i heart italia

tuesday i returned from my trip to italy. it was so incredibly awesome and i had such a fantastic time. the "purpose" (aka excuse) for the trip was attend a wedding in tuscany of some great friends that i used to work with. the first half of the trip was spent at this amazing place, castello di modanella.


i got to stay in this farmhouse, how cool is that? i mean seriously, my dream is to one day own an old stone farmhouse and i was able to pretend that i did for a couple of days.

the first night we were treated to amazing persian chicken made by the groom and his brother-in-law. it was GOOD, like seriously, deliciously good. i learned the secret recipe, but i'd have to kill you if i told you.


the next day was spent on a wine tour of tuscany. we drank lots of delicious wine and ate amazing italian meats and had a delicious lunch made by an italian grandma! it ruled.




that night we had homemade pizza that was made in the pizza ovens in "my" farmhouse. you might have noticed a theme so far: food and wine. my favorite things.



the next day was the big day-the wedding! the ceremony was held at the town hall of luciano. the room was incredible, rounded ceilings and completely covered in paintings.


after the ceremony we returned to the castle to eat, drink and party.



the food was delicious, of course. an 11 course meal and if i had to pick a favorite it would be the ravioli.

during the dinner we snuck up to the bell tower, which was found by a guy at our table. he later looked for the dungeon to no avail. this was the view.

the following day we left and headed for rome. we stayed in an apartment (which is cheaper than a hotel, who knew!) and this was our entryway. it was right near piazza navona and was perfect. i forgot to take pictures of the inside, so these will have to do.
looking towards ths sky.
i got to see my friends who live in rome and they showed us all around, what great hosts. we went to a flea market (porta portese), which was enormous! here they are, trying to open the olives we bought, which were delicious (and check out alex's hip new haircut, she could shave her head and still look good).

i bought some chandelier prisms from garbage bags for one euro each.

we then headed to see the main highlights of the city. the pantheon:



even the floors were amazing.
me at trevi fountain. i threw a coin into it to ensure my return (it worked last time!)



palantine hill


roman forum (read about it, it is awesome)

our last full day we spent mainly at the vatican museum and st. peter's. it is completely surreal, even for the second time around. you can't even grasp the scale of st. peter's, it so is gigantic. the thing you have to keep in mind is that the marble, granite, travertine, etc... that you see was "taken" from all of the historical sites that are now in ruin.





i wish i was still there! (but only if dave could have been there of course)
if you want to see hundreds of additional pictures, click here.