Our Italian Honeymoon Adventure

Well, I know that you guys wanted to know all about the honeymoon and to see some pictures, so yeah, I am going to post some of them here. Be warned, there are going to be a lot of pics here – which is unusual for us. My husband (eeeeep) and I don’t do the pictures and camera thing at all, but made the concerted effort to do so when we were out there.

Now, Italy was an experience, let me tell you that. We had such a blast!

Alright, so we got married on a Saturday, and on Monday we drove up to Johannesburg to catch our flight to Dubai, and from Dubai to Rome. We were on those planes forever! Luckily there was a really great entertainment system on the planes, so I managed to watch some movies and what not. Arriving in Rome, my phone hit up the Wi-Fi and I had a super freaked out Natasha demanding to know where I was making my connecting flight, to find out that Brussels had been attacked that morning. It was really not nice, but explained the tightened security at the airport.

Navigating a new, foreign country is pretty daunting when you do not have a working phone or the ability to belt it in Italian, but we managed to come right and organise a shuttle to our apartment. We arrived and the first thing that we thought was that we were in the ghetto and were going to be killed. Seriously. Back home, areas that have that much graffiti in them are super sketchy, the kind of places you avoid. We learned fast enough though that in Italy, but especially Rome, tagging things is sort of like a right of passage or something. There is graffiti everywhere.

We ventured out that night and got a sim card, which automatically made us breathe easy because we could at least communicate. Walking around the neighbourhood was amazing. We pretty much can’t walk anywhere here at home, not even kidding. It was the most liberating feeling in the world to get up and walk out of the apartment whenever we wanted and it was safe to do so. Also, another thing to note is how clean it is out there. I was shocked. There were thousands of people, but no trash and junk lying around. Amazing. And such a police presence!

We downloaded an app and we marked all the points we wanted to explore for each day on there, and took a bus from where we were staying to where we needed to be, and spent each and every day walking to all the different sites, seeing all that was around us. It was truly an amazing experience. Rome really is a lot smaller than you would think – once you are at any given site, the others are a stone’s throw away. One thing that did suck, however, was our currency exchange rate when we went over. Urgh. Thanks to our delightful fuckwit President Zuma, the exchange rate went up from R12.50 for €1.00 to R20.00 for €1.00. It was sheer lunacy, but we made it work and had tons of fun, though it did limit a lot of the things that we could do.

Also, the pizza out there. Like oh my goodness. I am not usually a pizza fan because (I am saying it) there is usually too much cheese going on and a sloppy base. In Italy? Crunchy, wood fire pizza, minimal cheese and delicious toppings. You can taste everything! I must say though, the few pastas we did eat out there were really bland, which surprised me. Soda is also super expensive out there, and it is not refrigerated (just the little cans are). I was shocked, too, by how you can buy liquor (and not just beers, the hard liquor, too) anywhere. I mean it. Cafés, grocery stores, sweet shops, anywhere, they all had liquor. Like, everywhere.

Let’s not forget to mention the architecture out in Italy, because that would be a crime. You know, pictures are all impressive and stuff, but it just doesn’t compare to seeing the actual buildings, statues, monuments, doors, etc. I was overwhelmed by how tiny I felt – the architecture, the age, it all drives home how ancient and amazing things are. I travelled thousands of kilometres to see this, and so have millions of other people, over so many years. It really is something to take in.

From Rome we went to Florence, and man, I fell in love. While Rome might have been the more entertaining of the two purely because there is an inordinate amount of things to do, Florence is hands down the more beautiful. It is clean, the people are insanely friendly, it was cheaper there than Rome or Venice, and it, too, was small. Totally more my speed. We drank wine, ate pizza, explored every day, and I loved every moment of it. We did the tours, the photos, the walking… seriously, I walked through two pairs of shoes while I was out in Italy. I was so stoked to be able to walk anywhere at any time, so I took advantage of it like crazy. I have also always wanted to see the Duomo, and I was not even remotely disappointed. It was so beautiful and vast and impressive and… I don’t actually have words for it. WOW.

Lastly, we moved on from Florence to Venice, and that was something I was interested in seeing. I remember my wedding photographer asking how long we would be in each of the places (she had gone to Italy before), and when we told her we were in Venice for three days, technically four because our flight was leaving so late, she sucked in her breath and said that even two is overkill for Venice. Now that I have been there, I can see what she meant. Venice is beautiful and magical and an experience, it really is, but Venice is also really small. We spent four days traipsing all over Venice and hiding out in the apartment when we just couldn’t anymore, and when we left on the last day, we were actually really looking forward to coming home. That is  how I knew we had a proper holiday – when you get to the end and you have had a great time and you are all good for exploring more, but you are also perfectly fine with going home, sleeping in your own bed, on your own pillow, not living out of a suitcase anymore or burning through ridiculous amounts of money. We were there.

Anyway, there is just way too much to say on the adventure, too much for one post. The experience was overwhelming and awesome and heck, so much fun! I do not regret it, and would go again in a heartbeat!

Gelato… you can’t go to Italy and not live off the stuff. It is GLORIOUS.

BUT there was one thing I missed so much while we were out there it was like a physical pain, and it was the first thing I purchased when we got off the plane back home, even though the airport is crazy expensive about it.

Rapid Review: Honeymoon (2014)

“Where’s my wife?”
– Paul

SYNOPSIS: Young newlyweds Paul and Bea travel to remote lake country for their honeymoon. Shortly after arriving, Paul finds Bea wandering and disoriented in the middle of the night. As she becomes more distant and her behavior increasingly peculiar, Paul begins to suspect something more sinister than sleepwalking took place in the woods. – via IMDB

Well, this was a movie I was looking forward to. I loved the posters and the artwork and all of it. Naturally, I was thrilled when it finally arrived (though this has been lying in my drafts folder for an age). I grabbed my other half, convinced him this was no chick flick and geared up. It started with a bang. It was shot beautifully, the couple was adorable, the acting was just fine, I liked it. I liked the way that things started getting strange, and Will and Annie surely brought something darker in. The score was fantastic, always just beneath the surface, never stepping to the fore and taking over, just lingering in the background, complementing every scene. Now, Honeymoon, never really delves too deeply into the story, which is something that counts both in its favour and against it. I can’t say too much, either, because I really don’t want to be spoiling for anyone. I loved not knowing too much, always wondering, I had my suspicions and all that (although, granted, it was pretty obvious as to what was going on – not very subtle hints). What I did not like is the way this movie just ended. I can deal with a movie just ending (think Enemy) where there is still some mystery and you are left to think. What I hate is feeling like I have been slapped in the face and just left hanging. That is exactly the conclusion that Honeymoon provides, which is such a pity because it was on such a roll! It played with a concept that is so dangerous to mess around with, yet it did so wonderfully… until the end. It was creepy and strange and all those things, which was great, but then it dipped and didn’t tie things up properly at the end. You know how much I adore loose strings. I loved watching Paul and Bea together, they were so in love with each other, and could survive the world if it were just them, and they did their best. When things start to go funny, I feel so sorry for Paul. It seems that they are both desperately trying to cling on to one another when things start to go off the rails, and they give it a damn fine run for its money, but eventually their honeymoon is certainly not going the way they had hoped. Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway work very well together in here, truly bringing it all together nicely. This movie has no jump scares, it does not make you question life or reality or anything like that, it just ends and settles. I liked the lack of jump scares, it relied more on the script and dialogue, and both were relatively good, though still very flawed (the dialogue in places just went pretty dodgy and unrealistic – especially in the beginning). There were some pretty nasty scenes in the movie – not a lot, but a few really gross ones here and there, but this just served to highlight how insane things were getting. Anyway, this will certainly not be for everyone, and was something I was thoroughly enjoying up until the conclusion. Worth looking into, for sure!