Just a short post today.

We drove down from Florence last Friday. Right around Salerno, the toll road stops and things get appreciably worse - number of lanes, quality of road, mountain curves, etc. We stopped for the night in Lagronegro. After having spent a week in Rome and 4 in Florence, the hotel was very nice, and very cheap by comparison.

We've spent Sat. until today with my cousin in Messina (my blog from Nov 2002 has pictures). Tonight we will leave at midnight on the overnight ferry to Salerno, rather than drive it again. It does cost more, but not appreciably given the cost of gas, a night's stay in a hotel, ferry, etc.

Yesterday we were on our way to Mt. Etna. We were at the base. The towns were built from volcanic rock but we weren't up enough for the temperature to drop. The other car (with my cousin's daughter, son in law and kids) had car trouble so we never made it up. We were close enough to see plumes of white smoke. Three years ago we didn't go because it was erupting. Either it is jinxed or we are.

Macerata next, then Slovenia.