Italy!

So . . . we went to Italy! Steve's cousin and friend Willie married a girl from Prato, Italy which is about 20 minutes outside of Florence. We decided to go and had an amazing trip! May I first say that there is no way we could have done this once-in-a-lifetime trip without our awesome parents who gladly volunteered to keep Ally for us as well as drop us off and pick us up at the airport. We CANNOT thank you enough! While we were off vacationing AW definitely had a vacation of her own. She loves being with her grandparents!!!

We flew from Birmingham to Charlotte on Tuesday, and overnight Tuesday we flew from Charlotte to Rome. We stayed in a bed and breakfast in Rome and went to the Vatican, Sistene Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica on Wednesday. The Vatican was huge and super crowded! We saw a lot of art and enjoyed it, but we were definitely tired from our flight. I think we went to bed around 8:00 that night!

On Thursday we took a train to Florence and stayed in another bed and breakfast with a great view of the Duomo which is a huge and beautiful cathedral in Florence. We loved Florence-the cobblestone streets, statues, scenery, cafes, etc. The people are great too, most everyone spoke English and were helpful and nice. On Thursday we went to the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia where we saw The David. I was so blown away by The David. I am not a huge art person but the size and beauty of The David really captivated me. We had a wonderful dinner that night of gnocchi and veal with roast potatoes. Of course, the food was amazing, and we had gelato almost daily!

On Friday we headed to the Cinque Terre which is an area of 5 coastal towns connected by hiking trails. This was probably our favorite day since we love beautiful scenery especially when it involves water! We took about a 2 hour hike (Caroline, you would be proud of us) between 2 of the towns and took a nap on the beach of Monterosso!

On Saturday we went to Prato and met up with some of our friends for lunch who were there for the wedding. The wedding was at City Hall in one of the piazzas (squares) of the town. It's funny because it seemed like a lot of people just come hang out in the square to watch the wedding festivities. We carpooled with the nicest couple-Leonardo and Serena-out to the reception site. The reception was held at a hunting lodge that used to be a vacation home for Galileo. It was up in the mountain outside of Prato. The view was unbelievable; I mean impossible to describe! They had tables set up overlooking the Tuscan countryside. We had a wonderful 5 course dinner; it was a great night!

Sunday, we made our way back to Rome and checked out ancient Rome-the Colosseum, Palantine Hill, and the Forum. For our last night in Rome we took a night walk to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps. We also had dinner around 10pm which is totally typical for Italians (lunch around 3 pm, dinner around 9 pm) and finished off with some yummy tiramasu.

Monday was a long day of travel. We were exhausted, but so so so happy to be home and see our girl! So, get ready for LOTS of pictures:

At the Charlotte airport-we had an 8 hour layover so we got to know this place pretty well and really enjoyed the rocking chairs

Our first gelato of the trip while we waited for our Vatican tour to start

Sites from the Vatican:

St. Peter's Basilica-gorgeous and probably our favorite part of Day 1

Nice camerawork-huh?

The green cross in the background is the sign for a pharmacy. On Thursday when we were catching our first train I went in to check it out and ended up talking to the pharmacist for awhile. I was interested in how they do things there and he was interested in what pharmacy is like in America. By the time I came back Steve was fit to be tied-our train was getting ready to leave!

Our good friend the metro!

Gelato! My favorite flavor was pear, Steve's-lemon

Looking out across the river in Florence

A little random but I thought this statue was incredible-just out in a square in Florence

The view from our room in Florence

The Duomo

The Cinque Terre-notice the walking trail, this was the first and by far the easiest hike

It is crazy but the towns are built straight up into the mountain

Beautiful vineyards

Grapes!

See the little town way off in the distance on the water? That's where we hiked to!

View from along the trail-totally worth it!

An example of how narrow the trail was in parts

Finally made it to the beach!

Steve and Willie right before the wedding. Willie had a custom-made Italian suit

The reception-wow!

Colosseum

The Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

Breakfast our last morning in Rome

Ally liked her prizes-her one request everytime we talked to her, to bring her cake, which we did!