I HAVE been reading, just not much...

I took a small hiatus from reading this summer, and I'm not even sure why.  Honestly, the best time to read SHOULD be when you are laying on the couch after invasive knee surgery...but I just slept/ate/watched TV/worked instead.

But before I took my hiatus, I managed to read these two books:

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts, by Neil White was a book club pick.  I can't say that I loved the book, and I definitely found the author to be overly pretentious.  The best thing about the book was learning an interesting fact (and since I'm about to share it with you, you can skip the book):
Less than 20 years ago, there existed a leper colony in Carville, LA that also served as a prison.  I didn't know that leprosy was still a concern 20 years ago.  Or that our government thought it was appropriate to group these people with criminals; hadn't they suffered enough? 
Now, in fairness, White does give you more details about the colony, leprosy, and his experience in prison.  But, for me, White came across as someone I couldn't trust.  He characters seemed unrealistic and his experience at Carville exaggerated.

A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini was recommended by a coworker.  I had seen Hosseini's The Kite Runner movie and loved it, so I took this to be a good suggestion. 
Warning: this isn't a light read.  The story is told from the perspective of two Afghan women; both of whom have suffered numerous hardships in life.
It is an emotionally draining book and some parts were hard to get through.  But it was beautiful!  I can't explain it.  Even though a majority of the book was exhausting, I absolutely loved it, and even found it to be uplifting.  Strongly Recommend.

Venice

Thursday
Venice is one of those cities that you love the minute you arrive.  How can you not love a city where public transportation runs along the grand canal?  So, of course, part of our tour was done via "metro"....

When we got to our hotel, they said they needed an hour to get the room "ready", so we grabbed a quick lunch.  When our room was "ready", we were greeted by this:

I was so excited and impressed.  Then, I realized why they did that...TINY room.  We are talking smallest yet, and they were all small.  But whatever, I'll take it!

We spent the rest of the day milling around, then ended up at Harry's Bar for dinner drinks:

This was one of Mark's big requests, so we did it.  But, it was expensive and not worth it.  If you MUST go (like Mark), I recommend gettting ONE drink and then heading to dinner somewhere else.  If you are indifferent (like me), skip it!

We headed back to our hotel and had a romantic evening on the hotel's back stoop.  We had a nice little view of one of the small canals, where we watched tourists pass on gondolas and italian teenagers speed by on small motor boats.

Friday

We spent our last day in Italy milling around Venice and visiting St Mark's Cathedral:

Followed by a gondola ride:

  

And dinner and drinks, where we made friends with a nice french couple (I learned that women in France make less than men who share the exact same title and years of experience as them...crazy).

Whew!  And THAT was our big trip!  Now, I'm ready for some R&R...in the form of a weekend at the lake and some time off for my knee surgery on Wednesday. 

Tuscany (Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa)

Wednesday
Wednesday was by far my favorite day in Italy.  We signed up for a bus tour of Tuscany.  Typically, I like to do things on my own and skip the tours, but this one was pretty great.  Here's the website:
http://www.walkaboutpass.com/nqcontent.cfm?a_name=offer_best_tuscany_tour

Our first stop was Siena.  Siena is known for it's banking industry, it's beautiful and exotic looking (for that time) cathedral...

...and the "Palio di Siena", which is a medieval-syle horse race that takes place twice a year.  In the horse race, 10 horses race, each representing one of the 17 districts.  Below is a picure of one of the districts "symbol":

I love this picture with the city behind the symbol in the fence

The race takes place in the Piazza del Campo.  It's so neat to think that the piazza below transfers into a track suitable for a horse race.  Oh, and our tour guide told us it was a ruthless event...jockeys knocking each other off their horses...haha, LOVE it!

(ignore the crazy tourist girl who got in the middle of Mark's perfect shot)

After we left Siena, we headed to lunch at a small organic farm with an amazing view of San Gimignano.  We had 4 different types of wine with lunch (all made on site) and their delicious olive oil.  Here is the farm's website (http://www.fattoriapoggioalloro.com/eng/index.htm)  They also have a bed and breakfast on site.  And look at this view:

From lunch, we headed to San Gimignano.  Mark and I spent most of our San Gimignano time in a leather store (he got a briefcase and I got a purse).  But, we did manage to make some time for San Gimignano's famous gelato.  The place was voted "World's Best" a few times and serves rare flavors like "Saffron" and "White Wine"...both of which were not bad; though I preferred Chocolate.

Last, we headed to Pisa, where Mark and I spent our time on a very cheesy photo shoot:

By the time we got back that night, we were exhausted and kept it low key so we could make our train to Venice in the morning.

Florence

Monday
Monday we said goodbye to Rome and headed to Florence, via train.  I was SUPER nervous about getting to the train on time and getting on the right train.  Turns out, not so hard.  When your train arrives, they put the train number up and the platform number beside it.  The hardest part was being patient until our train arrived, since I had gotten us there so early.
When we got to our hotel, the room wasn't ready yet, so we headed off to Florence's Duomo:

And to see the BEAUTIFUL baptistry doors...

...Along with Florence's Piazza della Signoria:

Then we walked across the Florence's famous Ponte Vecchio:



We were pretty exhausted, so we headed back towards the hotel and had a low-key dinner nearby.  Our waiter was HORRIBLE though and even "sushed" Mark.  Haha.  Just when I was thinking that all Italians were so friendly.  Oh well, can't win them all, especially when you don't speak the language.

Tuesday

Tuesday, our day looked a lot like this:

Picture from VirtualTourist.com

Yes, my friends, this is a 2 1/2 hour line.  I had seen Michelangelo's David on my last trip to Italy and TRIED to convince Mark to skip this altogether.  Advice: If you really must see David...

(PG version)

...you can pay 4 more Euros in advance to make a "reservation" to the Accademia for a certain time slot.  Totally worth it!  On the up-side, we did make some friends in the line who recommended our the restaurant that we went to that evening (more on that in a second)...

We were smart enough to get a reservation for the Uffizi.  The Uffizi is pretty amazing, but definitely an overwhelming amount of art, including Botticelli's "Birth of Venus". 

After the Uffizi, we went to dinner at "Trattoria 4 Leoni", which I highly recommend (thank you girls in line at the Accademia).  I had a pasta filled with pear, in an alfredo type sauce.  Delicious!  We also had our first Crostini di fegato, or chicken liver paste, which is popular amoung the Florentines.  Sounds gross, but quite good actually.  Here's the website for our restaurant if you are interested: http://www.4leoni.com/index.php

After dinner, we ran into this:

Even in Italy, I have to be reminded of Auburn and their nation title... Don't worry, Mark gave them a loud "ROLL TIDE" and we went over to say hello.  They didn't like us much after the "roll tide" though, except the lady taking their picture on the right...she's a Bama fan, married to their teacher.

Walk Like a ROMAN?

Sunday
Our last day in Rome was spent at the Colosseum:  

And The Roman Forum. Mark LOVED all of the ancient Roman architecture and remains.  I, to be completely honest, could have skipped this day... Don't get me wrong, it is a must-see, but once is probably enough for most people.  I admit that I got a little bored walking aimlessly around the ruins for a second time.  And, my disappointment continued when I discovered that the only thing I was interested in seeing, Caesar Augustus' house (since it wasn't open to the public when I went in 2003), was only opened during scheduled hours, by appointment...which my book failed to mention.  Also, the uneven ground KILLED my knee; surgery will not be fair off for me.  Turns out, I can not walk like a Roman (for those of you wondering, I know it's "Egyptian"). 

I did perk up on the walk back to the hotel and moved with impressive speed to take a picture of this:

Hahahahaha.  I feel like you would never see THIS kind of PDA in America.  Love it!

Mark and I had quite an experience at dinner though; which, I failed to capture on film.  I had been talking about antipasti plates since we got to Rome and how on my last trip it was one of my favorite parts of Italian meals.  I went on and on about olives, sliced sausages and meats, cheese, fried vegetables... So, on our last night in Rome, Mark and I ordered the "House Antipasti" at our restaurant.  What came out of the kitchen was a BASKET of sausage, a cutting board, and a knife.  *Insert surprised look on my face*  This is followed by a bowl of some kind of spreadable cheese and a cooking pot full of mozzarella.
I apologize to Mark, as he figures out how to cut the sausage.  THEN, they bring out platters of different fried vegetables and place spoonfuls of them on our plates.  It was the weirdest way to be served in a restaurant!  Once we had a chance to take what meat and cheese we wanted, they took those baskets, bowls, and pots away too...to share with another table...I guess?  It was delicious, but definitely unusual.  Here we are post meal, happy as clams (though somewhat sunburned from a full day outside):

Before we ended our last night in Rome, we took one more glance as The Spanish Steps.  Still not sure I get the popularity of them, but "when in Rome..."

  

When in Rome...

Last week, Mark and I took our first trip to Europe as a couple (and Mark's first trip EVER to Europe).  I was a little nervous because:

1) We knew zero Italian.  Ok, Mark knew "arrivederci" and was a little too excited about it.  And I knew "scusi" and used it way too often, and not always in a nice way.

2) I had done a similar trip with my parents and worried that I would be disinterested repeating it.

Conclusion...Italy is AMAZING over and over again, and EVERYONE speaks English (the Italians, the French, the Dutch).  Here are the highlights from Rome...

Friday

We flew out of Charlotte on Thursday afternoon and arrived in "Roman Time" on Friday morning.  We made our way to our tiny hotel (with no elevator), freshened up a bit, and headed right back out to take in the sights.  First stop, Trevi Fountain:

Off to the Pantheon:

There are ancient ruins everywhere (and no, this isn't the Roman Forum)

Dinner with a couple from Holland (where I learned that Europeans rely on english too when they are traveling), back to the Trevi Fountain for one more look, and Mark's first experience with gelato.  Oh, and don't worry, the gelato definitley got a little bigger each day...not that we ate it everyday...

Saturday
We woke up as early as we could on Saturday to get to Vatican City.  Unfortunately, due to lack of sleep, continental breakfast, and a bit of a walk, we didn't make it to the Vatican until 9:50.  The line was crazy long!  We walked around it and to the front, contemplating our next move, then they opened the gates and we were pretty much pushed in.  I mean, there was nothing we could do about it...I wouldn't even call it breaking.  But it was worth it (and don't worry, karma gets us back in Florence), and we climbed to the top of the cupola for some amazing views of the inside of the Saint Peter's and overlooking Rome:

When we got outside, we took a picture together and Mark asked what we were going to do with the rest of our day.  I said I was surprised that we finished so early and had no idea what we were supposed to do.  We started walking away from the Vatican when it hit me...Sistine Chapel!  And the Vatican Museum.  I'm not sure Mark would have forgiven me if we had left out this:

 BTW, you are NOT supposed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel, but try telling that to Mark.

Whew!  I didn't even make it through all of Rome! Next post: Colosseum/Roman Forum then off to Florence...