Italy: Best. Vacation. Ever!

I'm back! You might not know that I was gone, which was by-design for obvious security reasons. :) 

My lovely Theresa and I just got back from an 11 day vacation to Italy! It was the best vacation ever! I tend to be a home-body and I like my own bed and my own shower, etc. so when I go on vacation I generally keep it shorter than 7 days. Usually I'm itching to get home after day 4, but not this time! Theresa's wonderful planning made the entire trip so enjoyable and run so smoothly that I could have stayed even longer. :)

We flew from LAX to O'Hare in Chicago (4.5 hours) then from O'Hare to Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome (9.5 hours) for a total of 14 hours in the air, then a 30 minute bus from the airport to the train station, then a 4 hour train ride from Rome to Venice. It was a crazily long day but it was good to pack all of that travel into one bundle instead of spreading it out across multiple days. Then we had 3 wonderful days in Venice, 2 days in Florence, 1 day in Pisa and finished off the trip with 4 days in Rome. This travel schedule allowed us to recover from the travel and settle into a lazy schedule for a couple of days, then have a little more dynamic space in the middle with Florence and Pisa and then settle back into a lazy time with 4 days in Rome. Theresa really did an amazing job planning all of the hotels and touring schedules so that we could see all of the important things while still accomodating my pickiness and travel-aversion.

St Mark's Cathedral. Doge's Palace. The David. Duomo of Florence. Leaning Tower of Pisa. St Peter's Cathedral in Vatican City. Sistine Chapel. Roman Forum. Colosseum... and so much more! WOW!

Did I mention Theresa is awesome? :) 

I'll be posting about the details of the trip along with many photos so keep an eye out! If you only read one of the Italy posts, make sure you read the next one because it contains big, big, important news!

A few sneak-peak photos: