Plan B

After a week and a half on the rails, we've decided to adjust our itinierary for our next few weeks. Rachel prefers smaller towns to big cities and I'm eager to go to a few places where I've never been before. At the suggestion of Alberto, a well-traveled Italian whose aquaintance we made in Granada, we've decided to add Carcassone (France) and a series of small towns between Siena and Florence to our docket. In order to make time for this, we've decided not to go to Rome. We were originally going to spend Christmas there, but we realized that most of the museums and attractions we wanted to visit would be closed for the holiday. Rachel is less interested in the history and Roman Catholic stuff there, and I would really need more than just two days to do it right. I have been to Rome before, so I am willing to bypass it this time. Instead, we will be spending Christmas in Assisi, home of Saints Francis and Clare. We've splurged on a hotel and I think it will be the perfect way to spend the holiday.