Remembering Italia

3 years ago today, Brad and I went on our honeymoon.  His parents drove us to St. Louis, we hopped a plane to New York, and then took off for Rome.  We toured the Vatican, went through St. Peter's Basilica, and saw the Sistine Chapel.  We also toured the Colosseum which was totally awesome.  Oh, and the Pantheon.

St. Peter's Basilica

The Vatican

Colosseum

From Rome, we took a very large bus to Pisa.  I think our 2 hours there was one of the highlights from the 7-day trip.

Pisa

From Pisa, we traveled to Florence.  I got to try on a $1000 leather jacket, we stayed in a ritzy Hilton, and saw the biggest building I have ever and probably will ever see in my life: Il Duomo.  We also got to see the statue of David (he had very large hands... hehe).

Here's a better picture of the sheer size that I couldn't capture from the ground:  Duomo

After Florence was a stop in Verona, probably the one part of the trip we could have done without.  We saw Juliet's balcony, and that was pretty much it...

Juliet's Balcony

But, being in Verona meant we were one bus-ride closer to Venice!  Venice was probably my favorite (I think Brad may have liked Rome better).  No cars - just boats.  We walked from one side of Venice to the other.  Walked across the Bridge of Sighs, took a gondola ride (at high noon... with strangers...), went through St. Marks Basilica and St. Marks Square, ate lots of gelato, and took an amazing boat ride to the island of Burano.

Bridge of Sighs

St. Mark's Square

Gondola

Burano

Then, it was back to Rome!  We went to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.

Trevi Fountain

It was such an amazing experience to go to Italy (and to leave our cell phones and computers behind).  Here are some more pictures that I posted to Shutterfly a while back:  http://tregnagofamily.shutterfly.com/italy

Here are tips if you decide to make the trek:

1) Everything in Rome is big.  And old.  Except the people.

2) Pisa will knock your socks off.  When they say hold on to your purse when you walk in the gates, they mean it.  Your jaw will drop and you'll be so in awe that people will pick your pockets without you even knowing. (Don't worry, didn't happen to us)

3) Verona.  Eh.

4) Florence - il Duomo was incredible.  Absolutely incredible.

5) Venice - Absolutely must go to Burano.  Quiet fisherman island where everyone goes to bed at 8 and you're able to walk around in complete peace.

6) If you go to Italy, learn all the words to Valore first.  We sang that song with our tour group about a million times.  It was awesome.