Footprints and Hope: Trip of a Lifetime! (Part One)

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who do not believe in magic will never find it."- Roald Dahl

We have returned from a wonderful, amazing, incredible, awesome, and perfect trip to Italy!

It was magical. It was enchanting. It was breathtaking. It was completely flawless.

We learned a secret while we were there. One that I will share with you today. Come on, lean in close....

We learned something I like to call, Chapter 13: Take a Trip.

Why Chapter 13, you ask?

Chapter 13 is the first volume...the first step...the first undeniably positive movement for us after Jackson's First Year. We lived, loved, cried, asked too many questions, beat ourselves up, went through an emotional car wash daily, and just powered our way through Chapters 1-12 the very best we could. These chapters had to be written, even if we did not like the content or the book itself. These chapters happened. They are our life. They will always be there. Since we cannot change Our Story, we must find ways to find beauty in it and push ourselves to create new, positive, life-changing chapters.

Chapter 13, friends, Chapter 13. Italy.

I cannot possibly show all the 1,000 photos I have....but I will try to show all the highlights! I am going to break up my posts into four parts: Sorrento, Rome, Florence and Venice. This way I can write and show more pictures!

Here we go!

First photo of the trip!

Our first stop was the beautiful ocean town of Sorrento! It is about 1 hour south of Naples. This town is sweet, calm, relaxing, and GORGEOUS! To put it in perspective, even when we were in Rome and Venice, locals talked about vacationing in Sorrento. There is a reason why people flock to this part of the country! It was such a great place to start our trip. We stayed in a quiet marina, which was an excellent choice! We were right on the water, and the marina seemed to sparkle at night. We spent the day time in the downtown part of Sorrento, and 2 out of 3 of our evenings were spent eating the freshest seafood right on the marina!

Yeah, we kicked off with pizza....oh my! AMAZING!

Dinner our first night at Delfino's! Perhaps one of our favorite meals of the trip!

The restaurant served dinner on a long pier right on the water. Perfect temperature. Perfect sunset. Happiness. Real happiness. And it was only night #1!

When life ~~gives you~~ throws lemons at you, ~~make lemonade~~ drink Lemoncello! Sorrento is famous for it, as well as anything relating to or about a lemon. It is like Bubba Gump with the shrimp combinations. These folks are the same way about lemons.

The man had Lemoncello, gelato, wine, and pasta! He is sad because this meal is over! He also had a lot of glassware....

The next day we took a trip out to the island of Capri! Absolute textbook beauty, that island. Our mouths were on the ground the entire time. Below is Russ rockin' the crossbody bag with pride :)

Riding the Hydrofoil to Capri! Basically a very, very large speedboat!

We took a one hour boat tour around the whole island, and it was breathtaking! The boat took us in and out of all the nooks and caves of Capri. It was beauty on a level that I have never seen before, and I really can't describe!

And do you see this water? That is the REAL AQUA and the one that we have been desperately searching for. We felt so full and complete when our boat nestled up in this little cove. The sun was blazing above us, and this gorgeous water was right at our finger tips. It was clear, calm and almost unreal but very real at the same time. This very water, half way across the world, in the most unlikely of place....is where we found magic. We saw it with glittering eyes and a heart that, for the first time in over a year, was completely and totally open. After all, it was Sonday :)

Capri, We love you.

Capri and Prosecco make a complete and very happy sentence! Cheers!

Capri was one of our most favorite sights of the entire trip. We will always remember our time at Capri, and cherish it. It was such a special way to kick off our trip! Capri is a truly magical and enchanting place.

The next day we took a half day trip to Pompeii! This was a complete change-up from Capri. Pompeii is a wonderful archeological site that gives you a glimpse into how the people of this ancient Roman town used to live, prior to the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius that left the entire town covered in a thick layer of hot volcanic ash that was 25+ meters deep. While this ash did claim the lives of 20,000 people, it did preserve the town remarkably well. You can still see and understand what daily life was like in Pompeii in many different ways.

The way tours are done is so different now! You have an earpiece that is plugged into a radio, and your tour guide has a personal microphone. They can talk at a normal conversation volume and you can hear perfectly! This is so much better than the other way, which includes them practically shouting and you can't really hear that well.

Photo above: Toilets.

Beautiful dome in a well preserved home!

One of the many streets of Pompeii!

And the brothel.....

Hot in Pompeii....

Another street!

The Forum with Vesuvius in the background!

Best view of Vesuvius was right there in The Forum!

Temple columns...

One of the sides of the town that led down into a garden...

And that folks, is Pompeii! Wonderful little day trip right there! Highly recommend it if you are every in the area! We regret that we did not hike Vesuvius! That is the one thing we MIGHT have been able to squeeze it! Maybe next time....sigh:)

And for a grand Sorrento finale....I give you a hodge podge of other photos from the wonderful 3 days we spent there!

Wine and "Fast Italian" should not be in the same sentence. FAIL.

Russ reading up on Rick Steve's! That guy is the BEST when it comes to travel!

Mid-afternoon refresher in the form of beer....and a "Coke Light"!

Pre-Hydrofoil down time!

Our lovely commute to downtown Sorrento from the marina!

Fresh mozzarella and tomato salad! AMAZING.

Fresh grilled prawns!

Fun Sorrento photos!

Love me some JP II!

You will find in coming posts that I have a thing for doors...just go with it folks!

Oh my the fresh produce! We LOVED doing picnic lunches throughout our whole trip! It was such a great way to save a few Euro's and also have a great meal while enjoying some awesome scenery and sites!

Busy market street!

I. LOVE. CHERRIES!

And the lemon....There were some as large as a football.....

Dinner at a restaurant called "Meating". So so so good!

Filet with arugula, mushrooms and some kind of fabulous glaze....oh my!

One of my favorite pictures of us!

Sad because all good wines have to come to an end.....

He just loves when I take photos like this...

The marina at night! LOVE this photo! Our homey little marina!

Another restaurant we ate at! This is where I had the grilled prawns and mozzarella salad!

Our sweet little hotel at night!

And a view from our balcony during the day! If I took a picture (which I did not!) from standing on the balcony....the water was down to the left.

Lobby!

Marina love....

On our walk into Sorrento!

And another favorite! Leaving Sorrento :( You can see Vesuvius in the background, complete with a lone creepy cloud that looks like Vesuvius is having an eruption (it is still an active volcano)! This cliff had a amazing view of the Bay of Naples. An excellent little picnic spot!