Positano

This is the beach part of our vacation. We drove from Orvieto to Naples to then get on the subway to go to Sorrento were we picked up a bus and drove along the Almafi Coast to get to Positano...one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my whole life.

There wasn't a ton to do here...which was perfect! We had a wonderful balcony with an amazing view, I am sure you can guess what we did out there- breakfast, cards, reading, talking, picnic dinners, listened to music rise from the town square. We spent our days on the beach- there were hundreds of jellyfish in the water so we didn't get into the water much (totally stunk!), found some fun restaurants overlooking the water, we bought fresh cheese and bread...and of course wine (we were in ITALY guys...come on!) at the store for our meals on our balcony.

My favorite thing we did here was take a boat trip (small boat with 12 people on it) and went along the Almalfi Coast. We were able to swim a few times and the water felt amazing! We stopped at a kissing bridge were they made us kiss and take our picture;), we spent a few hours in Almalfi as well (Positano was much nicer)and had some pizza and gelato. Have I mentioned that we ate gelato at least once a day?


These three are all on our porch. During breakfast we heard the school children across the way singing in choir. It was so funny bc they were having trouble with one part and had to sing it about 15 times! So fun...

Heading to Orvieto (think under the Tuscan Sun)

We rented a car in Florence and headed to Orvieto. We were excited about ths part of the trip bc we rented a farm house in the middle of a vineyard and knew that it would afford a lot of down time. We both brought many books that we wanted to enjoy while away! When we arrived to the house we were giddy. It was a four bedroom home (wish family and friends could have helped fill the rooms) with a huge kitchen and family room. We took two day trips- the actual town of Orvieto and Civita. They were these little hill towns and we spent a few hours in each. The rest of the time was spent reading...we got a few bottles of wine, had fresh cheese, bread, and olives and ate outside for each meal. Come to think of it, we spent most of our time outside here.

These first few are of us at the house....






In the town of Orvieto






In Civita....





Stay tuned for Positano and Rome...

Let's go to Florence

We took a train to Florence and walked from the train station to our hotel. We stayed right outside of the Duomo and some of my favorite memories here will be sitting by the window playing cards with some good wine hearing the hustle and bustle below us and eating our breakfast (fresh banana muffins)at that same table with the sun shining in.

We didn't love Florence as much as Venice but we did get one of our favorite meals here. We went to the Academia to see the David first- I took a picture although they told us not to...I got in trouble with Gabe but they didn't catch me. Then we just explored. Our favorite place was the Uffizi courtyard- we spent a few hours here reading. We also sat along the Ponte Vecchio (famous bridge lined with stores) eating ice cream and listening to live music.

Italy....lets start with Venice

Well our two week dream vacation has come and gone. Gabe and I have talked about going to Italy for about 5 years! It proved to be an amazing vacation. I'm not sure how to best post about it bc we have about 500 pictures and probably about that many stories to share. I will go by city and will more then likely let the pictures tell the story.

We started in Venice, and as soon as we got on the boat at the airport and made our way to the Rialto Bridge I knew that I had already fallen in love. Rick Steves tour book puts it best when it says "This car-free urban wonderland of a hundred islands- laced together by 400 bridges and 2,000 alleys....." he ends the sentence kind of boring so lets say....This wonderland was easy to navigate and and we spent much time running around but also spent time sitting on a bench reading and people watching.

We stayed central in all of the cities bc I knew we would be walking everywhere. The first evening we went to find St. Marks square but got a little side tracked by some live music- A crowd just stood outside a bar to listen- we only stayed for a few minutes but we felt like locals. The next night we did find the square (bs we spent most of the day there (going into the church, into Doge's Palace and the Correr Museum...we also crossed the Bridge of Sighs (it took about three steps to cross. We spent the morning at the market checking out the fruits,veg and fish...always a favorite for us.










PS I am totally jamming to Ace of Base as I post these...

Home....exhausted and quite full!

Back from Italy- WOW! Our trip proved to be all that we dreamed it would be. Many stories, about 500 pictures but right now I must go to bed bc I work tomorrow! (idiot girl)...

Here are a few pictures to whet your appetite....
Positano!

Civitia!

Florence!

Venice!

Rome!

And we are off....

You wouldn't believe how amazing our friends and family are...we have gotten so many well wishes and it made Gabe and I feel really loved! Watch out Italy- here we come.
Thanks so much!
M and G

Countdown.....

We leave for Italy in 4 days!!!!

We are so excited and I think pretty well prepared. If there are some things you feel we "must" see or do...please let us know-
We will be in Venice for 2 nights
Florence for 1 night,
Orvietto (Tuscany) for 3 nights,
Positano (Almalfi Coast) 4 nights- there is NOTHING to do here but enjoy the scenery- this may be my fav stop!!
Rome 3 nights- we are going to try to hook up with some family on the Miano side.

We'll catch up with you on the other side and will be sure to post more pictures then you would ever really want to see...
Here is a cute old one of our girl. She will be chilling at home while we are gone- a friend from church will be staying here to take care of her. We are so thankful for that! Hope that she is a good pup (fingers and toes are crossed Levi)!