Greetings from Maria!

Well, in this short amount of time, we have experienced quite a bit on this European journey! Mom, you were right...southern France is SO different than the area where we come from and even more different from Normandy! The coastal towns are absolutely beautiful and I felt like I was in Italy instead of France. As always, it is a blessing to be back in my second country. (Of course, now, we are actually already in Italy!) I did get sick during my last day in southern France, which was upsetting but by the next day, I was a lot better! On our way to Italy, we stopped by the smallest American cemetery in Europe, and the guide there actually recognized Casey from the time we were in Normandy!!(She worked at that cemetery this time last year and remembered our group!)  How is that for recognition? Anway, this guide gave us a tour and told stories about a few of the soldiers that we will never forget!!! She had most of us in tears by the time she was done!. She actually showed us pictures of some of these brave men and allowed us to use the sand they usually reserve for families for a special ritual. Of all the years of visiting these special cemeteries, this one was one that will stay with us for a long, long time!!

From there, we headed to Monaco and that drive was just crazy!! Talk about tiny roads that wind up and down...unbelievable! The underground highway system is something to see and we were all pretty excited to be a part of it for just a few minutes. Also, we must have gone through 50 tunnels and that's no exaggeration!! Anyway, we finally arrive in Lucca, Italy and what a beautful little town!! Of course, the drive in that night was something we'll never forget. We were stuck on these tiny little streets with these big vans and couldn't even cut the corners on these extremely tiny streets. Then it appeared we would never get out of this "maze" and all we wanted to do was to find our hotel . We finally had to get out of the city (the wall) and re-enter through a different gate.There waiting for us was our hotel guy on a bicycle!! When he realized that we were having trouble finding the hotel, he decided to wait for the Americans and lead us to our hotel. He took off like he was in the Tour of Italy and we couldn't even keep up!! Watching this guy zip around like it was nothing and then seeing the trouble we were having just to keep up with him was just hilarious!! We have never laughed so hard about trying to find a hotel!!!

To my Mom, sisters, and friends...bonjour and au revoir for now. I hope to hear from you soon!  To my precious nieces and nephew...your aunt Mia misses you VERY much and I can't wait to see you and present you with all your gifts! Please post a note to me because it means a lot to hear from you! I'll be watching for it!!