La Dolce Vita!

My "Make it Happen" Trip of a Lifetime

Italy
February 16-23, 2008

This is my tour director, Annarita, and she was great! Every three words she said, "Alora (sort of like "okay" or "well" in English) and so that word became addicting. She ran the show but in every city we had incredible local tour guides.

VENICE (Venecia)

The Gondola ride , of course... I had the Opera singer & Accordion player in my gondola!


St. Mark's Basilica


People keep asking me if I tried the Italian Gelato. Here's my answer:

• Day 1- Hazelnut (Mi Favorito!!)
  
• Day 2- Mint Chocolate
  
• Day 3- Carmel
  
• Day 4- 1/2 Pistachio & 1/2 Nutella
  
• Day 5- Coconut
  
• Day 6- 1/2 Strawberry Fruit Sorbet & 1/2 Cocoa Chocolate
  

TUSCANY

Tuscany was beautiful! We stopped for lunch at this Frattoria (Family Farm) where they specialize in making Wine and Olive Oil.

PISA

As you can see I had a lot of fun in Pisa!

FLORENCE (Firenze)

I am standing on the Ponte De Vecchio Bridge and this became one of my favorite places in all of Italy. I love bridges and this one had a great view of Florence and was covered in little shops. I think discovering unknown spots and places was on of my favorite things on the trip overall!


The Duomo. This HUGE Cathedral took 400 years to complete. You can walk up the 463 stairs of the bell tower for an excellent view of Florence.


This is the view of Florence with the Duomo in the background from Michelangelo's Square. There is a copy of "David" in the square. Later I got to see the original.

ASSISI

This was a quick stop along the way to Roma--the St. Francis Basilica.

ROME (Roma)

I love the Pantheon. There is this huge open circle in the middle of the Dome the allows the sun (or rain) to stream inside. Also if you want to wait 5 years, and you have 273 euros, then you can get married inside.


The Coliseum at night! This was around the corner from my hotel.


I made it to the Piazza De Spagna, The Spanish Steps, a dream come true! For those of you who have known me for a few years knows I have wanted to sit on the Spanish steps--they had become the symbol of my goal of getting to Italy! It felt so great to sit there and realize I had made one of my life goals come true!