Twenty five years ago today, I married my soulmate. Truth be told, it hasn’t been 25 years of wedded bliss. It has, however, been 25 years of love, compromise, anger, joy, sorrow, triumph, pain, and more compromise. We have been blessed beyond measure with three children who have turned into incredible young adults. There are days we couldn’t love each other more, and days we can’t stand each other. The one constant, though? Our commitment to each other and to this marriage, through the good and the bad. Oh, and laughter. Lots of laughter. I couldn’t imagine going on this journey through life with anyone else. Here’s to the next 25! By the way, we’ll give our kids a pass on this one (especially since we ditched them to take this trip alone!), but we expect a heck of a party for our 50th!
We celebrated our day with an enchanting visit to the lovely Bagaglia farmhouse just outside of Tarquinia, in the Estrucan area of Italy (about 90 kilometers from Rome). This is a fully working farm with a restaurant that only serves dishes with ingredients that they have grown.
In addition to expansive vegetable and fruit gardens, they have an olive orchard and a grape vineyard. Side by side, we made fettuccine. While there were several other couples around us, it was actually quite the romantic experience! We then saw a demonstration of how tiramisu is made. I’m typically not a fan, but the flavors were so rich and yummy! We then had a lovely lunch, complete with fresh prosciutto, cantaloupe, and focaccia drenched in EVOO, followed by fettuccini all’ amatriciana – with cured pork and the pasta we made. Molto bene! The dish was named in honor of the town, Amatrice, that was destroyed by an earthquake in 2016. The town is said to be the birthplace of this particular preparation of pasta.
After relaxing under the wide canopies of the umbrella pines, indigenous to this area of Italy, we returned to the ship for an afternoon of rest and relaxation poolside. Samir, our steward, delivered cold and refreshing Moscow mules. They only have three copper mugs in the pool area (not sure why), and Samir saved two of them for us!
Dinner with our friends capped off our evening. Tomorrow, we will awake to the gorgeous Amalfi coast. Our driver will take us to the ancient city of Pompeii for a private tour, followed by an afternoon of exploring Positano and Amalfi! Molto eccitante!!
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