Firenze, Italia

Ever since I spent a month in Italy during my junior year, I always wanted to take Lauren because I knew that she would appreciate so many details of the culture and aesthetics. At least a year before this ever happened I had already been thinking about how it might work for an engagement. Lauren really deserved a nice treat for letting me do such a crazy summer job during college! So, after consent from the folks and some help from STA the idea was becoming a reality.

This is just a quick overview of our trip:

We left Cincinnati in the morning and got to Florence at noon the next day after an eight hour flight (hmmm?). It took us a while to really get oriented with the roads and landmarks but we soon became locals in the big town. Lauren loved the little things that make Italy like the tiny cars, stone streets, ancient architecture, and family restaurants. We noticed that old men like to wear brightly colored corduroy pants and that girls wear tight leather boots. Some things that are free in the US will cost you in Italy, like restrooms and ketchup. But we made sure to try the local specialties including espresso, Chianti, and spicy wild boar salami.

On the first full day I knew it was go time. I was really struggling to hide the ring (side note: which, by the way, took a lot more work than any of this Italy stuff) so that it wouldn't be obvious. I was doing this in the bathroom mirror for about fifteen minutes so Lauren probably thought I was having some serious bowel probs. Anyway, I decided to go boxless in favor of a folded velvet cloth for the sake of conspicuousness. Then we ventured out to the Royal Gardens at the Palazza Pita just south of the Arno river that runs through the city. If any of you guys like Renaissance history as much as I do than you would appreciate that this is the Palace built by Cosimo I and his wife designed the gardens. The gardens ascend up and up through levels of fountains and elaborate irrigation systems. And at the very top is a balcony that overlooks the entire city of Florence and the countryside beyond. So this is where Lauren and I shared a very special moment.

I'm sure Lauren will fill you in on the details if you'd like but I just wanted to tell you guys about my favorite part: our adventure! See, when I booked our trip I left a few days open so that we could go to a more rural area. We decided to go to a small town called Monteriggioni. So, we condensed down to one bag and headed to Sienna for a connection. After about an hour bus ride we were stunned when the driver told us it was our stop, because we were in the middle of nowhere. It made Eminence, KY look like Long Island! The only thing there was a post office and a castle on the very top of this giant hill. We really didn't know where we were going to stay so we hiked the mountain up to the castle. It was surrounded by a vineyard and than around the castle walls was an olive garden. Inside the castle walls was a small village with a church and a few restaurants. It was all stone and looked like we just went back in time. After I made a few friends in the restaurant I discovered that the owner rents out apartments on the top floor of the castle. We were surprised to find out that it was cheaper than staying in Florence. During our three days at Monteriggioni we learned that the fortress is over a thousand years old and was a favorite spot of Dante Alighieri and was even mentioned in The Divine Comedy.

We will never forget our trip to Italy, it can't even really be described.