here's a thought

Today, I feel blessed.

springtime visitors

Well we have had such a busy last couple of months that my blog posts have been few and far between.  But we just did so much on our honeymoon that I didn't want to leave anything out!! Since the honeymoon, a lot has happened also.  First of all, Chase's mom came to visit at the end of April and we had a blast! We mostly just hung out since Chase and I both had to work most of the days.  On my day off we went shopping all around Bamberg (love shopping!).  And on Chase's day off they went to a castle about 45 minutes away - I had to work so I was pretty jealous! We also took her to one of our favorite German restaurants, Mahr's Brau.  I'm pretty sure she loved it!

I think we'd all agree that the highlight of her trip out here was the weekend that Casey, Jaimie, & Crystal came to visit too!  We all had SUCH a blast.  The Patricks got here on Saturday morning and the six of us headed out to downtown Bamberg.  It was one of the most beautiful days we've had here yet! It was the first time Chase and I had seen it in the sunlight haha.

Buying spices. :)

My favorite view in Bamberg.

Altes Rathaus

The ladies.

Casey trying a rauchbier.

The Dom.

The Rosen Garten with St. Mike's in the background. Can't wait for the roses to bloom!

Altes Rathaus.

Dinner at Aposto.

 After walking around all day, and having dinner at an awesome Italian place called Aposto we went back to the house and played games all night.  I mean all night! We could not stop laughing!!

Then to finish off such a great weekend, we had a concert to go to! Taking Back Sunday actually came to Bamberg to give a FREE CONCERT!! I was pretty stoked, because I had paid to see them in concert before in VA Beach.  We had such a blast.

Overall, it was an awesome ten days with Chase's mom, we already can't wait for her to come back! And it was an awesome weekend with the Patricks! We are so lucky to have friends that are only a 2.5 hour drive away. :)

HONEYMOON PART FOUR: Venice, Italy

Our last stop on the honeymoon was VENICE!! We were SO excited for it! Since every other drive was crazy, it just made sense that this one was too...terrential downpour the whole time! But we made it safely to the parking garage and got our tickets for the vaporetto (water bus) to get us to and from Venice.



On the vaporetto ready to get to our hotel!

I LOVED this building.

Piazza San Marco from the vaporetto.

Switching vaporetto lines in San Marco to get to Lido.

A bit rainy but still beautiful.

Our hotel was actually on the island right next to Venice, called Lido.  So we had to switch vaporetto lines at the San Marco stop to get to Lido. 

Our hotel!! :)

We checked in and dropped our stuff off quickly so we could get back into Venice! Then that whole first day we just walked around Venice - everyone told us to just get lost in Venice and that's exactly what we did!

Of course we needed to find the Hard Rock Cafe. lol.

Rialto Bridge

My favorite

Handsome. :)

Beer on the Grand Canal.

Best pizza ever.

Walking around after dinner

Every way I looked was like a painting.

In front of Basilica di San Marco (most amazing place ever)

That wraps up day one. It was so beautiful.  Even though it was raining on and off all day, it was kind of better that way cuz there weren't so many people around! And now for day two:

Music Museum

Where they work on and repair the gondolas

Venetian masks

On the Rialto Bridge

Gelato in St. Mark's Square

 I found contact info for this Venetian guy that does casual bar tours in Venice upon request.  So we shot him an email asking if he would be able to show us around the second night we were there.  It turns out, that was best idea ever! It was just us, Alessandro (the "tour guide"), and another couple.  Alessandro took us to four different hole-in-the-wall bars around Venice and at each one we had appetizers and a bottle of wine.  It was so much fun.

Us with Alessandro. :) haha

View from the vaporetto on our way back to Lido.

He was so sad to leave Venice, cuz that meant the honeymoon was over :(

Almost home!!

Although we were sad for our vacation to end, it was definitely nice to get back to Bamberg.  We had such an amazing honeymoon and feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to see so many beautiful places around the world.  We made so many memories that will last us a lifetime!