Today we drove a long way up into the Dolomite Mtns through 128 switchbacks until we reached a WW1 museum where we saw a large collection of artifacts that one man and his family had collected over the years from the mountain pass. Then we carried on to a mountain lake where we had strudel and coffee in the sun then upward to the top of a mountain pass where we took a cable car to a mtn peak that was 9000 feet up. There was a fantastic view up there all the way ...

Today we drove from Lake Maggiore to Verona where we toured the Roman Arena which was set up for a concert, and strolled down the streets to Juliet's balcony, and saw a statue of Juliet in the square. It was very busy in the square with lots of people trying to get their picture taken with Juliet. We had a quick lunch and then off to Cortina. We arrived in this Austrian style ski resort town in the Dolomites around 6 and had a very nice dinner in the hotel restau...

Yesterday we went to lake Como on a day trip, about a 2 hour drive from our resort. We Drove by George Clooney's house but he wasn't home. Went on a boat ride to Bellagio for lunch and shopping. Lots of expensive shops full of leather goods, purses, shoes, and jeweller. After that we came back to Lake Maggiore for afternoon drinks and dinner in a restaurant. Weather was beautiful and warm.

We are in a lakefront resort in Baveno on lake maggiore. We went to Portofino this morning and saw some vintage 12 metre yachts readying for a Rolex cup race. We then traveled through a lot of long tunnels on the way here. It is a pretty posh resort but they charge for everything extra. An Audi convention going on. Some pretty slick cars here.

Our Tuscan dinner last night lacked atmosphere but we were fed until we couldn't eat or drink another mouthful! We went to a winery before the dinner and tasted three very nice reds and bought two bottles for less than one of that quality would cost at home. Today we drove to stunningly beautiful area of Cinque Terra and walked around the third of the five villages where we saw some grape harvesting on the steep terraced cliffs and then took a train to the furthe...