Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year in Palermo and had a great time. They had a fun Italian rock band in the main city square, along with lots of vendors selling bottles of champagne and firecrackers going off everwhere all the time. New Year's Eve was one time we were glad to be wearing our frighteningly un-stylish raincoats because at midnight everyone in the square popped their champangne corks and we all got drenched. Most of the locals had umbrellas.

The next night we took an overnight ferry from Palermo to Napoli. They actually made us get off the boat at 6:30am so by 6:45 the two of us were wandering around the Napoli dockyard in the dark (seems everyone else arranged to be picked up). We made our way to the Circumvesuvio train station, which will be our primary means of transportation for the next week because it links Napoli, Sorrento, and Pompei and is very inexpensive. By 9am we had dropped off our packs at our B&B and were sitting in a cafe in downtown Sorrento drinking glorious cappuccinos (how we survived without daily cappuccino for the past 25 years is a true mystery). Sorrento is an absolutely wonderful, beautiful place. Highly recommended. We are staying at a cooking school called Mami Camilla that also provides some accomodations. It's lovely. We would have liked to take a day of cooking classes but they're a bit pricey so we'll have to make due with eating the meals prepared by the cooking classes - also a bit pricey but reputed to be worth it.

Yesterday we spent the day at Pompei which is so fascinating. The most remarkable thing about the city, compared to other archaeological sites we've seen, is how enormous it is. We spent four hours walking around there and probably saw less than half, and that is only of the 12 acres currently open to the public! There are over 30 acres not open for touring because they're still being excavated. It's amazing to see how well people really lived 2000 years ago - big multi-story houses, apartments for rent, shops and restaurants of all kinds, sewage systems and fresh drinking water, wide sidewalks, spaces for recreation and performance. Incredible!

Today we're headed back to Napoli for the day to visit the archaeological museum where they have all of the artwork and objects excavated from Pompei and hopefully to eat some delicious pizza since that's where it was invented!

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Sicilia

We arrived in Palermo at 1am this morning and have just enjoyed our first day in Sicilia. The city is wonderful; old, warm, scuffed, and colorful like no other place we've been. The streets are narrow and noisy, the sidewalks and bars are crowded, and everything is a magical mixture of Greek and Arab-influenced architecture against a dramatic backdrop of green mountains falling directly into the ocean, leaving just enough room between them for a cheerily busy city. Today we walked through the biggest street market we've ever seen, complete with leather boots, massive cross-sectioned swordfish, fresh canolis, and table after table of firecrackers. These endearing toys go off, without exaggeration, about once every five minutes throughout the city, bringing to mind mafioso shootouts that could just as easily be happening down the next block.

In short, every aspect of what it means to be "Italian" thrives and jostles around every corner in this city, but with such a relaxed small-community feeling that it is much more enjoyable and memorable (not to say amusing) than anywhere else. It is as if one day thousands of years ago, everything that makes "the Boot" Italian hopped lightly across the water and squeezed onto the tiny island of Sicilia, leaving behind only that charming Roman vanity (apparently couldn't jump in stilettos), and has remained there ever since, joyfully condensed and crowded and blissfully unaware of the existence of any other way of life.

We had delicious pizza for dinner and are back at our lovely hotel for the night, eagerly awaiting tomorrow's New Year's Eve festivities. Thank you again Pete and Drew for the accomodations!
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Congratulations to the Hotalings!!!

Congratulations to our wonderful friends Drew and Jess on the birth of Calla!!!!! We are so happy for you and can't wait to meet our little god-daughter!!!!
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