Italy, The Final Installment

And the forth and final chapter of our Italian get-a-way. :)

The last day at the villa we relaxed, swam in the pool, and hung out enjoying our scenery. We tried our hardest to really soak in where we were and who we were with. This is Betu, the groundskeeper at the villa who we just adored. He tried really hard to make sure that we were comfortable the whole week and was just a really sweet person, we took to him instantly.

On our last night in Tuscany, we went out to dinner at a local restaurant in Sinalunga and ate up a storm. :) The portions in Italy are usually smaller then we are used to in the US, so we all ended up ordering more then we should have. Also in Italy, it isn't polite to leave any food on your plate, so we all ended up stuffing ourselves in order to not offend our nice waitress. :) The food was extremely good though!

Our last full day in Italy, we were back in Rome and were able to tour Vatican City. What an amazing experience that was! Sean, Teage, and I had tickets to the tour at the Vatican Museum, so we took a very overpriced taxi to the city. The tour was amazing! We saw so many gorgeous historical pieces of art history, including the Rafael room, the "map" room, and a whole room full of tapestries. I was so thankful for our tour guide, as she explained all of the significance of each piece, how it was done, and why it is so important for us to study. This was our tour guide at the beginning of the tour. She was explaining the Sistine Chapel to all of us because we are not allowed to talk while we were in the actual chapel. At the end of the tour we just stood in the Sistine Chapel for about 20 minutes, admiring Michelangelo's amazing piece of art. It is hard to describe the feelings as you stand under one of the most famous works of art in the world, we just loved the whole experience.

That last night in Rome we celebrated David's 16th birthday. What a better place to celebrate a birthday then in Rome Italy!! He was surprised with a yummy berry cake and a roaring Happy Birthday song so that he was sufficiently embarrassed. It was a lot of fun!

And of course we had to top the night off with our last family game of Knock. We had played Knock every single night while we were in Italy, a family tradition just about every time we are all together. So, we all gathered around a tiny little hotel table and played our last few games of Knock before we all had to endure our long plane trip home.

Teage and I had such a fantastic time on our trip to Italy. We are so thankful for this opportunity we had to travel to such an amazing part of the world with wonderful family. We are so appreciative of Dad and Lisa for all they did for us on this trip, and for my Mom and Dan for watching the boys the whole week. We will always remember this amazing experience!