My first trip to Europe was the year I graduated college. It was a great trip, but I could not stop thinking about Italy. Three years later I got married in Rome and travelled through Italy for 3 weeks. After having children my wings were clipped until last year, which I spent only one week (and too many cities)with my husband and 14 year old daughter. Now my daughter has the Italy "bug". We are going back in August. This time with my 2 daughters (my 12 year old chose camp last year)and husband. We will spend 3 weeks this time. I am hoping this trip will satisfy my addiction and I can once again travel to other places....Though I did here Sardinia is really nice....What is it about Italy??????

It is the awe-inspiring architecture, the beautiful language, the scrumptious food, the picturesque scenery, the warm wonderful people, the magnificent workd of art...I could go on & on waxing lyrically about Italy!!

I fully understand your fascination. We are planning our 10th trip for Oct. and still do not feel saturated.

Dear Laura - I totally agree with you too. My first trip was four years again with my husband and two sons. We took a Trafalgar tour and hit all the major cities. I feel totally in love with Italy and I am lucky enough to be going back in september with my husband and another couple and spending a week on the Amafi Coast. A dream come true and am already planning to be in Tuscany for the next trip.

Warning: Your addiction may never be satisfied.

Donna<BR><BR>Please tell me about your trafalgar tour,<BR>we are thinking about a couple of tours (London, Paris, Rome or a week in Italy).<BR>Did you find that you were on the BUS alot? How much free time did you have? My daughter thinks that the tours will only be filled with seniors (she is 18)?<BR>Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

Sardinia should be on any Italy lovers agenda! An easy overnight ferry ride from most major western coast cities, Sardinia will please the 5 star through camping crowd with fascinating history, superb beaches, and food! <BR><BR>best,<BR>www.vacationtechnician.com

Hi Laura,<BR><BR>When I was 16 I convinced my parents to let me take part in a year-long exchange program in Italy. It was one of the best experiences of my life! I lived with an Italian family and attended the local "Liceo Linguistico"-- a high school that concentrates on foreign language instruction among other standard subjects. <BR><BR>I am so thankful to my parents that they let me do this-- it changed my life in so many ways. It was the best kind of education an adolescent could ask for. It wasn't always easy (on several occasions I practically had my bags packed to go home), but so worth it in the end. <BR><BR>If your daughter(s) are already fascinated by Italy, or any other place, you may want to consider looking into this kind of program. If you want more information, feel free to send me an email. <BR><BR>Viva Italia!<BR><BR>Terra

There are a few study abroad programs at my daughter's high school which we are going to look into. But even in college a year would be along time. I would have to go and visit for a couple of months. Or my fantasy....Have both girls study abroad(anywhere in Europe) and my husband and I would rent a villa in Italy for 3-6 months. The girls could visit, bring friends or not. Everyone would be happy, except my husbands boss.

I feel the same way but we only got to spend five days in Rome. It surely was not enough time. I think it's the easy way of living plus the fountains, the architecture, and the gelato.

Think about the icons that define a locale. There's the Eiffel Tower or Arc de Triomphe (Paris), Big Ben or the Tower Bridge (London), The Great Wall of Chine - you know, those things they draw on pictoral maps as a shorthand for a location. How many of them are in Italy? Venetian Gondolas, The Last Supper, David, Leaning Tower, Colloseum, St. Peters, Forum, Aqueducts, Circus Maximus, Pompeii - as many come to mind for Italy as for the rest of the World combined! This was the cradel of teh Renaissance and the center of the Ancient World, and still home to a unique and vibrant culture know for design and style.<BR>Hey, ya gotta love it!

My friend Julie said it best when we arrived in Venice...She said, "I feel like I have come home."

A friend of mine is in his 60s and has traveled a fair amount -- but hadn't been to Italy.<BR><BR>When he was preparing for his first trip there, I said, "You're gonna wanna go back." He said, "Nah, I like to go to different places. I don't go back to a place I've already seen."<BR><BR>When he returned from his Italy trip, the first thing he said to me was, "I can't wait to go back."

I'll take the contrarian view, as I so often do, and say that as great as Italy is there is more to Europe, and more to life.<BR><BR>Following this post is a copyrighted item that every pediatrician holds special.<BR><BR>It appears all over the net with permission. I got this copy today from http://www.nas.com/downsyn/holland.html<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Welcome To Holland <BR><BR>by Emily Perl Kingsley<BR>c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. <BR>All rights reserved. <BR> <BR>I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......<BR><BR>When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.<BR><BR>After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."<BR><BR>"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."<BR><BR>But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.<BR><BR>The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.<BR><BR>So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.<BR><BR>It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.<BR><BR>But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."<BR><BR>And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.<BR><BR>But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland. <BR>

here is your brain:<BR><BR><BR>Here is your brain in Italy:<BR><BR)<BR><BR>But beware. it may start with something seemingly harmless like a 7 day trip to florence and Venice. Tehn you say I can stop any time as you plan a three week trip with a rental car in some hill town in Toscana followed by a wek in Umbria followed by a week in Rome.<BR><BR>And then you know..... you're hooked. It will be a never ending life of horrors... seeing the San Gennaro fest in Napoli.... The Festa delgli Ceri in Gubbio.... Carnevale... the throwing of the oranges in Evora.... the Puccini Opera fest in Torre del Lago... Paestum, knowing the names of the barriste at your favorite cafe by name..... the horrors may never end!<BR><BR>Remember.... friends don't let friends do Italy.... at least not without some advice!

up<BR>

Food and booze, with some great scenary to view while eating and drinking. I spent ten days in Positano last Oct, and that is what we did. My hubby is constantly asking me to request a transfer from my employer from <BR>Germany to Italy. I like living in Germany and really don't want to live in Italy but is sure is fun to vacation there...