Firenze, Italia

Well, we are on our last day in Firenze. We are at lunch right now, so I will save the lengthy writing for later.

Tomorrow: Bologna.

TTYS.

S&B

Firenze, Italia

We are in Firenze! Jill(y Bob) Thornton is here with us. We are eating at a restaurant right now, so I'll post a longer update later.

Ciao.

S&B

Orvieto and Perugia, Italy

We left Rome this morning at 9:00am in our impossibly small -- although incredibly (fuel) efficient -- Ford "macchina," crossed into the province of Umbria, and stopped for a few hours at the small hillside town of Orvieto. This wasn't really our plan for the day, but we were happy to turn off and explore at random.

Orvieto was refreshingly small and quiet. Apparently, the town was successful in getting one of its former residents beatified (sainthood), which seems to have directly contributed to the its disproportionate wealth-to-size ratio. There is a magnificent gothic cathedral in Orvieto. The Byzantine style mosaics on its facade are stunningly beautiful and only add to its grandeur amidst the backdrop of an otherwise sleepy hilltop Umbrian town. As you may already know, it was in Orvieto that we were first able to connect to the internet and update our blog with pictures (please see the "Photo Album" section of the blog for more photos). So, please do view and comment.

At about 3:00pm or so we headed out for Perugia. After getting lost on the way to Perugia and then getting lost IN Perugia (a story for another time), we checked into our hotel at 6:30pm or so and promptly hit the town to have a look around and get some dinner. After some post-dinner gelato, we strolled through the rolling streets of Perugia appreciating its unique ambience of medieval settings and modern everyday attractions.

We're now getting ready for bed so we can rest for our drive to Firenze tomorrow. The current plan is to get some breakfast in Perugia, lunch in Assisi, and dinner in Firenze. We'll see.

Ciao. A dopo.

S&B

Roma, Italia

Buon giorno!

As was stated in our last update, we haven't had access to the internet for a few days. So, this is the first time we've been able to log on and post an update (we are in Orvieto now).

Rome was an absolute blast ... and blur! We visited the Roman forum, the Pantheon, the Vatican, l'EUR, and much more.

We're currently in route to Perugia (by car).

Below are a few photos from i nostri tre giorni in Roma. Enjoy

A dopo.

S&B

Roma, Italia

Buon giorno!

We are in Roma, Italia! It's scorching hot here ... but absolutely beautiful. We have had a somewhat difficult time locating a reliable WiFi connection, so we haven't been able to really get online yet to update in detail and upload our pictures. We will do so ASAP. However, it is currently 11:00 am in Roma, Italia ... 1,000,000 degrees ... 200% humidity ... and we're off to the Jewish Ghetto!

TTYS.

Ciao!

S&B

Arrivederci!

Dear Reader,

Thank you for visiting our online travel journal, "A Roman Circle: Travels between Trieste and Napoli." Between June 23rd and July 15th, we will be traveling in Italy. We plan not only to visit some of the major sites (that is, those sites that we haven't already been to) but also some of the less well-known places and attractions. Through it all we plan to see, eat, and write. This is where our online travel journal enters the story.

We will be armed with our "trusty" (I use quotes because it totally sucks!) AT&T-powered (although we will not be using AT&T while we're in Italy -- we just wanted to further emphasize the suck-ness of ... the noun that we just realized we haven't even introduced into the story yet!) HTC Aria "smart"phone (<-- there it is!), which will allow us to update our journal from time-to-time with short text blurbs and smallish photographs. In addition to the online travel journal, we will be posting as many pictures from the road as possible to a Picasa Web Album (see "Photo Album" on the upper-right-hand menu titled "Pages").

A few words on the blog's (eghem, ... online travel journal!!!) layout, sections, and various features:

1. "Pages": This is pretty much self-explanatory. If you can't find the "Pages" section of the blog, or if you don't know what each of the buttons (will) do, then you should box up your computer and send it back to the manufacturer. You know why! Oh! There is one thing that can be said about "Pages." The "Our Itinerary" page features a list of the cities we will be traveling to and the accompanying dates. Also featured on the "Our Itinerary" page is a large Google Map detailing where those cities are located on the peninsula. Further, if you click on the names of the cities, you will be taken to Google Street View, which will allow you to explore some of the streets of those cities (and, in a way, travel with us!).

2. "Archive": This, too, is pretty much self-explanatory.

3. "Search": If you can't find a post you are looking for, you can use the search function, which is located on the right-hand-side menu.

4. "Subscribe": If you use Google Reader, or any other major RSS (<-- Really Simple Syndication) service, you can use the "Subscribe" feature to, well, subscribe to our blo...nline travel journal (<-- that has a nice ring to it, no?!).

5. "Follow by Email": If you do not use any of the major RSS services, you can subscribe by email. Once you have subscribed to our blonline travel journal (<-- nice, eh?!), FeedBurner (which is owned and operated by Google, Inc.) will send you an email announcement every time we submit a new entry.

6. "Facebook Share": Really?! Do you really want me to explain this one to you?! You know, you can also use the smallish buttons at the footer of every entry to share according to your social networking preferences and/or needs.

Above all, we would like to hear from all of you while we are on the road! Perhaps you have a ristorante or caffè recommendation (Daniel G., that's you!). Or, maybe it's an interesting -- or just straight-up weird -- site or attraction (Jason L., ... this is clearly within your field of expertise!). So, please feel free to comment on any of our posts.

Well, that's all for now. Talk to y'all soon.

Arrivederci! (Goodbye!)

S&B

Strike!

So, we woke up this morning to a message from AirFrance explaining that our 4:10pm flight had been cancelled due to a general strike. We are, despite the incredible inconvenience, sympathetic. What can you do?! Traveling is traveling.

Cross your fingers for an otherwise smooth trip!

Lysdexic airline workers of the world, untie!

TTYS.

S&B

p.s. AirFrance booked us on a much later flight, which puts our chances of checking in on time at our hotel in Rome somewhat in jeopardy, but nonetheless gets us to Rome. So, off we go. Ciao for now.