Blog Archive

Mota-Vational Quotes

  • "Life isn't about how to survive the storm but how to dance in the rain!"
  • "The happiest people don't always have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have."
  • "Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle... when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."
Powered by Blogger.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

2009 Trip to Italy

It has been a while since I posted last, and quite a bit has happened in the last month. One of the biggest things was our trip to Italy. Stephen and I decided to plan a trip to Italy and then decided that it would be more fun to have a group go, so we invited both of our families. My mom, her best friend Carol, Mom and Dad Mota, Steph, Gene, Stephen and I all headed to Europe for a trip of a lifetime! What a dream come true! It was truly amazing and everything you could possibly think it would be!

Our journey started out in Rome. In Rome we fit in just about as much as you can in 3days. We went from sun up to sun down (and later a few nights). I don't think you could possibly see Rome in anything less than 3 days. It was truly amazing and our favorite tourist/site seeing destination.

Day 1 in Rome: We arrived and went to the Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona and Campo De Fiori




Day 2 in Rome: We started our day at the Borghese Gallery and then went on a 4 hour tour of the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Cathedral (all of which were absolutely breath taking).







Day 3 in Rome: We went on a tour of the Catacombs, to the Colosseum and to the Roman Forum. We ended the night with another stop in Campo De Fiori.






Every evening ended with fantastic dinners, wonderful company and great vino!
From Rome we had quite the busy day. We took the train to Naples and to Pompeii. We visited Mt. Vesusius (the only volcano on the European mainland that has erupted in the last 100 years and it's still active) It even put on a little show for us while we were there. We also did lots of shopping! Although it was beautiful and quite the view, this was probably our least favorite stop of the trip. We ended the day with a train ride on to Florence.




Florence was absolutely stunning! Tuscany and the countryside was our most beautiful destination filled with vineyards and olive tree groves. Pictures just can't do it justice, but it was incredible!

Day 1 in Florence: We went to the Uffizi Gallery and to the Academia (saw the Statue of David). After that we did what we do best and shopped some more! We found some fabulous Italian leather coats that we had to try on and hold our own fashion show! That night we had one of the many fabulous dinners. In Florence we had our favorite dinner of the entire trip at a place called Il Latini. It was a traditional Tuscan style dinner, complete with several courses and several different wines. Lot's of fun and absolutely delicious!





Day 2 in Florence: We took an early train over to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa that morning. After running to catch our train back to Florence, we barely made our bus to the Vineyard. The vineyard took us to a beautiful castle in the middle of Tuscany where we tasted wine, toured the winery and took lot's of pictures of the beautiful scenery.






The next morning we hopped another train on to Milan. Upon arrival we managed to get in the Duomo Cathedral and the La Scala Opera House. Our main priority in Milan was of course to SHOP! So we did lot's of that! The next day in Milan we went to see the Last Supper at Santa Maria Delle Grazie which was quite an amazing site to see! Truly magnificent.


That evening we took the train on to Venice for a late night arrival. Venice was our favorite destination to visit. It was just super cool. Everything about it was different than America. No streets, just canals going everywhere. It was truly a site to see and it looked like it was pulled straight from the pictures you see. So fun!

Day 1 in Venice: We shopped until we dropped! We saw Rialto Bridge, went to St. Marks Basilica, St. Marks Square, Doge's Palace and of course took a gondola ride!




Day 2 in Venice: Did some more shopping! =)
After Venice we headed back to Rome for one final stop in Campo De Fiori and caught an early flight out the next day to get back to the real world.
It was definitely a trip of a lifetime that we will never forget! CHING-CHING!