Our Honeymoon

best of it - visited the Duomo, chose a nice restaurant for dinner, chatted with a transvestite from Trinidad - the usual tourist stuff. The highlight of our visit to Florence was seeing the David - a jaw-dropping experience. We also found a hidden gem - a tiny room underneath the Medici Chapels where Michelangelo used the walls as a sketch pad. His charcoal

sketches are still on the walls today.

Nobody knows about the room - there

was only one other person present

besides us. That was quite memorable.

We also walked along the Arno River,

crossed the Ponte Vecchio, hung out

at the Uffizi Gallery, then spent the rest

of our time in Florence shopping for

leather and other local crafts.

A lot of our time in Venice was spent just getting lost in the maze of alleys and small canals. Each turn we took held something so enchanting - and we never once felt unsafe. We visited all the important churches and saw just about every piece of work Tinteretto produced. We also took a water-taxi to the island of Murano to watch the glass-blowing maestros produce their works of art. Wish we could have bought everything in the showrooms. Maybe on our fifth anniversary!

Venice

Our honeymoon started with three days in the most romantic city on earth - Venice. We stayed in a beautiful hotel with a water-view room overlooking the excitement of the Grand Canal. Though we were completely exhausted on our first day we just had to find our way to Piazza San Marco. There, we sat outside at the famous Quadri's restaurant and sipped $10 beers while watching children chase the mass of brave pigeons. We met two nice women from Marina del Rey who know some of our friends - what a small world!

We dined at many amazing restaurants and found a charming little wine bar that filled our glasses to the rim for $1.50. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time there! It made us feel better about the $10 beers at Quadris. But then... there was Harry's, the famous Hemingway hangout. We ordered the "must have" Bellini - a $10 concoction served in a glass the size of a Dixie cup. Gave us a good laugh, but it was exciting to be there never the less. We wrapped up our stay in Venice with a gondola cruise. Our gondolier rowed us through tiny, dark canals and under low bridges. Very romantic to say the least!

Lakes District and Milan

On day 4 we picked up a rental car and headed to the Lakes District. Tina drove, Jim navigated - what a team! We had a romantic lunch at a beautiful restaurant overlooking Lago del Como and the Italian Alps in the town of Bellagio. We then followed the tiny winding cliff roads along the lakes to the border of Switzerland and made the decision to cross the border to see the town of Lugano. We quickly found that Lugano didn't have much to offer, so we hit the road again and headed to Milan.

After a harrowing drive through the heart of Milan at rush hour to locate our hotel, we decided we needed to find the nearest bar, and quickly. Luckily, our hotel was near a very cute pub called The Bassethound, which was quite serendipitous because Jim absolutely LOVES basset hounds (remember his baby picture at the wedding reception?)

Our visit to the Italian Riviera was anchored in the quaint beach town of Santa Margherita Ligure. The weather was a bit overcast with nice winds, which gave a cozy, romantic air and lent well to relaxation. We strolled along the beach, watched the fishermen work, and sampled the seafood delicacies inherent to this locale.

During the middle of the night we were awaken by the loudest thunderstorm we ever heard. The rain was beating on our windows and the lightening flashed for close to 2 hours. Though it kept us awake for those hours, it was quite soothing to experience a reminder of our homes in New England. We never get storms in Los Angeles! After the rains stopped the next morning we chose to drive the Cinque Terre on our way to Tuscany. The Cinque Terre are 5 impossible-to-access villages built into the rocks between the beach and the hills, known for their beautiful landscapes and wines.

Tuscany

Our tour of Tuscany started in Pisa. We first caught site of "The Tower" from the autostrada a few miles out of town. It's not a very tall structure, yet still manages to stick out like a sore, crooked thumb. But what an incredible site! Once inside the walled city, the site was even more spectacular. Yes, the tower is definitely leaning! Unfortunately, it was still closed for construction - we missed the re-opening by just a few weeks. But I don't know if I would have climbed it anyway had it been open to the public. That lean is just a little too unsettling for me!

The drive into Florence was anything but pleasant. The city is laid out in a maze of one-way cobblestone roads that are skinnier than Kate Moss and crawling with

obstinate pedestrians. We finally gave up the struggle, parked the car on the outer edge of the city, and dragged our six pieces of luggage over the cobblestone roads and through the groups of obstinate pedestrians until we found our hotel. Thus far, Florence was not winning us over! But we made the

We were the only patrons there that evening, so we had lots of fun trying to teach our bartender the English language. The next day we visited Milans most important sites, including La Scala and the Duomo (Cathedral), a very impressive structure to say the least. We took the elevator to the top and walked along the spires until our fear of heights forced us to go back down.

We ended out stay in Tuscany with a day on Chianti Road. The scenery was as beautiful as we expected, with rolling hills covered in grapevines and olive trees. We stopped at a few wineries for

6th century abbey and farm where Chianti wine was first produced. It now includes a 5-star restaurant that is run by the land-owning family. This is where we experienced our finest Italian meal. With superbly fresh ingredients and delectable meats and pastas, our lunch was prepared and presented with such care by the chef that we had to photograph it!