We're excited to share our 'Heart of Italy Tour' with you,
but first meet our family and our Rick Steves traveling group…
You can click on many photos on this website to view an enlarged version.
Here's our family…
Please meet our son Jake (on left) and our daughter-in-law Jennifer who live in Columbus, Ohio. We are Bruce and Kathy Muszynski (on the right) and we call Green Bay, Wisconsin "home." This was the first time the four of us could vacation together and catch up for lost family time. Dr. Jenn has been busy for the last decade or so in medical school, residency and fellowship training, having recently started her first "real job" at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus. Our 2011 Italian vacation had been a much anticipated reward for Jenn's hard work and a long-awaited vacation for our entire family.
Bruce and I had been to Europe previously with other tour companies, and we had suggested this Rick Steves "Heart of Italy" tour to the kids. We had seen most, if not all, of Rick's "Europe" shows on PBS and were anxious to experience Europe — especially the Italian culture — like a local.
This tour exceeded even our lofty expectations. No false advertising. You received exactly what was promised (including tiny hotel shower stalls, lots of walking and stairs to climb). While sharing colorful photos and glowing commentary may be helpful to others planning a trip, they can't capture the essence of a Rick Steves tour… you must experience it for yourself, to see how different it is, as compared to other tours. Only by doing so can you understand what a rich, life-enhancing experience European travel can be.
Our Rick Steves tour ran from July 16 - July 24, 2011 and included visits to the beautiful cities of Florence, the Cinque Terre villages (only a few months before the disastrous floods), the Tuscany region (Lucca & Volterra), Rome and even more! (a side trip to the Amalfi coast for Bruce and Kathy once the tour was over)
Meet our Rick Steves traveling group…
As you can see below, it was a good mix of young, middle-age and some not-so-young, but "young at heart" people like us. I thought Jake and Jenn might not have anyone their age to mingle with… this was definitely not the case, as there were plenty of 20 and 30-somethings in the group. People hailed from all parts of the U.S., and there was even one young lady from Germany. There were some single travelers, couples, friends traveling together — just a nice group of people who wanted to experience Italy "through the back door" and have a great time doing so.
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Please meet our son Jake (on left) and our daughter-in-law Jennifer who live in Columbus, Ohio. We are Bruce and Kathy Muszynski (on the right) and we call Green Bay, Wisconsin "home." This was the first time the four of us could vacation together and catch up for lost family time. Dr. Jenn has been busy for the last decade or so in medical school, residency and fellowship training, having recently started her first "real job" at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus. Our 2011 Italian vacation had been a much anticipated reward for Jenn's hard work and a long-awaited vacation for our entire family.
Bruce and I had been to Europe previously with other tour companies, and we had suggested this Rick Steves "Heart of Italy" tour to the kids. We had seen most, if not all, of Rick's "Europe" shows on PBS and were anxious to experience Europe — especially the Italian culture — like a local.
This tour exceeded even our lofty expectations. No false advertising. You received exactly what was promised (including tiny hotel shower stalls, lots of walking and stairs to climb). While sharing colorful photos and glowing commentary may be helpful to others planning a trip, they can't capture the essence of a Rick Steves tour… you must experience it for yourself, to see how different it is, as compared to other tours. Only by doing so can you understand what a rich, life-enhancing experience European travel can be.
Our Rick Steves tour ran from July 16 - July 24, 2011 and included visits to the beautiful cities of Florence, the Cinque Terre villages (only a few months before the disastrous floods), the Tuscany region (Lucca & Volterra), Rome and even more! (a side trip to the Amalfi coast for Bruce and Kathy once the tour was over)
Meet our Rick Steves traveling group…
As you can see below, it was a good mix of young, middle-age and some not-so-young, but "young at heart" people like us. I thought Jake and Jenn might not have anyone their age to mingle with… this was definitely not the case, as there were plenty of 20 and 30-somethings in the group. People hailed from all parts of the U.S., and there was even one young lady from Germany. There were some single travelers, couples, friends traveling together — just a nice group of people who wanted to experience Italy "through the back door" and have a great time doing so.
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Although we started our trip as a group of "strangers," we parted nine days later as "friends" — having shared an amazing travel experience through the heart of Italy.
Eat, play, live!
Nothing quite compares to what Italy has to tempt the hungry tourist.
_We will apologize in advance for overloading this website with so many photos of outstanding food! We just couldn’t help it! Our motto for this trip was "Eat, play, live" and we didn't worry too much about calorie counts or portion control (although Italians are much better at portion control than we are). Authentic pizza, great gelato, fresh seafood, homemade pasta, local wines and much more… we had wonderful food and dining experiences that nurtured both body and soul…nothing quite compares to what Italy has to tempt the hungry tourist!
In search of perfect pizza…
Speaking of pizza, we sampled pizza in every spot we visited before selecting our favorite…was it found in Florence, Rome, Tuscany or perhaps the birthplace of pizza, Naples? You will have to read on to learn which Italian city, town or village is our self-proclaimed winner of our "Perfect Pizza" award.
In search of perfect pizza…
Speaking of pizza, we sampled pizza in every spot we visited before selecting our favorite…was it found in Florence, Rome, Tuscany or perhaps the birthplace of pizza, Naples? You will have to read on to learn which Italian city, town or village is our self-proclaimed winner of our "Perfect Pizza" award.