Let Them Eat...Gelato?

Venice canal at night...sigh...

Cliffside vineyards in Cinque Terre...how do they do it?

Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo...double sigh...

As my trip with Joy winds down, let me share with you our first three home bases in Italia...

Venezia: 28-30 Luglio - Situated a good 45 minutes by bus from the city, Joy and I did a bit of European-style camping. We had our own little "bungalow" that served us well after long days getting lost in canalled alleyways. The highlights of Venice include getting eaten alive by mosquitoes while lunching in a park, eating gelato (the cheapest meal in the city=, and beating the line to get into Chiesa San Marco (thank you Ricardo Steves). I also had my first pizza - though not last - in at least 7 years! Very tasty, but I'll take fresh mozzarella and tomatoes over that any day (if you add in focaccia...mmm...). We saw the crazy Doge's palace and the Peggy Gugenheim 20th century art collection (yay Dali) - and had dessert for dinner one night to cut costs!

Cinque Terre: 31 Luglio - 2 Augo - A little slice of paradise! Basically consisted of hiking and swimming in gorgeous seaside cliff landscapes. Food was our other primary focus. As the home of pesto, Cinque Terre offered the most amazing pesto gnocchi I have had. We also had incredible focaccia every day for pranzo. Our favorite meal was at Il Pirata, where we ate fantastic food (porcini risotto) and super friendly service. I know Ricardo warned me, but I didn't want to leave 5 Terre!

Firenze: 2 - 6 Augo - The city with the most expensive museums - of which my favorite was probably the "Images of the Cosmos" exhibit on Gallileo and astrology. David was also pretty cool and the Ufizzi had everything! We stayed in the cutest albergo, where we had our own room and a stout and jolly host! A Tuscan hillside day trip to Siena spiced things up a bit, as did a dinner at the kosher vegetarian restaurant near the craziest syangogue I have ever been to! Finally, gelato made everything better in this city, and formed the basis of our lunch on our last day out. Now we are down south in Sorrento!

Other tidbit: I realized that Madonna and Child were the only subjects of paintings during the 15th and 16th centuries!

Ciao