Dream Vacation

For years I have dreamed of visiting Italy. Next month my dream will come true. For two weeks we will bask in the Italian culture, taking in the sights in Rome for a few days before heading off to our villa near Siena, then on to Florence, Pisa, and points in Northern Italy (with a few added days in Switzerland, we hope.) Half the fun of a trip like this is being an armchair tourist as I study the culture, history and historic sights of Italy. I'm one who gets as much pleasure out of planning a trip as I do in the actual traveling. But I can hardly wait to actually stand on the site of the Colosseum of Rome, explore the Vatican Museum, enter the Sistine Chapel and get a neck-ache from looking up at the spectacular ceiling, walk the Spanish Steps, climb the leaning tower in Pisa and then actually see magnificent Michaelangelo's David in person. Too much to see, so little time. In between I plan on lunching on fresh baked bread, local cheese and olives and a little (or a lot) of gelato just to round out the cuisine. I want to experience the Italian culture, to (probably very brokenly) speak their language, get happily lost in some small Tuscan town, and return home having a greater knowledge of the world. I have only been to Germany once, and for my husband this will be his first trip to Europe. I know that armchair travel cannot compare with the real thing and I am so grateful for the opportunity to finally fulfill this dream of a lifetime.