Italia - Conclusion

Absolutely HATED having to leave Rome.  But we had places to go and people to see.

San Gimignano

Driving through Tuscany we stopped at the sweet little town of San Gimignano, where we did lots of shopping.

Cool wishing well in the middle of the square.

Yay!  Ice Cream!  Braums has nothin' on Italian Gelato.   And believe me, we ate enough gelato on our trip to be qualified judges.

We saw (and posed with) more naked men in 10 days than we had seen in our lifetimes!

And we got to share toilet facilities.  Awesome.

(This in no way corresponds to the previous photo caption.)

We also made a short stop in Siena.

Olive Grove

Tuscan countryside

Florence!

Loved it.  Wanted to stay longer.

Michelangelo's David

Well, at least a replica.  This was probably one of my biggest disappointments.  We didn't get to see the original David.  I was outnumbered 4-1.  Hello!  We're in F-L-O-R-E-N-C-E. Anyway.  I'm still in love with Florence.

 Ponte Vecchio

View from our hotel window.

Duomo di Firenze

Pisa

You have to take this tourist-y picture.  It's a rule.

This is known as the Field of Miracles.  And it's a miracle the tower hasn't tipped right over after all these centuries.

There are actually people walking around up there!  Not my thing.

Rapallo

The Mediterranean

Brought back a few of these pebbles for my collection.

From here we drove to Vercelli in northern Italy for the night.  That's where Sherry was almost killed by a shattering shower door.  And where was the camera then, Carol, hmmmmm?

Italy was incredible.  But we need to introduce them to the coffee mug.  They serve the best coffee ever--but give me a the Venti instead of the cute, wee, little cup.  And forget about espresso.  Delicious, potent and for a mere 4 euros (5 bucks) you get two tablespoons of espresso in a toy.

And that, my friends, is the short version of our tour of Italy.