Italietta’s birthday! Miguel’s brother, Giacomo, and his wife Francesca came to Verona to celebrate Italietta’s birthday. We all missed Martina, but it was nice to have the immediate family all together to celebrate Italietta’s 80th birthday. It was also my brother’s birthday. Mike is fifty years old today, and he was born just a few kilometers from Verona, in a town called Vicenza. We all lived here on a street called Via Marsela, just about one kilometer away from the center of Verona. Strange to think that I lived in this town 50 years ago! I have some memories of the town, particularly of the hill where our old apartment building still stands, and the view of Verona from the top of the hill. I also remembered a park we called “Bambini Park” which is still ... read more

We had a wonderful day today. The weather was a bit cooler than it has been -- maybe it was just that there was less humidity, but it was definitely more comfortable. And this evening, the weather was fresh and breezy -- almost like Hawaii weather! We started the day by walking from our B&B to the Rialto and purchasing gifts for friends and family. I also bought some Venetian Carneval masks for each of the girls -- even though it may be a bit of a pain to carry them back to the US, they are so beautiful and the girls looked great in them. They can hang them on their wall when they get home. After shopping, we ate lunch at a little spot called the Corner Pub, near the Peggy Guggenheim gallery. We ... read more

We arrived in Venice at about 5:30 pm via the high-speed train from Rome. After the air-conditioned comfort of the train, we were met with a blast of muggy air as we exited Venice’s Santa Lucia train station. It was so hot! The air was thick with humidity, and the train station was crowded with throngs of people. We waited in a long line to buy our 3-day passes for the “water bus” (vaporetto) and finally boarded the vaporetto about an hour after arriving in Venice. The vaporetto, too, was crowded with both tourists and residents. We lugged our suitcases to the center and watched the beautiful buildings of Venice as we made our way to the Grand Canal. Our stop was San Silvestro, about 25 minutes from the train station. After getting off the vaporetto, ... read more

Today we woke up at 8:30 am. Our goal was to be showered and ready by 9:30 am, and amazingly enough, with four of us sharing one bathroom, we were all showered and dressed by 9:30! We went to a little bar just behind the house on via Giulia to have cappucini and cornetti and then began our exploration of the Rome. We started first with the Pantheon. What an amazing structure! The girls put on a headset and listened to a Rick Steves podcast on the Pantheon. The dome for the Pantheon was the model for the Duomo in Florence, St Peter’s Basilica, and even the US Capital building. The oculus, or opening, at the top of the dome allowed in bright sunlight as practically the only lighting in the large temple. Once we had ... read more

We’re at JFK and we’ll be boarding our flight to Rome in a few minutes. We had a great time here in NYC. Last night, we went to dinner at a place called Quality Meats, right off 5th Avenue near Central Park. Liilana said she was in the mood for meat after 3 weeks on a boat with a vegan counsellor. So a friend suggested Quality Meats, and it really was great. It was a steak house, but with great atmosphere, service and really fantastic preparation of all different kinds of meat. And the evening was even more pleasurable because Raja was able to join us for dinner. 
Raja is a surgeon and is very smart. Even better, he’s just fun to be with, and has a really different perspective on the world. We had a ... read more