Italy

I like trip recaps, but I also think they can be boring. So this is mostly a picture post with some short chatter about each destination.

Cortona
Stop #1: Tuscany, specially the tiny town of Cortona. We flew from Warsaw to Rome, then took a bus to Rome's central train station. From there we took a two-hour train ride to Cortona (we almost missed the train but a gypsy hauled us to the correct platform and humped Grace's luggage to boot -- totally worth the 5 euro she demanded). Cortona is teeny tiny and sits on a giant hilltop. It's all views views views and quaint quaint quaint and not much else. My first attempt to kill Grace was when I told her we were going to hike to the highest point in Cortona, the Church of Santa Margherita. Margherita's corpse is on display inside -- mind that she died in 1297 -- and we had to see that for ourselves. The hike takes you past the 14 stations of the cross and up a long-ass vertical haul. The fact that the reward was a decomposing corpse didn't help Grace much, but she made it and had bragging rights for the rest of the trip.

"Downtown" Cortona

Margherita

View from the top.

Florence
Florence was sweltering. That was my initial takeaway. It was around 99 degrees the day we arrived and averaged about 97 the entire week we were there. Brutal. We just accepted we were going to be uncomfortable and forged ahead. Florence is where Grace honed her top travel instincts, which are as follows:
1. Do one major thing per day, i.e. go see the Duomo. Don't try to pack in 5 stops, you'll have a stroke.
2. Its too hot for regular food, so eat gelato.
3. People watching is endlessly entertaining.
4. The Italians close up shop from about 1-4 each day. Do as they do.
Florence had the best food by far, and Grace and I sort of OD-ed on art here. But this is the place to do that. Also, did I really not take a picture of the legit David? Apparently I didn't. So enjoy the creepy painted version.

Ponte Vecchio

Cityscape with the Duomo

Michelangelo's tomb

Cityscape with Ponte Vecchio

I love spitting fountains

Creepy painted David

The Cinque Terre
This was my pick. When looking for places around Florence to go a friend was appalled that the Cinque Terre wasn't on the list...but I hadn't heard of it before. One look at the Wikipedia page and I was sold. This series of five small towns on the rugged coast of the "Italian Riviera" are all connected by a hiking path and surrounded by the Cinque Terre National Park. We stayed in Riomaggiore for 5 days and wandered up and down the coast (by foot and by boat). This was also the location of my second attempt to kill Grace. Each town has a small public beach area, but it seemed more exciting to scramble down one of the rocky cliffs and leap into the Mediterranean in a less sanctioned spot. Grace was skeptical, but she followed me down a treacherous route and onto the rocks. From there we started to paw our way towards the water. Grace slipped on her butt once, and then sort of inched towards the water from there. An Australian couple watched us, and finally the dude said, "I don't think she should go any further." Yeah, he was probably right. I was already in the water, but getting out was a nightmare. The waves threw me against the rocks and I cut my leg and foot to shit, it looked like a crime scene (see cleaned up, tamer photo below). For the rest of the trip we stuck to legitimate beaches, which meant our first exposure to middle-aged topless women (for the record, they are the only ones who go topless anymore) and loads of speedos. Call me a Puritan, but I just can't with any of that.

Manarola

Blue!

The trail

Riomaggiore

Busted

Rome
We saved the big one for last even though this was where we initially flew into. Pretty sure we got a lifetime's worth of exposure to Catholicism between the Vatican museum, St. Peter's and the high NPSI  (nuns per square inch) factor. One of the most amazing things we saw in Rome was completely by accident; we randomly discovered an exhibit at the Capitoline Museum called "Lux in Arcana: The Vatican Secret Archives Reveals Itself." For just a few months the Vatican has lent the museum 100 pieces from their "secret archives" to put on display (they allege its the only time in history these items will ever leave the Vatican walls), and it's a mind-boggling collection: Marie Antoinette's last letter from prison, a letter from Henry VIII to Pope Clement asking for an annulment, Martin Luther's excommunication, a letter from Abraham Lincoln to the Pope. I could go on and on. We lurked at the Capitoline for hours looking at this stuff.

Colosseum

St. Peter's Basilica on St. Peter's Square

Trevi Fountain

oooh...night

Inside St. Peter's

I want a Swiss Guard boyfriend