The "I's have it!

Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin, Ireland (Internet photo)

Ahhh... Rome at sunset. Now all we need is some gelato... (Internet photo)

The hot topic in wedding planning for me and Mr. Library has been the honeymoon. Ever since we started dating in high school, we had both agreed that no matter who we married (marrying each other wasn't even a blip on the RADAR at this point), we were going to have our honeymoons in Italy.

Romantic Italy with its bustling streets, its ancient architecture, its creative ambiance -- who wouldn't want to spend a week or two? Being a book nut, I had fallen in love with the different portrayals of Italy in "A Room with a View" and "Under the Tuscan Sun", while Mr. Library is a theatre geek with an ever-developing love for art and art history. As a planning surprise to me, Mr. Library decided to play around with hypothetical honeymoons. He came up with an amazing trip: a week in Paris with a day trip to Belgium and to EuroDisney, followed by a few days in Barcelona before taking off on a week-long cruise around the Meditterranean, stopping in at least three Italian ports. It was a honeymoon match made in heaven... or so we thought.

If Italy and this European expedition were honeymoon nirvana, Mr. Library and I were experiencing that annoying ringing in the ears before you reach true enlightenment. With the economy the way it is, and with both of our bank accounts reflecting back on our status as students, Italy seemed a little out of reach. Airfare would chew up most of our budget, which was kind of limited for European travel. The cruise was, as expected, expensive, but we were willing to look the other way because of excursions, the all-inclusive cruise plan, and the fact that we would have been visiting at least four different countries. The hotels and the meals in Paris and Barcelona, though, were the troublemakers, so the plan was scratched. We must have gone over at least a dozen more plans before finally landing on one we could both love: Italy and Ireland.

Now, one might wonder if heritage had anything to do with these two very different locations, and the short answer is no. Mr. Library is Lithuanian, English, and Canadian French, while I am Canadian French and what my family lovingly refers to as "pale European mutt." There isn't a drop of Irish or Italian in either of us. The two places just happened to be locales we had both dreamed of visiting, and as Bob Barker used to say, the price was right. Airfare was reasonable enough and we wanted to visit more than one country, so the "I"s had it. With plane tickets from Boston (to London) to Rome, Rome (to Budapest) to Dublin, and Dublin (to London) to Boston, and hotels in both cities, Mr. Library and I can finally turn our attention to the smaller details of the honeymoon... where to get some excellent gelato, pasta, and pub food!