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The Long Drive

We left Venice yesterday and drove home -- it was about 13 hours, but it was good to be in our own beds!  This was taken in a the border town of Trieste, Italy.  It was May 1st and there were lots of celebrations down town.

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City of Canals

Venice was one of my favorite towns.  We were only there for about 6 hours, but I fell in love with the city.  It is amazing that people actually live there. 

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Rome

Rome was definitely not built in a day, but we saw it in a day!  One of Christian's top three places to visit in the world was the Colosseum in Rome -- now we understand the word colossal in a whole new way. 

The weather in Italy was picture perfect and we loved the sun and blue skies.

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Florence

This was probably the most amazing of the cathedrals that we saw in Rome.  Pictures can not really convey the detail that was in the architecture there.  Everything was so large and so much detail.  This was one of the best examples of the influence of the Renaissance in Florence.

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View from Assisi

One day we went to the town of Assisi -- of the famed St. Francis of Assisi.  It was a beautiful town on top of a hill.

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Cafe

This was a very typical sight in all of the towns we went.  This was in the old town of Sienna.   We were amazed at all the castles and forts that dotted the countryside.  The towns are old and people live in the midst of these amazing places.

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Gelato

Need I say more?  When we worked out our budget for Italy, we forgot to include at least $10 a day for gelato!  It was wonderfully creamy and after we walked over half of Italy each day, I am sure we burned off the calories!

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The View

This was the view from our little apartment in Turo, Italy.  It was an old farm house in the middle of an olive garden looking over the lake.

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Packed Bags

All the bags are packed and ready to go!  Italy here we come