And then they left me alone with the Venetians

Bye-bye, friends! Thanks for coming! I miss your crazy selves already!

OK, so ANYway...

After Cinque Terre, Esie, Emily and I went to Florence.

And David made friends with the birds...


And we ate pizza.


And then we went to Venice, and there were a lot of canals, and gondoliers, and a sunset...


And we had one last round of gelato.

Nice Girls in Italy...

Here are some shots from our visits to Siena and the Cinque Terre region. Siena is in Tuscany so we enjoyed vineyards, olive groves, a drive through the countryside with views of castles and hills, and the lovely ambiance of the town itself. This included lots of stair climbing (as illustrated by Monica and Esie) and fence climbing (as illustrated by Emily). Behind Monica and Esie are some Sienese bricks and Sienese trees. Behind Emily are San Domenico Church and typical Sienese houses.

Cinque Terre is a group of five small villages (from South to North: Riomaggiore, Manorola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso) on the Italian Riviera. We stayed in the town of Riomaggiore (we happen to think this is the best of the five) and enjoyed the sound of the ocean, the sound of church bells, and the sound and sight of our yummy dinner being cooked in garlic by a very fine chef. Please view the above photo of us with many varieties of fried and baked sealife. Yum! The sunset photo was taken at the end of our 90 minute hike from Corniglia to Vernazza. One of many spectacular photo opportunities along the way. We hiked our way through all five of the towns, except for the stretch between Manorola and Corniglia which was closed due to a "landslade" from the previous night's heavy rain. We figure if we had stayed maybe another month or so, could work up some calves of steel like the 75-year-old ladies in Riomaggiore.

???

A cold night in Vernazza (Cinque Terre). Inspired by the land of great art (Italy), the girls contemplate the meaning of life...namely, how much longer until the restaurants open for the dinner hour?



After an afternoon of wine and olive oil tasting, the ladies decide it would be a good idea to hit the Irish Pub in Siena. Hilarity ensues.



Uh...following a climb up 400 stairs in the Cinque Terre, Esie demonstrates her ability to remove her bottom layer of clothing without scandalizing the villagers. We can't post what Em did.

And Now A Brief Synopsis For Your Viewing Pleasure

Es.











Em.











Mon.







Here's what we've been doing...


Here's what we've been seeing...

(Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy)

More pictures to come as soon as we figure out how to get them off of Esie's camera and onto Monica's computer. In the meantime: woohoo! Still having a good time and doin fine. Word to all of our peeps back home. Ciao for now!