July 1-4
Our first destination was Cercemaggiore (CB), the town where my ancestors immigrated from. We stayed at La Dimora d'Isabella. Our plane landed in Rome. From the airport, we went to Rome's Termini train station. Before taking the train, we visited the Bascilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, where the first few photos were taken. The rest of the photos are from Cercemaggiore. Some are from the festival of the Madonna del Libera. some photos include the wonderful family we met there who gave us rides, invited us to their home for a meal, and helped us find our relatives.
Photos
July 4-7
Next we went to the Amalfi Coast. We stayed in Sorrento at Hotel Mignon Meublè. We swam in the Gulf every morning. One day we took the ferry along the stunningly beautiful Amalfi Coast and had dinner in La Torresaracena, a very fancy restaurant situated in a lookout tower in the gulf of Salerno.
Photos
July 7-11
Our final destination was The Eternal City: Rome. We stayed at City's House. We tried to take in as much as we could in our short stay here, including: the Pantheon, Piazza del Popolo, San Clemente (no photos allowed), Terme Caracalla, Piazza Navona, St. Peter's Bascilica, the Villa Borghese, and the Trevi Fountain. Of course we tossed a coin in the Trevi to ensure our return.
Photos
July 11-13
We arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. Ruth greeted me with an orange boa. The airport was overcome with "orange fever". We must have been the envy of football fans everywhere. Our room at A'Dam Good Stay was only a block or two away from Museumplein, where the World Cup was being broadcast live. Unfortunately, neither of us are football fans, so we headed in the opposite direction of the crowd, away from Museumplein, toward the Anne Frank house. As we walked, we began thinking how difficult it would be to get back to our room once the game was over and the crowd began to leave Museumplein, so we rearranged our plans and decided to just grab some refreshments and head back to our room for a good night sleep so we could pack as much into the next day as possible. The next morning we ventured a bit outside the city to the Molten Van Sloten windmill. The windmill wasn't operating due to the thunderstorms, but the operator showed us all the workings of the mill and a miniature model of how the windmills power the canals. Despite the storms, we took a canal cruise where the trademark architecture of Amsterdam can be viewed. Dam square looks better without scaffolding, but it was still mighty impressive. Everything else we did in Amsterdam couldn't be photographed (Anne Frank House, Amsterdam History Museum). The next day, before departing, we checked our luggage at the train station and visited the Dutch Resistance Museum. We had to cancel our plans for a canal cruise our last day because the canals were closed due to the parade to welcome the football team back to town.
Photos