Ciao!

GC and I are off to Italy tomorrow, for two weeks of exploring, eating and drinking wine! We’re starting in Venice, then going to Florence, followed by a few days in the Tuscan countryside, and finishing up in Rome.

We’re going to the San Michelle’s cemetery in Venice, the Ufizzi Gallery in Florence, the Tuscan hill towns, the Catacombs, the Vatican! We’re going to geocache! We’re going to see the Sistine Chapel! We’re taking a 4-hour eating tour of Rome! We’re staying on an agriturismo farm in Pescina, Seggiano! We’re going to bathe in the hot springs of Saturnia! I’m going to try to acquire a taste for olives and chestnuts and truffles (the fungus kind, not the chocolate kind) since it’s olive and chestnut and truffle season. (If that doesn’t work, I’ll just drink Chianti and eat pizza.)

I’ve got my sweetie and my passport and Euros and guidebooks and adaptors and a money belt. I’ve charged my Fitbit and packed my clothes, cables, camera, Ernie and everything else that matters into a carry-on suitcase. I’m READY.

Meanwhile, we’ve hired a housesitter coming to look after all the animals. She’s got lots of parrot experience. I’ve made a bunch of bird toys so hopefully the critters won’t be too bored. I’m going to miss them, though, especially at bedtime…they’re always so snuggly and sweet when we’re tucking them in for the night.

If our plane crashes or vanishes into thin air, I hope it does it on the way back from Italy, instead of on the way there.

Ciao for now!