If you have already read Scott's most recent blog, then I do not need to relay to you the frustrations and disappointments we have been through. I don't need to tell you about the Friday the 13th Italian train strike--about running back in forth in Venice between the train information desk, the ticket window, and calling and emailing hostels. You don't need to hear about Scott spending whole nights awake in the bathroom, or about the train delays and ...

I'm back! Venice is just as beautiful and magical as I remember it, but a lot is different. Having visited Venice in August, and lived here in the winter, I thought Venice had two faces: hot and sweaty and full of obnoxious American tourists; or cold and clammy and silently serene. But this Good Friday I saw lots of Italian tourists here on a quick religious vacation. Venice has also changed from when I lived here. There are some new shops, the scaffolding ...

On about Day 5 in Rome, I started to get sick of the city. So many tourists (I know, I know, Iàm a tourist too, but I'm not one of them), so many aggresive drivers, and so mnay officials pushing you around. Towards the end, we only stuck around the city center longer enough to check two important sites off the list: The Vatican and The Pantheon. The Sistine Chapel was incredibly beautiful, but not quite worth standing in line for three hours for the se...

Wow, I'm tired!Scott and I have walked up and down Rome so many times now that I think I'm beginning to get a hang of this huge city. Since we arrived three days ago, we have seen the Spanish Steps, the Roman Forum, the Colloseum, the Palastine Hill and Museum, Trevi Fountain, and the Palazzo Altemps. The most fun, however, has been the little things, like dodging the intense traffic, napping in a piazza, picking a flavor of gelato, or deciding which dire...