We are flying home after two weeks of eating, eating and did I mention we ate a lot? Italy is a beautiful country to eat in but there is so much to love. In between meals of the local meats, cheeses, pastas and pastries with cappuccino we spent our time exploring and appreciating the historical sites like the old stone churches and their grand frescos and mosaics. We immersed ourselves in the culture with its art, music and food and figured that we could definite...

Our last few nights in Rome went quickly and were full. We stayed in a funky little neighbourhood near Termini train station and ate at a great little taverna where the Grandma was hand rolling the pasta in the kitchen and Grandpa was running the plates out to happy diners. We loved the fresh food that inspires us to cook simply and with fresh ingredients. On our anniversary we had booked a day trip beginning at the Vatican museums with early entry at 8am. We wa...

Wow! Venice is even more enchanting when you come here with the one you love! We are having a marvellous time in the most romantic city and kicked it off with making a dream come true. A gondola ride! It was something we have both wanted to do with the love of our life and so we didn't waste a moment. We hired our private gondolier and spent a magic 30minutes sliding thru the narrow canals, under bridges and past other happy travellers. We toasted 11 years marrie...

We are staying two nights in Bologna as a walk down memory lane for Chris who studied here in a university exchange program over 15 years ago. He says it is coming back to him now, the familiar places, streets and culture and remembering why he loves this city. Bologna is unlike any of the other towns we have been to. It is not touristy and is rougher around the edges with its university crowds and punkish culture. Graffiti art is big here and political messages...

Though we are staying in Bologna for a few days we couldn't pass up the day trip to Ravenna, an hours train trip away. It is a small town that is a Unesco World Heritage Site with several Byzantine Mosaics dating back to the 5th and 6th Centuries AD. There are six sites we visited today that each have their own distinct styles and stories. The mosaics are found in little Baptistries (a circular brick church) and in Basilicas and Mausoleums. The incredible detail ...