No Playoffs

Last week Drake was on the road for five days. Unfortunately they lost both games against Siena and Pesaro, but fortunately that means we will be in our house and closer to all of you in two weeks, because we won't be making the playoffs. Thought you would enjoy a picture of Drake sporting a headband for his game against Pesaro (He had a head on head collision, and wore it to stop the bleeding). Couldn't find the best shot, but you get the idea.

Mom and Dad Visit (Part 3)

The final part of my parents trip, was what I was looking forward to the most. We were warned by the locals in Avellino that the last place you want to be on the "Holy Weekend" (Easter Weekend) is Rome, but my mom and I had our hearts set on going. Friday we dropped Drake off for his road trip to Udine and we hit the autostrada for Rome. Mom of course wanted to get as many tours in as possible, and decided that a personal tour guide was the way to go. I personally loved it. Having a tour guide helped us see as much as possible with the big crowds and limited time. Anyways, Kadi (our tour guide), was waiting for us at our hotel when we arrived in Rome and we were off right away to see 1/2 of the Vatican. Here is mom with our tour guide Kadi in the Vatican museum. Side note- I was excited to learn that Kadi was originally from Ohio, moved to Italy to study art history at the age of 17. She made me feel so unintelligent, she knew SO much, I would love to have spent more time with her.

Me and Dad with St. Peter's Dome in the background in Vatican City.

I was impressed with this HUGE bathtub. No lie this was an emperor's bathtub.

Mom and Dad in the hallway leading into the Sistine Chapel.

After our tour we found a bar with great food during happy hour.

The next morning we got an early start in an attempt to beat the crowd at St. Peter's Basilica. Of everything we saw in Rome St. Peter's was my favorite. It took about 140 years to complete, mostly because once an architect died, a new architect would completely draw up new plans, tear down everything and start over. Inside was amazing. Us in Piazza Novana, the most popular Piazza in Rome

In front of the Pantheon Inside the Pantheon

Next we were off to the Roman Forum

Then the Coloseum, which was very crowded

I know this is kind of nasty, but Kadi pointed this out to us. Outside this particular exit from the Coloseum was a brothel. If you look closely you can see an advertisement for it.


And finally Trevi Fountain
Tradition is if you throw a coin over your shoulder you will come back to Rome someday.

Another restauraunt! We got to see the chefs cook are meal through that window next to us.

Next morning was Easter. Here we are on a bridge on the Tiber River. After taking a little walk, we drove back to Avellino to celebrate with Drake.

The next day was bad weather, and the most popular travel day of the year here in Italy. We decided to skip the busy roads and go up the mountain in our backyard. There is a train that goes to the top of the mountain here in Avellino in only 7 minutes. The man operating the train asked me to help drive the train up, here I am pretending I am doing just that.
At the top of the mountain the weather was absolutely horrible. This picture is hilarious to me, we only ended up staying for about 20 minutes.

Normally there is a little market up there, not this particular day

Inside the cathedral at the top of the mountain.
On our way back down
Dinner at a pizzeria
That concludes my parents trip!

Mom and Dad Visit (Part 2)

The day following Pompeii, Drake was back to work, and we were off to the Amalfi Coast.

I loved Positano so much, I wanted to show my parents the cute little town I fell in love with. The Italian books refer to Positano as a "Vertical Village," it was built right on the side of a mountain, Dad didn't think that part was so cute. It is a lot of steep walking. Our first stop for the day was in Sorrento. We didn't spend too much time, but we got to see some beautiful views and of course some gelato.

Mom and Dad were impressed with the size of lemons as well. A cute little fruit and vegetable market.

That night in Positano, we got Dad to walk to the bottom of the village, right on the waterfront. We had a nice meal at Bacca di Bucca. I liked the name of that restauraunt.

Doesn't this picture look familiar? Mom with Positano behind her.

Mom got homemade Positano sandals from this shop.

After spending a few early hours in Positano, we were on the road for some beautiful sights and

on our way to Amalfi. The scenery doesn't get any better than the Amalfi Coast.

This picture should look familiar as well, the Amalfi Duomo. Can you see mom and dad?

This time in Amalfi I got to spend some more time checking out their Duomo. I now understand why the coast is named after this city. Amalfi once was a major city (empire) in southern Italy, even comparable to Rome at one time. This Duomo was were they eventually buried the Apostle Andrew. Here we are inside, not the best picture without a flash.

Remember my last blog where I was saying I would hate to drive on the small, curvy, roads on the coast. Well I got the chance to be the driver this time around, and I have to say I did an outstanding job. Only got so scared that I had to close my eyes about twice!

Our last stop was Cetara. Dad was so surprised at seeing groups of grown men standing around, relaxing, in the middle of a work day. Here he is trying to fit in.

This upcoming week, Drake will be on the road from Tuesday to Sunday. I am planning on coming back to Cetara to this beach. It was a cute and quiet little fishing village. I really liked it.

Okay, so the next day Drake only had morning practice so we had the rest of the day to go somewhere. Drake had gone with his parents to a huge palace in Caserta, and had been wanting to go back to see the extensive gardens in the back. That is where we decided to go. Here are mom and dad making there way up the grand staircase.
Drake was the photographer and I was the tourguide. I had to read about each room we went into.

This palace was amazing. Kind of gaudy (sp?) but very impressive. The ceilings were so cool to look at. Each room was so unique. My neck hurt the next day, as you can understand I'm sure.

Nice family picture I think.

In front of the grand staircase.

Look familiar to anyone? This is such a funny story. When Drake went to this Palace with his parents the last time, his dad was very interested by this chandelier. He was able to reach up and touch it, when he did, Drake's mom said, "see if you can move it." So Dick pushed it a little bit and had the whole thing swaying back and forth for a half hour. A woman came running into the room and scolded him, saying "how old are you?" in Italian. Sad I missed that moment.
Outside the gardens went on and on. They were different than I thought they would be. I was expecting lots of flowers like the pictures I have seen of Versailles. My favorite was the huge waterfall emptying into the fountains that led to the palace. The fountains had lots of fish in them. Made us think of Derek. Had the urge to go fishing.

We were getting misted in this picture.
Okay so that is it for part 2. Ciao to everyone!