another letter from Italy (21 aprile 2009)

ciao a tutti,

Already, just a week in Italy and we could fill a book.... we are
happy and well fed, and astounded. In short: posso parlare italiano!

Lake Como -- bellissima.... more beautiful than we expected, with
Swiss alps in view to the north, mountains all around, villages, ducks
(we named them Muck and Squawk)... Quiet, not too many stranieri like
us... felt like a true discovery.

Of course, getting off the train in Monterosso (CTerre) was a shock...
hordes, crowds, cohorts, whatever, pushing on, pushing off.... ouch. I
hated every second until we located our lovely albergo, got situated
and got hiking... many miles of coastal trails, and all the views,
flowers and German marchers complete with double hiking sticks you
could ever hope for.

At one point the local train was 2 hours late, and later we discovered
a woman had fallen or thrown herself on the tracks and was killed. One
death = two hour delay.

We are leaving here (Monterosso) a day early in order to walk through
Pisa and land for a day in Lucca before going to Firenze on the 23rd
for a week.

Italy -- I recommend it to all. Wonder why more people haven't heard
of this peninsula? It sits somewhere between Croatia and Africa.... I
do believe when more people hear about this country they'll want to
visit. They even have 25 variations on coffee!

abbracci... Joselyn and Tony