Sunrise from our window over the Arno River

Ponte Vecchio Bridge - remember, the one with all the medieval shops!

We walked down this bridge in the morning and found out what was behind all the medieval store fronts. They were jewelers. All of them. They all had gorgeous diamond displays in the windows. I saw my future engagement ring there too. I'll be taking my future husband on a trip there and pointing that ring out when it comes time to have him get me one!

If I lived here, I'd sit here often... I know it. This on the Ponte Vecchio.

Buongiorno Principessa!

Archways along Arno River... neat!

The copy of the David statue. It used to stand in this spot, but was getting damaged and was moved inside the museum it currently sits in. We couldn't take pictures of the original.

A Chanel store and some charming carriages. Super romantic.

This window display was made out of Swarovski Crystal elements. Pretty fancy!

In Florence we would find had some of the richest shopping we'd seen. Designer stores were everywhere. Actually Rome had a lot too though. There's one shopping district where all of the designers are ridiculously expensive. It was really fun to window shop while we looked for H&M to see what it was like in Europe! Interesting fact about Italian fashion, they all wear black, grey, brown, tan, and sometimes white. The brightest color I saw in most stores was a very dusty pink, or a deep purple. Sometimes we'd find red too, which was a pleasant surprise. I felt like a bullseye in Rome with my bright red coat. Thank heavens for the market in Florence where I got the cute black coat you'll see in the rest of my pics for 25 Euros (About 27 or 28 bucks). And it's made of Lana... wool! :)

This is the front of the Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore.

The Santa Marie del Fiore, or Duomo, as it's nicknamed was one of my favorite buildings we passed on our walk around town. Alia and I walked around the whole building and found out it is in a giant cross shape, and is quite large compared to other churches there. The Duomo has a bell tower that rings out nearly every half hour and the sound of bells echoes through the neighborhoods. I fell in love with this sound. It made me feel all giddy, and despite how weird that sounds, I just wanted to sit in the piazza in front of it and lose myself in contemplation. The sound of those bells was probably one of the most gorgeous things I've encountered in my 26 years.

Below is a video from a block away of these bell sounds. Alia and I were sitting on a corner bench, deciding where to get lunch when they started ringing again. I hope you like them as much as I do.

Alia next to a line from my favorite Italian movie "La Vita è Bella" (Life is Beautiful)

A walk in the rain outside the Duomo. We returned to this area of town a couple of times. It was near our hotel.

During our day in Florence, we were able to find the museum with the David statue in it. It's as cool as they say it is. One side of the statue gives him a more cherubic look to show that he was still a child, while the other side looks more aged and ready for battle. The artists that made these famous sculptures and paintings we were able to see never ceased to amaze me. Their ability to capture the human form and sculpt with such precision is beyond my capabilities.

In this museum there was also a musical instrument museum. I thought this was really interesting. There were pianos, string instruments, and woodwinds for the most part. One of my favorite pieces was the first upright piano. It was basically a grand piano with the huge back end of it tilted up against a wall. It must have been 10 feet tall. Eventually they were able to encase the strings differently and create the more boxy uprights we have now.

Another really cool instrument we found was a giant bowl with golden handles. To play this one we had to dip our hands in the water sitting in the bowl, and then rub them on the gold handles. It produced a similar sound to when you do this around a champagne glass, only much deeper of a tone and louder. I also loved that despite all the centuries that have passed, string instruments have changed very little. Sure we've invented electric versions, but the acoustic ones haven't changed at all. I guess the inventors of those instruments really knew what they were doing.

Congrats to Alia for taking one of the coolest pictures of me I've ever had taken.

Most of our day in Florence was spent exploring the city on foot. We walked all over town that day, through markets, and got some awesome Italian gear (we shopped in Rome too). Most of the day it was raining, so we bundled up, and got an umbrella since we had to hang out until 9pm when we had to catch our train. I would definitely return to Florence in a heartbeat! I'm sure there is far more there than we ever even realized. The city seemed like it had a rich culture/history to figure out that we didn't have time for.

Dec. 8 in Italy is a holiday for the Immaculate Conception. It celebrates Mary and her conception of her son Jesus Christ.

There was a parade in town that started in the Piazza Della Signoria, near the Palazzo Vecchio where the copy of the David statue stands. We were eating at a trattoria across the street and could hear the drums. We hurried to finish eating so we could see the parade, and realized they would've come right past our outdoor table.

For one of our meals in Florence I ordered the below pictured food. It was called Ricotta Cheese and Spinach Ravioli with Butter and Sage sauce. Let me tell you, this is by far the best thing I've ever eaten in the Italian food category. I've been craving it ever since Dec 8th when I had it in Florence. It was light, and filling, and amazingly delicious. Have I mentioned how awesome food is in Italy? You will not taste anything like that in any restaurant in America. If you have been to Italy and you know of a place like that here in Utah or in North America, please send the info for it my way. I couldn't believe how delicious the food was there.

Heaven on a plate. Ricotta cheese and Spinach Ravioli in Butter and Sage sauce. Delicioso!

The David Statue in front of Palazzo Vecchio at night.

After dinner and the parade disappeared, we walked around for a while longer, got our last Italian gelato, and headed to the train station. We had no idea how interesting the sleeper car train would be. To save money we booked a shared car with 6 beds. I assumed they'd give you a decent amount of space for a train. When we finally got on the train, we could barely fit our suitcases down the hallway to find our car. We opened the car's door and our car was already filled with 4 people. Alia and I looked at the space, realizing we'd barely have room to breathe, and no room to walk, and panicked. We worked our way in the room, squeezed into our beds and kept quiet.

There were a French couple and two men from India in there. The Indian men kept speaking to each other and we'd hear the word English and then they'd look at us creepily. I was too afraid to fall asleep in there, or leave Alia in there while I went to the bathroom. We sat in there for about 5 minutes before we decided to go talk to a train worker and try to get a better sleeping situation. Alia found a 27 year old Italian man named Salvatore who worked in our car and asked him to help us. We flirted a little but more actually pleaded to help get us out of that car. He was very nice and unlocked an empty one for us and kept people out of the room the whole night so we wouldn't have to share!

We let him come hang out with us a little bit until we needed sleep. We talked to him and learned about his life. He's done with college, is from Naples, and speaks French, English and Italian from working on the train. He told us Naples was a cool city but was full of a lot of trash right now, and wasn't extremely safe. He was a really nice guy and we owe him big time for saving our butts on that sleeper train!

Me kissing my free water bottle on the sleeper train once we got in our own private car. It never hurts to ask for a room change, you just might get a hookup from a young cute Italiano.

Here is what happens, when you put Alia and I in an overnight sleeper car, and we can't go to sleep.

Buongiorno from Il Colosseo!

We found gattis all over the ancient Roman sites. They are not strays like we have in the U.S. They are friendly, clean and well fed. They are like a house cat.

View from inside Il Colosseo.

We were rewarded for getting up early. There were roughly 10 other people there besides us. It made the morning there AMAZING! We didn't bump into people, or have to worry about people getting in the way of our pictures. The weather was beautiful this day as well. Sunny and 60 degrees. Also it was quiet inside, and reminded me somewhat of the peace you find in temple grounds. It was amazing to see how much has stayed standing after nearly 2,000 years.

View from the main floor of Il Colosseo.

The Arch of Constantine - Processions/Parades were done through this arch before ceremonies in the coliseum.

View from the 2nd floor of the Coliseum. Shows the setup of the sides, which used to contain seats all the way up to the top.

View from the main floor. Most of it is covered with grass and moss now. It was really pretty and green.

Just a little jump for joy that I'm on this trip!

More cats. They were so friendly. I love this picture.

Inside the Roman Pantheon.

Did I really say "pretty freakin' stoked"?!?!?! Someone please help me stop saying dumb stuff.

The Pantheon is still used regularly for events. If we had been able to stay one more night in Rome we would have been able to attend a Christmas Opera here. (So sad I missed this!!!!) Another cool fact about the Pantheon is that the rotunda above is always open no matter the weather. I think it rained overnight because when we got there the center of the floor was blocked off and was wet.

Another shot inside the Pantheon.

An exterior shot of the Pantheon. It was under maintenance at the time, so I took this shot to avoid the scaffolding.

Piazza Navona fountain in Rome. We also went in the church by this fountain. I love the beautiful interiors of all the churches.

Fresh produce market in Campo di Fiori. I wish I could grocery shop this way every day! YUM!

After we went to the Ancient Rome locations on foot we wandered around the piazzas again. We found Piazza Navona, and the nearby Campo di Fiori which was notorious for markets it seemed. They had huge markets with fresh produce, clothing, hats, scarves, anything you could want. We also had silver rings made by a man from Sicily with only a few fingers on each hand. He liked Alia, he guessed her heritage on the first try. He asked her if her Grandpa was Italian. She said yes, and when he found out she was Sicilian, he was very excited. He kept calling her Sicilia (pronounced Si-sheel-ya).

We had to catch an early evening train to Florence this night, and we were really sad to leave Rome. The train was only a 90 minute ride from Rome to Florence. Since we'd walked all day we were hungry for that Italian food we love so much. We hadn't yet found a spaghetti meal at the restaurants we'd been to. When we got to Florence we dropped our things off at our hotel, and got a food recommendation for the Toto restaurant.

We headed over and were very pleasantly surprised (as always) with the food. I ordered simple spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce and Alia ordered gnocchi. It was SO DELICIOUS. Also a fun fact: the Toto restaurant had been around since the 1300's!! That's plenty of time to perfect your recipes, as if they need to in Italia, they are already perfecto. Another cool part of the place was it had a big brick fire oven at the front where they cooked the pizza and meat. The chef was up front during our meal chopping away at a side of beef with a giant cleaver. Now that's fresh food! I loved this place.

Fresh spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce at Toto in Florence, Italy.

Our hotel is behind me overlooking the river. We had an amazing view. I still can't believe we were lucky enough to get a room that overlooked the river, complete with shutters!

Night view from our room at the Hotel Berchielli on the Arno River in Florence, Italy. The bridge in the background with all the shops is called the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge).

We got a little crazy from being so tired and started jumping on the beds in our I LOVE ROMA hoodies.

Postcard entry for Dec 7, 2010:

Ornate doorway in Museum.

After we caught lunch and bought some rosaries for our friends, we decided to go find Il Fontana di Trevi... one of the most popular fountains in Rome. The statue's central figure is the god Neptune, and this fountain is gorgeous. It just appears out of the backside of a building, and is extremely large and very crowded with tourists. Legend has it you will return to Rome if you throw a coin into the water (also they use the revenue from the fountain wishes to finance the maintenance for the fountain!). Since Alia and I were in love with Rome, we decided to make our wish! You should toss it over your shoulder with your back to the fountain. The pictures below show the fountain behind us, and there is also one of me making my wish. I can't wait to return to Rome. Only time will tell how long it will be before I come back...

Day 1 in Rome:

Flew in to Rome on an overnight flight from JFK... ended up being able to snag our own rows to sleep on the plane since it was empty. The trip was starting off very lovely!!! I was across from a Catholic priest on the plane and when I couldn't stay asleep any longer I pulled out my Book of Mormon and started to read, so upon his noticing what I was reading, he pulled out his scriptures and read his too. I'm pretty sure he knows his better than I know mine. Also he was pretty cute and looked like he was my age. Wonder what the rules are there!? Hahaha just a joke people!

Our airport shuttle company didn't have any regular shuttles left so we got picked up in a Benz, and a guy in a suit. Not too shabby for your first taste of Italy! We also got to experience the way Italians drive, let's just say Alia and I had to stop paying attention to his driving or we'd have had a heart attack. There's no such thing as a lane in Italy. They are painted on the streets, but they make their own lanes. They also only hit their brakes at the last possible second necessary to make the stop before killing us all. Eeeeesh!

Right before arriving at the hotel we noticed a street market going on a block away from where we'd be staying. The driver told us in broken english that every Sunday all the stores are closed and that is what they do instead. We decided to quickly check in, shower, and head over to the markets. There were a bunch of odds and ends, kind of like a giant Italian yard sale. Some of the booths had some pretty cool stuff, but the only thing I bought were some funny post cards of Italian actors from the 50's. They perfected the classy creeper mustache.

At this market I got my first taste of just how much Italian men like blondes. I was warned before my trip on this fact, but I had no idea how much they really do. (I noticed later that we saw only roughly 4 or 5 other blonde women the entire time in Italy.)

This market is where I first heard the phrase that is this post's title, "Ciao, Bella!", and boy did I hear it, over and over and over... and over. Talk about a self esteem boost! It was crazy! Guys would walk past me, check me up and down without even being sneaky, and then I could hear them say the word 'Americana' while they were looking me over! They'd stare at me, and I'd have a staring contest with them to let them know I could see them. They'd never even flinch. It wasn't too disturbing though, Alia and I noticed fast just how good looking men in Rome are. They all dress incredibly well, and the majority were eye candy. So I guess I didn't mind all the attention. The other awesome thing we noticed is how everyone in Italy is very fit. The only overweight people we saw usually spoke American English.

After the market we grabbed some food.... YUM! Our first real Italian pizza. I decided to be brave and try eggplant, it's tangy, and not my favorite. Perhaps I'd like it cooked a different way. After dinner we were both so exhausted from traveling all day on the plane, but we had to keep ourselves up until dark at least. We decided to explore the neighborhood around our hotel on foot. We knew we were in the area of the Trastevere neighborhoods but we weren't sure how to get there. After about 20 minutes we turned a corner and walked right into a cobblestone antique street. We were there! After a couple streets and photos later, we found our first piazza complete with a fountain and an old church! I'm pretty sure this was the Piazza Santa Maria.

We walked around the Trastevere neighborhoods for a couple hours and the Christmas lights eventually turned on. We also ended up getting the most amazing hot chocolate, that halfway through we found melted gobs of chocolate mixed in. Then we went back to the hotel and were in bed by 6 pm. We needed a LOT of sleep!

Here are a few more pictures...