Well, I don't get to spend the lengthy seven weeks but I will be wandering over for about three on July 15th. I hope to be maintaining the site in a valiant attempt to keep the tradition of the "American Traveler" intact.. Indeed, there is nothing like living the trip from the comfort of your E-Z Chair back in Hagerstown, Maryland.

The object is to go on the trip, and spend 95% of the time taking pictures and recording the event with mind glazed so you can sit back one month later, slumped in your chair, living it vicariously while staring at your computer screen or video cam. It's the American Way and a value many hold dear, much like the new South Beach Diet, where anything carbohydrate is considered illegal.

I wont be attending the classes but will be doing most everything else including thoroughly analyzing "Limbo." I hope to be totally immersing myself in the Italian culture of the Sienese; it would help if I could remember more than "Con Dios" which unfortunately is Spanish for "with Lord" something that stuck in my head while riding with Audrey in the PA mountains (I think she only had one contact in at the time). I stare at Italian late at night and my eyes roll back into my head....

Although I have been to Africa, Canada, and across the entire US, I have never been to Europe. From what those I trust say, I'll not want to return home, as the real culture shock will be on the trip back...

Con Dios......