I was so looking forward to seeing Jim and Linda that I forgot to think about going to Italy. I didn’t read up on it. I knew it would be wonderful, but didn’t know quite what to expect. If you’re going (and you should) expect this…
1. History. Serious, serious history. And it’s a great place to learn history if you missed it like I did.
2. Variety. Huge cities (Rome) and tiny villages (Montalcino); sunburned rolling hills covered in sunflowers and cyprus trees; lush, touristy-yet-charming seaside towns; mountains.
3. A cover charge. Even at the lousiest restaurants (I hear there are only two lousy restaurants in all of Italy. We found one…) they charge you around 2 Euro just to sit down.
4. If you aren’t at the restaurant we found in Rome or the other bad restaurant, you can expect SUPERB food. Homemade pasta, fresh just-from-the-garden produce, fresh just-from-the-sea seafood, perfectly salted foccacia and, of course, gelato.
5. Hoards of tourists.
6. If you do it right, relaxation. Sit by the pool under the Tuscan sun. Walk “lover’s lane” in Cinque Terra.  Sit on the terrace/balcony/what-have-you with a glass of wine (or what-have-you) and some good company. Sit in silence in a cathedral.
Have a great trip.
