While I was struggling at a low point I decided to make myself happy with a trip to Italy. Thankfully, I have a friend outside of Rome and a brother outside of Venice, so I asked if I could come and they said yes! So I booked an inexpensive flight to get away. It is only 2 1/2 hours to fly to Rome. How cool is that? For around $200, totally doable, I packed my bags and flew away.

The flight was 2 hours late because of weather delays. We got boarded and had an uneventful flight down. My friend’s husband Art picked me up and we drove the hour to their beautiful resort home which they are renting. I have my own room and private bath! It is warmer here, about 60 to 70 degrees but we have had a bit of rain.

My first day we went to a quaint village called Sermonetta which was on a hilltop. We had an amazing late lunch, saw a beautiful sunset and walked around until dark when we got to see the Christmas lights. We saw lots of well fed cats, met a Norwegian woman and enjoyed all the little pleasures around every small street and corner.

My second day it rained a fair amount so we just were around town. We did some shopping, ate more good food, and talked a great deal. Day 3 we went up to another hillside town which is not as quaint but still the view is amazing. There we went to a chocolate museum where we got some warm chocolate in a cup and got to see how a cocoa bean makes its way into my cabinet.

We were able to taste pannetone, dark chocolate, and fresh peanut butter. It was a lot of fun and the people there were so friendly. We bought some chocolate, including chocolate pasta which they assure me is good with a white sauce but not tomato. I will have to give it a try.

We saw a beautiful rainbow which did not want its photo taken because it did not show up in the photos I took. We made our way down the windy road after walking into town a bit. We ate leftovers at home and talked about what adventures we would do tomorrow. Busy and full day tomorrow so resting up.