Tuscany awaits

Although Rome would be vacation enough, there was still much more to see. It was on to the rolling hillsides of Tuscanny. The fast train to Florence was a nice opportunity to put our feet up and relax for a moment after all that walking. We reminisced about the many places we had seen in the past 48 hours and read up on what was yet to come as we took in the Italian countryside. Upon our arrival in Florence we met Marco's family at the airport and headed to a tiny town called Loro Ciuffena to check in to our hotel. Quaint little place! Old as the hills too! It was a totally refurbished flour mill with a very interesting history.
Our balcony opened up over a rushing waterfall which lulled us all to sleep each night. The dinners they served us there were four-course masterpieces, each one...(yea, those 5 pounds weren't JUST the pizza and GelatoMarco couldn't get enough of the meats and cheeses! They sure know how to do them over there!
The presentation was always nice too.
Gnocchi al Pesto, another of Marco's favorites! I have even endeavored this one at home. REALLY tasty if you have ALL day to spend making homemade Gnocchi. I'm sure it'll take less time as I get more experience though, right???!

).Swan Pastry for dessert, too cute to eat...almost!
Other than the TINY closet of a shower, the place was plenty spacious for all 7 of us to retire to at the end of our sight-seeing days. We made plans to see Siena in the morning and laid our weary heads to bed.
On our way out we wandered first through the coblestone streets of Loro Ciuffena.
It felt like stepping back in time many centuries and I loved it! The church bells rang in the Sabbath morning but the artwork in the church made you think twice about wanting to worship there.... Sorry, we didn't think snapping a picture was appropriate, but trust me, weird!
I adored the colorful clock tower, the pastries, the arches, the smells and the buildings. I's say the people except that there weren't any out on a Sunday morning...even the church was empty. After filling up on tasty pastries we headed to Siena, our first Tuscan destination of many.
Trying to find a place to park our enourmous van proved to be a difficulty which you will continue to hear about but once we got our feet on the ground we were set!
Siena has 2 large cathedrals, Marco is seen here in front of the 'lesser' cathedral, but I liked that it wasn't so over-the-top as so many are. The duomo here has to be one of my favorites as far as Catholic churches go. The marble was black and white striped with pink accents and that made it much more to look at than just cold stone walls.
The stained glass was gorgeous as well, the oldest piece of stained glass in all of Italy! After touring the domed-church itself we visited the neighboring museum, baptistry and crypt where we took in art work from the likes of Donatello and Ghiberti.

As we exited our tour of the church we stumbled on Via del Poggio, a rather endearing find!
So we stopped to grab a bite there before heading on the the Piazza del Campo.
Because of the Piazza's downward slope, fountains and twice-annual horse races 'il campo' is known as one of the finest squares in Italy. What I thought was the FINEST was my first taste of Gelato and strolling these ancient alleys w/ my sweetheart!!

Roma Part II

We woke up on day 2 in Italy to the sweet smell of freshly baking bread from the bakery across the street. Ahhh, we were in the right place! We slept like babies after having been awake for 2 days straight and we were SO ready to take on all the sights Rome had to offer. The sun was shining and the weather was so warm we felt like spring was in full bloom. The oranges were just begging to be picked from the trees that lined the streets but we had more important things to do.
First stop... the Presidential Palace, I guess.
It was amazing how many impressive monuments you would stumble upon while making your way somewhere else. We hadn't put this on our list of must-sees but we enjoyed running into it just the same.
There wasn't nearly the pomp and circumstance around this palace as we saw a few years back at Buckingham, but the guards were cool (decidedly Roman) and the building impressive.
Next, I just LOVE the streets in Italy.
You could be anywhere and there are rich colors and fun archways and winding little alleys that are so eye-pleasing.
Finally, we got to where we had been heading all along, the Trevi Fountain!!
Oh, my, Goodness. This fountain is AMAZING. Funny, I kept looking for fabulous fountains the night before, and we found many that were cool but this one takes the cake! We tossed our coins in to ensure a return visit and just sat there and admired the art work that was bubbling before us. Of all the magnificent things I saw in Rome, this was probably my favorite. We came back here later in the day to enjoy a Gelato, but that is another story.
We wound our way through the ancient streets to the Pantheon and just as I was saying, 'we ought to be close' the buildings broke and we were nearly attacked by this ancient pagan temple.
It seemed to have come out of nowhere!
We had to take in the little accordion players and the fountains and the carriages before we could even enter in, but once we got in there, what a sight to see!
Marco couldn't believe the occulus was really just left open to the elements.
He was sure it had a hidden door like the indoor stadiums of today, but no. ;) This structure has stood since before the time of Christ so I would say it does just fine w/ that hole there, wouldn't you?
We visited Raphael's Tomb and admired the massive brass doors wondering HOW they managed to move them to close this place up at night...let alone how they made them and hung them thousands of years ago w/o machinery!

Piazza Navona was next on our list and we LOVED the feel there! Musicians, artists, tourists, fountains, sculptures and the warm sun!
We brought back a piece of the Piazza with us from this artist, Salvatore Cosso, and then we headed to the oldest Roman market to get ourselves some of the BEST Italian pizza in the world! The bakery was teeming w/ locals, so we knew we were in the right place! In the states I can't handle pizza more than once or twice a month, it is just too greasy and too heavy. Over there, though, we had some style of pizza most days and I loved it! I gained almost 5 pounds over there...but I am SURE that was because of the baby and NOT the pizza, right??!! Or maybe it was the Gelato, either way, it was well worth it!
All that we had time left for in Roma was a stroll back to our hotel to get our bags before catching the train to Firenze. Fortunately, we ran into the Vittorio Emmanuel monument, even w/ the scaffolding it was quite a sight to see.
Ohhhhh, how sad to go. There is so much to take in in a place like Rome. We loved our time there, though, and were excited for our next adventure in Tuscany.

Roma 2010

Ok, I don't know how to really blog this, there are too many pictures and details to put it all here, but here are a few of the highlights.
Marco and I flew into Rome, Italy and there was no rest for the weary. After more than 15 hours of travelling (w/o being able to sleep on the plane) we hit the ground running! We landed at 7:30 a.m. and after leaving our bags at the hotel headed right to the Vatican (so you'll know why we look SO tired, we were).
St. Peter's Basilica is absolutely monstrous in size!!
Holy cow! I mean, forget the fact that it is world's most famous church, and that we have all seen it in the news over the decades for various Catholic occasions; it is just gigantic.
You walk in and as you look up and around you have to try to catch your breath. I have no nice pictures of the interior. I mean it is dark in there and no amount of flash from any sort of camera I would every own would have thrown enough light on the subject to make a good picture. Wow! Marco put it well into perspective when he mentioned that you could fit, like, four of our temples inside this humongous structure. Yea, it's big.
My favorite part about it was being able to see the famous Pieta sculpture, inspiring! It is safe behind glass ever since some crazy tried to take a hammer to it, but it was great to see just the same. Sorry, the picture doesn't do it justice.
Also in Vatican City is the Museo Vaticani which would have been a great place to spend a whole day if you had the time and if you loved art and if you hadn't been travelling for the past 15 hours! (approaching the great chapel)
Marco and I walked through and enjoyed it all quickly, but we were really interested in the Sistine Chapel and it's great paintings. It was a bit of a maze to get there, but once inside, WOW! Sorry, pictures aren't allowed in there and there were Vatican Gaurds all around to reinforce that, but you all know what it looks like. The ceiling was gorgeous! I love Michaelangelo's use of blues and reds as he tells the story of the bible from creation to Noah to Jonah and so much more. (after we soaked up all of Michaelangel's ceiling glory)
Between the museums of the Vatican and the Basilica we had passed several hours and we were ready for some Italian fare!!! Marco still cries when he sees pictures of the Italian food...if only we could have brought THAT back with us!! Next stop, pizza! They do it so well there!
Even in Marco's extreme exhaustion he could really enjoy the good food. (Thank you Janell for the travel book. Fodor's led us to this local joint which proved to be as reliable a recommendation as all the hotels, sights and restaurants that the book led us to. In fact, that travel book was dubbed 'The bible' by journeys' end.)
With the afternoon before us we headed across town by metro to the ruins of ancient Rome.

First stop, il Coloseo!!
As you come up from the metro stop this huge and ancient structure slaps you in the face in the nicest kind of way. It was SO invigorating.
Marco was all geared up to take on any Gladiators he might find there, as you can tell.
Then the Foro Romano, and the Palatine and Capitoline Hills on either side with ancient temple upon ancient triumphant arch upon ancient senate buildings. (Marco can't resist 'striking a pose', he felt right at home among the 'greats' of Rome)
The names of Marcus Aerelius and Constantine all come to life here and there is WAY to much history to get into on this already lengthy blog!
Very cool though!
OK, I can OBVIOUSLY not do this in any sort of brief manner. Sorry. It was just too dang fun!!
After all that ancient stuff we returned to our hotel to freshen up (we desperately needed it after all that travelling followed by all of that sight-seeing) before making our way to the Spanish Steps where we enjoyed the fountain lit up at night, the night-life and another KILLER meal 'al fresco'! They can make a salad like nobody and the pasta is SO rich!
We were pretty tired by the time we were all fed but we walked our way home past some other famous fountains and then CRASHED as soon as we found our beds. I'll get to the 2nd half of rome another day...and then on to Tuscany!

Catching up

People keep asking if I have blogged our trip yet, I keep putting off posting about Italy because I am SO behind on other posts. So this is my attempt at a quick catch up, hold on tight! (Then, get ready for Italy pics...finally!)
K, so I haven't blogged ALL year appartently because this picture is from a Jazz game in January. We took the kids to their FIRST game and they LOVED it! Arianna was especially 'jazzed' about it as you can probably tell, Enzo was but it is hard to tell since he HATES having his picture taken. A big thanks to some good friends for the great tix!

Next, we had a little pre-olympic tour of Park City with the kids to get us all in the Olympic Spirit.
I am sure we have a good chance of winning the Bobsled race w/ this team.

Next was an unforgettable weekend up in Heber. We hung out with some good friends from Marco's work and watched as the snow kept falling and falling and falling.
Before we knew it we were all snowed in and loving it!
The kids were in love with the simplest things and I loved watching it all unfold.
They were mesmerized by the fire and thrilled at the chance to help stoke it. They loved the dog. They loved all the yummy food and the junk food, even more.
Most of all they loved their time in the snow with Dad!

Arianna lost her second tooth (by now they have both grown in pretty well, but here was the gap).
She keeps hoping that other teeth are loose, but no luck yet.

Our littlest buddy turned TWO!! I think he grew 2 inches while we were away too! He is seeming so grown up all of a sudden (you know, for a 2 year old). He talks up a storm and he keeps up with his big brother and sister in every way possible.
He really likes dinosaurs lately so I made him a dinosaur cake. I am NOT a baker, as many of you already know, so it was a bit of work for a gal like me.
He loved it SOOOOOO much though that it made it all worth it! He kept talking about his 'dino take' all day long, those were even his last words before going to sleep and his first words upon waking. We could have gone w/o gifts and he still would have felt like he had a really grand birthday. Funny what kids end up loving.
So, Happy New Year and Happy Valentines and all that good stuff. In case you haven't heard by now, we're having a GIRL! We are so very excited!!! That means we will be moving our kids' rooms all around in preparation for her arrival. Arianna will take the old nursery and get the blue room she has always wanted. The baby will get her old pink room and my boys will have their long-awaited bunk-beds. Massimo can't WAIT to share a room w/ his big brother; every night after family prayers and scriptures and stories he cries when I take him into his own room. 'Endo's woom' he chants. They are such a darling duo!

Enzo has had a birthday too, just recently, but since it was AFTER our trip I will consider myself caught up for now and get back to you on his big day later.
Phew!

Losing Teeth!

Our little girl is well on her way to becoming a toothless wonder! She has only lost one (which she was VERY anxiously awaiting) but she has two more that are on their way. She lost her first tooth just two days after Christmas and she pulled it out herself! She is just LOVING this! She is busy wiggling her teeth all the time now in hopes of getting another out.
How did she grow up so fast??? Wasn't it just yesterday she really was toothless??
Better put down the broom and just listen, read, play...soak it all in!