Italy

During "Flexible Learning Week" I convinced (not that it was too hard..) Matt to go to ITALY! I found great tickets to Venice and knew we could take the train to Florence from there pretty easily. Because this was a bit of a longer trip, I thought I'd do a photo diary to best explain our lovely week in the land of pasta and gelato.


MONDAY

Since our flight wasn't until the afternoon, we had a leisurely morning. We went to the gym, ate breakfast, packed, and cleaned up the flat. We flew the always-lovely Ryan Air from Edinburgh to Venice Treviso. Now, since this isn't Venice's main airport, we had to take a 40-minute bus to get to the "city center", where we would take a water taxi to meet the Airbnb host. I'll never forget getting to the "city center", which was really just an abandoned-looking dock. Luckily, we found the right platform and were able to cruise through the Grand Canal and met Marcuzio by the Rialto Bridge without issue! After dropping our stuff off, we headed out to get a slice of pizza and gelato. The pizza was delicious, the Coke Zero basically revived me, and the gelato was hands-down the best I've ever had in my life. It was hazelnut with a pistachio creme swirled throughout. The combination of sweet and salty, plus the texture of the pistachio creme... I still dream about it. Matt honestly seemed kind of concerned by how much I enjoyed it. He got a fresh berry gelato that was also delicious. I think I blacked out from how good the gelato was because the next thing I remember is waking up on Tuesday morning.

TUESDAY

We started off at the same place where we went the night before for pizza! We both got pastries and hot chocolate. Then, we embarked on a free walking tour. I found this tour on Trip Advisor, and it had amazing ratings. Each guide does a different route, depending on what they are interested in. It was an awesome way to see parts of Venice we wouldn't have otherwise seen. They make a point to not take you to St. Mark's Square or other super touristy areas. The tour was awesome, except for the fact that my feet were literally freezing. I lost feeling in them about 20 minutes in. The tour guide gave us a quick break to tinkle and we sprinted into McDonald's so Matt could use the facilities and then we each tried rubbing my feet to get feeling back in them. Luckily, after the tour I changed into my boots and was very comfortable the rest of the day!

Matt in the Jewish Ghetto in front of the bank where the term "in the red" originates from 

The Rialto Bridge 

Gorgeous view from the roof of a department store

St. Mark's Basilica

The coolest department store right by our Airbnb!

Doge details

The Bridge of Sighs

So glad we went to Suso Gelato 5 times in 2 days :)

WEDNESDAY

We took the train from Venice to Florence. We decided to walk to the train station, which ended up being fine, although we got lost a few times along the way ;). The train was lovely! We passed through snow, the countryside, and a few small towns. Once we made it to our Airbnb, we set off to explore! We saw the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, and walked up to the beautiful Piazzale Michelangelo. It was a great way to get acclimated to the city. We had a great lunch at Zaza's, but our dinner that night was really spectacular! We ordered the 40oz. Florentine steak at a small, local place our Airbnb hostess reccomened to us. It was delicious! Matt said it was the best steak he's had in his whole life. Naturally, we finished the day with gelato.

THURSDAY

Thursday was museum day! We began the day at the amazing Uffizi Galllery. It was amazing to see famous works from Michelangelo, DaVinci, and others. I only remembered a little about this place from the trip three years ago, so it felt basically brand new! After the Uffizi, we got panninis for lunch. They were good, but nothing compared to Sub Shop in Memphis, which seriously has the most delicious sanwiches EVER. Next up was the Accademia to see the David. There is something so awe-inspiring about turning the corner and seeing Michelangelo's masterpiece looming large under his special dome. Matt and I sat (it was practially empty) and took it all in for almost half an hour. The other room full of statues was really cool too. What we did next was an idea from my mom! We walked all the way to the St. Regis, which is where my family stayed when we came in 2015. I love the area around the hotel. We went to the gorgeous Winter Garden for tea! It was very quiet and the perfect way to warm up, chill out, and it felt extremely luxurious. Matt decieded our next activity was going to be hiking to a park! We walked up several very steep hills, passed where Kim and Kanye got married, and ended up smack-dab in the middle of nowhere. Despite this, we enjoyed the beautiful sunset and have a few good laughs. After walking back to our hotel,  we were both too tired to do anything dramatic for dinner. So, we returned to the trusty Zaza's! I had delicious gnocchi, and Matt had the pizza again. It was a perfect last meal.

I had such an amazing time in Italy! It was just as wonderful as I rememered it being. Experiencing it with Matt made it even better. :)

Málaga

Last Monday, Matt came across a good deal on tickets to Málaga, Spain. He told me that Málaga was in southern Spain, and promised sunshine and warmer temperatures. That was all I needed to hear! I found out later that Málaga was one of the places my parents stopped on their grand honeymoon to Spain in 1989. Cute! We really didn't formulate much of itinerary before leaving, which, in this case, worked wonderfully. We were able to explore the city, eat some delicious food, and enjoy the Moorish baths. We also attended a Spanish ward on Sunday morning, which was really cool!

Our flight to Málaga was at 6:25 AM, meaning we were heading to the airport at 4 AM... but we arrived in Spain before noon! I was relaxed simply by the presence of sunshine upon our arrival. Scotland is great for many things, but one does not see a lot of sunshine in Scotland in January. Once we arrived in the city center, we dropped our bags off at the Airbnb and got ready to walk around and explore the city. Highlights from our first venture outside include seeing the old Moorish fort Alcazaba, climbing up to said fort and enjoying a spectacular view of the city, walking along the harbor and seeing warships, seeing the old Roman theatre, and simply enjoying the warmth and sunshine.

About halfway up our "hike"

Along the harbor

The view from the top of our hike

Found this cutie in the garden

Roman theatre. Built in the first century BC under Emperor Augustus when the Romans occupied the city. 

After working up an appetite, we were ready to EAT! Unfortunately, siestas are a real thing and restaurants were all closing up. We actually got kicked out of a restaurant when we walked in! So, we made our way back to the Airbnb and waited it out. Most restaurants didn't open until 8, so being American tourists, we naturally arrived at 8 PM sharp and were the first people there! After a delicious dinner, we walked around in search of dessert. We found a delicious gelato place along this road, which was lit up and full of locals enjoying their Friday night. After walking over 14 miles and having been awake since 3:30 AM, I was so excited to climb into bed and pass out.

 Although we didn't have any concrete plans for our time in Málaga, I knew that we had to try some authentic churros. Apparently, churros are a completely appropriate breakfast food in Spain! We ordered a big plate of churros and two mugs of hot chocolate, which basically tasted like a melted chocolate bar. YUM!

Expert tip: dip your churro in the hot chocolate for maximum deliciousness

On Saturday, after our delicious churros, we made a quick stop in a store to buy me a sweatshirt. Although the weather was sunny and lovely, I had underestimated what 60 degrees really feels like! I am actually wearing the sweatshirt right now too, so I think that qualifies as a good purchase! After some delicious sandwichs for lunch, we headed to the Moorish baths. Men and women go to their designated changing rooms to put on a swimsuit, before being led to the baths. In the middle, there was one swimming-pool sized warm pool. On one side there was hot tub sized cold pools, and the other side had a medium sized hot-water pool, steam room, and a room full of warm marble surfaces. We devised a little plan where we got in up to our waists in the cold pool, scurried into the hot pool to warm up, relaxed on the warm marble chaises, then recovered in the medium temperature pool. We repeated this several times, (and lost track of time... it smelled heavenly and there were only about 10 people in the huge space) before being led upstairs for our massages. There were massage tables all set up in a big room, which smelled like amber and roses. The message was about 15 minutes, and it was the perfect way to top off the experience. Overall, it was one of the coolest and most relaxing things I've ever done! Matt and I kept looking at each other and saying "This is amazing, I can't believe we are here right now!"

The baths from the outside

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around, and even made our way to the beach! That night we enjoyed another "late" dinner, and somehow ended up back at the same gelato place... that cookies and cream gelato was no joke!

The next morning, we checked out of our Airbnb and walked to church. It is so cool that no matter where you are, you can find an LDS church. Everyone was incredibly nice, and even though I didn't understand a single word of the meeting, I felt the spirit as I sang those hymns in Spanish! After church, we hung out at a really cool nearby mall, where we actually were able to catch a train to the airport! Convenient publish transportation always comes in clutch! Once at the airport, we FaceTimed my mom and ate dinner before boarding our flight back to Edinburgh. As soon as we got back to our flat, we were streaming the Superbowl! I am so happy the Eagles won. Well, that's all for now!