All Roads Lead to Rome

July 29, 2015.Reading time 12 minutes.

Vatican, Rome, Italy, honeymoon in italy, roma, vatican city, pope, sistine chapel, st peters basilica, bernini, michelangelo

Believe it or not it’s finally time to wrap up our tour of Rome and end the honeymoon. And unlike our quick 10 day visit, if we count blog time, you’ve been there for nearly a month so you’re practically a resident. But there’s still so much to see. The Trevi Fountain. The Spanish Steps. The Pope! […]

Are you ready for some ruins?!

July 10, 2015.Reading time 10 minutes.

roma, rome, honeymoon in italy, colosseum, gladiator, ruins, roman forum, vacation, honeymoon,

It’s Day two in Rome and you’ve got a date with a Gladiator in the Colosseum. There are several career paths you’re now husband has mentioned over the years that fit his personality type and high tolerance for pain. Firefighter. Police Officer. Top secret member of the U.S. Army Special Forces or Navy Seal. But a Gladiator? […]

Rome: It’s like Chicago but older

July 6, 2015.Reading time 9 minutes.

Rome, Roma, Coliseum, pantheon, honeymoon in italy, Italy, michelangelo, Roman Forum, visiting rome, rationalist movement, bernini

Today we land in Rome and I must admit this city far exceeded my expectations in the three days we explored it. I was excited for Rome because I knew Matt would be really excited for Rome. Why do you ask? In the short six years we’ve known each other, I’ve come to learn that my new […]

Florence: Day 2: Under the Tuscan Sun

June 27, 2015.Reading time 15 minutes.

Florence, firenze, Italy, honeymoon in italy, honeymoon, wedding, travel, duomo, ponte vecchio, tuscany, la scaletta, palazzo pitti, boboli gardens, renaissance art, michaelangelo, museo de accademia, michaelangelo's david, tuscany, piazza de michaelangelo

It’s Day 2 in Florence and you’re up early and ready to head out for a hike. And even though you packed enough workout clothes for nearly every day of your trip, you find yourself in them for the first time in over a week. You make a mental note to wear less luon when you get […]

Florence: Day 1: A ridiculous amount of renaissance art

June 23, 2015.Reading time 10 minutes.

Today we kick off a two-day tour of Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance, home to Michaelangelo’s “David” and checking the box on everything I expected Tuscany to be. In just an hour or so on a high-speed train we arrived in Florence (Firenze) and made our way from the train station across the Ponte Vecchio bridge to Hotel […]

In search of bolognese

June 16, 2015.Reading time 10 minutes.

Bologna, italy, honeymoon in Italy, San Luca, basilica, bolognese, open markets, porticoes, travel, summer in italy, bolognese food

Today we venture south to Bologna, a medieval looking city with a center that’s more Chicago State Street than Little Italy. Bologna is referred to in a number of ways. La Grassa (the fat one) celebrates the first bolognese sauce that originated in the city. La Dotta (the learned one) refers to the university that […]

Visiting Venice: Day 1

June 10, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

venice, italy, honeymoon in italy, venezia, travel, wedding, canal, bridge

Today you’re off to Venice. Get excited! Wait. Not yet. First you have to get to Chicago. And then Toronto, dontchaknow. Add in a brief stop for Fruhstuck (thanks 4 years of German class) in Frankfurt and you’ve made it. But you’ll get there eventually. And you’ll be pleasantly surprised by both the quality (very good) […]

Oh hello there!

June 7, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

venice, italy, honeymoon in italy, wedding, canal, gondola, summer in venice,

Should we try this again? You know that whole I actually login and write stuff down about what’s going on in our crazy life and you occasionally read it, offer color commentary or just secretly binge read a month’s worth of posts like I do with oh so many bloggers? Truth is its hard to […]

Super Spring Break

April 14, 2015.Reading time 1 minute.

If you couldn’t tell from my overgramming last week, my nephews (and my sister) came to visit us to celebrate their spring break. Unfortunately I spent most of the week at work, but I’m grateful for the afternoons and evenings I spent brushing up on my toilet humor, identifying fire ant hills and avoiding getting […]

Sand Art

November 20, 2014.Reading time 5 minutes.

siesta key crystal classic, sand sculptures, sand castles, siesta key beach, crystal classic, florida, vacation, margaritaville

Before I begin this post I’d like to issue a disclaimer for my readers to the north. Disclaimer: this post references 80-degree weather in November but is in no way intended to be a gloat, brag or the like. I braved enough winters in the Midwest to be empathetic during this time. Please accept my […]