Let the wedding festivities (AND vacation) begin!)

We happily left put crack den hotel in Athens early yesterday morning. When we arrived at the hotel- it was already a reunion with Danny's uncle and aunt and cousin all being on our flight.

We arrived to an absolutely beautiful Santorini. The weather was perfect- sunny with a little breeze- a nice break from the rain and cold!

Once here, we laid by the pool for an hour and headed straight to a wine tasting. We met the bride and groom- Bobby and Denise's friends. There are three Jacqueline's at this wedding of thirty or so people- all awesome of course!

After the wine tasting- there was more drinking and hanging out by our celebrity-like villas before the fantastic rehearsal dinner.

I finally feel like I can relax here- and boy, I am!

Looking forward to a whole lot of pool time and the wedding tonight!

These pictures were either from my personal villa or the location of the winery!

Don't be jealous!....okay just a little

Xoxo,
Jza Jza

An incredible wedding

We have spent our time in Santorini relaxing the days away- the weather was perfect yesterday! We hung out by our private pool for most of the day before heading to the wedding.

The wedding took place on the side of a cliff by our villas and was so beautiful. Denise wore a Reem Acra gown that was stunning! A Greek duo of a violin and some sort of guitar greeted us as we walked in and the short ceremony was spoken in Greek and English.

After dinner we headed up to the reception area- held in one of the villas and we sent paper lanterns into the sky...followed by a firework show that was a surprise from the bride's parents! Incredible.

We ate- I danced all night and we even did shots of ouzo- not good. All in all it was an amazing evening and we are so happy for the bride and groom!

Congrats Denise and bobby! Thank you for an amazing weekend!

Xoxo,
Jza Jza

A little bit of Rome and seedy Athens

Today we have to catch a train to Roma termini and fly to Athens for the night before heading to Santorini.

Danny and I got up at 620 and ran around Rome for an hour checking out all of the sites we didn't see last night- mainly the ruins and colosseum. It was a great little run and we had a blast.

We directly checked out of our hotel and headed for the train station- on our way- rich was harassed by some gypsies and almost pickpocketed. Luckily we were able to hiss them away and continue on.

We head to Athens, get there and come to find out by our taxi drivers that we are staying on the primary crackwhore and prostitute street- sure enough as soon as we pull up- crackheads are all congregated right across the street. Judy's travel agents is getting a few mean letters next week.

Hotel is okay and we checked in and made a bee line for the acropolis- very cool. I can't believe that things made so long ago are still standing in such conditions. Finally we ended the night with too much food and baklava at a restaurant called Daphne's.

Now off to Santorini tomorrow! If we survive the crack den...

Wish me luck!

Xoxo,

Jza Jza

Basta piova!

My family always jokes that it rain on any of my special occasions- birthdays, graduation parties, vacation- and it is pretty much true...which is partially why our wedding theme is umbrellas. Seriously it has been raining for 3 1/2 days straight. When you are on vacation and had hoped to do fun outdoor things and packed for warm weather, the rain can put a damper in your day.

We let the Reeves sleep off their jet lag and we grabbed breakfast at our hotel while it was still warm and sunny. After the others awoke and joined us, we headed straight to Pompeii. I have been here a few times, but it is always enjoyable. This time however, the sky broke and so did my umbrella. We spent a good few hours trolling around anyway and met up tired hungry and wet.

Instead of attempting anything else in the pouring rain- we headed back to Sorrento for a meal at la lanterna due. It was warm, had warm food, reasonably priced and most importantly all the alcohol we were desiring. Rick steves knows his crap-btw...

The rain let up a bit after our meal and we spent another hour shopping and walking around.

We headed back to Seiano, where our hotel was and had a night cap together. Danny and michael went out to the local bar for a bit and I faced timed for an hour with my mom, dad and Sam of course! It was great to talk to them and finally hear their voices- something I missed this week. The hotel concierge even gave my dad a 'ciao!'

A little frustrated with the rain- I am hoping the rest of our trip will be a bit warmer and sunnier!

Hope you are all enjoying the weather where you are!

Xoxo,
Jza Jza

Capri boat trips and Rome

We woke up really really early to head out to the island of Capri with Dan and michael. They were a little hungover and dragging- but manned up once we got a beer in Danny and fresh air for Mike.

We had to take a train to Sorrento, a ferry to Capri and we looked for a boat tour to the blue grotto. Last time I was in Capri, I had a little accident with a rented moped, so I missed the blue grotto- this time I made sure to see it.

Instead of taking a generic tour boat- we opted for a private tour for 4 euro more a piece but totally worth every euro penny! The blue grotto was closed but we saw the white, green and little blue grottos. We even boated through a keyhole rock and Danny got to drive the boat!!

After a little seasickness on my end- he finished the tour and we left with smiling faces. We headed back to Sorrento- walked up 125 stairs and departed for Rome.

Once in Rome- we headed our for dinner and then to the Trevino fountain and Spanish steps- both great at night on the dark. We finished the evening with some gelato and headed straight to bed.

A full day in three cities- I call that a success!!

Ill tell you about Greece tomorrow!

Xoxo,
Jza Jza

Sorrento- land o' limoncello

Yesterday morning, we woke up early and headed to the train station for our trip to the Amalfi coast. We first had to take a freccia train to Naples, then get on a curcumvesuvia train to sorrento. The whole thing took about 4-5 hours.

We get off our stop at seiano just in time to realize we have to lug our luggage up an extremely windy uphill road. After getting our work out in for the day, we checked in and grabbed a drink by the pool until the rest of the clan got there.

Not too long after our arrival, the reeves showed up experiencing the same obnoxious trek and jet lagged. We convinced them to keep going and we directly heads to sorrento. We had a great afternoon of trying every limoncello around, basic shopping, admiring the sea and eating yummy food.

A pretty tame but fun day! The pics below are of our pool area an the view from our hotel. I was distracted by all the limoncello and forgot to pull out te ole iPhone for pics!

Miss an love you all!

Xoxo,
Jza jza

Firenze part due

Our second day in Florence was actually very successful considering the late night we had before.

We woke up later than hoped but headed out into a grey morning to check out the ponte vecchio (one of the only bridges in the world with buildings on it). We checked out the locks- where loved ones make a promise to their partner by locking their love on this bridge.

We headed to the galleria ufizzi right after and paid 5 extra euro to not wait in line--who needs to wake up early with that deal?? My favorite museum, the ufizzi, was packed with tourists and we shuffled through to find our favorites and admire the greats of the renaissance period. Botticelli's Venus is my favorite painting and I am always happy to see her there. Unfortunately many of the michelangelo's were not there, but it was still a successful trip.

We next headed back to the duomo and into the centre storico. My favorite part of the day was heading to the spedale da'gli innocenti- the old orphanage built by Brunelleschi himself. It contained stories of the orphanage and a few fra Fellipo lippi- and boticellis to boot.

Exhausted we headed back for a daily nap and run and wine and dined the evening away. Much less exciting than the night before but equally gratifying!

We are headed to sorrento to check out the Amalfi coast for a bit!

Hope you are all well!

Bacci!

Xoxo,
Jza jza

Firenze part UNO

So maybe we decided to go to an American bar last night and maybe we didn't get back to our hotel in the pouring rain until 4 am and maybe we missed our 7 am wakeup alarm so we could get in line for the uffizi... But we had a great day yesterday.

After a quick an super easy direct train from Venice, we landed in Florence right in time for check in at the hotel carravaggio. We directly went to the Accademia to see the one and only David. As this handsome man was a popular spot mid day, we had to stand in line for about an hour to see him. We met some pretty fun Aussies and kiwis while in line who asked us to hang out at "regatta" that night.... Which we later found out was actually "red garter".... Gotta love the language barrier.

Dave was great and we headed over to the duomo promptly after. As rain pushed us in to Scudieri, a pasticceria, we enjoyed an incredible cannoli and my favorite candy- torrone. Crashing from a mix of a sugar high, jet lag an rain, we headed back to our hotel for a nap and a run to rejuvenate our spirits and energy.

We headed out to an incredible dinner at za za (so appropriate for me) and enjoyed the best carbonara I have ever had. I mean- wow. Full from a dinner of amazing florentine dishes, we walked a few km to the red garter bar- touristy, but really fun. We met up with our friends from the David line and met some new ones and had a bit of too good of a time. Well worth it though.

With a country with amazing coffee, we are ready to face another day in this incredible city. Wish us luck at the uffizi line and I'll blog more tomorrow.

Ciao tutti!

Xoxo,
Jza Jza

Venezia and jet lag!

As Danny and I embark on our Italian and Greek journey over the next week, I thought I'd try and send snippets of our travels. Primarily because I can't call our friends and Fam back home and secondarily to make you all jealous! Just kidding!! The pictures below are iPhone pics, so I'll post more when we return to the states.

Our first stop was Venice. It is a place neither Danny nor I have ever been and we thought it would be a great first stop on our journey.

We took the red eye into Italy and decided to stay up as long as we could to avoid jet lag the rest of the trip. Our failed attempt to sleep the whole flight over landed us exhausted in Italy at 2 am America time and 8 am Venice time. Once in, we found our bus and headed to piazzono Roma. Our hotel was a little hard to find, but once here the Hotel Caprera was charming and helpful. The water bus people however were not. Since we couldn't check in for another few hours, we thought we'd head to the island of Murano, where they make the glass. We quickly forgot about the European Laid back ways and lack of customer service and quickly gave up on that idea and headed to San Marco square.

Grabbing a piece of pizza to raise our spirits, we decided to trek through the streets and find our own way. Luckily, there are plenty of helpful signs. My jet lag was quickly sinking in and our patience for the other tourons (tourist plus morons) was very quickly dwindling. By the time we made it to San Marco square, I did NOT want to go in that crowd (pic below). We blasted through it, found a beer stand and sought refuge in a hidden garden (the pic of us below).

Quickly realizing that alcohol raises our spirits and energy, we relied on that to get us through the rest of the day. We Stopped in Harry's Bar to get an original Belini- which was way overpriced but delightful and delicious.

Feeling better and a little tipsy, We attempted taking a water taxi and a gondola and finally bought water bus tickets again to go to Murano- only to find out that the America Cup regatta race was here this week and we could not go out to the island. Feeling jet lagged again and getting low on our alcohol supply- we took the next boat back to our hotel area to grab some lunch. It was actually a great way to see the city- a few of the final pics below. We spent the rest of the day shopping, eating, drinking and finally passed out around 8 PM our time.

It was a great first day an after about 12 hours of sleep, we feel energized and ready to take on Florence for the next few days!

Hope you are all well and I hope to blog again soon!!

Xoxo,
Jza Jza