Ten Days of Touring Italy

We returned last night after several days of touring around Italy and this is a thumbnail sketch of what we did. The first three days we spent in Rome. This was a time of horrendous amounts of walking, getting use to the Italian ways of public transportation and our first stay in a hostel. We went to all the places you have read about and seen pictures of your whole life. The Colosseum, The Forum, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's Busicilla, the Spanish Steps, And Trevi Fountain.

Robert had to return to work and so the five of us traveled next to Camp Darby, a military base near Pisa. Driving through Tuscany and Umbria was so gorgeous..I'd like to buy a villa there and never come back too! I get that movie now. Italians really do know how to enjoy life at a much mellower pace ( at least outside the big cities) . We stayed there for five days and we went to Pisa, and Florence & Chiavari during that time. Some of us climbed the leaning tower, we rode the trains and buses and saw David (there are no words!) and took a bus tour around Florence that was amazing. Florence is every beautiful place you have ever been rolled into one. We saw almost all of Michelangelo's major works that are in Italy. We traveled north by car to the little town of Chiavari near Genova where Jim's mom was born and it was one of our favorite places. So quiet, so pristine and right on the Mediterranean. It was weird but we saw people that actually looked like Jim's grandparents coming and going. How fun is that? We sure wish we could talk to them about Italy now that we have been here and experienced so much of it.

The last several days we spent in a little country villa near the train in the Venato. The Venato is the surrounding area of Venice and it gave us a touch of the outer areas and a very efficient way to get to and from Venice without the cost and hassle of staying on the island. We did a lot of fun things in Venice and really enjoyed getting around on the vaporetti or water buses. It was so relaxing and unique. The shopping was fantastic and I did buy a really cool bracelet made of Venetian glass. Scarves are really all the rage here too so Laura and I bought a new one several times on the trip to go with whatever we were wearing that day.

The time was fantastic, the sights amazing and the company divine. The boys were so good and indulged us in a lot of stuffy boring museum experiences and lots of walking to and through places they really were not interested in a bit. Their biggest thrill was feeding the pigeons in San Marco Square in Venice and the playground at the base. But they were great sports and as good as gold the whole time! We have eaten nothing but pasta and pizza for nearly a month and I am dying for a hamburger and some American produce!! Tomorrow Jim and I are going to the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento on a tour for our special date day. Looking forward to it. Have I mentioned the weather has been perfect? The only day that it rained a lot while we were gone was yesterday while we were driving home. Friday night we may go to Napoli and then Saturday we fly home. Wow, where did the time go? It has been so great, we will miss the kids so much but will enjoy coming home to the conveniences of home too. I will include some photos later and also some things I love and don't love so much about Italy. Also I will give my version of travel tips over here so when you come to Europe you will avoid some of the drama we had...like when I used my curling iron and burned my hair! Bummer. It is not that noticeable but it smelled bad for days! Ciao for now!