..........THIS IS THE AMERICAN CEMETERY IN NETTUNO, (beautiful and sad at the same time) where thousands of white crosses like this cover the landscaping, as far as the eye can see. The park is enormous and very well taken care of. Not all of the American servicemen killed in World War II at Nettuno, Anzio and in Sicily are buried here, because many of them were sent back home to their families. Only about a third of them are buried here, I understand. And there are MANY MORE American cemeteries, all over Europe, of our brave soldiers who died in other countries during the war, like in France, England, and Germany, and many others. I was overwhelmed. This is the second time we visited this sacred site, (also in 1984) but this time we actually met an American military officer there who served in Iraq, who was on 2-week leave, and set to return to Iraq to serve another term. He was there looking for the names of the WOMEN who died in WWII, but didn't find many. We spoke awhile with him, shook his hand, and thanked him for his service to our country. I'm sorry we never got a picture of him. It would have been nice to better remember that special moment.


......There was a lovely little garden there, where Settimio is standing holding his niece, Sara. Both Sara and her sister Silvia were a great help to us in many ways during our stay, including the final 2 days downloading our trip photos from their computer onto a disc for us. I think they were both too shy to practice their English with us, (though they spoke it a little with Sonia & Claudio). They both had studied English enough years at school, so I bet they knew a lot more than they let on! But never mind...as I said I had no problem communicating with them at all. I could still speak fluently, but added new vocabulary words I'd forgotten and improved by the day, No, I'd say by the HOUR, especially the way I talk - which is the SAME WAY I WRITE --NON STOP!! LOL