So, I've already almost cried three times today...

Favorites from Italy:

FAVORITE DAY:

• Chris & Adrienne: Riding/Driving Vespas in Chianti day. So much fun fearing for our lives, I learned bad words from my driver/tourguide Steve and tried to speak Italian with Andrea, Chris and I were introduced to scachatta bread and were forever changed, drank fantastic wine, saw amazing and breathtaking views, and just had a blast of a freaking day.

FAVORITE OUTDOOR ADVENTURE:

• Chris: Vespa Day too!

• Adrienne: 1) Hiking Cinque Terre (and crying when I got to the top to see the view) 2) Climbing Mt Vesuvius (and having the best sense of pride and accomplishment--unreal)

FAVORITE WINE:

• Chris: Nobile Montepulciano
• Adrienne: Valpolicella

FAVORITE DISCOVERED FOOD OR DRINK:

• Chris: Aqua Frissante, Scachatta bread, and Cintasinese pork
• Adrienne: Aqua Frissante, Valpolicella wine, anchovies, octopus (that's NOT fried) and organic olive oil

FAVORITE WALKS:

• Adrienne & Chris: VENICE, at night after concerts, evening gelato and in San Marco Square with music from the live musicians swirling the air where they play at all of the local restaurants.

FAVORITE MEALS:

• Chris: 1) Susans Restaurant in Bagne Vignoe: Asparagus wrapped in bacon, amazing bread and olive oil, Nobilie Montepulciano wine, cintasinene pork, and ricotta cheese filled ravioli in a sweet walnut sauce 2) Babettes in Rome: Soup compliments of the chef of a bean in marinara sauce, leek souflee with parmesean appetizer, roast beef with herb potatoes/topped with rosemary and olive oil, and roast duck in a sweet sauce, mandarine oranges, and cooked spinach, Babette's Cake (cheese cake with a soft heart) and the white chocolate soufelle desserts 3) Auroras in Sorrento: Lasagna
• Adrienne: 1) Susans (Same) 2) Babettes (Same) 3) The first place we ate in Florence, hole in the wall, Anita's (?): Lasagna (the cheese was to die for)

FAVORITE PLACE TO STAY:

• Adrienne & Chris: B&B3C in Venice. Amazing in so many ways.

FAVORITE PLACE OR CITY THAT WE WOULD ACTUALLY LIVE IN:

• Adrienne & Chris: Rome

FAVORITE CONCIERGE (excluding Fabio from B&B3C in Venice. It was a bed and breakfast, so we're not counting him...but he's tech both of our favorites...):

• Adrienne & Chris: Vincente at La Residenza in Rome

FAVORITE CITY:

• Adrienne & Chris: All of them for so many different reasons! There just is no way to decide on one.

FAVORITE PLACE WE WANNA BRING A LOVER:

• Adrienne: Venice, hands down
• Chris: Bagno Vignoni, hands down

FAVORITE PIZZA:

• Adrienne & Chris: Jolly Caffe' in Tuscany. Sausage, Ham, olives and other great stuff...we can't even remember. My God, the crust was amazing too.

FAVORITE EMOTIONAL UNEXPLAINED CRY:

• Chris: Seeing Michelangelo's David
• Adrienne: Seeing Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgement wall

FAVORITE CHURCHS:

• Chris: Church service at the Duomo in Florence AND St. Peter's Basilica
• Adrienne: Sistine Chapel in Rome AND church service at the Duomo in Florence

FAVORITE MUSEUM:

• Chris & Adrienne: The Borghese Palace Museum

FAVORITE HOTEL BREAKFAST:

• Chris & Adrienne: B&B3C (But it'd have to be with Mama and Fabio. Not the same without them.)

FAVORITE DESSERT:

• Chris: Babette's Cake at Babette's in Rome, Panna Cotta with strawberry puree at a trattoria in Rome, & Cannoli EVERYWHERE
• Adrienne: White chocolate cake souflee at Babette's in Rome, Cannoli EVERYWHERE, & Panna Cotta with strawberry puree at a trattoria in Rome

FAVORITE ITEM BOUGHT:

• Chris: Leather coat in Florence
• Adrienne: Blue dress from Esther in Rome & Leather coat in Florence

FAVORITE GELATO

• Adrienne: 1) Chianti's where stopped after riding Vespas all day (the Almafi Lemon flavor was FANTASTIC!) 2) Venice on one of the many squares of Hazelnut, Pistachio, & Vanilla 3) Biscotta flavor at a small stand while wandering around (My God, it tasted JUST like the cookie!)
• Chris: 1) Same Venice gelato 2) Florence on the Signoria Square--Amaretta flavor 3) Vespa gelato

FAVORITE FOUNTAIN:

• Adrienne: Piazza Nuvona's in Rome-The Four Continents
• Chris: Trevi Fountain in Rome

　FAVORITE PIAZZA:

• Chris & Adrienne: San Marco's in Venice

FAVORITE ART PAINTING:

• Adrienne: Michelangelo's circular painting, Tondo Doni (Holy Family) in the Uffizi
• Chris: Caravaggio's painting in church of St. Agnes

　FAVORITE MOMENTS:

• Arriving in Italy for the first time. Speechless.
• Seeing the Pope. Yards away. In Venice. On our first day in Italy.
• The waiter at a restaurant singing to me as he brought me bread
• Two waiter fighting over who got to serve me at a restaurant in Rome
• Sleeping on a park bench together in the Villa Borghese (complete with a man seeing me and saying "Buena Note" and Chris waking herself up snoring. I have a feeling people took pictures of us...)
• Being run over by a segwayLearning to drive a segway
• Driving a segway
• Watching Chris half fearing for her life on a segway
• Noticing when male waiters enjoyed touching my shoulders
• Learning to drive a Vespa
• Driving a Vespa
• Fearing for our lives on Vespas
• Laughing so hard with Chris that I can't keep my eyes open and tears stream down my face
• Trying to learn Italian
• Ordering breakfast in Italian
• Fabio & Mama at B&B3C. And knowing that when I'm 85 years old, I want to be like that.  Enough said.
• Running through the streets in Venice screaming "HOSPITAL" to get people to move as we tried to find out way to a tour
• Getting lost. Time and time again. In EVERY city.
• Seeing the David and being able to say we saw the David
• Driving out of Florence and into Siena, fearing for our lives and getting lost, discovering Bagne Vignoe afterwards and staying there for two days getting massages instead of touring all of Italy
• Fearing for my life with a German masseuse named Federicka
• Listening to Vicente, our hotel person in Rome, tell us that he got chills when he read his thank you card from us. And both Chris and I almost cried.
• Chris almost getting us both killed by a sales clerk when she took a dress off a manican (it was the size I needed--I swear!)
• Meeting new friends on tours, especially the Australian couple and Atlanta couple at Cinque Terre and the two girls, Wanda and Jenny, from Florida in Venice
• Fighting off the vendors who sell roses for 5 euros a pop
• The wanting so badly not to look like an annoying American tourist
• Shopping. Everywhere.
• Realizing that we could both easily live here, both fell in love with every part of every city, and both want to come back here...as soon as possible.

Until tomorrow. Our last few hours in Italy.

Ciao ciao ciao.

Love love,
Adrienne