Italy

The beautiful city of Florence at sunset.

A closer look at the Arno River in Florence.

What a great picture- my handsome husband on the Ponte Vecchio bridge.

The City of Certaldo.  We were only here for a few hours, but it left quite the impression.  To get the city, you must ride a follicular  up to the fortress.  The town was meticulously clean, with post-card beauty.

Vernaza is a tiny town right on the Mediterranean in the north.   We didn’t spend much time here, but would recommend the Cinque Terre to anyone.

Ah, the Colosseum.  It was so massive and truly impressive.

The Colosseum was the first thing we saw in Italy.  We winded through a few neighborhoods… and there it was!

The Vatican was my FAVORITE part of Rome.  I felt like I was going to faint from happiness the entire time!

Before we reached Italy, I was terrified about long lines.  At the Vatican Museum, there was ONE person ahead of us.  We literally walked in (thank you random blogger that helped me plan our timing!!).   Inside, there were dozens of long halls PACKED with ancient art.  There was so much it was overwhelming!

Sadly, the Etruscan and Egyptian galleries were closed for the day.

We hiked to the top of St. Peter’s to see the view of the Vatican and Rome.  This is one of my favorite pictures.

On top of Civita~ great views, once again.

The best pizza I’ve ever tried was in Italy.  This is a nutella and creme pizza. Mmmm.

This picture makes me so happy becuase it reminds me how I felt the entire trip.  Here I was, standing in front of this beautiful fresco I had learned about so many years ago, and had been aching to see.  It was very surreal at times.  I loved Italy, and I am so grateful I was able to go!