Weekend update

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Nick and I went skiing at Mission Ridge on Saturday and while most of the country is inching towards summer, we are still in winter.  At least the sun was out!

On Sunday my parents took us out to dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday and heard about Paris and Iceland, seriously I must get to the Blue Lagoon!  And speaking of food - thanks to Pintrest I found a great pizza dough recipe.  We love making homemade pizza and this recipe from 101 Cookbooks is so amazing!  You've probably seen it on Pintrest, I highly recommend!

Tonight is finally the night - Hunger Games at the IMAX!  I am so excited I have just been counting down the hours!

Europe 2011 day 16: The end of the trip

Flying somewhere over Europe

On day 16 (Sept. 28) we packed up, said goodbye to Venice and flew home.  We had such a wonderful trip and we would love to return to all the places we visited!  Santorini was my favorite spot and Athens was Nick's favorite, but I would happily return to everywhere we visited!  I'm already starting to plan where our next adventure will be!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Nick and I are going to get some skiing in and see my parents on Sunday!  They just got back from Paris and Iceland (can't wait to hear about the Blue Lagoon!) and while they were gone my mom celebrated her birthday - so she'll get an extra big birthday hug from me! Happy birthday mom!

Picture my dad took of my mom back in January in Monument Valley - I think it's such an awesome picture!  This picture shows she is still a Texas girl at heart! (She was born in Texas, raised in Memphis)

And happy Hunger Games to everyone seeing it this weekend -we're going on Tuesday to the IMAX.  Seriously can't wait!! 

Europe 2011 day 15: Venice, Italy

Our last full day of the trip!

Good morning Venice!

Our first stop of the day was St. Marks Square, we wanted to get there before all the crazy crowds

We then grabbed some breakfast at a nearby cafe and then took a vaporetto to Murano island.  Murano island is where all the glassblowing takes place.  So we walked around the watched glass being made and walked through the shop and got a couple of souvenirs.

When we got back to Venice it was pizza and gelato time and then something we had been saving for the last day of our trip - a gondola ride!

low clearance!

Errico our gondolier

After our gondola ride we headed through St. Marks and then onto a yummy dinner at a little outside restaurant.

Visiting the pigeons...I kept my distance this time

This was me with the pigeons in 2006 when I studied abroad

2006 during study abroad - I've become way more germ OCD since then...

And we ended our last night in Venice with an evening walk and of course a last gelato at La Boutique del Gelato.  The guy must have known it was out last day of vacation because I got a very generous single scoop!

"single" scoop - the gelato guy was very generous

Royal Tea

It no secret to anyone that I am pretty obsessed with the royals (well, William and Kate mainly) so I had to share a recent gift I got!  My best friend Meghan recently returned from a trip to the UK to visit her bf's family and she brought me back with the best trip treat!  A William and Kate tea towel and tea canister - I love it!

The tea is really good too - it's Ahmad Tea, which I am sure is what they drink in Buckingham Palace!  

my morning tea with Will and Kate

Europe 2011 day 14: Venice, Italy

Our day 13 of the trip was another sea day.  It was our last full day of the cruise and we spent it relaxing and getting ready for the last two days of the trip.  We packed up, gave big hugs to our fabulous table mates and early on the morning of day 14 (Sept. 26) we said goodbye to our home on the ship and hello to Venice again.

Good morning Venice!

We went back to our same hotel, checked in and we out again to explore the city some more.  

When I studied abroad in Rome, one of my favorite things to eat was pizza by the slice.  I was so excited when wandering around Venice we found a place like that!  It brought me back to the Rome days!  And then of course did some gelato for dessert.

 

After lunch we headed for the Doge's Palace and took the tour. Of the museums we saw, this one was one of the best - laid out as a tour of the palace, it winds through all the rooms, and you go over the Bridge of Sighs and back through the prison as well. The doge was like the emperor of the city so obviously had some pretty good living quarters.

The golden staircase

The view from the Bridge Of Sighs

So happy in Venice!

View from the Doge's Palace

Our tickets also got us into the Correr museum so we went there as well, but it wasn't nearly as interesting so we just took some more pictures of St. Mark's Square.

Rick Steves (have I mentioned him enough on here) had a section in his book about a vaperetto tour down the Grand Canal, so we did that and just enjoyed the scenery.

The EU flag, Italian flag, and Venice flag

For dinner my friend Blakeley (who studied abroad in Venice) recommended heading outside of the San Marco district and into the San Paolo area for a delicious dinner.  There was even an autographed picture of the late Ted Kennedy with the owner - apparently he was a fan of the restaurant!

The quieter side of Venice