Day 1: Milano and Venezia

Our Italy trip was amazing. We have tons of pictures to post. Not literally, because they're on a tiny SD card. Some disclaimers:

1) we were really tired at the start and end of the trip, so don't judge the way we look.

2) this was a belated honeymoon, and we've been saving extra money since we were engaged (meaning spare change, odd jobs, birthday and Christmas, craigslisted extras, etc.) but we also researched and traveled frugally.

There are many ways to travel, and when you're budgeting I think the first step is to figure out what's important to you. As you will tell by the end, we decided sights and food. We wanted to see everything we could and eat well. So other people will have a very different experience, but that's what it's all about. New experiences. But if you don't want to hear about food, this is not the place for you.

3) In case you can't tell by my rambling incoherentness, I have some jet lag. I don't usually blog at 6am.

4) The pictures in no way do this place justice. You need to go see it yourself. And when you decide to go, let us know because we're happy to share any details or tips we found out along the way. Also, my aunts gave us a couple Rick Steves books for Christmas and we picked up a few more at the library, and they proved invaluable.

Okay on with the show.This is the train station in Milan. John was enthralled. Don't worry, though, the picture taking lessens as we go on. Another thing to note, John had the camera most of the time and it was like the paparazzi around him. We mostly took pictures of us in them because just the sights alone are better viewed on a postcard. We're not professional photographers, and like I said pictures just can't do them justice anyway. The Milan Duomo. John loved the stained glass windows. The cathedrals are very ornate and humungous. Is humungous a real word? My synonyms aren't working well today. This is the mall in Milan. Everything in Italy was elaborate. We had Last Supper tickets for 3pm and were killing time and trying to stay awake until our appointment. We stopped for panzerotti. Delicious. The best ones we had the whole time I think. We walked over to this castle. We're still not sure what it was for, but it was big and surrounded by a beautiful park. Down in the moat we found some kitties! Then we rested at the park for a bit. There were people sitting on the lawn throughout and it was a lovely day. Inside of the castle walls, this was some sort of quad. The fountain in front of the castle. Don't let my puffy, suinty self distract you; I was only a decoy in the picture to capture the woman in the fountain. She was collecting the change. A church we found near the Last Supper church. We sat across from it for a while and enjoyed the spring weather. We found lunch at Pasta Fresca. By far the best ravioli of the trip, possibly of life. They make it fresh, obviously, and I took a picture of them cooking it up in the back. They only had one serving of spinach and ricotta left, so we also tried an orange one. Really delicious. Since we have oranges in our backyard, I'm sure it won't be long before we try to replicate that dish. This is outside of the church with the Last Supper fresco. Probably called Santa Maria something. Pictures weren't allowed inside, but it was awesome. They recently finished restoring the painting and they did a great job. I'm also really glad I took those art history classes in college. And watched Ninja Turtles as a kid. After we spent our allotted 15 minutes in awe of Leonardo, we took a train to Venice! On the bridge by the train station. Such a beautiful city. We loved it. Our first stop: gelato. First of many. We actually limited intake to once a day. Until Sorrento, but more on that later.

Admiring the chandelier in Venice. I tried to convince John we needed one for our dining room, but to no avail. Maybe next trip.