Trying pictures

I will try to upload a picture.

Nathaniel trying out his new magnifying glass.

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Here is a picture taken with the rear facing camera on the iPad 2



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End of Italy trip

I had a hard time finding free WiFi at our last hotels in Italy and also at the airport, so these last postings were done from home.

Wednesday November 2, 2011

Today after breakfast, we took the train to Herculaneum (see photos). We had gorgeous weather and the site was fantastic as always. We saw some lovely frescoes and mosaic tiles. The nice thing about this site is that it is much smaller than Pompeii so it is “doable” in a shorter time. When we returned to Sorrento, we ate at a restaurant on the square. Everything was delicious. The “girls” are going out again at 4 to do a bit of last minute shopping. We will have our farewell dinner at 6:45 tonight. Dinner last night was very good. We had three different types of pasta and Manuela gave us the recipes for them. It should be exciting to try them at home. Tomorrow will be a travel day. We will go by bus to Rome, stopping along the way for a side trip to Monte Cassino. We will be home Friday evening.

Thursday November 3, 2011

We got on the bus after breakfast and headed toward Rome. We stopped to see the Abbey at Monte Cassino. It was heavily damaged in World War II. It was rebuilt, but the interior is done in different colored marble and not to my taste. When we arrived in Rome, our driver took us on a sightseeing hour of the city by bus. We drove by the coliseum, the forum, the Victor Emmanuel monument (nicknamed the wedding cake), the Republican garden (where Julius Caesar was killed and where many cats of Rome reside – fed by little old ladies of the neighborhood), the Baths, and the Circus Maximus. Our hotel was out of the city center and was a huge surprise. It was very modern and huge! We had a sitting room and a bedroom as well as a huge bathroom. There was a lot of color everywhere. For example, the bathroom was all red tile, the dresser was bright yellow and there was a Jackson Pollack poster on the wall. John, Lana, and Kelly took a taxi to Trevi Fountain before our final dinner. They each tossed a coin to ensure a return trip to Rome.

Friday November 4, 2011

We got up early this morning and had a quick breakfast before our taxi ride to the airport. We spent our last few Euros on bottled water for the flight. We were a little late getting off the ground, but the pilot made up for it in flight. I sat next to a man who was in Naval Aeronautics. He had just spent the last month in Sicily at a NATO base there and was on his way home to Virginia Beach. The man next to him was an Albanian Orthodox priest who was moving his whole family to Boston to a church there. At one point, I was standing near the restroom and noticed a section of the plane that was curtained off – it was the cabin crew resting. A woman came up the aisle and tripped on something and fell into the curtain and onto a couple of the crew. She was very embarrassed and we had a good laugh, as it was so unexpected! We arrived in Boston, went through passport control and customs and then caught the bus to Providence (fortunately, Susanne spotted it – otherwise we could have had a long wait). The bad thing was that we were in Friday night rush hour traffic so it took a lot longer than usual to get to Providence. It was nice to get home and we look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Thoughts about the trip: Pinocchio everywhere, umbrella pines, cedar trees, garlic, olive oil, red wine, homemade fresh pasta, smoke in Sorrento from the burning of olive branches that had been pruned, motor scooters, Smart cars, fresh mozzarella, huge lemons and tomatoes, giant Nutella, piccolo mini, Andiamo y'all. We had a nice time . . . I wonder where we will go next?

November 1, 2011

Happy 11/1/11! Dave didn’t feel well last night so he decided to stay in bed for a while and skip the trip to Capri. The rest of us took the elevator out of San Antonio Square down to the port. We bought tickets on the fast ferry to Capri (about a 45 minute ride). Our first mission was to go to the Blue Grotto, as Lana and I are the only ones to have seen it before. We took a small boat (the Olga) out and then had to wait a bit, as there were boatloads of Japanese tourists ahead of us. Finally, we were able to get into a rowboat and into the grotto. It was a lovely blue, but maybe not as blue as the last time we were here because the sun was behind light clouds today. The blueness is determined by the refraction of the light coming into the grotto. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures inside the grotto as my camera was set on no flash and it took me most of the time in the grotto to figure out how to change it as it was quite dark. The good news is that Kelly and John will share their pictures and we do have some from our last trip. When we got back to port, we took the funicular up to the town of Capri. We did a little window-shopping, but noticed that many of the shops and hotels had closed for the season (see photo). We strolled around and found a garden where we could overlook the sea and some 500-foot tall rocks jutting up near the shore of the island (see photo). One of them is called the rock of love. We ate in the main square - just a small snack as we are having a pasta buffet at the hotel tonight. We took a bus up to Anacapri. The bus ride was totally awesome! We had to stand and we could look down forever into the sea – a little disconcerting, but quite a thrill! We walked around in the small hill town of Anacapri enjoying the architecture and flowers. I took a picture of a flight of stairs decorated with lovely ceramic tiles (see photo). We then eventually reversed our steps – bus and then funicular down to the port. We got back to Sorrento a little after 4 to find that Dave was feeling much better. I am going to put my feet up for a few minutes before it is time for dinner.

Monday October 31, 2011

Monday 31

Happy Halloween everyone! Another picture perfect day! We went to Stabia today. It is on a hill overlooking the Bay of Naples. It was a resort area for Roman politicians and rich merchants. A number of them built huge summer villas here. They were discovered in the mid-1700’s while digging a well. Unfortunately many of the frescoes were stolen to decorate manor houses of the time and are now in a museum, but it was great to see what was left. We went into one of the villas, San Marco, and were able to see mosaic tiled floors, original paint on the walls and some of the original frescoes that had not been taken (see photo). The part that has been excavated is awe inspiring, but there is still much more of the villa to be discovered under neighboring farms. Our guide to the villa was a young archaeologist named Maria. She was quite witty and we really enjoyed her talk. The villa had large private baths – cold, tepid, and hot – and a reflecting pool with a colonnade on two sides. Before viewing the villa we saw a short film on what the villa might have looked like before its destruction in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The whole experience was quite delightful. Coming home on the bus was another story. We got stuck in a lot of traffic – besides the normal two lanes, the motor scooters use the space between to travel. It becomes very interesting when they are weaving in and out and passing each other with inches to spare! We had a few minutes when we got back to our hotel to regroup and then get into vans for our ride to a home-hosted lunch. Our group went to visit Anna who owns a farm on a hill high over the city of Sorrento. Our driver drove like a bat out of hell on narrow roads hardly wider than the bus, but meant for two-way traffic. It was like being on a thrill ride at an amusement park! We felt a little better when we got there and found that he was Anna’s son and he drives that road every day. We were lucky our gang of six plus the two couples from Wisconsin were with Manuela. She went with us to interpret, as our hostess did not speak English. She has a 22-acre farm where she raises cows, chickens, pigs and "oysters". When Manuela told us that she raises oysters, I had visions of salt water tanks, but then she went on to say that they were mean tempered, had long necks and could bite. We laughed when we discovered that we were thinking of two different things! She knew it was something that started with an “o”. It turned out that Anna had two ostriches! There are also lemon, walnut and olive trees on the property. The harvest season for the olives is happening now and they catch the ripe ones in nets that get emptied each day (see photo). The lunch was delicious: pasta, beef, steamed chicory, salad, tiramisu. There was also homemade wine and for after dinner a liqueur that was made with chestnuts. She seemed pleased with all of her gifts that we had brought with us to thank her for her hospitality. At 5 PM we had a lecture, “My home away from home”, by an American woman who married an Italian man and the changes that she encountered being an American living in Italy. It was quite fascinating and she touched on a number of topics including education, medicine, salaries, home buying, cooking, and unemployment. We thoroughly enjoyed her talk. We went out for a light supper, as we were all still full from lunch. Dave and I had Caprese salads (sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella in olive oil and herbs. We then took a walk around town and enjoyed watching the children “Trick or Treat” the merchants. Manuela says that this is a recent phenomenon (the last 5 or 6 years). Most of the girls were dressed as witches (perhaps a Harry Potter influence). The boys seemed to prefer monsters or devils. We saw silly string (which I haven’t thought of in years) and much confetti being thrown. Unfortunately, I saw one older boy with a container of raw eggs! Tomorrow we are going to Capri on the fast ferry. My internet time may expire before we return so there may be a gap in the blog until we get to Rome on Thursday evening.

Sunday October 30, 2011

We skipped the walk today, as we knew we had an early bus ride down the Amalfi Coast. What a lovely ride. They have changed the rules since we were here last. Cars are allowed to travel both ways on the scenic road, but busses are only allowed to travel down (South). The day was perfect! Sunny and warm with fantastic views of villages carved into the huge cliffs. It seems as if the houses are built on top of each other like a pile of a child’s blocks (see photo). We stopped at a large ceramic shop for a bathroom break and also so that we could exchange seats side to side in order that everyone could enjoy the majestic views. Our first official stop was in the town of Amalfi. Most of us elected to take a 45-minute boat ride along the coast. We had wonderful views of some lovely houses that were not visible from the road overhead. We passed the house that Sophia Loren used to own and also a very excusive hotel where the Jacqueline Kennedy and Michael Jackson were guests (not at the same time!). The captain also pointed out Gore Vidal’s home. Back on land, we had an hour to walk around the town of Amalfi. I finally found a few postcards to send to the last of the grandchildren. I could make a mint designing appropriate postcards – ah, well, another life! We then went on a bit and stopped for lunch in a lovely restaurant with fantastic views of the mountains and the sea (see photo). Unfortunately, I was not crazy about either of the menu choices and the dessert was soaked in liquor so I am quite hungry now as I write and wait to go out to dinner. I had a salad, a few fried potatoes and an apple. Oh well, I have to start to lose the pounds from eating all this pasta at some point! We did get to sing Happy Birthday to one of our fellow travelers. Larry turned 66 today. Our next stop was to the garden of a villa in Rufolo. The town is known for music and they have a huge, but ugly new amphitheater for concerts. Wagner stayed here and composed some of his music while looking at the fantastic scenery. The villa gardens were lovely. They was set on top of a hill and you could look down onto the Mediterranean Sea (see photo). Because the weather is mild, there were many flowers still in blooms. Our autumn was late this year, but we are enjoying the colors of Italy. Some of the trees turn yellow and orange and the grape vines and other vines turn bright red (see photo). We had a long bus ride home. Our bus was smaller than the normal one which is a good thing for the width of the road going down the coast, but not so good for one’s legs – it was quite cramped. We arrived back at 5 PM and will go out to dinner with Susanne. Lana, John and Kelly are going to a dinner theater to see the Tarantella show.