In Italy

We departed to Amsterdam as usual from Minneapolis, stuck between a woman so large I thought her seat would break loose from the floor each time she collapsed into it and a man who probably last flew when planes had propellers! This fellow needed to narrate every phase of the flight to his poor wife. Eventually we arrived in Amsterdam and boarded an Alitalia flight down to Rome. My spirits brightened considerably as we entered the plane and heard the familiar sounds of the Italian language. In flight, the entertainment system showed a recap of the World Superbike roadracing season (Italy's Ducati is a major player here) as we cruised along. I was truly going "home" where so many of the things I like are commonplace, like the wonderful cappuccino pictured above. The nice lady at the rental desk searched her fleet for a diesel Fiat Panda to save us some money on fuel (diesel is about $8 per gallon here!) and we were soon on our way up the coast towards Viterbo under pink "cotton candy" clouds. It was truly dark as we arrived to meet our host who had the keys for our tiny vacation apartment. After a quick review of how things worked we headed off for a pizza and beer before collapsing into bed.