Hello from my honeymoon!

Got married on Saturday - all went great! I'm in Paris right now at an Internet cafe and figured I'd sign on to say hi. If anyone has any sight seeing suggestions for Paris or Rome/Florence, I'm all ears.

Au revoir, for now!

btw, only one ferrari sighting so far - a red 348

 

Thanks for the tips and congrats - much appreciated! We're in Florence right now; this is our first time here and its gorgeous. My wife was laughing at some of the responses and the fact that I'm actually on FChat right now. I'll post a report when I get back with some pictures! Caio!

 

Thanks again for all the good will. We had an incredible time; it certainly wasn't relaxing per se, but we're always on the move!

We started in Paris, and hit all the main sites. Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, etc, etc. I had sang with a choir over in Paris before, so I kind of had an idea what areas/sites I wanted to go back to. It was interesting to actually *walk around* Notre Dame; I only saw it when I was singing there. Both nights were gorgeous. One we spent going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, the other was spent in Montmarte.

We did all of our traveling within Paris and Italy by rail. It was bad ass watching the countrysides as we flew by.

From Paris, we went to Florence. This was the weakest part of the trip IMO. I think it was mostly all the walking we had already done was magnified as we walked outside the main part of the city through a ton of very steep roads. Everything was beautiful and it was a relief to see "normal" food (as opposed to some of the bizzare plates the French served up) and have people be super nice to you. Unfortunately, this leg of the trip was also tainted by a morning with no water in our hotel. We stayed in all 4 and 5 star hotels in good locations, I didn't think I'd have to worry about not being able to take a shower. Bleh, negatives aside, David was one of the most awesome sites on the entire trip.

After Florence, we went to Venice for the day. Venice was more of a day to reminisce; that's where I proposed a year and a half ago. We found the hole in the wall restaurant on the random side street that was our "regular" food stop on our last trip and stopped in to have dinner. We walked around and shopped all day. It was pretty relaxing.

We then took the train down to Naples en route to Sorrento. Naples is a scary place. Sorrento was just as I remembered it. Our hotel was right on the gulf of Naples, built into a cliff. The view was like no other, service was spot on, and the food was the best we ate on our entire trip. The chef there was a true artisan. On the second day we went to Capri. WOW. I wish I could have spent a week there. The Blue Grotto was by far the most amazing thing I've ever seen. It's beyond words or pictures. Even the video I took doesn't do it justice. The rest of Capri was just beautiful. I only wish we had seen Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, as they were on the island at the same time as us, and I've been obsessed with Katie Holmes for many years.

The last part of our trip was in Rome. We were about a 5 minute walk from the Trevi fountain and the Forum. We saw all the usual spots, but there were two highlights for me. One was the Papal blessing at the Vatican. We were literally 10 feet from Pope Benedict as he drove by on the Pope Mobile. It was long, but well worth it. I've now seen both the popes of my lifetime at the Vatican. I only wish my good camera didn't break midway through the trip. Also, we spent a good half hour looking at the Sistine Chapel ceiling, which I didn't see on my first trip to Rome.... wow. The second highlight was on our last day in Rome. We were sitting at a random cafe in the middle of Rome when I heard someone say, "Mike? Kelly?" A friend of mine from college happened to be in Rome with his wife and happened to walk right past the cafe we were sitting at! It was an "of all the gin joints in all the world" sort of moment. They joined us for lunch and we began to realize how much we missed everyone at home. It was a nice way to wrap up the trip... with friends.

Anyway, I know I must have rambled a lot in this post, but it was a great trip and I tried to include some details for all those interested. Here's a picture of my wife and I in Florence so you can put some faces to the names!
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