We didn't come to Europe to save money.

We are home. 13 days went by too quickly and I will share the highlights of our Italian excursion over the next few weeks. Let's start with the hotel accommodations in Rome. I am lucky that my husband has a knack for planning, selecting great itineraries, reading maps and generally great knowledge of history, i.e he reads it in Rick Steves and then regurgitates the most interesting parts to me while I am photographing what we see.

I started sending him links for hotels, but when he saw they were only a knotch above hostels- he took over. He quoted, and I liked to use this over and over during our trip, " We didn't come to Europe to save money." That became our motto.

First stop, Hotel Cortina. We rented the apartments, not the hotel room. You have to stay at least 3 nights to rent, and this place was a welcoming retreat to come home to after a busy sight seeing day. The apartments were recently renovated, had 12' tall ceilings with cake-like crown molding, a king size bed, a guest suite, a kitchenette, a balcony with jasmine in full bloom and a personal mini laptop with wireless.

A nice kitchenette we primarily used to uncork wine.

Breakfast was included with the stay, complete with a wonderful barista making us cappuccinos. The worst part of returning home was getting out of bed with the knowledge that had to make my own coffee.