We arrived in Rome on Wednesday afternoon. We're staying at the Hotel Sonya, near central Rome and the Opera House. After getting settled in, we decided to go for a walk. We went in and out of various streets, different piazzas, and then finally we stop for dinner at Bibo's. Great restaurant with home cooking. You must try the Calzone!!! After dinner we called it a night. Bottle 41.... Today is our full day in Rome and we woke up bright and early to head out for the Colliseum and the Forum. The Colliseum is amazing. We spent about 2 hours there wandering around. It's easy to see how life could have been way back then.... After that we walked over to the Forum and the Palenstine Hills. We ended up exploring the ruins for at ... read more

We arrived in Sorrento on Saturday from Montepulciano. The drive was about 4 hours long but was very scenic. However, Italians drive like crazy....NO RULES! Once we got to Sorrento, we settled into our B&B called Casa Asistrita. Another recommendation via the Rick Steves book. Great place. The rooms are very comfortable and they put on a great breakfast in the morning. Plus the cost is very reasonable. We had trouble dropping off the car since we couldn't find the lot to go to. Apparently the business moved a while back so the GPS (Bonnie) took us in the wrong direction. Traffic in Sorrento is CRAZY....to say the least. The scooters and motorcycles drive everywhere with no care in the world about other drivers or pedestrians for that matter. After freaking out for awhile, we ended ... read more

Hi everyone,We are in Tuscany now, it has been really hard to find an internet cafe. So we need to catch up, I hope I don't forget stuff. It's Oct 31 (Happy Halloween!!) and we left Assisi last Saturday. Just to touch on Assisi, Dan & I really enjoy this town. It is absolutely gorgeous. On our last day in Assisi we went to one of the most moving churches, San Domineco. This is where Saint Clare spent her days. She devoted her life to God. It was a very charming place and very moving. The church is runned by the Friers now and they were very kind.Our final evening there, we had a wonderful meal and then we decided to stroll the town before going to bed. We came across a choir singing in one ... read more

We left Venice very early today (Oct 23) and went via water taxi to the train station. We took the train to Farerra where we switched trains to continue on to Ravenna. Ravenna is located on the Adriactic, south of Venice about 90 kms. We are only staying here the one night at the Hotel Bryon, which is located in central Ravenna. When we got to Ravenna, we walked to the hotel which is about 6 blocks away. We were pleasently surprised to see such a wonderful, quaint Italian town. This town is famous for its residents who ride around on bicycles. There is a white stone pathway that is for bikes only and if you accidentally walk on it, the bicyclist will ring his bell to warn you he's coming. We spent the whole day ... read more

Well, we finally arrived in Italy. Our first stop is Milan. Once we got to our hotel, the Westin Palace, we had a snooze and then ventured out for the evening. We went to the main square and walked around. Then we came across this gorgeous, impressive church. The name escapes me at this time, but by the photos, this place must be a main attraction. We spent a few hours there and then our tummys started to grumble. We found this cool restaurant in the main Duome area, where we sat outside. The food was fantastic. We loved watching all the people mill around. There are some really beautiful people here...and some weird ones! Milan is a nice city given the time we were there, but its not very impressive. Its definitely an industrial city. ... read more