So, you want to go on a honeymoon. How does the beach sound? Too boring. What about the jungle? Not romantic enough. How about Greece? Great! Oh, wait, the Olympics are in town. Wait, I know… how about Italy?!

That’s how we made our decision in 2004 to go to Italy. We wanted to spend all of our time in Northern Italy, mainly Tuscany. We went for 2 1/2 weeks in July and August.

The highlights of the trip depend on who you talk to. We both enjoyed the food and wine tremendously. Theresa’s favorite place was Venice, but mine was San Gimignano (mostly because I had been to Venice before). The scenery all around Tuscany was very cool, with lots of rustic hilltop towns.

The meals in Italy are a whole concept in and of themselves. They have multiple courses, and sometimes you get funny looks if you don’t order at least 3. The antipasti course is what we would usually call appetizers. The primi course is either soup or pasta. The secondi course is the “main” course of meat or fish. If you like, you can order contorni, or side dishes, which are usually vegetables. Then there’s dolci, or dessert. This is very different from American meals because each item is eaten seperately. Instead of eating meat and potatoes, you would eat the potatoes first and then only when you’re done, eat the meat.

We flew into Firenze through Roma on Alitalia. One of the best things about Alitalia is that they serve free wine and beer with your meals. On the long flight to Roma, however, our TVs and lights were out so it was a bit boring.

We stayed in Firenze for three nights. Then we took a train to Venezia, where we stayed for two nights. After a train ride back to Firenze, we rented a car and drove to Lucca and stayed there for two nights. After that came San Gimignano for two nights, the Chianti region for two nights, Montalcino for one night, and finally Perugia.

Finally, check out my mini-page I like to call “the doors of northern Italy.”