December and January came and went just too fast! We enjoyed several Christmas gatherings with family, and actually still have a couple to go with Blake's side of the family this month. We love getting to see all the family and getting to watch the kids play together. It is just too much fun!
On December 22nd we left for Italy for 13 days. I should start by saying that I am not a seasoned traveler and haven't flown over about two or three hours at a time. Okay, now that you know my secrets.. The plane ride was just plain awful. We took the trip over during the night with high hopes of sleeping the 10 HOURS away. Wrong. We had a bite to eat, the lights went out, everyone started snoring, and there I was. Completely awake, bright eyed and emotional. I had never spent a Christmas away from home and quite frankly may not ever again. Blake is wrestling around next to me in the plane trying not to sleep because he knew I was full of anxiety. So sweet ;) And just when I thought I could close my eyes for a second the screen shows us going over the ocean and, oh yeah, here come the water works. If you know me you are probably cracking up because this is so me. (If you don't you are probably glad you don't!) I mean I'm on a plane to stinkin' ITALY for goodness sake! And I am crying, for a good 2 hours I am crying. About various things. (Women, you know how this goes!) Blake, poor Blake, did all he could in those tiny seats with no arm or leg room. His first question was.. What did I do? Haha, then he just let me skooch over as much as I could and snuggle up. I'm sure I was taking a great potion of his seat and all of mine, and most likely ruined all chances of him getting comfortable. But, we made it through the flight.. Only to find that the Paris airport security is on STRIKE, yes, apparently they can do that. Long story short, we and a bunch of others miss our flight to Naples so they fly us up to Milan and then back down to Naples were we should have landed at noon and instead landed at 5:30 pm with zero luggage! (No, I didn't cry again. But I wanted to!) We finally made it to Sorrento where Blake and I went out to a pizzeria and had probably the best meal we can remember. Could have been just because we had such and exhausting 20 hours of travel.. either way, we enjoyed every single minute.
Sorrento, oh Sorrento. This was my very favorite! It had the most amazing views and having Christmas there was just perfect. (We got our bags Christmas Eve night, which included my gift from Blake so he was extremely relieved!!) We enjoyed the Amalfi Coast and loved all of the food there! My favorite day was Christmas Eve. We spent the day with a native family for a cooking class. It was such a blast, the food was delicious, and this sweet family was adorable.
Yes, we had to wear hats!
Rome was our next stop. We had a great time in Rome! The Collesium was our favorite. Blake and I loved it! It seemed to be one of the only things that was so close to its original form without being restored. We saw absolutely everything possible in Rome. All of the famous sites were beautiful and had so much history it was just amazing. Not to mention the little pizza spot we found, we went there at least 3 time while we were in Rome. It was soo good!!
So much happened right where we were standing! Amazing!
This was a winery we toured on our way to the next place! We had a blast!
Our next stop was Florence. I wish they allowed pictures when we saw David. It was absolutely amazing to see the size and detail of him. We literally just stood and stared at him for a least an hour. Florence was also where we found a Hard Rock Cafe! LOL!! We had been eating so much of the same kinds of food we were just a little relieved to have american food to mix it up a little. (Awful I know!!) We also saw probably the best views from Florence, it was so beautiful.
It was a tad chilly, but just look at that!
Our final stop was Venice. I have to admit at this point we were very ready to see our dogs, sleep in our own bed, eat tex-mex food and I missed my family! Not to mention, when we arrived to Venice my camera was gone. You may have noticed the poor quality in photos from an iphone. My brand spankin' new camera was stolen at our hotel in Florence between the bell desk and making it in our van. Major bummer, I had some really great pictures on there. Anyway, it was super cold in Venice and a little hard to get around because most things were closed for New Years. Blake and I spent New Years Eve at the the Venice Hard Rock Cafe (since the menu was in English), but we did have traditional foods. They had a really neat 6 course meal set up and although it was a pretty small room, it felt very intimate. Maybe because we were the only people speaking in English, either way.. it was perfect! Oh and the 45 second water taxi was 60 euros.. yes, 60!! Not cool, we walked back ;)
Our water taxi was pretty cool! -this was the free one to the hotel ;)
All in all, we had a great trip. The flight back wasn't quite as bad because I knew I was coming home. Although I spent the first week back with a severe sinus infection, I was excited to be back and tell my family everything we had seen and done. It will probably be a while before I can work myself back up to a flight that far and a trip that long, but we will see. You all should definitely go if you get the chance. History is amazing to see when it dates back that far. Old stuff for us around here is like 200 years.. for them it's B.C. Crazy stuff!! We missed all of you this Christmas season and we hope you and your family were blessed with the joy and miracle of Christ. Love you guys, always!
