Today was a LONG day.  My "fast" train from Marseilles to Nice was over an hour late so I ended up taking the first train that passed through.  It ended up being a regional train that made way to many stops before arriving in Nice.  From Nice I hopped on a train to Ventimiglia, Italy - and that train DID make every single stop before arriving in Ventimiglia.  I can't tell you how  happy I was to cross over the border and to see signs and advertisements in Italian instead of French.  My heart definitely belongs in Italy.  It belongs to Lee first (thus I'm going home as soon as I can instead of vacationing here indefinitely) but Italy is a very close second.  :)

I took a couple more regional trains that took me to Genoa first and then on to La Spezia, Italy.  There I was met by my host-dad, Giovanni from 17 years ago.  It's hard to believe so many years have passed.  Everyone looks the same - the only difference is my Italian.  I used to speak so well...... I'm happy to report that I do get on just fine, but not nearly as fluent as I once was.  I used to even dream and talk in my sleep in Italian.  Those days are few and far between now.  Anyway -- it's been SO wonderful to spend the evening with the family.  They made me my favorite Ligurian dinner of Pasta al Pesto and also filled the table with proscuitto crudo, cantelope, formaggio and bread.  Yummy!

As of now - flights are still going out of Rome.  The volcano briefly stopped erupting, but then started back up again.  So I'm still at risk of not getting out.  We just have to keep the hopes and prayers going for another 48 hours and then I'll make it! I leave tomorrow at 2pm for Rome -- it's a quick stop here in Bolano - but definitely was worth it.

Thanks again to all of you for the collective karma being sent my way!