Green Gardens

Chapter 1: Vacation

How long had it been since the last time the word vacation was uttered rather than a trip to visit family members in another country?

She didn't know when the last time was when she said vacation rather than a family trip to visit their family.  In the beginning it did seem like a vacation, but the following times she and her family went to the same place again and again, it seemed more like trip a visit than an actual vacation.

Letting out a deep sigh she closed her laptop as she leaned back onto the sofa.

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"What do we do for this year's spring break vacation?  Hey, are you listening Julietta?"

Julietta looked up from the table they were sitting at in the student lounge in their college, "Yeah, the vacation.  I have nothing to do this year, how about you?" Julietta asked her friend as she picked up her cup of coffee.

Her friend shook her head, "Sadly no." She sighed, "How about the both of us go on a vacation together?  We have three weeks of vacation from classes, and you also have paid vacation from work."

Taking slow sips of her coffee she mulled the offer and thought it over, "It's been a while since we last went out together." She nodded to herself.  "Okay.  We should look for any flights and tickets still available.  Jaimee, you're better at that than me."

After a few more minutes of talking, they both decided to look and buy any tickets available after their classes end for the day.

"At your place, right?" Jaimee asked.

Julietta nodded, "Yeah.  I'll see you later." She said before she got up from her seat and left for her class.

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"I'm still surprised at how much my mom likes you, she immediately said yes when you told her if you and I could go on a vacation together.  If you say you were going to take me to space, I feel like she would allow it." Julietta sighed, "Anyways, here's my laptop." Julietta set the laptop on the bed, next to where Jaimee was sitting.

Jamiee opened a browser and began to type into the laptop, looking for any airlines and tickets.  Any that were a reasonable price, considering that they only had one week to decide on where to go.

Her typing stopped, "We never did decide, where do you want to go?" Jaimee asked.

Julietta's mouth slightly opened. "Oh, I didn't even think about that!" She sat down next to Jaimee, "There's lots of places I want to go to, but I don't know which one to pick.  Where do you want to go?"

Jaimee lightly tapped one carmine colored nail on the laptop keys as she pondered for a few seconds, "You like gardens, and art history stuff, right?" She turned her head towards Julietta, "How about going to Tivoli in Italy?"

"Tivoli?" Julietta didn't recall hearing of it before, "I don't think I've heard of it before."

Without a word, Jaimee began to type on the laptop before turning the screen towards Julietta, "This is Tivoli."

A castle like villa, grand stone statues with waterfalls streaming down from various angles.  Ponds with water fountains on each side and in the center.  Long stone staircases leading to the greenest gardens ever seen.

Julietta looked at every picture, half expecting to see some mythical creature such as a unicorn or fairy to show up among the green bushes and fountains from how ethereal and beautiful it was.

She then saw pictures of the inside of the villa, "Villa d'Este." Julietta muttered, "Are you sure we can go inside of this?" Her hazel eyes glanced at each picture on the screen, "This looks like a museum, or something from inside a cathedral.  No, more like something for royalty.  Just look at the art inside!"

Paintings on the ceiling, on the walls.  All of them looking so delicate yet impacting at the same time.  It seemed as if time itself had stopped inside just from those small pictures she had seen.

"We need to go there!" Julietta looked away from the laptop and looked up at her smirking friend.

"I knew you'd say that." Jaimee said as she pulled the laptop towards her once again, "I'll look for any flights."

It didn't take long for them to book flights for Italy, and to reserve a hotel room for the two of them.

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In the following days after buying the tickets for Italy, each of the girls bought any necessities they would need, bag and suitcases.  Because it was obvious that their current suitcases would not be enough to handle everything, they would most likely end up buying whil in Italy.

"We definitely need these." Two bottles were placed into the empty cart, "And this too."

Julietta watched as her friend placed item and item into the cart they had just barely gotten after walking into the store.

"Do we really need to get hydro flasks when you already have some at home?" Two hydro flasks of blue and purple were leaning against the back of the cart, "You know we don't really need a whole box of tissues." Julietta reached into the cart and pulled out the box, "We can easily just get small to-go tissue packets."

Julietta then began to look for anything that they would actually be needing and not something that they felt that they would need but not use much of it.

In the end, what was put in the cart was: sunscreen, ibuprofen, feminine hygiene products, tissues, hand wipes, batteries for their cameras, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, suitcases and duffle bags, and the two hydro flasks that were previously put in.

"Shampo, bodywash and lotion." Jaimee added as they were ready to check out, "I'll go get those real quick."

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"You have everything ready right?" Julietta asked she placed her suitcase and bag into the trunk of Jaimee's car.

Jaimee smiled as she stood next to Julietta, "Yep.  How about you?"

"Yeah.  I don't know how many times I opened my suitcase to make sure I had everything I needed."

Julietta closed the trunk, "Ready to go?"

Jaimee nodded, "Get in, let's go."