Italy

We both agree, Europe is everything we ever dreamed it would be…and more! The trip was 19 of the most adventurous and spectacular days of our lives. I’ve always been eager to visit Europe, but it was worth the wait (going with Mitch was half the fun). I kept a detailed journal of the trip, so this blog post will simply be highlights from each city. First though, there were a few things we felt made our trip especially successful…

-PACK LIGHT! We each took a backpack with the bare essentials and it made transportation and transitioning between cities dreamy.  Also, invest in extremely comfortable walking shoes.

-Use RICK STEVES, he is a trip planning wizard. It’s worth purchasing his guide book for whichever country you’re visiting. Download all his free audio guided tours on iTunes. Also, if you’re in Seattle go to free classes in Edmonds on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. The library also has a decent selection of his movies.

-Plan a variety of outdoorsy activities and downtime to mingle in with the museums, tours and churches or you start to get a little nauseous from all the information input.

-Keep a detailed journal every day (save ticket stubs to tape into the journal).

-Go to Europe in May. Not too many tourists and perfect weather.

-Start planning early (we started in January) and do a lots of research about hotels/hostels (made sure lots of people give the place high ratings). Book them in advance and make sure you know how to get there from the train station.

BIG thanks to all the fantastic advice and recommendations we got from friends. We feel this made a huge difference in our planning!

Rome

-The Colosseum .We were so impressed that the Romans could build something this complex and enormous without machinery or computers.

-Sleeping in the Colosseum after being awake for over 24 hours

-The Sistine Chapel – Michelangelo may have been a bit nutty, but there’s no denying his artistic genious. We especially like Rick Steve’s audio guide for the chapel.

-No line at the Vatican when we arrived in the morning. By the time we left hours later the line to get in was a 3-4 hour wait, YIKES! Mitch was impressed by the massive amount of marble in the Vatican. After leaving the Vatican, Mitch was interviewed by a local news station about his experience in St. Peters.

-We discovered Italians (and Germans it turns out) put Nutella on and in almost EVERY dessert!

-Trevi Fountain is gorgeous!

-Making friends with two couples, one from South Africa and the other from Wales.

-Borghese Gallery was my favorite art museum of the whole trip. Remarkable statues and Renaissance paintings.

              

St. Peter's Basilica 

Trevi Fountain

Florence

-We BARELY made our reserved train to Florence. We literally were running down the platform and stepped inside the train roughly 30 seconds before it departed.

-Gelato! We had heard tales of an amazing gelato shop here called Grom. We were in Florence two days and got gelato there 4 times.

-It’s totally worth it to hike to the top of the Duomo, even though there are 463 stairs to get to the top of this huge cathedral.

-Uffizi Gallery was my other favorite museum. There were paintings by Rafael, Da Vinci and Boticelli. It was a huge museum and we took breaks by sitting on the benches in the halls and playing Eye Spy on the immaculate ceiling panels.

-85 degrees

-Boboli & Bardini Gardens at Pitti Palace. We also went to an amazing costume gallery exhibition.

               

Manarola, Cinque Terra

-This was probably our favorite place to stay the entire trip. It was a slice of heaven between gigantic vineyards and the Mediterranean. We enjoyed a few days of intense hiking on the vineyard-covered mountains between the 5 towns here and extreme relaxation on the beaches.

-Reading, writing and enjoying the sun on the natural harbor.

-We decided on a first name for baby girl here, Aubrie

-We met a couple from Seattle who had just gotten engaged.

- Lots of fresh, tasty seafood here.

-Strolling on the Via dell‘Amore on the way to Riomaggiore, beautiful views of the bluest ocean I’ve ever seen.

              

Venice

-This city is so intriguing with its boat filled canals, people-filled streets, and impossible-to-navigate neighborhoods.

-Riding the Vaporetto (little public transport boats) down the Grand Canal.

-Took a gondola ride in the evening. We loved our charming gondolier, Marcus whose father and grandfather had both been gondoliers.

-People and dog watching in the park.

-Venice is most beautiful at night when the crowds have cleared, the orchestras play and the lights shimmer in the water.

-I LOVED browsing in all the mask and marionette shops here. There are some really gifted artists in this area.

-Visited the nearby island of Murano known for glassblowing and sculpting.