Italy!
Sue I returned from our trip to Italy last Wednesday night. Neither the flight there nor the flight back was particularly pleasant (nine hours is a long time to be crammed into a small seat surrounded by crying babies), we both caught nasty colds there, and I couldn't ever seem to get onto a regular sleep schedule while there (and still can't). And the trip was still 100% worth it.
We had an amazing time. The weather, first of all, was really nice, with sun and temperatures in the 60s and 70s. The first three days we toured around Florence, seeing all the sites in the central part of the city, like the massive cathedral there (a Renaissance church so grand you would say it wasn't even built to human scale), the Palazzo Vecchio and its numerous statues, the Santa Croce Basilica, the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge covered with shops that have been in operation for hundreds of years, and a lot more. We saw a number of Michelangelo works, including the David, of course. It was a great trip for history and art.
After Florence we went to the walled city of Lucca. Lucca was a city of Medieval importance, but because it (thankfully, I'd say) decreased in strategic value by World War II, it suffered little damage, unlike the surrounding region. This means that much of Lucca looks just as it had long ago, making it picturesque--and challenging to get around. Lucca was where the Lucca Comics and Games show was held, a 140,000 person convention at which I was a guest of honor. But I'll write about that tomorrow.
Toward the end of the trip we went to Pisa and saw the infamous leaning tower. (As the folks from Lucca like to say, "Pisa's only claim to fame is a mistake.") The tower had just been renovated, so its white stone glistened--practically glowed--in the sun. The nearby cathedral, while not as large as its counterpart in Florence, was very impressive and very beautiful on the inside.
It's been difficult for me to write even those three paragraphs about Tuscany without mentioning the food. I'm no foodie, but even a pedestrian like me was blown away by each and every meal we had in Italy. I'd often find myself saying things like, "This is just a potato. How can a potato be this good?"
Thankfully, my tour director, Sue, likes to maintain an aggressive schedule on vacations, and so we did a lot of walking and stairclimbing to work off all the fabulous meals. (And to be fair, our schedule was likely not as aggressive as she Would Have liked.)
I'd love to go back someday. I hope someday to see Rome and Venice, and more.
MC
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