Italia. Kim and I honeymooned here fourteen years ago. I remember loving this country. The countryside, the towns, the food, the wine, the people, and the language are all so lively and fun. I took Italian in college partially because of the way the Italians seem so happy when they speak it and partially because everyone has always mistaken me for being Italian and I wanted to know what they were saying…
Where in the world are Ethan and Siena?
This is the main square of what is arguably the fashion capitol of world. It is also Italy’s publishing and banking center. This is Milan, where we arrive and spend a couple of hours wandering around the heart of the city. Never have I felt so drab, dowdy and underdressed. These Italians have a great sense of style. And, they don’t seem to wear their hiking boots everywhere. Not only do the Milanese dress well, but they are also quite good looking, as Kim and I ogle the locals. The cathedral (il Duomo) was built to impress and it is impressive, in a garish, over-the-top, sandcastle kind of way. There are pigeons everywhere, swooping low and making us look even more ridiculous as we duck to avoid being hit.
We train down to Monterossa, the most westerly of the towns making up the Cinque Terre.
These towns are only connected to the outside world by train or hiking. The coast is beautiful, lush, vineyard covered mountains, ending in cliffs above dark blue seas. The hike takes us about 4 hours, not counting the stops for gelato and lunch to refuel our tanks. The path is so narrow, so that we must hug the hillside when hikers come from the other direction. The towns are almost too perfect—multicolored buildings, carefully placed churches and castles, brightly painted boats. We muse if there is a local building code to make sure
your paint goes well with the neighbors, but at the same time provides sufficient contrast for artistic interest.
Where in the world are Ethan and Siena?
This is an easy one, isn’t it? I gather the builders realized the tower was tilting when they had only built two levels, but they forged ahead anyway, putting this city on the map for eternity, or at least until the tower falls. This is Pisa, a major rival of our next stop--
Florence. The colors here are much more subtle than on the coast. There are so many shades of browns,
and, with the ubiquitous red tiled roofs, the effect is of tremendous warmth. We climb to the top of the cathedral (Duomo). 
This church was built at the start of the Renaissance. They actually started building this cathedral before there was the technology to build the dome to enclose the gapping hole in the structure, but, with supreme confidence in the abilities of man, they built it, secure in the knowledge that someone would figure it out in time. 
The whole of Florence unfolds under our feet, with the morning mist obscuring the Tuscan hills in the distance. While Italy as an entire country was a leader of the Renaissance, Florence was really the heart of the movement. It was an interesting place for the Renaissance. After hundreds of years of the dark and middle ages, during which time the people must have unearthed ancient ruins from the Romans and earlier. They undoubtedly realized that, at some point, long before their time, there had been an age possessed with greater knowledge than they. “Darn, I wish I could figure out how they built this building…” or “I wonder what all these lines and squiggles mean (in exhumed writings). Like sitting in on a preschool and discovering the babies know more than you do.
Siena: We purchased tickets for the Uffizzi gallery beforehand (lines are always very long). Taking our time to see every room, we wander through the gallery. They have the artwork in chronological order. There are too many religious panting for my liking but some are absolutely gorgeous. It is very interesting how the paintings vary through the ages. In the paintings from the dark and middle ages, the painting are very two dimensional and the peoples’ faces are blank. Everything is posed for the painting. It doesn’t seem like they moved. In the painting from the renaissance period, they rediscovered how to paint perspective. Every thing seemed more lively and life-like. We listened to a story about a painting. The painting is of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus, with two angels in the corner. The master painter painted the central figures and had his two young apprentices, Leonardo de Vinci and Botticelli, paint the two side angels. The two angels seemed so much better than the master’s work, so much more beautiful, that he never painted again.
The Beattie Beer Index has stalled a bit in Italy. I mean, the beer is good—we had a Peroni tonight the cost $1.30 for a little one. But, who would drink much beer here when the wine is so unbelievably good and cheap??? Not only have we enjoyed the local wines, but the local liqueurs have been great, too. Have you ever tried Limoncello? I’m working on learning the recipe, so you can try it at our house when we return.
Where in the world are Ethan and Siena?
This is the main square of what is arguably the fashion capitol of world. It is also Italy’s publishing and banking center. This is Milan, where we arrive and spend a couple of hours wandering around the heart of the city. Never have I felt so drab, dowdy and underdressed. These Italians have a great sense of style. And, they don’t seem to wear their hiking boots everywhere. Not only do the Milanese dress well, but they are also quite good looking, as Kim and I ogle the locals. The cathedral (il Duomo) was built to impress and it is impressive, in a garish, over-the-top, sandcastle kind of way. There are pigeons everywhere, swooping low and making us look even more ridiculous as we duck to avoid being hit.We train down to Monterossa, the most westerly of the towns making up the Cinque Terre.
These towns are only connected to the outside world by train or hiking. The coast is beautiful, lush, vineyard covered mountains, ending in cliffs above dark blue seas. The hike takes us about 4 hours, not counting the stops for gelato and lunch to refuel our tanks. The path is so narrow, so that we must hug the hillside when hikers come from the other direction. The towns are almost too perfect—multicolored buildings, carefully placed churches and castles, brightly painted boats. We muse if there is a local building code to make sure
your paint goes well with the neighbors, but at the same time provides sufficient contrast for artistic interest.Where in the world are Ethan and Siena?
This is an easy one, isn’t it? I gather the builders realized the tower was tilting when they had only built two levels, but they forged ahead anyway, putting this city on the map for eternity, or at least until the tower falls. This is Pisa, a major rival of our next stop--Florence. The colors here are much more subtle than on the coast. There are so many shades of browns,
and, with the ubiquitous red tiled roofs, the effect is of tremendous warmth. We climb to the top of the cathedral (Duomo). 
This church was built at the start of the Renaissance. They actually started building this cathedral before there was the technology to build the dome to enclose the gapping hole in the structure, but, with supreme confidence in the abilities of man, they built it, secure in the knowledge that someone would figure it out in time. 
The whole of Florence unfolds under our feet, with the morning mist obscuring the Tuscan hills in the distance. While Italy as an entire country was a leader of the Renaissance, Florence was really the heart of the movement. It was an interesting place for the Renaissance. After hundreds of years of the dark and middle ages, during which time the people must have unearthed ancient ruins from the Romans and earlier. They undoubtedly realized that, at some point, long before their time, there had been an age possessed with greater knowledge than they. “Darn, I wish I could figure out how they built this building…” or “I wonder what all these lines and squiggles mean (in exhumed writings). Like sitting in on a preschool and discovering the babies know more than you do.Siena: We purchased tickets for the Uffizzi gallery beforehand (lines are always very long). Taking our time to see every room, we wander through the gallery. They have the artwork in chronological order. There are too many religious panting for my liking but some are absolutely gorgeous. It is very interesting how the paintings vary through the ages. In the paintings from the dark and middle ages, the painting are very two dimensional and the peoples’ faces are blank. Everything is posed for the painting. It doesn’t seem like they moved. In the painting from the renaissance period, they rediscovered how to paint perspective. Every thing seemed more lively and life-like. We listened to a story about a painting. The painting is of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus, with two angels in the corner. The master painter painted the central figures and had his two young apprentices, Leonardo de Vinci and Botticelli, paint the two side angels. The two angels seemed so much better than the master’s work, so much more beautiful, that he never painted again.
The Beattie Beer Index has stalled a bit in Italy. I mean, the beer is good—we had a Peroni tonight the cost $1.30 for a little one. But, who would drink much beer here when the wine is so unbelievably good and cheap??? Not only have we enjoyed the local wines, but the local liqueurs have been great, too. Have you ever tried Limoncello? I’m working on learning the recipe, so you can try it at our house when we return.
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