Italy 2023

I've wanted to see Venice "before it sinks into the sea" since I was in my masters studies in the '80s. The romantic thoughts of the city built on water captivated me. When my friend Kathy returned from Italy in 2016, we met at the gelato shop that was on the 4th floor of the Mall of America. She toyed with her gelato and told me it was really nothing like eating it there, and so I pushed away my cup and vowed to have my next gelato in Italy. A divorce and a pandemic delayed my plans, but I have just returned, and it was everything I hoped for. I'm going to try to keep my exclamation points to a minimum, and share my observations and wonderful adventure here.

Chuck and I started planning this trip last August. In October, my mother was diagnosed with cancer that had already spread to her bones. The many videos, books, and You Tube channels we watched every weekend really helped me take my mind off the situation, as she declined and passed away. Chuck had a few airports that he did not want to travel through, (known for losing luggage) so we found a United flight that went from Minneapolis-Chicago-straight to Milan. We upgraded our seats on the long leg since we're both tall, which really helped on the way over. I highly recommend the full year of planning and choosing sites on your own if you like to have a unique experience. There are lots of tours out there, but Chuck felt comfortable driving a car, and we could then include time in Switzerland and Austria and see more of the alps. He wanted to show me some of the places he used to visit when he lived and skied in Europe. Here is the link to the overview map we used to coordinate our rental rooms and BandB's. https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&ll=45.96356947794066%2C10.51034249999999&z=8&mid=1iNQerg_4znTdhwxVFkDX6iX4PCboHo0 The outgoing flights were on time and so very smooth. We landed in Chicago for a pretty sunset.