Italy!

It's been a little while since I updated, so I thought I'd take advantage of waiting on Steve and Andrew to shower to write a bit.  We're going to the Academia to see the David statue today and there's a neat da Vinci exhibit that we may try to do and possibly Ufizi gallery as well.

Italy so far has been amazing. Venice was so cool and incredibly walkable. Steve got in Sunday evening. Sunday Andrew's third cousin, Serena , and her family came to Venice and we walked around the city with them then went to Treviso where they live (including a fountain called Fountain della Tette, which is pretty much how it sounds) on Tuesday and saw the city and had some AMAZING pizza.

We also took a gondola ride--complete with venetian sparkling wine, or prosecco) which was really fun. We went through some of the smaller canals and were only on the Grand Canal for a bit, so it was really neat to see more of the city. We walked to St Mark's square, which was amazing. We pretty much just walked, ate--including the best tiramisu I've ever eaten - - and drank our way through the city, which is how vacations are supposed to be, right?!

We came to Florence yesterday and we all understand now why people worried about us driving around the "crazy Italians". Until now we really hadn't had to do much driving within the city, but our apartment is in the heart of Florence, so it was the worst of the worst. But Andrew did a wonderful job navigating the streets and we got here in one piece.

So far, Florence has been neat. We saw the Pidi Palace yesterday and walked up to the Palazzo Michelangelo--a wonderful panoramic view of the city--and had drinks and watched the sun set over the city, which was really cool. We then had dinner. Andrew got ravioli with cuddle fish and ink, so I took advantage of his ordering something I didn't want to share and got a Caprese salad. It was heavenly and of all the delicious food we've had, it's been my favorite!

I suppose that's all for now. One more day in Italy, then the craziness of Oktoberfest! I'd like to post more pictures, but blogging from my phone makes it hard to do that in addition to writing more substantial posts. You can follow me on Instagram (Ssmack) for more pics, or I think Steve is tagging Andrew in everything he posts on Facebook, so you can keep up with us that way too. (pops I'll just have to give you a run down and show you pics when we get home or you can have Jami or Kase show you some of our pictures!)

I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it!

I've been meaning to make a more substantial post, but have been exhausted before bed (which means we're having an awesome time) , so substance will have to wait!

Yesterday was fun! We went to Bled and Andrew rowed to the island in the middle of the lake. We had Kreme Cake Gelato (which apparently isn't anywhere close to actual Kreme cake) and climbed the hill to the mountain, which was really cool.  We had our last dinner in Ljubljana on the river and were surprised by a singing/dancing troupe doing traditional songs/dances just a few feet away from our table! We were pretty best after that and called it an early night.

This morning we got up and had breakfast at the Friday morning market then drove about 2.5 hours to Rovinj. Our apartment is awesome and I really love the city. It's on the sea with old stone buildings and cobblestone streets. We (Andrew) had sardines for dinner. I actually ate Istrian ox stew and gnocchi. We walked around the city and watched the sunset on the rocks while drinking pina coladas, and had tasty pizza for 2nd dinner. We've also been meandering around the city drinking various drinks for the past 8 or so hours (hence a hiccupping husband in bed next to me!)

I really liked Ljubljana and it was really cool, but Rovinj has stolen my heart in a short amount of time. I really wish we had more time to spend here! I could definitely see us retiring here 

Ljubljana!

Yesterday was pretty low key. We both slept pretty well on the plane. Turkish Airlines has been very impressive with their amenities and friendliness of the staff. The movie selection on the plane made the hours fly by and they even gave us dinner on our 2 hour flight from Istanbul to Munich. Plus they offered free beer, wine, and spirits!

Last night we got a hotel outside Munich and crashed, then today we drove through the beautiful mountains to Ljubljana. We got in about 5 pm and explored the city. We found a tasty restaurant and hit up a bar. It's chilly out and we're both pretty tired so it's going to be an early night so we can check out castles and breweries tomorrow!

Yesterday's Chicago adventures

Tried this yesterday, but I think I had too many pictures.

We're sitting at the airport waiting to board our flight. We still have about an hour, but since we've walked about 15 miles today we're content to sit.

We survived the Megabus. It was easy peasy and we slept the whole time. We got to Chicago about 6 AM and had breakfast at the white palace diner, hit up the aquarium for a few hours, and spent the rest of the day meandering around the city occasionally refueling with a beer or margarita.

It was very different weather than what we're used to since normally we're here in December! It was about 95 today, but luckily the big buildings provided a lot of shade.

We decided to just come to the airport and have dinner and just chill. We're both pretty beat since we're running on 5 hours of mediocre sleep, so we should sleep pretty well.

That's about it for day one. Tomorrow is pretty much a travel day (finally getting to Munich about 8 pm) but Tuesday is when the real fun starts!