The girls off to Napoli on New Years

Tuesday morning we awoke after a surprisingly good sleep, fireworks notwithstanding. Not sure whether they were more tame in our piazza or we were more tired, or perhaps some of both. Here is a photo of the shelves of fireworks for New Years available down the street at our local Chinese store:

Anyway, despite feeling rested, I was still too wiped out to go go Napoli with the girls. This cold keeps hanging on. It was a bummer for me to miss the trip, but I could tell that I was not up to all the walking. I had given Dee all the travel details she would need, and she has been to Napoli enough recently that she knows her way around. So I unpacked my suitcase, dropped them off at the subway with their suitcases just after noon, and then tried to take a nap -- no luck sleeping, but the rest helped. I spent the remainder of the New Years Day inside, feeling better as the day went on.

The Willeys informed me that the fiber internet at their apartment finally came on, which is a big step, and she was able to unlock her iPhone finally by paying a third-party service to get an unlock code. AT&T and Apple had not been able to agree on whether she had paid off her four-year old iPhone, so they wouldn't unlock it! She finally got tired of spending time on the phone with them and took matters into her own hand after I showed her how.

In the afternoon I finished packing the extra big suitcase of our stuff for Chiara to take home and hold for us. It came in at 49 pounds, just under the limit. Now the question will be whether we will need to pay for yet another suitcase when we go home in March. Stay tuned.

I emailed with Brother Scherber, who is here coordinating the open house volunteers from among the senior missionaries and anyone coming from abroad. He was one of the first group of missionaries to come to Italy, in 1966, and he and his wife served as a senior couple in Battipaglia in 2013-4. We actually met them briefly at the FairMormon conference here in Rome in June 2013. They know and love Ugo. We invited them to come see the Institute sometime. He suggested how we should sign up to volunteer, given our somewhat constrained schedule.

I also decided to add an extra day at the beginning of our AirBNB stay in March just before the Motts get here to replace us. That will allow us to move our stuff out over two days, instead of just one, as well as do a better job cleaning this place for them. Fortunately, that day was still available, and it just took a few minutes to set up.

The girls got to their hotel in Napoli without incident, having first stopped at a Murano glass jewelry store in downtown Rome and finding some nice stuff. There was a Napoletano pizza place right around the corner from the hotel, and they enjoyed their dinner very much. Dee and I messaged and talked a few times during the evening, discussing different details of their Wednesday schedule. Getting to and from the tour in Pompeii will be a bit tight given the return train departure time, but fortunately there are various transit options available at different prices, depending on how things go for them. In the morning they hope to find some nice cameo necklaces downtown before heading out to Pompeii.

By the end of the relaxed day and evening, I was feeling better than I had in days, but still glad to be at home. This is the first night that Dee and I have been apart since well before leaving on our mission, so it feels strange to be alone, but fortunately it is only for one day.