Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Inner Goal

Wow, time really does fly! I came to some wonderful realizations last week but I haven't had a chance to post them before today. I realize that I'm happy. Truly happy about the way I look and feel. Therefore, I changed my goal from 160 lbs to 180 lbs. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to lose those last 20 lbs and be truly slim and skinny, but I've accomplished what I've set out to do and getting hung up on a number I've never seen on my body before seems like an incredibly dumb thing to do. All that does is fuel negativity when looking in the mirror shows me a beautiful person and I like what I see. So, I've decided that I am at goal. I am healthier than I've ever been, I wear a smaller size than I ever remember wearing in my life (even in high school), I can sit in an airplane with plenty of room to spare, I feel confident and sexy, I make better choices on a daily basis, etc. I am there by all measuring sticks I set out in front of myself a year and a half ago. So I am happy and I will continue to lose slowly, but I will no longer be hung up on a number like I have been for too long. The weight will come off without a doubt but it may take a year or two, I have time and I'm never going to fail myself.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Rome

Wow! That’s how I feel about Rome. We only spent 2 short days there because we truly didn’t think we’d like the big city that much and added it into our itinerary last minute. Boy do we wish we spent more time there! We fell in love with the grandness of this city. We actually managed to see quite a bit in 2 days and for that I’m grateful.

We visited the Tomb of the Lost Soldier, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Palentine Hill, the Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, the Vatican Museum, and St. Peter’s Basilica. We got lucky and ran into a tour group that was very informative without being boring. We were able to cover a lot of ground in those two days without rushing through everything for the most part. The Collosseum and the Vatican impressed us to no end. It’s amazing to see these things in person. Especially when you know how long these things have been there. We fell in love with the juxtaposition of the very old outsides with the modern insides.

Rome Pictures:
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Thursday, October 12, 2006

Florence

Florence was a completely different experience than Venice. We spent 5 days in Florence. It’s definitely rich in culture and we got our fill of that here to be sure. The main thing we enjoyed in Florence was great food and great museums. I’m a bit cultured out to say the least however. I was forever impressed by the sheer quantity of statues everywhere and loved browsing the high-end stores in the center. However, I found less expensive shopping to be a disappointment. Our bed & breakfast host was wonderful and a great concierge which turned out to be a great help, but we messed up on how we decided to do Tuscany. Our intention was to visit Sienna and San Gimignano while in Florence but we didn’t want to spend the high amount of renting a car to drive it and decided to use public transportation (train and bus). Unfortunately, that was a mistake.

First of all let me say that I was sick with the flu by the time we hit Florence and getting to Florence was difficult since I booked the wrong train and nobody wanted to help in Venice and it was a mess until a man at the information booth (where this total bitch wasn’t helping me in the least) saw me bawling about to leave, because no one spoke English at the number I was told repeatedly I needed to call to resolve my train problem, and was kind enough to call for me and get the matter resolved. Anyhow, I was sick when we arrived and the day we decided to go to Sienna my husband got sick as well. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be LOL. We did get to Sienna and walked around and enjoyed the little (very hilly) town, but we never made it to San Gimignano because we were simply exhausted and in no mood to figure out the bus schedules (again people that work there are of no help). So on another occasion we’ll drive through Tuscany and enjoy the wonders it has to offer like so many others do.

Aside from that we visited the Duomo, the Pitti Palace, the Uffizi, and the Accademia. The David in person is more impressive than we thought it would be. It was worth going to all of these museums without a doubt. We didn’t end up going to the Boboli Gardens and that’s another regret, but we did see a little bit of it and it looked beautiful. Aside from these places, our main enjoyment was just walking around the city and browsing different shops. We did get a complete kick out of seeing people in suits or dressed up with high heels on bikes and scooters. That was a fantastic sight! We also loved the little Smart Cars everywhere and seeing a small garbage truck, a small ambulance, and other miniature vehicles.

One of our memorable experiences was watching this woman play the violin in the square accompanied by a man playing an accordion. It was beautiful. Also, despite our mishaps, I’m glad we made it to Sienna. We did enjoy wandering through the center and the fan shaped plaza. Have tons of pictures for everyone though!

Florence Pictures:
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Cultured Out! lol
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Sienna Pictures:
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Venice

I figured I’d start my 3 part trip experience in the order of the cities we visited, however Venice was our first and our last stop being a total of 8 days there. It also happens to be my favorite of the 3 cities. I really fell in love with Venice because it’s so unique and truly more different from any of our cities here in the US. We also “stumbled” upon some very incredible moments in Venice that was completely unexpected.

Instead of boring anyone with the details, I’ll write the funnier and more memorable moments and try to convey the uniqueness of this city. The first true experience in Venice proper was us trying to book a ticket on the water bus to get to our hotel room. Now, in Florence and especially in Rome, many people speak English (or are willing to speak it), but in Venice people just don’t. I highly doubt it was true they didn’t in many cases, but they refused to speak it so I was still stuck trying to use a combination of Spanish and English with a few Italian words sprinkled in to get my point across. At any rate, the attendant at the ticket booth tells me it’s only a 10 minute walk so just walk there. I ask “where exactly?” and he points in the direction I need to go to get to the San Toma’ area. Ok, fine, we’ll walk then with our 4 suitcases right? Well, what he forgot to mention was the number of bridges we’d have to carry our suitcases over. Yes, bridges, 7 total if I counted right and 3 of which were big ones. Oh, the joy and Welcome to Venice! Did I mention there’s no such thing as getting from point A to point B in a straight line? Yep, imagine how easily those 10 minutes turned into 45 minutes or so. Lesson learned! Of course, when we arrived back in Venice a few days before our flight left to come back home the waterbuses were on strike and we had to repeat history against our will. Ugh!

My first thoughts were that the streets weren’t as cobbled as I expected. Yes they are cobblestones but they were more even than I imagined they’d be. That was a great discovery; however, I still was only crazy enough to wear high heels there once and that was plenty. I loved looking around at all the little stores even though most were closed since we arrived after 7:30pm local time. One of the other funny things was asking for directions several times and one of the times these kids (with better English than most adults feigned to not speak) got a real kick out of us and even snuck a picture in of us and our luggage with map in hand LOL. We did discover that even the smallest alleyways can be main streets!

Two events were truly cherished moments for us. The first was during our first visit to Venice where we were waiting on a bench in a Piazza until we could be seated at a restaurant (one of the few with actually good food) and we had about an hour or so to wait and decided to stay put and relax (soooo much walking under our belts already!). About a half hour later this woman starts setting up these speakers and sound system in the Piazza and we start wondering whether she was going to start singing or whatnot when couples start to arrive and women start trading their flats for high heels and suddenly people start dancing tango in the square! Completely different couples of different skill levels enjoying the evening by dancing in this square. It was incredible, romantic, and just very special to us. The second event was the night before we left for home again (last Sunday) when we were coming back to our room after dinner and a church we always passed during the day had the side doors opened and selling entry to a classical concert they were going to hold in there that started 10 minutes from the time we were passing by. I personally don’t like classical music but my husband does and where else can you truly experience a classical concert with chorus and all in a 500 plus year old church on an island? Why pass it up right? It was a great experience, and no I still don’t like classical music LOL.

Other Highlights:

• How all the bridges were unique! Usually different materials used on them from wood, metal, concrete, solid walls, open walls, and any combination thereof.
• We did go to the Rialto Bridge and Saint Mark’s square (way too crowded and touristy for our taste) because we couldn’t just skip it when it’s right there. It was a great experience since we went before the sunrise so we’d have the square to ourselves and watched the sun come up and had our own makeshift breakfast before all the craziness and crowding started.
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Murano, an island off of Venice known for glass-making, was a pretty place but not as impressive as we imagined it would be. I saw better glass pieces made in Murano in other parts of Italy, go figure! However, I did take a picture of a particularly ugly, yet elaborate piece there LOL.
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Burano, another island known for its lace work, was really colorful and enchanted me for that reason. Again the products weren’t anything I found particularly interesting, but I loved the cheerful colors of the place.
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• This is where I want to buy my veggies!!!
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More Venice Pictures:
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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Bye, Bye Italy

All good things must come to an end right? Well my friends I'm back and with company in the way of extra pounds LOL. I have vowed not to weigh in before November 1rst and we returned last night and my butt started to lose weight again as of today and I do not regret the fantastic indulgences while I was gone. If you're going to do it, do it right I say. We had a great time in Italy and it was so worth it. I'm very grateful to have been able to go at all really. I'm planning on posting each city we visited with pics and in depth this week throughout the week as I get a chance.

Meanwhile, here's a taste of Venice:
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