And off to Italy!

We made it to Italy, which was an adventure all by itself, landed at 8 am Rome time, midnight Utah time and went to get the rental car. We were both so tired and I was sick, so we just wanted to get the car and get out of the airport and on our way. We got our cute little car all packed up (pictured below), got in, and then Ben realized something. It was a STICK! He drove a stick one time, ten years ago, for about a half hour. We just had to laugh at the predicament, it hadn't occured to us that our only rental car options would be cars we didn't actually know how to drive. Luckily, he figured it out pretty quickly and we were on our way!
After spending our first night in Spoleto we headed up to Florence. The first thing we saw was the beautiful Florence Cathedral. The next day we went to see the David. That basically sums up Florence for us.
Oh, except that it was our anniversary while we were there! We found a delicious little restuarant and had a romantic anniversary dinner. This is me very excited that 1. we made it to Italy and 2. we made it through two wonderful years of marriage!
Below is the amazing tomato salad we ordered. There may be a lot of pictures of food in the updates to come about our trip. Ben basically ate his way through Europe.

And a shot of Ben eating gelato. I think he ate his weight in gelato. After he finished this bowl he immediately got up and bought another bowl. Whatever makes him happy.

After Florence we headed to Cinque Terre. This was one of my favorite places we stayed, right on the coast of Italy. We hiked in between these five little villages and every view was beautiful and breathtaking!

These flowers must be natural to the area, they were growing all over the mountainside.

After two days in Cinque Terre we were off to Rome. The first thing we did was turn in the rental car, and high-fived each other that we turned it in with us and the car unharmed. Then we went out exploring. Here are the highlights of our days in Rome:
Inside the Colosseum, this was Ben's favorite thing. I'll have to admit, it's pretty impressive.
Outside the Colosseum. I saw this picture and thought, "Woah! I look pregnant!" Anyone else think the same thing?
This picture doesn't really do the Roman Forum justice. It is such a cool place, to walk among all these ruins that were the center of an amazing and powerful empire!

St. Peters Basilica

And the beautiful Trevi Fountains. We also went to the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, saw tons of little chuches that house gems like Bernini's sculptures and Caravaggio's paintings, went to the Borghese Gallery and ate more delicious Italian food and gelato. Rome was HOT and HUMID, which was overwhelming at times, but we still had fun. And it helped us appreciate Greece that much more.

Post of Greece: Coming Soon!