Golden Tulip Moderno Verdi Genoa

... grow most grapes for wine and olives. Did I mention the food and wine here is phenomenal?
By the way, today is our 10th anniversary! What a way to celebrate. Tomorrow we will be in Cannes, France. We have a tour reserved to take us into the Provence countryside. I am speculating it will also be beautiful there… and that they will have good food and wine

... at around 11pm. No problem, though, as we didn't have to get up for anything tomorrow. One thing I forgot about our arrival, yesterday. The pilots are instructed to taxi at full speed - I kid you not. When we landed at Rome, the pilot was taxiing at about 60km/h, and he went around corners at that speed. It was so fast that you actually leaned in your seat, and I'm sure the wing-tip nearly touched the ground. We thought it was just ...

... to validate a train ticket, which was never checked, anyway. And, finally, the adrenaline rush at each station along the way, as we tried to figure out which station it was, and get off before the train left again. After checking in to this $500-a-night hotel (it had better be worth it, I can tell you), we found a very nice little pub that did food, and spent a great 3 hours in there, calming down after the hectic day.

... After all, there isn't too much to do here, and most of the activity in town centers around relaxation. Portofino is a great town for a walking tour. Heading towards the tip of the Portofino peninsula, you will come across the main attraction in town, the Castello di San Giorgio, an old castle built during the Middle Ages. The castle is well taken care of here, and you will enjoy a charming stroll through finely manicured ...

... A bit about Genoa: The main train station is right downtown in the center of Genoa and from there you can walk quite easily to the main sites of Genoa, which include Christopher Columbus's original home, the aquarium and a variety of museums and palaces. Genoa has been a thriving port city since at least the 12th century and many of the buildings from that period can still be seen in the city ...

We leave the station following this random guy without saying too many words. I have no idea what is going to happen in the next few hours, but in the couch surfing spirit I hope all will be ok. He lives just off the main street in town. The flat is small but amazingly decorated, especially for Christmas. Neil and I will be spending the night at one of his other flats a few streets away. We are quickly joined by his wife and sit down to what turned out to be ...

... sights when compared to the other Italian ports that we have visited.Christopher Columbus - His Childhood House Genova is a highly cosmopolitan, extremely busy, typical city life, not aimed at the tourists at all. Certainly no Monte Carlo!Anyway ...

... is noted as the second largest aquarium in Europe. They had penguins, dolphins, exotic jellyfish, sharks, your normal fish you find in an aquarium, and an UGLY looking "sun fish" so they called it. Mom you would have LOVED it! But I took tons of pictures for you. I apologize for the poor quality of some of the photos, we were not allowed to use flash in the Aquarium, which apparently with my camera it requires you to not move in the slightest bit when you take the ...

... it was so good. after that we continued hiking. the trails are so beautiful. you are literally on the side of a cliff hiking, overlooking the ocean. When youre done you have a sense of accomplishment at hiking the trail. Its seeing the real italy. Families farm on the side of the mountains, growing olives and grapes. its spectacular to think that people live this way. so different from my life back home of cars and stereos and modern conveniences. On sunday we went to the Pope's ...

... back to the train station he drove us along the coast and to different sites so I could take pictures.. turns out he is a photo fanatic... boy did I pick the right cab driver... today we explored Pisa and got to see the famous tower... it deffinately does lean, tonight we are in florence again... and yes we did explore the gardens... and stayed out of troble... we are off to holland tomorrow stopping here and there.. we shall see where we end up