It's hard to believe that my last blog post was in September at the time I departed for my long-awaited trip to Italy. I apologize for my absence in blogger-land. I have absolutely no excuse for this except for the fact that life got in the way.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. I came home from Italy to find my sweet husband had surprised me by giving our home a much-needed update. With the help of my son, Joey and daughter-in-law, Hailey, he repainted our bedroom, replaced all of the carpeting in the house with new carpeting in the bedrooms and wood flooring in the hallway and living room areas. I'd been wanting wood floors in our home for a long time, and I was thrilled to come home to find all of the beautiful changes. In addition, I was swamped with jewelry orders for November Confirmations and the Christmas holiday. (Not that I mind - I love making jewelry, as you know! ;) ) Last, but certainly not least, for the first time in over 30 years, I stopped working full time. I am working a part-time job now, and I began going to college as a full-time student. I graduated from high school 30 years ago, so this is a huge adjustment for me. My latest endeavor has me determined to earn my four year degree in three years, so I will be attending college full-time and during the summer to achieve this goal. Wish me luck!
Anyway - to get back on track - we had a wonderful vacation. I learned a lot during our trip, and I'm longing to go again in the near future. I absolutely fell in love with Italy and her wonderful people. It truly was the trip of my dreams and I cannot wait to do it all again.
I'm planning to share my experiences and photos from beautiful Italy with you here on my blog. There's a lot to cover, so I will do it in increments. In addition, I want to share other information here with you. I have a lot of catching up to do, so let's get started.
Our trip began in Rome. We stayed at a hotel called "Hotel de Monti". It is in a convenient location - right down the street from the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica and walking distance from the Termini train station. The hotel has a wonderful continental breakfast which is included in the room rate. Each morning, we dined on our choice of various meats, cheeses, fruit, juices and beverages. There is nothing quite as delicious as fresh squeezed blood-orange juice, homemade Formaggio cheese, prosciutto, croissants, biscotti and cappuccino for breakfast (among other things).
Here is a view of the street where our hotel was located. In the center of the picture, you can see Santa Maria Maggiore. It's not the best picture, but it was quite rainy in Rome that day. And by quite rainy, I mean we ended up getting soaked. But it was well worth it. You don't get to see Italy every day, you know.
After we checked into our hotel, we wandered around our neighborhood and enjoyed all that Rome had to offer. We stopped for lunch at a cool little restaurant called "La Carbonara." The food was delicious and lots of locals eat there, which is a good sign. Plus, they have a great sense of humor. Check out this little card which was on our table:
After lunch, we walked over to Santa Maria Maggiore. It is such a beautiful church - quite ornate, as they all appear to be in Italy.
No comments:
Post a Comment