Today's 'tour' isn't really a tour. Essentially, its just us and a driver who's taking us to Lucca and Pisa. Mateo I, because tomorrow is Mateo II, is very nice and knowledgeable. (No, I really don't say that about every guide we had; wait til tomorrow.) While driving we talk and I mention my daily, one way 40 mile commute. He swears in Italian. Later on, I'll mention I grew up in RI which has a high population of Italian immigrants s...

This was an early friggin morning! Pick up outside the hotel at 4:45am. 4 : 45 in the morning!!!!! Aaargh!! The things I do for the kids. Of course, when asked months ago,"Want to go on a balloon ride? It means getting up early?" they both said sure. This morning they weren't so sure. We took off just outside of the walled city monteriggioni, between Firenza and Sienna. Yes, it was early and a bit chilly and the pilot didn't speak English but it was ver...

So we get to the hotel uneventfully and they have a bar that opens at 4pm. What more do you need for a good day? Although, I think I was a bit tired and confused the proprietors a bit. We check in and they obviously speak Italian. I answered them in French and Greek. Yup, I was tired and they got confused. Either way, we got to what would be they nicest room on the trip and we had our own courtyard to boot. Chris and Todd arrive about an hour behind us so we ave...

Because of the heavy traffic on the way to Positano, we decide to leave a little early to get to the train station. Great idea, except we really didn't need the time and we got to the station 1.5 hours before our train was scheduled to leave. I guess flying has scarred us. NOTE: 20 minutes tops is all you need to be there early if you have your tickets. All you do is get on the train with your luggage and sit in your seat; just like the ferries in Greece, exc...

A 8:00 am flight from Catania mean leave the hotel at 6am. After hiking on Etna the day before, no one is too thrilled with this, but what ya gonna do? Uneventfully, we go to the airport to catch our flight to Napoli. Since Pompeii is between Napoli and Positano it makes sense to see that on our way. We stop and get a guide to take us through the ruins. As interesting as it is, we were definite reaching our saturation point. I mean, two weeks of go, go, go and ...