Ciao Bella!

Venice

View from the top of the Duomo - Florence

Ponte Vecchio - Florence

The view from our hotel room terrace - Venice

Scusi! Scusi! M&Em are back to blogging - blogging all about our trip across the ocean that brought us to Italy. Needless to say, the airplane ride over there was an adventure in itself. We were lucky enough to be surrounded by the loudest and, of course, most interesting conversationalists. The young lady behind us had just met the Aussie next to her. She was so kind to explain to him that the lower class people in America are financially "not sluts". We swear - we couldn't make this stuff up. When we were bored with her ranting and raving we tuned into the free concert across from us. The gentlemen was nice enough to play his air guitar THE ENTIRE PLANE RIDE. Although it was an air guitar and no real music was produced, by the way he was jamming, we have no doubt it was good music. Besides, he had the cute, crying baby to take on his back-up vocals. It was good times. As we were getting strapped in - yes, this all happened BEFORE we took off - Em immediately noticed the air vents that simply did not exist and the TVs that simply didn't make it on this Iberia Air flight. Needless to say, the first 7 minutes of the trip were very interesting - let alone the 7 hours we were surrounded by these people! However, we made it. We made it safe and sound and ready to take Italy by storm. First stop....Roma to see Uncle Donnie!

Before we go on any more about the trip, we'd like to give a shout out to the Fratelli Maristi for taking us up the week we were in Roma. Those guys were extremely fun to hang out with, very knowledgeable of everything Italy (we found our own personal tour guides in Uncle Donnie and Dominick) and knew all the best places to eat. So....grazie to the Fratelli Maristi!!

After our long flight, we were greeted at the airport by no one other than Crunc (aka Crazy Unc). Uncle Donnie would take us through rush hour traffic (on foot!) weaving in between cars just to get to the next sight! That is how he earned his nickname - Crunc. As soon as Crunc picked us up we headed to the Fratelli Maristi (the Marist Brother house) for some grub. We recollected the long flight while downing meats, breads, and of course, Italian wine. After a few hours (and two bottles of wine) of catching up, it was time for Meg & Em to hit the sack. Day 1 in Italy had quickly come to a close and an early train ride to Venice was next on the agenda.

We arrived in Venice bright and early the next day. Crunc had seen us off at the train station and Meg & Emmett were eager to start seeing the sights. As soon as we left the train station, we were greeted by hot, humid, sticky air and hundreds of turistas awaiting their own vaparetto (water taxi). Once we boarded the vaparetto we were ready to go. Saying Venice was amazing is an understatement. Being in a city where there are no roads and no cars is the coolest thing ever! We hit up Venice by foot and by water taxi.

The first day in Venice, Em & Meg immediately did what any true tourist would do - we stopped for some pizza and Peroni beer. The foot was outstanding. After lunch, we were told that Piazza San Marco (a hot spot in Venice) was "just over the bridge". One, two, three, four bridges later, we were almost there. Five, six, seven, eight bridges...you get the point. After walking around for 2 hours, we made it to Palazzo San Marco. Along the way, Meg managed to score herself a Prada purse (ok who are we kidding? It was a Prada knock-off but no one needs to know that!), and a gorgeous Venitian scarf. As we continued to take Venice by foot, we stopped for some dinner before heading out for some nice Italian wine. The day had again quickly come to a close. Day two in Venice was a lot less eventful. Em managed to eat the wrong thing the night before and was sick in the hotel the entire next day. Meg made her way out shopping (unsupervised, mind you!). A few hours after being out, Meg found a grocery store and bought some crackers and soda for her sick man back at the hotel. A few hours later, Em was a trooper and took Meg on a gondola ride - it was awesome! Before we knew it, our Venice trip was over and we were boarding the train once again...this time, to Florence.

We arrived in Florence Saturday afternoon. As soon as we were checked in to our hotel, we started out once again. This time, our quest was to find the David and the Duomo. About 20 minutes into the walk, Meg smelled the Italian leather in the air. Her keen nose brought them right to the center of Piazza San Lorenzo, an outdoor market that screamed fashion. Meg was in heaven, Em was in, well, not heaven. Within a few minutes of stepping foot into the outdoor market, Meg had her Italian leather in hand and was ready to go. We immediately found the David after. It was by far, the most amazing man-made statue we've ever witnessed. After the awe inspiring beauty that was David, we walked over to the Duomo. We were fully prepared to climb to the top of the dome to see Florence from an aerial view. Four hundred and sixty-three steps later (and only one panic attack) we were at the top of the Duomo gazing out at Tuscany. It was a breathless sight. A slow walk down later, we arrived back on ground and were ready for our Italian meal. This time, we indulged in the pasta.

After all of our sightseeing in Florence, we were ready to head back to start our week-long stay in Roma. Venice and Florence were both amazingly beautiful sights. We didn't think that Rome would be able to compare...however, we were proven wrong.....