I’ve been asked to share some of the details of our first trip to Italy celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary (20 of them living in Halle!). We traveled with three other couples, which allowed us the luxury of private guided tours. We started in Rome then drove to Tuscany and then Florence. We landed in Rome at 7:30am and went right to a cafe to get caffeinated to make it through the day. We walked to the Fontana di Treve and Mary Magdalena church that were both walking distance from our beautiful boutique hotel while sampling gelato along the way. We had an incredible dinner that night in a restaurant that’s been around since 1931. We made reservations months in advance.

Our second day included a private all-day tour to the Vatican, Sistine Chapel & the Colosseum. I highly recommend guided private tours, so you bypass the long, long lines. Pizza for lunch, gnocchi & clams for dinner, ending with gelato and limoncello. All of it was mind-blowingly delicious! Granted, we were tired & hungry, but it was fantastic.

Our third day we left Rome for Tuscany in our rented Alfa Romeo electric blue matching cars. Driving in a foreign city is not for the faint at heart, but we did it. Maybe they give the Americans the bright cars to warn the locals. Moving on, we toured Siena, San Gimignano and Montiriggioni to eat, shop, and taste wine.

The fourth day we had a private five-hour electric bike ride under the Tuscan Sun. Beautiful and breathtaking through the countryside but terrifying on the roads with the fast European cars whizzing by. Especially during a pop-up thunderstorm, but again we somehow came out unscathed. We had another authentic Italian meal in town and then more wine tasting on the property where our villa was. Wine flows like water there.

The fifth day we toured Castle Barone Ricasoli, and yes, more wine tasting in Tuscany. For dinner, the boys made us an Italian meal with bruschetta and pasta with Bolognese sauce. They used the olive oil, cheeses and sausages that we bought that day.

The sixth day we left our villa and drove to the Carrara Marble site and had a tour. This was the third time I was praying to god and my guardian angels to keep me safe. Wow, we were far up in the quarries, and we drove the wrong way through a tunnel. Thank you, guardian angels.

We then drove to Cinque Terre and took local trains (only a few mishaps), and then had dinner by the Liguaria Sea. With eight of us the mishaps were funny, and we figured it out. We are in Italy. Who cares, right??

The next day we cruised along the beautiful Gulf of the Poets coastline with a private boat tour. The boys swam in the Liguria Sea, we sampled local oysters, cheeses, had lunch and tasted more wines during our five-hour private boat tour. Yes, more wine!

We finished our day with a cooking class with Paola in her home located on the hills of La Spezia, in a village called San Venerio. Paola and her husband picked us up at our hotel and drove us to their home in the hills. We made fresh pesto, pasta, tiramisu, drank, laughed & ate a lot! This wonderful couple were strangers a few hours earlier and now we were sharing a meal with them. This country is so warm and welcoming. From their terrace where we ate, we had a wonderful view of the city, the gulf and the islands.

We then moved to our Air B&B in Ponte Vecchio Florence. Cobblestone streets, incredible structures, the smells!!!!! The girls ditched the guys and hit our shopping points on our bucket list for perfume, leather and gold. I bought a gold guardian angel charm.

Our final day included an all-day walking tour of Florence while visiting two museums, one of them was La Galleria dell ‘Accademia, which exhibits Michelangelo's sculpture David. It was a long day, but we saw it all. Every meal we had planned or spontaneous was delicious. You can’t go wrong.

This is where we all parted ways as we all live all over the country. It was a trip of a lifetime. Arrivederci.