Reflections on Italy

I'm sitting here in the Venice train station waiting for our train to Munich to start the third leg of the trip, but thought I should write a little more about Italy.

Italy is an assault on your senses!!!

Smell deeply...pizza baking in a wood stove next to fabulous breads on every street corner. Roses blooming in any little spot of dirt...the musty smell of the ancient canals of Venice. The acrid smell of cigarettes - seems like every other Italian is lit up:-(

Feel the ancientness of this country. Buildings everywhere that are thousands of years old. Hill towns with their walls that haven't been attacked in many many generations. Things don't change, they just get older.

Visualize the colors! Women wear fabulous bright scarves...the colors of buildings, gondolier's bright striped shirts, red roof tops in the hill towns.
Bright mosaics, stained glass windows and frescos are in every town, big or small.

Feel the spray of water on your face from the many unbelievable fountains in Rome. Feel the devoutness and history of the Catholic church not only in the Vatican, but throughout the entire population.

Hear the horns blarring in Rome...what crazy drivers. Listen to gondoliers slip through canals singing to their passengers :-) Church bells ringing and ringing, and ringing! So many languages being spoken by travelers from all over the world.

Italy was an experience!

Ciao to Italy and time to get my German translation program fired up.

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Location:Venice train station