Italy 2012, and My Unexpected Visit With the Italian Health Care System

I taught my annual workshop for Il' Chiostro,  in San Fedele, Tuscany, Italy, June 8 - 15, 2012.  My husband, John, accompanied me the week preceding the workshop and we spent our first few days in my favorite place in Italy, the Cinque Terre, along the Meditteranean. 

We stayed in Manarola, but we spent a lot of time in Vernazza, which was flooded last year.  There's still a lot of damage in Vernazza, and there are construction workers everywhere.  We were astounded by the amount of destruction still apparent in Vernazza,  but many people are involved in reconstructing the village and re-opening it for the residents and the tourists.  Please go to Vernazza if you are in Italy and spend some money there to help this beautiful town.

Here are some pictures of Manarolo, where John and I stayed along the water.  We had our most memorable meal at "Billy's Trattoria" at the very top of the cliffs.... the most deliciously prepared fish, succulent, flaky, fresh and tender.

The day we were leaving Manarola for Florence, my husband began thinking he had a detached retina.  We took the train to Florence, and he rested overnight.  The next morning, we decided we had an emergency on our hands.  Thus began a sage of stress, waiting, long phone calls to the states and some life altering decision making.....