You only live in Italy once!

Me and Caroline

Wow, what an incredible weekend I had! Caroline and I (official travel buddies in case you haven’t already figured that out) decided to take a trip to Lake Como, which we had always heard was beautiful! Well we sure did hear right! The second we got off the train ride there, our breath was completely taken away. It was definitely in my top 3 most beautiful places I have ever seen! I can’t explain in words what it was like to be there and see it, but that in itself should tell you something about it (that it would take the words right out of my mouth!)

Lake Como is in northern Italy surrounded by the Swiss Alps, and has a few little towns bordering the lake.  When we arrived, it was beautiful weather, and we boarded a boat to take us to Bellagio, the town that we stayed in the whole weekend. Well the boat ride was incredible in itself, and we both kept looking at each other saying, “Is this real life??” We finally arrived at our hotel, which was simple, cheap, but still nice, we decided to soak up the beautiful weather and go ride around on the boats, and that is exactly what we did for the rest of the night, until it started to rain. We made our way back to Bellagio, and had a nice dinner then went to bed early, since I was going off of two and a half hours of sleep due to registering for classes at 2am Italy time…thanks a lot time change... But we decided to get some good sleep and did not wake up on Saturday until 9:30! It was amazing! We found an amazing gelato place that serves gelato cookie sandwiches (pictured below!) and we decided to have those for breakfast! No one judge us…we have taken the “You are only going to live in Italy once” phrase a little too close to heart! They were soooo good though!

After our healthy gelato for breakfast, we hopped on the next Mid-Lake Boat which takes you to 7 little lake towns, and we would just get off an on as we pleased. Most of the towns were very similar, but we would get off, go sit by the lake for an hour, have a couple photo shoots (duh), and then get back on the boat to the next place. It was really a great, relaxing day! I even took a nap on a bench, that’s how lazy it was! So wonderful to have a weekend like this because we are on such a tight, busy schedule during the week! It was so refreshing to just sit by the lake and bask in the Lord’s creation and beauty! We were both just so blown away that the same God created us and all the beautiful scenery too! It was so humbling and great!

The weather was outstanding and it was an all around fantastic day! I so wish each and every one of you could see Lake Como, and if you ever get the chance to go here one day—TAKE IT! You won’t be disappointed!

Caroline and I decided to splurge and have a nice meal by the lake for the last night there. It was really good, we both ordered pasta, but it was really fun getting treated with great service and just enjoying each other’s company!

Sunday morning—let the adventure begin. Well let me preface this with the fact that Italy is a fantastic country, they just do things a little different than America (not all bad) just different. Two words explain what I am talking about….Train Strike. We had been warned that Italy was on the verge of possibly going on a train strike while we are here, we just sort of ignored the fact that it would happen to us. Well we were very wrong. Friday on our way to Como we saw signs in the train station that there was possibly going to be a strike during the weekend, and while they are required to warn you ahead of time when they will be striking, it is all very vague and completely in Italian, so we have no idea what is happening. Well Sunday morning we wake up to a text from our professors who have also traveled to Como for the weekend, saying that no trains are running from Como to Milan, and that they are going to take a taxi from Como to Milan, and will wait for us to join them. Well this is really great, but it was 6:56 in the morning. WE ARE STILL IN BED! And hadn’t planned to wake up for another 2ish hours, oops! So we hop out of bed, panic, and pack our bags fast and rush out of the door! We are running to catch the boat and of course barely miss it. I mean like seconds away…the next train isn’t for another hour…annoying! We realized there was absolutely nothing we could do, so we went to go get gelato for breakfast again haha! And then waited for the boat, met our professor in the taxi and then headed to Milan. We were sharing the taxi with two other honeymooning couples. The one I sat next to happened to be from Houston, and both work at the Impact Church of Christ!!! Can you believe that?! They met there, and got married a few weeks ago. It was the funniest thing, and we were both in shock about how small the world is! I have probably met them before because she said they came to college station to ask for interns from AFCers. It was just a really funny situation and really cool that I met them all the way in Italy! We kept naming people we both knew and it was so funny! I hope to meet them again someday in Houston! We had to spend a few hours in Milan waiting for the train that was actually running to take us to Florence. We decided to go visit the Duomo, which was absolutely beautiful! It was cool walking around where I know famous people have walked! Haha I know I’m cheesy! 

We finally made it to Florence, where most all the regional trains were cancelled and decided to shop a little bit and wait our the strike! Obviously we weren’t that concerned! I bought a super cute new pair of European shoes! I can’t wait to start a new trend…maybe! :)

We eventually made it home on a random train and everything turned out great! I am starting to be such a world traveler!

This week, there is a school holiday on Wednesday so Caroline and I are taking a trip to Siena, which we have heard is really great, so we are excited to explore!

I hope you are all doing well, and that the end of the semester is not too stressful!