Pompeii...the circus clowns would be proud :)

I titled it this way because it felt like a circus when we left Pompeii. You see we had a non US sized minivan that we were about to fit 7 people, 3 large suitcases, 3 small suitcases and 8 pieces of various sized carryon items (ie...audio visual bag...diaper backpack...etc...). Circus clowns could not do a better job of packing than my new found Italian cousin. I'm including pics along the way with this story so pay attention ;)

It was after we met my wife's cousins that the fear started to set in. My wife, I could tell, was wondering how in the world we could fit one more body and luggage into our car. We didn't have the heart to tell the cousin with the small travel bag that we didn't have room. After all, she was hosting us at a hotel on the Amalfi coast for 2 days. We couldn't....You just don't do that to family!! What were we to do?

Well...this feeling persisted the rest of the afternoon. It was after lunch (check out that antipasto dish!) that we had the bright idea of trying to find an auto parts store that sold luggage racks for the tops of cars. We did find such a place but to no avail....they didn't have one. One of my wifes cousins..the one helping us with directions around on our walking tour of the ruins....told my wife not to worry.... that she was an expert in packing cars....it would get done!! On the rest of our tour of Pompeii , we had to be safe in the words of my wifes cousin. Ya see she is very happy that Obama is the new US president and she took every opportunity to recite the Obama slogan of...."YES WE CAN!!"

Well it was getting alittle late in the afternoon. The sun was down. It was my job to tend to the job of packing that 7th person's luggage into the car while still making room for her :) My partner in crime on this mission was non other than my new YES WE CAN cousin. Let's just state beforehand that I know very little Italian and she knows not much more than "YES WE CAN" I say this all with loving terms because by the end of this trip I learned to love these new cousins of mine as my wife has for many years. They are beautiful people! That being said....we proceeded to after taking all the luggage out....piece it all back together. Hand signals were a must...pointing was imparitive....smiles and gestures included. I had my doubts. We barely got 6 people and all our luggage in the minivan...how were we to stuff a 7th. Here we are in a dimly lit parking lot next to the ruins...all the luggage out...and amazingly we were able...with a very strong shoulder press on the hatch....to close the car up. It was at this moment the high fives of "YES WE CAN" rang out and we had mission accomplished.

The workers on the side of the parking lot were probably getting a big chuckle out of our circus. But in the end, this tall blond American man and that short gray haired, bigger than life, Italian woman were able to do the unthinkable. Next would come the piecing all the bodies into the car..it was like a car version of Twister but in the end...all were belted in and all were secure. It was now on to the Amalfi coastline for us all!! Ciao Pompeii!!