Italy

The March trip to Italy was great! A couple of days with a friend at Ostia Lido (on the coast south of Rome -- Rome's original port, and a place I hadn't been before), then several days playing tour guide in Rome (Vatican Museums, St. Peter's, Castel San Angelo, Piazza Dei Venezia, the Colosseum & Forum, Piazza Navone, Trevi, Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, and a Papal Audience) and Tuscany (climb up the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Florence's Uffizi, and several medieval hilltop fortress villages -- another "new" thing for me, which I loved), staying at a lovely Agriturismo in the Tuscan hills near San Miniato. Too soon, it was time to return to real life -- but it was a great break in the meantime!