On Sept.18,2003, we took our long awaited second trip to Italy, which included a side trip to our cousins in Padua. The 10 hour cross Atlantic flight skirted Hurricane Isabella and put us into Rome at 10a.m on the 19th.

Our Globus travel companions from Canada and the USA,after just finishing a tour of St Peters, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum.

On the 20th we did some more sightseeing in Rome and made a side trip to Tivola.

The Vatican area.The smallest country in the world.

After Rome it was a 3 hour (156 mile) ride to Naples with visits to Capri and Sorrento.

The Blue Grotto of Capri with access by small boat only.

It would take a week to see all of Pompei. We did it in 3 hours.

Before visiting the Reggia of Caserta with its 1200 rooms and garden,we were in Sorrento shopping.

We took an overnight ferry to Palermo from Naples on 24 Sept.

One of the hotels we stayed at required a cable car for access. This is where we had the country wide power outage.

The Greek temples of Agrigento.

Italian traffic is a wonder to behold and often good conversation at dinner.

After the tour we were on our own to travel by train to Padua.

The Italian trains do run on time. Getting a ticket upgraded is another matter.

The best part of our three week vacation was with family in Padua. We took side trips to Parma, Venice and Milan.

Cars in Italy are small. Some of the ways we contacted friends and family were by the internet and phone.