Florence

Day One: What a stressful day we had! We got up at 7:15 in order to eat, pack, and catch our bus to the train station to catch our 8:59am train. We became worried that we would miss our train when we didn’t get on a bus until 8:10 or so, of course, all worry was in vain as we made it to the train station by 8:40 and were waiting on our train to arrive when Lucas realized he left his backpack, with my laptop in it, on the bus. *Sigh* then the drama began. I won’t pretend that I handled the situation ideally, but we did handle it in the best way we knew how; which basically meant I yelled and cried and Lucas apologized and comforted me. We missed our train trying to track down his bag and in general trying to locate a number or someone who might be able to help us. In the end we waited at the train station and checked every #11 bus that came to the station until the next train to Florence at 11:59. At 11:30, with still no bag, we found our platform and I sat with bags and waited on the train while Lucas went to see if any more buses came in the next 10 minutes. Wouldn’t you know he returned with his bag and everything still in it just 15 minutes before our next train arrived! That, my friends, is a modern day miracle! I couldn’t believe it, God is so faithful! I couldn’t imagine trying to replace a brand new, $700 laptop anytime soon.
So we were finally on our way to Florence, only 8 Euros poorer and only 2 hours behind schedule. We arrived at 2pm and found our hotel, the hotel Andrea, a quaint hotel in true Italian style (meaning it’s small and very old fashioned). Fortunately the hotel recently installed an elevator so we didn’t have to haul our luggage up the 3 flights of stairs to where our hotel was located. We checked in with no problems, went straight to shower (we had run around all morning checking buses and Florence is HOT), and then had to get the desk clerk to show us how to turn on our AC (turns out it has a remote). Then we decided to wander around and get our bearings. We ended up exploring some local street markets, the Duomo, the Basilica di Santa Trinita, and watching the sunset over the Arno River. Be sure to check out our breathtaking pictures and the picture of Splinter, the oversized Italiano river rat that lives there!

Day Two: Oh my feet are killing me. We did a bunch of exploring today which was a lot of fun but my feet are starting to revolt! We began the day by sleeping in to a decent 9:00 (we are on vacation after all) and then enjoyed the complimentary breakfast and coffee in the little dining room near the entry. They had a nice assortment of cereals, pastries, rolls and cheeses, and my favorite… coffee. I also had a lovely cheese Danish… yum. We started our touring by walking over to a fort which turned out to be just an old fort; nothing to see on the inside, and then proceeded to the Santa Maria Novella church which was closed… so we headed on to the mercato centrale and checked out the local produce. For lunch we ate at this hole-in-the-wall that Rick Steves suggested and had procutto and goat cheese sandwiches on homemade bread sitting curbside with locals… I thought it was yummy and quite the experience. Throughout the day we also saw the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, the Chiesa di Ssan Michele, statues in the Palazzoo Vecchio courtyard.
At 2:00 we had reservations to enter the infamous Uffizi gallery which houses famous works of art by Rembrandt, Leonardo DaVinci, Botticelli, and Michelangelo. We spent a good 2 hours exploring and appreciating the progression of art from medieval times to the Renaissance and beyond. Fortunately we had a great audio guide to help us better appreciate what we were looking at. After the Uffizi we walked a couple blocks over to appreciate the Chiesa di Santa Croce to see the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo (plus an amazing church). Apparently the pope had wanted Michelangelo to be buried in Rome but the Florinians stole his body away in the middle of the night and had him buried in Florence as he had requested while alive. And Galileo had been exiled due to his outrageous thinking that the earth revolved around the sun. It wasn’t until 100 years after his death that he was moved to this honored tomb. At this point we retreated to our hotel to rest before venturing out for dinner. We found a quaint café and had brushetta, salad, lasagna, and wine… yummy!

Day 3: What a great day! We decided to make today a leisurely day since yesterday was pretty crazy and headed straight to Pisa to view the infamous leaning tower of Pisa. We enjoyed an hour train ride to Pisa viewing the incredible countryside and arrived at the station in Pisa at around 11:30. We decided to walk to the tower, about a 30 minute walk, getting a feel for the small town. As we rounded the corner in contemporary Pisa, suddenly, there was the tower looming crookedly over the town. We spent the next couple of hours taking our “holding the tower up” pictures, perusing the souvenir stalls, and laying on the field of miracles that is home to the leaning tower, the baptistery, and the duomo. We then headed back to the station, stopping for lunch along the way at a pizzeria where we got 3 pieces of pizza (2 for Lucas, 1 for me) and a bottle of water for less than 5 Euros and then got some excellent cherry gelato next door. After the train ride back we retreated to our hotel for a quick 20 minute rest break and then were off to the Piazzale Michelangelo and the San Miniato church.
After catching our bus, we made it to the San Miniato church just in time for the daily Gregorian chants that are sung every evening at 5:30; it was soooo beautiful. To hear the Latin being sung in a massive church with amazing acoustics; incredible. Next we headed out to get some breathtaking pictures overlooking Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo. Finally, we caught a bus back and got dinner at a little place we found with an all you can eat buffet for 6 Euros-that is a steal here! The food was actually quite good if not a little different. We sampled potatoes and hot dogs (weird combo), sautéed veggies, sausage and tomato tortellini, and several different pasta salads. After dinner, we called it a day heading back to our hotel to pack up and get an early night’s sleep to hit Rome, and hopefully the Vatican the next day.

Verona the Quaint Home of Romeo & Juliet

I can’t believe how quickly our vacation is flying by! Yesterday afternoon we arrived in Verona and checked into our hotel the Maxim. The hotel itself is very nice but we are far away from any of the main tourist attractions which has its pros and cons. Fortunately, we didn’t really have any problems finding and checking into our hotel. The hotel clerk, who was very friendly, referred us to a local market for packable snacks for the opera that evening and suggested a local pizzeria up the road for lunch. So we first headed to the restaurant for a late lunch where we had very good pizza and wine and then headed back to the hotel for a nap! Neither Lucas nor I had slept very well the night before and were in desperate need of some extra sleep especially since we knew we would be staying up late for the opera (which was a good thing to since it didn’t end until 12:45!)
So we took an extended nap and then woke up ready to explore Verona some before the opera began at 9. First we headed to the market where we bought crackers and cheese and grapes and then caught the bus to piazza bra where the arena is. We then found a café for Lucas to pick up some dinner at (I was still full from lunch) and sat to people watch until time to go in. At 8 when the doors opened we anxiously went in to see the arena and find our seats. Our seats were up and to the right of the stage, actually quite close which was a nice surprise since we booked them online it Italian and weren’t sure exactly where we would end up. We were there to see the opera Carmen, a famous French comedy about a beautiful gypsy who woes a soldier into falling in love with her and then leaves him for a bullfighter; his jealousy eventually leads him to murder Carmen. The performance was beautiful with amazing acoustics and truly an experience of a lifetime.
The next day we got up at 9 for breakfast and ready to hit the town… well, I was anyways, Lucas, needing more sleep than any mere mortal was still exhausted so he headed back to bed and I headed into town. While Lucas slept I visited Piazza Erbe, the church of Sant’Anastasia, Piazza dei Signoro, and Juliet’s house. I then met up with Lucas at the fountain in Piazza Bra and we had lunch on the way to Castelvecchio, a totally incredible castle that we spent hours exploring and snapping photos of. Afterwards we visited the Basilica di San Zeno and then called an evening. We headed back to the hotel to call it an early night before getting up early to head to Florence.

Venice; The Romantic Sinking City

Well, we arrived safely in Venice after a long 13 hour trip. Luckily, since we are from Alaska, this length of trip was kind of standard for us, in fact, it’s kind of ridiculous that we can fly halfway across the world to a foreign county in the same amount of time that it takes us to get home. Regardless, I have not logged in to talk about flying to Alaska, but to share about our trip thus far to Italy! So let me get to it... We are currently on the train on our way to Verona after spending 2 glorious days in Venice. We arrived early Sunday morning and after a little bit of time and a lot of Euros we were on our way across the water to Venice; the airport is actually located on the mainland so we had to bus to the main station and then take a vapporetti (think water bus) to our area of the floating city. We stayed at the Pelligrio and Commercio a quaint hotel located in a tiny alley right near San Marco Square. Our room was super tiny, slightly larger than those you would find on a cruise ship, but who comes to Venice to spend it in a hotel room anyways? Fortunately the continental breakfast was good and the beds were fairly comfortable so our stay there was pleasant. In addition, the location was ideal for first time visitors to Venice as it allowed us the luxury of popping in and out whenever we needed to use the restroom or change sandals. After arriving in Venice we opted to take a nap in order to actually enjoy our evening and not just be zombies for the entire day. So after a refreshing nap we hit the town.
Okay, on to the exciting stuff. Our first afternoon we spent wandering the streets and becoming familiar with the layout of the city and the surrounding cites. We purchased a San Marco Square pass which allowed us entry to the Doge Palace and the Correr museum. We spent an hour or two exploring the Correr museum which held various statues, paintings, artifacts and relics. We explored San Marco Square taking in the sights (and Lucas chasing the pigeons) and then meandered to the famous Rialto Bridge where we did some window shopping and admired the beautiful Murano glass and carnival masks. We then finished off the evening with a glass of wine at a local shop and tucked ourselves into bed.
Day two began with a look at the Doge Palace and then St. Mark’s Basilica. I cannot begin to tell you how amazing it is to stand in a church that was built centuries ago and by hundreds of craftsmen. Both cites were breathtaking and a work of art without all the beautiful statues, woodwork, mosaics, and paintings that were found in both. Afterwards, we stopped off at our hotel to change footwear and were off to do a self-guided walking tour of some of the churches of Venice. We stopped at approximately 8 churches; can you believe we still managed to miss more than 30! Unfortunately there was just not enough time in the day and our feet began to complain. So we headed back for dinner stopping at a nearby market to pick up a bottle of wine for the evening. We grabbed some pizza from a local vendor and sat canal side enjoying our pizza and wine. To finish the day off we headed to the Café Florian, which is the most famous Venetian café and one of the first places in Europe to serve coffee. It has been visited by Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, Casanova, and now of course, by us. J We each enjoyed a ridiculously expensive espresso, incredible tiramisu, and live music in the square. The perfect ending to a perfect day.

Clinicals, Italy, and so much more!

Where do I start? So for the past 7 weeks I have been in Richlands, VA fulfilling my acute care rotation at a hospital called Clinch Valley Medical Center. It has been a really long 7 weeks as I have been working 6 days a week to get done a week early. This has of course been great because now.... we are going to ITALY!!! The last day of my clinical is tomorrow and we leave on Saturday to go to Italy for 2 weeks! We will be hitting up Rome, Florence, Verona, and Venice. We are super excited. I can't wait to stand beneath the Sistine chapel, see the colloseum, Michaelangeo's David, the leaning tower of Pisa, Juliet's balcony, and so much more! This is going to truly be an experience of a lifetime! I promise to do my best to post pictures and keep anyone who actually reads this thing updated!
In other exciting news, since I last posted, my sister is pregnant (about 5 months now), my niece was born 7 weeks early, and my sister in law Rachel is engaged! So my sister surprised us all by announcing her pregnancy on our trip to Alaska for my brother's graduation. They still don't know what they are having yet, but we are stoked whether it is a boy or a girl! My first niece Gabriella Christine Dargis was born 7 weeks early in a scary situation; my sister in law Carmen woke up covered in blood with a detached placenta. The good news is that after an emergency C-section both Carmen and Gabby are doing great. She is growing daily and has finally been allowed to go home... she only weighs 4 lbs! And just a week ago Rachel and Jordan got engaged and are looking at getting married in February or March.. they are still in the planning stages but are super excited to get married and start their life together.
Lucas and I are doing great... it has been really hard to be apart for these last 7 weeks, especially knowing that we will be apart for another 2 months for my next clinical as well. Fortunately, God saw fit to give us a wonderful 2 week vacation in Italy together; hopefully it will be wonderful and just what we need! Well that's all for now... I will try to do better with posting ;)