Looking forward to a gastronomic adventure!

Well, I'm putting the finishing touches on the Italy portion of the trip (I leave in 8 days, so time is of the essence!) and I must say that I am truly looking forward to the food and the art. I can't believe that in just over a week I will be in Rome, throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain ... and looking at the Arch of Titus, the Vatican, the Colosseum ... In less than two weeks I will be strolling through the Uffizi Gallery, saying "sup" to David, standing inside Duomo ... and in roughly two weeks I'll be riding in a gondola with Ellie and some of her friends from the UNC program in London through the canals of Venice ...

After Venice I am still debating what to do. My gut (which is currently informing me that I have had nothing but a bowl of onion soup today ... ) would love to spend the remaining 5 days roaming around Emilio-Romagno (home to Bologna, Parma, and Modena!) simply eating and drinking. I DO want to see Milan (and briefly entertained spending an INSANE amount of money seeing an opera at La Scala), but I think that two days there will be PLENTY of time to see La Scala, The Last Supper, Duomo (yes, there is more than one in Italy :P), and Museo d'Arte Antica). Especially since one can only spend 15 minutes with The Last Supper and those 15 minutes must be part of a larger tour ...)

I'm thinking that going from Venice to Bologna, spending a day in Bologna (home of pasta bolognese), then going on to Modena the next day, having lunch and the afternoon in Modena (the home of balsamic vinegar) and then having dinner in Parma (parmesean cheese, anyone?) and either staying in Parma for the evening and moving on to Milan the next morning OR taking a train to Milan that evening (it's only a 45 minute train from Bologna to Modena, and another 30 minutes to Parma; it's an 1 1/4 hours to Milan) ... I'm open to suggestions here.

Well, this food-centric blog post has not helped my hunger any ... so I'm off to grab some dinner SOMEWHERE in Jerusalem ... more musings on Italy, Paris and beyond later!