Hawaiian Wedding

Surfer at Sandy Beach

KCC Farmers Market

Before we left for Hawaii we read about a famous farmers market that took place on Saturday mornings, KCC Farmers Market. So early Saturday morning we picked up Yvonne's mom at the hotel and brought her with us to the farmers market. There were a lot of local fruits, nuts, and other snacks being sold there as well as many food stalls preparing food and drinks. We got a Vietnamese sandwich from a place called The Pig and The Lady which was another place we read about before going. We also picked up some Hawaiian papaya, an acai bowl, and some taro chips. All really great fresh food.

When we were done we dropped off Yvonne's mom and then drove the the other side of downtown to try a place called Downtown Coffee. Dan read about them and they seemed like an interesting local roaster. Turns out they were really amazing, so we bought drinks and a bag of coffee for Dan to bring back home.

Swimming at Waimanalo Beach

Before heading to the wedding we wanted to get some more swimming in. We decided to head south and check out Sandy Beach. One of our friends recommended it as a cool place to watch surfers if the waves were big. We were both lucky and unlucky. Lucky was that the waves were huge, so we got to see some crazy surfing and bodyboarding (see picture above). The bad news was that the waters were too dangerous for us to go swimming. So after we spent 15 minutes watching surfing and taking photos, we drove a bit further down the road based on a recommendation from the lifeguard to a much calmer beach, Waimanalo Beach Park. Here we were able to enjoy yet another beautiful beach and get some swimming in.

Dan & Yvonne just before the wedding at Waikiki Aquarium.

After swimming we quickly went back to our Airbnb to get ready for the wedding. The wedding was at 6pm at the Waikiki Aquarium. We got there early and helped with a little bit of the setup and just explored the aquarium a bit. The wedding was pretty small (<50 people), but they had a nice ceremony looking out towards the water at sunset and then a dinner in the same area. There was a pretty incredible sunset that night, so it was nice to be down at the water to get a great view.

Yvonne at Waikiki Aquarium

Hike & Snorkel

View of Honolulu and Waikiki from the top of Diamond Head

This morning we woke up early so that we could squeeze in a hike first thing before it got too hot and the hike too crowded. Turns out we were not early enough as there were already a ton of people at the hike and the temperature was almost 90! However, it was still a great hike. We hiked Diamond Head which is a hikable volcanic crater very close to downtown Honolulu. The views from the top were incredible as you are right on the coast and you can see up to downtown Honolulu and Waikiki Beach, and south of there for more amazing Oahu coast.

Dan ready for brunch at Koko Head Cafe

Once we finished the hike we grabbed an amazing brunch at Koko Head Cafe. This is a restaurant of a former Top Chef contestant (which we didn't realize until after eating there). We had some great food and great coffee here. They are famous for their dumplings so we got two orders of them. We also had a skillet and a breakfast bruschetta. We were really surprised by the bruschetta as it was simple but delicious. Sweet toasted bread, macadamia nut yogurt, and fresh fruit on top. 

From there we hit the road to go to the north shore to do some snorkeling at Sharks Cove per a recommendation from a friend. On our way we stumbled upon a coffee grower, Green World Coffee Farm, so we had to stop. Turns out Dan already knew of these coffee growers and was not super impressed the first time he tried them. We had some samples and checked out the place but took off since the coffee was not great.

Sharks Cove

The snorkeling at Sharks Cove was amazing. We rented snorkeling gear right across the street from the cove, got some tips from the dude working the shop and then hit the water. This was one of those places where you walked into the water, put on your gear and then looked under water with your goggles on only to see a ton of fish swimming around your feet. There were so many interesting tropical fish everywhere. We swam out of the cove a bit into the much colder and deeper waters to see if we could find sea turtles. No luck, and plus we started to get a bit scared being so far out and in such deep water. We same back into the cove and had fun swimming in the much shallower, warmer, fish-filled waters of the cove.

Hanging out at Bonzai Pipeline

After we grabbed a snack at some nearby food trucks we drove a mile or two down the road to see if the waves were big at another beach (Bonzai Pipeline) which is famous for huge barrel waves. Unfortunately the waves were not huge at this time so we didn't see much action there, but the beach and water was amazing here just to enjoy. Instead of heading straight back to Honolulu we decided to take the long way home by continuing to drive around the perimeter of the island. We wanted to check out one of the areas that was used to film Jurassic Park. While the scenery was definitely straight out of the movie, we couldn't get close since it turns out the land is privately owned and you need to pay to tour the grounds. They were closed by the time we got there, but definitely worth checking out one day in the future as it looks pretty fun to explore.

Wedding Prep

We eventually made it back to Honolulu where we cleaned up at our Airbnb and then head out for a pre-wedding dinner at the bride and groom's house where they were holding a BBQ for all of the out of town guests. We got to see some family, eat some BBQ, and help decorate some of the table centerpieces. Yvonne did some amazing text on one side of buckets and Dan drew some cartoony sea creatures since the wedding was going to be at the aquarium. These took much longer than expected so we got home pretty late that night but were happy to help out for the wedding. 

Lanikai Beach

Swimming at Lanikai Beach

Still swimming at Lanikai Beach

Today we flew to Oahu for the wedding of one of Yvonne's cousins. The wedding is on Saturday but we decided to come out a few days early to explore Oahu since neither of us have ever been. We left LAX early Thursday morning and arrived in Honolulu in the early afternoon. Since we were so early we grabbed a quick bite to eat at a place called Vegan Hill near our Airbnb. After checking in to our Airbnb in Honolulu we took off right away to go check out the windward coast of Oahu. We decided to get some swimming in before the sun set at Lanikai Beach. We got super lucky with parking right near a beach access path. This took us right to the water where we could set up shop and jump right in the water for some swimming.

Yvonne eating a fresh guava malasada from Leonards

One the sun started to set we decided to head out and grab some food at the place nearby called The Food Company. This was a recommendation of some friends, so we definitely wanted to check it out while we were on this side of the island. The food was local Hawaiian food. We ordered a bento with crabcakes and mochiko chicken as well as some ahi tuna. Once we wrapped up dinner he headed back to Honolulu and checked out Leonard's Bakery to try some fresh malasadas.

Overall we were pretty happy that we were able to get some swimming in and check out some of the island on the same day we arrived!

Bond Mon, James Bond

Sunset view from the roof of Shabeen Bar at Golden Eye

Yvonne on paddle board on the ocean, just off James Bond Beach.

We just got back from 4 great days at Golden Eye in Jamaica. We planned a trip here for October of 2016 as our honeymoon, but Hurricane Matthew was on track to hit Jamaica the same day we arrived. So we backed out last minute, and instead took a credit at Golden Eye and planned a last minute trip to Banff, Canada (seen earlier in this blog).

So this time around, we planned to go a bit earlier to avoid hurricanes and went for a few days in August. The resort was even better than we expected. We have a travel book that calls this place out as one of the best places in the world to visit, and Dan also saw while watching the Late Show that Jimmy Fallon regularly vacations here, among many other celebrities we later found out. 

Taking a break from standing up.

The place is called Golden Eye because Ian Fleming wrote all of the James Bond books at his house located on this property. The property was later bought by Chris Blackwell who founded Island Records. Lots of good information is on the Golden Eye website. From talking to people at the resort, it seems Chis Blackwell still spends a lot of time at the resort but we missed him by a day or two as he split his time between the resort and a countryside home also in Jamaica (interestingly enough, it is where much of the food for the resort is farmed).

Snorkeling in Snorkelers Cove

We flew into Montego Bay airport, where we got an extra service to expedite us through immigration at the airport to avoid waiting in the lines. Our driver was on time and drove us 90 minutes across the island over to Golden Eye. 

Dan on paddle board in the ocean just off James Bond Beach.

The whole trip started off a bit in a daze since we took a red eye flight, and were pretty tired when we got in. We also had to pick up a connection in Orlando which went smoothly. Our first meal at Golden Eye was not great for some reason, and we were a bit worried that the place wasn't going to have good food. Lucky for us it was a fluke, as from the next meal onwards everything we had was amazing. We tried as much local food as we could. Jerk Chicken, Jerk Pork, Callaloo, mahi mahi, Shrimp, Toto Bread, Ackee, Chocho, Plantains, Snapper, Scotch Bonnet... probably more that I am forgetting now.

Map of Golden Eye

Dan swimming in the lagoon with our cottage in the background.

We decided to stay in one of the Lagoon Cottages which are small homes right on the water. Our porch has a small deck that lets you jump right into the lagoon, and each cottage comes with its own kayak that you can use to get around the resort. The lagoon lets out in two different areas into the ocean, so you can explore the area around the resort in a bunch of different ways and make it out into the ocean. We spent the bulk of our days there in the water with activities like snorkeling, standup paddle board, kayaking, and swimming... and doing nothing just laying around in the lagoon or out on the ocean. We also did a couple of trips to the spa... it was only a short kayak ride away.

By some miracle, we never left the resort which is very unlike us. In all of our vacations we have been on the move constantly, trying to explore as much as possible. This time around we made a promise to relax... and that is pretty much all we did. Relax, water sports, read, and eat.  

Snorkeling in Snorkelers Cove

Hotel Hoangbeski

Over the past few weeks, we've hosted quite a few people at our humble abode. Must be something appealing about a downtown loft. It was a great chance for us to explore our city, so much to see! 

 

My oldest brother and his son, plus my parents, taking a short pass through LA on their way to Legoland. 

My oldest brother and his son, plus my parents, taking a short pass through LA on their way to Legoland. 

Walking around downtown with my parents made me realize these sidewalks could really use a makeover, lots of uneven pavement for supposedly a flat surface. 

Walking around downtown with my parents made me realize these sidewalks could really use a makeover, lots of uneven pavement for supposedly a flat surface. 


 

At the hotel lobby of the newest skyscraper in LA: the Wilshire Grand. Their 70th floor is actually the hotel lobby, which also has a bar and lounge area. 

At the hotel lobby of the newest skyscraper in LA: the Wilshire Grand. Their 70th floor is actually the hotel lobby, which also has a bar and lounge area. 

 

 

Did you know there's an ultimate Frisbee league, and that the Los Angeles team plays at Occidental College in Glendale? Los Angeles Aviators vs San Jose Spiders. LA won at the very last second in overtime, family drove home a little dejected. 

Did you know there's an ultimate Frisbee league, and that the Los Angeles team plays at Occidental College in Glendale? Los Angeles Aviators vs San Jose Spiders. LA won at the very last second in overtime, family drove home a little dejected. 

 

 

Of course, the real reason Yvonne's brother drove to see us is Shake Shack. He bought a dozen to drive home and freeze for a later date. 

Of course, the real reason Yvonne's brother drove to see us is Shake Shack. He bought a dozen to drive home and freeze for a later date. 

My cousin from Colorado brought her kids through a series of SoCal college tours. Maybe a couple of future Bruins here... I had to take them to The Last Bookstore. And Guisados.

My cousin from Colorado brought her kids through a series of SoCal college tours. Maybe a couple of future Bruins here... I had to take them to The Last Bookstore. And Guisados.

Our favorite Matt stopped by for the week for a conference. We went to 4 escape rooms in 4 consecutive days, bouldered, saw Raiders of the Lost Ark with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and ate lots of food. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Our favorite Matt stopped by for the week for a conference. We went to 4 escape rooms in 4 consecutive days, bouldered, saw Raiders of the Lost Ark with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and ate lots of food.   

Three weekends in a row hosting people, what an honor so many people we love want to spend time with us!  

Mets v Dodgers

View from our seats

This week the Mets were in town! We planned to just go to todays game, but Yvonne's friend Caryn knows that Dan loves the mets so she offered us tickets for Tuesday as well. So we got a chance to go to two games this week. Both were miserable. The Mets got destroyed in both games, and swept in the overall 4 game series. At least we had great seats, and great weather.

Early in the game on Tuesday, while Dan still had hope.

Running thin on hope...

Travel Back To LA

Rooftops of Venice from The Fortuny Museum (taken yesterday)

We got up super early to catch the very first water taxi of the morning (4:30am). We took the water taxi to the stop with the bus station on the mainland just outside of Venice, and then waited there for ~40 minutes because we missed the previous bus by about 30 seconds (mostly because Dan didn't know what he was doing). We eventually got on the next bus, got to the airport, and it all was all smooth sailing from there. We flew from Venice -> Heathrow, had a brief layover where we got to enjoy one of the lounges for some food and rest, and then we caught the long flight from Heathrow to LAX. We were back in our place in LA by 4pm. Really long day, but man we are glad we have an extra day to settle in in LA, and we were very thankful to have our friend Juan to watch our place while we were gone, and to take us to and from the airport which made everything much easier.

Ciao Italia, until next time!

Venice at sunrise while waiting for the bus to the airport.

Last Day In Venice

San Marco Campanile

Franca, Piero, Norma, Marco, and Dan

It is hard to believe the two weeks have already passed by. Today is our last day of vacation before we jump back on a plane to LA. We are excited that we get to meet up with Labe's wife Norma, their two boys, Marco and Piero, and Labe's mom. They came in to Venice to meet with us for a bit in the morning. We met them in Piazza San Marco for a couple of hours where we got a chance to sit in the square, let the boys run around chasing birds, all while one of Labe's cousins was playing the piano outside for one of the restaurants on the square. We didn't even know Labe had a cousin, and turns out he looks just like Labe!

Yvonne and Dan from the balcony on Saint Mark's Basilica

Yvonne and Dan from the balcony on Saint Mark's Basilica

After spending time with Labe's family we decided to go into Saint Mark's Basilica. There was a lot of explore inside the church (but no cameras allowed), and you could even go upstairs in the church which allowed you to go outside on a patio that overlooks all of Piazza San Marco. After leaving the church we decided to check out the Fortuny Museum. This came as a recommendation from someone we were talking with at the Arsenale who said this was a pretty incredible building and collection to check out. The museum was interesting in that it had such a wide variety and somewhat eclectic collection of work. We wandered the building and saw as much as we could before the museum closed.

We really wanted to make sure we had a really great last meal to close out our trip. We remembered walking by an interesting place called Osteria L'Orto dei Mori which was not too far from our airbnb, so we decided that we would try that out. We were able to grab an early reservation and a table outside in the very quite, neighborhoody square. We enjoyed a great meal outdoors on the canal and then went home to start packing. We have a crazy early flight which means we need to wake up even earlier to catch a boat and then a bus to get to the airport. We will need to wake up early enough to catch a 4:30am boat.

The last photo we took! Yvonne and Dan on the Grand Canal one last time.

Murano

View of Murano

Glass blowing on Murano

Glass flowers on Murano

Today we had two goals, one to go visit Murano and the other to squeeze in some more time at another site of the biennale. So we woke up early to catch a water taxi over to the islands of Murano which is not too far from the main islands of Venice, and just so happens to be closer to the side we are staying on. Murano is famous for their glass. So on the islands you can see glass blowing and of course many options to purchase Murano glass. The islands themselves are also very beautiful. It is like a smaller Venice, in that it also has many small and large canals that split the islands with shops, restaurants, and homes all lining the canals. Overall it is much smaller than Venice but pretty cool to see all the glass and people working with glass all over the island. We also wanted to hop out a bit further to the islands of Burano, which are famous for brightly colored buildings and fabrics but we instead went back into Venice when we were done on Murano so that we had enough time to see more of the biennale. 

Dan as just another face... 

Yvonne at the Arsenale

We took a water taxi from Murano to Piazza San Marco so that we could visit the exhibits at the Arsenale. Instead of many small individual buildings, the Arsenale was one huge building that went on forever, that was kinda split up inside to showcase a variety of work. Just like the day before, the work of many artists and many styles and experiences were shown. It was again really fun to explore and we stayed until close again and of course were still unable to see everything. 

pasta with bolognese at Harry's Bar

We decided that we want to try dinner at Harry's Bar that night. This is a very famous restaurant in Venice that has been around forever, and very well know for being frequented by many famous people over the years and the origin as such things as the bellini and carpaccio. So we walked from the Arsenale back up to Piazza San Marco to make a reservation at Harry's. We made a reservation and had to quickly run back to our place since they do not allow shorts and sneakers in the restaurant. We jumped on a water taxi, ran home, changed, and the head back out to Harry's. Here were enjoyed another amazing meal. We tried their fresh artichokes, pasta with bolognese, and a baked pasta with cheese. We also had a bellini since Harry's Bar is the creator of the drink. It also turned out that two tables down from us was the owner of Harry's Bar. He later stopped by the table to say hi and ask how the meal was. 

Dan and Yvonne at Harry's Bar

Happy Birthday Yvonne!

Riding a taxi down the Grand Canal

Today is Yvonne's birthday!!! It also happens to be the one day that Ben and Isabel are also in Venice so we make plans with them to hang out for the day. We decide that we want to check out the biennale which is an art exhibition that takes place every other year in Venice.

A piece from 'Treasures From the Wreck of the Unbelievable'

We met up with Ben and Isabel first thing in the morning to go check out Damien Hirst's exhibit in the Punta della Dogana before heading over to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. While neither of these were part of the biennale, they were both very cool to check out. The Hirst exhibit was titled 'Treasures From the Wreck of the Unbelievable' which was based on a made up shipwreck and the art shown were the pieces discovered in the wreck. Kind of a cool idea with some pretty impressive pieces. The Peggy Guggenheim was a totally different pace. Instead this museum was her former home and it was showing her personal eclectic collection of art which was pretty impressive to see. In both cases, not only was the artwork impressive, but the buildings themselves were worth seeing alone.

Yvonne, a work of art!

From those two museums we head out to lunch across the Grand Canal. Ben and Isabel got a good recommendation that we decided to check out, Corte Sconta. Our meal here was really incredible. Lots of fresh seafood and we even tried out a dish local to Venice called Sarde in Saòr, which is basically sweet and sour sardines. The meal was great and on our way through one of the alleys we stumbled upon a ceramics shop with the work of an artists named Merlin Alessandro that caught the attention of Ben and Isabel. We explored the shop and bit, and they bought a bunch of new dishes/cups which was some pretty cool stuff. 

Yvonne & Dan at The Giardini

After lunch we walked over to one of the biennale sites at The Giardini. Neither of us really knew what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised by it all. This location is a large garden/ground with a bunch of small pavilions scatted around. Each pavilion was dedicated to one artist from each country that sent an artist to the exhibition. You can think of it as a bunch of bite-sized museums/exhibits, each with a pretty unique variety and style of work. The four of us explored a bunch of different pavilions before Ben and Isabel had to take off. We were enjoying ourselves there so much that we still stayed around after they left until they closed at 6pm.

Dinner at Vecia Cavana

Once we got out of the biennale, we started to walk back across the city to make our reservation at Vecia Cavana. The reservation was made by our friend Labe's father, who eats here often when coming to Venice. He also said he left us something nice there for Yvonne's birthday. We enjoyed another great meal here, the highlight was a really fantastic branzino. Then for dessert they brought out a cake and candles, and Labe's parents got us champagne. It was super nice of them to help us out, as well as leave this as a gift for us. We really enjoyed the meal, and then walked around Venice that night just taking our time to get back home. Yvonne was also on the hunt for some pesto potato chips, which we later figured we must have made up in our head since we never found them no matter how many places we checked. Overall, we had a lot of great experiences today and we were happy we could share them with Ben and Isabel, and even better it was all on Yvonne's birthday!

Yvonne, Ben, and Isabel on the Grand Canal

Train To Venice

The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge

Today was a travel day. We checked out of our airbnb in Florence, walked to the train station, and grabbed our train to Venice. Our train left Florence at 11:30am and we were in Venice by 1:30pm. When you get off the train in Venice you are right at the edge of the city. There is a vaporetto (water bus) stop right outside the train station so you can easily jump on a boat to take you where you need.

view of our neighborhood

Our airbnb in Venice was in a pretty unique area. It is in a bit of a residential area in the northeast side of Venice. It is right on the water, and kinda away from the heavy tourist areas. Even better, there is a vaporetto stop only steps from the front door of the building. We met our host, dropped our bags off and then just head out for a walk.

Yvonne & Dan in Piazza San Marco

Resturants along Fondamenta della Misericordia

We had no plans for our first day in Venice since we weren't too sure how long our travels would take. We hopped over a few bridges and found a really nice strip of restaurants for us to grab a late lunch. Venice is not particularly known for its food, but we hope to find some of the best places to eat. This place was fine for lunch, nothing too special. We had some seafood pasta and salmon with toasted bread. After lunch we continued to explore the city. We walked over to the Rialto Bridge and sat along the Grand Canal for awhile, then walked over to Piazza San Marco. We figured we might as well just keep walking and see some of the main areas to get familiar with where they are and how far of a walk they are from where we are staying. While walking around we also tried a locally made chocolate shop, VizioVirtù, which was pretty awesome. 

Cappellacci from Ostaria da Rioba

Eventually dinner time came along, and decided to take a recommendation from our host about a place nearby our apartment, Ostaria da Rioba. Our meal here was really incredible. We started with a shrimp appetizer, then shared some homemade cappellacci that were filled with cheese, potato, then finally shared a risotto with fish on top. All of these dishes were incredible, and made us question all the talk about food not being great in Venice. We were super full and quite tired, so thankfully our place was only a 2 minute walk away. 

Gondola's outside Piazza San Marco

Last Day In Florence

Florence at sunset from Ponte Vecchio

Our last day in Florence! Given the rather busy weekend and consecutive late nights, we decided to take it a bit easy on our last day. We slept in late to catch up on sleep, then went out and got a Vespa so that we could ride through the city and the tuscan countryside. We got up so late that we only had 4 hours to take the Vespa out for but it was totally worth it. We drove out of Florence, through Fiesole, and as far out as Pontassieve where there was a winery and a small restaurant out in the rolling hills surrounded by grape vines (The Windmill Farm). We ate a small meal there (just a plate of cheeses) then drove back into Florence to try and see how we would hold up in traffic. We drove up to Piazzale Michelangelo which has amazing views of the city. After spending some time there we had to return the Vespa which was only a 5 minute ride down the hill. Dan's Vespa driving skills from India have paid off as we made it through the ride without any issues.

As close as Yvonne got to driving

View of Florence Cathedral from Piazzale Michelangelo

Photo from The Windmill Farm, Pontassieve, Italy

After the ride we walked home along the Arno River where we were able to enjoy an amazing sunset over the city. We stopped to take some photos and even got some great photos from our own patio. Later in the night we went out for out last meal in Florence and decided to try a recommendation from one of Yvonne's friends, La Giostra. The food we had here was amazing. They gave us a plate of free appetizers (breads, meats, cheeses, vegetables) and free glasses of prosecco. We started off with a burrata cheese plate that had to be one of the best we've had so far. Then for dinner we had ravioli made with pear and cheese (this might have been as good as the pasta with shrimp in Rome) and an oxtail pasta. After dinner we walked on last time through the city to both walk off the meal and take in the city streets and squares one last time. We are now off to Venice for the last leg of our trip!

Yvonne & Dan at sunset on Ponte Vecchio 

Wedding Day

View entering Villa La Pietra gardens

We slept in this morning with last night being a late one, and we expect the same for tonight. Tonight is the actual wedding, whereas the past few nights have all been part of the celebration leading up to the big day. Dan, along with a few other friends, are ushers for the wedding which is as close to groomsmen for this wedding as there will get since there are no groomsmen. So the group of groomsmen spent the day with Ben before he needed to take off for the ceremony. 

Villa La Pietra

Before heading over to Ben's hotel room, Dan and Yvonne grabbed brunch at Ditta Artigianale since we enjoyed the food and coffee the first time around. After wrapping up at brunch, Dan grabbed his stuff and went over to Ben's where he and the other ushers hung out for the afternoon and grabbed some pizzas to hold us all over until the wedding. Ben took off in the late afternoon and the rest of the guys got ready and took off about an hour after Ben left. Everyone was bused to the wedding venue, Villa La Pietra, which was about a 10 minute drive from central Florence. The location is a florentine renaissance villa which made for an amazing home with some amazing gardens. The ushers were given their instructions in advance of the rest of the guests arriving. We were to help seat guests at the site of the ceremony since it was on grass terraces that made for some tricky steps and footing. Yvonne hung around the airbnb for the afternoon while Dan was out, and later grabbed a bus with some of our friends to get to the ceremony with the rest of the guests.  

A bit deeper into the gardens at Villa La Pietra

They had some amazing weather all weekend, and the ceremony also had great weather, maybe just a little hot in the sun (which made for a pretty sweaty usher job). They had a Jewish ceremony, and their rabbi did a great job on explaining everything that was happening. Their rabbi ended up being a huge hit all weekend as he is a good looking guy that does triathlons, studied physics, and is an entrepreneur... and has a wife and kids... and is a rabbi. He joined us on the morning runs which is where Dan got to meet him for a bit.

Photobooth photos!

After the wedding there was a great party. The group moved over to a neighboring garden for a cocktail party that was complete with a salad station, chef station, and a cheese station. The cheese station had more then 3 different types of mozzarella cheese!!! We spent an hour or two at the cocktail party before everyone moved to another neighboring garden where there were tents and wooden floors set up with some great market lights hanging between the tents. We had another great meal to cap off the weekend, a few more great speeches, dessert/coffee bars, and an overall great party. It ended up being another late night, but we had a blast while at the same time we had to say goodbye to our friends Labe and Norma as they were leaving early the next morning. We hope to see Norma when we go to Venice since she is staying a bit longer in Venice with Labe's parents. 

Such an incredible and busy weekend. Hard to believe it is over now since there was so much going on, and every event continued to impress. It was also great for us to catch up with a bunch of friends. We now have one more day in Florence before we take off for the last leg of our trip in Venice.

Yvonne & Dan after the wedding ceremony

Dan & Yvonne at the end of the night

Boboli Black Tie

Michelangelo's David @ Galleria dell'Accademia

Dan & Yvonne @ the Isolotto in Boboli Gardens

By some miracle, Dan woke up early again to catch another group run at 8am. Same leader, more people (~10 runners) and we ran the other direction down the Arno River towards Corsini Gardens. After the run we grabbed breakfast at Ditta Artigianale which is a coffee shop that Dan really wanted to try. Really great coffee and food, also our first savory breakfast in what felt like forever. Then began the arranged activities for the day. Yvonne, Dan, and Labe all joined in on the tour of the Uffizi Gallery and entrance to the Galleria dell' Accademia to see Michelangelo's David. Those were both a lot to do in one afternoon. We could only hit the high points of each gallery, but it was all super impressive. We wrapped up late in the afternoon and then got some rest back at our place. It wasn't too long before we had to get ready for the black tie event at Boboli Gardens.

Dan &amp; Yvonne in front of Cypress Lane @ Boboli Gardens

Dan & Yvonne in front of Cypress Lane @ Boboli Gardens

Dan & Labe @ the Isolotto in Boboli Gardens

We arrived at the gardens and it was spectacular. The Boboli Gardens are often considered one of the greatest gardens in all of Italy and it sure did not disappoint. We had cocktails on the Isolotto (small oval shaped island in the gardens) and the moved in the Limonaia, which is a large structure used to store lemon trees in the winter. There are probably just too many amazing things to describe from this night. Obviously the gardens and the location were all amazing in their natural beauty. Ben and Isabel had a grand entrance walking down a tree-lined hill into the Isolotto where they were greeted by the entire party. We spent a couple of hours there before moving to the dinner. The work they did to transform this barn-like tree-storing building into an amazing dinner setting was unbelievable. It was one long run of tables that were enough to fit more than 500 people. The tables were filled with fresh fruit and cheese as the centerpieces. We enjoyed a great meal and got to spend time and catch up with some really great friends. The night was capped off by a great live performance from a french band, The Gypsy Queens. They had a cool concept where they were able to move around and just perform in the crowd. So everyone was able to dance and sing around them as they moved throughout the party. Once the party wrapped up at the gardens, Dan & Yvonne joined part of the crowd for an after party at a nearby bar/club. We have no idea when we got home that night, but it was a pretty awesome and unique experience

Walking home through the empty streets of Florence

Piazza Party

Giotto's Campanile, Florence, Italy

Yvonne & Dan @ Tuscan cooking class in Mercato Centrale Firenze

As part of the wedding, Ben organized group runs in the morning. So Dan woke up early Friday morning to join the group for a 4 mile running tour of Florence. This morning there were only three of us on the run but we had a great time. We ran along the Arno River where our guide took us to a somewhat hidden running track in the hills below Piazza Michelangelo. After the run Dan and Ben caught up over coffee. In the afternoon Yvonne and Dan signed up for a Tuscan cooking class (another activity offered by the wedding). We walked over to Mercato Centrale Firenze which has a ground floor of fresh fruit, vegetables, meats, fish, and cheese, and a second floor of prepared foods. On there second floor there is also a cooking studio where we took the class, Lorenzo De' Medici. At the start of the class they gave us a tour of the market. Everything cooked in the market comes from the vendors who bring fresh foods to the market, our cooking class is no exception. After the tour we began the class. We made pasta and a simple sauce with vegetables. The class was super fun, we met some more people from the wedding, and got to enjoy a very fresh, handmade meal.

Yvonne & Dan in Piazza Della Passera

After the class we walked around Florence some more and then head home to get ready for the first official event of the weekend, a friends and family dinner at Il Santo Spirito and then a larger party in a nearby piazza. The dinner was amazing, with some good speeches and an incredibly funny song by a couple of friends of Ben and Isabel. From dinner we moved down the street to meet up with a much larger portion of the wedding (dinner was only 50 or so people) where we found a few hundred guests eating and drinking in the square, Piazza Della Passera. This was super cool. All of the restaurants and cafes were open to us. So we all were able to enjoy the square and explore each restaurant on the square to try pizza, pasta, gellato, and coffee. We stayed here until about 2 in the morning meeting more friends and family for the wedding and watching various street performers that came by to play music and preform. Dan and Yvonne even participated in one of the performances with the bubble guy who by the end of his show was lighting bubbles filled with gas on fire. Dan & Yvonne each held one of these bubbles and watched it go up in flames in their hand. This also gave us time to catch up with our friends Labe and Norma who arrived in Florence just in time for the Friends and Family dinner.

On To Florence

Il Duomo di Firenze, Florence, Italy

We finally got a chance to sleep in a bit! Check out was at 10am, so we slept in until 9, packed, and walked over to the train station around 10am. There is a pretty good food market in the train station so we decided to wait there and grab a bite to eat while waiting for our 11:50am train. We shared a crepe and a waffle, each with an overwhelming amount of nutella spread on top. So much so that we had to remove some of the nutella just to finish the meal. Dan also got two coffees since there was a really good coffee stand there too! Then we jumped on our train to Florence!

View from our patio of Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy 

Walking across Ponte Vecchio the first of many times after coffee with Ben & Isabel

Once arriving at the train station in Florence we walked to our Airbnb. The place we got was incredible. We had no idea it would be so nice, but we knew it had a great location. Once we walked into our airbnb we looked out the patio across the Arno River only to find our friend Ben sitting on his hotel patio. We sent him a message and waved across the river at each other. After settling in we went across the river to his hotel, Portrait Hotel, to catch up and grab a coffee with both Ben and Isabel. They invited us to a dinner that night at Trattoria Cammillo. Between coffee and dinner we just walked around Florence a bit to explore. For dinner, they basically took over the restaurant with how many people they had (even though this was not part of the wedding) and the food and wine was just pouring out. All of the food was amazing, this was one of the places that our airbnb host suggested that we must go, so that worked out. We also had a chance to sit with Isabel's mom at this dinner which was really nice as we've never met and it was nice to catch her before a crazy weekend. After all the intense eating, we still had room in our stomachs for gelato. We ended the night with a scoop of stracciatella gelato from Gelateria la Carraia. 

Pompeii & Positano

Positano,Italy

Yvonne & Dan @ Pompeii Forum w/ Mt. Vesuvius Behind

Pompeii, Italy

This morning we woke up at 6am since we had to meet our tour group in the middle of Rome by 7am. Luckily it was not too far from our place, so we just had a short 10 minute walk. We jumped on a bus with 8 or so other people and drove to Pompei. Turns out that Pompei ended up being even more amazing than either of us thought. We also were very lucky to have such a great tour guide. He walked us through a lot of Pompei, but there is so much to see there that there is no way to see it all in one day. It is a really incredible site to see, and we learned so much information about Pompei as a city as well as how it developed over time and was eventually impacted by an earthquake and the volcano eruption that covered the city in ash. It is incredible how well preserved the whole city is and even the process by which they've had to dig up the site over the years. There is still 1/3 buried that they will one day dig up. We took so many pictures and will only be able to post a few here but we will be sure to post them all on our flickr page.

Positano, Italy

After the few hours of exploring Pompei, we moved on to Positano on the Amalfi coast. The bus navigated narrow, winding roads down the coast and then we eventually came to Positano which is a small beach city built into the hillside of the Amalfi coast. We only had a couple of hours to spend here so we explored the town, spent some time at the beach, and ate some delicious seafood at Ristorante La Cambusa. This area specializes in everything lemon so we also enjoyed a Delizia Limone for dessert. After exploring the city and getting some beach time we hit the road back to Rome, where we got back into the city around 8pm.

Collessum, Rome, Italy

Since we are crazy, we decided to walk even more once we got home to go back to the Colosseum to take some long exposure shots from a bridge. Then we walked down closer to Circus Maximus where Dan wanted to check something out that he saw years ago when he first visited Rome. On top of some hills there is a keyhole in a door that if you look through it you see an amazing garden that perfectly frames the dome of the Vatican. Kinda random but very cool. From the keyhole we walked down the hill to a restaurant we found on Eater called Taverna Volpetti. Here we had the best meal on our entire trip so far. We shared a cheese and salami board, then had spaghetti with raw shrimp, and finally roasted squid with pappa al pomodoro. The spaghetti with raw shrimp was by far one of the best things we have ever eaten. Doesn't sound amazing, but it was such a unique taste that we could not figure out. We asked our server what the sauce is and he said it is made from the remains of the shrimp that they don't serve you. We now know the secret!

Vatican City

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Italy 

Popemobile back when it was a carriage

We got in the day before Trump got there! Upon hearing of his visit we were worried it was on the same day as our reservation, but we lucked out and didn't let him ruin our trip (but then we got out of town the next day to avoid him even more).We got up early in the morning so that we could try to avoid the crazy crowds. We got a guide at the Vatican who took us through the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. Our guide was this older Italy woman with an incredibly dry sense of humor that was pretty amazing. She took us through an underground room that has years and years of popemobiles which she says is not on the tours but she likes to go there. We then walked through some amazing hallways with incredible artwork of paintings, frescos, and tapestries. So many incredible pieces of art that we had no idea were there. It is kinda hard to describe the experience of this part of the tour. It was an overwhelming amount of people jammed into a tiny space all moving at a pretty rapid pace, and all trying to keep up with fast moving tour guides. While beautiful, the pace and amount of people was overwhelming and uncomfortable at times.

Sending postcards to our parents from Vatican City

Sending postcards to our parents from Vatican City

Eventually we found our way into the Sistine Chapel. You cannot take pictures in there, and there is supposed to be no talking. It was quite noisy in there. Again, another experience that was amazing as the frescos on the walls and ceiling are unbelievable. However, being shoulder to shoulder with many people, all looking at the walls or ceiling makes for some uncomfortable experiences. And turns out, a gold mine for pickpockets. Which we did not experience ourselves thankfully but our guide let us know they arrested 22 pickpockets the day before. After the chapel we made our way into the Basilica where we toured around, took some photos, and eventually just found a spot to sit and rest. Another intense morning and it was just a nice place to sit and relax.

Our pizza at Pizzarium

From there we moved on to pizza! We read about a place that many claim to be the best pizza in Rome. It is called Bonci Pizzarium. It was great, hard to say best pizza ever since so many pizzas are good, but this was delicious. We ate as much as we could and took some home with us. We jumped on the subway to head home where we rested for a bit before heading out to dinner. For dinner we tried another place we read about called Retrobottega. This place apparently is made up of young chefs from all over Europe who have trained at Michelin star restaurants, but this place itself is intentionally not a Michelin star restaurant.  The meal was amazing. We had a beet & avocado salad thing as a starter, then risotto and lamb ragu pasta as our main, and we shared a dessert that was made from chocolate and medlar. It was a long and slow paced dinner, but great and we enjoyed a slow midnight walk home across the city when we were done.

Ancient Rome

Colosseum

Yvonne & Dan @ Colosseum

Roman Forum

Today we did more than 13 miles of walking!! We started the day off with a tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. We used a tour company called Walks of Italy and they did a really nice job of walking us through the ancient ruins. Once we wrapped up our tour we explored things some more on our own and eventually took off to grab some food. We walked over towards the Pantheon where we grabbed a Salami and Cheese sandwich at Antica Salumeria. We enjoyed the sandwich while sitting in the square then walked into the Pantheon to check it out. We sat inside for awhile to have some rest and enjoy the shade as by now it was mid-afternoon and pretty warm outside.

Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651) @ Piazza Novona

After the Pantheon, we walked a few blocks over to enjoy some coffee at Caffé Sant’Eustacchio and also tried the coffee across the way at Cafè et Caffè. Both were our first good Italian coffee of the trip. From the coffee shops we checked out Piazza Navona. We sat here for some rest and people watching. We started to get a little hungry and tried to find a place we wanted to try and found it to be closed. So instead we went to nearby Giolitti for some gelato. We walked back home from there across all of Rome (more or less) and then rested for a bit at home. It was a long day with us spending the entire morning in an around the ancient ruins, then heading over to the Pantheon to then only have to walk back across town to head home.

Night Time @ Colosseum

For dinner we walked to a nearby place called La Carbonara, but neither of us ordered the carbonara (which we later realized we should have given that dish to be the specialty of Rome). Instead we had some amazing cheese along with two great pastas one with an extremely memorable pistachio sauce. We will try to replicate this when we get home. After dinner we walked back over to the Colosseum for some nigh time shots and to just sit outside and enjoy a really nice evening.

Colosseum @ Night

Villa Borghese

Fresco From 1775 on Ceiling @  Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy

Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy

We had 1pm reservations at the Museum at Villa Borghese (Galleria Borghese), so we hit the road around 11am to start walking over. We wandered the streets in the general direction towards Villa Borghese and eventually got there a little before 1pm. We grabbed a salami and cheese sandwich and an espresso at a small stand in the park and hung out for a little bit before heading into the museum. We entered the museum at 1pm, and had two hours to explore everything we could. We got an audio tour which was super helpful except for the fact that we got turned around in the beginning and started listening to the wrong audio in the first two rooms before we realized we had reversed the rooms that we were supposed to walk through. For awhile there we thought we were terrible at looking at paintings and sculptures, but it was pretty obvious when the audio said 'now look at the center of the room and you will see a sculpture' and there was no sculpture in the middle of the room. We got back on track and the museum was amazing! Our favorite sculpture was the one of Apollo and Daphne.

Apollo e Daphne @ Galleria Borghese

After the museum we tried to find a place to eat, but many things were closed since it was Sunday. We wanted to try Pinsere, but found it was closed so we settled for a place across the street due to hunger setting in. We both had our first pasta of the trip and shared a prosciutto and melon as a starter. From there we walked home for some rest since we had done a lot of walking already on our first day and were still a little messed up from our flight. After some rest we went out for some dinner at a place called Tram Tram. We found this place listed on Eater and it seemed like it would take us to a different part of town. We walked there around 7pm, and enjoyed a great meal. We had three dishes: Fava Bean Puree w/ Dandelion, Spaghetti w/ Anchovies, and Pasta w/ Eggplant. We took a different path home since our route there got a little sketchy and it didn't seem like a great way home once the sun set.