Oh my God!!

E: I think we should have taken the chopper instead

M: This is about ten times worse than I imagined. Stupid Hogwarts train.

E: Not only does the old woman look a lot like the Mom on Everybody Loves Raymond but she is by far the most pissed off. I hope there's a rumble between her and the family soon. Could you tell the little girl to stop touching me/taking my seat and the teen, tell her to pull her pants up.
PS I hope the diaper gets changed soon

M: Ray's mom was ticked about the packs. She thinks they're going to fall. I hope they do. She's not related to the family, right? Just an unfortunate bystander? These people are gross. She was asking the little girl whether she pooped and they're eating so loud. Disgusting. They're probably going to buy junk from every sketch vendor on the train. I can't really imagine how this would be worse unless they each had an extra 200 pounds.

M: Ok my loyalties have changed. I am aligning myself with Ray's mom. What did you think of the whole window debacle? That woman next to you is unbelievably rude; an ogress. Why must the teenager sing?? And she talks SO loud, even though our faces are all only a blessed 2 feet apart. The other lady is just bizarre. When do you think they're getting off? Also, what do you think the chances are that the bathroom is actually useable?

E: True the woman is rude but at least she's not passive aggressive. I honestly don't like them all. I would have to say that I would choose Ray's Mom as the best passenger. It's just that the annoyingness of her personality comes out (understandably) because of the gross family. Is the weird one with the pooped handed child expecting another loud crazy child? Did you catch the wiff of fecal matter when the window thing was going on? Hopefully they will get off in the very near future. PS tell teen brat that whatever she's laughing at is not funny. And please tell them all to pipe down.

M: I pray to god that's chocolate on her hand...

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Southern Italy

We have had a great past week in southern Italy. We visited Napoli for a day on Friday, then took the spectacular (and death-defying) bus ride along the Amalfi Coast on Saturday. Sunday we bar-hopped all day; coffee bars, that is. It was a drizzly day (as so many have been lately) and we had no agenda and little cash, so we spent the entire day traipsing from bar to bar, downing cappuccinos, and people-watching. It was quite a nice day.

Monday was our 10-year anniversary of the day we started dating (!) and Tuesday our 4-month wedding anniversary. We celebrated by spending those days on the enchanting island of Capri. We stayed at a B&B in Anacapri, the western side of the island, which is at a higher elevation so has amazing views of Capri, the Mediterranean, and the mainland coast. We visited an old monastery, an enormous natural arch (very neat), and some lookout points and Tuesday we did a long hike along the entire west coast of the island. Just beautiful.

Today we are en route to Taormina, Sicily where we will be house-sitting until early February. The train ride from Naples has been excrutiating due to the fact that we've been crammed six-seat train compartment with possibly the rudest and most repulsive family Italy has to offer. THREE of the seats in our compartment have been occupied by this family of FIVE (yes, that's correct). Two obese mothers, a teenage girl, two kids under 4. The mothers openly talk about us and even point and laugh, and don't flinch from the most pointed glare. The teenager was singing at the top of her voice and actually got spit on us. They were hitting and yelling at the kids the whole time and put the window down even though the elderly woman also in our car said she was too cold and asked them to close it. The more obese woman has been laying back with her feet up on the opposite seat and her stomach exposed. They were all eating chips and candy and leaving the wrappers on the floor. And this is within a compartment approximately seven feet long by six feet wide. Luckily they got off a while back, leaving behind lots of trash and an unpleasant odor. We'll post a transcript of our email conversation for your enjoyment.

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Do you smell something?

We were wondering about all the trash on the streets in Sorrento (in Campania, same district as Naples)...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22541976/
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