What? We're having fun!!

Ok, so maybe this wasn't the best idea. I mean, sure we have a blog, and of course there has been internet access, and I'm even keeping a little journal to remind us of little anecdotes and stories and places we've been. But ... well ... spending time on a computer to type up a posting just hasn't seemed to be all that important! Besides, we've been having far too much fun (seriously, where would you rather be - out in the beautiful sunny weather, or stuck on computer??)

August 11th-14th: Cinque Terre is pretty simple to talk about. We were staying in Vernazza, which was an adorable little town, and did pretty much nothing the whole time. Sure, we took the train to Riomaggiore and walked the Via dell'Amore to Manorola and then skipped up to Corniglia to walk the 382 steps up to the village and then came home. But whatever - most of the time was beach, relaxing, reading, fantastic food, and watching all the silly tourists flood through "our village." Very romantic, we had an almost full moon as we were leaving, it was just fantastico!

August 15th-17th: So, on the way to Siena, we popped into Pisa. See, they have this tower, and well... you know, it's a little off. Someone ought to do something about it, instead of charging insane amounts to make people walk up to the top (we didn't, since it was a 5+ hour wait - but, really, we have our OWN tower, and it doesn't lean). We did go see the cathedral, cemetery, and baptistry, so it wasn't a complete waste of a trip! (I kid, the tower was amazing to see, but who wants to wait that long???). Off to Siena, where we learned that we were there for their annual race called "The Palio." This is a monumental event, the entire city comes out for it, and travellers from around the world come just for the race - whoops! But hey, we didn't care, since we were there to see the duomo (which looks like black and white licorice candy), a day trip to San Gimignano, and just waltz around this beautiful city. Yes, we watched the race, but we didn't crowd in with the other 40-50 thousand odd people into the main square where the race takes place - the television at the "hostel" was sufficient. Oh, we were staying in this villa outside of the city that was originally a 13th century fortress, and was converted into a villa in the 18th century. The family that owns the villa and runs the hostel have owned the land (230+ acres) and whatnot since the 18th century, and have been renting rooms and small cottages on their land since the late 1890s! A lot of 18th century furniture and art adorn the rooms and hallways, it was simply ideal - and the countryside was absolutely phenomenal, stunningly beautiful. And, for some reason, it was quite cool (comparatively speaking) - around 25 degrees or so, but wonderfully sunny (aside from the torrential downpour/thunderstorm we had arriving in the city).

August 18th-21st: Next on was Perugia, which is probably the most beautiful town we have visited thus far. There are many Etruscan remains, dating from around the 3rd or 4th century BC, including some old gates and still readily visible walls (some of which have medieval additions, others seem to have modern buildings just sprouting from them!) We went down into the old Etruscan well, which was just mindboggling - this supplied water for the town and area from about the 3rd century BC until the 13th century when an additional water source several kilometers away was connected via an aquaduct (which still remains, but it's been converted into a pedestrian walkway since the 18th century). The rest of the city was equally stunning, old, rich with history, and all perfectly walkable. The farmhouse we stayed out (another "outside of the city" experience) was over 200 years old, and it was so quiet, with a nice pool (required: it was 34-37 degrees during our stay), and baby goats, sheep, a goose, and several cats/kittens. Oh, and fresh eggs from the chickens for breakfast! We took a day trip to Assisi to soak up the Franciscan history, check out the basilica, see the cross that spoke to St. Francis, and just walk around one of the quaintest medieval towns we'd ever seen (flocks of tourists and pilgrims notwithstanding). A nice relaxing respite!

On the 22nd we came to Rome, where we are now. So far most of our time has been wandering around, seeing some important churches that Kelly studied and/or wrote research papers on (like Santa Pressede, or Santa Maria Maggiore). Our first evening here we went to see an English movie (The Dark Knight) since we were missing hearing English spoken, and wanted popcorn. Yesterday we went to the Villa Borghese and the museum therein to see some simply amazing Bernini sculptures - if you've never seen one, book a flight to Rome immediately, and come over. The realism and movement he gets out of marble defies description. Today our plan is to see the Colosseum, which we've already walked by at night (and it's ... well... in a word... colossal!).

Our sincerest apologies for taking so long to get back onto the Internet, but with all these sleepy quiet towns, we were rather enjoying our time not doing crazy running around (like Paris, Barcelona, Venice, and Florence), even if we did have some really long days. Who wants to blog?? This might be our last posting from Rome, and perhaps one more in Belfast before we head home - in a week!!!