March 29, 2011 - Tuesday

We left beautiful Cinque Terre in a cool pre-dawn.  We boarded the commuter train, again at no cost, at 7:14 a.m.  We made it La Spezia in time to catch the 8:06 to Pisa, where we caught yet another train to Florence, and then yet another to Venice, arriving at a respectable 12:30 p.m.  We bought a 1-way water bus ticket, somehow found the right dock, and were soon on the Grand Canal.  How exciting!  We stopped at Ca' D'Oro, per the instructions given by the hotel.  We found our street, Calle delle Vele, that had the look of a dingy, deserted alley.  I've come to learn is not a sign of a bad neighborhood in Italy.  When we buzzed to enter the hotel, Ca' le Vele, we weren't disappointed.  We entered into a small, open courtyard, then up some red-carpeted stairs and into a charming interior.  Our room, opened by a skeleton key, has cloth covered walls, red-orange with a gold pattern.  The furniture is ivory with painted flowers and gold trim.  It's lovely, with a window that opens into the courtyard.  At the entry, the bathroom was on the left, and down the hall is the bedroom.  I feel as though we are in a suite of sorts.

At the recommendation of Evan (eevan), our host, we went to a neighborhood pizzeria, La Perla.  The list of pizzas was extensive, at least as long or longer than the list for Le Pioli, in Arlington, VA (for those of you who are familiar).  We each ordered one, which might have been overkill.  I had one with spinach and ricotta.  Tenar had tomato and cheese.  Our waitress was friendly and the wine good.  After lunch, we took our city map, also complements of Evan, and headed for St. Mark's Square.  This map had the same lilliputian sized printing that our Rome map had, so I was pretty much out of the running for finding our way.  Guide books say to get lost, and we did that plenty, once ending up back on the main street near our hotel, in the opposite direction of St. Mark's.  We finally happened upon the square because I could see the enormous white marble facade at the end of an alley.  The plazza itself is enormous and was full of people.  We went into St. Mark's upper level, walked out on the terrace, then went through the museum.  I was particularly impressed with the mosaics.  We were able to see them at a very close distance and they weren't beautiful.  I stepped back, and they were amazing.  Then we went down into the sanctuary.  It is indeed a beautiful church.

After a long day, I was ready for some downtime.  We left the plazza, made a few turns, and were back on the plazza.  I decided we had to go east to get northwest, as going directly north hadn't worked.  Even with reading glasses, none of the street names matched the streets we were seeing.  We were in the Twilight Zone.  I asked a shopkeeper where we were on the map and showed where we wanted to go.  He pointed to our current location, then pointed us in the opposite direction of our goal.  I knew enough to know he was wrong (or just plain mean?), so we went the opposite way that he said, and we did end up where we wanted to be, back at our hotel.  Whew!

We spent a couple of hours catching up on journals and blogs, then went out to find a place for dinner.  We found a lovely place one block over that was very busy, but they had one 2-person tiny table, so we were in.  Tenar had small shrimps with polenta.  The shrimp were extremely small a a little rubbery, a specialty of Venice.  I had linguini with squid ink, a very black dish.  It was good, and I soon became tired of it.  I think it was the whole pizza a short 5 hours before, that shortened our interest in our meals.  Or perhaps we're not rubbery shrimp and squid ink people.  But we persevered and ate most of our meals.  Then home to our venetian palace and bed.

March 28, 2011 - Monday

Today we had a quick breakfast of granola bars, then headed out to explore.  We went on one side of the harbor for a close look at a small waterfall, then did a little climbing up around a church.  We entered quietly, noticing the old stones and commenting how wonderful to be in this church for a service and look out large arched windows to the harbor below.  We then walked around the seawall on the other side, and went back to the beach in the middle, in front of our hotel, where we touched the Ligurian Sea.  We walked down main street and stopped at a few shops before proceeding under the train station where we found the beginning of the hiking path to Corniglia.  Up, up, up we went, seeing great views of Vernazza from above, going until we could see the village no longer, and still with a full view of the water below. 

Corniglia

Eventually we could see the next village of Corniglia, high on a hill.  The greatest distance between villages seems to be between Vernazza and Corniglia, and that is less than 2 miles.  Corniglia is the only village that is not at the water's edge.  Up, up, and up some more on a sometimes narrow, rocky path.  As we neared Corniglia, the path descended somewhat, and we traveled through more than one mud puddle.  Still some distance from the village, we came across two cats who were very friendly and seemed hungry.  There were 3-4 bowls around, none with food, most with rain water.  Someone has been taking care of them, and I hope they come back.   On the way, Tenar gave me a lesson in huckleberries, salmon berries and prickly pears, none of which we found.  We did find shamrocks, which he taught me were edible, tasting much like a green, sour apple.

Anchovy Pizza for 2!

We stopped at the edge of Corniglia for pizza to eat while  overlooking the ocean:  mine with anchovies soaked in lemon and olive oil, Tenar with salty anchovies.  Both were quite tasty.  I tried an Italian beer and Tenar had a lemon soda. 














Then we explored the quaint streets, following steps that seemed to be private entrances and which actually turned out to be legitimate public passageways.  In not too long a time, we went down the 400 steps to the train station, where we caught a train heading to the next village, Manorola.  The ticket master said we'd buy our ticket on the train, and there was no way to do that, so we rode for free.

400 steps down to the Train Station

Manorola is the village where the most common "postcard photo" view can be found.  We bought some gelato and explored the village, finding again some stairways up and down that appeared to be private and were really the way out.  At the harbor there was a natural 'swimming hole', nearly surrounded by large boulders so the the water there was calm.  The water was crystal clear and looked so inviting.

Satisfied that we'd seen all we wanted, we went to the train station, where we again boarded for free.  We got back to Vernazza about 6:00 p.m. and explored our 'own' village.  Once off the main street, there were agan the stairways.  I noticed they had their own 'Via' names, proving they were indeed public passageways, even though not wide enough for two people to walk side by side.  What a lovely substitute for the car-centric cities in Italy (and of course, the U.S.). 

Vernazza (our hotel is in the middle of the harbor-red building)

We climbed up, up, up and saw the village from the southeast.  We climbed down, then up the path which would have gone to the 5th village, Montarosso, and saw Vernazza from the northeast.  Had the castle been open, we would have had a tower view from the west.  I was kind of relieved that we were too late for the castle.  I wonder how hard it's going to be to replace the cartilage in my knees?  This kind of day was a nice break for Tenar from the museums.  Well, okay, a nice break for me too.  We stopped at Trattoria de Gianni for dinner:  macaroni with prawns for Tenar and stuffed mussels for me.

Back in our room, we agreed to get up in time to catch the 7:14 a.m. train to La Spezia, and then on to Venice.  It's now after 11:00 p.m.  Tomorrow will come too quickly, I fear.

March 27, 2011 - Sunday

We said goodbye go Florence today, catching a train first to Pisa.  At Pisa, a short bus ride took us to the Leaning Tower.  What a beautiful structure.  I had thought it would be in an open space at a large intersection.  I don't know why.  It was behind a wall, so I couldn't find it at first, and started following signs that were directing people toward parking for the tower, not the tower itself.  A descendent of Lewis or Clark, I am not.  A kindly sunglasses vendor led us to the proper place.  We, of course, climbed to the top.  There were only 294 steps, and the tilt gave an odd feeling when climbing.  I was surprised that the tilt began when only 3 tiers of the tower had been completed after 10 years of construction.  They did stop work then, but began again 79 years later, with corrections to straighten.  Still, the tilt continued to progress, though they believe they have stopped it now, thinking it will be stable for the next 300 years.



















After that excursion we hopped the bus and went back to the train station to continue to Vernazza, our village in Cinque Terre.  It was a little confusing finding the proper train, and one station attendant tried to send us to Rome on Track 3, when we thought we wanted Track 6.  She corrected herself and we boarded the train on Track 6.  I was relieved when I saw the station for the 1st village of the Cinque Terre (we are in the 4th), glad to know we had made the right choice.

View from our hotel window

Vernazza is utterly charming, with a length of what might be two city blocks.  We'll see tomorrow how high up the cliffs it goes.  We had a lovely dinner at Trattoria da Sandro.  Our hotel is basic and meager.  It's the top floor (5th?) of a building which houses apartments and perhaps another hotel and has no amenities like our apartments in Rome and Florence.  No elevator either.  The next morning found me making coffee with my camping filter, using hot tap water, drinking from the one plastic drinking glass supplied with the room.  Surprisingly not bad.

March 26, 2011 - Saturday

Last full day in Florence.  First we went to Musee Bargello.  This museum had lots of statues, including some of the young David, plus statues of John the Baptist as a toddler, child, youth and young adult.  That was fascinating.  There was also a plethora of Madonna and Child images, wither as friezes or paintings, and though all were different, all had the Madonna holding the Child with her right arm.  Why is that?  Then Tenar told me that all of Michaelangelo's statues had a tree stump in them.  We checkout a a couple of the Bacchus statues and the young David, and sure enough, there was a stump in each.  Smart kid.  We then went to the Vestri, the last gelotto place on our list.  They were making the chocolate so we settled for non-chocolate flavors and headed for the Duomo. 



















The line was a bit long to climb the dome, so I passed the time listening to the two young American women in front of us, talking about their experiences in Italy and difficulties with language.  I could relate.

The Camponile as seen from the top of the Duomo

I was concerned about my ability to make the climb after Tuesday's 'near death experience' at the Camponile, but it wasn't bad.  Perhaps I'm getting better.  My eyes are clear of gunk although my ears are still plugged.  The views from the top were spectacular, and it was fun being up there after a few days in Florence so we could spot places we'd been. After descending, touring the sanctuary and the crypts below, we wanted lunch.  We covered a lot of the city looking for a place in the guidebook, the Oil Shoppe.  When we finally found it, it was closed, so we ended up with some mediocre tourist Italian fast food.  After lunch we headed to the bank for more cash, to the open air market to see if there was anything interesting we just had to have (nope), then took the northern route to a street that would take us to the Ponte Grazie, then home.  We stopped on the way at Vestri, in case the chocolate with chile was now available.  It was!  We each got a cone and continued home.  Later was dinner at Terrazzo, our neighborhood restaurant again.  Tenar had lasagna and I had mussels in pepper and olive oil.  Lots of pepper!  Then home, a little packing, and to bed.

March 25, 2011 Friday

I woke up with my eyes practically sealed shut with crusty gunk and ears still plugged. The cold is getting worse instead of better. What's up with that?

Tenar running free in Boboli Gardens

Once out of the apartment, I tried my best to find something to buy that is significant of Florence: leather, paper, jewelry, and came up with nothing except the waste of a couple of hours. Okay, not really a waste, as we walked more blocks of the city, getting to know it. And through our wanderings, I was struck again by how many Americans are here. The local merchants aren't that friendly. Either that is their nature, or they are sick and tired of the tourists. I'm sure they love the crazy spending though. We made it to the Pitti Palace and decided not to go in. We are now saturated a bit with museums. I stead we walked to a point where we could enter the Boboli Gardens at the furthest end. These are the gardens that surround the Pitti Palace on the hillside. After exploring these, we went on to the Bardini Gardens, passing by Forte di Belvedere on the way. The fort was closed for renovation after a couple of people "fell down" and died. I have to think that means they fell off the wall, but I'm not sure. Of course, knowing that, we definitely wanted to go into the fort, but alas, couldn't. So we went on to the Bardini Gardens. These are smaller and more homey than the Bobini Gardens. Our visit was short, since they closed at 5:00 pm, and we exited at the far end, coming out of a multiple-storied building. We were surprised that the exit is on the same street as our apartment, and in a building we had passed a few times. I had seen the name, Giardino Bardini, saw children playing in one room, and thought it was a daycare!

View from Bardini Gardens...  Our apartment is out there somewhere

Before going home, we passed our own door and went to the market to get milk for our cereal the next morning. We left the market on the north side this time, and saw the restaurant Carlo had recommended, Terrazio. We had tried to go our first night here, but that was Monday, and the restaurant is closed on Mondays. We went home and waited until it opened at 7:00 pm, then walked over. It was indeed good! They had the sauteed spinach we'd had at the Osteria the night before for €3.50 instead of €5, and the same for desserts. I had a fantastic salad of hickory, arugula, parmesan and raisins, and we shared a spicy sausage pizza. I don't know where the sausage was, and the spicy was dollops of very hot chiles. We removed most of the chile paste and enjoyed it nonetheless.

March 24, 2011 Thursday

We tried to get out fairly early to go to San Gimogmano, and didn't leave until 12:30. This cold has set me back further Than I thought it would, and the coughing is terrible, in spite of the cough syrup I bought in Rome. Plus it was laundry day!

The bus was an easy way to go, except the sales person at the station said nothing about having to transfer buses at Poggibonsi. Considering that we're clearly from out of town, and didn't know how to pronounce San Gimignano, you'd think it might have occurred to him that we might benefit from that information. Perhaps it did. The bus driver did say so when I made sure with him That we were on the right bus. The only problem is that I didn't know how far Poggibonsi was, or how obvious it would be when we were there. The bus was stopping on lots of street corners before leaving Florence, then at places seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and in small villages, where those in the know got on and off with complete confidence. My anxiety was mounting and I was prepared to end up in Sienna, which wouldn't be a bad thing. Eventually I began seeing road signs for Poggibonsi and breathed easier, knowing I hadn't missed it. It turns out Poggibonsi is a fairly large city with an actual bus/train terminal, so transferring was easy.

Entrance to San Gimignano

San Gimignano is an interesting ancient town, extremely well preserved and known for it's many towers. Unfortunately, the one it is still possible to climb closed at 13:00, so there was no climbing for us this day. We explored nearly every street in the city, which didn't take long. To traverse the width took five minutes, and the length about ten. Of course, like a typical Italian town, there were many curved streets and alley-sized passages. Though people seemed to live there, it is a very touristy area with lots of shops for souvenier purchases, though at a higher quality than some of the tourist shops in Florence.









We kept ourselves busy for a few hours, found the place to buy our return bus tickets, and waited at the stop where we were dropped earlier. I saw one bus around the corner for Sienna, but none for Poggibonsi or Florence. The weather, which had been shirt-sleeve hot turned to jacket cold and windy. I didn't have my coat. Our bus didn't come. I went to an unfriendly woman at the snack shop nearby who said, yes, stop 2 in front. We were at stop 2 in front and there was no bus. Finally a bus came and we tried to get on, but were refused. He said we'd have to go around the corner. Around the corner I saw that it was also labeled "2". A bus came, and it was again for Sienna. I asked the bus driver and he said get on and change in Poggibonsi! Yes, that means we could have been on the bus that had come an hour earlier. And a lot warmer at this point than we were. Nevertheless, finally we were on the right track and heading home.

By this time I felt so ill, I didn't even want to eat, but had Tenar to consider, so on our walk home from the bus terminal, stopped at a little Osteria across the river. Sitting next to us was a man from San Francisco. On the other side of him were a mother and daughter from San Diego (tables in Italian restaurants are placed very close together). I think U.S. tourists outnumber Italians in Florence. We had a nice visit with the man from San Francisco, who had studied art history and was very excited to be in Florence. As it was his first time also, and he was going on to Rome, we had stories to share. He nicely included Tenar in his conversation also. We left together and parted company at Ponte Vecchio. Even though by this time my voice was hoarse and my ears were plugged, it was nice ending the evening with a little social interaction. Then the usual: home, tea, books in bed.

March 23, 2011 Wednesday

Today we made the trek to Galleria Dell Academia. The main draw was The David, and there were additional impressive statues by Michaelangelo and others, as well as paintings and musical instruments. I have to say, if I had seen only The David, I would have been satisfied. It is beautiful and amazing. The patience it would take to complete something so perfect is beyond my comprehension. Afterwards, being so near one of the five geleterias we were determined to experience, we stopped at Carabé on Via Ricasoli for another double picolo.

I wanted info on trains and buses, so we used our map to walk to the train station. En route, we happened on a market with clothing, leather, trinkets outdoors and food indoors, similar to the Eastern Market/flea market in Washington, D.C. on a much larger scale. The indoor market had beef, fish, chicken, plenty of tripe and boar meat, plus wine, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, candy, strings of garlic bulbs and dried pasta. Committed to my carry-on status, I ignored it all except for some hard candies to subdue my cough, and some fresh pasta for tonight's dinner, but it was tempting.

After a lunch break at one of the stands of hot pasta, we found both the train and bus station, mostly due to Tenar's map-reading ability. We got some sketchy but adequate information for our future trips, then decided to make a circular journey to see some of the remaining piazzas, beginning with San Giovanni, because it had yet another on our list of best gelato places. Because we were taking a day trip out of town the next day, we knew we would have to double up on geleterias one of our days in Florence in order to hit all five. This seemed as good a day as any. We went to Grom, on the corner of Via del Camponile and Via Dell Oche. From there, we visited Plazza dell' Repubblica, where Tenar rode on a carousel, Plazza Strazzi where we decided not to go to a Dali/Picasso exhibit, Plazza Davanzati, and the Old Market, which became the New Market, (no food at this one) near the river, also known as The Piglet (Il Porcellino), because of the bronze statue of a wild boar on the southern side. Local legend has it that rubbing the boar's snout will ensure your return to Florence, so we did.

Since I was still feeling way worse than mediocre, we went home via Ponte Grazie, where we cooked our fresh tortelini and gnocchi, then called it a day.

March 22, 2011 Tuesday

A lot of walking today, or seemed so, because I still have this blasted cold. We were out of the apartment by 10:00am. Carlo didn't supply us with a map as Claudio had done, so our first mission was to find one. The newsstands didn't carry them, so I tried a hotel and sure enough, they gave us one. Now we are free, strong and empowered, ready to take on the city of Firenze. First we went to the Uffize Gallery to reserve/purchase an admission time for 1:00 pm. We then headed to the Galleria Academia to do the same for tickets tomorrow, however on the way, we "bumped into" the Duomo. That it is called breath-taking is not an exaggeration. The structure covers a couple of city blocks and has a facade of pink, white and green marble, with a large red-tiled dome. I'm sure we'll climb that another day, and today we headed for the campanile, the 82m bell tower with 414 steps to the top. Though this is fewer steps than to the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, the climb was harder for me. I know it was partly the fact that the climb for the campanile was straight up, and I think my cold affected my stamina too.

After the climb that made me wish I'd given all my financial information to my son before I'd left the country, we found our way to the Academia and reserved our spots for 10:15 am the next morning. Then we meandered back through the streets (there is no other way than to meander - no streets go directly to anywhere else in Florence) to the Uffizi Gallery. We got the audio guides, which gave Tenar more information than I possibly could, and saw some beautiful, some interesting, and some "once is enough" paintings. I've always been a fan of Rembrandt, and was happy to see some of his works, as well as Da Vinci, Giotto, Boticelli and Michaelangelo. We left the Uffizi at 3:30, feeling quite educated, thirsty and hungry, realizing we had skipped lunch. We stopped at the closest pizzeria and had a Napoli, which was an anchovy and caper pizza. My grandson likes anchovies. How lucky am I? Then I found the page in the guidebook with the top five top gelaterie in Florence, so we continued our charter of tasting the best gelato in Italy. We headed for the closest, called Geleteria die Neri on the via de' Neri. They were touted to have a gorgonzola flavor, but that turned out to be a summer offering only. Nevertheless, what I had was good. I don't remember the flavors. I can only say that while some impress me more than others, I haven't met a flavor yet that I would reject. Happy with our cones, we headed west on a hunt for the hand-puppet store. We found it just west of Ponte Santa Trinita on Via del Parione. It is the most adorable little store run by a woman who makes everything in it; not only hand puppets, but jesters and clowns with wonderful ceramic heads, and pillows with animal appendages and faces.

Then down to the river, across the Ponte Santa Trinita bridge, and home to our apartment, sight-seeing all the way, of course. I was not feeling especially well and my cold was getting worse (long coughing spells, plugged ears), so I opted for bread and cheese from the market for dinner. The cheese was good, the bread horrible, but Tenar was a trooper, not seeming to mind at all the meager meal. And so, good night.

March 21, 2011 Monday

Our final morning in Rome. We took a last walk around the neighborhood (last walk this trip, Tenar and I decided). One of the stands on our market street was selling old lamp prisms. I had an impossible time understanding the price. Was it four for 2€ each, or one for 3€ each. Did I have to buy four? The vendor and I were definitely lost in translation. I finally said I only wanted one. He said take it, no charge. Or something to that effect. I said, "really, zero"? With eyebrows raised. He nodded, so I walked off, holding my prism up to the sun.

We went "home", got our bags, and got on the #910 bus for our last ride to Stazione Termini. I purchased two first class tickets on the express train to Florence. The ride was comfortable, there was an outlet to charge my Blackberry, and we wrote in our journals. I was starting to doze off, when the train pulled into Florence. For Tenar, who's used to 2-4 day trips on the train, the shortness of the trip was quite a surprise.

I'd emailed Carlo, our Florence apartment contact while on the train, so had the address to give the taxi driver. Carlo's only means of transportation is a bike, I'm pretty sure, so no train station pick up for us. The trip was short, across the Arno River, to 119 Via di San Niccolo, where we met Carlo and gained entry to the apartment. It's an old building built in the 1500's. The front door is arched, high and made of thick wood. It looks like the entry to a castle. And typical for Florence. Behind that are tall, heavy, wrought iron gates, and behind those is a double glass door. At the end of the marble hall is a small, almost invisible small door that is wood but has been painted/plastered over to match the wall. The wall looks like an addition added later to separate two parts of a typical Florentine courtyard. It looks like a door to a storeroom, but when opened, the other half of the courtyard comes into view, with soaring arches and columns. We're going to be safe here. It takes us three keys to get into our apartment, and there's a doorman of sorts. He doesn't open the door, but keeps an eye out while watching television in the room by the front door. I know because I can wave to him through his small window as we leave each day. The walls of the apartment are about two feet thick and both windows look into lovely private gardens, inaccessible to us, unfortunately. It's a great place with both WiFi and a computer we can use.

Once settled, we headed out for a little sight-seeing. We didn't go far, but did make it to the famous Ponte Vecchio. This bridge is for pedestrians only, and lined with shops; shops filled with gold and diamonds and other jewels. Hereafter, I refer to it as the Golden Bridge. We returned to our neighborhood to find a place to eat. We found a sweet little place at the east end of our block called Antica Mescita San Niccolo, where we both had Rigatoni with Ragu. I highly recommend it. We chatted with the people next to us who were Japanese, visiting from Boston. On the other side of was another English-speaking gentleman. In spite of we tourists who were there, this did have the feel of a neighborhood restaurant. An older gentleman was spotted at the door and the young waitress went to open the door for him and help him in. She then sat with him and explained the menu, almost nose to nose with him and, of course, using hand gestures. It was a very sweet sight.

We then went home down the cobblestone street, unlocked our three doors, and tucked ourselves in for the night.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Today we decided to go to the old Appian Way and the catacombs. Itinerary: #910 bus to Stazione Termini, stop for a salami and cheese sandwich on marvelous Italian bread accompanied by fresh-squeezed orange juice, catch the red line metro to San Giovani Square, then the #218 bus to Appia Antica. All went smoothly until San Giovani, where we couldn't find the correct bus stop. A woman who saw us cross her path twice while looking questioningly at our map offered her help: because of construction, take the #85 bus right beside us across the intersection, and we would find the #218 bus there. Thanks! We did so, and still could not find the #218 bus stop. We went up to a newsstand in an empty lot and said with a question mark, 218 bus? The Italian speaking-only man simply held up a strip of paper that said, in English, "Bus number 218 leaves from under those trees". So funny, it made my day. So we crossed the square and sure enough, under the trees was the stop for bus #218.

In a short time we saw the stop for one of the catacombs and got off the bus.

We had an hour and a half to wait before they re-opened after the long lunch break, so we explored the grounds and made daisy chains.

At 2:00 pm we entered the catacombs with our English speaking guide from India. Tenar had been looking forward to an experience like the one Elliot and I had in the Paris catacombs, with bones stacked higher than our heads in an orderly fashio n, and we could explore on our own. This was, instead, an original burial ground with crypts and open spaces where bodies had been. The catacombs had been raided long ago, so much of what we saw were horizontal oblong niches. We saw levels 1 & 2 out of the 5 total. Quite astounding how they managed to construct this nearly 2000 years ago. There were small chapels also. They weren't labeled as chapels when constructed, but were rooms into the walls of which the family members were buried. The living members would gather in the rooms at the burial, then on the anniversary of the death in years after. The guide said this was how the tradition of church services began.

After viewing the catacombs, we tried to find a place to rent bikes, to no avail. We ended up outside the grounds of the catacombs walking on the old Appian Way.



Tenar on the Appian Way



We had seen many sheep grazing while on the grounds of the catacombs, and while walking on the cobblestone road, began to hear a lot of bleating. We turned to look and saw the entire herd of hundreds running on the road across to the other side, stopping the traffic. We watched as they disappeared down a long driveway. We would have followed, except it was marked private. They were trailed by a man we had seen with the sheep while they were in the meadow, wearing clothes and high muddy boots, carrying a broom that consisted of small twigs tied to the bottom of a stick. I assume he was the instigator of the sheep's exodus, and since he was trailing, it was hard to tell. At any rate, it was quite a sight.

We wound our way back to bus #218 and rode back to San Giovani Square, where we decided to have an early dinner of gnocchi. The waitress was quite taken with Tenar because he ordered his dinner in Italian. She confirmed for us that we could take the #85 bus into ancient Rome's center, so we did. We wanted to see the Pantheon while there was some daylight coming through the opening in the dome. Alas, it was closed for Sunday mass, so that will have to wait for another trip. We also had a second goal, which was to find another of the gellaterias on our "best" list: Cremeria Monteforte. Here Tenar had one flavor that tasted like roses smell. Yum! The literature says it's right behind the Pantheon. It's not, it's to the right as you face the Pantheon. However right behind the Pantheon is the wonderful tea store, if you're so inclined.

We then made our way to the Trevi fountain. As it was our last night in Rome, we wanted to toss in a coin to assure our return to the Eternal City, Roma. Then, as usual, we headed to bus #52 for our return home. What a difference from our first night's return to the apartment, when I anxiously examined the map at each turn to make sure we would get off at the correct stop. Now we are pros. On arrival home, there was a lengthy session of hand-washing to be done, followed by hot tea, reading and bed.



Saturday, March 19, 2011

 Awake at 5:00am to catch #910 bus to Stazione Termini for our tour to Naples and Pompeii. The hour was especially difficult as I'd kept myself awake for all but a couple of hours coughing. Blasted cold. But we made it with time to spare for a breakfast at a little bar near the bus: sweet roll for each, espresso for me and latte (order a latte here and you get milk only, no coffee) for Tenar.

We settled ourselves on the bus and in about 2.5 hours were in Naples, where we had an hour guided tour given by Victorio, who could speak English, German, Spanish, and of course, Italian. We saw the outside of Castel Nuovo, as well as a large galleria covered with a glass dome, and the public square outside of what used to be a palace and is now a museum. All nice and interesting, and I must admit I was most taken by how the outside walls of the high-rise apartment buildings were undulating wih all the laundry drying in the breeze.






Mt. Vesuvius

We were carefully counted as we got back on the bus. Finding all present, we departed for Pompeii, on the other side of Mt. Vesuvius. 

We stopped outside the walls of Pompeii in the tourist-centric square containing a large hotel, street vendors and small shops where they sell cameos and local limomcello (liquor), coral and the usual tourist tacky souvenirs.





Giant Lemons





The first thing I noticed was a hanging string of enormous lemons, as big as grapefruit, or bigger. Perhaps these are the special lemons to make the limoncello?





Cameo carver (or was he just pretending?)



We were led on a short tour of the hotel shops containing the real deal in coral and cameos. The cameos were lovely, carved from shells.











This was followed by a three course lunch at the hotel.



Street in Pompeii



 Finally we were led into the excavated Pompeii. What a fascinating place. More than a place, a town. We saw remnants of homes, shops, bars, restaurants and whorehouses The population was 22,000 when the volcano erupted and they had three whorehouses. Seems excessive, but what do I know? Out of the population of 22,000, 2,000 were killed, buried in the ash of Vesuvius. Why did they not get out? I guess we'll never know, except for the poor dog who was chained to a post and forgotten. And interesting is that over the years more people died from lead poisoning than from the volcano. The pipes taking the water into the homes of the wealthy were made of lead. The common people who had to fetch their water from the fresh-water well were much healthier and lived to an older age. Ironic.



We were led back to the tourist section and encouraged to support the local economy. I bought a small bottle of lemomcella in a bottle I thought might make a nice bud vase when empty. Back on the bus, Tenar and I were anxious to get home. Five a.m. had been an awfully long time ago. We arrived back at Stazione Termini at about 8 p.m. and found a little place (1 counter, 2 tables) for a quick slice of pizza, then caught #910 bus back to our apartment. PJs, hot tea and bed. Good Night!















Friday, 18 March 2011

A sunny day! Even with that we got a late start, as I stayed in bed a little longer to baby my cold. I was watching a movie on the iPad, using my noise-canceling headphones so I wouldn't wake Tenar, when I noticed that the living room lights came on. I sat up, and there, peeking in the bedroom was a good-looking Italian man. Claudio had sent him with fresh towels. He explained that he had knocked. The headphones really work. I'll have to send an endorsement to Bose. We were both embarrassed, he for disturbing me, me for being caught in bed at 10:00 am.

Shortly after, Tenar and I began our day by going to what we now considered our market for fresh pasta for our dinner that night and down the street for fresh pizza for lunch right now. We happened by a shoe store, so were able to buy a pair of shoes for Tenar. A day in the rain let us know his old ones had lost any water-proofing they might have had. Putting them to dry on the radiator created an odor we didn't want repeated. Into the dumpster the old shoes went.

Tenar feeding Mr. Crippled Foot

After depositing our food at home, we caught the #52 bus for the ancient part of the city. We walked from the bus drop-off to The Spanish Steps. This is a great place to people-watch, if the only people you want to watch are the tourists or street vendors. Tenar was able to feed a few pigeons some of our left-over Italian bread. Lucky pigeons. This is also an area with some very high-end shops: Prada, Luis Vitton, Dior, Dolce & Gabana and one place I could afford, Sermoneta, where I bought a pair of very soft, cashmere-lined black leather gloves.





Roman Forum (Woman in front did not give her permission for the photo.  Forget you saw her.)



We then hopped on the metro red line, switched to the blue line at Stazione Termini, and got off at Formo Romano (the Roman Forum). There we saw a few more tons of marble in various levels of destruction. There was also a lot of green space in the neighboring section called the Platino on a hill between the Forum and the Colosseum. Even with all the tourists, I could imagine the Romans in the space, always of course in white robes with a circle of olive leaves perched on their heads.



Campo de' Fiori (just before the rain started)



We left the Forum to look for Campo de Fiori where I thought there would be a row of columns which the guidebook said formed some sort of optical illusion. We finally found Campo de Fiori, but no columns, no optical illusion. Turns out the optical illusion is a couple of piazzas south, but we couldn't find it. By that time there was one dark cloud in the city, and it was directly above us. The wind came up, the rain started, and again our map got soaking wet. Sigh. We saw a beautiful rainbow, and eventually the rain stopped, but we gave up on finding the optical illusion. It was dark! Putting the map away, we challenged ourselves to find the bus stop on our own, and we did! Tired in feet and mind, we took the #52 bus home for our dinner of pasta pillows with Ricotta and lemon, followed by an early bedtime.

Thursday, March 17. More Rain!

St. Peter's Square.  Do the umbrellas outnumer the columns?  I think so!

My oil of oregano has failed me. I woke up with a scratchy throat that moved into definitely sore by afternoon, with swollen membranes and glands by nightfall. A Roman cold. Ugh. Nevertheless, out we went, into a day that started with a little sun, then turned into a blustery, turn-your-umbrella-inside-out-heavy-rain day.

To be inside as much as possible, we made this a St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican day. St. Peter's was first, and we headed headed right for the Cupola, ready to climb to the top. For 7€, one could take the elevator part way and climb only 320 steps. For 5€, one could forgo the elevator and walk up all 521 steps. If the cost had been the other way around, we still would have climbed the 521 steps. What would the fun be otherwise? A couple of hundred steps up and we were inside the dome, looking down at the magnificent floor of the Basilica, and the tiny little people milling about. We then took the remaining 320 steps up around the dome (still inside and no longer able to see the inside of the dome) and out onto the small lookout up at the top in the open air. The views were breath-taking. Even though cold and rainy, it was worth it. We climbed back down and toured the inside that we had seen from above. The multiple-colored marble was everywhere, as well as many statues, carvings, mosaics, alters and St. Peter's tomb. A favorite sculpture of mine since I was young was The Pieta by Michaelangelo. I finally found it in a back corner, quite beautiful and behind a bullet-proof cell of glass. How sad.

We then went into the Vatican Museum with it's ornate ceilings, marbled floors and statues. Not feeling that well, I probably did Tenar a disservice in not lingering longer with all that the Vatican has to offer, and my main goal was to get to Michaelangelo's "Creation of Adam" in the Sistine Chapel, and then away from the crowds. I had thought the chapel would be small and round with the painting covering the entire ceiling. Instead the room was rectangular, quite large, with the Creation painting, though dead center, one of many, all painted by Michaelangelo. The four years it took him to finish the ceiling now makes more sense.

After the Vatican, it was our thought to descend the stairs to the Tiber River and walk along to Trastevere, a small, quaint 'happening' neighborhood south of the Vatican and west of the river. Where two days before there was a walking path, it was now flooded! That's how much rain we've had! We took the upper route to Travestere, and it is indeed charming, with narrow cobbled streets and many restaurants and shops. We found another highly recommended geletaria and ordered what was become our usual, a small serving of two flavors. I had a pinion nut (not my favorite) and a custard called Santa Capala, I think, that was good. I'm finding that the names don't matter that much, because except for the basics, they seldom repeat from one geletaria to the next. Now that desert was over, we felt inclined to have dinner, so stopped at a local restorante, offering pasta for 5€. My recommendation: if a pasta dish costs only 5€, don't eat it. Splurge on the homemade pasta like we had the night before, or buy it fresh at the market and cook it at home.

After dinner we headed back across the river for a couple of miles and came across the Pantheon from the back. It's round! The front portico gave me the impression that the building was square or rectangular. What a surprise to see it from this angle. We stumbled on a tea shop directly in back of the Pantheon. They were out of chamomile, but recommended a tea with Roobios (?), Arancia (orange), and Eucalipto for my sore throat, as well as some spicy Ginger candy. I'll let you know how that works out. We again caught the 52 bus at San Sylvestre Square. We were safely transported home where aspirin, tea and bed awaited me.

Wednesday. It's Raining. Really Raining!

Getting a little more adjusted to the time difference. I think I woke up at 9:30 this morning. It had been pouring rain when we went to sleep and was still pouring in the morning. After a light breakfast of an egg and fruit, we decided to go to the colosseum, thinking there would be fewer tourists on such a wet day. Again onto the 910 bus to Stazione Termini. After a brief detour to the ticket office to reserve a tour for Pompeii for later in the week, we found the metro. It took a bit of questioning to get ourselves on the track going the correct direction, but we made it. Two stops later on the blue line toward Laurentine, and we were at the "Colesseo." We were right about the crowds: we got in with no waiting. The colosseum is as impressive as I've been told. Even without the marble coverings and with obvious deterioration, it is beautiful. It seems much more elegant than it's history of bloody games and death would imply.

From the top level I spied a restaurant across the street. We'd thoroughly explored every level and were soaked to the skin, despite our raincoats and umbrellas, so we made that our next stop: Bar Reatorante Martini at Piazza del Colosseo 3. We had an antipasti followed by homemade ravioli in a butter and sage sauce for Tenar, and gnocchi in a 4-cheese sauce for me. Absolutely divine. Small bottle of wine for me, a Sprite for Tenar. For desert it was cheesecake for Tenar and dark chocolate for me. I asked if there was access to WiFi in the neighborhood and they gave me the password to theirs (how nice), so be both were able to get caught up on our blogs. We had been sitting there for quite sometime, so I asked if it was okay. The waiter said we could stay until 1 am if we liked, then brought me a lemomcella after dinner apertif and Tenar a handful of candies, compliments of the house. I love Italy! We did only stay a few hours and left at 7:30 before the heavy dinner crowd came in.

Back to the metro, then to the 910 bus and home to our little Paroili neighborhood. We were cold, we were wet, and we had had such a fun day!

Day 2 in Rome

I awoke at 5 am with the thought that I must now be acclimated to this time zone. At 6 am I fell back asleep and didn't awake until 11 am, at which time I forced myself to get up. So much for acclimation! After coffee and catching up on journals, we headed out into a warm, sunny day. First to the coffee bar across the street for an ezpresso and a spinach and mozzarella panini, then a hunt for bus #19. It turned out to be more of a trolley, running on electric cables. We got off near the Vatican and headed toward Castel Sant Angelo on the banks of the Tiver River. We explored every room, hall and stairway, looking for a way to the top to see amazing views of the city and the Vatican. Originally built as a mausoleum, it was converted to a papal fortress in the 6th century.

A Rome drinking fountain

Upon leaving, we headed across the Pont Sant Angelo to the Piazza Navona, laid out on the ruins of an arena built in AD 86. It now contains 3 fountains and is surrounded by shops and restaurants. We then headed to the Pantheon, stopping along the way for our 2nd gellato of the day. My first was an ordinary coffee flavor, however this time I remembered it is possible to get two flavors in one scoop. Choices: wine with cream and pure chocolate. Delicious! Tenar had tiramisu and a flavor I can't remember, but will recognize when I see it. That's the one I'll have next time. It turns out we found one of the best places for gelatto without knowing it: Gelaterio del Teatro. The Pantheon was impressive, and the square surrounding it busy, even at night. From the Pantheon we went to Trevi Fountain, again, extremely crowded. From Trevi we went on a hunt for the stop for bus #52. Claudio had marked these stops on the map, but they weren't always precise. Nevertheless, we found it, and again found the correct stop for our apartment. Another reason to be proud of ourselves. After a brief break at home, we headed to a neighborhood restaurant, Cuccia e Bomba. Tenar had spaghetti Carbonara and I had meatballs and wine. We both had tiramisu for dessert. I'm still getting used to Italian menus, so choices weren't imaginative, but so far I like the ravioli we cooked at home the first night better than the food at this restaurant. Sleep didn't come easily tonight. I must work harder to get on this time schedule!

Getting to Rome-March 13&14

 On the 13th we left Washington National at 2:45 p.m., layover at JFK! Then a 7 p.m. Flight to Rome. We looked longingly at the business class seats as we passed through. Well, I did. Tenar was busy being impressed by the size of the plane: two seats on each side with 3 in the middle and about as long as a football field. I think half of the passengers were Italian and they all seemed to know each other. The row directly behind me seemed to be a common gathering place, making for an impossible trip to the lavatory. The young man directly behind me was a long-legged giant who did his best to prevent me from reclining my seat, however after 4 hours, I felt the pressure release and I quickly pressed my button. Back I went. He wasn't happy. I think it was fair, however: 4 hours in his favor, 4 hours in mine. I envied Tenar and his small, twisty frame. He seemed to be sleeping well, first on a stranger's shoulder, then on mine, then with his legs pulled up and his body twisted like a pretzel. I had to wake him for both dinner and breakfast.



Outer entry to our apartment in Rome



On arrival at Leonardo da Vinci airport (Fuminicino) at 8:50a.m., we found the train station, successfully purchased tickets, got them stamped, boarded the train, found some seats, and were on our way into Rome. We got off at Stazione Termini and there was Claudio, looking for us with our name on a sign. We're renting an apartment from Claudio for the week: 7 nights for 400 Euro. Good deal. The apartment was designed by his architect wife as a home in the city for her. She never used it, so they decided to rent it to tourists. It's a lovely modern unit with a brick, rounded ceiling in a very old building. We unpacked, then explored the neighborhood, having our first slice of Italian pizza (they cut it with scissors!) and finding the local market. Hoping to stay awake, we then took a tour bus around the city. It almost worked. I had to keep prodding Tenar awake. Back in our neighborhood at 4:30, we looked for a restaurant for a nice pasta dinner, however the restaurants In our neighborhood didn't open until 8pm. I knew we could never stay awake that long, nor did we want to! We went to the local market and purchased what turned out to be the best ravioli I have ever had: homemade with spinach and ricotta. We adds a little olive oil, oregano and pepper. Absolutely delicious! And I was asleep by 7:15. Finally.

March 5, 2011

Lift-off minus 8 days! Lodging arrangements in place (almost) and packing is started. Lift-off minus 6 days until Tenar arrives in DC. We're both new to the adventure of Italy, and will be learning together. Very exciting!

Pre-trip planning

February 27, two weeks minus one day to lift off.   

It will be the first day of daylight savings.  I MUST be sure to set my clocks correctly.  Oddly enough, Italy won't change their clocks until 3/27.