Home Sweet Home

Chris finding his own Italian Style in Milan - the fashion capital of the world Leaning Tower of Pisa Saint Marks' Square in Venice Well, after 2 glorious weeks in Italy, we are home. Chris and I had a wonderful time. It certainly was a second honeymoon for us, even with my family around! If you have never been to Italy, you definitely have to go. It was incredible. Everywhere I turned, my mouth was dropping open in sheer amazement. It was incredible to see how the new cities are completely built around the ruins of the ancient world. It was breathtaking to see the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo's David. You absolutely cannot fathom their beauty from the pictures you have seen in textbooks. To see them in person lets you capture the life from these amazing works of art. David truly looked alive. The Sistine Chapel was so full of history and beauty, that it brought tears to my eyes as I was standing there. To know that I was in a place that had so much history and influence for the church was very moving to me. Speaking of influence in the church, we got to see the Pope! What a fun experience. Since it was so hot (110 degrees!!!) he gave his audience inside Saint Peter's Basillica instead of outside like he usually does. Chris and I got pretty close, although our pictures were terrible. Everyone else wanted a picture too, so there are thousands of cameras sticking up in the air blocking our view of the Pope. But we saw him. And we heard him sing. Very cool. Venice was my favorite city at night time. Romance was in the air. Saint Mark's square is something to behold. It's all lit up, 3 orchestras are playing in different areas of the square and people spontaneously dance all over. It was lovely. We had a private water taxi take us to Saint Mark's Square where we had dinner and were serenaded. All the drinks were included. We asked for Coke and the waiters and our tour guide all laughed at us that we were drinking the "American Wine" instead of the good stuff. I couldn't help it that the "good stuff" made me gag. I'll take Coke any day! :-) Drinks were extremely expensive. The first night we were in Rome, we ordered cokes to go with our Italian pizzas which were out of this world and were shocked when we got our bills. Each 12 ounce can of coke was 5 euro, or about $7.00. Yikes! So between my entire family, we spent over 40 euro just on cokes for one meal!! Ouch! We learned our lesson fast. Florence was incredible, too. The Duomo there takes your breath away. And Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge there, was so much fun. We hiked up to the highest point in Florence one night and took some pictures. Beautiful. Everywhere you looked. Stunning. I have many more memories such as police using my very tall brother to block them from view from a criminal as they made a surprise attack to make an arrest in Venice. I just thought I'd share a brief overview of our trip. Getting home was wonderful. I missed Grant so very much. When Chris came up the escalator at the airport, Grant saw him, his mouth dropped open and he froze completely still. He was shocked to see him. Everytime he would look at us for the next couple of days, he would smile, gasp and wave at us. I think he was glad to see us. He's cuddling a bit more now that we're home. Boy, did I miss him. He's my sweetheart, that's for sure. More memories to follow...check back if you're interested.