Back from Italy!
 

Greetings! After a week to decompress I thought I'd give some comments on my trip for anyone who's interested.<BR>Flew United to Malpensa, seats are getting smaller and smaller. Seemed to have more jet-lag this time both going and coming home. My husband is from Versilia, Forte dei Marmi to be exact and we spent our first 3 days there. We spent one day in Portofino and Santa Margherita. We had lunch on the water's edge in Portofino and we couldn't have asked for a better day. While my husband spent time with his family I went to Florence and spent the day there. I went to Uffizi, didn't have tickets, but only waited about 10 minutes in line. I went around 3:45 or so. I had been there before but it was right after the bombing and had missed alot. Excellent. I spent most of the rest of the time shopping and stopping by shops and restaurants where I've made friends through the years. We then left for Assisi, which is where my husband's father's family come from and where we've been invited to spend Easter. I'm excited cause I love Assisi and Deruta, not to mention his aunts and I'm looking forward to spending my first "real" holiday in Italy. Only one problem, seems they are all pissed off at each other and we will have to travel individually to each one's house. Not what I thought, but o.k. I also had plans to meet a fellow fodorite, Holly in Assisi, which we did. We both had plans to be in Assisi and Venice at the same time, so we had planned to get together.. Nice, relaxing dinner with Holly at the Hotel Umbra (forgot the name of the restaurant, but will look it up in my info). Easter - We had our big meal at his Aunt Domenica's (I call her Sunday)house, and it was very good. We then spent the rest of the day with her son and his wife and went out to a few places in Umbria, one being the famous Cascada something or other, which was fabulous. Went to Trevi and had a great dinner at a trattoria that Angelo frequents. It did turn out well after all. Part 2 to follow

Thank you for the post, waiting for part two.

Welcome Back Dawn!! More on Cascada PLEASE!!!

Seats aren't getting smaller and smaller, people are getting bigger and bigger.

Waiting for part two.....

Had some computer problems over the weekend....part 2<BR><BR>Our last day in Assisi was to be spent with Francesco visiting his sick uncle and other relatives and me going shopping in Deruta. I knew what I wanted and I was on a mission. I had mentioned going to Deruta to Holly, but because we had gotten home so late the night before, I hadn't called her. We went up to the town center for breakfast around 10am, and I stopped in at Holly's hotel, hoping to catch her. Too late, she had gone out in the morning. o.k., let's do some shopping and give her some time, maybe to return. Walked around a bit, shopped and returned but she hadn't. I had to get going because Francesco had to be at his other aunt's for lunch, and I was taking the car to Deruta. I dropped him off, and headed for Deruta. After four visits to Deruta I have broken it down to upper and lower. The upper is the town center, and the lower is closest to the highway. Both are great, but a little different. Since the lower is the first I stopped. I parked the car and started looking at a few places. When I came out of the last shop, I noticed that my car was behind a gate. Oh no, they locked my car in for lunch! It was 1:05, and I had to wait until 3:30. I started walking so I could find a restaurant, bar, etc. I was hungry, thirsty and in need of a bathroom. I walked a mile and found a nice restaurant, treated myself to a nice lunch, good wine, and wrote out some postcards. My shopping time had been cut bigtime, but I wasn't going to let it ruin my day. At 3:15, I left and started walking back. I got the car out now, and headed up to the center, but I was basically out of time. I decided on what I wanted quickly and headed back to Assisi. After I told my husband what had happened and he stopped laughing, he said it was his lucky day! I wasn't amused, but I got a few things, and I'll go again. We said our good-byes to Sunday and her family, and then headed off to make the rounds before heading back to Forte dei Marmi. We stopped to say good-bye to cousin Angelo, his wife Marina, and their son Luca, who is 9 going on 35. Luca has a bedroom wall full of girly pictures, an earing, a cell phone and can name every single player on every single soccer team in Europe. I told him that he was the next Hugh Hefner, but some things just don't translate. Watch out for Luca in 10 years, or less. Traffic going north was a bear, and a trip that should have taken less than 3 hours, took almost 6. We were hungry, thirsty, and nothing was open. It was midnight. We headed to the waters edge in Frte dei Marmi and found a restaurant open and had fantastic pizza and a couple of beers. By the time we took home my FIL it was 1:30. Tomorrow I was off to Venice via Florence at 6:30am, would I make it?

Maira, The waterfalls are called Cascata delle Marmore, and they are about 45 minutes south of Assisi. They are not that big, but they quite beautiful and worth a look.

My wife and I went to the Cascata delle Marmore several years ago and they were beautiful. Lots of people out and about looking at the cascades. An enjoyable few hours.

A serious note about Cascata delle Marmore. The falls (stream flow) are literally turned off for all but 1 hour a day in the high season months. Be sure you find out when the water is on befor driving all the way out there. We missed the show.

I just located this website with the hours of operation: http://www.argoweb.it/ternano/marmore.uk.html

For Tanya

Wanting to hear more about your trip.