italy, check.

who ends up checking mail and writing blog on sunny Amalfi Coast in Italy? yeah, me, thats who.
lesson one: do NOT think family vacations will be fun. if they are, its a fluke. they will be tedious and boring, and you'll constantly be thinking about how great it would be if your friends were here instead.
lesson two: backpack through italy.
lesson three: italian people are just like in the movies, gorgeous, loud, well endowed and love, love, love to eat.
lesson four: italians understand your english better if you speak to them in an italian accent (LOVE IT!)
lesson four: break into your shoes before you decide to walk all over Florence just to see big statue of naked man (stupid girl)
lesson five: mollycoddled younger siblings will be heartless prick even on holiday.

but listen, this place is wonderful!
i want to come back here one day, just me and my backpack (and a well worn pair of shoes) and discover more than just the popular cities, devle in to the culture and live like they do, eat that they do.

milan was big city life with a rich history that she displayed proudly in malls and squares.
venice took me by surprise and is now one of my favourite places in the world, so quaint and old school and still modern. so gentle on the eyes and the soul, beautiful town. florence was by far a disappointment. i had heard so much about florence, florence, florence from people who have vistited italy, but i wasnt much anamored by it. sure it has a deep and wealthy rennaissance history, but eh. i did go to the accadamia galleria to see michealangelos David, and what a gorgeous sculpture! i never thought much of a while naked man when i saw it in pictures, but it really did take my breath away when i saw it in front of me. apart from him being not so well hung (tsk, tsk) and his vacant eyes, he is what man is supposed to look like.

rome was next and i thoroughly enjoyed it (except for the frequent family screeching sessions). i most enjoyed walking over Palantine Hill. it was supposed to be the hill where the emperors and the rich lived back in the day. the Beverly Hills of B.C. if you may. i love seeing history, learnig about it from textbooks in school is mighty irrelevant, esspecially when you have no idea about how history all connects back to where we are today. but seeing it, being able to activly imagine it from raw material, now THAT is education.

after rome was relaxation on the Amalfi Coast. no beaches, just rock, sea and golden sun. sat under the wonderful skies for three days to achieve a wonderful gold on my skin (that will fade in a couple of days to make me look like i havent washed my face after running around the playground), but yes;
lesson six: dont be a smart ass, use sun screen.
yeah i burnt thighs, shoulders and tummy (yeah i was wearing a bikini, screw you).
well worth it anyway.
we went sailing too, on our own!! i mean we sailed and navigated the boat on our own!! such fun!
also i can recoomend a very good restaurant in Amalfi, but i must warn you, i dont know if i liked the waiter for the food, or the food for the waiter (a yummy italian jude law with thick rimmed studious glasses). heh!

and now genova for the day. im tired and my backback is twice as heavy as when i arrived, and while i cant wait to get back home to the comfort of my own bed and bathroom, i cant help but think how well i may mould into the environment here, the sun, the narrow, cobbled streets, the beautiful people, wine and such delicious food, the ancient history, the million billion shops, the warmth of it all, i must have been italian in some sort of past life.