My Honeymoon in Italy

Once we got on the plane, everything was gravy. We landed in Milan, caught a plane to Rome, and then caught a train to Naples. In Naples, we were supposed to switch trains to go to our first destination, the seaside town of Agropoli.

Now, I had allowed 45 minutes between trains when I bought the tickets, but it really should have been longer. Our train was late, and when we got there, the train to Agropoli was gone. And nobody in the train station spoke English very well. Time to try out my Italian-which, as it turns out, was not that great.

We finally got a ticket on the correct train going to Agropoli, where we were greeted by our host, the owner of the Agropoli Villa hotel.

Luigi introduced us to Italian driving. They drive fast!

I wish we had gotten to spend more time there...since we got a late start, we really only had time to see Pompeii.

Our next stop was the little hilltop town of Lanciole, about 30 minutes away from Florence.

We were supposed to meet our host's cousin, Paola, at the train station. However, we got off the train and couldn't find anyone. I had her cell phone, but the pay phones were broken.

There was a working pay phone in a pizzeria, but I couldn't figure out how to dial the number correctly. You wouldn't think something so simple could be so hard, would you? I finally managed to call a cab (not sure how I accomplished that) and we continued on to Lanciole.

When we got to Lanciole, the first people we saw were an older lady and a little girl. Fortunately, they were amused rather than offended by inadequate Italian, and were able to call our hostess. We stayed in a restored farmhouse, and our hostess, Gloria, bought us dinner the first night at a local pizzeria in the tiny mountain town.

After it got dark, the pizzeria turned into a dance club. They had lights, a dance floor, and everything. We were exhausted though-no dancing for us.

With Gloria and Paola looking out for us, the rest of the trip went pretty well. We got introduced to another couple from England who were also on honeymoon. We went to see Florence and Lucca, and explored the woods and other towns around Lanciole. And of course, we had gelato. Lots and lots of gelato.