day 16-21

I am sorry everyone for not writing for quite sometime. here are the rest of our days in
Italy.

day 16: today was so fun. everyone woke up early and got ready for our next tours and stuff. and while i was eating breakfast in the dining room, a cute little grey kitty wandered by. immediatly i jumped up and went to greet it. the twins followed and the kitty got scared and almost ran away. i named him theodore. he's so cute and talkative and curious about everything. we fed him milk and some leftover chicken and he instantly was our kitty. but we soon had to leave to start our day. 11 people from my family went to a winery near florence and had a wonderful time learning about how they make wine and tasting it. they also had a delicious lunch after the tour. the rest of us (meaning the my family of 4) went to volterra. yes, THE volterra from the Twilight series. i'll admit, i was pretty excited but so was my dad and sister. (we have all read the books except for my mom) we found out that the movie wasnt filmed there because there was no fountain in the city for one of the most crucial scenes. but they still had a map for all the twlight freaks to follow around. we toured the "volturi" palace which was really cool. its actually owned by a royal family known as the Viti family and is still in use. below the mansion is this creepy little restaurant that i think was used to torture people. im not even joking. in the regular part of the restaurant it was really cute with little sitting areas and cut outs of newspaper, magazines, and pages of books pasted all over the walls. then over near the bar was this big open area and a wall with a poster of Bella, Jacob, and Edward. the wall is for the fans to sign. of course me and shanna signed it. i wrote Bella sucks, and Edward is ugly. it was great fun. but now comes the creepy part. on the opposite side of the wall is a small platform that is behind an arch way. and on the floor is a giant iron grate which is covering a hole that goes into a chamber. which it looks like they threw whoever they didnt like down there and just left them cuz ther was no door down there. then right next to the bar was a creepy doorway with a stairwell that lead to this room that had a giant table, a red light chandelier, and three big wooden chairs that were facing the table. it was really weird. so after we signed the wall we left, cuz we didnt want to get eaten... oh and the whole time we were there it was cloudy and a thunderstorm was coming. so we think maybe the volturi could have been out walking around... and of course we got souvenirs while we were there. on our way home it poured rain and the thunder shook our little car, it was so fun. when we got back to our villa the rest of the family was there and they had said it rained while we were gone. i spent the rest of the evening taking pictures of the lightning storm that was going on 15 miles away. for dinner we went to our neighbors patio party and had delicious pasta and wine. then we all went to bed as soon as the rain came.

day 17: today was a lazy day. everyone woke up around 10ish, ate breakfast, and laid around. we eventually decided to go shopping in Empoli, since it was our last day in Tuscany. but we arrived there an hour before the shops would close for the afternoon so we didn't get much shopping done. so we went home for a while and decided to come back at 5 when they opened. my uncle had made a haircut appointment for 5:30 so we dropped him off there and shopped and shopped and shopped. they had great little shops. most of them were having really good sales which was fun. my grandma got some really yummy smelling perfume, shan got purple eyeliner, i got some clothes and so did Alexa. of course we got gelato at the end of the shopping spree which was yummy. then we went back home and ate our last dinner in Tuscany from our favorite chef Renalto. then we went off to our rooms to pack and get ready for the following morning.

day 18: this morning we left our big beautiful house and drove to the train station in Florence. it was sad to go, and leaving Theodore behind was sad. but he was being adopted by some old lady. the train ride was so fun. i had been looking forward to it our whole trip. when we were getting ready to board it, i felt like i was in harry potter almost. me and my dad were busy looking for platform 9 and a wall to run through so we could get to platform 9 3/4 and go to Hogwarts. the train ride wasn't very long at all, maybe 45 minutes. the countryside we went through was beautiful though. we arrived in Venice and quickly got into a taxi boats and drove to our hotel. Venice is so unique and fun. i noticed that the tide was high today because the small waves were crashing into the front doors of buildings and houses. our hotel is amazing! my room is the best, of course i share it with Shanna but other than that its great. its on the corner of the hotel so we have a view of the street below us and a view of the canal on the other side. of course shanna sang to everyone that was walking by which was very confusing for those poor people. they were looking everywhere trying to figure out who was singing so awful. some asian tourists looked up at her and told her to shut up. it was really funny. across the canal was an old building that had apartments and families in them. i think theyre annoyed with us. oh well. soon we went off to a tour in st. marks square. the tide was so high that the water was coming through the cobblestone sidewalks. we toured the church there which is the lowest point in that area, so the entry way was flooded. then we went to the old prison and walked across the bridge of Sigh's. we also toured the courtroom, the senate room, the presidents room, waiting rooms, and the election room. they were all so beautifully decorated and all the paintings were amazing. after the tour we all walked around and found a pizza place to eat at and people watch. after that we wandered around did some shopping, then went to our rooms and eventually went to bed.

day 19: today we visited the two towns of Murdona and Burdona. Murdona is the place where glass blowing originated from. it was very interesting and breath takingly beautiful to see the glass objects in their showroom. most everything in the showroom was incredibly expensive, but i totally understand why cuz they were amazing. Burdona is the town where lace was invented. its also a very colorful town because almost all of the houses and buildings are yellow, purple, pink, and blue. each color represents each family that lives in the house or apartments, so on some buildings there were more than one color. we also toured a lace making store and learned about how extremely long it takes to make lace. the lady that owned the store was working on a small patch about the size of my hand and so far it has been taking her 3 weeks to finish it. they also had a lace museum in the store where they kept the most prettiest lace work from over the centuries. it was very interesting. then we went back to our hotel and shopped around for a bit. then all the adults (meaning my parents and aunts and uncles) went on a romantic gondola ride. it was also my parents anniversary that day. i guess the gondola ride was not romantic at all. the rower guy was very rude and made all 6 of them sit in the same gondola and there was no singing. but we had ordered a head of time three gondolas with one singer, but they decided to try and rip us off. meanwhile us kids and grandma went to dinner and had gelato, then we retreated to our rooms to watch a movie on tv.

Day 20: today we woke up early and got on a bus and drove to Gardaland for the twins birthdays. Gardaland is sort of like disneyland, not really. it was fun though. on our way there we got stuck in traffic for an hour or so. i guess there was a giant wreck blocking the whole road. i was asleep most of this time. in Gardaland they had about three or four thrilling rides. i went on three of them but ran out of time to go on the fourth. the best one though was the Blue Tornado. it was pretty great. we all met at this little eating area for lunch, and after that i went on a log ride with natalie and sophia. it reminded me of splash mountain a little because of the giant drop at the end. i made natalie sit in the front with me just so she could get the full rollercoaster experience. she didnt even get scared, and our picture turned out so good! we finished off the day there by playing carnival games that were sort of weird. i played this one game where i had to put a fake chicken on a round plate that was hooked up to a spring loaded launcher and hit it with a hammer and try to get the chicken to fling into a pot that was spinning around a fake fire. it was hard ill admit. when we got back to venice, we ate at the hard rock cafe and sang happy birthday to the twins. it was nice to finally eat some american food and have giant pitchers of water. after dinner we were refunded our two gondolas and singer, so my grandma and all the grandkids went on it. then we all went back to our hotel rooms and sadly packed for the trip home.

Day 21: today was a sad day, for we were leaving italy. we got in taxi boats and drove to the airport and discussed our time in venice on our way there. we got on our plane around 10:30 am and took off at 11 for philidelphia. i barely slept on that plane ride. the last three hours on the plane were soooooo long because i was so excited to be back in America and call my friends. we finally landed in philly around 3pm and went through customs. then we got to relax for an hour or two before we got back on a plane to sacramento. i met a nice lady on that plane who was visiting her sister in california for the first time in 10 years. we landed around 9pm and we were greeted by lynnie! i was soooo happy to see her and to finally be home.

so there you have it. our giant family vacation to italy! i hope you people enjoyed reading this crazy blog, and i am sorry for taking so long to finish it.

ciao :)

to see more pictures of my trip go to these links

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70931&id=1441878492&l=978bcdcb47

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70965&id=1441878492&l=03ef90341d

day 15

today was a grand day. we drove to Lucca and toured there. its a cute little town surrounded by a giant wall. there's probably about five or six churches in there. and of course they are gloriously beautiful and extremely large inside. then we went shopping for a while which was also fun. then we drove to the leaning tower of pisa and finally got to climb it. 300 steps. 300 extremely small steps. so many people have walked up those marble steps that there is indents that are really slippery. so i walked up barefoot. the walls are about 3 feet wide maybe. my mom got a little claustrophobic on the way up. when we got up to the top it was beeeautiful. i could see everything. i also yelled to my family down below. i yelled HIII really loud to where it echoed off the near by buildings and some people turned to look up. it was fun. today is alexa's birthday! shes turning 12. we celebrated at a nice little outdoor restaurant and then ate gelato and now we are back at home. its really late here, so goodnight everyone :)

alrighty

so days ten and eleven were spent at our hotel. we didnt do much those days. me my mom and my aunt decided to go to Messina (which is in sicily) what's in Messina you ask? well ill tell you. its full of confusion and frustration which makes you lost. ya. so we went there hoping to be there for a few hours right? wrong. we were there all day. my aunt wanted to go to a Harley Davidson store and a mail boxes etc. thats it. i wanted to mail postcards. my mom was the driver. so we couldnt find any of those places at all and we found an electronic store. so we magically found a parking spot and went in there and bought a GPS and a cell phone. the gps is gold here. we found the harley place finally around 6pm so of course it was closed and we didnt even bother trying to find the mail place. so we went home. that was day ten. day eleven we hired a guy to come pick us up and take us anywhere we wanted. so we went to Catania and had a successful day. we found mail boxes etc., i finally mailed my postcards, and we found another harley store! it was great. so while we were running around trying to get some stuff done, sophia was in a italian hospital. she was being like a normal five year old and running to the elevator near the pool, and slipped and fell and crashed right into the marble wall. she had a concussion and a crack on her skull. not a very big crack or anything but enough to make a giant goose egg on her forehead. so my aunt and uncle were busy being at the hospital and trying to understand the doctors. shes all better now of course. but the new rules are no running, or jumping off things, or climbing, or anything a five year old thinks of. just cuz we dont want her to strain her head or anything. day twelve we flew back to rome and then flew to florence then drove to tuscany. and now we are in a villa in Montespertolli.

Day 13: it is soooo pretty here! we are surrounded by grapevinyards, olive orchards, and prettiness. today we went to the leaning tower of pisa which was super cool. we didnt go on a tour or go inside it or anything cuz the next tour available was at 7pm. but it was still fun to go there and pose for the typical pictures. like we are pushing over the tower. ya know the touristy stuff. i got some pretty cool shots which you will be able to view on my fb sometime in the near future. after pisa we drove back to the villa and went over to our neighbors and had a wine tasting party. it was pretty fun. we met a nice family from san diego that is vacationing here. the wine was really good and so was the food. they served appetizer stuff as well as pasta. it was a great way to end the night.

Day 14: today me, doug, my grandma, and my cousin richard drove to Siena. we went on a tour of the old city and saw a beautiful basilica and a giant courtyard. we learned that the courtyard there is used for a horse race that happens every july and august. the districts in Siena all choose their own jockey and horse and compete with the other districts. its not for money, its for the glory and the honor. the day before the big race, the jockeys and the horses get blessed by the priests. its a very serious event there. about 40,000 people are packed in the courtyard. they transform it to a horse track by packing down about 2 feet of dirt around the center of the courtyard and they really make it look like an arena. in the center is where people can stand for free but they dont really see much. approximately 10,000 or more can stand there. then on the outside edge of the track, about 20,000 or more people are crammed in like sardines to cheer on their district and of course they pay a small fee. surrounding the courtyard are apartments, balconies, and rooftops that are rented out to people for a much larger fee just for the race. the race is only 3 laps long and lasts about 90 seconds or so. this year the even happened july 2nd, so we just missed it by ten days. the next event happens in late august, which we will still miss. the riders compete to win a flag that is decorated in bright vibrant colors and intricate designs, and of course the honor. it was a pretty interesting tour. after the tour we wandered around the courtyard and went in the cute little shops. then all of a sudden a thunderstorm broke out and immediately hundreds of people ran to the sheltered outdoor restaurants and cafes and the nearest archways. we got a table at a cafe and had lunch and watched everyone scurry around getting drenched. it was pretty fun. eventually we had to leave and hike back to our car. it was still raining though. so of course my grandma bought a umbrella which came in handy because i didnt want my camera getting wet. when we got back home we were fed a delicious meal. everyone that didnt go on the tour with us, stayed here and had a cooking class with a real chef lady named lucia. she was very nice and really knew how to make delicious gnocchi and pesto sauce. later on i got sucked into playing hide and seek with all my cousins. it was pretty fun until natalie started counting to 15 and kept finding my hiding places. (the rule was to count to 75 because the house is pretty big) so i quit playing and went on to play this card game called 31 or geronamo or something like that. my uncle kalin taught it to everyone. its a pretty fun game. im gonna go to bed now becuz its super late here. i dont even know what time it is. so goodnight whoever is reading this!

buon giorno!

hello friends and family. so sorry that it has taken me this long to post anything on here. we have had no internet connection

until now

(this was our hotel in rome)

Day 1: today started out all right. My sister, my mother, and I never went to sleep that night. We thought we were smart thinking we would adjust to the time change quicker than everyone else and avoid jetlag. But that’s not how it turned out. We leftat 4:30am and drove to the Sacramento airport. Soon we took off for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania around 9am. Unfortunately, Philadelphia was having some weather so we had to land in Pittsburg. We spent about 2 hours on the plane waiting for our turn to take flight while the air was clear for a short amount of time. But that never happened. Instead our plane was dismissed to the airport where we waited for about 3 hours. During those 3 hours, all the kids walked backwards, and forwards on the people movers. Finally we departed for Philadelphia at

12am east coast time. Of course we missed our flight to Rome, so we stayed the night in Philly. We got to our hotel rooms at 2am.

Day 2: 11am came extremely quickly and we all rushed out of our hotel rooms to check out and jump in some taxis. Oh, and mean while our luggage was either in Rome, or at the airport in a vault. No one could tell us which one. So imagine 12 people with all their carryons, going on historic tours, and having to have our bags searched at every new tour we went on. It took 100 years to do anything. But we got to see the Liberty Bell, the LOVE sculpture, a giant clothespin, the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed, the steps that Rocky ran up and Philly Cheese steaks. So it wasn’t that bad. Finally we boarded our plane to Rome at 6pm and arrived here at 9am. Everyone got their suitcases except for Allison, Sophia, and I and we found out that Allison’s suitcase were in Frankfurt, Germany. When we got through customs, we all got in taxi vans and traveled to our hotel. The taxi drive

r I had barely spoke English but we kept a conversation, barely, and he explained the old buildings we were seeing. It was a fun experience. As soon as we arrived and got in our hotel rooms, we all crashed. We had a tour of the Coliseum but only three people went on the tour. Everyone else wasn’t functioning. After they got back we all went and walked around town, found a gelato and wandered around in the humid night air. It is now 10:42pm here and 1:42pm at home, and we are all going to bed. Goodnight everyone

Day 3: This morning we woke up at 5:00 am because we could no longer sleep. Of course the day before everyone took 2-hour naps so that screwed us up a little bit. We went down for breakfast at 7 and it was really good buffet. Allison’s suitcase arrived this morning, but we still don’t know where the other 2 are. Today we went on a walking tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel and it was glorious. And extremely hot. Our tour guide was a lovely Italian lady named Vali who was extremely informative in everything. That tour was about 3 or 4 hours long but it was totally worth it. After the tour we did some souvenir shopping and headed back to our hotel for a nap of course. Then we went on the hunt for some gelato and the Spanish steps and the Fountain of Trevi later on. All of these places were extr

emely crowded with tons of street salesmen shoving roses and children’s toys in your face claiming they’re gifts but they still want a small fee. I am very thankful to have my uncle here because of his tallness and his ability to make angry faces at everyone so they wont mess with us. After we visited the Fountain of Trevi we went to a nice dinner and ate THE best Italian food I have had so far. (Besides aunt honeys) Now we are back at our hotel room and it is 11:54. We are extremelytired and giddy. Goodnight everyone.

Day 4: today by far was the hottest day. 9 of us went on a trip to Pompeii for the day and it was 97 degrees and the humidity was 80%. It was crazy hot. The tour of Pompeii was so fascinating and amazing for the fact that almost all of it is well preserved. The city back in the day was pretty modern. They had public bathes, saunas, massage rooms, and even Jacuzzi’s. They also had fast food restaurants and pizza ovens. It was pretty awesome to walk around there and touch and see pillars and buildings that are over 2,000 years old. After that tour we traveled along the Amalfi coast and saw the beaches, yachts, and beautiful scenery from our somewhat air conditioned bus. We also visited this near by town and walked around it and did some shopping then got back on our bus for the 3 hour drive to Rome. Of course we all had naps on the way home. Pretty much everyday we do as the Romans do and take a nap around 3pm then we eat a late dinner and then GELATO! The rest of our group stayed in Rome to do some shopping and hang around town since it’s our last day in Rome, and my dad arrived today. It’s been pretty fun here, but I am excited to see the rest of Italy. Tomorrow we head to Sicily at 6am and spend a week there. Sophia’s luggage still hasn’t arrived here, and she’s been wearing Natalie’s clothes. Which of course Natalie doesn’t really want to share her clothes and Sophia doesn’t like wearing them because they feel weird. *sigh* Well it is midnight here and we have to wake up at 5 to catch our flight at 8. Goodnight everyone

Day 5: today was wonderful. We flew to Cantania, Sicily, got on a bus, and drove to a port where we got on a ferry. The ferry took us out to Salina island and we got on another bus and drove to Malfa. This town is soooo beautiful. Our hotel is amazing! Me and Shanna have the cutest room and our porch is super. We even have a hammock chair. The hotel over looks the ocean, which is also beautiful. We went for a swim in the pool (because the nearest beach is 15 miles away), and drank some lemonade. It was great. My dad woke me up from a small nap and we got on a scooter he rented and drove to the rental place and got me a red scooter. We drove all over the island and found a lighthouse, a church, and another cute little town. It was fun. Then later tonight we had a family dinner, which was good. I had ravioli’s but they weren’t like your normal ravioli’s. They were more like pot stickers with thinly sliced carrots and cheese on it. The Natalie and Alexa ordered hamburgers and the look on their faces when they saw the food was priceless. All it was was hamburger and some scalloped potatoes on the side. But the hamburger was soooo good. Shanna ordered amberjack fish with potatoes on the side. She says it was really yummy. Then we all had gelato of course which was also really yummy. I am excited for what tomorrow may bring. Its 10:30 here and I can barely stay awake, goodnight everyone.

Day 6: today we swam in the Mediterranean and it was beautiful! The water is soooo blue and clear and it cools you off. (unlike the pool) We went to a beach that was about 15 miles away and it had black sand. My mom, dad, shan, and I drove there on the scooters and everyone else went on a local bus. We got there and ran across the extremely hot sand and jumped in the water. I was in the water for about 5 minutes when I got stung by a jellyfish on my leg! It hurt pretty bad so we walked over to a local scuba shop and they gave me this aloe stuff and told me to scrub the sting with sand and wash it with the water then apply the stuff. Then the rest of the family showed up and we warned them of the jellyfish. They’re actually quite small. Most of them were the size of my hand or a little bit bigger. They liked to hang out where we were swimming of course. My uncle found a small net and went jellyfishing, like on spongebob. We drove back to the area of where our hotel is and discovered a small harbor where the locals swim. What’s great about the Mediterranean is that there’s so much salt in it, it makes it easier to float. We were probably there for an hour or so. My mom and I both scraped our feet on sharp rocks, which was so fun. Not. We also found a cemetery which we will explore some more tomorrow, because we think we may have some relatives buried there. We ended the day by eating delicious pizza at a local pizzeria and gelato for dinner. And then we had a nice stroll back to the hotel. Now we are off to bed, I am so tired. Goodnight everyone.

Day 7: today is our last day on the island of Salina. It’s been my favorite so far, but I am excited to travel other places of Italy too. Today we rented 2 more scooters and a small car, and we all drove to Santa Marina to explore that town. We also drove to Lingua and swam there. The beach was a ton of big rocks, and for some reason the ocean was really wavy today, so we got mashed and scratched on the rocks. It wasn’t that fun. We shoped in Santa Marina and met a nice older man and his wife at a store that they owned. They were very interested in our Sir name LaMalfa, but they knew no one by that last name. My dad, mom, Kyle, Shan, and I all wanted to go back to the Malfa marina and swim there, and everyone else wanted to stay in Santa Marina and shop. The water in the marina was so nice and cold except it was super wavy. We swallowed so much salt water and got it in our eyes. Shanna kept freaking out because we were telling her all the crabs and fish we saw in the water with our goggles. So of course I was laughing extremely hard which lead to swallowing lots of water. We swam there for about 30 minutes and decided to swim back to the boardwalk and get out. Shan and my dad were swimming ahead and all of a sudden Shanna starts screaming, “Something touched my stomach! Something is on my stomach!” then she continues screaming and rolling around in the water. It was hilarious to watch. She was being stung by a bunch of baby jellyfish and so was my dad. But there stings weren’t that bad at all. Like they didn’t swell up or continue to hurt or anything. So it was all good. After all that we drove to Punta Di Perciato, which is the last town and the end of the road. We drove to this cliff and walked down 264 steps to a small cove that had these boat garages built into the cliffside. It was so cool. There was a lot of locals there swimming and enjoying the cool water. The water was so clear you could see giant massive rocks 20 feet below us. It looked a lot like scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean. We were there for a long while and soon we had to head back to the hotel because we had dinner reservations at 8. I am so tired, as usual. Goodnight everyone

Day 8: today was basically a travel day. We left the island around 11:30. It was sad. A bus service picked us up at 9 and we became friends with the drivers. One was from Romania and he was a lot friendlier than the other guy. He told us about this little café that had really good food. We had time to kill so we decided to go there and have something cold to eat. After that we caught the ferry and went back to the main island of Sicily. We rented four cars there and drove to Taormina which took forever. We got lost and turned around about 1,000 times and ended up driving up this mountain to a town called Forsa D'Argro. We thought that’s where our hotel was located, and thank God we were wrong. We were so far away from the ocean. But anyways, the town is the one of the towns that the God Father was filmed at. We all got pictures in front of the church where Michael and Maria’s marriage took place. It was pretty cool. We also met a bunch of old Italian men playing some card game and drinking beer. It’s probably one of my favorite parts of this whole trip. It was so fun to stand there and watch them all laugh and slap cards down and enjoy each other’s company. My uncle played a round of the game. It was funny because one of the men helped him play the cards and win the game. After all that we finally found our hotel and we ate at the restaurant here. They have really good ice cream. I’m off to bed now. Bene noche!

Day 9: oy. I could have skipped today. Lisa wanted to go into town to find a UPS store, find a bank, and a super market, and I was willing to drive there. But I’m not on our insurance or something so my mother and grandmother were against it and decided they would go with us. We ended up in Taromeana, which is up on a hill with tons of crazy drivers, hills, and one way roads. All the cars here are stick shift so driving up hills isn’t the most fun thing to do. We also got lost. A lot. And drove down the wrong way on a one-way street, which we didn’t know it was one. So we had to make a five point turn around as we blocked traffic because the roads are just wide enough to barely fit a car. Of course my mother and grandma were freaking out the whole time. It was extremely stressful. Finally, after an hour of searching and turning around, we found a stupid parking spot and got to walk all over the town. We were successful in getting items from our list, and we also found a delicious cup of cappuccino at a near by café. Now I have to tell you about the trip going back to the hotel. We finally found the highway after searching for a while, (the road signs here are extremely misleading and confusing because they aren’t in English!) and we began traveling back to the town where our hotel is. But me and my aunt wanted to explore the beach towns and see what there is to see. So we took an exit and drove around until we were ready to head back again. This time, it took us an hour and a half to find the road to our hotel, which is SS114 orientale. Some how we got on that road a few miles past the drive way to our hotel, and we almost made it to Messina. Which is an hour away from our hotel. When we figured this out, it was pure madness and frustration. I gave up on sanity and decided to narrate what was happening in a Puerto Rican accent. And my aunt joined me. It was quite fun after that. Like discussing what the people on their porches must be thinking as we drive past their house for the tenth time. Eventually we arrived at our hotel and went into our rooms and had a nice long relaxing ciesta. Around 5ish I got hungry and went down to the lobby with my grandma where we had a peach bessini, which was ok. (its some fruity cocktail with white wine) The adults decided on a restaurant somewhere so I went up to my room with my cousins to get ready for dinner. We all piled in cars and drove for I don’t know how long. And we somehow ended up in these mountains, in a extremely small, remote, town called Sverto. Apparently there is a restaurant up there that was in a scene of The God Father. We never found it. My uncle drove a mini van and my aunt and father drove two small sedans. Ok now picture extremely small hilly windy goat cart roads. Alright now picture a mini van trying to drive on those roads. Ya, it didn’t happen. We found out the extremely awful hard way that there was one way into town that lead to the only way out of town. There was no way in hell we could turn around anywhere. For a while we weren’t to sure if we were driving on walking paths or real roads that cars can actually drive on. Oh and by the way, there are stonewalls and buildings on either side of the car just waiting to eat our side mirrors and paint. A nice local man helped drive the minivan backwards down the windy steep road until he could get it turned around. Meanwhile my dad and aunt decided to be brave and drive the cars through the way out. We got to a certain point where it was so narrow that it scraped one of the cars. After that incident, we kept going because by that time there was really no way of going back. And when we thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. We came along a turn that was literally a right angle going left and the road was about as wide as our cars. We made it through that turn and found the next awful one that was worse. My dad had to back up at an angle then pull forward then back up again, just to turn down the last street. And he did it without a scratch on the car. It was extremely impressive. When we got out of that dreadful town it was about 9pm and getting darker and now we had to find another restaurant. Preferably closer to the hotel and away from mountain roads. We ended up at this little restaurant right next to the ocean and we ordered the longest pizzas. The pizza’s were about as long as one of the twins, and it was soooooo delicious. And it fed everyone at our table. Then of course we had gelato and now we are getting tucked into bed. And the power just went out. Hurray. Goodnight everyone.