Round Rock Woman Suffers from Wanderlust - Books trip to Italy

It started innocently enough when I was checking my mail. There was a catalog from National Geographic featuring their expeditions. Instead of throwing it into recycling, I opened it and quickly found my dream trip: An expedition to Antartica. After daydreaming and drooling and realizing that I didn't have the money for the trip (more than 10 grand), I resigned myself to not going. The next day, still infected with wanderlust, I realized that my father's 70th birthday was coming up in September and we still hadn't taken our trip together to Italy. I found a time frame that worked for both of us and booked our plane tickets to Rome using frequent flier miles. So now, we're going to Italy the last half of October and I only have National Geographic to blame. Dad and I are both very excited and for both of us, the planning is half the fun. We're checking out Servas (www.usservas.org) which is a neat organization that encourages peace through cultural exchange. If accepted, we would get a better view of Italian life than normally afforded to tourists. Stops on the itinerary so far: Rome Venice Milan (probably Bergamo too, Azucena's old stomping grounds. To see a rendering from the Citta Alta, go to http://www.rockover.com/photos/image/54 ) Florence Monaco & Nice (Moves Azucena's country count to 23) Assisi (Azucena's choice) Naples? Dad wants to see the south too. Pompeii was vetoed. It's pretty much up to dad, except for Assisi, that's for sure. So much to see, so little time. I'm currently poring through Rick steves Guidebooks to make sure we make the most of our two weeks in Europe. I'll try and post during our trip as well.