“Max and I have been married forever. We met in college and became “that couple that ran to City Hall!” Still students, still kids, we floated around looking for the landing ground. Years go by, seven to be precise, and I spend the summer running around the city between three freelance gigs. It must not be all for nothing, I must go to Italy! A decision was made, we were finally going there for 10 whole days. Our first trip together abroad and our first real vacation…

 It all begins in Milan. Foolishly we fall into a tourist trap cafe, but it redeems itself by serving the largest bellinis I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. With no time to waste, the next morning we run to the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie to see The Last Supper. The slides from my art history classes pale and disappear and are now replaced with a new memory that I keep to this day…

Our journey continues as we hop on a train to Venice and spend the next 3 days getting lost in the city of countless bridges, canals, tiny streets and sinking walls of ancient buildings. This is where I discover that Peggy Guggenheim Museum is amazing and so is Pollock’s early work. Everything tastes good in Italy, especially with wine, or was it with pizza?  Pizza and wine, pasta, desserts, gosh, there was so much dessert!  In Caffè Florian, Max gives me the ring I didn’t get 7.5 years ago at City Hall. He was so nervous and I remember laughing at him for it….  

There will also be Florence and the best gelato…Views of Tuscany from the train window and, there will also be Rome with its grandeur and cats. We buy cards in each city we visit and mail them to our friends and family. On our train ride to Rome, Max makes me laugh with another one of his cards he just finished writing. While in Italy, there’s nothing to distract us from us and we talk all the time about art, history, books, food, and how I can’t get over how creepy the Doge’s Palace was and how much I love Florence. All of a sudden I recognize that I’m with the guy I met in college who was not like the rest. He was clever and funny, the one who signed up for the Early Renaissance Art in Northern Europe class to get to know me better…Travels are great for memories, new and old…”

– Irina Kipnis