First, a little background. When we were first married we always talked about traveling. We talked about our 5 year plan and how we would probably finish school, find a job, have a couple of kids, and then for our 5 year anniversary go to Italy. I LOVE making plans and goals and looking back on those 5 years and realizing, we did it! Nick graduated from BYU with a masters, we got a job in SLC, we had 2 kids while going to school and then we went on our 5 year anniversary trip. What makes this story even better is that Nick's family history has a lot to do with Italy. His grandmother on his dad's side, Rina, came over to the US when she was in her early 20s. She lost contact with her family in the 60s. Morena, Nick's dad's cousin, had been trying to contact us ever since 1997. Nick and I started doing family history when we were first married and were trying to find any knowledge of family still in Italy. After some failed attempts, we finally found an address on the back of a picture that Nick's dad had in storage. We didn't know if that address still existed, or if the family was still living there, but we wrote a letter and hoped for the best. We got a reply, and it was Morena! We then started talking back and forth and Nick and I knew that we had to find a way to go to Italy soon. We saved our pennies and were finally able to make the trip about 4 years after making contact with Morena. This trip was such a blessing and such a humbling experience. It was also just about the best two weeks of my life.
Here was our Itinerary.
1 night in AZ
1 day in Paris
2 days in Rome
1 day in Gerfalco
2 days in Florence
2 days in Cinque Terre
2 days in Venice
1 day in London
1 night in AZ
9 flights in all!
We first flew to Arizona to drop the kids off at my parents house. I was a little worried about them, but then soon realized they were having way more fun with Grandma and Grandpa then they would have had with us.
I'm going to warn you, I plan on posting lots of pictures. Each hour of this trip could probably have it's own post. We are kind of pycho travelers. We wanted to see everything and we wasted no time.
So first up, we got to the airport Wednesday morning after long flight of no sleep. We immediately changed our clothes, brushed our teeth, tried to feel clean, and then found the Metro to take us to our hotel so we could drop off our bags. We were a little pressed for time since we had that day in Paris. We bought tickets and found our hotel, with only a little bit of confusion. We dropped off our bags, and bought an all day metro pass for Paris. The first thing we saw when we actually got into Paris was the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Nick was in awe and I loved watching him take it all in. Don't get me wrong, I loved it too, but having already been to Europe it, was SO much fun to watch him experience Europe. It was a little crowded, but we went inside and it was just beautiful.
Nick was in awe and I loved watching him take it all in. Don't get me wrong, I loved it too, but having already been to Europe it, was SO much fun to watch him experience Europe. It was a little crowded, but we went inside and it was just beautiful.
We walked around outside and found the Pont de l'Archeveche, the Love Lock bridge. We came prepared with our own lock. And we hooked in our along with the thousands of other locks and Nick threw the keys into the Seine.
Can you spot ours?
Then we were off to Saint Chapelle.
The stain glass was unreal. It went from nearly ceiling to floor.
Next we went to the Louvre. This is what I was most looking forward to.
The Mona Lisa! I had heard that she was a lot smaller in person. But she actually seemed bigger to me (because I was prepared to see a tiny little painting).
I had to take a picture of everyone taking a picture. The downside of traveling are the crowds. So. many. people. Even in the off season.We spent about an hour in the Louvre (you could easily spend a day or two there) and then we spent about an hour trying to find our way out of the Louvre. I blame the jetlag and the French signs.
By this point, my feet were killing me and the jetlag was really kicking in and we had eaten a decent meal in a while. We walked in the Tuileries Garden, which I would have skipped looking back because it wasn't all that enjoyable with my feet throbbing. So of course then we walk down the Champs-Elysees. Which would have been fun to shop around and spend some time at, but I wanted to see the gosh-dang Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower and my feet were not going to hold up much longer.
We refueled with a nutella crepe. I never really loved nutella before Paris, but then I learned why I never did. I never had warm, melty nutella in a crepe. So good. And eating it while sitting in Paris and taking it all just made it that much better.
Sadly, this is the best picture I could get of the Arc. And a little side note, I don't know if this was because it was the off season or what, but everything had scaffolding on it. Everything. Which was kind of a bummer for pictures, but hey! our plane tickets were cheaper. So you win some, you lose some.
Now last but not least, please enjoy the millions of pictures of the Eiffel Tower.
After the Eiffel tower we headed back to our hotel because we had to wake up at 4am to catch the metro to our flight to Rome. I was completely exhausted and hungry. I'm pretty sure all we had to eat that day was that crepe and trail mix. Which was kind of a shame because I'm sure the French food is to die for. We did get a pain au chocolat at the airport the next morning. That was heavenly. I even used my high school French skills to order them. (deux, pain au chocolat is all I said, ha!). Next up, Roma!
After the Eiffel tower we headed back to our hotel because we had to wake up at 4am to catch the metro to our flight to Rome. I was completely exhausted and hungry. I'm pretty sure all we had to eat that day was that crepe and trail mix. Which was kind of a shame because I'm sure the French food is to die for. We did get a pain au chocolat at the airport the next morning. That was heavenly. I even used my high school French skills to order them. (deux, pain au chocolat is all I said, ha!). Next up, Roma!
**Some random tips/advice about traveling**
-the plane ticket was the most expensive part of this trip.
-all of our hotels were 40-70 a night and they were all pretty nice. That being said, we spent about 8 hours in our hotel room each day (for sleeping). My thinking is I'm not going to Europe to stay in a hotel, I'm going to see Europe! So I really am not picky when it comes to hotel rooms. If it has a bed and a shower, it's great!
-we ate pretty cheap except for 2 nights we spent about 30 on dinner.
-we were originally just going to go to Italy, but then I found that the plane ticket was the same price if we did a day layover in Paris and London!
-and we were usually in bed around 8 and up around 5. I absolutely loved walking around early morning because there were no crowds.
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