April 3-5, 1954 Italy

Italy and another boat ride -- this time to the Isle of Capri, about 11 miles offshore from Sorrento and then back to Naples on Saturday, April 3 and take the train to Rome on Sunday.

Amalfi* postcard sent to Mrs. NW Ballantyne April 3, 1954

[Saturday, Jean writing to her Mother] 4/3/54
On the steamer back to Naples after seeing Capri.  It was delightful – esp. the boat into the Blue Grotto where the water is really a fluorescent blue.  Your have to lie flat on your back to go through the tunnel.
Then we took a chairlift up to the highest point on the isle and that was a big thrill too.
Everyone says Naples is so dirty and so many peddlers – so we're off for Rome in the morning.  Love to all, Harold & Jean

*Amalfi is an historic coastal town south of Naples.  Albergo Luna e Castello medioevale = Hotel Moon and medieval castle.

Palermo Cathedral* card sent to M/M CJ Uible - April 5, 1954

[Monday, HH writing to his parents]
4/5/54  Here we are in Rome, came up from Naples yesterday afternoon by train.  This is quite like an American big city but with lots of fountains and very old buildings.  We are going out today to see specific places on our own.  We are staying here in a pensione @ $3 a night and have a bed that seems square.  Bought an English NY reprint paper Friday – 8 pages – wonder if sprinklers [supplier? of zinc for jacks] before zinc went up.   Heard anything about the workhouse [or workhorse]?  Americans are everywhere here, wonder what it is like in season?  –Harold & Jean


*Palermo stop was on Friday, April 2.  Rome is 142 miles northwest of Naples.  Note that this card was forwarded from Florida to Ohio, so the CJU's must have left Florida before it arrived.  They tried to be home by Easter, which in 1954 was on April 18.  The Lake Worth postmark is April 19.