Okay, Italy Pictures!

We had a great time in Italy. First of all, my conference was in Bologna, which is a great city with lovely arched walkways wherever you walk. I presented a poster, and got a lot of good and useful comments, and met some more scientists. In case you want to know what a science poster session looks like:

And, I got to go see Parma and Ravenna with some friends at the end of the week, which was a lot of fun. Parma is quaint and pretty (and the home of Parmesian cheese!) and Ravenna has lovely mosaics made of tiny tiny pieces of colored stones:

Then, the best part of the trip... I met Kevin in Milan! Then we went to Varenna on Lake Como- so beautiful! A bit rainy, but we enjoyed it nonetheless:

And then riding the ferry across the lake to Bellagio. where we hiked all over, and had delicious foccacia sandwiches and gelato:

And oh my gosh, dinner that night... maybe the best homemade ravioli I've ever had. Actually the whole meal was good... we also got risotto and two desserts: tiramisu (just perfect!) and panna cotta. This trip was very dessert-heavy... my kind of trip!

Then we moved onto Cinque Terre, where we celebrated our 2nd anniversary. So amazing it's already been two years, and can I just say my life is so much better because I get to share it with such a wonderfully considerate, funny, ambitious man! And to be in Italy to celebrate our marriage... we had never thought it would happen so soon (maybe the 20th, but the 2nd?)! We are very lucky indeed. We hiked along the Cinque Terre trail and the Via del Amore (how appropriate!), toasted over sweet wine and almond cookies, exchanged cards and had dinner on top of the Vernazza castle roof (oh, such delicious pesto lasagna too.... oh how I love Italy!):

Next, we stopped by Pisa for obligatory Leaning Tower pics:

And then stayed the night in Lucca, an awesome town recommended by my little brother, surrounded by a large wall that you can bike around (which we did. On a tandem bike... fun!):

Finally, we went to Florence and saw the David (much better than I remember it), the Uffizi, the crappy Ponte Vecchio (I swear, I don't know why so many people find that bridge appealing!), and ate about a gallon of gelato. Oh, and we climbed the bell tower:

All in all, we had a great time! It went very fast. We love you, Italy!