Friday Favorites - Italy 2024 Edition (Part 1)

 

There were 53 of us total - but these were the folks we spent the most of our time with :)

Thirteen months ago we didn't know any of them. . .now most of us have been to two countries together, already looking forward to a third next year!

I've missed linking up with Andrea and Erika these last few weeks - it took a week to get "back into it" here at home in East Tennessee.  Between Tom and myself we have about 800 photos and videos and that doesn't even make a dent in the albums of these other ladies!  Thankful to have my own pictures as well as theirs to preserve these memories.  The people, places, meals, conversations, and experiences are ALL favorites this week.

GETTING THERE

Two weeks ago tomorrow we got on a plane, heading to Newark and then Venice :)

I sincerely don't mind these flights at all, but I'm a smaller person then my husband.  I'm still in awe of leaving one country and being on the other side of the Atlantic just six hours later, in a completely different place, different people, different languages, different cultures and customs.  I love it.

Flying over the Alps was amazing!!  So glad that I had a window seat on this leg - it wasn't going to happen again.

We landed in Venice 9:30ish local time (3:30 am EST!) and waited at the airport for our water taxi to take us to our first hotel.

We couldn't get over how dirty the water was. . .all these boats churning up all this shallow water day-in-and-day-out.  We've traveled with all the other people in this picture before - wish I would have asked Tom to have everyone "look"!

It was amazing to experience ALL the boats on the water, how fast they went, and how close they all got to one another. . .we would never run like that the rivers/canals here - ha!

Disembarking near our hotel.  Yes, all 40+ of us {one family was arriving the next day} plus our luggage was on that water taxi!

VENICE & BURANO

Our hotel, after a 3-4ish block walk with all of our luggage and carry-ons.  We certainly learned from last year (when we changed hotels every night) how to do this - we were "pros" at it this year!

Our first toast, in the street, after we dropped our luggage.  Yes, Tom was sporting a Coca-Cola (later we found Peroni GF so that was a great find!) - I love that you can just walk into shops, buy a water, a beer, or a soda, and walk out to continue on your day :). We were a tired and HAPPY bunch.

Our first lunch, right on the canal, across from our hotel.  They had GF pizza there so it was an easy choice :)

Tom spotted a McD's right away!!  He can't stop talking about his visit to McDonald's in Santorini last year (none of us went with him there - just our boys so no pictures) and he wanted to try it again!  We didn't until we got to Rome. . .

Venice is known as the "City of Bridges" because of all of its canals.  Here we are at the Rialto Bridge.

I often take random videos as we are walking down these European streets - I can never get over the crowds.  One thing I loved about Venice was the lack of vehicle traffic.  That was to come in the other cities and was something else to experience!  It was super nice just to see people walking everywhere.  Another observation - few people on their phones.  I don't know the ratio of tourists to residents on these streets, but except for taking pictures, very few people were using devices (and I never saw a child with one - if you know me, you know I don't like to see this EVER).  

We were on our own most of the day, visiting St. Mark's square and going into St. Mark's Basilica

We were wiped out - while our friends did a Gondola and went to dinner, we only joined them for a glass of wine and then left to finally go to bed (after 2 days of not being in one!)

Again, let me remind you that I wouldn't have half these pictures if not for Connie, Susan, Michelle, and Tammy. . .I appreciate them capturing and sharing these memories!!

The next day we took a water taxi to Burano.  The boat ride was nice and our guide pointed out attractions/islands along the way and then we got to this quaint little fisherman's town.  

It was early in the morning so the streets weren't crowded yet.

This was a quick stop (maybe 1.5 hours) - just enough time to explore the streets, see some things people come to see - like the painted house below - and do a little shopping.

Venice is known for its glass making and while in Burano I bought a glass ring and little pendent necklace for myself - the ladies bought bracelets and some lace (another thing that is hand-made there)

I really wanted to buy drinking glasses for everyone back home (handmade in that particular shop) but Tom did NOT want to haul around a dozen glasses all day in his backpack and shipping wasn't an option from that particular place.  Next time ;)

The ladies and I stopped for a quick Limoncello spritzer at a cute cafe while Tom & Jason (they used to be coworkers - such a small world!) were bored with our shopping and went elsewhere to relax.

On the boat ride back from Burano - from there we did a walking tour with a guide through Venice.  A lot of sites we had seen the day before, with some more in-depth explanation.  

We had gone inside St. Mark's the day before - it was gorgeous.  Whereas last year we saw tons of monasteries, this year it was a lot of churches.  So different from anything in the history of our country.

Happy, tired bunch!!  It wasn't really until the next day that we all felt like we had "recovered" from the trip and first two days.  

 The two in the middle were celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary - this was a fun way to do it!

We dined outside the second night and Tom caught a picture of us ladies looking on as Jason got his Tomahawk steak weighed.  I think the rest of us had pasta or pizza ;). He was on the hunt for a good steak the entire trip - spoiler alert - he never found it :(. But he gave it a good try!!

FLORENCE & VERONA

Verona - not my favorite stop, but glad we went.  I would actually want to go back and spend more time there, sitting in the open area, people watching and listening to the street musicians.  Because it was a short stop, and known as the place that Shakespeare got his inspiration for Romeo and Juliet, we did the "crowd" thing. 

This is what was left of Tom's pizza (if Jason was always ordering steak, Tom was "always" ordering pizza - GF or not!) - lunch ended up being a delicious find down an alley.  I don't know that we got a group picture here - unusual. 

 

Connie did leave her phone at the table to use the bathroom and Susan left her some selfies with us :)

She was not mad to have a picture of Tom Bell with a smile on his face though ;)

On to Florence for two nights. . .

We skipped out on dinner with the "big" group our first night and found a place further into the city with Jason & Tammy

It was a nice night - we tried a couple places before we found this one.  The steak is actually my meal - I think Tom got a steak salad meal also. . .we each got different seasonings though.  Tom and I shared a bruschetta appetizer and the other couple got soup and entrees.  We strolled through the city, Stephen called (it was so nice to hear from one of our kids!), got gelato, and Tammy got dozens of pictures of unique doors.

The next day we were up-and-going! 

Most days we tried to take a "good morning" photo when we left the hotel, saving it until noon our time (6 a.m. EST).  This may have been our tiniest hotel room - we couldn't even keep our suitcases open!

Good morning Firenze!

First up our guide took us to the center of the city

We broke away from our group when they went to the Giardino di Bobli Gardens for some shopping (this was my niece's birthday gift) and lunch together.

My sister happened to call when we were sitting there together and I snapped the below photo to send her and she said, "isn't that weird that I know exactly where you are right now?"  No, I think it's so cool that you know where we are and that it is a really special city to visit :)

We had a couple of hours just to stroll and appreciate the landscape.  Every day we were close to 20,000 steps!!

This was our afternoon local tour guide - he gave us the history of the palace, bell tower, baptistry, and, of course, Michelangelo's "David"

Our highlight in Florence, believe it or not, was our visit to a wine window!!  We found a couple throughout our stay, but this was the only one that was open :)

Trips like these are overwhelming because there is so much in such a short period of time, but we like the "overview". . .our dream is to do these for several more years and make our lists of places we want to go back to and spend more time.  Florence itself might not make the cut, but Tuscany is right next door and we will definitely head over there "one day".  One of the couples in our group did break away for a half-day wine tasting excursion that they enjoyed.  

Another favorite was almost-daily gelato stops - this Black Bar had that plus sandwiches, a bar, and a rooftop terrace to sit on.  This was right before a tour so we didn't have a ton of time, but again, this wasn't about relaxing as much as learning/experiencing :)

Our guide introduced us to these tower houses - most were built in the Middle Ages for military positioning, then the wealthy middle class -- the higher the tower, the greater the power of the owners in the city. 

There were also some of these large structures -such interesting history and amazing that so many still exist on the streets of Florence.

Dinner that night was a restaurant just down the street from our hotel - we had probably been gone for 10-12 hours at this point!  No one wanted to go back to change - we just wanted to eat and go back to the hotel and sit on the back patio to relax.

Such cute little family-owned establishments.  we were in the back right corner table.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the trip b/c it tells a story. . .these guys are the same age and both engineers.  They worked together for 8 years but were rarely social outside of work.  Anyway, every group meal we would get to the end and it would be "who gets the bill?". . .in Italy they hate to split the bill among the table (in Greece this was NEVER a problem).  Anyway, on this night an engineer picked it up and here they are, figuring it out for everyone - ha!  

May 30th, 8:39 a.m. - this is the group!  Our bus driver literally gave us 10 minutes to unload, get situated, take ONE picture, and load back up.  Yes, some people, including Tom, are hidden but we know they are there :). Peggy, the fearless matriarch of our group (she has been doing these trips for decades), is in the lower left - she is the most amazing person.  Her daughter, our friend who leads/herds us all, is in the blue shirt on the right.  This year her two children (who were once teammates of our children) were also on this trip with us.

This was our "good morning" picture to the kiddos

This was their response. . .such chatty children we have :)

I guess the rest is going to have to wait. . .once I started really going through it all, I really have a lot to say!  I won't not finish. . .promise.

Love,

Jenni