• “What money comes out of the ATM?”
• “I was singing cume-bi-ya, singing and telling people that Jesus loves them and you were driving around in your car with the windows up smoking!”
• Going to the beach and looking at each other – one of us thinking we were swimming the other not wanting to
• “Sister Justine” being called a car-putt-ya”
• All of the people on our trip reminding us of others from a cousin, 2 friends, a neighbor, an lovely aunt, and a grandma
• Gelato every day. Every day. Lemon, raspberry, apricot, espresso were the best. We really didn’t find one we didn’t like. 😜
• The little narrow streets with cobblestones 
• All the winking Justine received. Mom didn’t get any. 😳
• Justine telling me to stop shopping. Mom you don’t need that. 
• Justine having an uncanny sense of direction while I lost mine. 
• All the phallic references: actual statues, paintings, Pompeii, key chains, pasta, underwear, oil bottles. 
• The not great wifi
• The accommodations. Always good, but pretty small, narrow, extra firm beds in Sorrrento. 
• Landing in Rome, then Naples, sailing to and around Capri, scenic driving to Amalfi, the sketchy drive back to Sorrento from Amalfi and meeting the garbage truck, the drive to Rome, flying home and being delayed. 
• Our uber cab driver in Naples. Was he just some guy wanting to make some money???
• Going on the mozzarella farm tour. Watching this lady make cheese, and sitting down with our tour mates and the meal being very quiet until the wine got poured. Jesse, Louis and Lenore from New Jersey were so fun. Jesse was a hoot and a half while his lil brother Louis was so quiet. 
• Meeting Nancy from New Orleans and Julie from Denver and becoming good buddies with them. 
• Checking “find my iPhone” and seeing where our family was – 2 on on one part of the world and the other 2 on a different side. 
• The heat. Sweating A LOT every day. Wearing everything I brought on this trip, except for rain jacket and long sleeve sweater. Rick Steeves packing list does work, but I’m happy I brought more shirts that he suggested. 
• Texting with Leah and feeling a connection with home when she was in Europe. 
• Thank goodness for FaceTime and texting. Staying in touch with home made it easier to be away from Allen and Carter (and Sophie and Magi)
• Spending over a week with my daughter. The best memory of it all. 

Today was our last day in Rome. We prepared for excessive heat and we were peasantry surprised with a cloudy day. Still warm, but at least it wasn’t bearing down on us like we had been warned about. We visited the Colisseum and the Roman Forum in the morning with a small bus tour following that. The amount of history here continues to amaze us. 

We returned to the hotel for lunch. Justine and I are going to go into gelato withdrawal next week as we are beginning to think that gelato is a meal all on its own. Today we found apricot, raspberry and the fave lemon. 

We went on a walking tour this afternoon to the Spanish Stepps, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon, which is always a favourite of mine. We have learned to appreciate our fellow travellers for all their gifts, questions, and need to shop. 😊

We finished today with a final group supper of pasta with carbonara sauce, veal (poor little calves😳) and tiramisu. Yum! 

The trip has been awesome and I appreciate the special adventures I was privileged to do with my daughter. Hope she doesn’t mind travelling with someone who doesn’t walk nearly as fast as she does. Justine always wore our step counter and some days would make us walk extra distances to hit her goal of at least 12000 steps. I feel like I’ve been on a “Workout Retreat with Justine”. Come on, Mom – let’s take the stairs is something I heard often. I love my girl and I’m very proud of the young woman she has grown into being – even if she makes me take a gazillion stairs when my ankles are already swollen to giant size. 

We begin our journey home tomorrow and are supposed to arrive in Regina around 6 pm. Ciao! 

Today we drove to Roma and left Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi and Capri. The temp is supposed to be 100 degrees today. 

• First stop en route is to a monastery in Montecassina.  When we arrived there, the “carpootias” were singled out  because of bare shoulders and bare thighs. Roughly translated, “the prostitutes”. OMG. My poor little Justine being called that!!  Anyways, all of the “inappropriate” ones received blue towels to wrap their shoulders and legs in to make it all ok. We zipped through the cathedral and museum. 
• Stopped for lunch of Itaian cuisine, in this order: bruschetta, pasta, wine, salad, and then French  fries. Even the Italian descendants sitting with us thought it was a little weird. 
• Arrived in Rome to a Best Western just done the street from the Colesseum. 

The Amalfi Coast: 

• breathtaking views
• We thought Hihhway 39 drivers were crazy. They have nothing on Italian drivers. Our driver is awesome. 
• The visit to Amalfi was interesting and hot. The highlight was definitely the drive there and back.  Due to the highway being closed, we were told to take a highway through the mountains on the way home. We were at a standoff on the small road with a garbage truck. There were a lot of Italian gestures going on with many drivers. Ménage is meaning “what the hell” said with a flourish of hands. 😊 We heard that many times by the drivers and the others on the bus. Some offered the olive oil they had purchased to help the situation. 

Very famous for nativity sets at Christmas just nestled in the side of the mountain 

Casino: in Italian this word means a total mess when something isn’t organized. 

Cars:  Fiat: fix it again tony

Tonight was our last night in Sorrento before leaving for Rome in the morning. We enjoyed an evening with two very nice ladies we have met here, Nancy from New Orleans and Julie from Denver. We toured around making last minute purchases before we say goodbye to this beautiful, quaint place with one more gelato purchase. 

Capri:  started the day with a ferry ride to the island of Capri. 
We have met quite a few people on our travel. Of course, I think everyone we have met looks like someone I know. Some we know by their real names, but some we just know by their assigned names by us 😊. We are the only Canadians and we are continually told by one family in particular that Trudeau is wonderful and that our Canadian recycling efforts show how much we love the environment as we take care of it. 

People watching is always fun. One thing I have observed is many men who cater to their wives making sure they are happy. To the extent, that I want to shake the women and tell them to grow up. Enjoy your friggin’ holiday in Italy!! 

Capri was good. We went on a boat ride around most of the island. The water was ridiculously blue and so cold. We took the funicular (fancy gondola) to the top and saw where some celebrities stay. Very beautiful but expensive. There was a Rolex store there just to give a sampling of the type of stores. Justine and I went back down and went to soak our feet in the cold Mediterranean Sea. So refreshing. My  ankles may be never return to their original size. Off to the Mozzarella Farm tour now. Just waiting on group and listening to Italian music in the background. 

Update: the Mozzarella farm was awesome. We got to see real live cows and geese. Not such a novelty to us, but for some a real highlight. They explained how they make olive oil and showed us how to make mozzarella cheese. We had a nice simple meal of caprese, pasta, and cake for dessert followed by two different kinds of lemonocello. Delicious!  We got to know our fellow travellers a bit more. They are so interesting! 

Tomorrow, the Amalfi Coast on the road named “Momma Mia”! 

Pompeii was the first thing on the agenda for the today. It is really quite amazing to think of a whole town disappearing under volcanic ash. It is even more amazing to think that people today still study all of that to explain what happened 2000 years ago. 

Today was good, but quite hot. Good thing we had lots of water to keep drinking. We also were introduced to sprumeta- fresh squeezed orange juice in Italy. So good. Other items we learned:

EU: 40% unemployment in Italy

Most Italian men live with moms until they get married. Mommas rule the roost. If you like a boy here, get to know his mom. If you get along with her, continue seeing the boy; if you don’t, bye bye boy. 
Food: Justine and I had supper on our own. We shared Caesar salad, gustosa pizza, and then j had pasta with meat sauce and I had risotto. Hmmm. Good. 

Lemons, lemons, lemons. Lemon cello. They are everywhere here and people like to give you a shot of it. Wherever. Whenever. They make all kinds stuff of with it: candies, liquor, cookies, and straight. 

Pomegranate juice freshly squeezed is another hit we have tried in Napoli. 

Sprumeta. Oj. Sprer-moo-ta

One more interesting tidbit. We watched a cameo making demo today and then went through the showroom to peruse their items. They had a conch seashell that a beautiful scene was carved into it and then the whole thing was made into a lamp. It was really cool and I thought of maybe trying to get one home- until I saw the price. 7200 euros.  Yikes!!!!  Two ladies from our group each bought one. Double yikes!! 

Today, we left Naples (or Napoli). We stopped to visit the largest palace in Europe – Caserta which is now a national museum. It was modelled after Versailles, has more than 1200 rooms, and is way to big for any one family. 

We traveled to Sorrento stopping for a majestic picture along the windy road. The little local guy selling lemon sorbet made a killing off of our bus. Fresh lemons are everywhere here and are so good. 

We faced the first of the Italian heat today at the castle. Good thing our room is air conditioned and a good thing  we packed appropriately. Winter jackets and boots are not needed in 30 degree heat with high humidity. They told us that the temp can get to 45 in August. The beach would need to be a must for those days. 

We are off to Pompeii tomorrow. Hopefully we get a good sleep in our tiny European twin beds tonight. Ciao!

Today we visited the National Archaelogical Museum of Napoli. Many interesting marble statues with many, many erotic statues and paintings. Wowsers! Those Romans enjoyed themselves with people and animals alike 😳. The one picture shows the phallic symbol that Romans would use to show others what protected their homes. We Canadians are so silly putting welcome mats out! 

We also found wine today. 4 bottles for 5 Euros. 
It is a very good thing that Justine is along with me as my sense of direction is non-existent here. She just knows where we need to go- I would be wandering aimlessly around if not for her. 

After almost 9 miles of walking, a wonderful Italian meal of gelato, olives, some weird rice, tomato and pea combination was washed down with a giant white wine. Awesome!! 
Naples was wonderful and we are off to Sorrento tomorrow! Ciao! 

Tonight our beds are going to feel great!  We have been up for 31 hrs with 1 or 2 little catnaps squeezed in. We met our group of 31 tonight. We are the only Canadians, but many of them have friends from Toronto 😊 and they think that Justin is a wonderful PM. I’m trying to be very diplomatic on that ridiculous topic. Very pleasant bunch with a wide variety of ages- Justine is not the youngest. We had appetizers of delicious morsels, pizza and some cake dessert. Now we sleep!