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to ship a box each to our homes… things we bought for ourselves and others, and some of the things we brought that have been replaced by new things… mostly just new cotton tops, and a couple of sweaters (I found a great chartreuse mohair sweater at Sisley that I tried to resist, but when I went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!
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!
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