Aug. 21-

We cleaned up the apartment this morning and were out and into the street by 8 ish. We walked out to the Grand Canal which was glowing and bright in the morning air, and ate our croissants sitting and watching the early morning boat traffic. Less crowds and more locals out walking and on their boats. So ended our lovely time in Venice and we caught a bus to our next stop, Florence, or Firenze as they call it here. A 3 hour bus ride that was fairly crowded but luckily we all slept a bit. Driving through Tuscany was beautiful, with hills and lots of cypress and olive trees, huge vineyards, and fields of sunflowers. We arrived early afternoon in Florence and dropped our bags at in our hotel room. We’ve had a mix of hostels and hotels and AirBnBs this time around. It’s usually cheaper to get hotels than hostels when you have 4 people like this so that’s mostly what we’re using.

Anyways, we walked first to Ponte Vecchio bridge, the only bridge in Florence not bombed by the Nazis during their fleeing in WW2. It’s a beautiful bridge over the river Arno that has little shops, and is the oldest stone bridge in Europe. Florence was lovely. Cleaner than Rome or Naples with a classier vibe. We walked to the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, or Duomo, one of the largest churches in the world. The red, green, and white marble is definitely the most beautiful building we’ve ever seen.

I’d read alot about Tuscan cuisine before we went and found out that Florentine steak is a specialty there. Here’s some info from Wikipedia so you know: ” The cut of the sirloin (the part corresponding to the lumbar vertebrae, the half of the back on the side of the tail) of a young steer or heifer of the Chianina breed (one of the largest and oldest cattle breeds in the world) in the middle it has the T-bone steak, with the fillet on one side and the sirloin on the other. Two fingers thick, cooked on a grill until rare.” So of course the guys had to try it. And so did Renae and I. It was so good! The rare meat made me nervous because I’m usually a medium doneness but it was so tender that I really didn’t notice the rareness.

Aug. 22-

After another air conditioned night we packed our backpacks and took another Itabus, headed out to Rome. This time we thought ahead and brought snacks with us. Pringles and these lemon-lime drinks we discovered that are life. We also ended up with comfort seats facing each other with a table between us so it was a fun ride. Good conversations. I’m so glad to be on this trip with Dillons.

We got into Rome early afternoon and went straight to Vatican City where we had tickets to the Vatican Museums. We spent several hours wandering through artifacts and paintings. I got to check an item off my bucket-list: see the Sistine Chapel ceiling painting by Michelangelo. Absolutely phenomenal. One of the best experiences. I think I could have spent hours in there just trying to see all the details and not miss anything. As it was, we four stood huddled in the middle of the chapel with many others all taking in the walls and ceilings of the chapel. Here’s a link if you want to read more. I was so excited to be there I almost cried. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel_ceiling

We found a restaurant where I had the best truffle ravioli and then headed back to hotel we are staying. We relaxed in the a/c with cold coke zeros and talked.

Ciao!  Chey