In November of 2004 Lucile, Michael, Celeste and I took a trip to Italy to show Michael, Italy. We had a great trip except I lost my wallet with my credit cards or it was stolen -- and lucille broke her foot. Then while buying her crutches I lost the credit card that Lucille had. All the above was caused by being exhausted keeping up with 30 year olds: Celeste and Michael. Finally Air France would not supply us with a wheelchair for Lucille at the Paris Airport -- time between fights was 1 hr and 10 minutes and they required 1 hr and 30 min. (Alitalia supplied one and requested one from Air France -- then they supplied one.)
In between those misfortunes we saw beautiful things in Florence including the Accademia which has "David" by Michelangelo and the Uffizi which has all the paintings you see in art history books. We spent time on the Ponte Vecchio. We took a trip south of Florence on the Chiantigira "Chianti Trail" to see two vineyards. Michael, Celeste's husband, wanted to check out the soil. He is a soil expert and was investigating the possibility of growing grapes on his dad's farm in Texas. Celeste and Michael took a side trip to Venice, while we stayed in Florence.
When they returned we all went to Rome by train. When we arrived, we visited the Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. On the path back to the Trevi is where Lucille tripped and broke her foot. Next day we went to the Vatican museum (except for Lucille). She was resting in our room at the Westin Excelsior, a five star hotel -- thanks to Celeste who has earned points for free hotel rooms due to all her traveling. Next day I went out to buy Lucille's crutches. I was surprised to find they only cost 15 euros (15*1.20 dollars). On the last day, Celeste and Michael took another side trip to Ostia, the ancient port of Rome
We had dinner at several restuants worth mentionig: one on Via Guelfa in Florence, Angelino dei Foro across the street from the Forum in Rome, and an osteria a couple blocks from the bottom of the Spanish steps.