A friend of my husband was supposed to get married in Italy in October, so we decided to plan a 2-week
trip to Italy and France around it. This friend is stationed in Germany with the Army, and he ended up
getting married on July 4th instead. Even though financially this was not the best time, we went
anyway!

Money is not the most important thing to have in this life.

Life is too short to wait for the perfect timing!

When in doubt, take the trip!!

We flew into Rome and spent 3 days there. We saw all the sites: The Vatican, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Trevi fountain! You name it, we saw it. We also took a wonderful cooking class where we learned how to make pasta and tiramisu.

It was amazing!

After Rome we took a train to the Amalfi coast. First, we stopped to see Pompeii. What an unbelievable
place. Hard to believe the whole town was covered by volcanic ash in 79 AD and you can see most of the
town as it was almost 2,000 years ago.

Amalfi and this whole area were the most beautiful part of Italy that we saw. The deep blue ocean, the quaint towns, wonderful hospitality, and restaurants! We did a 7-mile hike one day up into the cliffs that was jaw dropping.

From Amalfi we took a highspeed train to Venice. The train was so cool! And Venice was so fun. There
are no cars. You take water buses or water taxis everywhere. The area is magnificent and so rich with
history just like the rest of Italy. And of course, we did a gondola ride!

From Venice we flew to Paris and saw all the amazing sites and rich history there as well. It is a
wonderful city exploding with life! We loved our time there. We took a hop on hop off tour bus and
saw a lot of the neighborhoods. We also took a guided tour of the Louvre and of the Eiffel tower.

Well worth it!

We also toured the Palace and gardens of Versailles. Just spectacular!

Last on our stop was the beautiful beaches of Normandy. We toured several museums and saw the
beaches where our troops stormed the German Army. We also visited the American cemetery where
the US Troops are buried. Very hard to not get emotional thinking of all who list their lives there.

This was hands down the most amazing trip I ever took!

We took planes, trains, buses, and automobiles!

We ate a lot of gelato, bread, pasta, croissants, baguettes, and cheese!

We drank gallons of espresso.

We walked on average about 20K steps per day. We both felt amazing!

::It is so wonderful they don’t process their food or use unnecessary ingredients in their food::

We each lost a couple of pounds! I certainly count my blessings that we are fit and healthy and we are able to go and explore our beautiful world!

It was also an awesome to connect on a deeper level with my husband.
There are so many other parts of the world that we want to see. We can’t do it all in the next decade so
it’s a great reminder to stay active and healthy so we can get out there and enjoy it!!

Love,

Erin & Chef Jim