Saturday 26 December - Internet at last!

We have just arrived in Napoli and at last have an Internet connection again.

We've spent the last three days in Brindisi where Peter's dad and stepmother, Doug and Theresa, live.

We arrived there on Wednesday after a pleasant train journey from Rome. Wednesday was Theresa's birthday and we went over to the central city on a ferry and had dinner together in a restaurant. Before dinner we explored part of the old part of town and visited an 11th century church which the knights all went to before they left for the Crusades (sailing from Brindisi). In Brindisi we stayed in the apartment of the director of Doug and Theresa's school as Peter's sister Kate was visiting from the Caymans and there weren't enough beds at Doug and Theresa's. Wednesday was memorable for Peter in that it was the first time he had ever driven out of New Zealand and certainly the first time driving on the right. It was a gentle introduction with a short drive from the train station to our apartment.

On Thursday the driving got serious, as we visited two small towns near Brindisi: Ostuni and Alberobello. Ostuni is very pretty with lots of narrow little streets like the one above. Alberobello, however, is unique. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its amazing stone houses known as trulli. There are thousands of them and Lonely Planet describes them as "curious circular stone-built houses, their roofs tapering up to a stubby and endearing point."

In the evening we had Christmas dinner (on Christmas Eve) at Doug and Theresa's place - a lovely meal with a chicken casserole and a delicious potato dish.
On Christmas morning we headed back to Doug and Theresa's for breakfast and gift opening. They had provided Christmas stockings for the children and lots of generous presents for all of us. It was lovely to be with them and Kate for Christmas.

After a lunch of filled rolls we headed back on the road, this time for Lecce where we admired a huge crib scene in a Roman amphitheatre.

Today we drove to Naples where we really discovered the meaning of the word stress. Before we arrived we opened Lonely Planet to the page that says "driving in Naples is not recommended."  If only we had read that sooner! Our GPS, Coco, chose Naples to say that it couldn't find satellites. Our car stopped for no apparent reason three times in the middle of what Lonely Planet calls "anarchic traffic." Coco sent us down two dead end streets. It was dark and pouring with rain and for a while we feared that we would never find our hotel.

Peter maintained a cool head and we did get here in the end. The hotel is comfortable and the Internet is free. So life, on balance, is good.

Tomorrow we brave the roads again to drive to Pompeii.