The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane at Gatwick was the sign asking me “Please, do not assault the airport staff”. Then I saw all the signs and I was a child again. The rules were back, everything was regulated. I needed to be told when to cross the street, where [...]

Napoli is a dirty, chaotic, medieval city fashioned of black stone. It was quite a contrast from Roma. The crazy traffic and street culture immediately reminded us of Asia. The instant we arrived we loved it. People’s dress is creative and casual. Everyone was lazy and easygoing. Cars and motorcycles whiz along the narrow pre-christian [...]

Rome is a big city that’s a lot like other modern cities except it has great historic rubble scattered throughout it. Everywhere you go you bump into some two thousand year old wall or temple. We had the misfortune to arrive the weekend of Teresa’s beatification so Rome was packed with the world’s faithful. The [...]

As we traveled from the coast into Tuscany, the trees sprouted thin trunks and tiny tufted tops. The little alps of central Italy sprung up around the postcard villages and vineyards. Looking out the train windows, Mandy noticed that Italy is all agriculture, with little wilderness. Florence, for some reason, is crawling with stray cats. [...]

We took a train over to the Cinque Terra area on the west coast of Italy. Luckily for us, we got caught in a train workers strike. There’s always a strike somewhere in Italy. So we got trapped in this little town away from where we wanted to be. We spent a night in a [...]