Change of scenery

We fly to Sardinia via Rome. I haven't been to Italy in almost 6 years. It's nice to be back, even starting when we hit the airport in Rome. The flight to Olbia is only 50 minutes from Rome. The landscape in Sardinia reminds me of Cabo: arid with mountainous rock formations, desert scrub grass, and beautiful water. But that's about where the similarities end - no Orange County spring-breakers here; it's all well-heeled Europeans on summer holiday.

We check into the hotel, which is pretty sweet. My room has a large balcony with an ocean view. I forgot how slow the pace is in Italy. Between being in Italy and being at the beach, it's hard to not relax. We have a great dinner at the hotel restaurant, outside overlooking the water. Seafood was the name of the game: Had spicy baby octopus as antipasti, penne with sea urchin as the first course and swordfish as the second course. It was all excellent.