from chilly venice, we fled south 
to florence for a couple of days...we climbed to the top of the duomo tower to look out over the city, and we had the best pepperoni pizza of our lives just down the street from the duomo. (so good we went back for more the second day!) we stood in line for an hour (an hour less than we anticipated) to see michaelangelo's sculpture of david...impressive to see it in person as opposed to art history books...italy is an art history buff's dream! all over the country are centuries old statues and fountains by michaelangelo and boticelli and bernini...enough to make your head spin!
from florence, we travelled by train again to rome...ah rome! still not as warm as we were hoping...but just as lovely as we expected...we spent only 4 days there walking around, but we could easily spend another few weeks there.
i love the mix of old and new...watching the bustling city around the ancient coliseum and palatine hill...it blew our minds. my first glimpse of the pantheon down a narrow street took my breath away! this massive building just sits in the middle of its busy piazzo...it is beautiful and so obviously ancient! for me it was intro to architectural history - chapter 1...in real life!!! we stayed at roma camping village...a little out of the way, but cheap, & we had our own little adorable prefab trailer bungalow! there was a bar, a restaurant, and some kick-ass coin-op laundry facilities...3.50 euros for 90 minutes in a super-hot dryer! (after nearly 7 months on the road, we have a new appreciation for properly functioning laundry machines...lol!) from rome, we reluctantly moved on to istanbul...excited to see turkey, but sad to leave italy so soon...
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