Roma...

Here are some pictures from the Vatican in Rome... the first day there we walked around our neighborhood, a few blocks to the Spanish Steps, then went into a few shops looking for espresso makers (which we ended up going back to and buying a couple of machines each on our last day:) and a wonderful profumeria where I tried more purfumes... nothing like the wonderful classic of Santa Maria Novella--which seems a lifetime ago--and promised the sales woman that I would be back after wearing the scent for a while. All of these shops are wonderful, and the staff follows you around like hawks... the level of service is so hign, I just wish I could buy more! Anyway, after the steps, we meandered around to the Trevi Fountain, which is not over rated--it us just magnificent. The problem is that, even on a rainy day in January (it had started raining pretty good by this part of our neighborhood walk) it was mobbed by tourists--just packed--and I have trouble getting enough zen-like to be able to trancend the crowds and enjoy the fountain or any other wonderful place when there are zillions of tourists eating gelato, posing for pictures, moving in large groups from one place to another, so we stopped for a moment and walked around the crescent of shops that line the piazza, then walked back to the hotel. We ate at a little trattoria just a few doors down from the hotel, and met the chef who had many pics on the wall of himself with local and intenational celebrities, and shared a bottle of Prosecco, and went back to the hotel to bed at a decent hour.

The next day we figured out the Metro system (we could have taken the Metro from the Stazione to P. Barberini yesterday instead of slogging through Rome with our luggage--1 Euro each and two metro stops) and we waked to the metro stop in P. Barberini and went down the stairs and found the right train to take, and went to the stop nearest the Vatican, stopped for due cappuccini, and went to the Vatican Museums, including the Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina) great pics here: http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&rls=GPEA,GPEA:2008-41,GPEA:en&q=capella+sistina&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title

It was a fun and exhausting day... just walking through the maze of museums and hallways as they usher you to... finally... the Sistine Chapel. I bought a rosary in the Vatican for my mom, lovely clear crystals... the amount of maps and paintings and artifacts is un comprehensible--that's it--you just have to go and see for yourselves... this is a common theme from my travels on this trip. I visited so many marvelous museums and cathedrals and accompanying shows and exhibits that I was overwhelmed with the wealth of fabulous art and artifacts... and the Vatican holds an amazing amount. After the Vatican we went around the high wall that borders the Vatican, and back into St. Peter's square. This was the first time that I saw Trudy wander off, meandering around in circles, totally in awe... I did the same for a bit, then found her, still gazing up to the pillars and statues that surround the huge square... by the pillar/monument in the center (sorry, not looking up its name now...) there was a life-sized manger scene, not unlike scenes that we saw throughout our church and duomo visits. We waked through St. Peter's Basilica, again in awe, and I got to linger by one of my favorites--actually anything by Michelangeo is my favorite--the Pieta, the sculpture of the Madonna cradling her dead son after the crusifixtion sculpted by Michalengelo when he was 25... 25!!! can you even imagine the genius??? I copied this pic from the web... click on it to enlarge--it's incredible.

We climbed to the top of the basilica dome... actually took the elevator part way, then walked the narrow, then narrower, winding stairs to the top of the dome... while walking up the stairs toward the top, the tile wall to the left curves in, so as you are walking you are forced to lean to the right as you curve around... and at the top a 360 degree view of the city of Rome! Fantastic!

Back to our hotel, and believe it or not, we had our first mediocre dinner in Italy... we joked that it was really time to go:)

ciao, tutti!

Pics of Sorrento and Capri

The last few days in Sorrento and Rome

I am home now, and it's much more difficult to get into the writing mode with so many things to do, catch up on, clean, unpack... But I vowed to write this blog, and now I vow to finish it! I may not do so in this post, but will post more, and more pics, until done... a quick wrap up to our trip--the day after Capri we stayed in Sorrento, walking around the city, doing a little shopping, and of course eating our share of pasta! It was a rainy day--the first day in Sorrento when the sun shined was only the first of two days in my entire month when the sun shined... but no complaints--we got around just fine, spent an hour or so when the rain was sideways and the shops were closed for the afternoon in the internet bar, having a glass of wine and catching up on email and news. We had dinner in a nice trattoria, and dinner did not dissapoint--the gnocchi of the area is Gnocchi a la Sorrentina, and the gnocchi is baked in oval ramekins, drenched in a creamy tomato sauce, and covered with mozzarrella and then baked--the ultimate Italian comfort food! Trudy wanted to bring home some limoncello and two limoncello glasses (did I mention that she is throughly hooked on the stuff???) so we went into a shop entirely devoted to limoncello, and the gal there started bringing us samples of limoncello, lemon chocolate, candied lemon... anything we saw and asked for, she would bring us a sample. Trudy got her cute little glasses and a bottle or two of limoncello... I saw bottles of little, popover-shaped pound cakes preserved in limoncello, had a sample, and bought a pint-sized jar to bring home. I will share with mom when we have dinner together next--and may have to figure out how to duplicate that recipe. The outside crust of the bread keeps the poundcakes intact, but they are throughly infused with limoncello... After my 2003 trip to Italy I wrote a short story about limoncello, and included the recipe, and I promise to find it and post it to this blog--it's a silly little ode to limoncello, but it is such an intoxicatingly delicious elixir (there I go again!!) that once you love it, you gotta have it, and making it is delicious and economical...
Ok, here is the rundown of the last days... after our last day in Sorrento, in our wonderful apartment "Casa Sorrentina," we had a "set the alarm day" and took the Circumvesuviana at around 10:00 to Naples. Once again, riding through the really depressing outskirts of Naples, with non-stop ugly apartment buildings and trash... I know that there is more to the area than what you see along the tracks, but this goes on for an hour and is truly depressing.
In Naples we found the passenger assistance office, and filed our form and tickets for the Florence to Naples train that was cancelled a few days earlier. If a train is cancelled, or is delayed for a certain time (??) then they refund 1/2 of the ticket price. We figured that for a 122 Euro trip for both tickets, it was worth filling out a form and turning it in. Of course, it's one of those "check is in the mail and you'll receive it in the US in one month" type of deals... one month seems to be the standard answer for anything having to do with US delivery! In dollars that's about $160, so we'll see... Then we found our 11:24 train to Roma--it took 2 hours, and had no delays. We bought salami sandwiches on delicous rolls, and two beers from a man walking down the aisle with a couple of buckets of food and drink, and settled in nicely, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, went along the coast a bit, then though mountain pastures with gorgeous views of the mountains and sparsely spaced towns, farms, lots of water in fields, irrigation ditches, and rivers from all the rain, livestock, and green everywhere. As we neared Rome things got more densely populated, but still really beautiful until we hit the inner city and the rail yards.
In Rome we got out the map and hoofed it through narrow, crowded streets, over cobbled sidewalks and streets, across intersections until we reached P. Barberini. From there we found our street and our hotel at 42, Via della Purificazione, and walked up hill a couple blocks to the hotel. It was a wonderful place, and the hotel desk staff were out of this world--they tolerated my Italian, but were all proficient in English and were just super helpful and so nice. The room was small but very nice, and had windows and shutters that opened to a back courtyard, and to other quiet residences. I had the opportunity to open and close the shutters and windows, something that I love to do, and have only experienced in Italy... sounds silly, but I just love to wake up in the morning in a dark room, and open the windows, pulling them into the room, then open the shutters outward, attaching them to the outside wall (in a number of ingenious ways--depending on the shutters) and look out to a beautiful Italian view, whether it's city, or country--if it's in Italy, it's great to wake to! Rome was the only time we left the window open a sliver at night--the weather for our 3 days was mild compared to any city since Rappallo, with some rain, some sun, but mostly cloudy skies, but never got horribly cold.
It's time to get in the shower and get to work... yesterday was my first day back. It was really great to be back, but I need to lead a rebellion about the horrible working conditions in the US... workday starts at 8:00 instead of 9:00 or 9:30, no bar on the way to work to get a delicious cappuccino and a coronetto, no breaks to run out for a lovely espresso, no 3 hour break for lunch and a nap... sheesh--we live like barbarians here!!!
more later--ciao tutti!

Sorrento and Capri

The first two pics are Sorrento--Corso Italia where our hotel is, and the view of the city from Marina Grande. The others are of Capri.

Ciao tutti!
I am in a bar with wireless access, sitting at the bar, using my computer, drinking a Campari and soda, munching on complimentary olives, cheese, and grilled vegetables... ahhh... if I could just figure out how to actual real work like this! It's 20:30 and I left Trudy in the room, safely tucked into bed... we both are pretty tired from our day, but guess I still have more energy left than she does!

We had one of our rare 'set the alarm' days... got up at 7:30 and walked down the many steps to the harbor, and took the 9:25 ferry to Capri. Yesterday we went to the harbor a couple of times, sat in the sun, watched the water, and checked out the ticket booth and schedule for Capri. Unfortunately, the sun did not hold, and we woke to rain and thick clouds. We waited for the ticket booth to open, then for the unexplainable delay in the line... once we got to the window one of the women seemed to be processing large numbers of tickets, while the other woman helped those in line... we figured out later that they were processing tickets for the large groups of Asian tourists who joined the few locals on the ferry... anyway, the ferry only takes 25 minutes, and once at Marina Grande there is a finicular that climbs up to Capri Town--it takes about 6 minutes, so we bought tickets and took that. Once in Capri Town we went to Umberto piazza and made our way into the only bar open, ordered cappuccini and chocolate coronetto for me, and nut tart for Trudy.. .my diet has really gone to hell on this trip--up until about 13:00 each day, I usually have something sweet and 2 or 3 cappuccini, and maybe some fruit.

I'd read in a guide book about a short walk to the ancient ruins of Tiberius' villa on the east end of the island, so we walked through the narrow, car-free streets--more like wide sidewalks--very cool, walking past entrances to homes and villas, all marked with distinctive tiles with the name of the residence and the number...

I am running out of internet time so will complete this later, and will post some pictures... Just want to say that once we left the Asian tourists at Marina Grande--where they were being loaded on to boats to go around to the Blue Grotto in the rain... brrrrr!--we literally did not see one other tourist in Capri Town, on the walk, or at the ruins... most of the shops were closed and completely empty--unlike Sorrento, Capri closes its shutters in the winter...
more later,
ciao tutti!

Traveling from Siena to Naploi and Sorrento

10 gennaio
We finished our evening early, and had most things packed and ready to go before going to bed last night. We also (like good Italians!) packed a bag of food—made prosciutto/pecorino/olive mix/olive oil sandwiches on baguettes, plus water and leftover cookies and mandarins, and a bar of hazelnut chocolate… Yesterday we went to the post office to ship a box each to our homes… things we bought for ourselves and others, and some of the things we brought that have been replaced by new things… mostly just new cotton tops, and a couple of sweaters (I found a great chartreuse mohair sweater at Sisley that I tried to resist, but when I went back to the shop after first trying it on, it was still there waiting for me—the only bright color among the dark blacks and browns—and it—along with much of the past season’s fashions—was on sale!) Anyway, at the post office it was a cumbersome process to send the packages, complicated by having both the “to” and “from” addresses in the US, instead of the from being from Italy and the to a US address… the very nice clerk at the post office said that she thought it “may be a problem,” but took the packages and our Euro anyway, and we can only hope for the best and will await the arrival of our boxes in 1 to 3 weeks…

We planned a 8:47 train from Siena to Firenze, then a 10:49 Eurostar that would go directly to Napoli with only one stop in Roma and would arrive in Napoli at 14:05. That would give us plenty of time to get to the lower platform where the local Circumvesuvia runs from Napoli, past Pompei, and ends at Sorrento, a 70 minute trip, and to arrive in Sorrento before dark. Napoli is known for its petty theviery and pickpocketing, targeting tourists at busy terminals, and I remember at the platform for the Circumvesuvia in Napoli there are signs warning of such things… On that train to Sorrento in 2005 I was very careful, and I remember a man sitting in the seat right next to me, even though there were many open seats on the car… impossible to know whether he was a thief, ws just jsing the Italian concept of space as opposed to the US concept, or was trying to pick me up… anyway, we did want to get to Sorrento in the light.

The morning started out just glorious, with the first day of clear blue sky since I arrived in Italy. Just as Trudi andbI got to the outdice door of the apartment, Pino pulled up in his Renault and we loaded our things. A couple of days ago he had problems with it starting and bought a new battery, but when he tried to start it it wouldn’t cooperate, so Trudy and I got out and gave it a little push and it quickly started… we were laughing and Trudy assured Pino that in our younger years we had done this many times with old VW bugs—how true! We stopped at a bar on the way to the station and had quick cappucinni and caffe and brioche. Oh, I have figured out this brioche/coronetto issue… a coronetto looks just like a croissant, with the turned up ends, like horns. A brioche looks like a croissant, but without the ends being turned—they are more chopped off. Pino also gave us another package of riciorelli, wrapped like a gift—he brought one to the apt a couple days ago, so now we have plenty of the wonderful almond cookies to eat in the next week!

We arrived at the Siena station in plenty of time, and said our very fond goodbyes. Trudy expressed her appreciation of Pino’s hospitality and he assured her that she always has a place to stay in Siena. I will never forget his wonderful friendship and warm cordiality while we stayed in his beautiful apartment, and I will dream of returning many times, and surely will….

In Florence, our connecting train was cancelled—first it showed a 25 minute delay (“rit.” for ritardo on the Partinze sign) then showed a 2 hour delay, so I went to the ticket window and got a new schedule. The clerk (another very helpful clerk!) gave me a printout of the next train connection, and I asked her about a refund, and she gave me a paper to bring to an office in the Naples station, and said that since our train was cancelled, they would refund 50%. At 122 euro for the two of us, that will be worth finding the refund office!

So we are on the train to Rome, where we will switch trains for Napoli. Both are Eurostar, non stop, but this will get us into Napoli at 15:38, still in time to catch the local train and get to Sorrento by about 17:00. The countryside from Firenze to Roma began with beautiful rolling hills with large homes on them, to large expanses of rolling farm land interspersed with homes and barns, and now as we are closer to Roma, modern buildings, and apartments. When ever I have ever been on a train in urbanized areas, there are always small plots of farm land with sheds, and small greenhouses all along the train line. These must be plots that people living in the apartments and homes, who do not have their own land to farm so use these plots.

The train from Rome to Napoli was uneventful, with glimpses of the Mediterranean as we approached. In the stazione we followed the signs to the Circumvesuviana, the local train that connects Napoli to Sorrento, with about 20 stops, and takes 70 minutes… More later from Sorrento!
Ciao tutti!

Above pictures of the Duomo and the Piazza around the main entrance of the Duomo

9 gennaio

As composed by Trudy and Connie…
As we prepare to leave Siena, another chapter begins… we are in the kitchen in S. Francesco, still in Siena, and as I type Trudy is preparing dinner… salads of baby greens, tomatoes, walnuts, and green onions, laced with aged pecorino from this area, drizzled with local extra virgin olio di oliva, a splash of red wine vinegar (aceto di vino rosso) and a dash of sea salt from the region. For our primo we will enjoy bowls of last night’s minestrone (zuppa di verdure e fagioli) and the last of the Rosso di Montalcio that Pino has provided, individually bottled from the large fiasco that he gets from his wine maker friend in Montalcino. As he tells it, in places like Montalcino, where the Vino Nobile di Montalcino (different but no less a wine than the Brunelli) are made, the regulations of wine making from the state level prescribe exactly how much of the Vino Nobile can be produced, so the remaining wines must be labeled Rosso… which is to the winemakers’ detriment, but definitely to our delight!

The exterior door to the S. Francesco apartment

Last night we had a lovely cena (dinner) with Pino and Catherine, the only other roommate (she is a student at the Scoula di Lionardo di Vinci-Italian language school). Trudy set the table with the joyful yellow, blue, and green tablecloth covered with olive branhes, and plates and placemats… we had minestrone, bread, and had sliced aged pecorino, olives, and pears, plus a small amount of broiled bruschetta left over from the aperitivi that Trudy and I ate at about 18:00 to ward off our hunger as we prepared for a 20:00 dinner. The zuppa was delicious and we ended the meal with cantucinni (both the traditional mandorle (almond) and some made with chocolate), that we dipped into Vin Santo (which Trudy now calls “the dipping sauce”). I started the evening saying that we would talk only in Italian, but that didn’t last too long and we all enjoyed great food, laughs, and interesting conversation—sharing stories and learning more about each others’ cultures—especially Italian culture from Pino..

Tomorrow we will travel to Sorrento…

Ciao Tutti!

Siena

These are from the day we traveled from Florence to Montalcino, with a couple hour stop in Siena to see my friend Pino!