Beginning of Summer....

Can't believe it's the end of June. Where has the year gone? We've been back from Italy a little over 2 weeks and I've been to Jacksonville, Ft. Myers, then Chicago. I am glad to store the luggage away for a few days/weeks. According to my USAir FF account, I've logged ~44,000 miles since early March.... whew!

Things are good here just busy. We're having BEAUTIFUL weather. It was in the high-70s today and we're forecast for a high of 77 tomorrow. Hey, I'll take that in late June!

Katie is doing good and on 6/11, officially became 'legal', whatever that means... Can't believe she's 21! Makes me feel real old. She's got just 2 semesters of school left..... She had a significant achievement occur this week. A couple of days ago she found out that a photo she had taken a couple of weeks ago as part of a class project, will be featured on the cover of Wilmington College’s fall course catalog. How cool is that!! I’m so proud of her!!!!!

Katie's been editing the near 1,000 pictures she took while in Italy. While we were on that tour, she was approached by a couple of people in our tour group who were interested in purchasing some of her pictures. She's in the midst of setting up a web-site where pictures can be posted and purchased. Already creating a business for herself...

Sending well wishes to call. Keep in touch.

We're Home.....

Can't believe the trip to Italy is already over, although it was good to get home a few hours ago and will be good to sleep on my own pillow tonight! There's lots of laundry to face tomorrow, so back to reality...

We did get the gondola ride in yesterday and it was wonderful. There were a few from our group that opted into the gondola excursion, so there were a group of 3 gondolas. The three followed each other along the canals for probably 45 minutes, but the special treat to this excursion was that we were 'serenaded' with a singer and accordion player in the middle boat. It was so cool!

We started the day today at 4:00 am local time in Venice and had a taxi pick us up at the hotel, but not any old kind of taxi....we took a water taxi from the hotel to the airport....about a 40 minute 'drive'. Venice is a city with no cars, motorbikes or bicycles. You either walk or you take a water taxi. As I've said, only in Venice...

It was an amazing trip. Italy is an amazing place.... As I believe I shared early on, beginning in Rome, it really struck me that Rome IS the place where modern civilization started. The history of Rome, Florence and Venice....the art scattered all over is near overwhelming. I think of sites over the past few days, then have to think....what that in Rome, Florence or Venice??

We met some really great people. Attached are some pictures with our new friends at dinner last night. (me and Katie, Katie and Ana, our new friends..the Soules, Singers and Tuxons, along with a pic of the last gelato outing of the trip, after dinner last night).

Katie and I ended our time in Venice last night sitting out on the piazza facing St. Mark's Basilica with our new friends, Donna Soule and her daughter, Ana, listening to classical music being played by an instrumental ensemble. What a life, huh???? Only in Venice....

Ciao... Abbia un buon resto della settimana.... Have a good rest of the week....

A Full Day in Venezia....

Greetings.... We've got one more full day in Venice. Can't believe this trip is nearly over. We've done so much, seen so much, while trying to absorb the culture and all around us. It's been a marvelous experience that I will always cherish. It's also been such a wonderful thing to be here with Katie. Neither of us are big talkers first thing in the morning, so as long as we've given each other our quite morning time, being together has been a joy!!!

Earlier today, we toured and learned about the city, including the provencial palace. There's a huge square (piazza) facing the St. Mark's Basilica.... amazing architecture. I've made the point to spend some quite time in each of the churches we've been in this week...those we've discovered with the group or on our own. For me, there has been such peace felt while being in these holy places. Can't begin to describe it...

Mid-afternoon, a group of us took a water taxi for an optional excursion to Burano, a fishing village on one of the islands north of Venice. It was an quaint, quite little town with some shops and restaurrantes, and housed painted in bright colors. We had dinner in Burano and then took the water taxi back to Venice right at sunset. It was beautiful... Katie got a bunch of pictures, which we'll share later.

After we got back to the hotel tonight, some of us went back out to an outside restaurant facing the lagoon of Venice and enjoyed the night air along with conversation and a cappachino. Was fun just sitting there, getting to know some new friends and 'people watching'....

Tomorrow, we'll continue to explore on our own, as well as enjoy a gondala ride around the canals. That should be pretty cool.... We'll then have our last 'ha-ra' dinner for this trip tomorrow evening. There's 8 of us who have stuck together during this trip, so will be sad to leave them upon departure on Tuesday...

Pictures include scenes of Basilica di San Marco in Venezia (St. Mark's Basilica), scenes around Venice, a panoramic scene from our visit to the Tuscany region on Friday, and a future famous photographer (Katie....) in action.....

Hope everyone one is well. Have a good start to the week.

Sending love from Venezia....-M

Made it to Venezia....

Ciao..... We made it to Venice. Talk about an experience getting to a hotel. From the train station, we took a water taxi, then walked through some narrow streets to get to our hotel.

This city is amazing.....amazing that it has stood the test of time and literally exists standing in water... There are 118 'islands' that make up Venice. Can't even begin to describe it.

Our hotel room overlooks a canal and we've got a little balcony!! Absolutely cool! We've got the balcony door open and are listening to gondoliers singing.....although, they aren't quite Pavarotti!!!

It's been raining here this afternoon...just light rain, but the sun is peeking out. There's lots of people here. The weekends bring in 7 cruise ships.....7. Our local host, said the crowds will thin quickly tomorrow afternoon. We're meeting for a short walking tour and dinner at 6:30 pm, then have about a 3 hour tour tomorrow morning, which includes seeing glass blowing at the Murano glass making factory here in Venice. We're then taking a boat to an island north of Venice..a little fishing village called Burano mid afternoon tomorrow and will have dinner there.

Katie and I are doing well, just a little tired... just trying to absorb it all. It's been an amazing week. Between the two of us, we've taking probably 1,000 pictures, so there will be a mega-slideshow to share! I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Sending love. Everyone take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend...

Frienze.......

Greetings again, from Frienze... Yesterday, we had a nearly full day of city tour and art museums. Yesterday afternoon a few of us visited the Uffizi Gallery, home of various de Vinci works and earlier in the day, the Academia Museum, home of Michaelangelo's 'David' sculpture. Was amazing..... It became obvious that I don't know as much about art history as I thought I did.... learned a lot yesterday.

On the shopping front, we finally had a 'splurge' yesterday and bought (no, invested in.... :-)...) Italian handbags.... Was fun spending a few Euro.... Did some other shopping today of local goods, including a couple of beautiful Florentine painted ceramic pieces.

A group of 6 of us went to dinner last night and I had another Italian 'happy birthday' moment with singing by a crowded restaurant... Waiters brought out a big cookie with a fireworks-type sparkler the size of a roman candle. We all decided that would have been an illegal experience in the US in a public place!! :-) The group had decided it was a birthday week, so we'd use my birthday as an excuse to get a little attention.....pretty pitiful, I know.... I told them, I'm done with my birthday and that Katie's is next. She's counting down to her 21st on June 11!!!.... (Can't believe she's about to be 21.....)

Today, the same six of us, headed out from Florence to explore more of the Tuscany region. It was WONDERFUL! Can't even begin to describe the landscapes.....mountains, rolling hills, vineyard after vineyard and olive tree grove after olive tree grove. We visited the villages of San Casciana, San Gimignano, a winery along the way and the town of Siena. It was raining during the afternoon, but that was OK. We still enjoyed the day trip. I am so glad it became an optional excursion for us.

We've really bonded with a great group of people. There's another mom-daughter couple from Washington, DC, along with two married couples....one couple from Rochester, NY and the other from Reno, NV. Great people....

Tomorrow morning, we head to Venice on a 3-hour train ride. Can't believe we been here nearly a week.

I've got lots of pictures from today, but haven't downloaded yet, so here's a couple from our train ride into Florence on Wednesday and the city/museum tour yesterday. Mom, be sure to share the 1st picture with Dad.... think he'll appreciate it!!

Hope everyone is well........... Caio!!

Made it to Florence...

Greetings... We made it to Florence from Rome this morning via the Eurostar train. Was a ride along a beautiful countryside. I've got lots of pictures and promise to post some tomorrow!!

I had a good birthday. Had a bottle of champagne along with strawberries delivered to my hotel room from Delaware friends (Thank you!!).... Tonight, Katie and I had dinner with 6 new friends at, of course, an Italian restaurant, and had a great time. When it came time for dessert, mine got brought out with a candle and the entire restaurant sang 'Happy Birthday' in Italian....how cool is that???

Tomorrow, we're doing museum tours here in Florence, then on Friday, a driving tour of the Sienna/Tuscany/Chianti region. I'm really looking forward to that! We then head to Venice Saturday morning.

Again, I promise some pictures tomorrow! The hotel we're in (once upon a time was a palace...seriously...) only has wireless Intenet in the lobby area, so I'm sitting in the lobby posting this at 12:15 am Thursday, thus my birthday is over in this time zone.....

Take care and sending love.

Our Last Day in Roma...

Today was another full day, but one on our own, which was good. It was the mix of formal tour and 'on your on', that made this tour so appealing. Thank goodness for good street maps (and comfy walking shoes!!), since we probably walked 10+ miles down streets and alleys all day.

The weather here is cool...much cooler than I expected and what had been actual temps just last week. Has been in the 60s, a little breezy, and a little rainy, but tolerable. Lots of tourist here, but the crowds aren't too bad.....no worse than being in mid-Manhattan...

Today, we saw the Spanish Steps and all the designer shops and 'beutiful people' along the way. My favorite site was the Trevi Fountain. We sat there for a while and while there enjoyed our first gelato since we arrived (we've been pacing ourselves!!...). The fountains are absolutely beautiful. Then, on to the Panthanon...absolutely amazing. You're walking down an alley street and all of a sudden...there it is.... We went in a church adjacent to one of the piazzas in the area of the Panthanon and just sat for a while. Think that did us both good....

Kathy, we found the restaurant you had been to, but had a late lunch, so opted for it on the next trip (yes, there will be a next trip....). Also, tried to find the store, Le Feure with the 'grapes', but couldn't find it. We did ask around, but no one was familar with it in the area... Again, next time...

We head from the hotel to the train station tomorrow morning at 9:15 am. There are a couple of 'couples' we've connected with, one couple from Rochester, NY who were on our flight from Philly on Saturday....no, Sunday....

I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. Sending love....