Ciao, Italy!

With sadness, we left Italy on Sunday. We had SUCH a phenomenal trip and really loved every moment of it. I wanted to capture some of the highlights now that we have full-fledged internet access and PHOTOS! I actually also added photos to the previous posts (below this one) to go along with the stories....

1) The Rental House (aka "Casa Bella Vista"): We enjoyed this house from top to bottom. It had all of the amenities (including a bathroom that Dave and I shared where you could literally shower, brush your teeth in the sink and uhhhh, do #2...or, for that matter, use the bidet, all at the same time since there wasn't a divider amongst any of the devices). Fortunately, the fresh Italian air dries it within an hour or so and it's back to normal. We made very good use of the large kitchen, the great living room and porch and were more than happy to pass out on the comfy beds after drinking all day! Overall, the place was a dream with a beautiful garden and view overlooking Lago Trasimeno.


View from Porch of Lago Trasimeno

2) Eating at "Home": We (again, the 'royal we'...meaning Dave and Valerie) made dinner three nights of our trip and each meal was delicious. Simple, fantastic food with pasta, sausage, and loads of cheese (oh...and wine...did I mention wine?).


Dinner at Home


Gourmet?


Yummy Pasta

3) Lounging by the Pool: We spent all of Sunday, Monday and Friday at the pool. It was glorious relaxation, where we had a packed agenda of reading, napping, swimming and cocktails. Oh, and there was that horrid incident of me attempting to finally learn how to do "The Worm" (it's been on my New Years' Resolutions for 6 years now)...and failing...miserably. Thank god there is no video.


Lounging by the Pool


Pathetic Attempts at The Worm


Attempting to do a Flip...I got about 6" of Air

4) Learning How to Make Pasta! Cristina was SO sweet to spend the time and energy to teach us how to make Tagliatelle. We were absolutely grateful for her patience and laughter with (at?) us!


The Art of Pasta...


Giving "Air" to the Tagliatelle


Fresh Pasta...

5) Meeting Cristina, Vittorio and Franca: Meeting this lovely family was definitely one of the major highlights of the trip. They are fascinating, generous, kind, funny people and we had such a fantastic time with them! We hope to visit them at their other home...in KENYA(!) some day soon....


Dinner with Cristina, Vittorio and Franca


Dinner Set Up at Cristina & Vittorio's House


Beautiful (and overflowing) Bar Set Up!

6) Eating More Cheese than any Human Should: I went above and beyond the call of duty in consuming Pecorino (we learned that "pecora" means "sheep" and therefore "pecorino" cheese means sheep cheese...see - it was educational...).


Formaggio Till the Cows...or Sheep...Come Home


The Sheep Actually "coming home"...we forgot to close the gate


Fear of Running Out...


Vino, Anyone?

7) Being Third and Fourth Wheel on Valerie and Chris' Honeymoon: V&C spent the first two weeks on their own in London and Paris, then met up with us. We are so happy to be able to celebrate the first month of their lives as "Mr. & Mrs." with them!

Mr. and Mrs. Augenstein


Time with Valerie...


Dave Showin' Love to Chris' Mustache (the 'stache lasted for 5 minutes)


The Crew....

8) Spending Time with the Love of my Life: I loved every moment of spending the week with Dave (well, except for the "Car Driving Incident of 2008" as it will now be known...see previous post). My favorite day with him was our last...the two of us went to Rome on our own (C&V flew to NYC for Sat/Sun). Since we have been fortunate enough to have visited there several times before, we opted to spend the day lounging at various cafes, walking through the shops and eating dinner at our (so far) favorite restaurant in Rome...Maccheroni. Our friend Keri (who lived in Rome for a year a couple of years ago) took us there before, then we went one other time on our own and this is our third trip to this restaurant. The food it amazing and the experience is wonderful. I can still taste our fettucine carbonara and pasta with truffles...hmmm.....


Dave and me at Castiglione del Lago


Dave Actin' a Fool


Dave and me in Orvieto


Unforgettable Pasta with Truffles at Maccheroni


We hung out for an hour outside the Pantheon...created in 125 A.D., people watching, at about 10pm

Link to photos from our night in Rome...

We had a fantastic week (needless to say!)! In case you need any MORE photos - you can see an online gallery here.