Roma [Rome], Latium (Italy)

A long day, but really memorable (Nicky will say infamous!)... We woke up early, checked out of the Titino Green Park Hotel and drove down to Avellino so I could visit the city archives. Vincenzo always said that he was from "la citta, no la provincia," so we were certain that we were in the right place. A nice lady told us (in English) where to go to find the records - and she was very helpful in describing the city as it looked in the early 20th Century. There have been several earthquakes since then, so things are really different. When we were finally in the archives, I showed an old lady my genealogy (names and birth years listed). She didn't speak English but knowingly smiled and went over to a huge book case (10 feet tall) and climbed up a ladder until she came back with a huge, dusty book. She opened it up and pointed - there was my whole family! I had but to copy and bask in the glow of good record keeping. Lots of new information - it was great to see how the old town clerks kept track of where everyone lived and when they emigrated to the US. We left around noon and explored the city streets - including the one with the Ippolito's parish. We drove up to a mountain nearby called Montevergine. It got really cold and windy up there (our car had a temperature guage)... In fact, it was nearly impossible to get into the shrine to the Mountain Virgin up there since there was so much snow. A priest gave us some good icons that were blessed there - gifts for Grammy. I have a feeling that her dad was thinking of her when he named her Virginia... We drove back to Salerno in the late afternoon to return the car. Got on the train and had no problems until Rome: we were switching to the subway and I had to get tickets - Nicky and I got distracted by vagrants who took one of our bags (a little backpack with our video camera, the shrine icons and the genealogy!!!)... We finally made it to the Hotel Alimandi (Gerald and Angie were waiting). Nicky told me "I hate this country and I never want to come back!" I hope she is kidding...