All Roads Lead to Rome

We are now in Roma and although it looks a bit like London (gray & rainy) it is much much warmer and we can tell that the sun is trying to peak through the clouds. Go sun go! We were not supposed to get her until later today, but due to a “bank error in our favor” at Starwood, we made the drive last night instead of this afternoon. It is a long story. We ended up leaving Siena at almost 10 pm, good thing all roads lead to Rome!

Due to a couple technical difficulties and just lack of time (so much to do in Italia!) I have not had as much time to blog this week as I had hoped. So this post is just going to be a quick recap of the last couple days and of course some pictures (I know you are dying to see BumBum in Italy!).

Monday was our last day in Florence and we headed to the Duomo – here is a picture of us outside (day 3, gelato number 3). Unfortunately, we did not get to go in the Baptistery, but we could still look at the gorgeous doors around the outside.



Tuesday was a real adventure – we rented a car & headed up into the mountains to the little village where my Nana's (paternal grandmother) parents were from, to meet “the cousins”. This is going to be a whole post itself, but here are a couple pictures of us while we were in Fanano. First me with Anna Maria (my dad's second cousin) & her husband Joseph, and Olga & her granddaughter Estella. I have no idea who Olga is (they spoke no English and our Italian is limited to “grazie, bene, & ciao), so I will have to find out from my dad. It was a bit European Vacation-ish, but it's not the first time, nor will it be the last time my family is eerily similar to Clark Griswold's life.



And here is a shot of me & Pat in the center of town:



We spent Tuesday night in Lucca, in northern Tuscany and walked around the quaint little town on Wednesday morning before heading to Pisa. Pisa was the exact opposite – a major tourist trap. Here we are in the photo de rigeur:



And here is BumBum with the Leaning Tower. Do you think BumBum has been eating too much gelato? Someone asked me if I had 1 month to go and did not believe me when I said 3.5! Time to retire that dress.



From Pisa we went to Siena, where we planned to stay for 2 nights. We had a great dinner, just off the Piazza del Campo. Here is Pat enjoying a glass of vino from San Gimignano (lucky guy!), with the piazza in the background:



Thursday we drove up through the Chianti region and then over to San Gimignano. It was an unbelievably gorgeous drive. Here is a shot:



And here is the view from the little table where we took our afternoon coffee break in San Gimignano:



Now we are enjoying a fab lunch at a cafe on a little side street south of the Spanish Steps, which is not only a major tourist photo spot, but also akin to the Michigan Ave of shopping in Rome. In fact, there is a little Baby Dior right across the way and I must pop in there. I mean, the sun is out and we have lots to see before we leave on Sunday. Plus, I think the Germans next to us are making fun of me for nerding it up on my little 'puter (if only I knew how to say "mobile blogging" in German, then they would knew how cool it is . . . at least, that's what Pat thinks). Ciao!



ps - sorry for the typos! i am in a race against the battery dying and i am NOT pulling out the power supply here!