Coasting back to the US...

We left this morning with many tears.  It made it so much harder that everyone was so kind!  Everyone, that is, except for Tatiana.  She complained about the fact that I hadn't done the laundry.  "The laundry" being the towels that we used this morning to shower and the sheets in which we slept.  How I was to have completed that -- given that a load takes 2 hours and we DON'T have a dryer (!) -- is beyond me.

But back to the nice people.  We had a few relaxing moments with Ilian and Elizabet on their upper terrace.  They are so sweet!  On the way over, I came across a band (cute uniforms, again!) getting ready to start a march.

Band in cute uniforms

Ilian and my dad

Elizabet

My mother & Eleanor

The view from Ilian & Elizabet's terrace

Not a bad view, huh?

Then we went to Mass at the Duomo for the last rites (well, in that church, anyway).  Maria was her darling self in the choir loft, and we were awful because our regular choir director wasn't there and hadn't left the music for the substitute organist to sight read.  So we sang any hymn whose music he could find, despite the fact that none of us knew the songs.  Oh, and half the choir was missing, including Will, our baritone.  In a way it was better:  if we'd sung our usual hymns in the gorgeous way we generally manage, I would have completely fallen apart.  As it was, I was undone during the sign of peace.

Goodbye to Benedetta and Magherita in the Piazza.  All these tourists were wandering around, no doubt wondering why the family was all crying.

And then goodbye to Massimo.  And Cristina.  And Tiziana.  Can you believe it?  They'd made a tart especially for us.  And they gave a discount on the pizza besides.  They were so incredibly kind.  We miss them terribly, and they're only a few hours from us.

Massimo's tart -- it's "amarena": a type of sour cherry

Now we're in a little town called Torca on the coast near Sorrento, in this beautiful house that my parents rented.  It has a really bright, Portuguese-type tiles on the floor, bright white walls, and blue accents.  It's very tropical and pretty.  We'll be staying here on the coast for about a week:  Friday we return to Rome (near the airport), and we'll leave the next morning for Atlanta.

Floor tiles

View from the house in Torca

View of the house in Torca

Love,

Alexandra