Our Great Italian Adventure

It was the type of vacation that makes you need a vacation when you return. Up early each day, board the tour bus by 8am, gone all day, board the bus again around 5pm, back to the hotel to eat and drink like pigs. The tours each day mostly consisted of churches, churches and more churches. By the end of the week, I could care less if I ever saw another church in my life. Baroque, Renaissance, blah, blah, blah. Popes, Emperors, painters, sculptors, blah, blah, blah. As a sufferer of self diagnosed adult ADD, it was just too much information.

Some highlights:

• The Vatican and all that it includes; Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica
• Trevi Fountain where I made a wish. It's sort of in an alley, very bizarre.
• The Colosseum (that we actually only saw from the outside, long story, but after waiting in line for some time, the man at the gate told us to come back tomorrow. Bastard!)
• Tuscany and all the quaint little towns we visited including Cortona (one of my favorites) which is the setting for "Under the Tuscan Sun." A book neither of us has read and a movie neither of us has seen.
• The winery visit in Montepulciano (say that ten times really fast after drinking wine!) and all the tasty wine. Nothing like a good wine buzz in the middle of the afternoon!
• The David in Florence. Unbelievable. He's huge. Rick was quick to point out that David's second toe is considerably longer than his big toe. Justin will be happy to know that too.
• Bologna, a quaint little town with it's open air produce and fish markets. Why can't we get produce like that in the States? Those Dagos really know how to grow shit.
• Venice, even though it rained like hell that day and we never got to take our gondola ride. But Venice is my favorite. It smells like my mother's kitchen. Mmmmmmmm.
• The Murano glass factory, even though I couldn't afford anything there.
• Padua, home of St. Anthony. Inside St. Anthony's church they actually had is tongue on display. Gross! And Padua University where Galileo studied. When someone graduates from Padua University, their friends and family dress them in whatever silly outfit they choose, parade them through the town, singing all the way, while the graduate carries a bottle of alcoholic beverages that they must drink from every few minutes. People hoot and holler as they pass by and bystanders can do almost anything to the graduate, including but not limited to kissing the grad and smearing whipped cream on them. CRAZY SHIT. But they sure have a good time celebrating. When viewing the pictures, see if you can guess which photo is of the graduate. It shouldn't be to difficult.
• Our last night cocktail party with all the great new friends we made. There were John and Big Debs (who weighs all of 4 lbs.) from Kentucky. John used to be a judge. Perhaps they discovered how much wine he drinks and this is why he no longer is a judge. Then there was Pete and Susan from Detroit. Pete is a true Irishman and quite the gentleman while Susan is a troublemaker. I say that with only love in my heart. Finally, Bill and Mustang Sally from Iowa. Thank god for Sally who was our menu interpreter and Bill who turned Rick onto Shout wipes. A brilliant invention for men with big bellies! And, I turned them all onto Lupini beans. Only my family and Italian friends will know what those are.

To view all the fabulous pictures of all the churches, click here.