Wishing you all the best this holiday season from sunny California! 

Thank you for reading!

Loches et Donjon

We made camp for the night in the city of Loches, which is in the Loire Valley of France. The Loire Valley is known for the beautiful Loire river which runs through it giving the landscape a look very similar to the English countryside. There are rolling hills, plush valleys, forests and best of all, castles! The French royalty loved the Loire countryside and build magnificent castles along the river as a summer homes. There are a total of 42 castles and we decided since Mr. Finter loves castles that we would have an entire day devoted to castle exploration! The night before this castle day we made camp in Loches right below the castle and went out for a small dinner in the medieval town. We ate French Onion Soup and Galettes and had such a marvelous time walking around the lamp lit streets. 

The next morning we were up at daybreak and off to our first castle: Chateau de Loches with a "donjon" (dungeon). Our first stop was the chapel which had this beautiful tree round you could put nails into for prayers for others. It was beautiful. 

Then we went and toured the main castle.

They had real armor.

And some steel cuffs.

Intricate door locks. 

And safes.

From the top, the view of the Loire Valley was incredible. 

We then went and explored the gardens and underground dungeon.

Then we were off the the separate dungeon house. 

What remained of the dungeon was the walls and staircases. The city had build wire platforms to stand on at every level so you could walk to the very top. It was a bit scary, but so cool!

They had a replica of a torture box.

And of course we locked each other up.

It got really high towards the top and even though there was a side rail, we still clung to the walls since the see through floor felt like we were standing on nothing!

Our first castle was great!

Venezia Day 1

Making our flight out of Poland to Italy was a crazy experience! We left Auschwitz on a late bus and everyone at the airport said we had missed our flight. Well, were determined to make it so we checked our bags nonetheless and we ran as fast as we possibly could to the gate. Luckily, when we got there the flight was delayed and we had time to grab some dinner. Whew! 

On our flight south, we caught a magnificent glimpse of the Alps from our window. 

We spent our first night in Bergamo, Italy before heading out to Venezia. And with our 24 hour whirlwind tour of Krakow, we were so exhausted. We didn't get to sit together on our train and so Landon managed to catch some of this immense fatigue. It's so good that you can't see that my mouth is completely open!! I was too tired to hold it shut! 

We were rewarded with our first taste of Gelato in Milano where we would catch the train to Venezia the next morning! Exhausted but in love with Italy already!

The next morning we felt refreshed and alive again! Ready to start our seven day adventure in Italy. Italy was the only country we decided to do a train pass in and so we knew we were going to be in for a hard travel experience. Driving was impossible though with the country being so large and well the driving being ridiculously crazy! So we had our Eurail pass and went from town to town enjoying the view of the countryside along the way. We actually really enjoyed the train experience. The car was so special because we had a "home" base from which we would go exploring. But the train was so relaxing once we caught it because we didn't have to worry about how to get from place to place. 

Landing in heaven. Venezia is known for having the most supreme, pure light of anywhere else in the world. It is the main reason why so many of the greatest artists chose to paint here. This photo has no filter or editing. It shows how true and rich all the colors are because of the incredible light. 

I think Landon was the most excited I had seen him when we pulled into Venezia. We stood with our faces pressed against the train windows and he squeezed me so hard saying he was so happy we decided to do this trip. Gosh, it was so amazing being able to be with him when he saw this part of the world. There is nothing like it anywhere else and to see his eyes opened to it's beauty and uniqueness was amazing. What really amazes me is how much my happiness is tied to Mr. Finter's. All I want in life now is to see him fulfilled and happy. 

 

Venezia is such a romantic city. No cars, little noise and such beauty. You feel so detached from the bustle of modern society as you wander the windy streets and canals. And windy is an understatement. Even with gps you have to expect to get lost for about 15-20 minutes every time you walk. 

Here we are at a dead end. Ummm... I think we need to be at that bridge. Do you think we can swim?

We stopped to get pizza before heading to our hostel and coming straight from the stone oven it sure was hot! 

As we ate, we watched these three men carry the remains of a fallen building out to a boat on the canal. It was incredible to see how some parts of life in Venezia stand still in time without modern improvements.

We caught an afternoon sprinkle and I loved the way the droplets fell across this photo. 

Another dead end. 

Dusk was such a beautiful time in this city. We wandered the streets for hours our first day enjoying street performers and the beautiful architecture. 

We watched the sun set over the city after we ran through all the pigeons at the Piazza San Marco. 

Then we had dinner on the banks of the major canal by Pont Rialto and had some delicious raviolis.

We spent the walk home talking about how beautiful it was to be on this trip together and have all this time to be in each other's company. I went on and on rambling about how we need to live in Europe and have babies with accents and eat chocolate and bread all day. And Landon just pulled me in closer and kissed the top of my head saying "Nina, you really are my best friend. I want to share every day with you no matter where we are." 

I remember a good friend of mine saying she knew she was going to marry the boy she was dating because date after date she still wasn't sick of him. hahaha! Well, day after day married I still find myself counting the minutes before he walks in the door home from work. 

Our time together never seems to be enough.