Europe Part 1-Italia

I'm hoping someday I might catch up on my blogging that I can start doing it in real time! Sigh. Anyway, in April and May, Devan and I took a rather extended Babymoon to Europe! Even though Devan was born there, he had never been back since he was a baby, and I had only been once before to Spain with my sister. Those reasons alone are good enough to go travel in my book :), but we also had the excuse to go visit with family in Italy! Devan's dad has a lot of extended family in Italy where his mother is from, so we spent the first half of our trip in Rome, taking a couple of day trips to other places in Italy while we were there. I hardly knew what to expect, meeting new family, particularly with somewhat of a language barrier, but the family was so warm, welcoming and nice and we had such a great time with them! We flew to Italy on April 24th with Devan's dad. He of course brought me licorice, a tradition he has kept up since Devan and I have gotten married. It was a long plane ride to London, and then a short layover and off to Rome. I'm not sure that any of us really got any sleep that day, but we were entertained by books, movies and TV shows on the plane. Devan's dad, especially, enjoyed watching "Big Bang Theory", so much so that he was laughing out loud while the rest of the plane was dark and sleeping! Devan and I couldn't help but laugh about that, ourselves. After spending about 45 minutes trying to get through customs in Italy, we made it through and were greeted by Angela, Tim's cousin. She was so nice and friendly, and was very concerned that I had a backpack on because I was pregnant and that I shouldn't be carrying it. That was my first glimpse on what it is like to be pregnant in Italy...all the women are very concerned about you and don't want you to do anything strenuous and want you to rest all. the. time. It was all coming from the best place, but boy! It would get frustrating sometimes. Because, you know, when you travel, you have to walk quite a bit. But anyway, we got to his other cousins' home, Laura and Giancarlo and we had a big lunch right off the bat! I was so exhausted, but it was sure fun to meet everyone and spend time on their beautiful patio!

Bon voyage from the Seattle airport! This was after Tim had checked 3 bags...I brought one bag and a backpack. I still felt like I overpacked. Goes to show how fashion insensible I am, but I consider myself travel sensible :)

So, we got there and we had pasta for lunch. It was great! I enjoyed it, and Tim and Devan both really enjoyed it. So much so that they had seconds and thirds...only to find out that was only the first course of the meal! We were sooo stuffed by the end of that afternoon!!

Orfeo and Uncle Gigi! These men are so fun and hilarious!

Angela and Laura-the best hostesses!

Devan, me, Angela, Tim, Laura, her daughter Sylvia, and then Seraphina, Gigi and Orfeo in the front. And yes, those are orange trees in their backyard. So awesome.

Love these two!

 

So, the next day, we went on a walking tour of the town-er-enormous city! We took the local train transit with Laura and Angela.

What a good looking guy :)

 

Castle S'ant Angelo.

The city of Rome

Italian war memorial.

Trevi fountain

Spanish Steps

Giancarlo cooking up something delicious. He's a man of many talents, including super secret undercover Italian cop. Like, seriously.

First gelato of many from the trip!

So everywhere you go in Rome is ancient and amazing. Part of the process of obtaining a building permit there is that you have to excavate the building area first to make sure you aren't going to build over any important Roman artifacts. These ruins are kind of just hanging out in the middle of the city. It's pretty incredible.

We also happened to be in Rome during the canonization of two of the previous popes. There were TONS of people there, and they had these giant screens all over the city so people could watch the whole processional who couldn't get in to the Vatican.

The Colesseum.

 

Another shot of the Trevi.

Pantheon!

I'm really good at imitating fountain faces...

Probably the best pizza we had in Italy was in this square. Scenery was beautiful, great people watching, great weather and a great time all around.

My jumps have gotten lamer as pregnancy has worn on ;)

We had some time in the Vatican. A couple highlights. Because I could do a whole post on the Vatican. That place is SO HUGE. Our family friend Carlos works there, and so got us tickets that allowed us to skip the 3 hour long line and get in super quick. It was awesome! The perks of having family in Italy :) Unfortunately, no pictures in the Sistine chapel, but that was pretty awesome, too.

St Peters square. I really liked it here. It's quite amazing the architecture surrounding the Basilica.

 

We took a day trip to Pompeii. And we ate some almonds. :)

Lots of walking, but pretty amazing ruins there.

Hopefully this doesn't gross too many people out. I thought the body casts were fascinating.

This was where they were thought to do some banking.

A slight bump in the road.

So, we had a BBQ at Laura and GC's home for the Italian Independence day. Tim sported his American flag apron and helped with the cooking. It was such a fun day! Unfortunately, being prego and eating lots of pasta (which I rarely do) was catching up with me and I had some sick-y issues this day, but it still was very memorable and mostly fun!

So these are like massive snap peas, but I can't remember what they're called. Apparently, it's a traditional snack in Italy.

The following day we went into the Basilica. I was super stoked to be able to see La Pieta in person! It was a lot smaller than I imagined, but still so amazing to see!

This is one of the popes that was canonized while we were there.

Laura got me some gifts for the baby! So sweet!

We went to visit Tim's grandmother's grave. I know it's weird, but I kind of like visiting cemeteries. It's interesting to see how different cultures honor their dead. After going to the cemetery, we went to Tim's aunt's house and looked at some pictures of them growing up. It was fun to watch them reminisce and try to recall Tim's time in Italy when he was young.

More to come!!