Finally, Time to Write

Greetings from Florence, Italy. We are all healthy, happy and enjoying each minute of the adventure so far. Each day is better than the day before. Each meal is better than the one before ---and so on.

We got to our bed and breakfast in Milan the first night around 9:30. After unwinding by laughing hysterically for an hour, we all got a good night sleep. While there we saw The Last Supper by di Vinci. What a joy. We all go tears in our eyes when we first saw it. We were truly blessed by the experience.

In Milan, we also saw the beautiful Duomo. A very ornate building with amazing stained glass windows. We were impressed with the crowded, busy streets and traffic.

From Milan to Verona and the chance to see Juliette's balcony from the play, Romeo and Juliette. We saw the 3rd largest arena in Italy in the town square and walked through the little town for hours. Our bed and breakfast there was very nice. We would all go back again.

From Verona to Venice. It is just like I expected it to be but on a larger scale. We visited St. Mark's square where Sam had proposed to Cari. Beautiful church there. We saw many beautiful pieces of art work, statues, and of course all of the tiny streets and canels. We took a water taxi everywhere we went which was a fun experience. We stayed in a hotel built in the 1270's. Our room was on the 3rd floor and the size of a medium hotel room. Tiny! No room for our stuff but exciting anyway to experience such an old place.

From Venice to Florence and our beautiful 2 bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms. We feel like we are staying in a mansion after our tiny little room in Venice. We have enjoyed Florence very much. We all love it here and feel right at home. We took a 2 day trip to Paris, France after being here only a day.

Paris is wonderful. We didn't expect to like it there very much but we all loved it and wished we had planned on more time there. Just too much to see in such a short day. We stayed in a charming hotel in the Latin District so it was Taxi cabs every where we went. I could write a book on the taxi cab experiences. I will do that another time. We are all just so happy to be alive. We went to the Louve and Orsay museums, the Effiel Tower, and on a night time river cruise on the Seine. Lovely!

Back to Florence and more of a normal routine for two days and then another side trip to Cortona where the movie, Under the Tuscan Sky was filmed. It is a lovely little town nestled in the hills. Very quaint, charming and welcoming. We walked through the main part of town and found the main square by their church. We heard two candidates for mayor give their speaches to all of the folks in the square. We could not understand the words but the way they expressed themselves - the way they gave their pitches - was just like in the U.S.A.

Yesterday and today, we have rested, shopped and enjoyed the town of Florence. Tomorrow we are going on another day trip to Cinque Terra. Looking forward to it very much!

That's it for now. I don't know when I will have time to write again. Hope all of you are well. Don't worry about us. We are doing GREAT.