Chapter XXXI - 1962 Travels

Marie was living at home again. After Richard married, she decided to come back to live with me. I said to her, "Marie, I am happy that you want to come back but I have gotten used to living alone. We will have to be not like mother and daughter, but two adult individuals living under the same roof, both completely free." It has worked very well. We have a lot of love and concern for each other without interfering in each other's plans.

Time has a way of going on. Winter followed by summer and vice versa. Lucy and I decided to take a bus trip to Canada with a church group. We visited Niagara Falls, The Thousand Islands, and we went on an all day trip to Montreal. We visited Our Lady of the Cape, Quebec, and Saint Anne's Shrine. On the way home we visited Lake George.

The following year Marie and I went overseas via Paris, the Riviera, Monaco, The Monte Carlo Casino and on into Italy. We enjoyed Genoa, Milan, Lake Como, Lake Maggiore and the beautiful island in the lake. We traveled to Venice and enjoyed the experience of riding on the gondola. From there we went to Florence to view all the art treasures and on to Rome with its history of Christianity.

Naples with the beautiful Bay of Naples in the background and the volcano Mount Vesuvius interested us greatly.

We appreciated Pompeii, a city with mysteries of the past, as well as Sorrento and the olive groves.

We were charmed by Capri, the Blue Grotto and the bizarre transfer from the steamboat to the rowboat to enter the Grotto. From there we climbed to a terrace with an ivy-covered canopy. The beautiful warm sunlight playing through the green leaves made patterns on the beautifully set tables of the restaurant where we dined. The surroundings were heavenly. The beautiful blue waters were below and there were still more heights to climb. The beauty of the Isle of Capri cradled between sky and water has etched an indelible groove in my mind.

I made a visit in Naples that Marie was not aware of. She wanted to visit Pompeii and Amalfi and I wanted to visit my nephew in Naples. It was a nephew I had never seen, because when I left Italy his father, my half brother, was only two and a half years old. I told Marie that I was tired and wanted to rest. She said, "Ma, I will stay too."

I said, "No, you go on. I have already seen Pompeii and I will be fine."

No sooner had she left than I dressed and went to visit my nephew. We had such a good time and that night we went riding with him and his wife in a buggy. Marie held the reins and directed the horse. The Bay of Naples is very beautiful at night, especially when viewed from a buggy.

We had visited our relatives in Milan, warm and loveable people. From Naples we went to Avellino, my birthplace, and there were more relatives and more warm welcomes.

On our trip back home we visited Zurich, Switzerland, a clean beautiful city surrounded by mountains.

From there we went to England. We arrived there late at night and placed reservations for a tour at the desk. We slept late the next morning, so a private tour was arranged for us. We visited the London Towers, viewed the changing of the guards and admired the statue of Queen Victoria on the square in front of Buckingham Palace. I admired the historic treasures of the past while visiting Westminster Abbey Cathedral. It encompassed the burial grounds of famous people including the tomb of Queen Elizabeth the First. We saw Big Ben and the building where Parliament met.

We went back to the hotel for another night's sleep and the next day, after a shower and breakfast, we made ready for our trip back home. We boarded the plane at 11:30 a.m. and arrived in New York about 3:00 p.m. Allowing for the difference in time it was a seven-hour trip.

Eddie and Irma were waiting for us at the terminal and we arrived home around 5:30 p.m. The year was 1962.

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