"It's European!!!", jerry seinfeld

(Me and my Boo-Ray!)

Oh, my.
It's been almost a month. Do you have a few minutes???

Jeff and I had a fabulous time on our trip. It was 11 days
of indulgent eating, sight-seeing, and spending some much
needed time together. Alone.

We took almost 100o pictures,
so I'm going to try to pick my favorites and share a few from each day.

MAY 11th & 12th - The Plane Ride and Paris Day 1.
We flew from Detroit to Toronto to Paris.
Our journey started at Noon on May 11th and we arrived in Paris at 7:30 am
on May 12th. We slept a bit on the plane so we conquered this
beautiful city on about 4 hours of sleep.

Highlights of our first day in Paris were the Eiffel Tower,
Arc De Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral,
a boat tour of the Seine River, and learning to
navigate the subway system.


May 13th - Paris, Day 2
Our second day was spent at the Louvre and Orsay Museums. We also put a
lock with our anniversary date on the "Love Bridge", ate some crepes from a street vendor,
and enjoyed a concert at San Chapelle Cathedral.

(inside the Louvre)



May 14th - Milan and Bergamo
We woke up on Saturday morning and flew to Milan, Italy.
Highlights there were the Duomo, eating gelato and deep fried Calzones at Luini's,
and driving to Bergamo - an old Roman city built in the hilltops.

We stayed at a quaint bed & breakfast that night and Jeff was
in HEAVEN because he could finally use his italian. :)
That same night, we met up with Jeff's old mission companion, Elder Russo,
and his family. We visited and went out to dinner - Jeff translated for me the
entire 5 hours!


(waiting in line at Luini's)

(View from our Terrace)

(Anziano Day and Anziano Russo)

May 15th - Bergamo, Verona, and a drive to Venice
We went to church in Bergamo to Elder Russo's ward. What
an experience for me! The sister missionaries, who were VERY elated
to see Americans, translated Relief Society for me, and we even ran
into an elder serving there from our stake.

We had dinner in gorgeous Verona (Romeo & Juliette's town) and then drove to
Venice to spend the night.

(Bergamo)

(the sister missionaries, Elder Guest - blue tie - from Troy Ward, and the bishop's sons)

(Restaurant we had dinner at in Verona)

May 16th - Venice
This was a walking day for us. I put away the cute shoes and traded
them for my running ones.

Venice was beautiful. We stood on the Rialto Bridge, took in St. Mark's Square,
and went to the top of the Campanile Bell Tower. Venice was like a treasure hunt that
was filled with winding streets that would surprise us as to where they would lead.
We'd find a piazza at the end of one and we would follow
the signs to the places we wanted to see.


May 17th - Bologna and Florence
After our day in Venice, we drove half-way to Florence and spent the night in Bologna.
The next morning we finished the drive to Florence - about 2 hours.
Highlights of our 1st day in Florence were the double-decker
tour bus, real Italian pizza, Piazza della Signoria, the Ponte Vecchio bridge,
and the copy of "The David" overlooking the city.

(touring the city from the bus-top!)

(only bridge in Florence the Germans didn't destroy in WWII)

May 18th - Florence, Day 2
Our second day in Florence was spent at the Uffizi Museum in the morning
and the Accademia Gallery in the afternoon where we saw the REAL "David" sculpture by Michelangelo. We also took a bus ride up to a mountain village in
Florence which was beautiful. Other highlights were the Bascilica of Santa Croce where Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, & Rossini are buried and watching Jeff enjoy
seeing quotes & statues of Dante all over the city.

(we ran into the missionaries at the open market)

(the cast of Jersey Shore walked right past us while we were eating dinner,
camera crew & all!)

May 19th - San Guimiano & Siena
As an afterthought, we spent half the day in San Guimiano, which was on our way
to Siena. In the end, it was one of our favorite places. We had a quiet lunch,
went on a little hike, found an old Roman well, climbed a steep 500ft tower,
and took in all of the beautiful buildings.

After lunch, we hopped into our Fiat and drove to Siena, where we climbed the Mangia tower (scary!) & smooched at the top because we were glad we made it alive, snacked on grapes from a fruit stand, and ate dinner in the famous Piazza del Campo.


(Piazza del Campo)


May 20th - Rome Temple Site & Valleluce (Mario's parents hometown)
Both of these spots were sort of on the way to Rome,
so we took 2 detours to see them both. First, we found the spot where
the Rome Temple will be built and finished in 2 years.

From there,we literally hunted for Valleluce - the small, mountain village
where Mario's parents were from. It is so remote that our GPS didn't even
detect it, so it took a few tries to find it. When we finally did,
we pulled into the small town's piazza and there was a funeral going on.
One for Angela DiCicco - a last name that we have done temple
work for. So, basically, the town square was filled with Mario's relatives.
Trying not to disturb the services (when do 2 Americans ever pull up to do some
family history?), we met a little old man named Luigi who gave us some history
and stories about this village for over an hour. Later, after the entire town walked from the church to the cemetery, we went to the cemetery and found some names we were looking for.
An amazing experience, indeed!
We were very thankful, again, for Jeff's ability to speak the language.

(Rome Temple site...not much to see yet!)

(Valleluce)

(Luigi giving Jeff some history to share with Mario)

(Valleluce's church. It's about 1500 years old.)

(We ate dinner at this small restaurant that night and met these 2 sweet ladies.
They had been scrapbooking all day and stopped to make us something to eat.
They also made us a bookmark to remember our trip. They couldn't believe that I scrapbooked, too - which is a hobby that is just starting in Italy.)

May 21st - Rome
Rome was our last city of our trip and we were TIRED.
Highlights of Rome were St. Peter's Square, the Vatican City, The Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain,
Ancient Rome, and the Colleseum. We could have spent a week just here
but we were able to get a little taste of all there was to see and all
of the history this city held.

(The Pantheon)

(Jeff listening to the Rick Steve's tour of the Colleseum. Ha, ha.)

(The last picture I took...taking the subway back to our hotel
where we would leave for the airport in the morning.)

It was a "chance of a lifetime trip"
and a celebration of 20 yrs together. It felt like an end of an era
and a beginning at the same time.

We are so grateful to Scott & Leslie for watching
the kids and for our Hilton & Delta Frequent Flier Miles for making
it possible. :)