The Colors of Rome...

Oh, it's a bittersweet post my friends! Rome was the last place we visited during our two week travels to Europe back in April. It's true...we saved the best for last! So after this post, I guess I'll just have to go on another vacation to share more travel pictures :-). haha.

My favorite things about Rome:

- Meeting up with my sisters (it was the perfect ending to our vacation!)

- The Vatican (there are no words...you could spend days looking at everything!)

- Gelato (if you're ever in the area Old Bridge Gelataria is where you should go--it's right by the vatican and the line was crazy long but if you're pregnant they'll let you go to the front *wink wink)

- Trevi Fountain (eventhough there were tons of people and it was hard to get a good picture...)

- Just walking around Rome was amazing. I just wish it hadn't been so hot...oh my it was blistering.

- Mozzarella di Bufala (this cheese was out of this world...we'd just eat it like an apple as you can see in the photo(s) below ha)

- Visiting the grounds of the future Rome LDS Temple

- The architecture, and the history--nothing beats Rome, Italy.

I will say that by the end of our two days in Rome, I was ready to go home. We were simply exhausted (in the best way possible) and we were ready to see our little girl, sleep in our own bed, take a nice bath and not have to pay for drinking water or using public bathrooms. Oh Europe, until we meet again...

Let's just say this handsome husband of mine is not a huge museum lover...even if it was the Vatican!?!

We visited a family that Josh knew while serving there, where he cooked us a delicious five course meal. I had to laugh because my sisters came along and they thought the first course (spaghetti) was our dinner. Nope, we still had four other courses after that. I thought they were going to die!

below: Pretty excited to taste "THE" cheese...

Below left:  - Paige was willing to give a smooch for a free picture with a "Roman Soldier"--blah.

                    - Josh and I in front of the spanish steps

The future Rome LDS Temple...just in it's beginning stages :-)

Colors of Amalfi...

There are truly no words I could ever use to describe the Almafi Coast...

It's like no place I've ever seen--simply breath taking in every way! 

Almost like a ittle piece of heaven tucked away on the side of a mountain.

Oh how I wish I could go back tomorrow... 

(minus the 15 hour flight, and 2 hour boat ride, and 2 hour bus ride haha...)

***best parts about the Amalfi Coast: the view from our hotel, the HUGE lemons, the scooter ride, the amazing architecture and random little houses built in the mountainside (honestly blows my mind...how do people build these places...)and yep I'll say it again the gelato, oh and did I mention the views?! :-)

leaving me pleasantly surprised...

You know that quote by Julia Glass,  “I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than fatally disappointed.”?! Yeah, neither did I until I came across it the other day...ha...but it goes perfectly with my experience with Napoli! I'll be honest, I didn't have that high of expectations about Napoli, considering people told me it was dirty, scary, and pretty much the armpit of Italy. Hm, awesome!?!

However, Naples was my husband's favorite city back when he served his mission here, and so he of course had to show me his old stomping grounds. Let me tell ya...it's about the furthest thing from glamourous but I can honestly say I loved it!

My favorites/most memorable things about Napoli: Visiting some families Josh knew and having them cook us dinner...their hospitality and their love for their culture was nothing I've ever seen! Napoli  pizza was out of this world (best I had in Italy hands down!). Buying our Naples Nativity  (there's a street FULL of small shops filled with tiny figurines and nativities that they create by hand). Almost getting run over about 9 trillion times. Going to Castel dell'ovo. Just experiencing the true Italian ways of living (clothes hanging out of windows, 3 hour lunch breaks, scooters and taxis going up on sidewalks, illegal vendors running from the police, stray dogs and sweet old men taking strolls).

The City that Stole My Heart....

Okay, so I have to admit...Florence was probably my favorite place we visited. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every place we went; but for some reason Florence just took my breathe away. I loved that it was an artsy city with beautiful things to go and see, but there was also great shopping, great food, and it was clean! 

My favorite things about Florence had to have been engulfing the best gelato(s)--is it sad that that would be the first think I mention?! I Loved walking along Ponte Vecchio (where there are dozens of little shops), and I did splurge on a pair of shoes at my new favorite shoe store. Climbing to the top of the Il Duomo (and boy was that a long climb...especially when you had a lady behind you telling you--in all seriousness--to wait for her just in case she fainted or threw up since she is deathly afraid of heights and small spaces...awesome ha)

Unfortunately, we weren't able to go see the David...that museum was closed, oh well at least I've got a live replica at home *wink wink. I really just loved the ambiance of this beautiful city, it is for sure a place I'd love to go back to some day. 

Sometimes I do things that totally embarrass my husband, not sure exactly what I did or said but I think this was one of those moments (it may have had to do with me asking a couple if they'd like me to take a picture of both of them, but they didn't speak English so I was trying to hand motion what I was trying to say and it was still unsuccessful) ugh oh well, at least he finds me entertaining?!