Italy

*The Sistine Chapel


*The Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum



*The Trevi Fountain

*Venice and the Grand Canal

*A train stop on the west coast of Italy

*Spoleto, Italy

*Half eaten apps in Spoleto - yummy!

*One of the countless corridors of Spoleto

We're on the last leg of our Italy trip, headed from Florence back to Rome where we'll spend the remainder of our time. It's been wonderful having this experience with Brett and being able to spend so much time together since that is usually rare! We traveled mainly in central and northern Italy, with our favorite spot being Spoleto - a small hillside town in the region of Umbria. It was where my English roommate while I lived in Australia had her wedding and it was quite beautiful. The ceremony was in an old castle called La Rocca and the reception was at a gorgeous location called Fontenella about 30 minutes away with a pool overlooking a small town. It was the first time I'd ever been to a wedding where guests swam at the reception! Brett even got to work at one of the restaurants in Spoleto and really enjoyed it. We also hit up Venice which was beautiful but very crowded right now, Lake Como north of Milan where we took a boat tour, Florence where we'll do some more sight seeing today, and a few other places in between. All in all, it's been a great trip and I'll enjoy the memories we've made.

As far as the baby goes, things seem to be ok, although I'll be anxious to check in on the little one when we get home. We'll most likely be renting a doppler so we can listen to the heartbeat at our leisure. Although I've been enjoying the food here in Italy, it's been very difficult finding foods that stick with my diet because everything is pasta, pizza, ham, croissants, and loaded with carbs. I'll be happy to get back home and be able to find fruit, cold milk, refrigerated meat, etc!

*picture note: the little toy I'm holding is a gift we bought for the baby in Venice - it's a pull-string gondelier guy whose limbs move up and down:)