Christmas Italian Style

It's Tuesday morning and I still have no luggage.  Supposedly it is coming today, let's just say I am less than confident.  We do have a pool going so hopefully the pot doesn't raise.

The past couple of days have been a world wind.  On Sunday morning we woke up a little later than we wanted and we headed to the Abbey at Monte Cassino.  If you don't know the story of Monte Cassino, it is sad story.  On February 15, 1944 the Allied and German forces were locked in a battle at the Gustav line, which was a German stronghold preventing Allied access to Rome.  Since the Abbey sits on top of a mountain it was rumored that German troops were occupying it for the high vantage point.  Tha Allied forces decided to bombard the abbey with an air raid turning the structure to rubble.  It was later confirmed that only Italian refugees were in the church and perished in the rubble.  After the war the Italian State, with the aid of Allied resources, rebuilt the abbey to its original state.

Church at the Monte Cassino Abbey

It is an impressive build with some great architecture.  The vantage points give a great view of the Appenine Mountains.  Below the hill are several cemetaries of soldiers from other countries that perished in the battles around the hill.  The church inside is decorated with beautiful art,14 karat gold architecture and a nativity scene eight feet long.  The baseball orphans were left speechless at all "toys".

Following the trip we went to a restaurant for lunch/dinner.  We eventually had to get up and leave because they just kept bringing out food.  As we walked out, the chef was sad that we were leaving because he had more food to bring out to us.  Restaurant, Italian style.

On Monday, we took it easy.  We went to "Il Mercato".  It's a type of flea market/farmers market where it has been known that some high end products have "fallen of the truck".  There was a large crowd which reminded me of Disney World.  No Holds Barred.

Il Mercato in San Nicola La Strada

All in all, we are having a good time.  Tuesday's agenda has a trip to Naples and lunch at Presidente Pizzeria which has been made famous by a visit from President Clinton and the movie "Eat, Pray, Love".  Hopefully my bag comes today.  Daily laundry is getting old.

3D
If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.

Good Ol' Fashioned (Italian) Christmas

Greetings from Caserta, Italy.  This year the baseball widow and I decided to have, as Clark Griswold would say, "Good Old Fashioned Family Christmas", Italian Style.  My goal is to blog as much as I can, if not daily during our stay.  

You will be seeing this Sunday Morning, so the only thing that has happened is the travel to Italy and a reunion with Family members.  I would like to say that everything went off without a hitch, but that just doesn't happen to me during my travels.

I will preface this by saying that the staff at Alitalia is great and have always been good to me.  To be quite honest it was a great trip.  When the baseball orphans first saw the airplane at Logan, they couldn't hold their excitement. Our flight path took us from Boston to Rome to Naples.  Rome seemed to be the problem.  We arrived in Rome and the only way I could describe the airport organization was "a cluster".  The security line had roughly two thousand people, three lines and zero organization.  It was a free for all until you got to the front.  Then the airline changed our gates four times during our layover, which was about two hours.

We finally boarded our connecting flight to Naples and we sat on the tarmac for an hour while they finalized the baggages on the plane.  Then we took the connection and arrived in Naples roughly thirty minutes late.  No big deal.  The big deal was that all but one bag arrived from Rome and it was yours truly.  Didn't they take extra time to square that away??  I have traveled to Italy nine times in my life and five of those times a bag has not arrived on time and once, not at all.  I was prepared because of experience, so it wasn't a completely awful.  Just annoying.

The reunion with the family was great and they almost literally ate up the baseball orphans.  You can image the feast that was waiting for us, twice when we arrived.  This is going to be a great trip and I look forward to sharing this with you.  As of Sunday Morning (Italy time) Rome airport still had my bag.  I think the online auction is Monday, I will keep you posted.

I want to apologize for any spelling errors, my spell check is in Italian.

3D

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.

 

It Never Gets Old! Thank a Vet!

Greetings from Guadalajara, Mexico.  The 9 to 5 has sent me for this week so I will be posting abroad.  I am keeping up with tradition and posting a public thank you to military personnel that I have been lucky to come to know over the years.  Some people say that my appreciation to the military is sometimes over the top, my response that is "No it is not!, I can't thank them enough"

Our military deserves our support, right wrong, or indifferent.  These brave men and women volunteer to take a job to defend this great nation.  They should be commended, not condemned.  That is all I have to say about the respect our military deserves, because most Americans feel the same way I do.  As I normally do each year I want to thank these specific individuals for their service and everything they have done for this country.  This year I am adding a dear friend, Christopher Lyness.  He just returned from his tech school with the Air National Guard and is currently stationed on Cape Cod.  If you would like to add someone to my annual list please drop me a message, I would love to honor them

Christopher Lyness - Air Force National Guard
Timothy MacCartney Sr. - United States Army
Timothy MacCartney Jr. - United States Army
Ron Scarborough Sr. - United States Air Force
Michael Scarborough - United States Air Force
Ron Scarborough Jr. - United States Marine Corp
Derek Gordon - United States Marine Corp.
Cary MacCartney - United States Army
Craig Tomanini - United States Army
Jill Murray Wildt - United States Marine Corp.
Sam Wildt - United States Navy
Don Mason - United States Army
Eric Catalanotti - United States Army
Robert Catalanotti - United States Army
Justin LaMonda - United States Marine Corp.
Denny Brigley - United States Army
John Finneron - United States Army - P.O.W. World War II
David Layman - United States Navy
Dan Thibodeau - United States Marine Corp.
Kim-Cameron King - United States Marine Corp.
Mary McCue - United States Marine Corp.
Rusty Williamson - United States Navy
Nick Fortunato - United States Navy
Paul Dell'ovo - United States Air Force
Paul Vigneault - United States Navy
DJ Gentile - United States Coast Guard
Glenn Peacock - United States Coast Guard

Thank you!

3D
If you don't take it from me, ask my wife