welllet's see where are we on this travel journal thing... first and foremost i want to point out that contrary to my familys' beliefs i AM alive. so mom and susie can sleep at night. in rome i drank great wine and had a good time... then we did florence and fell in love with its slower pace and good leather shopping deals. venice isn't our scene. we were there for about 14 hours and much of those hours were spent sleeping in our kitchen converted into a bedroom. backpacking is rough. i am