it a second thought.  I realized early on it wouldn't take much to keep Nick entertained  :)  We arrived at Hotel Barocco and since we missed an entire night of sleeping, decided to lay down and rest "for a few minutes."  6 hours later, we opened our eyes.  Yikes.  I almost cried thinking our first day was wasted, but we quickly dressed and still had a good 5 hours to explore Rome.   But we both experienced one of the worst jet lags ever.  I felt like I had drank an entire bottle of Tequila the night before-worst headache imaginable.  But we toughed it out and managed to visit the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and had the best dinner of the entire trip, with the obligatory gelato afterwards.

Day 2-Roman Forum and Colesseum.  Also visited Castel Sant'Angelo and had our first pizzeria visit.  Exhausting day but some of the best memories.

Day 3-Vatican Museums, Saint Peter's Square and the Scavi Tour.  Now, photography was prohibited during the Scavi Tour which is a shame because this was amazing.  Basically, we were led three levels under Saint Peter's and witnessed the excavations of tombs, specifically Saint Peter himself.  Eerie.  Wish I could have taken pictures, but its completely understandable.  I can't even find pictures on the web.

Day 4-Pompeii.  So much fun exploring the ruins!  We were there a good 5 hours but I could have stayed longer.   The city is 6 square miles and I sadly realized I would not be able to see every square inch.  I think I should have been an archeologist.  But the best part (being sarcastic) was the trip to get to Pompeii.  We took the train to Naples and from there hopped on the most disgusting, most filthy, most horrid subway I've ever been on.  I wanted to burn the clothes I was wearing and kept pouring hand sanitizer on any exposed flesh.  At one point, Nick leaned in and said I've never looked so scared in my life.  Sorry Naples, but you really stink, both literally and figurtively.  I would NEVER travel to Naples.  Of course, I'm basing my opinions on just the subway and the views I saw passing through Naples.  There could be nicer parts, but I will never be willing to find out.

*Neat story:  on the way back to Rome, we met my arch enemy, the subway, yet again.  While I was trying to position myself to not touch anything while still maintaining my balance, a young couple sits across from us.  Caught off guard by someone speaking English (which by this point sounded like a foreign language to me) asked if Nick was in the Corps of Cadets at A&M.  Come to find out, this couple are both from Houston (like Nick and me), he was a prior enlisted Marine and is now at A&M.  Can we say small world?  

Day 5- Exhaustion has set in.  We get up early as usual and visit the Capuchin Crypt.  Again, no pictures allowed, but basically its bones of 4,000 Capuchin monks arranged in artistic settings.  This was one of the highlights from our entire trip.

We tried to do some more sightseeing, really, we did.  But our bodies gave out on us and by noon we were back in the hotel room taking a nap.  But we woke up feeling rejuvenated and decided to be frivolous and go shopping.  Did I mention I love the way Romans dress?  They have amazing clothes!  Funny story.  It wasn't until we were in a shoe store and Nick was trying on some shoes did he realize he had been wearing my white and pink socks all day.  Thats just an idea of how out of it we were that morning trying to get dressed.  We laughed about that one.  After shopping, we went for a run in the Borghese Gardens...the whole intention to not feel guilty getting gelato later that night.

Day 6-Florence.  I loved this city.  Known for its shopping, all of the high end stores were in full force.  We only had 5 hours in this city but we were able to walk most of the streets and piazzas.  Just to put into perspective, I remember telling Nick on the way back to Rome that I was sad to be leaving such an amazing city (Florence) but how we were heading back to an even more amazing city (Rome).  Seriously, everything felt like a dream.

Last day was spent traveling back home on a 10 hour flight and dealing with customs.  In all, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.  We will have these memories forever and I couldn't care how much everything cost because every second was worth it.  I fell in love with Italy:  the people, the food, just the culture.  But of course, Nick and I were more than willing to hang up our traveling hats and come home.  We missed Stanley and Wayne (is it sad that I called the kennel from Italy to check on them?) and wanted to be home after such a busy week.  We missed America.  If anything, I realized how much I love the USA and how much pride I have for this country.  Heck, on the Naples subway I think I grumbled at least 5 times how much I missed America  :)  But seriously, we love to travel and I cannot wait to see more parts of the world, but in the end, I will always be glad to pack my bags and come back home.

Hope you made it this far with my rambling and all.  I will email the pictures out soon so look for those in your email and enjoy!