In May of 1999, I spent a fabulous two weeks travelling around Italy with Liz. We met up in Rome and spent a couple of days there seeing the Coliseum [3/3/05: It has been observed (not by me, unfortunately) that the standard spelling of this is "Colosseum." Although "coliseum" is an acceptable variant for the generic term, it is not used to refer to the Roman version.], the Vatican (including, natcherly, the Sistine Chapel), the Piazza di Spagna and Trevi Fountain, among other wonders.

After Rome we ferried out to Napoleon's Elba, which I suspect he would have liked much better had he known about the Cafe Pinocchio, which served us the most amazing seafood dishes.

Elba was followed by two days in my favorite place in Italy (so far), Venice. Walking through its narrow streets and over its canals is an otherworldly experience.

We spent an eventful couple of days in the town of Aosta, ensconced in the Alps of northwestern Italy. It was there I found I needed a root canal, and soon. (Thanks here to Liz, whose ability to speak Italian to the local medical folks came in most handy, Liz's mom, who retrieved my dentist's phone number, and mostly my dentist, Sandra Engelson, who managed to get me an appointment with a root canal specialist in Italy.)

For that we trained to Lago di Como, and after my tooth was fixed we spent a couple of days enjoying the lake area on the Italy-Switzerland border. I finally had to go home (sob!) so we spent a day in Milan (with the most beautiful cathedral I have ever seen) after which I headed to Rome and home as Liz continued on to points further abroad.

May 1999 The Duomo in Milan May 1999 The Grand Canal, Venice

May 1999 Venice at dawn May 1999 Me at the Coliseum in Rome.

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