Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

Day 11 – March 23^rd

Roma and Venice

We took a train from Roma to Venice, and then took the vaporetti to find our hotel. Our adventure started off a little rough as we were given totally off-directions from the ticket person for the vaporetti. Since there aren’t normal roads, just windy paths without street names, it was quite interesting trying to find the hotel. After asking for direction multiple times, we found it! The Hotel Pesaro Palace. We wandered around Venice, exploring the true beauty of the many bridges and gorgeous water.

Question of the day…how does an ambulance get around Venice? A boat!

This blog post wouldn’t be complete without a shout out to Rick Steve’s, just for Kenny.

Day 10 – March 22^nd

San Gimignano, Cortona, Roma

Today was an insane day of travel, hitting up three cities and covering way too many miles. We started early with a TTD, followed by a long drive to Cortona. Cortona sits implacably on a green mountainside above terraced olive groves, stony yet inviting. It’s a steep medieval city where cut-stone staircases take the place of many streets, and views over the wide Chiana Valley stretch south to Umbria’s Lake Trasimeno.

We said good-bye to our friends, Massimiliano and Tomas Flint and then continued on to Roma.

It was dark, but Roma was still incredible! Within 4 hours we explored the Coliseum, The Vatican, Parthenon, Monoliths, Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. We had dinner right in front of the Parthenon. Yes, I had clams and linguine (spaghetti alle vongule) for the third time. I just love that stuff! It was so surreal! It was hard to imagine that thousands of years ago, Roman gladiators, senators, etc. walked those streets.

Yes, I departed with my wedding dress here. I had a great photoshoot and was able to wear it one more time for a little anniversary. You can see my priorities; I left the dress so I could have more room for wine.

Our evening Roma adventure was like the Amazing Race, but in only four hours! At around 12:30AM we parted ways with Kenny Kim, Jenni Vincente and Jess Matney, all AMAZING photographers and good friends! Tomorrow Alex and I had another power-packed day heading to Venice.

Day 9 – March 21^st

Tuscany, San Gimignano Montepulciano – Italy’s best preserved Medieval Town

Our favorite place of the trip!

San Gimignano, a medieval city that dates back to the Tenth Century. During the Middle Ages the town was run by Via Francigena establishing churches, palaces and monasteries. In 1349 a terrible plague hit the city and dealt a sever blow to the trading economy, leading to the eventual submission to Florence in 1353. 72 Medieval towers were constructed, only 14 remain.  You could totally envision the knights charging down the streets on their horses, holding torches and heading into battle. I have never experienced anything like this before in my life. So much history!

Ahh, the rolling hills of Tuscany, fine Italian wine and great adventures! In the afternoon we had an incredible wine sampling at a local vineyard, Il Greppo in Montepulciano, accompanied by light lunch of cheese and honey and more salted meat. Of course we brought home some more wine, and the delicious local honey as well as a bit of local olive oil. We tried a little gelato, did some fabulous shopping and discovered Italian made leather purses and Italian leather shoes

Tom, Jess, & Jen.