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Two days ago - on 12-21-11 - Tyler and I celebrated our one year of being married anniversary. I suppose it would be easier to say 'wedding' anniversary, but we really didn't have a wedding. One year elopement anniversary? One year as a Tauschek anniversary? No matter what you want to call it, Tyler and I celebrated a year of marriage this week and I can't wait to tell you all about it. We covered so much in just 24 hours I'll have to write a few posts on our adventures so stay tuned!

First up: our hotel. I still can't believe Verona, Italy is less than 2 hours away from where I live. We've done Verona as a day trip before, but it being our anniversary we wanted to do something more special - like have a sleepover! I found Hotel Marco Polo online for a great price and in an awesome location very close to the center of Verona (location is key when booking hotels in Europe, PS, because you'll be walking everywhere). They also had cheap parking, which was fab. Not only was it a decent price and close to being in the middle of everything, it also had a spa and hey, it was my our anniversary, right? After the hotel was booked, I called my poor mother and rubbed in the fact that I would have green stuff on my face and cucumbers on my eyes in the matter of no time. Karma shows her true colors later on, I assure you. But that is for a different post.

Spooky car garage... but only 13 Euro!

Cute little bathroom

We left Aviano later than expected (surprise) and didn't get to the hotel until around 4pm which left us just a few hours before our romantic spa treatment. We got to our room - a quaint little piece of history on the top floor - rushed around to bundle up, and headed out for an hour or so of exploration. Just a block away from our bed for the night we walked into what I believe was Times Square, only with nice people and no trash. The air smelled like Nutella funnel cakes and glitter was everywhere. Truly, heaven on Earth. Before we had left Tyler had read Verona was a Top 10 must see at Christmas time venue, and I now know why. That too, is for a different post.

I got this idea off of Pinterest. The picture we're holding is of our wedding day - one year ago exactly. Every anniversary you take a new picture, holding the picture taken the year before. It'll all come together in a few years... you'll see.

After exploring for just awhile and taking in all that is Verona, we headed back for our relaxing, romantic spa treatment. After that hilarity, we got around for dinner and had absolutely no idea where we were going to go. This is no problem however - we were in Italy. There is a restaurant every 10ft and you're guaranteed delicious food. We stopped to read a few of the menus (which are posted on the window for your tourist pleasure) but found our way to a fancy little place in a back alley. This is how you know you are most certainly not in Times Square, by the way. Growing up in America I believe it's safe to say we are taught that back alleys will get you killed - or worse - but in Italy, you'll find the most authentic Italian restaurants, food, and service... none of that touristy bologna. I'm not sure if the place we ate at was known for the opera singers that visited or what, but upon entering there were pictures of famous people eating there and their autographs plastered on the walls. One thing about finding random places to eat in Italy - you never think to check the name of the place you're at. Darn it. In any case, food was delicious and so was the service. While at dinner I asked Tyler to make a resolution for our next year of marriage. For someone who thinks New Years resolutions are so stupid, he came up with one very quickly. "I vow to not slurp my sodas so loudly in front of you." When I tell you this was the most romantic and thoughtful thing Tyler could have told me, I am not lying. If you know me and my pet peeves - you know this. I gasped and asked him what he needed more from me... more encouragement or less nagging. He picked the latter, and I vowed that to him.

My piz getti.

Tyler's weird ham-looking pasta.

Caprese!

After dinner we headed back to our hotel and fell asleep by midnight. The next day started at 5am when I woke up and could not get back to sleep for the life of me. This worked out though, because by the time Tyler was awake I was ready to check out but not before our hotel breakfast. Can I just say... OMG. Oh my Freaking Gosh ... you would not believe hotel breakfasts in Italia. Croissants, bacon, eggs, fruit, cereal, and literally 8 different kinds of coffee, capuchins, and espressos. DELICIOUS. We stuffed ourselves and headed out for our last day of exploration. Thankfully, even though check out is at 9am the hotel let us stay in the parking garage until 3pm so we were able to walk around Verona knowing our car would be dent free when we came back. We spent the day looking for Juliet's House (my favorite part of our anniversary experience), and of course - that is a post in itself as well.

For any of my friends or family interesting in visiting us while we're in Italia, Verona is definitely a place we will be traveling to. I was amazed at how non-touristy everything was and yet extremely English-friendly. The streets weren't packed shoulder to shoulder like Venice is and everything is very well taken care of (like the colosseum I forgot to mention). I won't leave you in too much suspense and get working on those other anniversary posts immediately. Ciao!