Vacation Locked In!

We've known for some time that we're going on vacation for the second half of April and very beginning of May.  We usually take one really big trip every year.  One year we did Italy and Bosnia.  One year we did Italy and Malta.  One year we did Sweden and Russia.  One year we did Italy, Greece and Turkey (wedding and honeymoon).  Next year I think we're going to China.  But yeah, kind of evident that we love Italy! 

This spring initially we were thinking Italy and Egypt.  But there's been some chaos there.  Then we were thinking Italy and Paris.  But then we found out that our neighbors, some of my favorite people in the world, will be in Italy at the same time as us.  So then we were thinking maybe just Italy (well, plus Boston and Pittsburgh).  I think the last time I talked about vacation plans, the theme was "invece Lecce" (which is fun and rhyming in Italian), which means "Lecce instead."  Our neighbors will be in Lecce, so we were thinking we'd go visit them there.

But now plans are locked in and it sounds awesome!

First, Pittsburgh.  Gotta see the in-laws.  Hubby will fly out in advance of me to spend some extra time with his 'rentals.  This should be relaxing.  My big fear is my lack of control over what I'll be eating there.  I'm a leeeettle bit neurotic about what I eat the week or so before a marathon.  And I also drink more water in my normal routine than I do at their house.  So I think the solution is going to be to just do my own thing.  I will have hubby do some grocery shopping before I get there, and I'll just try to kind of do my own meals and just try to avoid going out to eat with them.  I know they'll understand, it'll just be tough.  I like eating out, and I like his mom's cooking, but it's better for me to do my own thing.

Next, Boston.  There will be of course what I've heard is the best marathon expo ever.  And the marathon.  And our second wedding anniversary dinner that night after the race.  And then hopefully some tourist stuff, hitting the Freedom Trail, Fanneuil Hall, and other sites. 

Next, Italy! 

First stop will be Pizzo, the town where we got married.  As horrible as it is to deal with the reactions of my husband's family when they find out we have gone somewhere else in the region before coming to their house, it is so much better for our sanity.  Instead of going straight into family time, we love having a day or so on our own.  We'll stay at a "new" (under construction/renovation for at least 5 years and only recently opened) little hotel in the town's piazza.  And we'll hopefully have a room overlooking the piazza where we got engaged and the castle where we got married.  It'll be great to get our internal clocks changed to Italy time, to get showered and relaxed, and to have some time immersing into the language before we dive into dialect and insane amounts of food with his family.

Second stop will be Lamezia Terme.  This is where my husband's family lives.  It is one of our favorite places in the world.  We stay in this awesome little guest room that has a balcony looking out on the one of the quarters of town and the castle ruins there.  I love standing on that balcony at night and seeing the lights, hearing the dogs.  And smelling the smells from the kitchen downstairs where his family is constantly cooking.  We eat like crazy while we're there.  That is definitely how they show their hospitality.  There are some amazing cooks in my husband's family.  Even though they don't understand or accept that I'm a vegetarian, it's wonderful.  We have some friends that we visit in town, but most of the time is spent exploring on our own, or hanging out with his family.  There are always communication difficulties because they speak primarily dialect, which we don't know for the most part, but it all works out.  Our Italian is good enough, though I need to work a lot more on the subjunctive in the next few weeks. 

The big excitement this time is that we will be in Lamezia for Easter.  I've spent Easter in Italy before, but I was in Rome and was with Americans.  I loved spending Good Friday near il Colosseo, being there while the last Pope did Stations of the Cross.  One of the most amazing experiences.  And I've done la Pasquetta (Easter Monday) with Italian friends before, usually a big drive with a picnic.  But I'm so excited about Easter with my husband's family.  I will try very hard to take lots of pictures of everything, especially the amazing meal that is sure to come!

Third stop in Italy will be Lecce.  This is over in the heel of the boot-shape of Italy.  We're going to drive here, which will be interesting.  About 6 hours crossing through the poorest region of Italy, generally void of tourists.  I've been to Lecce before (I actually dated a guy from there about 15 (yikes!!) years ago).  It will be awesome to see where our neighbor is from.  Her husband has all these fun day trips planned for us while we're there, including this amazing restaurant he wants to take us to. 

Final stop in Italy will be Rome.  Very briefly.  Not even sure what we'll do.  I was thinking maybe we'll go to Trastevere and just eat there and check out some churches. 

Fourth stop on the trip will be PARIS!  Hubby does our travel planning and he found a way for us to go to both Lecce and to Paris.  I'd previously thought it was one or the other.  And I was happy with either option, probably choosing Lecce over Paris.  But it works out for us to go to both places.

Not sure what all we'll do in Paris.  For certain the Eiffel Tower and Sacre Coeur.  And the Arc de Triomphe.  Hubby's not keen on going to the Louvre or other museums, and since I've been to the Louvre a bunch of times and many other museums there, some many times.  So if he doesn't want to go on this trip, we won't.  I can't wait to eat there.  So much fun food that I like in Paris.  And definitely a highlight will be crepes.  We seem to eat crepes on pretty much every vacation.  We ate about two a day in Greece.  We found them in the US on trips to random places like Charlottesville and Breckenridge.  To us, eating crepes means we're on vacation.

A very small part of me has thought it might be fun to take the Chunnel over to London for the wedding.  But it will be chaos, we probably wouldn't be able to see anything, and I'm not sure my heart can stand actually seeing him and Kate together...

So after Paris, we'll be homeward-bound.  With an overnight stop in Pittsburgh.  We have a direct flight from Paris to Pittsburgh, so that will be nice.  But we bought the tics in and out of Dallas before we nailed down our exact European itinerary, so we'll have a stop there.  It will be good, though part of me would prefer to go straight home.

Very exciting!  The last thing I need to do on the planning end is to choose a Paris hotel.  I'm going to work on that right now! 

A month from today, the Boston marathon will be in my memories and we'll be in Italia.  Oh, I'm so excited.  The odd thing is, at my old job, I felt like I was living for this vacation.  Not so much now, I'll actually miss work I think, but I'm still so ready to be in Italy.