Italia

Sometimes when you blow something up in your mind it doesn't quite live up to your expectations. I had wanted to visit Italy for a long time and we had talked about it for years. I just knew I would love it with the beaches, scenery, food, shoes, shopping, blown glass, and did I mention the food. Well Italy surpassed my expectations.

I fell in love with all of it. It was the first time I have ever landed in Seattle and didn't smell the air when I stepped outside and wasn't instantly glad to be home. I wished I was still back in Italy. I tried to convince Sam to leave me in Venice to learn glass blowing but for some reason he didn't sign up for my grand plan so I got on the flight back home.

We are already planning our next trip back but the problem is I want to go to all the same places but have a dozen new places I want to go as well now.

In Milan I loved all the shopping - I have never seen so many high end shops and all the Italian designers I had ever heard of. It was an amazing sight and a shopper's paradise just not easy on the wallet. In spite of my search for the perfect Italian purse I didn't find one but I am sure Sam thinks he saw every purse in Italy and he might be right.

Lake Como was as pretty as I imagined and Sam got his water fix in - after all he hadn't been near a body of water in 1 1/2 weeks when we got there.

Positano was magical once we arrived. I was pretty glad we got car service from Naples to Positano as the road was crazy and then you add Italian drivers and the no lane concept and I was happy we had an experienced driver. I can't believe there is a city that looks like Positano does. Our day on a small fishing boat with a 10course lunch will be an experience my stomach will never forget. I really wanted to eat dinner later in the evening but couldn't manage it so gelato sufficed.

Sam will remember Capri for what he recalls as the best meal of the trip - I will remember the views of the island from the water.

Tuscany was so green and all the towns were on the tops of hills which made for interesting roads and driving. Walking around towns like Sorrento, Cortona, and Montepulciano was one way to burn off some of the incredible food we had. It just blew us away how old it all was.

I had always thought the Venetian in Las Vegas was pretty over the top until we got to Venice. I realized that the Venetian could really step it up a few notches. A city with no transportation other than boats made Sam want to stay forever. Even I was pretty enamoured with the concept myself. It was Murano Island where I finally for the first time ever got my fill of blown glass and didn't even make it to every shop. It is truly one of the most beautiful over the top places I have ever been.

After all the homemade pasta we were eating Sam started wondering aloud if maybe I would start making homemade pasta at home. While it was so much better I don't yet see myself making it from scratch. If he really needs it that badly it might be time for another trip to Italy. After all we elected for a boat trip instead of the cooking class in Positano so it is his fault if I didn't learn how to make it since we know who was pushing for the boat trip.

Of course once we were in Positano Sam started planning how the next time we could rent a sailboat and tour the Amalfi Coast and cruise down even further along the coast. It seems that while we took quite a few boat rides it wasn't quite like being the skipper. I was not quite as gung ho on this idea as he was in part because there aren't many marinas and it would call for anchoring out for most of the trip. So we will see - though Sam might have forgotten the small fact I am the one who plans all the details of our trips while he just packs and shows up in time for the flight. So we will see if I "remember" to make the sailboat reservation or if a hotel reservation will be more to my liking.