dreams of italy.

today marks a very special anniversary for me.  five years ago today, i boarded a plane from prague to milan with two of my best friends.  we were meeting three of our friends in venice and were backpacking through italy for ten days during our fall break from school.  we met the boys right in the middle of one of venice's iconic bridges, with bottles of wine in hand (their hands, not ours).

i'll never forget those ten days.  when the girls (nicknamed 'us three' because the three of us were totally inseparable) and i got back to milan on the 10th day, i remember finally calling my mom (i had spent the whole trip not calling, texting, emailing, facebooking or anything).  the girls were at a gelato shop relaxing before our bus ride to the airport.  and when my mom picked up and asked me, "how was the trip?"  i remember my voice breaking just a little as i said, "it was the best 10 days of my life."  and i could hear her choke up on the other end, too.

i don't know what or why or how, but something changed in me during that trip.  i started my journey becoming the person i am now, accepting my worldview and my independence.  and most of all, those 10 days in italy was when i fell in love with philip.  at the time he was just a friend i was traveling with, but it was on that trip that we started becoming 'us.'  it's just one of those times in my life that is very hard to explain but i think of those 10 days all the time, and especially from the 20-30 of october.  there will always be stress in my life, work, school, mortgages, family problems.. but there will always be italy :) 

a few pics of my favorite people from that amazing time in my life... and many more pics here.

on the train from milan to venice - our first stop

'us three' in venice, our first day, 21 oct 2006

birds + st mark's square + rain = an awesome experience

my five travel buddies

2nd leg of the trip - florence - 24 oct 2006

laying outside a bridge at 3am, ponte vecchio in the distance. why not?

my five friends and the coliseum - 26 oct 2006

i wished for him in the trevi fountain. my wish came true :)

drinking on the spanish steps, our last night in rome - 26 oct 2006

train from rome to la spezia, the best train ride ever. 27 oct 2006

quick dip in the ocean when we got to riomaggiore

hiking the trail of love - 28 oct 2006.

headed back to prague a changed group. 30 oct 2006.

til next time friends...