Italy

This year my main professional conference took place in Florence, Italy. So, Joe and I headed there a few days earlier. It was our first trip to Italy. We spent our first day touring town, and saw the Cathedral ("Duomo") designed by Brunelleschi. All of that colorful marble is sure a difference from the austere sandstone or limestone facades in Germany (and German churches are actually quite vibrant in comparison to those we saw in Benelux).

Then we spent two days hiking an amazing stretch of coastline called the Cinque Terra. It's a national park, notoriously crowded and it was August, when all of Europe was on vacation. We went anyway and had a great time. There were tons of trails to get lost on. All roads led to the town of Vernazza (for us, at least), which I thought was quite well situated. So I am posting pictures of it from all angles. We swam at the little beach on the left side of town, looking seaward. We hiked about 35 km in the two days, so really covered the coastline from one end to another.

We returned to Florence and went to the famous galleries, where we saw a lot of art. Joe flew back home and I went to my conference. I don't have any pictures of that. I had an extra day at the end of the week after the conference and before my flight back, so I took a bike ride through Tuscany with a colleague. We stopped at what is apparently one of the oldest wineries in Italy. Delicious! We ended our ride in Siena, which is a gorgeous town with a beautiful cathedral. Not to mention the mummified face of Saint Catherine of Siena. I love that gory stuff!