Venezia, Italia

We have arrived. In Venezia, that is!

We are on our way to Piazza San Marco right now (to visit the Bridge of Sighs and see if we can squeeze into Harry's Bar for a date with two delicious bellinis). We have all day tomorrow as well (with a reliable WiFi connection at our hotel) so stay tuned for a somewhat acceptable blog update sometime soon.

Andiamo subito!

Ciao.

S&B

Padova, Italia

Well, we arrived in Padova this morning and we are leaving tomorrow!!! We walked all over the old city center, visited its most beautiful churches, and had a dynamite dinner. Padova is a mix between the slow pace of Bologna, the accessibility of Firenze, and the beauty of Venezia. Attached are a few pictures from today's adventure.

Domani: Venezia.

TTYS.

S&B

Bologna, Italia

Chow from Bologna!

We are spending our second of two days in the beautiful city of Bologna. Last night we attended a free outdoor film showing of "America, America" -- the last film of a summer long series called "Sotto le stelle del Cinema" (Cinema under the Stars). We had a fantastic time. Today we climbed one of the city's largest towers, walked around the old city center, had an amazing amazing amazing lunch (Bologna is lovingly referred to as Il grasso -- the fat one), and toured the city's fascist era architecture. We are on our way now to visit the city's ancient university. Tonight: ragù. Tomorrow: Padova.

Ciao a voi.

S&B

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