Patrizia and Salvatore

Patrizia, our travel director and Salvatore, our driver!  We loved them both!

Siena and back to Rome

We can hardly believe it.  This long awaited trip to Italy is over and it did not disappoint!  We had the most amazing travel director--Patrizia, and the best driver ever--Salvatore.  They are two reasons this trip was so wonderful!  Today we left Florence and made a stop in Florence where they have these incredible Palio horse races.  We spent about 2 hours there, then headed to Rome.  Tonight and tomorrow night we are staying in the Sheraton Hotel,which is quite close to the airport.  That means that we don't have a lot of choice of what to do tomorrow, so we will definitely spend some time at the pool.  

Tonight we had our farewell dinner at a trattoria (family run restaurant) outside of Rome a little bit.  It was a delicious meal and we had great conversation with some of the people in our group.  Naturally, we have connected more with some of the people than with some others.  On the way home we had Abba going loud and strong on the coach, and did a few trips around the traffic circle.  We said good bye to the people we really got to know. Some people were going for a drink in the bar here, but we came up to the room.  Enough already.  Enjoyable, but we are done making small talk with most of the people.  Will be good to go home on Sunday.  I loved Italy, but I'm so glad to go home.

Florence all day

We left the hotel at 9:00 this morning to head to the sights of Florence.  We had a walking tour of the Duomo, Santa Croce Cathedral, the sculptures in one of the piazzas, and gold and leather shops.  (No, we didn't buy any gold or leather.  Beautiful but very, very expensive!). Then we had free time for the rest of the day because we didn't do the optional tour scheduled for the late afternoon.  So Jake and I went into the cathedral and saw Michelangelo's tomb and Galileo's tomb.  Galileo was born the day Michelangelo died.  

After getting a small pizza for lunch, we stood in the line up for the Uffizi Art Gallery...took 70 minutes.  It's very large, full of sculptures, altar pieces, paintings from centuries ago, some European paintings...and seemed to go on forever.  It was amazing, but we were very tired when we finished.  Upon exiting, we got our bearings, found a little local place for lasagna, pasta and beer, and rested our weary legs and feet.  Then we headed back to our hotel to do things like write on the blog, read, etc.  tomorrow we are off to Rome with a stop in Siena.

Pisa and David

Yesterday was a full day!  After leaving Santa Marguerita, we travelled toward Pisa.  We had to,park quite a ways from the town centre, paying 250 euros for the parking for about 2 hours. Mother we got on a little "choo choo" with McDonalds advertised all over it and rode that to see the tower, the cathedral and the baptistry.  All very impressive, but oh so many people!  I never imagined it would still be so busy into September.

We left Pisa around noon, got to Florence and stopped to pay the tax to enter the city.  Another couple hundred euros.  We drove to the Accademia Museum and went to se David.  What an experience.  That statue really is magnificent!  Michaelangelo sculpted him when he was 26.  So young!  M said that there is always a figure in a block of marble...it's just waiting for someone to sculpt it out.  Incredible detail and work.

Last night we had such a fun time.  Went to a restaurant south of Florence, had champagne of sorts to start, then about 20 different appetizers, (called antipasto here), then pasta --2 kinds, then a main meal of prime rib and roasted potatoes, and then dessert.  There was special wine to go with each course.  We were serenaded by a small group most of the night, so lots of singing and some dancing.  So fun!  We got back to our hotel around 10:00 pm.  A great day!

Cinque Terra!

We have been looking forward to this part of the trip since we first booked our tickets.  We were not disappointed.  We left at 8:15 and took the coach to La Spezia.  From there we took a boat ride to 

Porto Venere.  That was such a lovely little town and that is where pesto was invented'. We bought a jar of pesto and some focaccia bread to have later for our lunch.  After spending about an hour and a half there, we got on another boat and took a ride along the coast of the Cinque Terra--five little villages built into the hillsides centuries ago.  There is a hiking trail connecting the villages, but because of rain and rock slides, some parts of the trail are closed.  The boat landed at Monterosso, the last village.  We had about 3 hours there, shopping, eating, climbing to the St. Francis convent, looking at the old buildings, enjoying the beautiful Mediterranean Sea!  Finally we boarded a train back to our hotel in Santa Marguerita.  What an amazing day!

Milan, Lake Maggiore, and The Borromean Islands

Yesterday we stopped in Milan for a short time.  We went through the cathedral dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus.  We also went through the LaScala Opera House.  It is impressive mostly because of its history, rather than its decoration.  It's actually very plain in the front of it.  Last night we stayed at a very decadent hotel in Baveno--built in the 1800s.  This morning we took a boat ride to the Borromean .island in Lake Maggiore.  The Borromean palace is on it, along with some gardens, and part of it is still used by the family today. The opulence and the wealth is incredible.  So ironic to see that today, knowing there are millions of refugees who have nothing and just want a life that is safe.

Cortina

A beautiful village, but the shops were so high end and expensive, we didn't even go in them.