I have been dreaming of coming to Italy for years… and I finally got to do it marrying the love of my life this July. We had a little wedding ceremony (just him and I) on the roof top of a hotel in Varenna, it was extremely romantic. Afterward, we traveled around as much as Italy as we could, ending up in Rome as a final destination before heading home. I could really write a novel about our trip, but I will try to just give the gist of it because it took me all day just to write this much…
The airplane ride there was not bad. It was an overnight trip, so the lights were out and most people were sleeping. I couldn’t sleep of course, so by the time we got there, rented our car and drove to downtown Milano I was super tired and it was super hot. We had lunch where I had my first public restroom experience… haha… I had no idea some public restrooms we
re just holes in the floor! We took pictures of a beautiful old church, and some guy stuck corn in my hand after we told him.. NO, we dont have any euros to give you. Pigeons flew all over me, and then he gave us this shocking look when we walked away without paying him. Anyways, now I know, the only way to avoid them is to not make eye contact and hide your hands!
We immediately decided to head north towards Veranna and ended up staying in Bellano on Lake Como a few days before the wedding. I really liked it there… it was a cute town, with all older buildings. My favorite breakfast was a yummy pastry with some frozen coffee, mmmmm. It was so good that I had to re-live it the next morning. We were pretty close to Switzerland, so we decided 
to drive to St Moritz. 
We stopped at a castle, an old church and some ruins on the way. Of course Todd and I had our cameras with us every step of the way, taking as many photos as possible. St Moritz (touristy ski town located in the Swiss Alps) ended up being quite cold, and ridiculously expensive.
On 
our way back to Bellano, we sto
pped in another rad little town where I had the best salad and tortellini Ive ever had in my life. I took lots of pictures of it, but it just doesn’t give it justice, lol.
After Bellano, we checked into our hotel on the side of the mountain in Varrena. 
We had to take two outdoor elevators to get to our room (pic to the left). We had a beautiful private ceremony on the hotel rooftop at sunset… it was definitely a fairytale wedding to the perfect guy! We took our own wedding photos, then headed out for dinner (restaurants don’t open until 7:30pm, and they expect you to stay all night). We ate on the harbor at a romantic little restaurant with some live music and then headed back to our hotel room to call it a night 
We were our own wedding photographers, so Todd and I took turns taking photos of each other (pics below) and then the image at the top was an HDR shot on self timer.
After Varenna, we drove to Bergamo. Each city has a really old part of town with a church in the middle, cobblestone streets, and old buildings & statues, etc. So of course we headed to these parts of each city. Bergamo was really cool… and I loved this little antique store… It was amazing. I didn’t bother to even look at prices, lol. We had an amazing dinner (best lasagna I’ve ever had), and took off to find a hotel at a descent time. Todd hauled ass down the Autostrada, and we found one 
just before 11pm outs
ide of Brescia. In the morning we drove to the old city. We found an old castle to explore, and a pretty big museum of ancient roman armor. I took a picture of a statue there that I really like… looks like a wounded soldier.
Soon we were on the road again heading to Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet! There were shops and tourists everywhere (in all the cities). I bought some cute little souvenirs, we had another fantastic Italian dinner , and we left for Venice!
Since we were on a limited budget, we mostly stayed in hotels on the outskirts of the cities to save money on hotels. We probably spent an average of $100 a night. Although we did run into a few that cost $200 a night. Our hotel outside of Venice was attached to a really great seafood restaurant where we had some fried veggies, shrimp and lobster there, mmmm. There was a ghost in my hotel room, he thought he was a casanova. I felt him touch me twice and both times had to look over at Todd to see if it was him but he was across the room or in one case, fast asleep. I asked the hotel manager about it on our way out, but they guy gave a surprised look… I told Todd, we should have asked a girl because this ghost wasn’t going to hit on any men.
You can’t drive into Venice, so we parked in a garage and walked into town. I was okay for the first few hours, but then the heat hit us hard and it was just too hot to enjoy in my opinion. I left the city with tears running under my sunglasses because every time I walked my thighs would hit each other and sting. Last time I wore a dress or skirt mid-day in Italy! LOL. We got to see the old church, and also took 
an elevator up the bell tower to see an amazing view. Venice is huge! Full of shops and tourists. I would love to come back some time on off season (if there is such a thing) and nicer weather.
The next day we drove through Bologna, walked around took photos, and had dinner. There were some pretty crazy (naughty) statues there! hehe. Here is a cool creepy fountain statue (on the right). I think we had a gelato (Italian ice cream) every day… even though we walked around a ton, I didn’t drop a pound, lol. But hey, you can’t go to Italy on a diet, you would have to be crazy… I say, eat as many gelato’s as you want.
Florence was only an hour away. We stayed in a rad little hotel called the Katti house where we could hear the sounds of Italy and a violin echoing down the cobblestone alleyways. I loved it there… 
Florence is full of art, markets, people and absolutely amazing statues by several famous artists. We visited the Ufizzi Gallery where I saw and loved the Goddess Venus painting.. if you ever go there, make sure to get a free reservation to skip the 2 hour lines!
Here is a shot of the Medusa statue located in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence (below).
Next on our list of cities to see was Siena. We drove through beautiful farm land and sunflower fields all the way there (Tuscany). Sienna was also amazing… but again, way to hot! It was also full of tourists and shops… but I have to say, these shops were better than a lot of other places. Of course, I made it a point to stop in everywhere we went to pick up little gifts for friends and family. Siena is definitely another place that I would love to go back to and stay in… it would be fun to see their annual horse races.
And who can go to Italy without seeing the leaning tower of Pisa, right? We drove there next, took photos and then headed to Amalfi Coast… the drive there was amazing, and the city of Positano was amazing! The full advantages of this place was a little out of our price range… but wow, we would love to go back and sail around the area. Maybe that’s a new thing on my to do list before I die, lol.
Rome was our final destination, and the most time we had in one place on our trip. Again, we stayed on the outskirts… in a “4 star” hotel. There was puke stains from our door to the bathroom and paper 
thin walls, but hey, we saved about $600 staying there so it worked for us! lol. Rome is full of amazing ruins… everywhere… and a lot of it is still being excavated! We saw the Colosseum, Vatican City, The Sistene Chapel, the Spanish Steps, famous statues, fountains, churches, etc. 
Todd took a really amazing photo of a tomb located under the Santa Maria in Cosmedin (photo to the right).It was all pretty breathtaking. The last night of our trip we ate at a fantastic restaurant called Hostaria Ancient Roma located in an ancient roman Cemetery. I think that is the most awesome dining experience I have ever had in my life.
So would I go back to Italy? H*CK YES!!! hehehe… next time in the spring or fall though. If it has to be during the summer, I will bring one of those little electric fans that spray water to help stay cool, lol. Anyone going this year, please take one with you and you can thank me later!
Here is an Italy inspired oil painting that I did the first week we got back 
The next day we went to Sea World in Sandiego… it was cool. I hadn’t been there since I was too little to remember. We watched Shamu (killer whale) and their show which was so amazing! 
