Overwhelming Response...(NOW WITH PHOTOS!!)

Thanks to all that posted their recommendations to our blog for where we SHOULD NOT go in Italy. Looks like we had the exact thoughts as the majority of you... The only thing we were sort of excited about in Venice was taking a gondola ride. But, I think we'd prefer to spend more time in Florence and Cinque Terra. So, that's settled. Thanks again.

Also, apparently we didn't have the blog open to comments (thanks Merry). We heard that several people had wanted to comment but it wouldn't allow you to, so we've fixed that. Sorry...

Now, we've had a busy day and its only going to get busier. This morning Paula and I wolk up early (7am bus...she's like a drill sergeant) and we caught a bus to the start of the Imbros Gorge (see photo). We had wanted to hike the Samaria Gorge, but that's still closed from the rains this past winter. It'll open up next month apparently. The Imbros Gorge was beautiful though and Paula and I had it to ourselves since we left so freakin' early. The plus side is that we were back to Hora Skafion where we had stayed the night and parked our car by 11am. Getting a good 13 km in by noon is pretty productive.

Then we mosied up to Hania (2nd largest town on Crete) where we're in a freakin' adorable pension . It's in a really old (14th century) venitian building in 'Old Town' right next to the marina (see photo of the view from our terrace in Hania). We grabbed lunch, walked around a bit, and found the Greek Orthodox Church where we're going to an 11pm Easter service tonight which goes till midnight. After that, apparently there's fireworks and everyone goes out to eat since they've been avoiding meat for 40 days. Then, tomorrow morning, there's a second Easter service from 8am to 10am that we'll go to as well.

That's about all that we've got planed so far. However, now we have some work planning our trip to Italy in a couple days. Thanks for all your thoughts, seriously.