Italy

We began our Italian journey in Venice, the magical, decaying city built on rock piles and stilts in the shallows of the Mediterranean sea, where you can drown crossing the boat-clogged, watery roads. We first paid a visit to Saint Peter's Square, where we people watched and did a little hat shopping before popping into the cathedral and museum.


Our afternoon was spent lost in the alleyways and waterways of Venice.


In the evening we took a boat ride around the Gondola filled waterways of Venice.



We next took a train to Florence, via Bologna, the father of pasta. We stopped off for a quick bite of bow-tie pasta and lasagna bolognese (Bologna is famous for pasta and invented spaghetti bolognese) and checked out a couple of piazzas (squares) before jumping onto the afternoon train to Florence. We found these coin-operated prayers candles in one Bolognese cathedral.



Our first day in Florence took us to the nearby town of Pisa, with it's leaning tower. This botched architectural masterpiece was built on soft soil, which subsided and sunk during the construction process, leading to the precarious lean. Considering the precarious 3.99 degree tilt of the Pisa tower, it is a seven wonder of the world that it still stands as an enduring monument to screwing up big-time. We took pause to capture a few typically touristy corny pictures at its expense.




After seeing the tower in Pisa, we returned to Florence and explored this amazing city. It is a definite repeat with hosts of beautiful sculpture and architecture, including Michelangelo's renowned "David" statue.



We particularly enjoyed the shaded pathways and sculptures of the beautiful Boboli gardens.


We noticed the below statue in a garden.


The view from the rear of the Bobeli gardens looked out over beautiful estates and gardens in the Tuscan countryside.


After Florence, we headed to Southern Italy to see Naples, or rather, to eat Naples. Naples is home to the uncontested best pizza in the world, and we gorged ourselves on it! Our two favorite places were Da Michele and Pizzeria Sorbillo (Rusty's favorite by a thin margin), and both are justly famous. The simple Margherit pizza was delicious beyond our best descriptions! Mmmm! We're getting hungry again just writing about it!


From Naples, we took an overnight trip to the scenic Amalfi Coast. Our brother in law, Nate Heward, had recommended a scooter trip in this area, so we did exactly that. Riding along the steep cliffs of the Amalfi coast was yet another stunning view of the Mediterranean Sea!