Capri

Capri: a small island just off the coast of Italy situated in the Bay of Naples. Capri is one of the most beautiful places in Italy with the bluest water you’ll ever see, the most dramatic rock formations and grottos of blue, white, and green. Purple and Fuchsia bougainvillea spill into the streets and the fragrance of lemon roam the hillsides. Capri is pure romantic beauty and the perfect setting for my 25th wedding anniversary pictures.

We stayed at a hotel overlooking Marina Piccola, and it was some of the best views on the island. I loved walking down to the beach to eat at restaurants right on the water so close you can feel the sea spray from your table.

These views are why I decided to take our anniversary photos in Capri. At this point we’d been in Italy for almost three weeks, and I carried a 25 year old, yellowed wedding dress in my small carry-on luggage. Yes, surprisingly, my wedding dress and James’ suit still fit after all these years. There’s a story behind this, and I’ll post it later, hopefully by the time of our actual anniversary on September 9th. Anyway, as soon as we arrived at our hotel, we knew this was the right place, so we took our wrinkled, stained wedding attire. Me: barefoot and windblown hair. And, James: beach shoes and his sunglasses hanging around his neck. We walked down the meandering cobblestone steps and found a tourist right off the beach to take our pictures. Here they are:

We had such good memories that day and received all sorts of special attention that I couldn’t stand the thought of trashing my dress. My intention was to leave the dress in Venice, our first stop, so I could have more room in my luggage, but I ended up carrying it to Cinque Terre, Florence, Siena, Rome, Sorrento, and finally to Capri, and who knows…maybe it will still fit on my fiftieth anniversary, so I just packed it back into my tiny bag and now it’s back in the U.S in a back corner of my closet.

Here’s a picture of me sitting in front of those amazing bougainvillea flowers that just crawl up the hillsides and spill over the rock walls of seaside villas.