When in Rome

Wayne and I fell in love with Italy and Greece and consider our recent trip one of the best vacations of our lives.  We visited Rome, Florence and Venice and oh my, Italy is such a wonderful country.  And I'm talking about more than the pasta.  Michelangelo's statue of David brought tears to my eyes and, surprisingly, to Wayne's too.  Yes, my big, gruff electrician husband teared up at the sheer beauty of this masterpiece.  
 
The second part of the trip was a cruise through the Adriatic Sea and the Greek Isles.  It was a dream of Wayne’s for many years and I’m so glad we were able to manage it for his 70th birthday.  The locals thought we were crazy trying to go swimming in Corfu because the shore was rocky and not sandy, but we managed nonetheless! 
 
Wherever we went we came to realize that our own country is so young compared to the history contained in the old medieval cities we had the privilege to visit.  I was humbled by the churches I was able to tour, especially the Il Redentore in Venice which was built in thanksgiving for deliverance from the plague that decimated Venice in the 1500s.