A Lady in London

I haven’t traveled to Florence since I was 12 years old. Back then I was only interested in two things: gelato and shopping. I refused to enter the Duomo. I didn’t want to see the Uffizi. All I wanted to do was eat stracciatella and buy clothes at Benetton.

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After visiting the breathtaking hilltop principality of San Marino and exploring the Roman mosaics in Ravenna, my Italy travels continued with a stop in Bologna. The famous university city in the Emilia-Romagna region is best known for its culinary treasures, and those were what I set out to discover during my trip.

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Of all the places to visit in Italy, Ravenna isn’t the most obvious. In fact, most people haven’t even heard of it. But Ravenna has been on my travel list for nine years. Why? It has to do with the Romans.

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San Marino was my 90th country. For months I had been working toward a goal of traveling to 90 countries before my 30th birthday, and—thanks to the suggestion of a reader—I chose San Marino as the place to accomplish it. Why? It was close, and I was curious.

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The final stop on my travels around the Amalfi Coast in Italy was Pompeii. Given the recent ruminations of dear old Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland and our canceled cycling tour of Umbria, my boyfriend and I figured that paying a visit to its cousin Vesuvius wouldn’t be a bad way of appeasing the volcanic ash cloud gods.

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After traveling to the lovely town of Positano, my boyfriend and I continued our Amalfi Coast tour in Italy by taking a ferry from Positano to the town of Amalfi.  We had read that Amalfi was bigger and a bit gritter that Positano, but our first impression was a good one.

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Everything I read about the Amalfi Coast suggested that the most beautiful coastal town in the area was Positano.  Tall houses climbing the hillside, beautiful beaches on the waterfront, and small winding streets full of shops all beckoned me to visit.

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Capri is enchanting. With its reputation as a jet-setter destination, its stunning rows of white-awninged luxury shops, and its dramatic natural scenery, the island is a tiny paradise in the Mediterranean.

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The Amalfi Coast has been on my list of places to visit for a long time. With its beautiful peninsula, enchanted islands, and picture pretty cliff-top towns, it is one of Italy’s coastal gems.

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My last trip to Rome was in seventh grade. I was on a class trip with my junior high school, and my friends and I only cared about two things: gelato and shopping. A lot has changed about my travel habits since then (well, maybe not the gelato part), and a lot has changed about Rome, too.

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Following an amazing day on Lake Como, my boyfriend and I took the Eurostar to Venice last Sunday morning. And since I haven’t done a trip-by-numbers in awhile, here’s Venice by twos:

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