La Dolce Vita

Looking to get away, we headed to Flight Centre in February for some advice. We said that we wanted to go somewhere outside North America, but didn't want to spend more than about $1000 each for the tickets. Italy and Argentina were our two ideas. The agent had a look, and said the cheapest tickets they could get were $1050 per person to Italy, so that was that! We booked the flights, and began planning the adventure.

Rick Steves was our guide. We got his Italy 2006 guide book, and his Italy DVD. We also borrowed a 'Learn Italian in One Day' CD from the library to learn the essentials, like ordering wine.

The first stop was a few jet-lagged hours in Amsterdam, followed by our arrival in Rome. Next, we went south to  Pompeii and Sorrento, and then back up to Florence, Venice, and Verona. We left Italy from Milan.