Randomness, Part 2

Hi!
We just returned to Mantova (Camilla's home) after a wonderful time in Vernazza (in the Cinque Terre) and Assisi. There are lots of stories and just as many pictures....

Here are a few pictures to wet your appetite. More to come when I return to the US. I can't believe this trip is nearly over already! Tomorrow, I take the train back to Zurich, Switzerland and then Saturday morning (late Friday night for you in the US) I fly back to the States.

Beautiful Vernazza

Vernazza from above....it's right on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

One day, Jennie and I hiked from Vernazza to Corniglia (both towns in the Cinque Terre). Corniglia is in the distance.

Here we are in front of the Duomo in Florence (we had an unplanned 2 hrs to explore the city between trains)

I'm standing at on of the gates to the old town of Assisi. The entire main part is still walled. There's an old fortress in the distance.

And, finally, like the title says - some more randomness:

• Rick Steves is my hero - his book about Italy was wonderful!!! And through him, we met many interesting folks, incluing "A.G" in Vernazza who is in the book and through whom we found housing there and the great, crazy Sicilian brothers and their delicious pastries...who offered for us to come back to their restaurant for dinner and a massage....
• Being asked if we were alchoholics in Florence....and not for any reason you'd expect.
• Obnoxious American tourists (not us)
• Being a part of a birthday party (unexpectedly) at a Paninieria during our stopover in Parma (on the way to Vernazza) with the cutest old Italian men...and being given free wine, local parmasan cheese and proscuitto. SO GOOD!!!
• The adorable nuns at the convent/guest house in Assisi
• The fact that I got tons of pictures of scenery and none of the crazy, wonderful people I mentioned above