Roma, Funerals, Christmas and More!

Well it's been a few weeks since we returned from our European Adventure. We spent the last few days of the trip in Italy, mostly in Rome. Our last cruise port was in Palermo, Sicily. We took a street food tour and saw some of the sights. It was fun and we made friends with a German couple who were also on the tour. They told us to come visit them in Germany- how weird would that be if we actually did? We don't remember their names, but it's fine. Anyway, the food was good, and the tour guide was nice enough to get some GF offerings for me. Thanks, Fabrizio. What a fella. 

The cruise ship literally dumped us off in Civitavecchia, about an hour away from Rome. We had no idea how to get to a train station, and the buses were swarmed with hoards of people trying to get on them- it was mayhem, and we had had enough of rude Italians pushing and shoving their way around on that cruise. Seriously it was out of control. I'm sure not all Italians are like that, but they were something else on the ship. Anyhoo, after learning that the buses would only accept cash Euros, of which we had none, we dragged ourselves and our suitcases to a train station by foot, about an hour walk. 'Twas good times. 

We made it to Roma, made it to our apartment, which was in the shadows of the Colosseum. It was also Ava's birthday, and we cobbled together a sad birthday cake for her. 

And had a fine dinner of pasta.

We took a tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Of all of them, I think The Roman Forum was the coolest. The Colosseum is iconic and a must-do, but I do think you could watch a documentary about it and get the same or better effect. The tour felt a little rushed and it was supah crowded.

Just my family of models. 

Bidets in Italy- we were a little confused by them, because we're stupid Americans. We have a bidet attachment on our toilet here at home, but it's not a whole separate unit. Maybe we should have done some research before we went. 

Also, the bidet in the kids' bathroom was growing a sprout, so that was a fun surprise. 

McDonald's right by the Vatican. 

Anders got to hold the flag for a minute on our Vatican tour. Pretty special. 

The kids liked seeing all the curled under pinky toes on the sculptures. 

Ooops I accidentally took this picture in a place where you're not supposed to take pictures. Did you know you're not supposed to take pictures because the Japanese people that paid for the restoration of the Sistine Chapel want all the rights to the media? When I heard that I accidentally took this picture. I always thought it was to preserve the art or something. Pssshhh. 

This has been a bucket list item for me for 25 years. I expected it to be more mind blowing. The hundreds of other people packed in the place diminished it a bit. I also thought it would be bigger. Hahaha. Still, good job, Michelangelo. 

Also a bucket list item to see the Pieta. Also thought it would be bigger. But again, Michelangelo was a master. 

St. Peter's Basilica is crazy huge and mind boggling. Could spend days here.

On our last full day in Rome, we visited the Rome temple. Guess what? It's also smaller than I thought. But, it was a nice change of pace from all the sensory overload and it was a nice way to bring things full circle and feel the Spirit. We had a fun time visiting and talking with the sisters there. Our only American contact for 2 weeks! 

We had the Uber driver take us from the temple to the Trevi Fountain, and that place is just out of control with Instagram models. What a madhouse. 

Walked to the Pantheon where we sat outside of it and ate gelato. We recapped our trip and considered what we would do differently were we to do it again. 

#1: Probably not do a spontaneous European adventure- months of research should be done before embarking on this sort of trip.
#2: Not do a cruise with Costa Cruise Lines.
#3: Figure out how to not be so jet-lagged.
#4: Do more research on food. We were underwhelmed by the food in general. I know that's sacrilege.
#5: Go to Spain next time.
#6: Become best friends with some cool Italians who can show us around and feed us good food. 

Addie making good use of her travel pillow- adjustable in all sorts of ways. We were so ready to come home. Our European Adventure was indeed an adventure! It was uncomfortable in many ways, but that's not a bad thing. Lots of memories for sure! 

The 3rd death in a month in our ward happened while we were gone, and the funeral was about 36 hours after we got home. I was happy to be here for it, although I've had a few people tell me I looked like I was on mushrooms later that night at our ward Christmas party. It was too much. 

The RS Christmas dinner was the following week:

Have I mentioned that I have the best presidency in all the land? They make everything beautiful.

Then Christmas. Nils and I bought a new Christmas tree on the 23rd. It was 50% off. It's a little bit flocked and has glitter all over it. So... we've been vacuuming glitter non-stop, but it is a pretty tree. 

We had a nice Christmas day. Opened presents, made liege waffles, saw Wonka, had a steak dinner, and then chilled. 

This year has been a total dichotomy of amazing and horrible. We've been abundantly blessed in so many ways, and also had the most difficult trials. It's been a rough one on li'l old me. Through it, I know I'm blessed and fortunate, and I'm thankful for my people.

2024, be gentle. Soft hugs. 

We Ran Away

Hey! We ran away for Thanksgiving! We found a screamin' deal on flights to Zurich, and it escalated from there. We had two weeks to plan this European adventure, so it's been a little cray. 

Flew from SLC to Amsterdam the day before Thanksgiving. Caught a flight from Amsterdam to Zurich. Stayed in Zurich over night, then caught a train from Zurich to Venice. Stayed in Venice for 36 hours, then caught a flight from Venice to Marseille and hopped on a 5 day cruise. Currently on said cruise. Yesterday we were in Palma de Mallorca. Day before that we were in Barcelona. Tomorrow we will be in Palermo, Sicily. Friday it dumps us in Rome, where we'll stay for 5 days before heading home. 

It's been fun and completely exhausting. The jet-lag is real, and traveling non-stop for basically 4 days did not help. Since being on the cruise for 3 days now, we've been able to regulate better and relax a bit. It's nice not having to stress about transportation every few hours. We took so many trains and planes to too many places. 

The cruise is Italian, and it's not been the best. Don't get me wrong, we're not suffering or anything, but it is a different experience than a good old Carnival cruise. The food is pretty lousy, and the customer service is greatly lacking. The Italian patrons on this boat are straight up rude. I guess the purpose of this trip is to learn what not to do for next time. :) 

Backwards in order, again, but here we go: 

Yesterday we had a fabulous day in Palma, Spain. We were all so pleasantly surprised at how much we loved this place. It was warm, it was charming as all get out, and such a fun city to walk around for hours. We saw the Catedral de Mallorca, which was crazy. We wandered the streets, ate gelato, ate ice cream, found a cool t-shirt shop, basked in the 70 degrees. It was sad to leave. Also, we've made a goal to eat at McDonald's at every place we've been because we're classy and cultured like that. Aani says it's research for her to take back to her job at the Lehi McDonald's. Let's go with that. 

Palma de Mallorca:

The Costa Smerelda: large and in charge. Maybe let's get someone nicer to run this thing. 

Barcelona:

We took a tour of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. I have so many feelings about this place. I'm not sure what words to use to describe it. Impressive? Confusing? I wouldn't call it beautiful in the traditional sense, because it's obviously very different from anything we're used to with European architecture. I did like visiting it and learning about it. I did appreciate the stained glass and the symbolism of all the things. I went into a little chapel and said a prayer and I liked that. 

Really just trying to soak up all the local flavors, you know. Barcelona felt very familiar and we really liked that. :) 

Courtesy Addie to Five Guys Barcelona. 

Venice: 

Oh Venice, you were a crazy fever dream. We arrived after about 36 hours of travel and we were like zombies the entire time. We did a tour of St. Mark's Basilica and Doge's Palace. We speed-walked through the "streets"/alleyways to get to our tour on time. We wandered and wandered and wandered for the entirety of the day, eating pizza, gelato, and realizing we didn't care if we did a gondola ride or not. Venice felt like a tourist trap and I don't know that I'd be too eager to go again. Sorry, Venice. It's mighty cute, though. 

They made me a gluten free pizza that was pretty spectacular, I will give that to Venice. 

The Doge. The man with the hat. 

Zurich:

We originally didn't plan on spending any time in Zurich, but then our flight to Venice was delayed 2 days, hence the train instead. We were there for about 18 hours, and in our jet-lagged stupors, we enjoyed it. Quite a nice city, incredibly charming, and the people we met were very nice. We enjoyed their Christmas market, which just upped the charm level even more. 

Our McDonald's visit was really fantastic for me especially, because they have gluten free cheeseburgers with all the fixins. I don't know if you know this about me, but McDonald's cheeseburgers are the thing I cried about missing when I found out gluten was my problem. I love them. I don't care if everyone knows it, I think they're magnificent. 

Even the porta-potties were nice. 💖 Zurich forever.

Getting ready to take off from Salt Lake. Look at us, so rested. Hahahahaha. 

We did a Thanksgiving dinner before we left and made sure to have all the favorites. 

Our month has consisted of planning this trip and taking this trip. Nils had been working at a feverish pace to finish up sponsored videos, and get videos ready for release during this trip. We keep saying we want things to calm down, and then we pull a spontaneous 2 week European adventure, so we really are asking for it. 

We've also had 2 deaths in our ward this month. Bless my counselors and secretary, who are handing the 2nd funeral sans me. They are the best. We're pretty sure we're going to lose a 3rd person very soon. It's all very sad. We have a good amount of elderly people in our ward, and it's really really sad to see them go. We love them and are so thankful for the wisdom they bring to us. 

Thanks for reading, hope you have a great month ahead!