Mezzogiorno - The South

Today Amanda and I left Naples and headed southeast. Heather and Melissa took a train to Sorrento and will meet us in Verona tomorrow. On Amanda and my road trip agenda is seeing Castel de Monte, the Trani Cathedral, and the truji -these beehive structures that no one is quite sure why they were built - maybe religious or battle related.

During our road trip, we have lots of time to talk and ponder all things Italian. Like for instance, no public toilet has a toilet seat. Does everyone in Italy straddle the toilet seat? Is this the way to prevent people from sitting on the seat? Did they all get broken? Is there a toilet seat shortage in Italy? All questions and no answers.

Castel de Monte was built around the number eight with a beautiful view. We have decided it would be the perfect wedding place. Guests could stay on the top floor and all the wedding activities could happen on the first floor with a different activity in each of the eight rooms. I suppose I would be open for marriage if some guy could afford to rent the castle and fly all my friends and family to Italy for my wedding!

Inside the castel, there is a "modern" art show. One wall is covered with wall paper containing sketches of people having sex.

We had a nice lunch outside the castle - I had sausage (not really a big sausage eater) but I wasn't really sure what I was ordering since it was not in the Italian dictionaries. Yes, I could have asked the waiter but I just wanted to take a chance. The sausage was okay but scored an A+ for presentation. It came with mashed potatoes (very good but different from the US version) and green onions that were really good but I have no idea how they were prepared - maybe blanched.

A lot of Italians speak English to us right off the bat without giving me a chance to practice my mad Italian skills. We decide it is because Amanda has red hair and pale skin. She most definitely cannot pass as an Italian so they know we are foreigners.

At the Trani Cathedral, we get to see the Adriatic Sea. It has a beautiful turquoise color that is amazing. It starts to sprinkle at the Cathedral so we decided to cut our sightseeing short and begin our long drive up to Verona. Because it is winter, it gets dark very early so I am sure we missed some beautiful views but the ones we did get to see were great.

Driving has gotten a little easier as we have decided we need to start trying to read the directional signs as Italians. When we start to get lost and frustrated for the rest of the time we are in Italy, we will simply remind ourselves to "not think like an American". Finally, we arrive in Verona after spending an exorbitant amount of money on the toll roads. The man only has a room with a Frenc (no h on purpose) bed - we don't know what this means but we take it. A frenc bed is a full.