special.

I spent ten glorious day traveling the winding back streets, wandering through vineyards and eating a diet strictly of espresso, carbohydrates and gelato. The order was this: London to Venice (1 night) - La Spezia (1 night) - Cinque Terre (we stayed in town #2 Manarola two nights) - Florence (2 nights) - Rome (2 nights) - Naples (2 nights). Youll have to spot these places on the map to get the right idea of how much of the country our ground covered. It was an amazing trip, but I'm going to tell you about it a bit out of order.

When the plane touched down in Venice, I felt some unease about revisiting the cities where I spent the hardest summer of my life. As most of you know, my mom died in summer of 2008. I had been studying in Florence for about six weeks when she decided she wanted me to come home. I packed my bags and was on the next flight. Those hours spent in limbo between Florence and Atlanta, were some of the toughest hours of my life. The weeks leading up to that, I had managed to craft an ideal escape route- in a beautiful city, surrounded by many distractions. I did many stupid things that summer but I also visited some great cities in Northern Italy. It was in Venice when I learned the cancer spread to her brain. It was in Florence that I lived the most immature and youthful days, and so in many ways I feel I left that innocence in that city when I boarded the plane to come home.

Although the entire city of Venice itself is a huge tourist destination, there ain't a whole lot to do there other than marvel at its canals and brightly painted buildings. Our hotel was just by the Realto bridge, so after a night stroll we woke up to hit St. Mark's Square before beginning our journey across the country. Venice has this ability to blow your mind. When you see those sticks in the ground they call parking spots, the ambulance boats, a boat with UPS on it... you realize, these canals really are highways and this place is real. Venice is shrinking in terms of its population, but the tourism there is more alive than ever.

We spent one full day in Florence and two nights. I finally entered the famous Duomo (which I inexcusably walked by every day that summer without ever going inside). We found the bar I frequented with my friends, and talked at length about how in the summers the streets flood with American students. Standing in line to see Michaelangelo's David, I refreshed myself on 1 Sam 17. I am amazed at Michaelangelo's works and his outstanding talent. We walked across the jewelry stores on Ponte Veccio and hiked the 30 minutes up to the Piazza del Michaelangelo to enjoy a sweeping view of the city. One of the nights, we sat next to a wonderful British pair of friends, who became our best friends, and we spent the entire night telling stories and talking about everything and nothing at the same time. I always say I travel to meet cool people, and this was one of the best encounters.

Florence will always have a special place in my heart and it was a delight to be circling its duomo again, and sipping on its table's finest house Chianti.