Italy #1

These first 6 pictures are some of my favorite scenic pictures from the trip. I'm debating which ones to blow up for the wall in our living room, if anyone has an opinion. Italy is breathtaking!

A view from the water taxi as we went from Venice to the island Mirano.

Gondolas at dusk, just off of St. Mark's square

VENICE!!!

Cinque Terre on the Mediterranean. This is one of five villages. The hike from the first, where our hotel was to the fifth took 7 hours. This is the view from where we stopped for lunch. My bootie was mighty sore the next few days from all the steps. Unfortunately, it was to choppy for kayaking, which gives us a great reason to go back someday. We didn't find a scuba/snorkel place open until nearly time to get on the train back to Milan. So we settled for a refreshing dip in the Mediterranean in one of the villages that had a more sandy beach.

Cinque Terre!!!

The double columns around St. Peters, Vatican City.

Dave's mom is very affectionate! After not seeing her favorite (Okay, ONLY) son for 2 and 1/2 years, she went a little crazy. I had to pry her hands from his body and insist that she not sleep on the floor outside our door.

The Mission Home in Milan Italy. We stayed in the room on the bottom right. It was very comfortable.

Seeing family was of course the best part of the trip. I've said it before, but again "I have absolutely the most amazing in-laws in the entire world"!!!

This photo was taken on a little street in Bergamo. It started a trend for the trip of us taking what we called "Engagement Photos". Everywhere was just so post card beautiful.

At the beginning of October, Dave and I went to Italy to visit his parents (his dad is in serving in Milan as a Mission President). Dave's sister watched the boys, which was a huge blessing and I think she should be sainted, especially because all the kids got the flu while we were gone. I don't think she did anything but laundry and clean up puke for several days. Needless to say, we definitely owe her some babysitting, home repairs, a kidney or something.

We spent 10 wonderful days in Rome, Milan, Bergamo, Venice and Cinque Terre. Dave and I are a bit crazy when we travel (maybe when we don't too!). We try to squish in as much as we possibly can. We took a GPS and for 4 days in a row, we hiked, ran or walked over 18 miles a day. This was nice, especially with all the delicious Italian cuisine we were enjoying.

Milan was our first stop. Here we had a wonderful time catching up with Dave's parents and his 11 year old sister, who we hadn't seen for 2 and 1/2 years.