We are continually grateful for all our family members who take their valuable vacation time and use it to come visit and travel alongside us. Our recent “vacation” with Dave’s parents took us on a fabulous tour of Italy. Venice, Florence and Rome were the stops on our journey, and we soaked up every minute of art, culture and history.

It’s going to be impossible to adequately summarize our 12 days together, but we’ll at least hit some of the highlights here! We started in Venice, where we visited St. Mark’s Square, cruised the Grand Canal, and of course, got lost. Someone had given us that advice as one of the “things to do” in Venice… just wander the streets and allow yourself to get lost and enjoy the beauty. The only unfortunate thing was that we got lost looking for our hotel… so we still had our luggage! Oh well, it was still an adventure!

The beautiful car-free and people-filled streets of Venice!

The other throroughfare of Venice–the canals! Busy with gondolas full of tourists, boat taxis and water buses! (We used the water bus!)

Cruising the canal!

From Venice we took the train (much faster than cycling!) to Florence. There, we enjoyed two days of the renaissance experience. We visited the famous Duomo in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, we saw Michelangelo’s David (stunning!), strolled across the Ponte Vecchio, and enjoyed learning about the art and architecture from the Renaissance period.

The bell tower adjacent to the Duomo… the marble facade was so ornate!

From Florence, we also took a day tour called the “Best of Tuscany.” An incredible day with a trip to Siena in the morning, where we saw the world’s oldest continually operating bank. After that, it was off to the countryside, driving through winding roads to the organic farm and vineyard where we had lunch and wine-tasting. Absolutely wonderful. After lunch we went to San Gimignano, or “midieval Manhattan,” where we had some award-winning gelato. Then, we finished the date with a trip to Pisa.

Tuscany vineyards–as beautiful as all the pictures I’d ever seen!

Beautiful scenery (and company!) all day long!

Yes, we had to do it. I know… it’s a total tourist thing, but we had to take the classic picture. There were literally hordes of people lined up in this area taking this same picture!

Check back soon for the continuation of our Tour of Italy! Coming later, the summary of our time in Rome!