1. Background

THIS TRIP 

• Destination: Italy
• Type of Trip: Personal
• Tour Name: Susan's Anywhere You Want To Go Trip
• Number of People on the Tour: 2
• Tour Length: 10 days
• When: 2005

A BIT ABOUT ME

• Why post now? 9 years later: In honor of Susan's birthday (which is today)
• How was Italy chosen: A little over a month before I needed to make arrangements, Susan decided to go to Italy. Previously she had leaned toward Greece. You'll have to ask her why the change.
• Biggest surprise: I think when I told her we were flying back first/business class. I turned in some of my miles.
• Did you try anything new to you? Blood orange juice in blue bottles. Quite yummy.
• Did everything go according to plan: No, but you'll have to continue reading.
• Promises made: My sister made me promise Susan wouldn't be by herself. Again, keep reading the next entries because that did create one rather boring day for Susan, although to her credit she never complained and stayed occupied. 

FEW PRE-TRIP NOTES FROM MY BLOG

• Graduation Day: May 29, 2005 - My older niece graduates from High School today at 4:30 pm. She's 14th in her class. It seems like just yesterday, she would hold out her arms to me. Now she's taller than me (no surprise there) and a beautiful young woman. I'm so happy we get to spend time together in Italy before she leaves for college. NOTE: Gelato = 1/2 the fat and twice the taste as American ice cream. I plan on indulging at least once a day. 

• O Say Can You See? May 21, 2005 - I thought I'd walk in, pick out sunglasses for the Italy trip and pay. Nope. Two and a half years since my last exam = no glasses without a new exam. Half an hour late my pupils are dialated to the size of basketballs and I'm free to proceed with frame selection. For those of you with perfect vision (i.e., you can wake up in the morning and get out of bed without first doing the "hand walk" across the dresser/table for your glasses), you may not understand my dilemma. I went through about a dozen frames in thirty minutes: put one one, step to mirror, get close enough to the mirror to see clearly but too close to see if it looks good on ME. FINALLY, I called the troops (= the adorable nieces) and they came to my rescue. They appeared at the shop and in 10 minutes, we're done! 

Susan and Stacy in Udine