Italia!

Can we please go back...tomorrow? Italy was like a dream. Lots of pictures here... if you are so inclined. Much better than me forcing you into a seat to watch a slideshow. haha, you can skip all my commentary and just look at photos or skip the whole thing all together. It was other worldly though. (You know you wanna look ;)

We had 7 days there, and tried to squeeze as many cities as we could into the week. Flew into Rome and stayed at a very colorful hotel, which was a interesting contrast to all the classic ruins outside our windows. Toured the sites, ie Colosseum, St. Peter's, Pantheon etc. The next morning we took the train to Venice and hopped a boat over to our hotel. It was raining, but neither of us seemed to care. The shop windows were sparkling with murano, and our hotel was gorgeous. The next day we got lost in Venice. Really and truly. Being the intrepid guide, I decided to take charge and thought it might be a good idea to simply follow the "Per Rialto"...they made more sense than the map. (which I believe was a practical joke played on stupid Americans) Hah...the next day we hopped on the train and headed for Florence. This was our favorite and longest stay of the trip. We rented a house on Viale Galileo, the actual road Galileo lived on at one point. It was situated across the river from the city up on a hill. The views were of the red tile roofs below and cypress. Did I mention I want to go back tomorrow? Yes, please. And let's not even get started on the food (or gelato....) Just not fair for one country to be full of so many good things. We washed our clothes at the house we stayed in...which was like something from a movie. Authentic stucco country Italian house, hidden behind a tall gated fence. We had apple trees and a clothes line (and a broken dryer, which is a whole story). The furniture was old and cozy, the toilet was even some strange shape, didn't realize toilets could be charming. But, yup they can.

The last leg of the trip we headed to Siena for a day by train. Trekked through churches, saw a few Saint's bones/hair/teeth at the museum. Ate "pizza" in the square. And then missed our train back to Rome. We ended up staying our last night in a hotel in Florence. The electricity didn't work...that was an adventure. At least we had a hot shower and a bed to sleep in. The lack of lighting might've been a good thing. I'm not sure we didn't have roaches for company.

And that's it folks. (Projector turned off, lights back on) You still awake? Hope you enjoyed the show. :)