When we decided to take a trip to Italy to celebrate 5 years of marital bliss, we were excited…. but didn’t realize that we wouldn’t have time to plan more than our bed & breakfast for the first 3 nights (and even that was a friends’ last minute suggestion)!  Weeks leading to our trip, I started fretting a bit about not having any plans (I love to plan!) when we arrived to Venice.  But the busyness of wedding season didn’t stop, and it wasn’t until I was on the plane that I started reading about what we would actually do when we got there.

So as you watch this video and look at these photos… think: unexpected, impromptu, surprise!  Because almost everything we saw and did was exactly that for us!

One of our first photos we took in the little town of Chioggia (aka “mini Venice”)

Our B&B in Chioggia… 5 levels.  We stayed on the bottom floor and ate breakfast on the top floor!

Gino, the homeowner, made sure we knew there were 72 steps to the top.  The view was amazing!

Oh Venice… how I love getting “lost” in all of your random streets and alleys.

The BEST pasta I had on our whole trip… fagotini!  YUMMY!

Totally loved being serenaded by the accordionists while eating fagotini… SO Italy

walking or boating… your two choices of transportation!

Justin snapped this photo, early in the morning, of a grocer bringing in the produce for the day!

love this!!

My FAVOURITE photo of the trip

Yes we HAD to experience the GONDOLA.  Here’s our gondolier:

Not everyone takes the short boat ride to the near island of Murano (where they make all of the glass that you buy in Venice), but it was SO worth it!

I thought I’d be bored at the OPERA… but NOPE it was so amazing especially since they were all dressed in the baroque style garb.

Now to ROMA… Our first stop: The Spanish Steps.

There were only a few tourists.

This is where we ran into Nigel Lythgoe… but before we could talk to him or take his picture, he walked into this shoe store!!

Rome at night = AWESOME!  We slept in many days because we loved the cool and lively nights!

St. Peter’s Basilica

The famous Coliseum

Ancient Rome… this is where the saying “all roads lead to Rome” comes from.  We’re right in the center!

LOL!!! One afternoon, we were sitting on a bench, reading and resting, then suddenly we were surrounded by hundreds of Vespas and a wedding party!

I guess I can’t get away from wedding photography

Here are some more night shots, including the Fountain of Trevi:

and the Coliseum again…

Picture this: It’s the end of a long day of walking and we were so tired.  We were trying to find the Metro… and let’s be honest – I was GRUMPY… Until I found this random bakery.

We actually walked by it, but then my nose caught the smell of pastries and I took a few steps back to see stairs leading down to this bakery in the basement of a building. All I could think was THANK YOU GOD!

On our last day in Rome, we headed to the 2nd largest museum in the world: The Vatican Museum!

The Last Supper

This is actually worth more than gold!

The Sistine Chapel = no cameras, no video cameras, no talking, no falling…

Justin disobeyed and took this shot of The Sistine Ceiling. And I’m so glad he did!

This is the middle scene where God infuses his soul into man (creation) being the most famous (and very small) part of the ceiling.

Painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512.  Brilliant.

The End.