Day 12: Florence

Another day of walking and looking at famous pieces. Stood on a hill to see the Spectacular valley of Florence beneath us. We saw Mary of the Flowers church which was LARGE. Then we saw David in all his glory. Actually, we saw 3 copies of him as well (one with blond hair and blue eyes). A little too much glory there, possibly.

Tonight we have a reception then onto dinner in the Tuscan hills.

Dinner was great at tre pidi. The singers were great. Florentine steak and all the wine you can drink! They had a couple of specialty wines also a blue one that tasted sort of peachy and a strawberry one. The Rossa was great, so we got a few bottles of that and a bottle of the blue stuff shipped to SD

Day 11B: Night on the town in Roma

We had a great 4 course roman dinner tonight, complete with live music, a very animated waiter, and lots of wine. Then we went on another trip around Rome to see the attractions again all lit up.

The highlight tonight was watching the cars (they are mostly small cars) and the motorini (scooters) competing for lanes on the street. (occasionally a three lane road will suddenly become five lanes) We are in a fairly large coach and motorini will actually cut us off and expect our driver to stop. He always does but it is pretty incredible. We refer to these people as "those that want to die". Betty calls it organized chaos. Craziest thing I have ever seen. Lanes mean nothing. Traffic lights mean nothing. People double and triple park. Nothing is enforced.

Day 11: Rome

Busy day today. Sistine chapel and St. Peters Basilica in Vatican City in the morning, then onto the Coliseum in the afternoon. We are exhausted! Still have dinner and a tour tonight to see everything again in lights. Now we are relaxing in the Hotel bar. We have decided that cold beer is good!

The weather is perfect, 75 today.

Our tour guide, Suzanne, was wonderful. She was very dramatic, (great theatric timing) obviously loves her city!

The Vatican (St Peters Basilica and the Sistine Chapel) were beautiful. The history, the art, and the architecture are amazing.

Walking through the coliseum was pretty amazing. I was thinking back to books I have read and putting myself in the picture in my mind.

We took so many pictures. The ones below don't even tell the whole story.

By the way, as we get the camera pics downloaded to the cloud, we will be adding to some of the earlier days.

We had a great 4 course roman dinner tonight, complete with live music, a very animated waiter, and lots of wine. Then we went on another trip around Rome to see the attractions again all lit up.

The highlight tonight was watching the cars (they are mostly small cars) and the motorini (scooters) competing for lanes on the street. (occasionally a three lane road will suddenly become five lanes) We are in a fairly large coach and motorini will actually cut us off and expect our driver to stop. He always does but it is pretty incredible. We refer to these people as "those that want to die". Betty calls it organized chaos. Craziest thing I have ever seen. Lanes mean nothing. Traffic lights mean nothing. People double and triple park. Nothing is enforced.

Day 10: travel to Rome

Long day of travel. We stop every 2.5 hours. Its the law. Drivers of trucks and buses will get ticketed if they violate the rule. We read, watch the scenery, take pictures or catch up on sleep. Betty, our tour director, narrates as we go or plays music of that region.

Fun facts about our coach:
1. It is a Mercedes Benz
2. It has lots of leg room. Doug likes it, I can't reach the foot rests!
3. The coach seats 46 but we only have 24 on it, so it gives us moving around room if we want to
4. Every day we change seats. We will be in the front of the coach on the way to Switzerland. Rick and Cynthia are up there today
5. Our driver is from Belgium

Leg 1: looks like the California central valley, except greener. Pretty flat with lots of farming
Leg 2: through Tuscany with beautiful green hills and lots of trees and lots of tunnels. Also some beautiful villas. (I want to live here!)
Leg 3: through Umbria with their hilltop towns. (originally built to cut down on malaria)

We are keeping up pretty well with the language. Our tour director teaches us the phrases we need to know before we get to each city, so we are communicating without using our computer translator (most shop owners speak English so it isn't too hard). It is fun speaking other languages. Now I wish I had paid attention in high school.

Note: the designers of bath tubs and showers are either heavily medicated or have a funny sense of humor.

We have had great weather! Rome is going to be about 77. Perfect!

Tonight saw the Pantheon, Spanish steps (133), Trevi fountain, and had dinner at the piazza Navona. So much history. Amazing city.