1. Don't go to Arezzo. If it looks like you have to change trains there, find another way ( Read more... )

Today I took a day trip to Bologna. It has two nicknames, La Rosso - "The Red", and La Grassa - "The Fat". Red because of it's brick architecture in the historic town center and also because of it's role as the historic home of the Italian Communist party and the Italian Socialist Party. Fat because of it's rich cooking. Well, the brick ( Read more... )

This really should have gone in my last post, but it's too good a story to omit. When Jeff and I were going through security at the Vatican Museums, the security guard who was telling me where to go to stash my pocketknife before going inside looked at my backpack and saw the Kerry-Edwards button I've been wearing. He then turned to me with a big ( Read more... )

I suppose they call it the Eternal City because it's inconcievable that there was a time when it wasn't crowded. I took a panorama of the Piazza containing the Trevi Fountain this afternoon; half of it was fountain and half of it was people - none of it was ground. But my coins were duly deposited and I'm sure I will be back eventually - if the ( Read more... )

For our last day in the Tuscany area, Jeff and I signed up for a winery tour in the Chianti region south of Florence (on the way to Arezzo). Our guide for the day was an American named Todd who had lived in the Bay Area until about two years ago when he moved to Italy with his girlfriend to be closer to her family. He was an excellent guide, and ( Read more... )

The name of this post really has very little to do with what we did today. It's only a reference to the bookstore that never ends - also known as the way out of the Uffizzi Galleries. Not including the four, count 'em, four different rooms where you can buy books on the various Florentine art galleries and reproductions of the Birth of Venus on ( Read more... )

Due to the fact that Americans outnumber locals in Cinque Terre about 10 to one on any given day and the tower in Pisa and the Duomo in Florence are probably the top tourist destinations in all of Italy, I humbly present the top 10 ways to be a tourist in Italy ( Read more... )

Before I go on to Venice, I should add the Imperial War Museum to places to visit in London. We also saw Trafalgar Square (for all you Caedmon's fans I'll get a postcard on the return), the Tower, the British Library, and Temple Church. All awesome, but IWM was the best. HUGE! We were there for quite a while and saw less than ten percent. That ( Read more... )

I highly recommend the evensong service at Westminster Abbey. Particularly if you go on a day when the choir is singing. The acoustics are great, even if the melodies are not what you're used to. And they have actual English choirboys! I also recommend the Imperial War Museum. Four floors and approximately nine hundred thousand rooms of war ( Read more... )

Some reflections arising from the "Fruits of the Spirit" talks at Sanctuary and discussion at Cornerstone this summer ( Read more... )