Happy 10th Anniversary to us!! We got up pretty early that morning to walk down and meet one of Josh's former professors, Emilio at 8 am. He was taking 14 college girls from Auburn University on a tour and invited us along. Emilio is a history buff, so it is always so much fun to hang out with him and learn all there is to know about the places we go. I did get to meet him last time I was in Italy when he took us on a day trip to the ruins of Pompeii, so it was great to see him again. He hadn't changed a bit. Now, when Josh told me that we were going with Emilio and 14 college girls I was a little hesistant.....especially on my anniversary. ha! But, we ended up having a great time with them. They were really sweet girls.
We met them in this little piazza and it was really cute.
Some more beautiful window displays....
They had a market there too with some amazing looking produce.
One of the things they sell over there are squash/zucchini flowers. Rather than let them fully mature, they pick them as flowers and then stuff them with yummy stuff, fry them and eat them like that. I thought that was pretty neat. I never got to try one, but I need to find a recipe for a stuffing to put in them.
We took a 30 minute bus ride outside of Rome to Villa Adriana where Hadrian's Villa is. Josh had been there before, but it was all new to me. This place was built as a getaway for the emperor Hadrian. Many ruins are still there. It was a really beautiful site to visit with tons of cyprus trees and olive groves.
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| cyprus trees |
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| Olive trees |
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| beautiful mosaic floor in one of the bathhouses. |
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| From Hadrian's Villa you can see the town of Tivoli (we headed there next) |
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| awesome. |
After our tour, we took the bus, up the mountain, to the town of Tivoli. We were on our own, for a little while, for lunch. Josh and I went to this really neat restaurant and sat outside in this quaint, lush courtyard. It was so peaceful.
I ordered some amazing bruschetta with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella.
and a Prosciutto pizza....yum...
We walked around the town after lunch and got some gelato as well. I stumbled upon this neat little fountain.
We gathered back with the group then because Emilio was going to take us to a special place. He kept telling Josh and I that he was so excited to take me there. He just knew I was going to love it. Boy was he right! The place was called Villa d'Este. It was the highlight of my day. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been. They said that it used to be compared as being similar to what Babylon was like. I just kept thinking about heaven and how even more spectacular that is going to be one day compared to this amazing place. It's just over the top beautiful, tranquil, and a place I didn't want to leave. The grounds are amazing with pools of water, water fountains, and unbelievable lush greenery with moss and ferns, etc. There were walls of Jasmine flowers that smelled spectacular! I could have just sat there all day soaking in all the beautiful smells and listening to all the rushing water. SPECTACULAR! If you go to Italy, it is definitely worth a day trip. These pictures do not do it justice.
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| Us on our 10 year anniversary! |
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| Us with Josh's former professor, Emilio :-) |
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| walls of jasmine |
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| the wall of 100 fountains....unbelievable. |
We headed back to Rome to the apartment to get ready for our anniversary dinner. We went to Piazza Navona and ate at Tucci. It was very, very good. Best meal yet. We went all out and had mushroom risotto, penne carbonara and beef strips with gorgonzola sauce (to die for!!). We enjoyed a beautiful night with dinner by candlelight in the piazza with perfect weather.
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| Dinner at Tucci |
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| mushroom risotto |
After dinner we went back to the Pantheon to our gelato place for dessert. We got our gelato and just sat on the steps of the fountain in front of the Pantheon. I commented to Josh, "Isn't it cool that we are sitting here beside the Pantheon eating gelato on our anniversary??!! We need to do this every year!!" He just laughed. Wishful thinking.....
I love you babe and look forward to a lifetime together with you! The last 10 years have been even better than I could have imagined and I love you so much!
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