Mark Tours Italy
Monday, Oct 8, 2018 - so as I mentioned last week, Mark arrived Saturday. That means this week is going to be a little bit of hosting, tourist guide + work + working out. What day will I explode or collapse? Wanna place bets?...
Spent the day exploring Pisa (which I just totally love) and then Lucca.
And then the meltdown happened. LOL Damn - day 1!? HA, YUP!!
Emails were piling up and the stress of all things from the previous week caught up to me.
Never the less, we had an exciting day of adventure and good Italian eats!
Tues, Oct 9 - due to ^ I sent Mark to Firenze solo. I literally worked ALL DAY. Squeezed in a workout at home, but worked worked worked. Mark got to explore Uffizi Gallery and a walking tour of Firenze + Academia. Lucky duck, but I needed to log hours.
Weds, Oct 10 - early morning run + gym session w/my trainer. Picked Mark up and went to Lerici for exploration and lunch, then Fiumaretta (pictured above) and topped the day with Sarzana. I felt it necessary to show off my local stomping grounds.
Thurs, Oct 11 - up early for a train to Roma. How great that we can hop on a train and be in Rome in about 3 hours! Not only am I stoked to be in Rome, but Luca will be meeting us there tomorrow. MY LOVE!!! He's been on mission for the last (too many) days and I'm missing the other half of my heart! Plus, I'm excited for him to meet Mark (especially since he never got to meet my brother). We arrived early in Rome early so we got to spend the day exploring Imperial Rome. I am always SO captivated by this city. The Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, churches, and more!
Fri, Oct 12 - this morning I needed to get more work done so again, I sent Mark solo. This time on a hop on/hop off tour bus so he can see and hear a little bit about everything. Again, I'm jealous of not being a part of exploration, but it's all stuff I've seen before and I need to work!
And alas, my Luca returned to me. We all met up for (too many) beers, more exploration, and later dinner.
Sat, Oct 13 - the morning came early (as it always does...but after (too many) Roman beers, it came extra early)! We had to wish Mark a safe departure as he headed back to the states and Luca and I metro'd our way to another part of Rome for breakfast w/friends. We eventually made our way home (after meeting the coolest Brit on the train and chatting for HOURS; watch the movie Outlaw King on Netflix, coming out soon, he's in it!!).
Both of us exhausted, we made cup-o-noodles for dinner and vegged in front of Netflix w/our Jake.
Sun, Oct 14 - 4 mile couple run w/calisthenics. These are my favorite that I love to ... torture ... my athletes with. And all I've heard from Luca since, "my legs are SO sore!!" Ahahaha! Basically, at very .25 mile we do 50 of some exercise. So we ran 2 miles continuous then did 2 miles w/lunges, squats, jumping jacks, pushups, russian twists, and mountain climbers.
A quick clean up and we both buried ourselves in work and school all day, played some cards, took Jake to play in the creek, and grilled quietly at home.
I was very happy to have my brother's buddy Mark visit. I could tell he was ready to go home after being in Germany for a week w/beer and buddies and then Italy w/his best friends sister... but it was nice to have the memories from home. And I got to see some videos of my brother that I'd never seen before.
This week was a whirlwind. This whole YEAR has been a whirlwind. With so many trips to the states and Luca back and forth on missions, a summer FILLED w/travel, friends, and family, Ironman and triathlon... we are ready for a few quiet weeks!