Italy...

  Chris and I finally made it on my dream trip to ITALY! We just returned from 12 day's in Italy, we visited Venice, Florance, and Rome. The weather could not have been any better it was in the 70's and sunny for 10 out of the 12 days! My favorite city was Venice. It truly felt like vacation, with no cars... and being able to stroll through the city from store to store, to restaurants, and to museums... We ventured out to the island of Murano to see the glass makers the island is known for. We saw some BEAUTIFUL goods... unfortunately we couldn't take them all home with us. We traveled by train between the three cities. It was fun taking the high speed trains and seeing the scenery of the Italian countryside. In Florance I was shocked at all of the traffic and graffiti... though there were many great museums and Churches to visit. My highlight was climbing to a top of a hill that overlooked the city... we watched the sun set and enjoyed the lights twinkling in the dark. On our way back to the hotel that night, we stopped at a local restaurant and had dinner... after we had someone translate the menu for us. And then we were off to Rome, for a whirl wind tour of the city... unfortunately in our planning we didn't realize May 1 was a holiday, so we only had one whole day to visit the major attractions. We were able to see the Colosseum, and many of the local ruins... in addition we went to Vatican City, saw the Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peters Basilica. I can't wait for our next trip... destination unknown... I do have one tip though... we purchased new luggage by Eagle Creek, along with their packing systems... I wasn't sure how it all would work, but I'm SOOO happy we got it. The suitcases held up well, it was supper easy to keep things organized when we were moving from city to city. And I manged to fit TWO weeks worth of clothing into one suitcase! That is unheard of for me.