We got back to Rome on Friday around 3:00 and found a hotel near the train station. We didn't have much time in the city so we headed out for a walk and then early dinner. Our walk was thru Piazza del Popolo, the Spanish Steps, and the Pantheon neighborhood. We had hoped to get some different lighting in the Pantheon this time but it was overcast and a little rainy. It was cool to see the rain coming into the dome. They rope off the area under the dome. Probably so people don't slip and don't block the drain wholes [View Full Entry]

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Here are some pictures of our Amalfi Coast day. The bus ride was scary at times but I'm glad I did it. If you sit on the right side of the bus, you can see over the edge of the cliffs down to the ocean. We think the bus drivers would go up to speeds of 40 miles an hour. They take up both lanes at times and oncoming traffic has to yield for the buses. The drivers honk when going around blind corners and of course the scooters zoom & weave thru traffic and past the buses. There were several [View Full Entry]

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we are at the sorrento internet bar having italian beers with chris and becca! the italian guys are dancing to nellys song its getting hot in here...its midnight on thursday night. AWESOME! we cant use the card reader since its party time but we will try to post pics tomorrow from rome. we are leaving at some point tomorrow morning (friday) from sorrento to rome. we will fly out from rome on saturday morning and be in chicago saturday around 3pm. joes friend adam is picking us up from the airport and hopefully feeding us some chicago dogs. well be home [View Full Entry]

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Here are some more pictures. [View Full Entry]

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We finished our hike! It is 7 miles long between the 5 (cinque pronunced CHINK-weh) towns. The first two were about an hour to an hour and a half. The third was 45 minutes and the fourth was 20 minutes. We stopped off in each town as well. Favorite town was Vernazza and favorite part of the hike was our start from Monterosso to Vernazza. Joe had a hard time fitting on the trail in some parts. He has actually had trouble fitting most places here! The 2nd hike we did was a little annoying because there were tons of school [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday morning we missed our 8 am water bus to the train station. We paid way to much for a water taxi and missed our train anyway. We were upset because it was a long trip to Pisa but we were relieved when we didnt have to pay anything extra for the next train. We left two hours later than planned and had to hang out at the boring Venice station. We made our way to Pisa for a 45 minute stop off to see the leaning tower. Its all we needed for our Pisa fix. We continued our journey onto [View Full Entry]

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We took the train from Florence to Venice and got to Venice around lunch time. It was easy to find our hotel and we left to get a bite to eat. The Rick Steves travel book has been very helpful and we would recommend it. We had heard mixed reviews about Venice so our expectations were low. For those of you that dont know, Venice was man made by driving piers into the clay underneath the ocean in 500 a.d. They did this to escape barbarian attacks. Really amazing. Bad things about Venice--tourists (we cant imagine what it would be like [View Full Entry]

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We were supposed to be able to add photos at this expensive (8 euro) internet point but its not working so we will post pics as soon as possible. Our last morning on the farm was spent having breakfast with our new French friends and then walking around to see some animals. They had tons of baby chickens and fawn that was sweaking at me when I let it sniff my hand thru the cage. It was so cute! We were going to explore more until we heard buzzing and realized we found the bee hives where they get their honey. [View Full Entry]

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On Thursday we drove to Assisi and Cortona. We wanted to do more but Assisi took time to reach and we spent more time there than expected. It was the prettiest town we have seen. Very clean. The balconies of the homes all have flowers and they have a competition once a year for the best front door-balcony. We walked thru the town and made our way to the Basilica of St. Francis. For those of you that dont know, St. Francis taught equality between man, woman and animal thru Gods teachings. He is the Saint in the brown robe and [View Full Entry]

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We are in Voleterra on Wednesday night at about 10 pm. We still have a long drive home to our Agriturismo. I am a little tipsy on wine but am drinking cafe americano and eating sweets. Joe is driving and i have to stay up with him. Do not worry Janelle and Diane! If anyone was wondering, my mother wrote about how i spelled CIAO wrong in the last post. I fixed it. Thanks, mom. Yesterday after the post, we took the train to Florence. Very easy. It was the fast train that goes up to 300 miles an hour. We [View Full Entry]

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