about that...

In my last post I mentioned that the depths of winter had passed. Never assume, children. As I was mumbling something or other about fate, religion, and the fear of death, a student in my first period Virgil class notified the rest of us that it had started to snow outside. (That's how enthralled she was with the class.) Nothing accumulated and the rest of the day has been cold with the occasional rain shower and some sun. We are really hoping that this cold weather passes before we head down to Sicily on Saturday.

While I'm here I guess I can tell you a bit about our plans for Sicily. We are taking the ferry (more like an overnight cruise on which we have a cabin) from Naples to Palermo on Saturday. We hope to get to Naples in time for lunch and a visit to the archaeological museum there which is supposed to be on of the best in the world. I have been doing some research on pizzerias in Naples, and I think we might try one called La Sorrentina which got voted the best pizza in the world in some competition in 2006. I read about it on Chowhound, and we are pretty curious. Whether or not we make it there, we have heard that it is hard to have anyhting other than the best pizza in the world in Naples.

On Sicily we are spending two nights in Palermo, one night near Marsala, one night near Agrigento, two nights near Piazza Armerina, and three nights in Siracusa. Then we high-tail it back to Palermo for the ferry to Civitavecchia. WE will see lots of Greek and Roman ruins, some baroque towns, the coast, the mountains, and whatever else we can manage to fit in. We are honestly most excited about the food which we hear is amazing. Great seafood, great pastries, and great wines.

When we get back, we look forward to meeting up with some friends from our days at Groton, the Capen's. John will be here running the Rome Marathon, and we are looking forward to seeing the whole family. I don't have to go back to work again until April 2nd, and I am very excited about this long vacation. I'm sure we'll go to Rome a few times in the last days of March when there is a week during which all of the state-run museums are free. Mostly we are looking forward to spending some down time around here taking hikes, going to the lake, and generally relaxing. Still no word from Deerfield, it looks like I should know more by the time school starts up again, i.e. early April. \

I hope you all are well. I'd post new pics, but I am here at work. I don't have any pics on this computer. I'll try to post some soon. In the meantime, take care. Skype us if you get the chance (elicarolinesam). Ciao,
Sam

p.s. Eli can now say "car", "star", "meow", "moo", and make the sound of a plane which I would spell if I knew how. He's a cutie.