Fri. – May 20th – Day 1 – Overnight flight from Los Angeles – My wife has been planning this trip for sometime. I am a good husband and stay out of her way. I am up for anything as my wife is, and we plan our trips accordingly.

We are avid walkers, both having physically demanding jobs, and are in good shape for the most part.

As I have mentioned before, my wife lived in Italy during her “Navy days” and consequently, has seen many parts of the beautiful country. This is my first trip here.

My wife was 18 when she lived here, so many of her adventures are best left to one’s imagination and for my part, un examined.

It is a country with a fine train system and the size of Italy makes it easy to explore. My wife lived in Naples during her stint there. It is not a town that not many tourists venture into. It is a working class town with some history.

My wife can pass for a local and many people spoke Italian to her when she lived there and even now as we visit. She learned some of the language, but she being a sailor, you know the ones she most often used. Just kidding.

Italy is a country with many pleasant aspects and some dark ones as well. It is full of history and culture. The ancient buildings are on a scale that is hard to imagine when you think of when they were built.

Please just remember what you saw when you were there and remind yourself of the tools and skills that they had at hand. They were remarkable builders and artisans.

I am now on Facebook at R.C. Hand.