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....

Roma and All Its Glory....

After spending time with Italians today, I feel like I need to over annunciate my words when I speak from now on!!!

We had a long, but great day spending time at the Vatican museums....saw the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, St. Paul's Basilica, the Coliseum, Roman Forum, and on and on.... Can't begin to describe the Vatican experience and standing in the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. We were with a great group of people and had a couple of great Italian tour guides. We finished off this afternoon by visiting the catacombs of Rome (dating back to 1000 AD), which go down 30 meters into the earth. Amazing. Just got back to the hotel after a group dinner...Italian, of course....

It struck me today that Rome is really where the world began...where the civilized (although it was sometimes pagan) world began..... Hard to explain....

We're spending time on our own here in Rome tomorrow, then head from the hotel for the train station on to Florence very early Wednesday morning...

Hope all is well with everyone. Let us hear from you!!

Here's a couple of over 200 pics I took today (sorry for not rotating before I posted!!)....

Katie is standing on the line that physically separates the city of Rome and the 'country' of Vatican City...

A shot from the Sistine Chapel...

Saluti da Roma.... We made it to Rome around 5 pm local time after issues with departure from Philadelphia and lost about 9 hours from our original arrival time to Rome. About an hour and a half was because of a delay in Philadelphia. Then, upon being in the air for probably 45 minutes, our plane (a big Airbus...) took a lightening strike. Everything was OK...we were OK, but the plane did lost some of its instrumentation. The first message was that we were going to circle back to land in Newark, NJ, then they opted to take us back into Philly. At that point, of course, we had too much fuel to land, so we circled for a while and were then met by all the emergency vehicles upon landing....just as a precaution. Lucky for us that was the outcome, because USAir would have never replaced a plane in Newark. We had to get a new plane, new crew, etc., and finally left Philly a little before 3:00 am EDT this morning.....makes for a long day. Katie and I just made it back to the hotel after finding a wonderful street cafe not far from our hotel. We took the long walk back to the hotel after a wonderful meal! We have a full day tomorrow and meet for a tour at 7:15 am and will see some Vatican sites, along with the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Square and the Basilica among other sites. We've then opted into a group dinner following an additional walking tour tomorrow evening.

Goda il resto della fine settimana lunga. E noi di ciao saranno in tocco..... (Enjoy the rest of the long weekend. Take care and we'll be in touch....)

Pictures from an "Italian-themed' birthday celebration here at the office today, even though my birthday isn't until next week... Such a special group of people!!!!!

The Girls.... Meredith, Samantha and Katie

Baci and Anna during our recent trip to MS

Michelle with Anna on the tree swing at Mom and Dad's during our recent long weekend to MS. Anna's growing up too fast!!

We're Going to Italy.................

Stay tuned for pictures from Rome, Florence and Venice. Katie and I leave Philadelphia headed to Rome on Saturday, May 26th. A significant milestone of this trip is on May 30th when I hit the big '5-0'. It will be a memorable day, I'm sure of it!!!