Venice, Italy

Oh how I miss you, beautiful Venice. 

Continuing on from my previous blog post, the ladies and I were lucky enough to pop to Venice for the day during our stay in Verona as it's only a short train journey away and boy was it worth it. I'd had been once before as a child with my folks but it felt like it was all just a dream. 

Sunglasses - Rayban

Playsuit - ASOS

Trainers - Vans

It really was just as stunning as I remembered and spent the day in awe, wandering through narrow alleys, crossing over sun-drenched bridges and practising Italian with passing-by gondoliers. 

Although it was heaving with tourists through many of the main streets, if you explore for long enough you can find serene, quiet courtyards like this one. We spent a gloriously peaceful afternoon, basking in the sun's rays. 

I wanted something cute but comfy for our day in Venice and this playsuit was the trick. An adorable baby blue hue, with ruffle and bow details, it was love at first click. You can dress this little guy up with heels and he would be so sweet at a summer wedding or you can casual him down with some dirty vans like I did. My feet had to be taken care of for a whole day of exploring! 

One of my ladies was wearing this H&M hat as part of her ensemble but I stole it for a little while. The other two ladies were making me feel bashful during this shoot. 

Enough about me, and more about Venice. Here are some snaps for your viewing pleasure. 

Don't forget me Venice, I'll never forget you.

A day in Verona, Italy

If you didn't think that it was possible to fall in love with a city, let me be the one to tell you that it absolutely is. To celebrate three of my gals' birthdays, we decided to go on a little city break to Verona in Italy, the city that Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet was set. Initially we were planning a staycation to one of our very own northern cities, Newcastle, but after discovering flights and accommodation to Verona were cheaper than train tickets to the Geordie Shore, we booked them quicker than you could say 'why aye man'.
We decided to find our home for the weekend on Airbnb and we found the most fabulous apartment that was decked out in marble, featured exposed brick walls and was littered with little gold cherub figurines. So 'grammable. Here's a little peek at the outside.

How adorable? I was so relieved to finally be walking up those shabby stairs after the drama we experienced at the airport during early hours of the morning. Long story short, whilst going through security, I tested positive for explosives three times and thought I had to go through a body cavity search before being told my fake tan could have set the alarm. I wrote a lengthy Facebook status about the whole ordeal which you can read here if you'd like to laugh at my misfortune. 

Anyway, on to the outfit. 

This is possibly the cheapest outfit I own. The co-ord was £1 from a little old lady at a car boot, the crochet crop was around £5 from Primark and I bagged the shoes for free from work. Such a dream! 

After settling in to our home for the weekend, we decided to explore the city of Verona. 

Walking around Verona, you feel like you've stepped in to a painting. The houses are varying shades of terracotta, mustard yellow and deep burgundy which is a glorious contrast to the greenery that climbs up the worn walls. Balconies are lined with plants and flowers and the whole city itself is circled by a shallow river. A contrast to hectic London, you instantly slip in to the sleepy, relaxed Italian way of life. 

While we were there we of course had to visit Juliet's balcony. Lined by love letters stuck to the wall, the courtyard was a glorious little sun trap.

Although it's one of Verona's main attractions, the city has so much more to offer and we were done at Juliet's balcony pretty quickly. It was packed with tourists and school kids on trips and a little underwhelming. 

To feel fully prepared for a day of walking, I decided to casj up my two-piece. 

A simple white tee, metallic Stan Smith's and Ray-Ban's my boy treated me to did the trick. 

I got this little rucksack from the sample sale at work. It's the perfect size for a weekend away. 

We ended the first glorious day in Verona with some Prosecco (which is deliciously cheap in Italy, FYI) and some divine nibbles which the waiter brought us for free. What a guy. Also, I may or may not have eaten enough bread and cheese this night to feed a small country. Oops. 

After many drinks, we headed back to our palace to rest up for our day trip to Venice. But you'll hear all about that in my next post. 

Farewell for now!