Sue and I chose Italy for our summer vacation this year. We had small tastes of Italy in past years, an amazing whirlwind visit to Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera with our daughter in 2010, and a few days "detour" through Tuscany while driving from Nice to Paris in 2011.

This year we enjoyed "urban" weeks in Venice, Rome and Florence (san auto) and then a totally relaxed low-key week (with car) at a beautiful family run rural hotel in the Tuscan countryside near San Gimignano, a famous hilltop medieval town that is a Unesco World Heritage site.

Hot, dry weather(even for Rome, 41 deg C is extreme!) meant that I was usually out exploring with my camera well before dawn. After breakfast with Sue, we would explore the sights in the (slightly) cooler mornings and enjoy a late lunch in town. In the heat of the afternoon, we either hunkered down in our hotel for a shower and three hour siesta, or would stick to air-conditioned museums, markets and tourist sites. Then we would head out for a light dinner and enjoyed the sights for the evening.

We met lots of interesting folks along the way (Sarah and David from Lille, France, Marcello from Toronto, Andy and Lorraine from Melbourne, etc.), some of whom we are keeping in touch with for future vacations. The amazing sites, history, smells, food and wine that make Italy such a special place were only enhanced by the Italian's sense of hospitality, genuine friendliness (other than driving), and passion for living (especially driving).

Trip highlights were numerous and we enjoyed all parts of the trip for different reasons. However, a special gift from Sue of a balloon trip over the olive groves, vineyards and castles of central Tuscany at sunrise was especially memorable. Thanks, sweety!

With over 8000 photos taken on the trip, it has taken awhile to cut/cut/cut. 8000 photos sounds excessive and compulsive, even for me, but I did shoot tons of triplets of the same scene with different exposures to have some neat images for HDR, paintings, etc. That's my story ... and I'm sticking to it!

Over time, I will try to label some of the photos, as much as for myself than anyone else.