THE NEWLYWEDS GO TO EUROPE 2008!

HELLO EVERYONE!

WELCOME TO THIS "SPECIAL EDITION" OF OUR BLOG: THE NEWLYWEDS GO TO EUROPE 2008!

First, let me start by saying this. If you think I don’t know, I knowwwwww. I know our blog shines ever so brightly that big ol' you-cannot-miss-it-even-if-you-had-a-blindfold-on DORK light upon Yours Truly!! But now comes out the dorky “Martha Stewart” in me. TRAVEL TIP: Send yourself postcards from each vacation you go on– it’s a nice diary of your traveling experiences that await your return home in your mailbox. Great idea, isn’t it ☺

So this whole European Trip started out because our friends, Lindsay & Leon and Justin’s cousin, Kelly all invited us to visit with them in England when they were at our wedding in Vermont last year. WARNING TO ALL: if you invite justin and jen to visit with you just out of sheer politeness or simply as a way to spice up the current conversation with us, watch out, because the next thing you know you’re listening to your doorbell ring & watching this couple (us) park it right at your door step with two big fat smiles on their faces & two big fat pieces of luggage in their hands saying “We’rrrrrrrrre Heeeeeeeeere!!!!!!!!" Actually, I did really well, our luggage didn’t get over packed until the end of the trip - after the shopping I did throughout our travels. And actually, I did really well in that area too I think, didn’t go too crazy as I am known to do at times ☺ .

We were gone for three weeks and our feet sure covered ALOT of ground!! And be it WISHFUL THINKING that all of that walking we were doing on this vacaton (an average 4 miles a day) completely CANCELLED OUT that twice a day indulgence of Hazelnut Gelato I had in Italy over the 8 nights we were there – uh, NOT. But then again one can only hope, right ☺

WITH ALL OF THAT SAID – PLEASE ENJOY THE FOLLOWING BLOG POSTINGS & PHOTO GALLERY LINKS COVERING OUR TRIP TO EUROPE!

ON OUR WAY

So here we are on July 13 at 9:30 pm on a Sunday night – making our way overseas. Mind you I have only flown within the continental U.S., Canada and Mexico. So needless to say I was feeling a bit nervous. No actually – I was not – I was totally fine – swear. But I had justin take this pic because I was cracking myself up! I look at him, and he’s just so chill and SIMPLE – with just his computer bag & iPod. I looked like a flippin’ travel freak – with all the shit I had going on with me in that ridiculousy small and cramped plane seat. I was adorned with my Ipod & wires trailing up to my ears attached to my headphones AND not only did I have the friggin’ POINTLESS hot pink travel pillow I so adamantly NEEDED to go get at Bed, Bath & Beyond just before we left for our trip, but also had my big pillow FROM MY BEDROOM. I also had a book or two, a word search book, oh shit I had everything but our kitchen sink. I had so much shit with me on that plane that the girl next to me said with a smile “well, you look prepared”. OMG it’s cracking me up so bad still thinking about the scene! And, let me just tell you – within just the first TWO minutes of that flight that stupid blow up pillow got deflated and shoved under the seat in front of me (it was horribly uncomfortable), I barely read a page of the book I brought along & the word search never got touched by my pen. Turned out all i needed was my iPod, bedroom pillow & the movie playing on the plane. Now, I feel I need to justify why I would drag along my bedroom pillow with me for 3 weeks across Europe. I had pulled a muscle in my back which was extremely painful & quite severe (visited my doctor for muscle relaxers days before of which I have never done before (by the way they didn’t do squat). anyway, so I couldn’t risk getting my neck & back kinked up while using hotel pillows (which often happens to me). So there :)

ENGLAND: Countryside

THE TRUMAN SHOW GONE ENGLISH??

We arrived in England better then on time, one hour early & were greeted immediately by our friend, Leon, at the Gatwick Airport. He drove us back (on their CRAZY COUNTRY NARROW left-sided driving roads) to where they reside, on this ever so CHARMING English countryside farm. It was truly unreal. 400 acres with a landscape that included: beautiful English gardens with box shaped boxwood bushes & perfectly blooming tall lavender bordering the front entry walkway of the main house & the ever so English looking brick silo bedroom which overlooked the tiniest cutest mini mini pond in the quaint backyard which is home to the coolest grass...almost like astro turf but real of course. i could have sworn this was just The Truman Show: England Version ("jen & justin have arrived, CUE the cows out in the pasture, get all the tiny tiny cars out on the road, come on now, hurry, roll out that vibrant green tough super duper short grass, and fill up that cute little pond next to their castle tower-like bedroom!). it really did look like a movie set – it truly was LOVELY (as the brits say). So prior to our arrival we did not sleep a friggin wink on the plane, so by dinner time our first night we were going on 32 hrs. But that didn’t stop us from having a great time and enjoying everything the countryside of England had to offer and throw our way. We had a delicious dinner yummy yummy it was - really good gourmet food in a super old English pub with ceilings so low i had to scrunch my average to short 5'4" frame down a bit to get into the dining area. No joke. And if we only would have known the food we were going to eat during our 5 nights in England was going to be better then Italy (OMG is that a sin to say!!!! Don’t send me to hell please) then we would have scarfed down an extra meal before we left. Stay tuned for more details on that subject under the Italy posting below. Other things we did while visiting with Lindsay & Leon: visited Rye, one of the very oldest town in all of England, I think. Oh shit, everything over there is old who are we kidding. It was during this part of the trip when I truly came to appreciate the phrase “America is just a baby” - when we would walk the old cobble stone roads and walk into pubs that had signs on it posting something crazy like “Since 1547”. The four of us visited the coast, just about 30 minutes away from their farm. We took a nice hike on the farm grounds, through the fields, over a creek and into the woods. And…… I walked a cow. Yep, you read those words correctly. Lindsay introduced me to her baby, well more like teenager cow, Buddy. He was adorable. And being that I have been wanting a cow, just one cow, all black please, for the last 3 or so years….i was loving Buddy! Although, when you have a ton of cows, like this farm did, the desire to have a cow started to fade a way a bit (they sure do smell like, well how do I put this........SHIT.). BUT, I will continue to hold onto my dream of owning just ONE cow, in hopes and assumption that just one cow wouldn’t set off the Stink-O-Meter like an entire herd of them clearly does ☺ And I know in the pic above it looks as if we are treating Buddy poorly by forcing him to go on a walk, but what it comes down to is this one thing – cows are not that smart. We were doing him a very nice thing by "urging" him to come out of his pen and go on a little walk because due to some good reasons Lindsay explained to me Buddy cannot mingle right now out in the pasture with the other larger cows so he needs to be penned up. Eventually he figured it out and walked out.

JoAnne & Peter…..you guys need one black cow for your land in Vermont. Pleeeeeeeeeease. Come on! We can name him” Hank Jr.” ok!

On our second night Leon, who has been intensely studying Reiki over the last few years (or maybe it’s months), invited justin upstairs while lindsday and I were down in the family room to teach him the basics of Reiki. He specifically told all of us “Uh, yeah, this is not for Justin as much as it is FOR JEN”. Meaning I am the one in this 2-person relationship who probably needs to RELAX! Ha! He couldn’t have hit the nail harder on it’s head. In fact, he crushed the nail with that allusion. So as the two of them make their way upstairs for Justin’s lesson in Reiki – I glance over at Lindsay and say “He’s not going to ask him to take his clothes off is he?” hehehehe, I was ONLY kidding! Leon gave justin a Reiki instructional booklet and I intend to have Justin share his recently learned skills on me soon. Cuz if anything is right here, it’s the fact that I could stand to be de-stressed at times!

Lindsay & Leon, Thank You SO MUCH for your awesome hospitality & the delicious meals. Our stay with you was short but VERY SWEET and truly WONDERFUL. And you can bet on it that we will be visiting again, but for a longer stay of course!!! Not to invite ourselves or anything, but we will ☺ hee hee

Please click on the orange link below to view our PHOTO SLIDESHOW of additional pics from our ENGLAND, COUNTRYSIDE visit

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=cce4pp5d.cc8o3v2d&Uy=-9hurno&Ux=0&UV=852198271404_370880677605

PARIS

SCOOTERS, SCOOTERS, FRENCH KISSING, AND MORE SCOOTERS!

We headed on a train from Headcorn, England (just outside of the farm) making our way for Kelly’s flat. I was waiting for Harry Potter in his orange & black scarf to whip on past us on his flying broom stick just outside the train window. Once we arrived in London, we only had a short amount of time before we left her with our luggage and packed just an overnight bag & headed on the Euro Star for Paris.

Aaaaahhhh…Paris. The city of Romance. Hell yeah it was – I cannot tell you how many couples I saw literally French Kissing, whether it be 12 Noon or 12 Midnight, whether they be 26 yrs. Old or 62 yrs. Old, on the benches overlooking the Seine, at the Eiffel Tower, or at the walk way waiting for the go ahead to cross the street. I was seriously looking around for the Offficiate of the Guinness Book of World Records figuring these people are being timed for some International Contest or something!! It was “SO PARISl! “ I should mention to you, that all of these public displays of affection we often were witnesses to brewed up this tiny thought in my husband’s head: “Jen, So, Like I Want Five Daily Displays of PUBLIC Affection While We Are Here In Paris” Sorry to say, I didn’t meet my given quota…..i am just not used to doing that in front of everyone and whomever in public!!! I’m such a prude, huh!

Our Hotel was beautiful, Hotel Lutetia. The shopping was fun (I got the cutest pair of black flats that I have ever laid my hazel eyes on!). The day we arrived we walked to Notre Dame & hit the street vendors for touristy shopping. And of course, like a big fat Amercian nerd, I got myself a beret. Now, come on, how could one not fork over the measily 5 Euros for one when being in Paris! Plus, doesn’t justin look cute in it? He cracks me up. For dinner we stopped at one of the numerous outside cafes and had dinner (where I was served a mojito with a flipping firework in it!) and watched the people walk by. The second day we walked to the Eiffel Tower & took the elevator to the top. Awesome view, not so awesome crowd (felt like I was in line at Cedar Point, waiting to get on yet again another roller coaster claiming it’s fame of being the biggest, baddest, fastest ever in the world). BUT the line was worth the view and the great memory that will stay with us forever. We took a boat down the Seine, it was a nice chance to check out more architecture & not to mention rest our feet (mine were starving desparately for a rest). The highlight of Paris…..dinner our last night at Maison Blanche (click on the word Design on the home page & check out the 5 pics of the inside, so cool!) www.maison-blanche.fr/maison-blanche-us.html I had chosen this place 4 months in advance and specifically booked one of the few tables that reside right up against the large panes of glass which overlook the city from about 7 stories up. It was a phenomenal view….the food – well lets just put it this way, it was a phenomenal view. ☺ hee hee. Reallly though, it was good, we have just realized that Gourmet FRENCH food is not our favorite (and I like all kinds of food!) – our first time was on our honeymoon in Montreal. That restaurant was called Toque, pronounced Toe-Kay….and we kept saying “Toque was….uh……Okay” ☺ But Maison Blanche, in Paris, I would still recommend it – it was fabulously contemporary, great atmosphere, unbelievable presentation of food, and they had great “Butter Sorbet”. You may ask, what is Butter Sorbet? Well….let me tell you. In between courses we were served this small bowl of something that was orangey yellow in color, and a spoon. So justin says “oh, sorbet!” figuring it was served to us to clean our palate before the next course and he digs right in and immediately whispers to me “uh, yeah, NOT sorbet. It’s butter.” We were cracking up so bad!! I mean HONESTLY, WHO serves butter with a SPOON in between courses like that with NO bread to accompany it.

So just as we finished up dinner the clock ticked 11 pm & we headed to the outside deck and watched the nighttime blue glowing Eiffel Tower turn into the most beautiful hypnotic white sparkles. It sparkles for 10 minutes on the hour every hour at night then turns back to the blue glow. We were greeted with another fabulous view of the sparkling tower when we left the restaurant and walked outside and down a small park like boulevard, where both sides were lined with big green trees & no one else to be found except for justin, me…..and the Tower, smack dab center in front of us. What a sight. It was just fabulous – and I never really cared much about the Eiffel Tower, but there is something about being in Paris, walking hand in hand in the evening with your husband and having that kind of view. Again, can I just say, and with a big fat grateful smile, “Paris is So Paris” ☺ We topped of the romantic evening with a champagne toast in our hotel’s piano bar.


Please click on the orange link below to view our PHOTO SLIDESHOW of additional pics from our PARIS visit

www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=cce4pp5d.8r9d4ixx&Uy=epbdtc&Ux=0&UV=940086420719_727867677605

ENGLAND: London

ANNNNNND, WHERE'S GWYNETH?

We took the Euro Star, through the Chunnel, and headed back to London to visit with Kelly for 3 nights in her fabulous flat. When Lindsay spent the night with us she informed Justin and I that it’s pretty much unheard of to have such a large flat AND also with the beautiful rooftop terrace. It really was awesome. Our first night, The three of us took one of those cute London cabs to the Theater to see the Play, The Lord of the Rings. Kelly’s friend David met us for the play and Lindsay & Leon took the train in from Headcorn and joined us as well. The play was wonderful!!! And we had the best seats in the house I felt, pretty close to being smack dab front and center. I suppose that was a result of me having that detailed planning gene in me – asked Kelly to get the tickets for us well in advance. It was great. AND quite DRAMATIC i must say....we left the theatre wanting to talk in a theatrical shouting-like tone the rest of the evening, as Lindsay belted out while throwing her fist in the air "STEER FORWARRRRRRRD ONTO THE RESTARAUNNNNNT!". We all headed to Asia De Cuba for a late dinner after the play. This is Kelly’s stomping grounds & it was fabulous. Very Chic & Extremely Hip & Cool! They have one in NYC I believe. This leads me to my favorite part about Europe….you can actually order just a GLASS of Champagne! Hello – that is all I ever ordered during this entire 3-wk. vacation. I am picturing it now, like a movie where all the best clips are edited into one long string for viewing….and all it is is me sitting at a table at each restaurant we ever went to during this vacation, of course in each super quick flash of a clip I am wearing a different outfit & my hair may be up in some of the clips & or down in others, but I’m always saying the SAME EXACT THING to the waiter “yes, I’d like a glass of Champagne please, thank you!” The States need to get on board, what’s this “only the entire bottle can be ordered”. Whatever. I suppose in large cities like NY this may be possible, but not here in T-town.

Other things we did while in London visiting with Kelly: Dinner at a Morrocan restaurant where it was very dark, very hot, and very cool! We sat couch-like cushions, pretty low to the ground and a belly dancer entertained us mid-way through the evening. The food was just as great as the unique atmosphere. We enjoyed the Saturday market and got our fill on the best cheeses, balsamic vinegar, breads, tomatoes and lamb burgers. Yum. Walked to The Eye, opted out of the line to get on though….the Eiffel Tower line killed it for us. Did a “walk by” of the Buckingham Palace en route to Hyde Park where we enjoyed a picnic in the park with Kelly & David, all the goodies we purchased at the Market that morning. This is also where I was searching high and low to see someone like Gweneth Paltrow, Madonna or Gwen Steffani, you see I am an avid reader of the People and US Magazines, in fact they are mailed to my home each and every week. But no such luck, they were nowhere in sight during our entire stay in London. Ha ha. Visited Kelly’s “club” – in London they have these Social Clubs, but they are not like a Country Club is here, they are so much cooler. One late afternoon we took a break from all the walking and sight seeing and chilled outside at a table on the roof at one of her clubs. And guess what I ordered to drink….you got it, I eagerly said to the waiter “Yes, I’d Like A Glass Of Champagne Please, Thank You”.

Kelly, THANK YOU for a wonderful stay in the city & all the dinners & cab rides! You’ve made for a great life in London and we can’t wait to come back again….but for a little longer of a stay, if that’s ok with you! Your flat is awesome, can’t wait some day to see the one you buy. Are my hints making their way from my keyboard to your ears……we want to visit again definitely! hee hee


Please click on the orange link below to view our PHOTO SLIDESHOW of additional pics from our LONDON visit

www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=cce4pp5d.4ne0aqlh&Uy=g07c6j&Ux=0&UV=838482809930_797316777605

IRELAND, Barberstown Castle

WOULD SOMEONE POINT US IN THE DIRECTION OF STRAFFAN PLEASE!!!!!

Oh Ireland. It’s simply beautiful. Vermont’s long lost twin. And oh the joy of driving in the city of Dublin…….NOT. Ireland was the only place during our whole trip where we rented a car....and almost killed each other. In retrospect, it seriously cracks me up so bad! Needless to say, it started out a tad frustrating. Ok, tad? How about more like a Tad TIMES A THOUSAND. BUT, we figured it out and eventually got ourselves the hell out of the Dublin area and on our way to our first destination, Barberstown Castle. We later went back to Dublin but not until our last day there, after we dropped our rental car off, and took a bus into the city (the way to see Dublin, it was a very plush bus, not a city bus, and it only cost us around 4 euros). We spent 3 nights in the Barberstown Castle. When we arrived we were greeted by the castle’s Golden Retreiver “Harvey". Yay! I got my doggy fix! Barberstown Castle was so very very charming & cool. However, we didn’t actually stay in one of the original castle stone walled room. Our suite was really beautiful. And, It turns out its ok we didnt get that original room because when they were giving us a tour of the castle, per our request, (which was very small, not like you would think of when you think castle) they told us one time, in one day, 3 couples went in and RIGHT BACK OUT of Room #10 as quick as you could blink, ha! i guess the stone walls freaked them out…..AND THE SMELL. We can attest to the smell (bordering Stench!!!) that original castle walls emit - it is kind of gross!! we came across this quite a few times when we visited some castle & tower ruins along the way – I kept saying to justin that the smell of all of these old stone walls & ruins, the ones that were enclosed still, reminded me of what old bones or stale blood would smell like – sounds great doesn’t it? They were still so cool!

Please click on the orange link below to view our PHOTO SLIDESHOW of additional pics from our BARBERSTOWN CASTLE visit

www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=cce4pp5d.28haa2bp&Uy=ugdjt2&Ux=0&UV=935355252653_901430877605

IRELAND, Powerscourt Gardens

SHHHH......THE SECRET CEMETARY

The gardens at Powerscourt are probably the finest in Ireland, both for their design and their dramatic setting at the foot of Great Sugar Loaf Mountain. The house and grounds were commissioned in the 1730’s by Richard Wingfield, the 1st Viscount Powerscourt. Now this name, remember it, I’ll bring it up again when talking about one of the highlights of our entire vacation. The gardens fell into decline, but in 1840 the original plan was revived by the 7th Viscount (Richard Wingfield, the 7th Viscount). It is open to the public now for walking the some 300 acres of meticulously cared for gardens. We spent about 3 hours here, walking down all the many paths which took us to a beautiful Japanese garden, an ancient Rose garden where they were in full bloom for us, an old castle watch tower which you could walk up inside to the top, an old family pet cemetery, and now we come to one of our biggest highlights of our trip: the secret & private cementary of the Wingfield family!!!!!!! As the picture above communicates: Shhhhhhhhh, we weren’t supposed to be there really! But technically there was no sign telling us otherwise. So when Justin discovered this tiny skinny not obvious old trail, off the beaten path, our eager & inquisitive selves mosey’d their way down this inconspicuous path where it lead us to a stone wall, but nothing we couldn’t hop over (see above pic, ha ha). Inside the stone walls was a very very old and grown over small private cemetery. It was in the middle of the woods, where only a few of the many trees were generous enough to allow at least a little bit of sunshine down within to peep its way through over the old woods. We read a lot of VERY OLD tombstones dating back as far as the 1600’s and guess whose we came across…..Richard Wingfield, the 7th Viscount Powerscourt! It was SO COOL!!!! There were also some small ruins in this secret cemetary, perhaps a stone walled chapel resided in this spot at one time. The hour we spent in this secret place in the woods was one of our favorite little adventures of our entire trip. If it sounds creepy to any of you – let me, the person who refuses to watch ANY scary movies, tell you it was NOT, it was like walking back in time and to do so in secret like we did was so cool I can’t even tell you! And we were also, of course, very respectful of this particular hide away. This was justin’s favorite part of the whole trip. We snuck back out of the cemetary and continued on with our walks in the gardens, we came across another cemetary...but this was right on the path and it was a Pet Cemetary of all the family generations pets - even including the family cow "Princess" - ha! After we finished walking the gardens at Powerscourt we made our way to Powerscourt Waterfall then off to Glendalough.

Please click on the orange link below to view our PHOTO SLIDESHOW of additional pics from our POWERSCOURT GARDENS visit

www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=cce4pp5d.4y333yat&Uy=igqs8p&Ux=0&UV=53634812822_999328877605

IRELAND, Glendalough

MORE RUINS!

The steep, wooded slopes of Glendanlough (pronounced by the locals “glen-duh-lock”), the “valley of the two lakes”, harbors one of Ireland’s most atmospheric monastic sites. Established by St. Kevin in the 6th century (yeah, SIXTH!!), the settlement was sacked time and again by the Vikings but nevertheless flourished for over 600 years. The age of the few buildings is uncertain, but most date from the 8th to the 12th centuries. This was a great hike leading us to a beautiful untouched lake & ending at some really cool ruin. One ruin noted to be thought of as the oldest church in Ireland. It was really cool – and unfortunately my camera battery died on me when we got to this very last and coolest ruin and just before we headed back home through "Braveheart Road" in the Wicklow Mountains – what a bummer! ☹ So the photo gallery for Glendalough only consists of a few pics.

Please click on the orange link below to view our PHOTO SLIDESHOW of additional pics from our GLENDALOUGH visit

www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=cce4pp5d.bcughov9&Uy=qnelj6&Ux=0&UV=233912216894_271369877605

IRELAND, Wicklow Mountains

WHERE IS WILLIAM WALLACE?

We were really happy we got the rental car come our beautiful drive through the Wicklow Mountains where we made our way back to the castle after a very explorative day out in the Ireland country. They called the road we took from Glendanlough to Straffan “Braveheart Road”. They filmed parts of the movie Braveheart in Wicklow county where we drove – Go Figure right, William Wallace was SCOTTISH Not Irish – but the movie execs must have determined it to be prettier in Ireland. The only thing we were missing on that sunset drive home was the soundtrack playing in the background. It was beautiful and quite resemblant of Vermont. Justin’s grandmother was certainly right in her comparison of Ireland & Vermont – they could be twins ☺ So another episode of "LOST" peeked itself in our car….once the night sky began to fall upon the big beautiful green mountains we were having a hard time finding our way back to the castle. We stopped for some dinner then eventually without straying off the road we were supposed to be on we saw the castle in the distance – ah, “castle sweet castle” – we made it home (after questioning ourselves many times – is this right? I think we were supposed to turn left back there….it was getting stressful again & we were having flashbacks of the day before when we first arrived!).

Go figure, my camera battery died unexpectedly (something was going on, it only held a charge for 4 hours) and i didn't come prepared that day with my back up battery - i was kicking myself!

So Unfortunately no photos to share of our Wicklow Mountain drive.

IRELAND, Dublin

“MY GOODNESS MY GUINNESS”

So before we could take the bus into Dublin we had to go get myself a new piece of luggage. What an annoying thing to happen when you are traveling like that in another country! The zipper was tearing away at the seams and I had no room to risk traveling onto Italy….because I knew I would be shopping there! Luckily, with a suggestion from one of the staff at our hotel, we drove only 5 minutes into a cute little town of Swords and hit up TK Maxx around the corner. Yeah – it was TJ Maxx, same logo and everything but for some reason in Ireland it’s called TK Maxx. So I found a ridiculously large piece of luggage for a good price….and I left my original luggage behind in the room when we left.

After we took care of the luggage ordeal we headed into Dublin and got a dose of the city life in Ireland. We walked all around Dublin, taking in the city sights. We visited Christ Church Cathedral, Trinity College, and of course would it really be a trip to Dublin without chilling out in an Irish pub taking down a tall smooth milkshake-like pint of Guinness – NO! And hence, i have rediscovered Guinness. I forgot what a great stout it is ☺ Though we could have done without the crazy irish speaking guy that wouldn’t stop talking our American ears off…..even the local irish bartender was getting annoyed with him and asked him “where are you from” – he knew it wasn’t Dublin. Turned out it was Belfast. So once I finished my Guinness, we escaped crazy irish man and hit the pavement for more city exploring. We had dinner, per a recommendation from one of the young girls working at the Castle, at a fabulous quaint, super small off the beaten path, Thai restaurant called the Chili Club. Thai in Dublin – it was great! The entire day & evening was great.

Please click on the orange link below to view our PHOTO SLIDESHOW of additional pics from our DUBLIN visit

www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=cce4pp5d.7air5oat&Uy=kf89xt&Ux=0&UV=604046948294_442762977605

ITALY, Florence

"OH BE STILL MY BEATING HEART”

To second what Justin's mom said when we told her we would be going to Florence...."Oh be still my beating heart." Florence was my favorite part of Italy; I absolutely loved it. And given our short stay in Rome where Justin feels he didn't get to really poke around as much as he would have enjoyed, Florence was his favorite part of this trip to Italy. We arrived in Florence, Italy after a brutally early morning flight from Dublin (our wake up call was 3:30 am and as most of you know, justin and I are NOT morning people!). But it was all worth it. Florence was wonderful. I loved Florence personally. And the boutique hotel we stayed in was so charming – it was my favorite out of our entire trip (aside from the castle in Ireland) – Hotel Cellai. Although we were pretty beat from the late night and early wake up call in Dublin we had to kill one hour before we could get into our room because it was not ready so we wandered the streets of Florence with no particular destination in mind and ended up at a cafe, sat outside and ate a lunch (some yummy Macaroni Pesto – warm like macaroni & cheese but pesto instead of the cheese). Then we came back and actually napped a bit. Seems sinful doesn't it, being we were only there for 2 nights! BUT after monsterous days of walking around all over the place in Ireland and taking in the sites we so needed the rest. so, we napped for 3 hours and got up around 7pm refreshed and ready to hit the beautiful florence pavement yet again. We had dinner at outside cafe, delicious gnocci. and for any of those who have not had Italian gelato before – I swear the heavens shine down uponeth it. IT IS Glorious. So could i BE more dramatic about it? hee hee! Hazlenut flavor specifically. I had my dose of heaven almost twice a day while in Italy for the 8 nights. The next day we hit the sights & the market (shopping, yeah!). We saw beautiful squares which were homes to beautiful statues and fountains, beautiful cashmere scarves and ponchos and beautiful Italian leather purses, need I say more? It was fantastic. And to top the day off we had dinner reservations at what turned out to be the best place in all of Italy. My dish was a hand tied pasta that was stuffed with some rare Tuscan cheese and pear – it was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten for dinner! And Justin's dish was fabulous - savory hammered down so flat you'd think it was flatbread, not a chicken dish. This dinner is what i'm talking about! If only all of Italy was like that....

Please click on the orange link below to view our PHOTO SLIDESHOW of additional pics from our FLORENCE visit

www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=cce4pp5d.2tgpazet&Uy=j9pele&Ux=0&UV=610511285899_272506977605