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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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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Merry Christmas!

Reporting live from Starbucks in Barcelona, where we are celebrating our holiday amid mocha praline lattes, familiar red Starbucks holiday cups, and American Christmas music (currently Elvis, Blue Christmas).

Thinking of and missing you all - hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday!

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