Month: October 2016

Let’s play a game. Or, maybe two? Let’s start with “Where in the world is Allison Bertea?”. It’s my favorite rendition of “Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?”. Or how about our take on,  “Where’s Waldo?”; “Where’s Bertea?”. All fun games, I know. Well, currently, she is passed out next to me on the bus. Maybe we will see her again at the end of Paris, I don’t really know. I just do as I am told…

Our train out of Amsterdam left on time. It was a nice change of pace compared to our experience with trains in Italy. The two hour ride to Brussels provided some pretty spectacular views of the countryside. After our arrival in Brussels, we made our way over to the regional train platform to catch the commuter train into Brugge. After traveling for 1.5 months, we have this whole train and transfer thing down. We typically don’t need to look for help or even an English translation. Just make sure the stop we need lines up to the listed stops on the departure card, and we are on our way. The one-hour train to Brugge was easy. We passed the time by playing Uno, and discussing what Charley was probably doing. Considering it was 5AM back home, we figured he was probably sleeping. The train station in Brugge was bigger than expected and we caught the local bus to a stop near our hotel. As we made our way into the center of town, we were pleasantly surprised by the architecture. Brugge is a medieval town, and city ordinances protect the buildings from being demolished or altered. Walking to our hotel, we were impressed by the amount of chocolate shops and vowed to stop in a few of them later in the evening. We checked into the hotel and our energy to explore the city had been drained from traveling most of the day. Allison took the time to do some research for the rest of our trip and I caught up on my beauty sleep.

Dinner time came and we made our way to the most authentic Flemish restaurant you could imagine, Ribs and Beer. Alright, while it might not be an authentic Flemish restaurant, Ribs and Beer was a highly-rated dinner spot. Our reservation was for the second sitting. The menu consisted of multiple different types of beef, chicken, and other assorted dishes. However, true to their name, the restaurant was famous for their ribs and beer. Allie and I both chose the all-you-can-eat ribs option and two glasses of Blonde Ale (I know, I am just as surprised as you are Bruce…). The dinner was excellent and a nice reminder of home. We had planned to possibly go out for a bit after dinner, but we were both so full that we decided to head back for the evening.

Excited for all-you-can-eat ribs!

Left: Before Dinner // Right: After Dinner

We had chosen to go to Brugge as we had seen beautiful pictures of the city and had read that is was a very romantic town. As our decision to visit was made at the last minute, we did not have time to plan any sightseeing activities. The one thing I made sure to plan was a tour of the De Halve Maan brewery. Belgium is known for its chocolate and beer, so we had to make sure to check both out.

On our way to the brewery, we got a glimpse of the famous bell tower in Brugge, Belfort van Brugge, along with a bit of the medieval-style architecture.

Belfort van Brugge

Streets of Brugge

We had a delicious lunch at the brewery and then had some time before our afternoon brewery tour, so we checked out a park nearby known as Minnewaterpark, which houses Minnewater Lake, known as the “Lake of Love”.

Minnewaterpark

There were about 30 breweries existing in Brugge after World War II, yet this brewery is the only one still remaining. It has been around since the late 19^th century and went through a modernization project in 2006. As the exterior of the building could not be modified, they had to fit all of the modern pumps, blowers, transfer tubes and brewing tanks within the existing building. It was quite a sight to see! Additionally, the brewery had just completed their final project a few months back. Prior to this year, all of the beer was made in the brewery and then transported, via container trucks, to a warehouse 3km across the city. In the other warehouse, the beer would mature for 2-4 months before being bottled. As the brewery began to expand, and produce more beer, the logistics of moving the beer across town became a bigger issue. In order to resolve the problem, the brewery dug an underground tunnel and created a pipeline to pump the beer across town. The pipeline had been finished at the beginning of summer, 2016, and all testing had been completed a few months before we got there. To their knowledge, they are the only brewery that currently employs this method to transport their beer.

At the end of the tour we found ourselves in the old tavern of the brewery. There, we would “taste” 3 of their different beers. The tasting actually turned out to be 3 full glasses of beer. All of the English speakers congregated at two tables with each other, but Allie and I made a point to sit at the “Dutch” table. We sat with 3 couples, all from the Netherlands. It was an enjoyable experience to hear about their travels and recount some of our stories. Inevitably, the conversation turned towards the election in the United States and, to the amazement of our new friends, time-off policies within the United States. We finished up and said goodbye to our newfound friends as we made our way back to the hotel.

Left: Beer hops! // Right: Malts, which affect the color of the beer

Process the brewery used to utilize to dry the malt 

Beautiful view of the city from the roof of the brewery

Fun on the brewery tour

Their Heritage beer is only made once a year

Along the way back to our hotel, Allie and I stopped in Dumon Chocolate shop, one of the most well-known chocolate shops in Brugge. The chocolate shop is still run by the original founder and one of the members of her Dumon family, Nathalie. The shop originated in Brugge and has 3 different locations across the city. While Nathalie and the owner did not work at the location we went into, you could feel that the shop was very much a family business. If you read my last post, I was blown away by the Jordino chocolate and proclaimed that See’s had nothing on Jordino. Well, I am sorry Jordino, but you have nothing on Dumon. The chocolate was incredible. I have never tasted chocolate this good before. If we had chocolate like this back home, I would have a serious problem.

Dumon Chocolatier

Streets of Brugge

We went back to the hotel for a bit before going to a local salad restaurant for dinner. After all the meat and beer, it was nice to order a salad. We were fairly tired, so decided to call it a night after dinner.

A sign we appreciated at our dinner spot – Salade Folle

Belfort van Brugge at night

Chocolate and Beer!

One of the famous landmarks in the city is the bell tower, known as Belfort van Brugge. If you have seen the movie, “In Bruges”, the tower, and scene concerning it, is one to remember. Allie and I had tried to climb it the previous day, but had arrived too late. As the passageway to the top of the tower is very narrow, the tower only allows 70 people in at a time. We noticed that the tower opened at 9:30AM, so we planned to get there early and climb the tower before we left the next day. The previous day the line to enter the tower had been over an hour and we hoped that we could avoid the line in the morning. We got up at 8, packed our bags and took advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel. From there, we made the short walk over to the tower.

 

We got there at 9:15AM and we were the 2^nd people in line. At 9:30AM, the doors opened, and we went in to buy our tickets. The couple in front of us was paying with credit card, so we moved over to the cash-only window. After getting our tickets, we moved through the turnstile and started our ascent up the tower. 366 steps, narrow passageways and limited hand railings made for not such an easy climb.

The bell

However, when we walked through the doorway at the top of the tower, our frustrations quickly faded away. The view of the city was beautiful. There was still a slight layer of fog, but you could almost see it burning off in front of you. And the best part, we had climbed the tower ahead of the couple in front of us and were the first ones to the top that morning. In fact, we made it up so quickly that we stood at the top of the tower alone for 5 minutes.

View of the city from the top of the tower

We were soon joined by another couple and then the groups started to fill in. We decided to make a quick escape before the tower filled up and headed back to the hotel to grab our belongings. Before leaving Brugge, we decided it would be best to stop by the Dumon chocolate shop one more time. Apparently, the chocolate troll had eaten our chocolate the night before, and we wanted some for our trip to Paris. This time we were greeted by Nathalie, who helped us pick out a number of chocolates for the remainder of our trip. As we boarded the train to leave, we both agreed that Brugge would be a town that we would be returning to in the future.

One last shot of the tower on our way out of the city…

I know, I know. When is Allison coming back? That’s the burning question on everyone’s minds right now. Well soon, I think. Not sure actually. I think she enjoys watching Orange is the New Black on Netflix and correcting my grammar and sentence structure as I write. In the meantime, I’m here for another entry!

Throughout our trip, we have typically taken an early flight or train out of a city. We figured that by booking an earlier ticket out, we would be able to see more of the next city. However, this typically leads to us rushing in the morning and packing the night before. This time, we decided to go with the other extreme and book a ticket out in the evening. Our flight from Luton-London to Amsterdam was at 8PM. Well, that idea did not work out very well. Our flight ended up being delayed for 2 hours and we did not check-in to our hotel until after midnight.

We got up the next morning and Allie dragged me to the gym. We had missed the complimentary breakfast, so we quickly got ready and headed out for the day. As we stepped out, we got to see the city in a different light. Amsterdam is stunning! The canals, bridges, bikers, and homes make for a very picturesque view.

We set out along the canal looking for a place to eat. If you ever visit, make sure to watch out for people on their bikes. The primary means of transportation around the city center, and just outside, is riding a bicycle. Everyone rides a bike. If you are not careful, you will get clipped. Remember, the bike has the right of way! We continued along the canal for some way, making sure to watch out for riders, and stumbled across a deli/restaurant for lunch. The inside of the restaurant, Broodje Bert, was small and packed with people. Allie and I decided to order two sandwiches. She chose a tomato, mozzarella and pesto sandwich. I went with a salami, brie cheese, and tomato sandwich. The food was incredible and very reasonably priced. Both of us actually felt that the salami sandwich was probably one of the best things we have eaten on this trip. If you ever visit Amsterdam make sure to check out this deli.

All of the bikes outside of the Central Train station

Allie’s Pesto/Mozzarella/Tomato sandwich

From lunch, we hopped on the tram to make our way across town. Taking a tram was the best way to see the city while quickly getting across it. The tram is above ground and a 48 hour pass cost us 12 euros each. We made it to the eastern part of the city and made our way to a brewery that I had read about. Brouwerij ‘t IJ is located in an old windmill. On draft you will only find beer from that specific brewery. Additionally, they have a few beers on draft that they do not bottle. Back home, my friends and I really enjoy visiting breweries from time to time, so it was a unique experience to visit one in another country. The best part, we found a beer that Allison fell in love with. She actually ordered two!

From the brewery we made our way back to the hotel to rest before dinner. When we checked in to the hotel, Allison had mentioned that we were on our honeymoon. The hotel had upgraded our room and we also had access to their Club Lounge. We thought it would be good to check it out since they offered complimentary appetizers and drinks every evening. Well, we unexpectedly ended up staying for 2.5 hours. They had an array of delicious food, in addition to a few wine and beer selections. We had talked about going out for dinner, but ended up eating at the lounge while having a few drinks. After dinner, we headed out to see the Red Light District. Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam and along the streets you will see many random windows with red lights. As you walk by, there will typically be a woman standing in the window. After walking through the streets for a bit, we decided to see some of the other neighborhoods/districts. Allison’s friend Katie had provided a number of recommendations for Amsterdam, so we decided to see a few of them. We headed over to the Jordaan district and walked around for an hour or so. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a beer bar called Arendsnest Proeflokaal. They have over 50 beers on tap. Even though they had already announced last call, we were able to order one round before having to leave.

Lots of beautiful lights

Trying one of Katie’s recommendations – a Stroopwafel! Delicious

Arendsnest Proeflokaal (Beer Bar)

We got up early the next morning. This time, Allie could not convince me to go to the gym with her. I caught up on some Netflix shows and then we took advantage of the complimentary breakfast at the hotel. We left the hotel and made the short walk to the Anne Frank House. We had booked the tour online a few months ago. If you are heading to Amsterdam and plan to visit the house, you need to make the reservation far in advance. Without it, you have to wait in line and many people are turned away. The house had been restored, and all previous furniture had been removed. The tour of the house was extremely… sobering. I recall reading the book when I was younger and a lot of the emotion that I felt reading it came to life walking through the house. As we made our way to the rear of the house, you have to step through the secret bookcase to reach the annex, which is where the families lived. There is no light and the spaces are small. Even if you have not read the book, a visit to the house is a must. The tour is an excellent reminder of how terrible the past was so that we can hopefully work to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

Outside of Anne Frank House

Leaving the house we jumped on the tram and made our way to the Southern part of the city to visit the Van Gogh museum. We made a stop for lunch at Bagels and Beans. The name is odd, but the food was great! The restaurant is a chain, but is an excellent and healthy choice for a quick lunch. Just before heading to the museum, we made a stop at the iconic “I AMSTERDAM” sign. I was tempted to climb all over it, but we weren’t sure what the weight limitation was. I have been eating really well on this trip…

We left the sign and entered the museum. This was my second time visiting the museum and I was pleasantly surprised, as the space had gone through a major renovation. We picked up our audio tour and made our way through the rooms. Van Gogh was an amazing painter. I was surprised to find out that he did not start painting until he was 27, and was mostly self taught. While the man lived a difficult life, he made beautiful art. The audio guide was a great way to experience and learn about some of his paintings.

Area outside Van Gogh Museum

We left the museum and made our way back to the hotel. On the way back, we walked through the city a bit and made a stop at Jordino chocolate shop. The shop had been recommended by Allie’s friend Katie. We each picked out a couple of truffles. As an FYI, See’s Candies has nothing on Jordino.

Streets of Amsterdam

Cheese Shop – There’s a TON in Amsterdam

Back at the hotel, we contemplated raiding the lounge again for dinner, but opted for sushi. After dinner we made our way to De Zotte, another recommendation from Katie. It is a Belgium beer bar and Allie ordered another round of beers. I believe that we have finally made her a beer lover! We wandered through the canals for a bit before making our way back for the evening. We had a 12PM train to catch the next day and still had to pack.

After I was approached to submit my previous entry for a Pulitzer in 2017, Allison asked that I finish writing the blog for the rest of the trip. While not even remotely close to being the truth, I am back because London was an extremely special part of the trip for me. For those that did not enjoy my last entry, the time to leave is now.

Our departure from Venice was pretty spectacular. We booked a water taxi to the airport and essentially pulled up to the terminal on the water. Below is the view from the plane on our climb out of Venice. The picture puts into perspective the amount of effort it took to build a city within the lagoon.

In addition to the amazing views, the airline took the opportunity to provide us a gift for our honeymoon. British Airways went out of their way, and provided us with two small bottles of sparkling wine for the flight. Even though airlines get a bad reputation, it was really nice and made the turbulence a lot more bearable.

Our trip to London was centered around Sunday, October 23rd. For those that are not familiar, my father, mother, Allie (a recent addition), and myself are huge Chelsea FC fans. Chelsea FC is a soccer team from London. They play in the top English league and we won the trophy 2 years ago. On Sunday, October 23rd, Chelsea would play Manchester United, a fierce league rival. Additionally, the new Manchester United coach, was the former coach for Chelsea. Drama and heartbreak were expected. To say I was excited to land, was an understatement. Not only had I secured tickets for the game, my family was flying out to see it with Allie and I. After collecting our bags, we hopped on the Tube to go pick up one of the tickets for Sunday’s game. Walking out of the station, Allie and I both immediately fell in love with London.

We picked up the ticket and made our way to Islington, the neighborhood where we booked our AirBnB. To get there from the ticket location, we hopped on the Tube and connected through one of the many train stations. Walking through Islington, we knew that we had made a great choice on the neighborhood. There were multiple shops, restaurants and bars. Fortunately, our AirBnB was located a few blocks off the main drag, and was much quieter. My family had already arrived and greeted the both of us with open arms. Allie and I were both excited to see my parents, Cathy and Fernando, as well as my sister, Lauren, and her boyfriend, Robbie. After catching up for a few hours, we decided it was time for dinner. Lauren and Robbie had found a restaurant on their walk in and we all made our way over to The Angelic. We called it an early night as we had a big day ahead of us.

The next morning we all woke up early and prepared ourselves for the free walking tour. As Allie has mentioned, we have done a few of these on our trip, and thought it would be great to do together as a family. We met up with the Sandeman tour guide, and began our 3 hour walking tour across London. Our guide provided a very detailed background to the reigns of the various monarchs and the influences that each had on the history of London.

Where our tour started – Covent Garden

Big Ben behind Allie & Lauren; Westminster Abbey on the right

Buckingham Palace

We got some great tips on restaurants and sights to follow up on. Additionally, the tour guide provided information on the best place to see the changing of The Guard. If you are traveling to London, we highly recommend taking Sandeman’s free walking tour.

Diagon Alley (Harry Potter reference – Allie understood, I didn’t)

The rest of the afternoon was spent planning some of the logistics for the game on Sunday as well as picking up some of the tickets. Allie took advantage of no one yet at the stadium to capture some shots at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea FC’s home stadium.

The whole team was pretty tired, so we decided to make dinner at the house. Allie made an amazing meat and cheese plate to start off the meal. My sister and mother made chicken pot pie while my dad, Robbie and I provided comic relief. It was great to have a home cooked meal with family.

We started Saturday with a trip back to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of The Guard. Our tour guide from the previous day had provided a great tip, so we walked a bit down from Buckingham Palace, and made our way to St. James’ Palace.

The changing of The Guard ends here, and you still get to see them drum, march and move through their formations. Just make sure you show up at about 11:45AM and stand across the street.

We then made our way to Hyde Park to enjoy the lunch we had packed earlier that morning. Hyde Park is huge, and located right in the middle of London. For those familiar, it slightly resembles Central Park.

After enjoying sandwiches, and watching Allie chase around the pigeons and geese, we jumped on the Tube and made our way across town to check out the Tower of London.

The Tower of London is the oldest standing fortress in the city and was used as a prison up until the mid-20th century. The men who occupy the current tower are known as Beefeaters, Yeomen Warders, and they all still currently live in the tower with their families, which is locked at 10PM every night.

Our Beefeater tour guide

The tower serves as the current home of the Crown Jewels. As the tower is an official residence of the royal family, the location is guarded by the Queen’s guard. These are the individuals with the interesting hats and red coats. While on duty the guards are not supposed to interact with other individuals. However, Lauren actually got one of the guards to smile.

From the Tower of London, we made our way to the London Eye, a large Ferris Wheel sitting on the River Thames.

View of Big Ben from the London Eye

Riding the Ferris Wheel provided an amazing view of the city, and is a great way to provide a different perspective to what you see on the ground. We left the Eye and made our way over to Almeida for dinner. Despite a mix up at check-in, we were finally seated and had a great meal. As the game was the next day, we headed back to the house.

To say I was excited Sunday morning would be an understatement. I felt like a kid on Christmas who just received the gift he had always been asking for. We started the morning off by heading over to Abbey Road. After blocking the road, and taking the iconic picture, we made our way over to the stadium.

Abbey Road Studios on the left; Abbey House on the right

While the whole family came to see the game, it was my dad and I that were particularly excited. We decided that it would be great to try and catch the players before the game. Joining a few hundred people on the eastern end of the stadium, we waited for the player buses to show up.

Credit to Allie and my mom who waited with my dad and I for almost 2 hours. Finally, at 3PM, the player buses showed up. We got to see all the players get off the bus and walk on to the field.

Left: John Terry (Chelsea FC captain); Right: Antonio Conte (Chelsea FC coach)

After taking lots of pictures, we made our way into the stadium. All of my hard work to get tickets had paid off. Sitting at about mid field and 6 rows up from the field, we were able to watch the players warm up before the start of the game.

The atmosphere was electrifying. The whole stadium chanted in unison at the start of the game. 36 seconds into the game, the whole stadium erupted. Everybody was cheering, people were hugging, and I am sure friends back home were crying. Chelsea had scored the first goal of the game. For those that do not watch soccer, a goal that early in the game is very rare. We would go on to thrash Manchester United.

The final score was 4-0. After taking pictures, and soaking in the atmosphere, we left the stadium and met up with a soccer friend from back home. We stopped by a Teppanyaki restaurant for dinner. The chef had previously worked at Benihana, next to the Chelsea stadium, and provided a number of great stories for dinner. After dinner it was back to the house to pack and get ready for our departure.

While my family left early in the morning, Allie and I did not leave until 8PM. We stored our luggage for the day at the Kings Cross station, where Platform 9 3/4 is, another Harry Potter reference that Allie knew, I did not. We took the opportunity to also check out the London Bridge and Covent Garden.

Our flight to Amsterdam was out of Luton airport, so we booked our train and headed out of London.

The final stop of our 3 week adventure in Italy was Venice. Upon arriving to Venice after the 2 hour train ride from Florence, we were completely taken aback by the city’s charm and beauty. Venice is famously known for its’ gondolas and canals, but seeing it in person was incredible. We took a public transportation boat from the train station to the main square and were able to witness some of the city’s beauty.

We planned to spend our 3 night stay in Venice at a hotel that was set on a private island in the Venetian lagoon, so we had to take a 20 minute boat ride from the city’s main square to the hotel. Upon arriving to the hotel, we learned that it actually just opened last year, so everything still felt very new and untouched. After checking in, we were taken to our hotel room by golf cart and were able to witness some of the property’s beauty.

JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa

After checking out the property a bit, we came back to our hotel room, where the hotel had delivered a complimentary bottle of champagne to celebrate our honeymoon.

We took the complimentary shuttle boat back to the city that night and had dinner at a local Italian restaurant, DaAmo. We were a bit exhausted from the day’s travel, so ended up going back to the hotel after dinner and enjoyed a drink at the hotel bar before calling it a night.

Night Shot of Piazza San Marco – Venice’s main square

The next day we had booked another free walking tour, which happened to last about 3 hours and gave us great insight into the history of the city. We learned that Venice is comprised of 118 islands, which are all connected by the famous canals. The islands stand upon these wooden “stilts” that are submerged underwater, and all of these buildings on the islands are fairly old since nothing new can be built, due to city ordinances. It’s sad to hear that the city is sinking, as the sea level is rising. However, tourism continues to keep the economy going, along with glass production, which we saw examples of in many of the tourist shops across the island.

Left: Neighborhood in Venice // Right: House where Casanova lived

While on the tour, we stopped at a bookshop that was rated one of the top ten most beautiful bookshops in the entire world. Since part of the city of Venice tends to get a bit flooded during high tide, all of the books are either in tubs placed around the shop, or located in higher places within the store.

Books placed within a gondola in the middle of the store

View of the canals after climbing the “book staircase” in the pic above:

Largest church in Venice (There are a total of 130 churches on the 118 Venetian islands)

Venice’s Public Hospital – we went inside and it was just as beautiful inside as the outside, however no pictures were allowed inside.

Rialto Bridge

View from the top of Rialto Bridge

Basilica di San Marco

Fortunately our tour guide had recommended a few good places for lunch that were considered “authentic Venetian” food. We ended up at a place called Bacarando in Corte dell’Orso, which had a number of “cicchetti”, which are Venetian tapas and a popular meal item among locals. We shared a few tapas and I enjoyed a Spritz, a popular cocktail among Venetians. Not a huge fan of the Spritz.

Cicchetti at Bacarando in Corte dell’Orso

We had also learned from our tour guide about one of the best look out points in Venice, which happened to be on the top of a luxury mall that had just opened a few weeks prior.

View of the city from the top of the mall:

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the city on our own…

View from Ponte dell’Accademia (one of the more famous canal bridges)

So many gondolas!

In the shuttle boat on the way back to our hotel:

Our hotel had a great heated pool on the rooftop, so we spent the early part of the evening hanging out in the pool and enjoyed the sunset with our complimentary bottle of champagne.

We enjoyed a good meal at the hotel restaurant, before grabbing a few drinks at the hotel bar and enjoying some games of Uno to end the night. We ended up becoming friends with the bartender, who had recognized us from the night before, so we enjoyed talking to him a bit.

We didn’t have any set plans the next day, so we decided to go inside Basilica di San Marco. While waiting in line, we noticed the flooding that had started due to the high tide, and it wasn’t even raining at this point. We had learned the day before that it doesn’t have to be raining for the main square to flood. Andrew was excited to witness the “high tide”, although it was fairly anti-climatic compared to the pictures he had seen of people wading through 3-4 feet of water when the high tide was at its peak.

Platforms used to walk inside the church to avoid the flooding that was occurring

Walking on the raised platform into the Basilica!

Top of the Basilica, which overlooks Piazza San Marco

The inside of the top of the Basilica!

A bit of flooding outside of the Basilica during High Tide:

We checked out another place our tour guide from the day before recommended for lunch and it was called Al Merca. It was a cute little sandwich shop where the owners will recommend what’s good that day. We shared a couple of “mini” sandwiches, which were delicious. As with most sandwiches we’ve seen throughout Europe, there was no condiments used, just bread, meat & cheese.

 

We knew we wanted to experience a gondola ride, so we went on a mission after lunch to find the right “gondolier” to take our ride with, out of the 500+ gondoliers that exist in Venice. We had heard from a few people that there are certain questions you want to ask them, such as “What will you show us?” and “How long is the ride?”. Asking these questions gives you a good sense of their personality, and we were told that it’s important to ride on one with a gondolier that will give you the best value for your money. We also learned that you shouldn’t negotiate since all gondola rides are 80 euros, no matter where you try to go.

After striking out with a couple of gondoliers, we found a guy who was friendly and seemed like the right gondolier to experience an official gondola ride with. He ended up being a great guy and told us about his 20+ years of working on the gondola. Apparently his family was 5 generations of gondoliers and his family crest and name resided on the gondola, which he owned. While the ride was a bit short (about 25 minutes), we enjoyed our time and were glad to experience this Venetian tradition.

Riding under the canals!

Andrew and I with our gondolier:

After enjoying our last Italian meal of pizza and pasta at an authentic Italian restaurant, we headed back to the hotel to pack our bags and get ready to leave Italy the next morning. Spending 3 weeks in various cities throughout southern, central, and northern Italy was a great experience. We were able to immerse ourselves in numerous Italian traditions and had an unforgettable experience. Next stop is London, where we get to meet up with Andrew’s parents, Lauren (his sister), and her boyfriend. Ciao for now!

Since we had planned to stay an entire week, Andrew and I were excited about our next stop in Italy, Florence (or Firenzia as the locals call it). We thought it would be nice to fully unpack and experience more of the Italian culture over an extended period of time, in one city.

The drive from Siena up to Florence was quick, took just about an hour to get to the airport, where we had to drop off the rental car. We took the complimentary shuttle from the Florence airport to the train station, where we were able to walk to our Airbnb. As we were walking to our Airbnb, we noticed the vast amount of people in the city, comprised of both tourists and locals. There were a number of shops and cute little Italian restaurants, so we knew we made the right decision to stay here a bit longer than the other places.

We met our Airbnb host at the place and she showed us around. The Airbnb ended up working out perfectly for our week long stay. It was a 1 bedroom apartment, with a very spacious bathroom and kitchen. The kitchen worked out great and we were able to make breakfast every morning, as well as a couple of lunches and dinners during our stay. After dropping off our bags, we were able to find a local gym that gave us a great deal for the week. It was a short 5 minute walk from our place, so we were able to use it most mornings before starting our day.

We ended up checking out a local market and picked up a few items for our meals, as well as dinner for that night. We had a delicious meat/cheese appetizer, and then enjoyed a delicious, homemade, grilled steak salad! It’s always nice having a meal out, but when you’re traveling for an extended period of time like we are, these home-cooked meals are much needed at times.

We decided to take advantage of another free walking tour the next morning since our past experiences had worked out so well. Our tour guide was great and took us around the city, giving us some great history along the way.

Basilica di Santa Maria Novella

This is how they used to transport wine from the countryside into the city:

On the left: Andrew in front of the Duomo // On the right: Palazza Vecchio

Piazza della Signoria – Includes a copy of the Statue of David, as well as other original pieces

The line above the “Via Del Parlagio” sign represents the level of water in the city during a massive flood 50 years ago:

Church in Piazza de Santa Croce – Contains Michaelangelo’s remains

After grabbing a quick lunch at our place, we headed out to the Galleria dell’ Accademia, which is most-known for housing the official Statue of David that Michaelangelo carved. Once again, our rain jackets came in handy since it started to rain pretty hard that day. Luckily we had pre-bought tickets, so we only had to wait in line for about 15 minutes to get in. If you didn’t pre-buy tickets, the line was wrapped around the corner, and was about a 2 hour wait to get in. We’ve learned it’s very important to always pre-plan for a few things like this to avoid the long lines.

Andrew learning some history about a pair of hurdy-gurdies from 1775:

Statue of David – We learned in our walking tour that Michelangelo carved the Statue of David in just 3 years and it represents the civic testament of Michelangelo’s life & career.

Checking out the rest of the Galleria dell’ Accademia

After the museum, we went to check out the Central Market, which housed numerous vendors, similar to a few of the other markets we’ve gone to in other cities. We really like these markets as they give you an opportunity to try a bit of the local cuisine and feel like a local as you’re doing so.

The next day we had planned a day trip to Lucca & Pisa, 2 cities that were only about an hour from Florence by train. Our first stop was Lucca, which is a city encircled by a perfectly intact wall, even though we learned it hadn’t been involved in a war since 1430. Apparently most cities have torn down their walls to make way for modern traffic, but Lucca’s wall has remained, and effectively keeps out traffic and much of the modern world. The wall was pretty incredible and we were able to rent bikes and ride along it as we checked out the entire city. Unfortunately our lunch experience in Lucca was not the best and was probably the worst meal experience we had in Italy (thus far). We ordered a salad and a pizza, and should have remembered what our free tour guide had said: “Don’t ever order pizza at a place that’s not called a pizzeria”.

Off to Lucca!

The wall surrounding the city of Lucca:

Andrew appreciating the wall in all of its’ glory:

After spending the first half of the day exploring Lucca, we hopped on the train and headed to Pisa, where of course we checked out the Leaning Tower. There is not much else to do in Pisa, so we only stayed there for about an hour, getting some great “tourist” pics of the tower. It was pretty hilarious watching everyone do the exact same poses (i.e. pushing the tower up). We definitely felt like major tourists, but still managed to get the pose.

City of Pisa:

The famous Leaning Tower:

It was a long day, so we ended up making dinner at our place and enjoying the nice bottle of Chianti that we had gotten from one of the Tuscan wineries we visited on our drive up to Florence.

The next day we had tickets booked for an official, half-day wine tour around the Chianti Classico region in Tuscany. This was our wedding gift from Andrew’s sister Lauren and her boyfriend Robbie, so we were very much looking forward to going on an “official Tuscan wine tour” since the one we tried to do on our own didn’t work out very well.

The wine tour started off at their local “wine school”, where we spent some time learning about the different wine regions in Tuscany, as well as the proper way to taste wine. One interesting fact was that 65% of Tuscan wineries are for making red wine, so white wine is not as prevalent in Tuscany. We learned the differences between Chianti Classico and Chianti, which is apparently something you never want to confuse when talking to a winemaker. Chianti Classico wines are from a protected region and all the wines need to be made here, with the grapes from this region alone, while Chianti is more widespread. Chianti Classico wines are 80% Sangiovese and then the remaining 20% can be Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Shiraz grapes, while Chianti is usually 100% Sangiovese grapes. The difference between the 2 wines is apparently shown by a rooster on the label. All 3 of the wineries we were going to as part of the tour were part of the Chianti Classico region in Tuscany.

Andrew and I in “wine school”:

The 3 wineries we went to that day were all family-owned, which made the experience much better. At the first winery they took us out to the vineyards and discussed the initial process of making wine. This winery produced 300,000 wines a year, which is actually considered large for the wineries in that region.

At the 2nd winery (Casa Sola) we were fortunate enough to meet the owner, who took us into the cellar and told us about the aging process in the wood/oak barrels.

At the 3rd winery we tried a few more Chianti Classico wines, and learned about pairing wine with meals. We enjoyed a delicious Tuscan meal at this last winery before heading back to Florence.

Probably the best Balsamic Vinegar we have ever had…it was a bit sweet, but delicious!

When we got back to Florence it was still raining, and I hadn’t packed any water-proof shoes, so we decided to spend some time looking for boots. Andrew was a trooper as we spent a couple of hours going into numerous boot shops trying to find a good pair. We checked out a local bar near our place that night, which turned out to have live music and was a good place to relax after a long day of wine tasting.

We spent the next day doing a few of the “touristy” things in Florence. We climbed to the top of the Duomo, which is the main site to see in Florence, and also climbed to the top of the Bell Tower. This area of the city, known as Piazza del Duomo, is comprised of a few different sites, including a museum, cathedral, and baptistry as well, so we spent the morning exploring the different sites.

View of the Duomo from the street:

Climbing up the Duomo – 463 steps! Very small spaces.

Top of the Duomo:

Andrew getting bored as we waited for people in front of us to take about 25 pictures of the top of the Duomo before continuing on up the climb. It’s so narrow that it makes it very difficult to pass people in front of you.

Are we there yet?

We made it! Got some beautiful shots of the city from the top of the Duomo

And back down we go…

Climbed to the top of Giotto’s Bell Tower – 414 steps up! Great shot of the Duomo from across the way:

Left: Inside the Baptistery // Right: The Cathedral

Inside the Opera di Santa Maria Del Fiore Museum – Andrew’s a bit “hangry” at this point

Florence Pieta – Michelangelo

We went and checked out another famous museum that afternoon, the Uffizi Gallery, where we spent a few hours checking out all of the incredible paintings of Italian artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Leonardo da Vinci.

Although the thunderstorms had started that evening, we were looking forward to dinner because we had made reservations at a place called Osteria Vini e Vecchi Sapori, which had come as a recommendation from a former colleague of mine at Sony. We made the reservations a few nights prior after reading some reviews that stressed the importance of doing so. This was without a doubt the best meal we have had in Italy. You know it’s a good restaurant when you see Michael J. Fox and his family leaving the restaurant as you’re walking in, definitely a good celebrity sighting. The restaurant was small, family-owned, and only had 8 tables inside. I believe it’s run by 1 man, along with his wife and son, who were all extremely friendly and made you feel welcome from the moment you walked in the door. The pasta and ossobuco that Andrew and I shared were incredible and we highly, highly recommend this to anyone traveling to Florence in the future. It’s an experience you won’t soon forget!

After dinner we checked out the local night scene and didn’t make it home until the wee hours of the next morning.

Met an awesome bartender at a bar called The Blob

Although it was a fun night, the next day wasn’t as fun, since I was feeling a bit of the aftermath most of the day. We did manage to find a local Irish bar, where we were able to watch the Chelsea game, but spent the majority of the afternoon relaxing at our place before heading out that night for a ramen dinner. We were craving a meal that wasn’t Italian, and ramen turned out to be a delicious call.

On our last day in Florence we headed to Piazzele Michelangelo, which came highly recommended from Lauren (Andrew’s sister), who had studied abroad in Florence a few years back. It was a bit of a hike to get up there, but the view of the city from the plaza was incredible and well worth the hike.

Steep hike up to Piazzele Michelangelo

Beautiful panoramic shots of the city of Florence

Exploring a garden nearby – he loves me and my picture taking.

On our way back down into the city, we stopped by Ponte Vecchio, a well-known arch bridge over the river in Florence, filled with a number of shops and cafes.

Ponte Vecchio

We spent the afternoon doing some shopping at a few of the local markets and then grabbed dinner at a kebab place that was rated very high on Trip Advisor. Pretty delicious. We checked out a few local bars that night before heading home.

All in all we really enjoyed our time in Florence and were able to feel like true “locals”, as we stayed in the city the entire week. Off to our last stop in Italy – going to try and enjoy the pizza and pasta a bit more before leaving this amazing country.

Andrew and I woke up early on a Saturday morning, packed our bags, and said “ciao” to Sorrento. While we loved exploring the southern part of Italy, we were looking forward to our next Italian excursion.

We had planned to rent a car, drive about 4 hours north into the Tuscan region of Italy, and stay in one of the small hill towns for a couple of nights. In order to rent the car, we had to make our way back to Naples. After the 20+ stops on the metro train on the way to Sorrento from Naples a few days prior, we opted for the Express train on our way back, which only had 3 stops. I was a bit under the weather due to the amount of limencello we had at dinner the night before (complimentary from our server!), so I appreciated the route with less stops.

Once arriving in Naples and exiting the train station, we noticed the vast difference between this part of Italy and Sorrento. They are only an hour apart by car or train, but the cities are completely different. Naples is crowded, with lots of graffiti, and there are signs to watch out for pickpockets everywhere. We made our way to the Hertz rental car station and got our car, which turned out to be a Fiat 500XL. We have seen a lot of Fiats around Italy, so we weren’t surprised. It turned out that getting out of Naples was extremely difficult. We couldn’t read any of the signs since they were all in Italian, however, fortunately we were able to make it out of the crowded city all in one piece. We had a great time on the 4 hour drive up to Tuscany, taking in some incredible views and singing along to some great jams.

We had decided the night before we were going to spend two nights in the hill town of Montepulciano, which is in the heart of Tuscany. However, about an hour outside of Montepulciano, sits Civita di Bagnoregio, which is the ultimate Italian hill town. It’s a 2,500-year-old, traffic-free village that is only accessible via a long pedestrian bridge. Andrew had found out about this through some research he did, so we figured it was a site worth the stop, and it definitely did not disappoint.

Civita di Bagnoregio

Inside Civita di Bagnoregio

The view from inside Civita di Bagnoreio

After some pretty heavy rain the last hour of our drive, we arrived to our hotel in Montepulciano around 6ish.

Beautiful rainbow after the rain in Montepulciano

Since this is a small hill town, most of the hotels/B&B’s are family-owned. Upon arriving to our hotel/B&B, there was a small sign that said to press the buzzer and the owner would answer. We called and she said she would come to meet us in about 10-15 minutes. Finally, about 30 minutes later, she arrived, but not with good news. It turns out she had given our room to another guest earlier that day and there was some sort of mix-up on her part. We weren’t quite sure what to do because in this city you can’t really drive around looking for another place to stay. The streets are small and most places don’t look like hotels/B&B’s from the outside. However, she told us that she had reserved a room for us at her friend’s place, yet it was going to be a higher rate. After much back and forth with her, she called her friend and they agreed to let us stay at this new place for the agreed upon rate we had been given for the first place. We checked into the other place, which turned out to have an amazing owner named Roberto, who was an older Italian man from Siena. Roberto made us feel very welcome, albeit the mix-up earlier that day. We ended up going out for an authentic Tuscan, Italian dinner and then calling it an early night as we were tired from the long drive.

We woke up early the next morning and took a walk around the town of Montepulciano. It’s pretty incredible that this entire city sits upon a hill with some incredible views. We enjoyed exploring a bit and even found a great breakfast spot where we got a bite to eat and some cappuccino, which I attempted again, still not a fan.

While we had planned to spend 2 nights in Montepulciano, due to the hotel fiasco, we decided to just spend 1 night. We figured we would spend the next day driving through Tuscany and stay in Siena, stopping at a few wineries along the way. We were in awe at the continued beauty of the countryside. The views were just incredible, greenery everywhere, along with miles and miles of vineyards.

Unfortunately it turns out that most wineries are closed on Sundays, and if they aren’t, they are most likely full if you don’t have a reservation. We stopped by about 4 different family-owned wineries along our drive and they were all either closed or busy for the day with prior appointments. We finally decided to head to the city of Montalcino, not to be confused with the previous Montepulciano. Montalcino is famous for the Brunello di Montalcino wine, which is 100% Sangiovese grapes and aged in the barrel for at least 5 years in the Montalcino region. We ended up doing a tasting and had lunch at this cute wine bar that was within a castle in Montalcino.

View from Montalcino

Exploring the city streets

We then hit the road and continued up to Barone Ricasoli, which is a winery in the Chianti region of Tuscany. It is home to a castle, Castello di Brolio, and is the largest winery in the Chianti Clasico region. In fact, we learned that Baron Bettino Ricasoli invented the Chianti formula over 140 years ago.

Beautiful view driving up to the winery

Excited to try some Chianti wine!

Not excited about this extremely steep hill we had to walk up to get there…

Castello di Brolio

We got a great shot of the castle, but it turns out the actual wine tasting room was back down the hill, so after another 20 minute walk, we enjoyed a great Chianti tasting, before buying a bottle to enjoy later!

Barone Ricasoli

After what seemed like a million twists and turns on the road, we arrived in Siena at Hotel Athena. We were pleasantly surprised at the modern upgrades within the hotel, along with a rooftop bar with incredible views. We walked around the city a bit and then had dinner before heading back to the hotel for the night. When we had checked in, the lady at the front desk gave us 2 free drink tickets for the bar since it was our honeymoon, so we hung out in the inside bar (too cold outside) and played some card games for the rest of the night.

Such a gentleman – he offered to carry both of our bags into the hotel

The main plaza in Siena – Piazza Del Campo

Flags that represented the different districts that race in the Palio di Siena – A very popular horse race, in Siena

After enjoying the complimentary breakfast in our hotel, we packed up our things and headed out. We definitely think we could have spent another couple of nights exploring Siena, but unfortunately we had already planned to be in Florence the next day, so we’ll have to stay longer next time! We’re excited for our extended stay in Florence, where we’ll be staying for an entire week to check out all of the sites and Italian city life in the capital of Italy’s Tuscan region.

So I thought that I would give Allie a break and write this installment of the blog! I’ll do my best to capture as much detail as she does, and who knows, you might even hear from me again in the future.

We arrived in Sorrento after what felt like an eternity. As Allie has mentioned before, I like to arrive early for transportation, so I was able to convince Allie to arrive at the train station an hour before the train. Big mistake. The train ended up arriving 25 minutes late, so I am now resigned to run on her time schedule.

Our train is on the top right…The one with the +25…

In order to get to Sorrento, we had to first take a high-speed train from Rome to Naples, which was easy. It was a 1 hour straight shot on the high speed train, the seats were comfortable and we got to see quite a bit of the country side. Upon arrival in Naples, the scenery quickly changed. We jumped on the local commuter train for the last part of the trip, which, again, happened to be running late. We crammed into the train, taking notice of all the signs posted around us to watch out for pickpockets. Stuffed like sardines into the train, we stood for the 1 hour ride, as I think we joined every tourist in Naples heading towards Sorrento. From the train station we were able to walk to our Airbnb, just about 10 minutes down the road. We were taken aback by the contrast between Rome and now Sorrento. We went from a large metropolitan city to walking through the streets and alleys of a small port town with a population of about 20,000 people. The town sits cliffside, overlooking the ocean and is known for its lemons and limoncello; an alcoholic drink that you typically enjoy at the end of your meal.

Our Airbnb host, Michele, greeted us at our place, which was tucked behind a number of local restaurants and shops in a non-descript alley.

Here’s a look at our spacious Airbnb:

After unloading our stuff, and going for a quick run, we headed to the market to buy groceries. After a number of nights eating out, we wanted to take advantage of a couple home cooked meals since the Airbnb had a decent-sized kitchen. On our first night in Sorrento, we made a chicken curry dish that my sister had made for us during a camping trip. We ended the night watching a marathon of True Detective and passed out early as we were heading to check out the town of Positano the next day.

Allie hit the gym in the morning, while I took the opportunity to play some video games on my phone and do a bit of trip planning. She still finds a way to work out regardless of where we are!  We bought food for breakfast and whipped up a quick meal before heading to the bus station. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about our trip to Positano. The city is regarded as the most picturesque of the whole Amalfi Coast. I had seen pictures and thought that there was probably a lot of hype about the city, which was compounded by the line to wait for the bus. Through our research, we knew that we had to sit on the right side of the bus. In order to do so, we had to skip one bus, which put us at the front of the line for the next bus. Allie was all smiles, me not so much, as we crammed on to the bus and grabbed seats on the right side. The bus pulled out of the station and I quickly realized how wrong I was. There was a smile plastered on my face for the whole ride. It was incredible! Hairpin, 90-degree turns in a 50-person bus, along a sheer cliff, makes for quite the ride. It was like a rollercoaster! The picture below (on the left) is the view from the window of the bus… on the edge of the cliff. If you ever make the trip, this bus ride is a must.

I was once again amazed when we finally stopped and got off the bus. Positano really is a beautiful town. The town is small, and the marina is just a short walk down from where the bus dropped us off. The weather was nice, so we took the opportunity to jump in the water and pass out on the beach for a bit.

After our mid day “siesta”, we decided to explore the town a bit more. Down one of the quiet streets, Allie found a sandal shop. Unfortunately, Allie had broken her sandals a few days earlier in Rome. I found it extremely convenient that she “happened” to find a shop that made custom-fit sandals in Positano. She spent a bit of time talking with the owner, who fitted her and asked us to come back in 15 minutes, when he would have her sandals ready.

The shop owner working on Allie’s new sandals:

For the return trip to Sorrento, we decided to take a water taxi. The boat only took 35 minutes, compared to the 1 hour bus ride. The trip would also take us right by Capri, which we wanted to see since we did not have the time to visit it. The ride provided incredible views as we exited Positano and came back into Sorrento.

Allie had noticed that the hotel down the street from us advertised a rooftop terrace, so we decided to grab a drink there before heading out for dinner that night. The terrace provided an incredible view of the ocean and a pretty spectacular sunset. Nothing could compare to the sunsets in Santorini, but it was a nice way to end the day.

After my Old Fashioned and Allie’s overly-sweet vodka drink, we headed out for dinner. The dinner was one of the best authentic meals we have had in Italy, thus far. Ristorante Da Gigino is down a side street and was packed with locals and tourists. We ordered a 4-cheese pizza, pasta bolognese and two desserts. The pizza and pasta were excellent, but the desserts were underwhelming. Don’t worry, we made sure not to waste any food and finished both desserts. We finished the night walking through the open street markets.

Again, Allie woke up to work out. This time, she convinced me to join her on a 3 mile “jaunt” through the city. It was nice to see the city getting ready for the day. The burning sensation in my lungs and legs, not so much. After the run, we made our way back to the train station and headed over to Pompeii. After our colosseum tour in Rome, I was really excited about the tour in Pompeii. We booked a walking tour through Mondo Guides and our tour guide, Carmine, was awesome. He did a great job detailing the history of the city and bringing to life the ruins in front of us.

A bit of history for those that don’t know…The city of Pompeii was buried in 20 feet of ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. The volcanic ash was propelled 18 miles into the air and over 4 billion tons of ash was produced. There was so much ash created that the coastline actually moved out 2KM, and apparently Pompeii used to be a port city. The only account of the eruption was captured by Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the event from the other side of the bay. Funny enough, Carmine had heard of the beer, Pliny the Younger, made by Russian River in California. It was surreal to walk through the sites and hear the stories I had read about in high school.

Sewage was discarded in the street, so elevated stepping stones were laid for people to walk over the river of sewage:

As we moved through the city, Carmine made sure to point out street names and interesting facts. As we crossed one of the streets, Carmine pointed to a picture near the top of a column. The picture showed two individuals carrying an item, which meant that the street was designated for merchants to carry products from the port to the city center. In Carmine’s words, “…this was the very first FedEx!”.

“Original” and modern day FedEx:

Mount Vesuvius looming in the background…:

After the tour, we made it to the train station with 2 minutes to spare before the train arrived. However, as usual, the train was late and didn’t show up for another 15 minutes. It seems that even the trains have adopted the casual lifestyle in Italy. Back in Sorrento we had lunch at a place called Fauno Bar, which despite looking like a tourist trap, provided a delicious and reasonably-priced meal. Afterwards, we took the opportunity to stop by Raki, a local gelateria, to grab the best gelato we had to date.

Most of Friday was spent indoors. A large thunderstorm had moved into the city and we were rained in for a good part of the day. It worked out great as we had the opportunity to finalize some travel plans. It also allowed us to mentally prepare for the marathon meal we would be having later that evening. Allie had made us reservations at Il Buco, a highly recommended, Michelin star restaurant in Sorrento. 8PM rolled around and we made our way to the restaurant. We were quickly seated inside and met our waiter for the evening, Ivan. We decided on the 8 course meal titled “I trust you”, where the chef creates dishes based on your likes and dislikes. To say the food was great is an understatement. The service was amazing and we had a blast. Ivan was an amazing waiter and even brought us a small pitcher of limoncello, on the house. We had such a good time, that almost 5 hours later, we closed down the restaurant.

Our awesome waiter Ivan!

On our walk home, we walked by a piano bar called Filou Club, and Allie convinced me we should “check it out”. After convincing the bouncer to let us in, we walked into one of the best bar/lounges of the whole trip. They played a mix of different songs and the whole place was up and dancing. It appeared that we were the only non-local people in the place. After a round of drinks, and a good amount of dancing, we decided to call it a night. An early day awaited us for our drive into Tuscan wine country!

 

Leaving Santorini was tough, but we were looking forward to spending the next 3 weeks exploring Italy. Andrew had never been to Italy and I had only been once; 10 years ago during a stopover on a Mediterranean cruise with my family. The first city on our Italian adventure was Rome!

Luckily we were able to grab a flight directly from Santorini to Rome. Upon the hotel’s recommendation, we got to the 1-terminal airport in Santorini with plenty of time to spare, so we grabbed a quick lunch at a nearby cafe before our 2 hour flight to Rome. The airport in Rome is about 30 minutes outside of the main city, so we were able to hop on the local train, which dropped us off about 5 minutes from our hostel. As we were walking along the streets to our hostel, we weren’t too keen on the area, as it didn’t appear that there was much around, but it ended up working out since we were located close to the Metro/Train station.

Our room at the hostel had 4 beds in it and we lucked out with some great roommates for a majority of our stay. We stayed with a girl from Portland who was finishing up 7 weeks traveling abroad on her own, as well as a guy from Perth (Australia), who was finishing up 5 months traveling abroad on his own. It was great to exchange a few stories with them throughout our stay.

On our first night in Rome we decided to go get some local Italian food and then went on a mission to find what we read was one of the best gelato places in Rome. We figured both of these excursions were appropriate for our first night in Italy. The gelato place we ventured out to was called Via dei Gracchi and we thought it was pretty good. It turned out to be close to Vatican City, so we walked over and caught a great shot of St. Peter’s Basilica before it started to rain pretty hard, thus sending us home for the night.

St. Peter’s Basilica

One of the advantages of staying in this hostel was the free breakfast included with every morning of our stay. The coupon was for a coffee and pastry at a nearby cafe. We ended up going to try it out. While it was delicious, the large pastry was a bit too sweet for both Andrew and I that early in the morning, so it ended up being the only morning where we had breakfast at that cafe. As most people know, I don’t even like coffee, but figured “when in Rome” I should attempt a cappuccino. Still not a fan.

We had gone to the market the day before to pick up a few things for lunches, so we packed a lunch and headed out for the day to explore the city on our own. We spent the morning walking the streets of Rome before making it to the Trevi Fountain. I had visited this fountain years back when coming to Rome with my family, but the fountain had been drained for restoration, so I had never seen it filled with water. We managed to get some good shots of the iconic fountain and made a couple wishes as we tossed the coins into the water!

Walking along the streets of Rome…

The Trevi Fountain

We found a spot to enjoy our lunch and then ended up walking over to the Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna. We were told that the steps had gone through a renovation project that took place over the entire summer, and they had only opened them up to the general public a few days prior to our visit. We felt fortunate to be one of the first to check out the renovated steps!

The Spanish Steps

We then checked out a few other sites and walked along the bridge over the Tiber River.

Piazza del Popolo

Walking over the Tiber River

We had been told the Trastevere neighborhood had some great authentic Italian food, so we wanted to explore the area and find a good place for dinner. We were pretty hungry by the time we headed out to dinner, however, we ended up getting a bit held up. First we had some issues with the ATM and our banks (all good now), and then as we were walking through the station to get to the Trastevere bus, my sandal completely broke so we had to go back to our hostel so I could change shoes. Needless to say, we were both a bit “hangry” at this point, but luckily we ended up finally making it out there. We found a pretty authentic Italian restaurant that had some live entertainment and was very busy for 10pm on a Sunday evening. We were surprised at how many young kids stay out with their parents for these long dinners, even on school nights. Very different traditions here, which is always interesting to see. Dinner turned out to be very enjoyable and we headed back to our hostel shortly after since we we wanted to get some sleep before our full day tour the next day.

The next morning we had signed up for a full day tour of Rome, which was going to take us by all of the major sites in about 8 hours. We did the tour through the company Walks of Italy and it turned out to be a very good and informative tour, minus the bit of rain we got in the morning. We learned a lot of Roman history and saw some pretty incredible sites throughout the day. We spent the morning checking out the Colosseum, Forum, and the Pantheon, and even made a stop at one of the local gelateria’s for some delicious gelato. After breaking for lunch, we spent the afternoon checking out Vatican City, which for those that may be unaware, is technically a separate state that is not a part of Italy. We were able to check out the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel with our tour, and then once the tour ended we checked out St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Colosseum – Andrew’s favorite site in Rome

Our tour guide told us we were in for a treat on this day because we were able to walk in the entrance where the actual gladiators exited when they held the fights here years ago. Apparently this entrance is usually closed off, but they open it to specific tour groups on certain days, and luckily we had come on one of those days!

What used to be the actual seats in the stadium:

The “floor” of the Colosseum, which used to be underground and was where all the gladiators/prisoners were held before their fights:

Panoramic Shot inside the Colosseum

Panoramic Shot of the Roman Forum (Ancient Ruins)

The Pantheon – Church

Inside the Pantheon – Incredible dome at the top

Piazza Navona

Entrance to the Vatican Museum – Marks the point between Italy and Vatican City

We’re official!

Inside the Vatican Museum – Showcased a number of artists’ works including Raphael and Michelangelo

Hey, I recognize that paining – On our ticket! It depicts Plato and Aristotle as the central figures:

Unfortunately pictures aren’t allowed in the Sistine Chapel, but it was pretty incredible to see one of the most famous “frescoes” in the world.

 

Before entering St. Peter’s Basilica, we were reminded that Pope Francis (unexpectedly) had declared 2016 a holy year, so the holy door remained open at the entrance, when it is usually shut. We were able to walk through the holy door on our way into the beautiful church.

St. Peter’s Basilica

Holy Door:

Inside:

Guards outside of St. Peter’s Basilica, I told Andrew he needs to get a similar outfit:

We were pretty exhausted from our tour, but before heading back to our hostel, we stopped at a local cafe for some IPA (which Andrew was craving) and a delicious meat/cheese plate.

Overall we were able to see A LOT in a short amount of time, and loved that we bypassed all of the lines since we were part of an official tour group. We definitely recommend doing a guided tour if you come to Rome to check out the sites, as the lines get quite long. We waited about 15 minutes to get into the Vatican Museum, but the regular line to get in was about 2-3 hours long!

While we have enjoyed exploring the historic city of Rome the past few days, we are ready to head to our next city in Italy! Ciao!

ATHENS

We were sad to say goodbye to Park & Lauren, but were looking forward to the next country on our trip: Greece! This was especially exciting because it was going to be the first place on our trip that neither Andrew, nor I, had ever been to. Before spending a majority of our time in Greece on the island of Santorini, we decided to spend one night in Athens to check out the city a bit.

Since we were only going to be spending one night in Athens, we got a hostel for the night, which turned out to only have 3 beds inside, so it worked out well. Our 3rd roommate was a girl from Australia, who was also traveling for an extended amount of time. She had just come back from spending a few weeks in the Greek islands, so she gave us some great tips for our future travels out to Santorini.

We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in Athens checking out the Acropolis, where we got some great pictures of the ancient ruins, as well as some great city shots.

Athens Hostel

Acropolis

 

Panoramic View of Athens from the Acropolis

The Parthenon at the Acropolis

Andrew and I in front of the Parthenon

View of the Acropolis 

After checking out the Acropolis, we went to dinner at a local, family-run restaurant called Smile Restaurant. The owner was a lady who worked there with her son and daughter, and you immediately felt like part of her family once you sat down. We had a wonderful time enjoying some delicious Greek food, while talking with the owner a bit about Santorini and her 31 years spent in Athens.  Later that night we went to a roof top bar, which unfortunately I can’t remember the name of, but had a couple of drinks before heading back to our hostel for the night.

After enjoying our complimentary breakfast at the hostel the next morning, we hopped on the train to head back to the airport. There are 2 ways to get to Santorini from Athens, either by ferry or by plane. For the ferry, you have 2 options, a high-speed ferry (about 5 hours), or a standard ferry (about 8 hours). After hearing of the potential “rough rides” some encounter on the ferries, we decided to opt for the 30 minute flight instead. This was definitely a good decision, as the day we left it turned out to be particularly windy, so the ferry might have been a rough ride.

Goodbye Athens!

SANTORINI

After a quick and easy flight, we landed in Santorini on a Tuesday afternoon. We were looking forward to our 4 night stay on the island since this was our first hotel stay, and we were treating this as our official “honeymoon stay”. As we exited the airport, we were greeted by a man holding my name and our hotel name on a sign.

The Mercedes van that picked us up was full of about 20 people going to various hotels around the island. We were anxious and excited to get to our hotel, and the feelings only increased during that 30 minute ride since we were the very last people to be dropped off. Well, it was definitely worth the wait. We pulled up to our hotel, which had a STUNNING view of the ocean and the entire caldera, which is lined with the white buildings you see on the cliffs in numerous pictures of Santorini.

Our Hotel – Absolute Bliss (Perfect name)

View from our hotel

Upon arriving, the girl that worked the front desk, Penny, took us to our room and gave us a very detailed and thorough explanation of how everything worked, including the private jacuzzi on our balcony and the complimentary breakfast menu. The customer service here, from the front desk, to the cleaning staff, to the room service was absolutely wonderful.

Complimentary Breakfast Menu we filled out every morning – So many options!

Our hotel was located in Imerovigli, a small town located in the middle of the island, which was in between Fira (30 minute walk) and Oia (2.5 hour walk). Fira & Oia are the 2 main cities in Santorini, however, Imerovigli had a number of hotels and restaurants as well. After dropping our stuff off, we decided to walk over to Fira to check out the town.

Not a bad walk when this is your view…

We ended up finding a local gym that charged us only 20 euros each (approximately $22) to use the gym for the entire week we were there. For the next few mornings, Andrew and I would wake up and start our day off with this beautiful walk, get in a workout at the gym, and walk back to the hotel before starting our day.

One of the things Penny had showed us when running through the details of our room was the extensive room service menu, which included food that came from the hotel’s restaurant. We decided to take advantage of this on our first night. The food was delicious and while we wanted to sit outside to enjoy the sunset, it was a bit too chilly, so we got in one quick picture before moving the food inside to enjoy.

The next morning we received our breakfast, which we were able to enjoy on our private balcony since it was warmer than the night before. The view from our balcony was just incredible and we enjoyed breakfast here every morning after our workouts.

Andrew enjoying the view

The majority of the day was spent doing this…

After enjoying some sun by our pool, we decided to head into town to get some lunch. We captured some more pictures along the beautiful path from Imerovigli to Fira.

Panoramic View

Unfortunately I had also accumulated a number of bug bites from a combination of Munich and Athens (about 60 bites in total!), so we were able to head to the local pharmacy before dinner and get some itch crème to assist in healing them. Not fun.

One of the things that people say Santorini is most known for, is its stunning sunsets. They’re not lying. Every single night we witnessed an incredible sunset, and of course, were able to capture numerous photos to share the beauty. Since I was not feeling the best from all the bug bites, we decided to have dinner delivered to our room again after enjoying another beautiful sunset.

We spent the next morning just lounging around the hotel, as we had planned a sunset dinner sailboat cruise for the late afternoon/evening. It was a 5 hour excursion where we set sail on the sea and explored a few different areas, including hot (really just warm) springs, white & red sand beaches, and got a completely unobstructed view of the sunset that night. We stopped a few times and were able to go out in the water and swim around a bit. We also met another couple who were on their “babymoon” and lived in San Francisco, so we enjoyed talking with them. We had a great and relaxing time and highly recommend this if you’re ever in Santorini.

Amoudi Bay – Where we set sail from

Dreamcatcher – Our ride!

And we’re off!

Enjoying some wine and the view

Red Sand Beaches

Another beautiful sunset

On our walks to Fira every morning we noticed multiple cruise ships docked. Santorini is a major stop for numerous cruises and one of the locals told us sometimes there is up to 6 or 7 cruise ships a day in the middle of summer. The people coming from the cruise ship have 3 options to get up the hills of Santorini: Cable car, Walk, or Ride the Donkeys! We got a quick picture with a few of the donkeys heading down to pick people up!

We wanted to spend the next day checking out the other side of the island, Oia, so we decided to rent an ATV for the day. It was about a 20 minute ATV ride to Oia, along a very windy road. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous at first, but it ended up being a wonderful way to explore the island. Andrew drove the windy roads, but I drove a bit while we were in town.

The view from the city of Oia

Not a bad lunch view

While walking along the shops, we noticed this place where you could get a “greek pedicure”. It turns out that you put your feet in water and numerous fish (with no teeth) eat away the dead skin on your feet! Andrew wasn’t feeling up to putting his feet in a tub of water with a bunch of fish, but a nice lady let me take a picture of her getting it done. She said it felt very weird!

After having lunch and checking out the shops in Oia, we headed to one of the local wineries, Domaine Sigalas, to enjoy a tasting. Andrew offered to drive back, so I enjoyed most of the tasting. 🙂

Another picture from the top of our hotel…just because.

This was the walk within our hotel to our room, stunning views all around.

We spent our last night in Santorini enjoying a wonderful dinner at a local place called Mezzo, which came highly recommended from a few different articles we had read. The food was delicious and the sunset views were perfect for our last night.

Came back to our room to find this nice surprise from our hotel on our last night:

My lovely husband (who thoroughly enjoyed the hotel robes)

Andrew and I agreed that Santorini was probably one of the most beautiful places we both had ever been to. The views were incredible, the sunsets were stunning, and it was the perfect place to relax for a few days. We were definitely sad to leave (hence I didn’t get out of bed until 11:30AM or so), but felt fortunate to experience 5 days in complete paradise.