Impressions of Italy

Beauty everywhere…women in skirts…slim slim men…no other birds except pigeons…except in Rome, little grime (my unscientific criteria for this is how clean my nails stay after a day out shopping etc)…oh gelato!...pastries sweeter than I remember from the 70s… 3 cities with water…shops shops shops… more independent stores…coffee much better tasting than I anticipated…purple is THE color of the season…shutters on all windows…reminder of city apartment living…

crystal blue skies most of our days…too warm for November (!)…square black ‘cobble’ streets…so much less smoking (thank god!!!)…churches everywhere…gelato…art is mostly religious art…so many tourists in this ‘off’ season…lots of daschunds, mostly in Rome…very few visible cats…gold shops on Ponte Vecchio…Florence the most elegant imho…more ancient things than one can imagine…despite volume of tourists, no pushing except for the Japanese…food good but not exceptional food…unique food on occasion...

nice overview of three cities Venice, Florence, and Rome and three distinct urban neighborhoods … serenity in smaller cities…long afternoon closings a surprise…good design everywhere even in what would be tourist schlock…general friendliness of restaurant staff…gelato…still am neutral about most Murano glass…’relatively’ good prices on designer items…clothes well priced…walking, walking, walking…carbienari everywhere…children rule the roost...

interesting driving…black the most popular color; second is black; third is black…high intake of carbs at meals…good tea…reached saturation on paintings of saints in ecstasy or torment…preferring espresso to cappuccino or caffelatte…paper shops in Florence…high intake of gelato but not enough…thoughts of Roman ruins I’ve seen from England to Jordan, and again in Italy…marble everywhere…cliches sometimes but oh such beautiful cliches...la bella Italia...

All of these photos were taken in Venice. Impressions are mine and based on limited time for serious exploration. I know there is better food than we had time for, and many more things that we didn't see and that we would have liked to see.
Perhaps another day...