More travels....

We did successfully make it home, following spring as we moved north. No time to post as I had to begin planning for a trip to Europe with Natasha. We are now in Florence Italy for 7 nights.

We landed in Rome, were awestruck with the opulance of the sights of the Vatican. Everything is so grand. Also awestruck with the colleseum, the forum and the pantheon. Loved the pantheon. There were many smaller churches we wandered into with much more intimate and spiritual feelings than St. Peters. An incredible amount of art and antiquity in this city. Hard to believe that buildings - and roads - built centuries ago are still standing, continue to be used and remain in good shape! In Canada we have nothing to compare - we knock things down before they get even a bit old!

We walked and walked, with aching feet and legs we fell into bed each night. Now we are in good shape - yesterday we walked up all 465 steps to the top of the Duomo in Florence (round and round, narrower and narrower, darker and darker, warmer and warmer, less and less oxygen, feelings of opression, then people started to come down! using the same staircase as us!! Very cozy indeed. Not for the faint of heart - quite claustrophobic. What an amazing view of the city from tiny (in comparison) coppula on top! I am sure Lorne would have loved it - NOT!

We then spent three nights in Siena - an old walled city that was quite amazing too. And of course all a lovely siena color! More fantastic cathedrals and hours of wandering the steep medieval narrow cobblestone hilly alleys of this ancient city. &Thank goodness for maps - even if they dont have all the names of the streets on them. And just try to find that wonderful restaurant we passed!!! Drank ciante in a cool wine tasting cellar with Alesander, a lovely Italian man who charmed us in the piazza del Campo - where the fabulous and amazing historical paulo horse race is. Got beautiful flags (about the size of large scarfs) from three of the twelve districts that compete in this race.

We are immersed in art here in Florence, so far I am loving being saturated every museum is better than the last - the Uffizi gallery, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Pitti Palace, The Bargello museum- Natasha is enjoying it too and she is very good at picking up Italian quickly. There is a Parisian guest at the hostel and Natasha is also very good at remembering her French and communicates well with her too! This will be a real asset when we get to France! Most everyone we come across in Florence and in Rome speaks English (a bit- certainly more than we speak Italian!). I keep speaking Spanish - doesnt work so well.....

Next is Venice, then..... the Cinque Terra??? perhaps, if we can 1. find a place to stay and 2. figure out how to get there from Venice.