Goodbye Italy (for now)

The Duomo and Belltower, Florence

And so we bid farewell to Italy ... until our next visit. Our return flight home from Florence was smooth sailing. Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris (at least the part we were in) was clean, modern and uncrowded! And our trip through customs at SeaTac took about 5 minutes, and that included the extra "random selection" to xray our bags. There were some nice views of the Alps, Greenland, and (as a nice welcome home gift), the Cascades wrapped in low clouds!!

The Alps

French Countryside

Greenland

Cascades

More Photos

Overall, we had a great trip. It was about the right length (2 plus weeks), as we were pretty tired by the time we wrapped it up. Our overall approach of spending 3ish nights at most places was perfect, as was opting to primarily using trains to get around. The timing worked out well, too ... we managed to miss the historic flooding, fires, and heat, and many of the crowds, that were big news throughout the spring and summer. All four of our knees held up remarkably well, considering their condition and the significant usage they got (almost all day every day). By and large, the food was excellent, with only a few "meh" meals. The gelato was very good, or better, in almost all cases. And the wine was plentiful, inexpensive, and (when selected by Patrick) top notch. The people were friendly and helpful. And, our limited Italian language skills weren't a significant problem.

We had a good mix of activities ... tourist sites vs. just wandering (heavier on the latter). We loved the old cities and all their narrow streets. The art was technically amazing, and often was visually arresting. But, the unwavering religious subject matter and in many cases the styles didn't strike much of an emotional chord. The architecture (both interior and exterior) was quite captivating, even though we didn't know much about the different periods. Some of it, however, was overly complex and ornate, bordering on gaudy. Again, probably one group/city trying to outdo another.

Personally, I found it hard to get my head around how much time, energy, and wealth was dedicated to the massive cathedrals and the all the extravagant art. What about the poor serfs ... talk about wealth inequality! It seems that the rich guys who funded much of the art and buildings were trying to either buy their way into heaven, or to keep on the good side of the all-powerful church and thereby maintain their power and wealth. And some of these guys were very, very rich ... like fund-The-Crusades rich!

And I can't overstate how great it was to connect with our good friends, Patrick and Todd, and the hospitality they showed us. Teaching us the ins and outs of traveling in Italy, the personal tours, wonderful conversations, and (often humorous) cultural insights. It was a delight!

Just for grins, here are some semi-random, kinda-quirky photos.