Color Me Gelato!

Lucy and I are in the middle of our 13 day 25th anniversary trip to Vienna and Italy this week. We departed last Wed. 6/15 after a week of horrible travel for me and very little sleep. This promptly gave me a cold for the first week of our trip which I'm just recovering from now. Finally got in 2 morning runs this Monday in Venice and today in Florence, Italy. Both runs were slow but beautiful affairs. In Venice, I ran for 30 minutes on side streets and over little bridges -- Venice has over 400 bridges in bright morning sunlight. At 9 am, the crowds were already out, and I was the only runner I saw the entire time (sorry pedestrians!). Today, in Florence, I ran 20 minutes over to the Piazzale Michelangelo, located just over the Arne river on a very high hilltop that overlooks the entire old city of Florence with its huge cathedrahls and museums. OK, my blogs are more about what I see when I run than any time issues... Anyway, the run up to the Piazzale is through a gate in the old city wall, then up 60 "platform stairs" (so named by me because you run 3 steps on each one, then step up to the next one). Very steep, hard uphill climb. It was gorgeous view from the top, then an easy run back to our hotel. I've probably only run 6 times since Hospital Hill with this trip and all it took to get to it, but I'm looking forward to more runs for the balance of the trip! -- Bill