italy

the trevi fountain

the pantheon

palatine hill

the collosseum

the best pizza we've ever had...mmm!

st. peter's square

florence

at ponte vecchio

the grand canal in venice

outside our hotel in venice

joe and i received a generous gift of travel from his parents this year for christmas! we went to italy with them for an 8 day vacation (although it ended up being 7 after our delay in chicago...i think i remember last year telling myself i would never fly through there again during the holidays. i should have listened to myself!!) the flights were fine once we finally left and we got to enjoy the snow capped alps as we flew to venice from munich. we arrived in venice and were only there for less than 24 hours because of the delay. we saw venice in a hurry. it was a beautiful place but i think i would return when it was warmer since you get around by boat mostly. the scenery was surreal in venice and i guess, all over for that matter. our next stop was florence. we took the relaxing train and enjoyed the countryside of italy. florence was probably my favorite. it's a little slower paced, plenty of things to do but not as overwhelming as rome. there we saw ponte vecchio and michelangelo's david. we were in florence for new year's eve and what a wild time it was! there were fireworks going off in every direction you looked...possibly even under your feet as the locals set them off anywhere and everywhere. they also like to walk the streets with bottles of champagne and wine and then proceed to throw their bottles in the air and let them shatter wherever they may fall all the while, security looks on. i celebrated 7 hours before my family in the states...that was kinda cool to call my mom and wish her a happy new year. the next stop was rome. wow--the things to see in rome!! we surrendered to the fact that you can't see everything in rome in a few days. our favorites were the sistine chapel, collosseum, pantheon, trevi fountain, and palatine hill. it was a busy busy city! we also took a day trip to naples and the pompeii ruins. it was fun to see the coast and even more amazing to see a city that was established bc and re-discovered after being covered in ash from mt. vesuvius.

by plane, by train, by shuttle, by car, by taxi, by water taxi, by bus, by subway, by foot...we enjoyed our exploration in italy and would love to return. i threw a coin into the trevi...doesn't that mean i have to return??!