Tour of Venice Set out for San Marco Square early this morning, but was surprised by all of the scaffolding that made it hard to "see" the beauty of the sights there. Enjoyed visiting the St. Mark Basilica with an audio guide from Rick Steves and marveled as I listened to the bells ring in the clock tower and watched the Moors strike the bell with their clappers. These are the oldest robots I've ever seen! Wandered through the shops and ogled the Mur...

3 City Blur Had a sunny breakfast and shipped off a package before taking a 4 kilometer hike to the Assisi train station. Caught a train to Venice through Florence and arrived at "A Venice Museum" Hostel with relative ease for such a winding and confusing street system. Had a great Italian dinner at the hostel and then all of us went out for drinks. I tried a Venetian drink called a "Spritz." but was not even mildly impressed with how oran...

"Ants in my pants, poopy shoes and various shenanigans" "Under the Tuscan Sun vs. Under the Umbrian Stars" "Guess who came to dinner?...Tom the Franciscan Monk and Suzanne" I can't decide what to call this entry, so I'll just describe my day today. I left my pants on the floor last night and when I went to pick them up today there were some ants in them! I shook them out and laughed as the phrase "ants in my pants" ...

ASSISI (Ah-SEE-zee) Up- checked out - bought lunch - on the train by 9:45. I am looking forward to a smaller town versus a big city for a while. Caught the bus to town, found the Tourist Information and checked into a great little hotel la Fortezza with a HUGE bed, personal bathroom, breakfast, noon tea, and free WIFI and a "Rick Steves" book discount! I feel like I'm in the lap of luxury after chilling out in the last scrubby hostel. Went for a walk...

Daylight and other savings... The US began daylight savings about 2 weeks ago, but today Europe caught up. Instead of waking an hour early today, I began when I should have been leaving. It worked out for the better. The line to the entrance of the Vatican Museum was almost 3 hours long by the time we got there because today is the last Sunday of the month and the museum is free! I went to the front to see how long the line was and ended up finding another en...