Virtual Vacation...

We've been a little house-bound with the new baby so this past weekend I decided we needed a little vacation. I surprised Jim by fixing a yummy Italian dinner and setting it up on our coffee table. I then pulled out all our photos and videos from our trip to Italy two years ago. We had the best time watching all our videos and remembering our fabulous trip!

Here was the meal for our "Virtual Vacation":

Following are some photos of our fabulous trip to Italy in 2005:

Our first stop in Italy was Venice. We loved everything about this beautiful city. This photo is of St. Mark's in Piazza San Marco. It is a little blurry, but I love the way the gold mosaics shine as if lit from within.
This photo was taken right off the Rialto bridge overlooking Venice's Grand Canal. It seems so surreal that this city is built right in the water. Amazing.
Florence was our second stop in Italy. This is the famous Arno river and the Ponte Vecchio. We enjoyed the art of this Renaissance city...and the fabulous food too. Siena is a smaller town in Tuscany where we spent three wonderful days. The Tuscan landscape was so breathtaking...and it was very cool to visit a city that really hasn't changed much since the middle ages. This was the view from our hotel room: This photo of my handsome Jimmy is of the large tower next to Siena's Duomo.

We headed off next to a place called the Cinque Terre located right on the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. We spent four days visiting these little villages clinging to the coastline. You can hike on the most amazing, steep trails between the villages~and the views are breathtaking! The are also famous for their pesto...and we had our fair share. Yum.

Taken on one of our hikes just outside the city of Vernazza.
This is the harbor in Vernazza. These cities are so small and charming~it was amazing to visit these locations away from all the tourists.

Our final stop in Italy was Lake Como. This is such a gorgeous location and was a great way to end the trip. We did most of our shopping in Bellagio~I don't even know how many silk ties Jim managed to fit in our suitcases!
On the boat ride back from Bellagio and our day of shopping.
We had the best time in Italy...it was exactly two years ago this week that we were there. It was such a great trip to share with my wonderful husband. We can't wait to go back and take litle Stella on some new,exciting adventures. I know she'll love the gelato!