In lovely Caserta, a Casa Woods

The Italian train service staff were on strike today, but they graciously scheduled the strike in advance so that you knew which trains were running before you bought your ticket. Thanks to this clever and thoughtful approach, I made it to Caserta today only 15 minutes behind schedule. It is so nice to be among friends, and not only because I feel safe walking around barefoot for the first time in 15 days or so. Emilia and Frederick live about 40 minutes from Naples. They are both FANTASTIC cooks and they have three charming daughters -- Olivia, who is 4 and much taller than last year, and the twins Isabella and Sophia, who now have a mop of black hair and a significantly larger vocabulary. I have yet to spring the finger paints and play-doh on them, mainly because I was afraid to be tossed out of the house before nightfall, but I hope we can get into messy fun things tomorrow. I will also take some photos to share how adorable they are. I almost fell over laughing today -- Isabella and Sophia use the (clean) bidet as a mini-sink to wash up before dinnertime. There is nothing funnier than seeing this brilliant American approach to European plumbing, especially by such small citizens. I think the soap they were using was bigger than their heads! I'll try to catch them with a photo tomorrow,