Italy: Days 3 & 4 - Venice

Venice, ah, Venice. We have very nostalgic memories of this "floating city." It has an enchanting aura about it that is hard to put into words. Definitely the most uniquely characteristic and romantic city we have ever visited. Our first day there we did most of the indoor tourist attractions. We visited St. Mark's Basilica, Doge's Palace, Museo Correr, and spent a lot of time on St. Mark's Square. There are several cafes that line the square and a few of them have orchestras that compete with each other. One of our favorite things we did was sit on St. Mark's Square, sip cappuccinos and listen to the "dueling" orchestras. Especially at night, it was a wonderful experience, rivaling the Bellagio fountain show in Las Vegas. Preston and I actually gave the upper hand to the St. Mark's Square dueling orchestras! We were planning on a gondola ride but we got held up in our hotel room (Hotel Al Piave is wonderful, by the way, especially Claudio) buying a house! By the time the "deal" on the house was agreed upon, the gondaliers had stopped for the night. And the next day it rained literally all day. So we ended up just walking around and exploring the city in the rain. I know, very movie-esque, huh? Even in seemingly miserable conditions, the beauty and charm of this city was amazing. And even though I never got my gondola ride, I don't think I could have loved the city any more.

Here are some of the highlights...

Our first glimpse of the Rialto bridge

The small square next to our hotel

Small canal next to our hotel

St. Mark's Basilica

St. Mark's Square

San Giorgio Maggiore Island

Doge's Palace

More canals with gondolas

Dining canalside night one

One of the orchestras, "dueling" on St. Mark's Square

Accademia Bridge

Building with beautiful frescos

Signing the contract for our house :)

Italy: Day 2 - Verona

Verona is the setting of the story of Romeo and Juliet, made famous by William Shakespeare.


Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene...

We both loved Verona! It was SO beautiful and rich in history. We visited an ancient coliseum and then we walked around and explored the characteristic city, including Juliet's garden and tower and an ancient old castle outside the city walls. Our camera battery ran out about half-way through our day, just as we had climbed to the top of a bell tower with incredible city views. So this is the one city we didn't take a lot of photos. We have all the memories though and we will definitely cherish those. Here are some of the few pictures we were able to take...

This ancient coliseum was pretty amazing.

It was a pretty weird feeling sitting on the same seats as the ancient spectators of the gladiators

Piazza Bra

A beautiful archway in the city

Beverly, a "tour guide" Rick Steves recommended be sought out, was a pretty interesting character. She showed us the "well of love", where lovers come and "lock" their love together.

This was our first encounter with the locks, but we would eventually see them all over Italy, at romantic locations

Beverly was also kind enough to point out the ancient fresco still visible on this building wall. 

And of course, Juliet's courtyard and balcony! Although the earliest version of the story is set in Siena, not Verona, a balcony falsely claiming historical connection to the fictional lovers has become a tourist attraction. And of course we had to see it! Anyone who's seen the recent movie Letters to Juliet will recognize this courtyard.

Preston and I on Juliet's balcony!

Preston rubbing her right breast, rumored to bring good luck. We had to wait in line to get this quick shot!

We climbed to the top of a bell tower overlooking the city

Our one and only shot of the city before our camera died

Italy: Day 1 - Lago di Como

Hello! So I'm finally able to post some pictures of our recent trip to Italy. Each place we went was so beautiful! We took 887 pictures! I'm going to eventually upload them to a photo website for friends and family to view, but I've decided to put some highlights on the blog. And since it's such a daunting task, I'm going to break it down by city and take 1 city a day.

Day 1: Varenna (which is where we stayed when we visited Lake Como, or as the locals call it, Lago di Como)

We flew out of Memphis at 2:00 p.m. on Preston's bday. We changed planes in Atlanta and then departed for Milan at 5:00 p.m. A 9 hour flight. We were scheduled to arrive in Milan at 2:00 a.m. our time, 9:00 a.m. their time. The flight was LONG and exhausting, cramped up in coach. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. Not only was it impossible to really sleep, but we also had to get up and walk around to prevent to DVTs, aka blood clots in our legs. The one cool highlight of the flight was we got to meet a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, who had the actual medal with him and let us hold it. He was wounded in Vietnam and yet continued to run through enemy fire bringing his fellow injured soldiers out to safety. He was on his way to speak at some military function. Still not sure why a war hero like him was forced to ride in coach. Anyway, we arrived in Milan exhausted and in a different culture with a completely unfamiliar language. By the way, people who say Italian is like Spanish are wrong. So after finding a place to buy a train ticket, we board our first Italian train and set out on our way to Varenna. 

Everyone warned us about thieves and pickpockets and we were told that one person needs to always be awake on the trains, otherwise someone could go through your bags. Well, neither one of us could keep our eyes open. It was miserable! Our train stopped at one point and a man woke us up saying something about getting off and we just sat there confused. A lady then came by and managed to communicate that we were at the last stop and must get off and board a connecting train. After some confusion, we finally got on board the correct connecting train, and before long we were enjoying some majestic views of the Alps! 

Varenna was a beautiful little town. We wished we could have stayed longer than 1 night, it was so peaceful and gorgeous. We walked down to the town, winding around some narrow little roads, got kinda lost, and then we found our hotel. We stayed at Casa Rossa, a wonderful room rented by Albergo Milano (b/c their hotel was full when I tried to book it back in January). We were so glad we ended up staying in Casa Rossa though and will do everything we can to stay there next time. Our balcony opened up to the lake and a beautiful view of the Alps. After grabbing some lunch (our first pizza) and the first of many cappuccinos, we walk around the little town, enjoying the vistas. We decide to take a ferry tour of the lakes and all the towns on the lakes. The breathtaking scenery (and the cappuccino) had awakened me, however Preston kept dozing off. I told him I was tired too, but we were on a boat on Lake Como for goodness sake!! I took lots of pictures and kept an eye out for George Clooney, but never saw him. We came back and showered and dressed for dinner and then had a wonderful gourmet dinner at Albergo Milano. After that, our first official day was over and after being awake for 36 hours, we were able to sleep a wonderful night's sleep with our balcony doors open, listening to the waves crash against the shore and boats docked in the harbor. The most relaxing, peaceful sound we have ever heard.

Standing in alley in front of the door to Casa Rossa

Casa Rossa - our room

our balcony

My first Italian cappuccino! Yummy!

Our view while enjoying our lunch

A very impressive property we saw on our ferry tour

A little town on the lake

The sky kept alternating between misty and sunny - this was one point the sun started to come back out

We were able to communicate enough to request our picture be taken

More beautiful areas on the lake

Shot of the mountains from the ferry

These "pointy" trees are classic Italy

Just can't keep his eyes open :)

Walking around Varenna

View from the table where we had cappuccinos (my second of the afternoon!)

Our balcony - Sun going down first day

A view of part of the town from our balcony

View next morning from our balcony - great way to start day 2!

Last shot from Casa Rossa- we will never forget those views

Surprise!!!!!!!!!

Preston's big 30th birthday is 5/11 but since we will be on our way to Italy that day, I planned a little surprise party for him Saturday night with some of his closest friends from residency. It was a success! He was definitely surprised :)

Everyone met at Acapulco, one of our favorite and most frequented Mexican restaurants

The birthday boy wore the sombrero while we all sang Feliz Cumpleanos

I think he had a good time!!! :)

Stiamo andando verso L'Italia!

For those of you who don't speak Italian, that means "We are going to Italy!" One of my Christmas presents was a Rick Steves' Italy 2011 book. As I was opening it, Preston told me that that was the most expensive present under the tree. It took me a second to realize exactly what that meant!!! :) We are going for 13 days in May! We had been considering going to Spain for 2 weeks in March for Preston to do an away elective, learning Spanish. But after weighing all the costs and time requirements, we decided that we'd rather vacation in Italy for a couple of weeks instead. We have been wanting to go for a while now, and since we don't have babies yet, and since Preston has time available now that he soon won't have anymore (once he starts his new job), we figured now is the time! Plus, we just got our plane tickets for an incredibly great price. We are super excited! Everyone says May is a great time to go. We are flying into Milan and then plan on touring Northern Italy, including Lake Como, the Dolomites, Verona, Venice, and then heading over to Cinque Terre for a few days,  and finally finishing up in Florence, Sienna, and some of the hill towns in Tuscany. Can't wait!!!

Merry Christmas

"And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!' "  Luke 2: 8-14

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Love,
Preston and Angela

Two celebrity sightings in Bham in one night...at the same restaurant!!!

So last night was really random. Yesterday afternoon I started really craving La Paz, which is my favorite Mexican restaurant in Bham but one we rarely go to b/c it's on the other side of town. We hadn't been in several months and so I told Preston I wanted to go. Even though Preston had the day off and already had dinner thawed out at home, he agreed (after trying to sway me to choose somewhere closer to home). As we are sitting there I see this extremely pretty woman who looks really familiar. She smiles at me and I start racking my brain on where I know her from. Then it hits me...it's Sara Evans! She ends up sitting right next us with her husband Jay Barker (former football quarterback and current radio personality in town) and a bunch of kids! They were sitting there waiting on their food, so I went over to get my picture with her. She was super nice!

So then, as we are sitting back at our table eating again, I look up and at the back of the room, I see Taylor Hicks!!! As we are leaving I approach him and we get his picture as well. He too was extremely nice. Needless to say, we were glad I had a craving for La Paz that day. :)