Italy- been there, done that!

Well, we certainly did Italy. We tramped all over that country and had a blast! First stop was Cinque Terre in the Italian Riviera. We stayed there for a few days before the kids came. And then, they descended. It really wasn't all that bad. The kids were great! We went to Venice where our gondolier (not knowing that we spoke Italian) sang random things like, "Penne, I hate you," and other such blasphemous things. We also fed the pigeons in St. Mark's Square which was the absolute highlight of Venice. It's the simple things in life. Then onto Florence. We got to see the David which a couple of girls didn't like because "he was naked". One of the male chaperones in an aside to me and another woman chaperone wisely said, "There's going to be a naked man at some point in these girls future and this naked man is the best-looking naked man they're ever going to see!" Pretty sound logic, I thought. We also got to see San Gimignano which is located in the heart of Tuscany (or Tuskany) if you're my students. San G is one of the best preserved medieval villages. We also found the home of the 06-09 gelato world champions. That was good stuff. Assisi was the best food and Rome was the most impressive. We loved the Pantheon! Anyway, we love Italy and are glad we went but we're definitely, absolutely, indescribably glad to be HOME! We missed Jackson like CRAZY!