Final thoughts ….
I love Italy and I’ll tell you why. Italy has it’s own wonderful smell. It’s hard to describe to you, you have to experience it for yourself. The sites…wonderful mountains, beautiful sea’s, fantastic food, and if you are a wine drinker, which I’m not, I’m told great wines, but most of all I love Italy for the people. I'm so thankful that I'm Italian and that I have kept the connections with my Italian family. Thank you Mom and Dad!
My favorite things…
Shopping in Italy
Gelato
Tuscan Bread
Michela’s Pizza
Italians and their accents as they speak English.
Driving fast
The people and the Italian language
Favorite cities,
Lucca
Florence(always take the train)
Sorrento
Venice
Any city by the sea..
What does it cost?
Gas-$10 a gallon, and we complain?
Water $3.00
Lunch for two-$35
Gelato, two scoops-$4.50
Nice dinner for two-$125
Umbrella and chairs at the beach for the day-$35
What is hard to get?
Cold water and Ice
Anything Mexican in the store
Monday, July 28, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Day 21 Heading home
Day 21 Heading home word of the day…pipistrello.. bat(the flying kind).The has come to finally head home. It is with mixed emotions that I think about going home. On one hand I’m ready to go back to my home and my family. I miss my Mom and I miss my own bed and pillow. However, leaving means that I will not see my Italian family for three maybe four years and it gets harder each time we come and go from Italy. This is the conclusion of my 9th trip to Italy in the past 38 years. I have spent a lot of time with the people we have visited over the years. They love me as much and I love them, that is what makes the leaving hard. With all that being said, we were up about 8 am to get ready and finish the final packing. Marco and Michela are gone to see her brother but Martina is home this morning. We are leaving from Pisa which is only about a 40 minute drive compared to Milan, where we have left from in the past, that is over a three hour drive. We usually had to leave a day early to go and spend the night in Milan also. Pisa is much nicer and I understand that this flight from Pisa to NYC has only been available the past year. I’m very happy that Delta has this flight. We have three large suitcases and two pieces of carry on each so Dan had to carry the heavy suitcases down stairs. It was no easy task that’s for sure. Martina was up and greeted us with a good morning. I went to move the car to the front of the house so we could load it up. We were happy that we had the Passat station wagon because it was easy to fit all of luggage into the car. We said our goodbyes to Martina and I reminded her to talk to her Dad about getting his plans set to come to visit us in Vancouver next August. She said that yes she would. We headed out waving our last goodbye to Martina for Pisa. The drive was nice as there was not to much traffic considering it was a Sunday morning and not to many people had headed out to the beach yet. We had to fill up our rental car with gas before we turned it in. It took a bit of driving around until we found the correct street that the gas station was on. It is located next to the airport but in Italy not all roads are connected….you have to drive there to understand. It was a self service station and Dan put the gas in the car. It took 18 gallons of gas and it was over 180 dollars. So you see gas in America is still a pretty good deal considering what Italians are paying. I was dropped off at the main building with our luggage so we didn’t have to carry everything back to the building to catch the shuttle to the terminal. Dan took the car back for check in, it only took about 10 minutes. We caught the shuttle to the terminal. It was a very short ride as Pisa is a very small airport. We had no problem checking in as we are flying first class so there is always a separate line for first class. We headed to the Delta Rooms to wait for a while. It is nice that we can spend our time in the special rooms for first class passengers. They have drinks and snacks for you so you don’t have to spend any money. We had some nuts and something to drink. We headed to our gate about 1 hour before boarding because we had to go through security and get our passports stamped. It was really very smooth as we both travel quite a bit and know exactly how to get through security and want to have in your carry on and what not to. Although I forgot to take out my tanning lotion and it was taken by security. We only had to wait about 10 minutes before they started boarding. We settled into our same seats that we had on the way over. It was a great flight and the food was again outstanding. This time I only had the main entrée and dessert. We settled in after dinner and we both watched Fools Gold. It was a really good movie. The flight took a little over 9 hours to NYC. We had to go through customs in NYC so that meant we had to claim our luggage first. It was a short walk to the baggage claim area. Our bags were some of the first out because they tagged them because we are first class. Going through customs was easy. We just game the officer our customs form and he waved us through. From there we headed to the departing area and we dropped our bags off with a Delta agent and then went through security again. Once through security we headed to the Delta Room for some more relaxation and a few drinks and snacks as we waited. We had about an hour and a half to wait for our flight. We board for our flight we had to get on a portable people mover. Delta does not have enough gates for all the flights they have at JFK. We had about a 7 minute ride to our plane that was parked out on the tarmac. Once we were all settled on board and we pushed away from the gate the pilot got on the speaker and told us the bad news. There was only one runway open for takeoffs and one for landings and we were number 66 in line and it was going to be an hour and a half until take off. “are you kidding me?” Well we were served our dinner and many drinks and three hours later we finally took off. The flight was a bit bumpy across the US. I was able to get a few hours of sleep and we finally landed at 1:30 am. We were both very happy to be home and tired at the same time. We had ordered a town car and he was there for us on time. Our luggage was the first off again which was awesome and we headed over to load up the car for the ride home. We had the same driver on the way home as we did on the way to the airport. We arrived home to our wonderful house and our two cats at 2:30 am. It was sooo good to be home. I took a long shower and then went to bed with my own pillows! Yes what a great trip!!
Day 20, heading to Abetone and Pizza for dinner!
OK yes we had some Proseco!
Federico and Martina
Michela with fresh tomatos
The first pie...
Michela making the pizza
A view from the car in Abetone
A view from Abetone
me and Paulo in AbetoneDay 20 Headed to Abetone..word of the day…cucchiaino…little spoon
Paulo was coming by at 10 am for us to head up to Abetone for the day. I wanted to buy some huckleberry Jam that Michela had at dinner for a topper for ice cream. It was fantastic. We got up about 8:30 am and got ready for the day. We had some fruit for breakfast and our usual glasses of water. Michela always has a huge bowl of fresh fruit on the table. Italian love their fresh fruit. We visited a little bit with Marco and Michela until Paulo arrived. We told Marco that we wanted to go to the cemetery to pay our respects to his mother whom had passed away in March. His father Armando died in 1987. He was a very nice man, I really liked him. I will always remember that when I was 13 he let me drive his little blue Fiat that was smaller than a Volkswagen. Paulo asked us if we wanted to go to the cemetery first for after we returned from Abetone. We wanted to go first to the cemetery. The cemetery is located in Pistoia and it was about a 15 minute drive to get there. The cemeteries are very different in Italy than in the US. They have beautiful headstones with pictures of the deceased on the headstones. The are many buildings with three and four stories for the caskets because there is not enough space for everyone to be buried in the ground. They have a flower shop right outside the cemetery and I wanted to buy something to put by their headstone. Paulo said that they are up high and there is no shelf so he told me not to get something to big or expensive. I purchased two small plants in little pots that we could lay on the ground below their headstone. We made our way around a few corners until we came upon Armando and Maura’s headstone. We stayed but a few minutes and I said a silent prayer for them. Paulo was pretty emotional so I gave him a big hug. He asked me if I remembered Dina, Maura’s mother and I told him that I did. Her brother Sergio, whom I also remember is also buried a few headstones away from his parents. We stayed but a few minutes and we were on our way to the car. I was happy that we went to see where they are buried. We hopped in the car and headed up to Abetone. Abetone is in the Tuscan mountains and is a small ski resort and summer hiking area. My cousin Marco loves to go to Abetone and do his ham radio contacts and hike. He is an outdoors person for sure. The road was curvey like when we went to Positano but it only lasted for about 1 hour. The drive was very pretty up into the mountain and there were a lot of motorcycle riders on the road. It is a popular place to go for a Sunday drive to escape the heat. We arrived in Abetone about noon and parked the car in the parking lot. We walked across the street to the store that Marco told Paulo to take us to so we could buy the Huckleberry Jam. I bought 3 jars to bring back home. On the way back to the car we stopped in this little shop and I bought a new pair of sunglasses. We got back into the car and headed up the road to the main town square. We parked in the parking lot and then we took some photos and then decided to scope out the places to eat lunch. We walked around the small town for about 20 minutes before deciding on a nice little restaurant to eat at. We order some appetizers and Dan ordered some pene pasta. We all shared in the dishes and they were very good. We had a very nice visit with Paulo during lunch and I was pumping him to come and visit me in Vancouver. After lunch we headed back up the street to the car and Paulo said we need to get some panna and huckleberries. (cream) He bought us a dish of fresh huckleberries with whip cream on top. We sat outside and I shared mine with Dan. It was pretty good. There were a lot of motorcycles parked by where we were sitting and all three of us have motorcycles so we were admiring the bikes for quite a while before we headed back to the car. I drove for about 20 minutes and I was getting tired to for the first time since we came to Italy, Dan drove the car. I took a nap as I could not keep my eyes open. I’m smart enough to know that I didn’t want to fall asleep at the wheel and kill us all. Paulo wanted to take us by his house in Pistoia before we headed back to Marcos. He bought a condo 4 years ago. It is in an older building but it was remolded and he was able to choose a lot of the features when they were doing the work. It is about 800 square feet. Small but very nice. He is single so it is the perfect size for him right now. We had some watermelon and some beverages and visited a bit more before we headed back to Marcos. We got back to Marco’s about 5 PM and Michela had been busy all day preparing for dinner. She was making her awesome homemade pizza’s. We have had her pizza before so we knew we were in for a real treat. Paulo stayed and visited for about another hour. He had plans with his girlfriend Monica that night so he want not going to be staying for dinner. Monica dropped by with her son Emilio so we were able to meet her. We said our goodbyes to Paulo and I got a tear in my eye as we did. I really enjoyed spending the day with him and I was sad that he was leaving. I wanted to get some photos of Michela making her pizza and I was also asking her a lot of questions about the preparation, her sauce and they types of cheese that she had. Well I don’t need to tell you how fantastic dinner was because if you have been reading my blog you know that Michela is a fantastic cook. I paid close attention and I told them that I will practice so that when they come to the US next summer I can make them pizza or use the telephone and order it. We had a good laugh on that one. We all ate way to much but it was a fantastic last evening with the family. Martina’s boyfriend Frederico was able to come for dinner. This was the first time we have seen him this trip. We met him four years ago. He is a very nice young man and he really like pizza!!! We took more photos and we all helped clean up the dinner dishes. Marco and Michela were getting up very early the next morning to go and visit her brother and his family so we had to say our goodbyes with them before we headed up to bed. They are such wonderful people and they open their hearts and home to us when we come to visit. We are so appreciative of that fact. I told them that I want them to come to Vancouver so we can do the same for them. They are hoping to come next August, I’m praying hard for that to happen. I was sad to say goodbye to them. We headed up to bed to get some sleep for our trip home. Good night….
Paulo was coming by at 10 am for us to head up to Abetone for the day. I wanted to buy some huckleberry Jam that Michela had at dinner for a topper for ice cream. It was fantastic. We got up about 8:30 am and got ready for the day. We had some fruit for breakfast and our usual glasses of water. Michela always has a huge bowl of fresh fruit on the table. Italian love their fresh fruit. We visited a little bit with Marco and Michela until Paulo arrived. We told Marco that we wanted to go to the cemetery to pay our respects to his mother whom had passed away in March. His father Armando died in 1987. He was a very nice man, I really liked him. I will always remember that when I was 13 he let me drive his little blue Fiat that was smaller than a Volkswagen. Paulo asked us if we wanted to go to the cemetery first for after we returned from Abetone. We wanted to go first to the cemetery. The cemetery is located in Pistoia and it was about a 15 minute drive to get there. The cemeteries are very different in Italy than in the US. They have beautiful headstones with pictures of the deceased on the headstones. The are many buildings with three and four stories for the caskets because there is not enough space for everyone to be buried in the ground. They have a flower shop right outside the cemetery and I wanted to buy something to put by their headstone. Paulo said that they are up high and there is no shelf so he told me not to get something to big or expensive. I purchased two small plants in little pots that we could lay on the ground below their headstone. We made our way around a few corners until we came upon Armando and Maura’s headstone. We stayed but a few minutes and I said a silent prayer for them. Paulo was pretty emotional so I gave him a big hug. He asked me if I remembered Dina, Maura’s mother and I told him that I did. Her brother Sergio, whom I also remember is also buried a few headstones away from his parents. We stayed but a few minutes and we were on our way to the car. I was happy that we went to see where they are buried. We hopped in the car and headed up to Abetone. Abetone is in the Tuscan mountains and is a small ski resort and summer hiking area. My cousin Marco loves to go to Abetone and do his ham radio contacts and hike. He is an outdoors person for sure. The road was curvey like when we went to Positano but it only lasted for about 1 hour. The drive was very pretty up into the mountain and there were a lot of motorcycle riders on the road. It is a popular place to go for a Sunday drive to escape the heat. We arrived in Abetone about noon and parked the car in the parking lot. We walked across the street to the store that Marco told Paulo to take us to so we could buy the Huckleberry Jam. I bought 3 jars to bring back home. On the way back to the car we stopped in this little shop and I bought a new pair of sunglasses. We got back into the car and headed up the road to the main town square. We parked in the parking lot and then we took some photos and then decided to scope out the places to eat lunch. We walked around the small town for about 20 minutes before deciding on a nice little restaurant to eat at. We order some appetizers and Dan ordered some pene pasta. We all shared in the dishes and they were very good. We had a very nice visit with Paulo during lunch and I was pumping him to come and visit me in Vancouver. After lunch we headed back up the street to the car and Paulo said we need to get some panna and huckleberries. (cream) He bought us a dish of fresh huckleberries with whip cream on top. We sat outside and I shared mine with Dan. It was pretty good. There were a lot of motorcycles parked by where we were sitting and all three of us have motorcycles so we were admiring the bikes for quite a while before we headed back to the car. I drove for about 20 minutes and I was getting tired to for the first time since we came to Italy, Dan drove the car. I took a nap as I could not keep my eyes open. I’m smart enough to know that I didn’t want to fall asleep at the wheel and kill us all. Paulo wanted to take us by his house in Pistoia before we headed back to Marcos. He bought a condo 4 years ago. It is in an older building but it was remolded and he was able to choose a lot of the features when they were doing the work. It is about 800 square feet. Small but very nice. He is single so it is the perfect size for him right now. We had some watermelon and some beverages and visited a bit more before we headed back to Marcos. We got back to Marco’s about 5 PM and Michela had been busy all day preparing for dinner. She was making her awesome homemade pizza’s. We have had her pizza before so we knew we were in for a real treat. Paulo stayed and visited for about another hour. He had plans with his girlfriend Monica that night so he want not going to be staying for dinner. Monica dropped by with her son Emilio so we were able to meet her. We said our goodbyes to Paulo and I got a tear in my eye as we did. I really enjoyed spending the day with him and I was sad that he was leaving. I wanted to get some photos of Michela making her pizza and I was also asking her a lot of questions about the preparation, her sauce and they types of cheese that she had. Well I don’t need to tell you how fantastic dinner was because if you have been reading my blog you know that Michela is a fantastic cook. I paid close attention and I told them that I will practice so that when they come to the US next summer I can make them pizza or use the telephone and order it. We had a good laugh on that one. We all ate way to much but it was a fantastic last evening with the family. Martina’s boyfriend Frederico was able to come for dinner. This was the first time we have seen him this trip. We met him four years ago. He is a very nice young man and he really like pizza!!! We took more photos and we all helped clean up the dinner dishes. Marco and Michela were getting up very early the next morning to go and visit her brother and his family so we had to say our goodbyes with them before we headed up to bed. They are such wonderful people and they open their hearts and home to us when we come to visit. We are so appreciative of that fact. I told them that I want them to come to Vancouver so we can do the same for them. They are hoping to come next August, I’m praying hard for that to happen. I was sad to say goodbye to them. We headed up to bed to get some sleep for our trip home. Good night….
Day 19 Packing....out to dinner...
Dan and me at Villa Pardiso
Our family dinner at Villa Pardisome, Marco, Michela, Paulo, Martina and Dan
Villa Pardiso
Michela, me and Martina at Villa Pardiso for dinner
Day 19 A day for packing and out to dinner with the cousins..
Word of the day Barattolino…Bar-ah-toe-lee-no…little jar.
This morning I was a bit tired because we were out late last night at Augusto’s. Dan was up at about 8:30 am but I didn’t get out of bed until after 9:30. We got ready and headed down stairs to start our day. We munched on some fruit and I started to catch up on my blogging. We decided to head to Pistoia because we were going to do a little more shopping and we wanted to check out the inner city. We had been there once four years ago with Marco but we do not know the city as well as we know Florence. We drove around for about ½ hour then headed back to Marcos for lunch. Marco and Martina came home about 1 PM for lunch and we joined them. Marco has about an hour to spend for lunch at home before he heads back to work. Martina headed back to work about 2:45 PM. She cleans up and does all the dishes before she heads back to work. I headed up stairs to rest for a bit and then we were going to start packing. About 2 hours later I came down stairs and we decided not to go to Pistoia but to go up and start packing. We spent about 2 hours putting all the gifts we bought and the bottles of wine, limoncello and grappa into our suitcases. We spread them over the three suitcases and I packed my suitcase with my clothes and kept out the two outfits that I was going to wear for Saturday and Sunday. I packed the new beach bag I bought in Sorrento with biscotti, Lemon cookies from Sorrento. We pretty much got everything in the suitcases except for our toiletries and dirty clothes that we will have on Saturday. We got showered and ready to go to dinner. We wanted to take everyone out to a nice dinner before we left. Marco picked a restaurant in the mountains outside of Pistoia in a town called Piaestre. We had to go pick up Martina at her work in Pistoia first. She works for a beauty salon part time. We headed up to the restaurant and it took about 30 minutes to get there. The roads was windy and we got behind two tour buses that were SLOW. The restaurant is a villa called Villa Paradiso. Paulo was coming to the restaurant from his work. He arrived about 8:10 PM. The Villa is very nice and I have included a few photos from the villa and our dinner. We had a very nice dinner with everyone and the food was very good. We paid for our bill at about 10:45 PM and loaded up the car and headed home. Paulo was going to take Martina back to her work to get her car. We got home about 11:30 PM. We all headed for bed….ciao.
Villa Pardiso
Michela, me and Martina at Villa Pardiso for dinnerDay 19 A day for packing and out to dinner with the cousins..
Word of the day Barattolino…Bar-ah-toe-lee-no…little jar.
This morning I was a bit tired because we were out late last night at Augusto’s. Dan was up at about 8:30 am but I didn’t get out of bed until after 9:30. We got ready and headed down stairs to start our day. We munched on some fruit and I started to catch up on my blogging. We decided to head to Pistoia because we were going to do a little more shopping and we wanted to check out the inner city. We had been there once four years ago with Marco but we do not know the city as well as we know Florence. We drove around for about ½ hour then headed back to Marcos for lunch. Marco and Martina came home about 1 PM for lunch and we joined them. Marco has about an hour to spend for lunch at home before he heads back to work. Martina headed back to work about 2:45 PM. She cleans up and does all the dishes before she heads back to work. I headed up stairs to rest for a bit and then we were going to start packing. About 2 hours later I came down stairs and we decided not to go to Pistoia but to go up and start packing. We spent about 2 hours putting all the gifts we bought and the bottles of wine, limoncello and grappa into our suitcases. We spread them over the three suitcases and I packed my suitcase with my clothes and kept out the two outfits that I was going to wear for Saturday and Sunday. I packed the new beach bag I bought in Sorrento with biscotti, Lemon cookies from Sorrento. We pretty much got everything in the suitcases except for our toiletries and dirty clothes that we will have on Saturday. We got showered and ready to go to dinner. We wanted to take everyone out to a nice dinner before we left. Marco picked a restaurant in the mountains outside of Pistoia in a town called Piaestre. We had to go pick up Martina at her work in Pistoia first. She works for a beauty salon part time. We headed up to the restaurant and it took about 30 minutes to get there. The roads was windy and we got behind two tour buses that were SLOW. The restaurant is a villa called Villa Paradiso. Paulo was coming to the restaurant from his work. He arrived about 8:10 PM. The Villa is very nice and I have included a few photos from the villa and our dinner. We had a very nice dinner with everyone and the food was very good. We paid for our bill at about 10:45 PM and loaded up the car and headed home. Paulo was going to take Martina back to her work to get her car. We got home about 11:30 PM. We all headed for bed….ciao.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Day 16,17, 18 Getting to the end of our trip
Simone, me and Sergio
My cousin Sergio, Marino, me, Elena the woman who takes care of my cousin Grazella and Simone
My cousin Simone on his Harley Davidson 883 Sportster
Street in Montecatini
Me and some great Gelato
Our car in Montecatini
Monteriggioni Square
Church in Monteriggioni
Day 16 Leaving Assisi word of the day…..ghiaccio…gee ach O ….ice….always looking for in Italy!
We got up about 8:15 this morning. It was a very nice evening of sleeping because the rain had cooled down the temperature about 15 degrees at night. Dan fired up the computer and I just laid in bed relaxing. I got up and showered and got ready to leave about 9 am. We headed for some breakfast after Dan showered. They had breakfast cereal, sweets, yogurt, fruit, bread, cheese and meats. It was nice. We met some people from NYC at breakfast. They were in Italy for a wedding of a friends son in Rome. We had a nice conversation with them and then wished them a buon viaggio and said goodbye. Check out time was 10 am and it was time to check out but we wanted to do a little shopping before we left so we asked if we could leave our bags in the office. They said no problem and gave us a key to get back into the hotel to get our bags. We moved all our stuff into the office and headed out for some shopping. We were gone about 1 hour or so and had a very successful shopping trip. We picked up our packs and headed UP(emphasis on UP) to the car. It was about a 10 minute walk uphill. We also got some of our parking validated so it only cost us 10 Euros for 20 hours of parking. Dan says it was better than PDX! We headed down the hill and out of Assisi bound for Marcos. Dan estimated it would take about 2 hours. The driving was easier today as we stayed off the main freeway and used an auxiliary freeway instead. It was very nice and it was 4 lanes. The lanes just were not as wide as the main freeway but it was free, no tolls to pay on this road. Dan asked me if I wanted to stop in Monteriggioni for some lunch. He had been talking to my cousin Paulo and Paulo said it was a nice little town and we should go there if only for some lunch, so we did. The town is located on this little hill and inside the walls of an old fortress. It was not very big as we walked around. We made the whole town loop in less than 15-20 minutes. We found a nice restaurant and had some lunch before we headed back to Marcos. From Monteriggioni it was only a 45 minute drive to Marcos. When we arrived everyone was at work. I packed all my things up to the third floor where our room is and took a nice shower and laid down for a rest. I think I slept about 30 minutes, mostly just relaxed. I called my Mom and talked to her for about 10 minutes. She really misses me. I miss her too. I email her daily and send copies of my blog when we have an internet connection. It was great to talk to her and I told her I would call her on Sunday from NYC on the way home. I will keep her updated with emails. I have an iphone and it is so nice getting my email directly on my phone regardless of the internet and computer. I love technology! I came down stairs about 5:45 and Dan had been busy organizing our photos in Adobe Photo Album so we can show my cousins the pictures of our trip. We are just hanging out with the dogs, Molly and Job on the patio waiting for everyone to come home from work. We had a nice dinner and visit with Marco, Michela and Martina. They wanted to hear all about our trip. We showed them some of the things that we had bought and shared stories from our adventure. They really enjoyed looking at some of the 800 plus pictures that we have taken. I headed up to bed about 10:30 PM as I was tired…stanka in Italian. Ciao
Day 17 word of the day…pomeriggio…pom er riggio ….afternoon
Woke up fairly early today but just relaxed and checked my iphone email. I have enjoyed having my iphone in Italy. It has let me keep in touch with family and friends through texting and email almost daily. I know that my Mom has really enjoyed my daily email updates as well as receiving my updated blog entries through email. Today we are going to head to the Bank to exchange some money and touch bases with Simone, my cousin to see what time he wants us to come to dinner tonight. We needed to go back to Ponte Buggianese to see my cousin Augusto. He wanted us to come to dinner when we got back from our trip. I also want to head over to my cousin Christiano’s house to spend the afternoon in the pool. We headed out to Montecatini to the bank and to see Simone, his hair salon is across the street from the bank we go to, about 11:00 am. We took the wrong turn and ended up trying to get on the right street. It seemed like all the streets were one way the wrong way. We finally figured it out. We have been there many times but it is still easy to take the wrong street and then you end up driving around trying to get on the right street to get back to where you want to go. I found a place to park just around the corner from the bank. There were many shops along the way to window shop in. I could not believe the prices for clothes that they wanted. They need a Kohls in Italy, it would go over big! When you enter a bank in Italy you have to go through this little tube that opens on both sides. It is their security system. When I tried to go in, it would not open on the other side. I couldn’t figure out why so I stepped back out. This Italian lady tried to explain to me that I have to lock my purse up in the little lockers they had outside the bank. I couldn’t figure out why as I had previously taken my purse in before. However I think the reason is that I had my metal point and shoot camera in my purse and it must have detected to much metal. I just told Dan I would wait outside while he exchanged the money. The line was pretty long and it took him about 15 minutes but I enjoyed watching the people go by. When he came out we walked across the street and up stairs to Simone’s Hair Salon. He was happy to see us and asked us how our vacation was. His English is not that good and he mostly spoke Italian but we could understand what he was saying. He told us that we would be eating at his Dad, Sergio’s house and to arrive at 8:00 PM. We said our goodbyes and told him we would see him later. We decided to grab a light lunch anticipating a big dinner with the family. We walked down the street and found a little bar with seating on the sidewalk and each had a panini for lunch with some water. It was just enough. However I wanted to stop and get some Gelato. We found a really great gelato place. They had many flavors to choose from and I had lemon, cream and a berry gelato. I shared with Dan as he does not want to get one of his own. We headed back to the car to go to my cousin Augusto’s Jewelry shop in Ponte Buggianese. When we got there he buzzed us in(another security measure) and greeted us. He told us that we just missed his wife Diana that she left tow minutes before we got there. Now remember that my cousin speaks NO English so our whole conversation is in Italian. We both have to really concentrate on what he is saying and look up any works we do not understand in the dictionary or my little language computer. We did very well. After about 10 minutes, Diana returned to the store. It was nice to see her, she is a very nice woman. They wanted to know when we were leaving and what would be the best day to come over to his house for dinner. We told him that Thursday would be the best day. We had some purchases to get from Augusto. He has some beautiful jewelry in his store. I bought a beautiful gold bracelet from him. The one I really wanted was about $1500. Yes I know I have great taste! We said our goodbyes and we headed back to Marcos to get our Italian cell phone that Marco let us use to call my cousin Omar to see if we could stop at his work and use his internet and to see if we could swim. I called a couple of times but there was no answer so we decided to just drive over to the house and see if Sylvia was there. She runs the bed and breakfast and is at the house most of the time. When we arrived I went and buzzed the house with the intercom and Sylvia answered and I told her it was Leta. She opened the gate and walked out to greet us. I asked her if we could swim and she said of course. We walked around the back of the house to the pool and there were several of her guest already at the pool getting some sun. We changed into our suits and I dove right in. The water was great. After about an hour Sylvia came over to visit with us. Her English is pretty good although she doesn’t think so. It’s like anything else, you have to use it to get better. It was a nice visit with her. We had to leave about 6:00 PM to head back to Marco’s to get ready for dinner with the Tognarelli’s. Before we left I asked Sylvia if we could come back tomorrow for more swimming. She asked what time we would be coming because she usually takes a nap. I told her 3 Pm and asked it that time was OK. She said yes that it would be fine. We grabbed our stuff and she walked us out to our car to open the gate for us. We said goodbye and headed back to Marcos. We both showered and got dressed to head over to Sergio’s in Ponte Buggianese. It takes about 20 minutes to get to his house from Marcos. We left Marco’s about 7:40 PM and arrived at Sergios at 8 PM on the nose. Sergio was there to greet us as we drove in his driveway. He has had some heart problems recently and has lost a lot of weight since I last saw him 12 year ago. He greet me with the traditional kiss on both cheeks. He was genuinely happy to see us. I could see it in is face and eyes. He told me right away about his heart problems and I could understand him. I asked him how he was doing now in Italian and he said good and started to jog…we all laughed. Next we were greeted by Sergio’s brother Marino. Marino is 86 and looks the same. He has really not aged much except he his hair is grayer. As we were walking to the house Sergio told me that his wife Grazella was very ill. She is in a coma and they have someone that lives with them and takes care of her. I imagine she take care of Sergio and Marino as well. Sergio is 76 but looks very good. Both he and Marino have a full head of hair. Sergio’s son Simone greeted us next. He was busy doing the cooking. We were introduce to Elena the woman who takes care of Grazella. I have many fond memories of Grazella. It is to bad that she is so ill as she is only 66 years old. I feel very bad for my family. Sergio took us in to see her and it is just all very sad. You can see the pain in their eyes and I hurt for them. We went outside on the porch where they had a table set. We sat down for dinner. We had a wonderful time with them. Simone’s English is very limited and no one else knows any English but we managed to talk all night long. The food was wonderful and Simone planned the whole meal. We were very appreciative to be invited to their how considering how ill Grazella is. I think it was a distraction for them to have us over. They are just very warm and wonderful people. As we were getting ready to leave Sergio wanted to know when we were coming back. We told him we would be back in 3-4 years. He told Dan that when we came back he was going to give him some good wine to bring back to the states. Sergio had given us a bottle of wine 12 years ago when we visited them and Dan told him that we still have it and that it is in his collection. Simone told us some information about the Tognarelli family that we did not know. He is very proud to be a Tognarelli and a Tuscano. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting with him and learning new things about our family. Simone is planning to come to the US in 09 or 10 for 15 days. I told him that I have a room at our house he can stay in when he comes. He is very excited to have family to come and stay with and I’m excited to have family from Italy come and stay with us and meet their American cousins. I told him when he came that we would have a big party with all his American cousins. He thought that sounded great. As we were heading to the car and saying our goodbyes, Simone wanted to show us his Harley Davidson 833 Sportster motorcycle. Since both Dan and I have bikes Simone knew that we would want to see his bike. It is a black beauty. I took a picture of Simone on his bike. I told Simone to make sure and let us know when he will be coming to the US. I gave him all our contact information before we left. As we were saying our last goodbyes, Simone wanted Dan to take a picture of me, him and his Dad. We gave our last goodbye hugs and I told Simone to keep me posted about his mother. He said that he would. As we drove home I told Dan just how much I enjoyed the evening. It was 10:30 Pm when we left. We both were tired and hit the hay as soon as we got back home. Good night…
Day 18 Relaxing…word of the day..asciugamano…a shoe ga mano……towel….
I slept really great last night. I don’t remember waking up at all which is good. I did however wake up with a slight headache. I woke up about 8:15 am, not my usual 6 am. Dan was getting up but I decided to stay in bed because of my headache. I finally got out of bed about 9:15 am and headed in to shower and get ready for the day. I came down and Dan was reading. I made a shake and Dan has some fruit for breakfast. We walked over to this little store that is 2 mintes from Marcos to look for a glass olive oil carraf like the one that Michela has. They didn’t have one darn it. We came back and have just been relaxing. Marco and Martina are now home and we are going to have some lunch with them. We are going over to Christiano’s to swim at 3 PM. I will not be able to post now until we are in NYC on Sunday.
My cousin Simone on his Harley Davidson 883 Sportster
Street in Montecatini
Me and some great Gelato
Our car in Montecatini
Monteriggioni Square
Church in MonteriggioniDay 16 Leaving Assisi word of the day…..ghiaccio…gee ach O ….ice….always looking for in Italy!
We got up about 8:15 this morning. It was a very nice evening of sleeping because the rain had cooled down the temperature about 15 degrees at night. Dan fired up the computer and I just laid in bed relaxing. I got up and showered and got ready to leave about 9 am. We headed for some breakfast after Dan showered. They had breakfast cereal, sweets, yogurt, fruit, bread, cheese and meats. It was nice. We met some people from NYC at breakfast. They were in Italy for a wedding of a friends son in Rome. We had a nice conversation with them and then wished them a buon viaggio and said goodbye. Check out time was 10 am and it was time to check out but we wanted to do a little shopping before we left so we asked if we could leave our bags in the office. They said no problem and gave us a key to get back into the hotel to get our bags. We moved all our stuff into the office and headed out for some shopping. We were gone about 1 hour or so and had a very successful shopping trip. We picked up our packs and headed UP(emphasis on UP) to the car. It was about a 10 minute walk uphill. We also got some of our parking validated so it only cost us 10 Euros for 20 hours of parking. Dan says it was better than PDX! We headed down the hill and out of Assisi bound for Marcos. Dan estimated it would take about 2 hours. The driving was easier today as we stayed off the main freeway and used an auxiliary freeway instead. It was very nice and it was 4 lanes. The lanes just were not as wide as the main freeway but it was free, no tolls to pay on this road. Dan asked me if I wanted to stop in Monteriggioni for some lunch. He had been talking to my cousin Paulo and Paulo said it was a nice little town and we should go there if only for some lunch, so we did. The town is located on this little hill and inside the walls of an old fortress. It was not very big as we walked around. We made the whole town loop in less than 15-20 minutes. We found a nice restaurant and had some lunch before we headed back to Marcos. From Monteriggioni it was only a 45 minute drive to Marcos. When we arrived everyone was at work. I packed all my things up to the third floor where our room is and took a nice shower and laid down for a rest. I think I slept about 30 minutes, mostly just relaxed. I called my Mom and talked to her for about 10 minutes. She really misses me. I miss her too. I email her daily and send copies of my blog when we have an internet connection. It was great to talk to her and I told her I would call her on Sunday from NYC on the way home. I will keep her updated with emails. I have an iphone and it is so nice getting my email directly on my phone regardless of the internet and computer. I love technology! I came down stairs about 5:45 and Dan had been busy organizing our photos in Adobe Photo Album so we can show my cousins the pictures of our trip. We are just hanging out with the dogs, Molly and Job on the patio waiting for everyone to come home from work. We had a nice dinner and visit with Marco, Michela and Martina. They wanted to hear all about our trip. We showed them some of the things that we had bought and shared stories from our adventure. They really enjoyed looking at some of the 800 plus pictures that we have taken. I headed up to bed about 10:30 PM as I was tired…stanka in Italian. Ciao
Day 17 word of the day…pomeriggio…pom er riggio ….afternoon
Woke up fairly early today but just relaxed and checked my iphone email. I have enjoyed having my iphone in Italy. It has let me keep in touch with family and friends through texting and email almost daily. I know that my Mom has really enjoyed my daily email updates as well as receiving my updated blog entries through email. Today we are going to head to the Bank to exchange some money and touch bases with Simone, my cousin to see what time he wants us to come to dinner tonight. We needed to go back to Ponte Buggianese to see my cousin Augusto. He wanted us to come to dinner when we got back from our trip. I also want to head over to my cousin Christiano’s house to spend the afternoon in the pool. We headed out to Montecatini to the bank and to see Simone, his hair salon is across the street from the bank we go to, about 11:00 am. We took the wrong turn and ended up trying to get on the right street. It seemed like all the streets were one way the wrong way. We finally figured it out. We have been there many times but it is still easy to take the wrong street and then you end up driving around trying to get on the right street to get back to where you want to go. I found a place to park just around the corner from the bank. There were many shops along the way to window shop in. I could not believe the prices for clothes that they wanted. They need a Kohls in Italy, it would go over big! When you enter a bank in Italy you have to go through this little tube that opens on both sides. It is their security system. When I tried to go in, it would not open on the other side. I couldn’t figure out why so I stepped back out. This Italian lady tried to explain to me that I have to lock my purse up in the little lockers they had outside the bank. I couldn’t figure out why as I had previously taken my purse in before. However I think the reason is that I had my metal point and shoot camera in my purse and it must have detected to much metal. I just told Dan I would wait outside while he exchanged the money. The line was pretty long and it took him about 15 minutes but I enjoyed watching the people go by. When he came out we walked across the street and up stairs to Simone’s Hair Salon. He was happy to see us and asked us how our vacation was. His English is not that good and he mostly spoke Italian but we could understand what he was saying. He told us that we would be eating at his Dad, Sergio’s house and to arrive at 8:00 PM. We said our goodbyes and told him we would see him later. We decided to grab a light lunch anticipating a big dinner with the family. We walked down the street and found a little bar with seating on the sidewalk and each had a panini for lunch with some water. It was just enough. However I wanted to stop and get some Gelato. We found a really great gelato place. They had many flavors to choose from and I had lemon, cream and a berry gelato. I shared with Dan as he does not want to get one of his own. We headed back to the car to go to my cousin Augusto’s Jewelry shop in Ponte Buggianese. When we got there he buzzed us in(another security measure) and greeted us. He told us that we just missed his wife Diana that she left tow minutes before we got there. Now remember that my cousin speaks NO English so our whole conversation is in Italian. We both have to really concentrate on what he is saying and look up any works we do not understand in the dictionary or my little language computer. We did very well. After about 10 minutes, Diana returned to the store. It was nice to see her, she is a very nice woman. They wanted to know when we were leaving and what would be the best day to come over to his house for dinner. We told him that Thursday would be the best day. We had some purchases to get from Augusto. He has some beautiful jewelry in his store. I bought a beautiful gold bracelet from him. The one I really wanted was about $1500. Yes I know I have great taste! We said our goodbyes and we headed back to Marcos to get our Italian cell phone that Marco let us use to call my cousin Omar to see if we could stop at his work and use his internet and to see if we could swim. I called a couple of times but there was no answer so we decided to just drive over to the house and see if Sylvia was there. She runs the bed and breakfast and is at the house most of the time. When we arrived I went and buzzed the house with the intercom and Sylvia answered and I told her it was Leta. She opened the gate and walked out to greet us. I asked her if we could swim and she said of course. We walked around the back of the house to the pool and there were several of her guest already at the pool getting some sun. We changed into our suits and I dove right in. The water was great. After about an hour Sylvia came over to visit with us. Her English is pretty good although she doesn’t think so. It’s like anything else, you have to use it to get better. It was a nice visit with her. We had to leave about 6:00 PM to head back to Marco’s to get ready for dinner with the Tognarelli’s. Before we left I asked Sylvia if we could come back tomorrow for more swimming. She asked what time we would be coming because she usually takes a nap. I told her 3 Pm and asked it that time was OK. She said yes that it would be fine. We grabbed our stuff and she walked us out to our car to open the gate for us. We said goodbye and headed back to Marcos. We both showered and got dressed to head over to Sergio’s in Ponte Buggianese. It takes about 20 minutes to get to his house from Marcos. We left Marco’s about 7:40 PM and arrived at Sergios at 8 PM on the nose. Sergio was there to greet us as we drove in his driveway. He has had some heart problems recently and has lost a lot of weight since I last saw him 12 year ago. He greet me with the traditional kiss on both cheeks. He was genuinely happy to see us. I could see it in is face and eyes. He told me right away about his heart problems and I could understand him. I asked him how he was doing now in Italian and he said good and started to jog…we all laughed. Next we were greeted by Sergio’s brother Marino. Marino is 86 and looks the same. He has really not aged much except he his hair is grayer. As we were walking to the house Sergio told me that his wife Grazella was very ill. She is in a coma and they have someone that lives with them and takes care of her. I imagine she take care of Sergio and Marino as well. Sergio is 76 but looks very good. Both he and Marino have a full head of hair. Sergio’s son Simone greeted us next. He was busy doing the cooking. We were introduce to Elena the woman who takes care of Grazella. I have many fond memories of Grazella. It is to bad that she is so ill as she is only 66 years old. I feel very bad for my family. Sergio took us in to see her and it is just all very sad. You can see the pain in their eyes and I hurt for them. We went outside on the porch where they had a table set. We sat down for dinner. We had a wonderful time with them. Simone’s English is very limited and no one else knows any English but we managed to talk all night long. The food was wonderful and Simone planned the whole meal. We were very appreciative to be invited to their how considering how ill Grazella is. I think it was a distraction for them to have us over. They are just very warm and wonderful people. As we were getting ready to leave Sergio wanted to know when we were coming back. We told him we would be back in 3-4 years. He told Dan that when we came back he was going to give him some good wine to bring back to the states. Sergio had given us a bottle of wine 12 years ago when we visited them and Dan told him that we still have it and that it is in his collection. Simone told us some information about the Tognarelli family that we did not know. He is very proud to be a Tognarelli and a Tuscano. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting with him and learning new things about our family. Simone is planning to come to the US in 09 or 10 for 15 days. I told him that I have a room at our house he can stay in when he comes. He is very excited to have family to come and stay with and I’m excited to have family from Italy come and stay with us and meet their American cousins. I told him when he came that we would have a big party with all his American cousins. He thought that sounded great. As we were heading to the car and saying our goodbyes, Simone wanted to show us his Harley Davidson 833 Sportster motorcycle. Since both Dan and I have bikes Simone knew that we would want to see his bike. It is a black beauty. I took a picture of Simone on his bike. I told Simone to make sure and let us know when he will be coming to the US. I gave him all our contact information before we left. As we were saying our last goodbyes, Simone wanted Dan to take a picture of me, him and his Dad. We gave our last goodbye hugs and I told Simone to keep me posted about his mother. He said that he would. As we drove home I told Dan just how much I enjoyed the evening. It was 10:30 Pm when we left. We both were tired and hit the hay as soon as we got back home. Good night…
Day 18 Relaxing…word of the day..asciugamano…a shoe ga mano……towel….
I slept really great last night. I don’t remember waking up at all which is good. I did however wake up with a slight headache. I woke up about 8:15 am, not my usual 6 am. Dan was getting up but I decided to stay in bed because of my headache. I finally got out of bed about 9:15 am and headed in to shower and get ready for the day. I came down and Dan was reading. I made a shake and Dan has some fruit for breakfast. We walked over to this little store that is 2 mintes from Marcos to look for a glass olive oil carraf like the one that Michela has. They didn’t have one darn it. We came back and have just been relaxing. Marco and Martina are now home and we are going to have some lunch with them. We are going over to Christiano’s to swim at 3 PM. I will not be able to post now until we are in NYC on Sunday.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Day 15 Leaving my new love, Sorrento
Day 15 Leaving my new love…
I have to say that I have fallen in love with Sorrento. It has such beauty and charm and the people are so friendly. The cliffs, the water and all the boats are just fabuloso. You feel like you are in the arms of life when you are there. As we were getting ready this morning I am wishing we could stay for a few more days. We have talked and decided that the next time we come to Sorrento we will stay for one week. You almost have to stay that long to be able to see all the beauty the area has to offer. It is just incredible. Our hotel the Parco de Principi was a definite 5 star hotel. We were able to stay at such a great place because we used our time share, RCI points. Dan did a great job in making our hotel reservations for our trip. We decided to head to get some breakfast first before we finished packing. We really enjoy the breakfast that they serve and the view from the lanai as I mentioned before is just amazing. We had a toast with some Proseco to a wonderful time in Sorrento. After breakfast Dan stopped at the front desk and asked them to bring our car around. We finished our packing and called for a porter to come and get our bags. I waited for the porter while Dan went to check us out. They delivered our car to the front door and we loaded up for our trip north to Assisi. They drive was great, not much traffic which was different that when we came on Friday. We made one pit stop for a break and then were on our way. We made it to Assisi in 4 hours. I’ve been doing all the driving and I was tired when we arrived. It started raining just as we arrived in Assisi and it was coming down pretty good. The temperature dropped a good 10 degrees during the rain. We parked the car in a parking garage and headed into Assisi. Only locals can drive on the streets in Assisi. We found the main square and had a slice of pizza for lunch. Dan had our Italy book from Rick Steves to find a hotel. He said there was one just up the street so we walked up and found it. We rang the bell but no one answered. Dan read the sing on the door(it was in Italian mind you) and it said to go to C6 to find someone for the hotel. C6 was just down the steps and to the left. It was a small art gallery but there was no one there Gotta check out so will finish later….
I have to say that I have fallen in love with Sorrento. It has such beauty and charm and the people are so friendly. The cliffs, the water and all the boats are just fabuloso. You feel like you are in the arms of life when you are there. As we were getting ready this morning I am wishing we could stay for a few more days. We have talked and decided that the next time we come to Sorrento we will stay for one week. You almost have to stay that long to be able to see all the beauty the area has to offer. It is just incredible. Our hotel the Parco de Principi was a definite 5 star hotel. We were able to stay at such a great place because we used our time share, RCI points. Dan did a great job in making our hotel reservations for our trip. We decided to head to get some breakfast first before we finished packing. We really enjoy the breakfast that they serve and the view from the lanai as I mentioned before is just amazing. We had a toast with some Proseco to a wonderful time in Sorrento. After breakfast Dan stopped at the front desk and asked them to bring our car around. We finished our packing and called for a porter to come and get our bags. I waited for the porter while Dan went to check us out. They delivered our car to the front door and we loaded up for our trip north to Assisi. They drive was great, not much traffic which was different that when we came on Friday. We made one pit stop for a break and then were on our way. We made it to Assisi in 4 hours. I’ve been doing all the driving and I was tired when we arrived. It started raining just as we arrived in Assisi and it was coming down pretty good. The temperature dropped a good 10 degrees during the rain. We parked the car in a parking garage and headed into Assisi. Only locals can drive on the streets in Assisi. We found the main square and had a slice of pizza for lunch. Dan had our Italy book from Rick Steves to find a hotel. He said there was one just up the street so we walked up and found it. We rang the bell but no one answered. Dan read the sing on the door(it was in Italian mind you) and it said to go to C6 to find someone for the hotel. C6 was just down the steps and to the left. It was a small art gallery but there was no one there Gotta check out so will finish later….
Monday, July 14, 2008
Day 11,12,13,14
Bella Capri
Down town Sorrento
A master at work making Cameos
Our hotel the Parco di Principi
Me and Dan on our tour boat around Capri
Inside the Blue Grotto, check out the color of the water, this is a great picture
Me getting ready to head into the Blue Grotto
Inside the Blue Grotto
Dan at breakfast on the beautiful lanai that overlooks the water at our hotel.
Our Pool at our hotel
The Garden View from our room in Sorrento.
Mt. Vesuvis
Our Beach and pool at our hotel in Sorrento. You take the elevator down 7 floors to get there.
The view from our table at the restuarant in Porto Azzuro
Me at dinner in Porto Azzuro
The beach in front of our hotel
Dan standing in front of the castle in Porto Azzuro that in now a maximum security Prison.
Day 11 last day on Elba – new feature…Italian word of the day…spiaggia = beach
We got up about 9 am and decided to go to Porto Azzuro today. We wanted to check out this little port town and do a little exploring and of course shopping. We headed out about 10 am to Porto Azzuro. We had a bit of a time finding parking, Dan reminds me that I got upset at some of the drivers…well DUH!!! Italians are crazy driver that is for sure. We finally found a free parking lot and we found a spot to park in. In all the car there is this little wheel that you spin with the time you arrive for certain free parking lots. You have one hour of free parking. We headed to the center of town and there were some cute little shops along the way. I was interested in buying a sweatshirt that says Italia so I was looking along the way and noticed this one shop. I decided to go back after lunch and check it out. We stopped to eat in the main square at a little pizza place. We had pizza and beer and it was very good. After we ate we headed across the street to look at the marina and all the boats. We wanted to check out some more shops so we went back across the main street and did some more window shopping. I went back to the shop that I saw the sweatshirt but it was closed. We were going to come back for dinner so I would check it out then. There is a castle on top of the hill in the town so we decided to go check it out. When we got to the top there were some workers there doing something or other. We parked the car and I asked them if you could drive up to the top and they said no you must walk. It wasn’t far to the top and we notice all the signs that limit access. We took a few pictures and headed back down to the car. From there we decided to go to Capoliveria, the town that is on the top of the hill. It was a short drive to Capoliveria but there was no parking in the main town. Some of these Italian towns are hard to figure out where to park, where the Center of town is, all the signs and they sometimes can be confusing. I said hey lets go back to the POOL and get some pool time. The vote was yes so we headed back to our hotel and the nice pool. We figured out that all the families leave the pool from about 1-4 PM for lunch and naps I guess, so there are not very many people around. The only trouble is that they leave their towels to save their spots where all the umbrellas are so we have to sit in the sun all the time. That works fine for me, but Dan likes to have some shade as it can get very hot. I figured I have to jump in the pool about every 20 minutes to cool off. It must have been about 5 PM or so and we headed up to the room to shower and get ready to go to dinner. We were going to go back to Porto Azzuro for dinner. We looked at the restaurants that were on the water and I wanted to eat at one of them. Porto Azzuro is about a 15 minute drive from our hotel. It’s not the distance but the curvy roads that take the time. We headed back to the free parking lot and found a spot no problem. That is because it was about 7 PM and that is early for the evening crowd in Italy. We decided on the restaurant La Caliver or the boat. It was shaped like a boat and we got to sit in the bow. The food was very good and we got to watch all the boats come in and all the people get off and head for shore. The food was very good and so was the view. I really enjoyed the restaurant. After dinner we went for a walk around the main square. The shops were all open and there were a lot of people around. They had some kind of puppet show set up for the kids in the main square. We bought two beach towels that were embroidered Isola D’Elba on them. Dan got a blue one and I got a yellow and orange one. We did some more window shopping before heading back to the hotel. Once we got back I could hear the music. They were having the same entertainment as they did the night before, only the singer the night before was MUCH better. The gal that was singing was tone deaf I think..argh…. We packed up to check out early to catch the ferry back to Piambino to head to Sorrento. go to the next day…
Day 12 –…Italian word of the day…zanzara = mosquito
We were up early to get check out to head to the ferry. I did not sleep well and was not looking forward to the 5 plus hour drive to Sorrento. But you do want you have to do…
We had no problem finding the porto for the ferry. They boarded the ferry and we were out of there by 10:00 am. It takes about an hour to get to Piombino. It was a beautiful day and a great ride back to the mainland. We made our way to the autostrada to head south for the long drive to Sorrento. I was struggling with being tired but managed to hang in there. We had two stops for something to drink, restroom stop and a little snack. We finally made it to Naples and we saw Mt. Vesuvius. We made our way through all the road changes over to Sorrento. Dan was navigating us to our hotel and we finally made it there. We checked in and also had our car parked for our trip. We had to pay extra, 15 Euros a day for parking. We had to park it so we paid it. We were impressed with the hotel staff. There spoke English very well and we could tell that it was a first class hotel, we were escorted to our room and we had a porter take care of our bags. My first impression of the hotel and our room was…Wow…this is very nice. The time was about 5 PM for our check in. Once we got settled we went to the beach...or at least the jetty where they have an awesome swimming and sunning area. After a couple of relaxing cocktails (about $15 ea), we were informed that the “beach” closed at 7 so they can prepare the area for “mare” side dining. We freshened up and decided to walk to the Centro of Sorrento. It took about ½ hour to get there. We walked around for about ½ hour until we decided on a place to eat. We picked a place that it off the main area. It was quaint and the food was good. We headed into the shop that was connected to the restaurant to check out the Limoncello. We bought a few things so we had them call a Taxi for us to get back to the hotel. It was 20 Euros for a 10 minute, 1.5 mile ride or about $32. But we didn’t feel like walking back with all that we had bought. I was going to blog when we got home but I was just to tired. I crashed and was dreaming of CAPRI…
Day 13 Bella Capri…word of the day… Salvataggio=Life guard (but not because we needed one)
We were up early to eat an awesome breakfast spread that was included in with our room. We were going to catch the shuttle at 9 am to town so we could catch the early ferry to
Capri. We were dropped off in the main square and we had to walk about 10 minutes down many steps to the porto to buy our tickets to take the ferry over to Capri. I was anxiously awaiting the trip to Capri. I remember my trip to Capri in 1971 when I was 13 and those images have stuck in my mind for 38 years. I was anxious to see if what I remember is what is real now. I was not disappointed to say the least. We made the corner southwest of Sorrento for Capri and I say Capri. The closer we got the more I remembered just how drastically beautiful and different Capri is. The sun was hot and it was very humid. I had my camera and video camera rolling the whole way there. I really wanted to return to the Blue Grotto and take a boat ride around the island to see all of Capri. Once we got off the boat we headed for the ticket booth for the boat ride to the blue grotto and then all the way around the island. For 14 Euros each, we took the trip around Capri and you could choose to go into the Blue Grotto for another 10 Euros each. We choose to go into the Blue Grotto and it was just as I had remembered. They row boats came over to our boat and anyone who wanted to go to the Grotto could just get loaded into one of the little row boats that can squeeze through the small opening. Dan and I jumped into a boat with another couple and our guy got us in line to first pay and then pull us into the grotto. As we waited in line, we both snapped photos of all the boats waiting and I remembered that it was just like that years ago. When it was our turn, we all ducked down as to not hit our heads and our boatswain waited for just the right moment to pull us through the small hole into the Grotto. The water is a florescent blue that is so beautiful. It is just as I remember it. The images of my experience in the Blue Grotto have stuck in my mind for 38 years and I must say that they made an indelible impression in my mind. It just took me back in time as we moved around the cavern looking at the most beautiful water one would ever want to see. I had my video camera going but I’m afraid that it was not focusing because it was dark. However the photos we took with our camera turned out very well. I will put a few on here that Dan took for you to look at. We got in line to head out of the Grotto and as we floated and bounced up and down, one of the other boatswain started singing in the Grotto. He was a very good singer and it really added to the experience. Once out of the Grotto our boatswain reminded us to tip him…kind of tacky but I was watching and listening to other boatswains and they all did it. In our Rick Steve’s book Rick said that a 2 Euro tip per person is plenty so we did. We jumped off the little road boat into our tour boat and waited about 15 minutes for everyone else to get on board so we could take off. Finally everyone was on board and we headed for our trip around the island. It was a beautiful trip and we took many wonderful pictures. Capri really is a wonderful place. It is Saturday and we saw a lot of boats buzzing about. I was very happy with out trip and I told Dan that I was ready to head back to Sorrento. We checked the time for the next boat back and it was ½ hour. We did a little window shopping and bought some water and other drinks for the trip back to Sorrento. We headed out the port to board our ship for the trip back. It is a short trip only about 25 minutes and we were there. We took the bus back up to the main square, otherwise you are trekking uphill a long way. We walked around and did a lot of shopping at some of the great little shops in Sorrento. We also stopped for a bite to eat after asking a local merchant for a recommendation for lunch. It was very good! I had Dan loaded down like my pack mule with all the things we bought and we headed back to our hotel on foot. It is about a 25 minute walk back to our hotel and today was especially hot and muggy. We finally made it and I was ready for a swim at our pool…it is the sea…see pictures. We did some swimming and got some sun for about 2 hours until they closed the beach at 7 PM. We headed back to the room so I could work on my blogging. I have been typing like a mad woman trying to catch up. Tomorrow we are going to drive to Positano and Almafi to check out these two beautiful towns. Well that is all for now so Ciao till tomorrow.
Day 14 a bust.. Word of the day…stuzzicadente = toothpick
Well today was a bust as far as I’m concerned. We made a bad decision to drive to Positano and Almafi. We took some bad advice from the guy that runs the pool at our hotel. The road was extremely curvy and after 11/2 hours of driving on it I was getting a nauseas feeling. You have to concentrate so hard on the road and the crazy Italian drivers that it is no fun at all. We made it to Positano the smaller of the two towns and there was no place to park. People were parking on the road about 2 miles from town and then walking into town. Sorry folks not gonna do it. Because everyone parks along side the road there is just about a lane and a half for traffic. Mix in a few trucks and tour busses and it gets ugly. We gave up just short of Amalfi…25 miles in 90 minutes. We decided to take a different route back to Sorrento. Dan found it on the map and it was somewhat of a short cut, as I was not going to drive back the same way that we came. It took about an hour to get back to Sorrento. Rick Steves is right, take a boat so you don’t have to do the driving. Next time we come to Sorrento we will do just that. Once we got back to the hotel we walked into town, which we now had down to about a 20 minute walk (after Dan modified the route) to find something to eat. We decided to go back to the place we had lunch yesterday as it was again very good. We sat next to 3 girls who were archeologists on a dig just north of Florence. They were from Colorado, Texas and Virginia and were just on their weekend off and decided to check out Sorrento. It was interesting to talk with them. The girl from Colorado had worked on a dig at Pompeii and had spent 3 months in Sorrento. We had a nice lunch and then did a little more shopping. We also stopped and picked up some food for our dinner tonight. We just bought some cheese, meat and crackers. That is plenty for us. Dan also bought a ½ bottle of wine. I wanted to get back to the hotel so we could hit the beach. It is overcast today but still very warm. We stayed until the 7 PM closing and will just relax tonight and get packed because tomorrow we check out. We will be heading back up North with a planned stop in Assisi. Ciao for now…
We got up about 9 am and decided to go to Porto Azzuro today. We wanted to check out this little port town and do a little exploring and of course shopping. We headed out about 10 am to Porto Azzuro. We had a bit of a time finding parking, Dan reminds me that I got upset at some of the drivers…well DUH!!! Italians are crazy driver that is for sure. We finally found a free parking lot and we found a spot to park in. In all the car there is this little wheel that you spin with the time you arrive for certain free parking lots. You have one hour of free parking. We headed to the center of town and there were some cute little shops along the way. I was interested in buying a sweatshirt that says Italia so I was looking along the way and noticed this one shop. I decided to go back after lunch and check it out. We stopped to eat in the main square at a little pizza place. We had pizza and beer and it was very good. After we ate we headed across the street to look at the marina and all the boats. We wanted to check out some more shops so we went back across the main street and did some more window shopping. I went back to the shop that I saw the sweatshirt but it was closed. We were going to come back for dinner so I would check it out then. There is a castle on top of the hill in the town so we decided to go check it out. When we got to the top there were some workers there doing something or other. We parked the car and I asked them if you could drive up to the top and they said no you must walk. It wasn’t far to the top and we notice all the signs that limit access. We took a few pictures and headed back down to the car. From there we decided to go to Capoliveria, the town that is on the top of the hill. It was a short drive to Capoliveria but there was no parking in the main town. Some of these Italian towns are hard to figure out where to park, where the Center of town is, all the signs and they sometimes can be confusing. I said hey lets go back to the POOL and get some pool time. The vote was yes so we headed back to our hotel and the nice pool. We figured out that all the families leave the pool from about 1-4 PM for lunch and naps I guess, so there are not very many people around. The only trouble is that they leave their towels to save their spots where all the umbrellas are so we have to sit in the sun all the time. That works fine for me, but Dan likes to have some shade as it can get very hot. I figured I have to jump in the pool about every 20 minutes to cool off. It must have been about 5 PM or so and we headed up to the room to shower and get ready to go to dinner. We were going to go back to Porto Azzuro for dinner. We looked at the restaurants that were on the water and I wanted to eat at one of them. Porto Azzuro is about a 15 minute drive from our hotel. It’s not the distance but the curvy roads that take the time. We headed back to the free parking lot and found a spot no problem. That is because it was about 7 PM and that is early for the evening crowd in Italy. We decided on the restaurant La Caliver or the boat. It was shaped like a boat and we got to sit in the bow. The food was very good and we got to watch all the boats come in and all the people get off and head for shore. The food was very good and so was the view. I really enjoyed the restaurant. After dinner we went for a walk around the main square. The shops were all open and there were a lot of people around. They had some kind of puppet show set up for the kids in the main square. We bought two beach towels that were embroidered Isola D’Elba on them. Dan got a blue one and I got a yellow and orange one. We did some more window shopping before heading back to the hotel. Once we got back I could hear the music. They were having the same entertainment as they did the night before, only the singer the night before was MUCH better. The gal that was singing was tone deaf I think..argh…. We packed up to check out early to catch the ferry back to Piambino to head to Sorrento. go to the next day…
Day 12 –…Italian word of the day…zanzara = mosquito
We were up early to get check out to head to the ferry. I did not sleep well and was not looking forward to the 5 plus hour drive to Sorrento. But you do want you have to do…
We had no problem finding the porto for the ferry. They boarded the ferry and we were out of there by 10:00 am. It takes about an hour to get to Piombino. It was a beautiful day and a great ride back to the mainland. We made our way to the autostrada to head south for the long drive to Sorrento. I was struggling with being tired but managed to hang in there. We had two stops for something to drink, restroom stop and a little snack. We finally made it to Naples and we saw Mt. Vesuvius. We made our way through all the road changes over to Sorrento. Dan was navigating us to our hotel and we finally made it there. We checked in and also had our car parked for our trip. We had to pay extra, 15 Euros a day for parking. We had to park it so we paid it. We were impressed with the hotel staff. There spoke English very well and we could tell that it was a first class hotel, we were escorted to our room and we had a porter take care of our bags. My first impression of the hotel and our room was…Wow…this is very nice. The time was about 5 PM for our check in. Once we got settled we went to the beach...or at least the jetty where they have an awesome swimming and sunning area. After a couple of relaxing cocktails (about $15 ea), we were informed that the “beach” closed at 7 so they can prepare the area for “mare” side dining. We freshened up and decided to walk to the Centro of Sorrento. It took about ½ hour to get there. We walked around for about ½ hour until we decided on a place to eat. We picked a place that it off the main area. It was quaint and the food was good. We headed into the shop that was connected to the restaurant to check out the Limoncello. We bought a few things so we had them call a Taxi for us to get back to the hotel. It was 20 Euros for a 10 minute, 1.5 mile ride or about $32. But we didn’t feel like walking back with all that we had bought. I was going to blog when we got home but I was just to tired. I crashed and was dreaming of CAPRI…
Day 13 Bella Capri…word of the day… Salvataggio=Life guard (but not because we needed one)
We were up early to eat an awesome breakfast spread that was included in with our room. We were going to catch the shuttle at 9 am to town so we could catch the early ferry to
Capri. We were dropped off in the main square and we had to walk about 10 minutes down many steps to the porto to buy our tickets to take the ferry over to Capri. I was anxiously awaiting the trip to Capri. I remember my trip to Capri in 1971 when I was 13 and those images have stuck in my mind for 38 years. I was anxious to see if what I remember is what is real now. I was not disappointed to say the least. We made the corner southwest of Sorrento for Capri and I say Capri. The closer we got the more I remembered just how drastically beautiful and different Capri is. The sun was hot and it was very humid. I had my camera and video camera rolling the whole way there. I really wanted to return to the Blue Grotto and take a boat ride around the island to see all of Capri. Once we got off the boat we headed for the ticket booth for the boat ride to the blue grotto and then all the way around the island. For 14 Euros each, we took the trip around Capri and you could choose to go into the Blue Grotto for another 10 Euros each. We choose to go into the Blue Grotto and it was just as I had remembered. They row boats came over to our boat and anyone who wanted to go to the Grotto could just get loaded into one of the little row boats that can squeeze through the small opening. Dan and I jumped into a boat with another couple and our guy got us in line to first pay and then pull us into the grotto. As we waited in line, we both snapped photos of all the boats waiting and I remembered that it was just like that years ago. When it was our turn, we all ducked down as to not hit our heads and our boatswain waited for just the right moment to pull us through the small hole into the Grotto. The water is a florescent blue that is so beautiful. It is just as I remember it. The images of my experience in the Blue Grotto have stuck in my mind for 38 years and I must say that they made an indelible impression in my mind. It just took me back in time as we moved around the cavern looking at the most beautiful water one would ever want to see. I had my video camera going but I’m afraid that it was not focusing because it was dark. However the photos we took with our camera turned out very well. I will put a few on here that Dan took for you to look at. We got in line to head out of the Grotto and as we floated and bounced up and down, one of the other boatswain started singing in the Grotto. He was a very good singer and it really added to the experience. Once out of the Grotto our boatswain reminded us to tip him…kind of tacky but I was watching and listening to other boatswains and they all did it. In our Rick Steve’s book Rick said that a 2 Euro tip per person is plenty so we did. We jumped off the little road boat into our tour boat and waited about 15 minutes for everyone else to get on board so we could take off. Finally everyone was on board and we headed for our trip around the island. It was a beautiful trip and we took many wonderful pictures. Capri really is a wonderful place. It is Saturday and we saw a lot of boats buzzing about. I was very happy with out trip and I told Dan that I was ready to head back to Sorrento. We checked the time for the next boat back and it was ½ hour. We did a little window shopping and bought some water and other drinks for the trip back to Sorrento. We headed out the port to board our ship for the trip back. It is a short trip only about 25 minutes and we were there. We took the bus back up to the main square, otherwise you are trekking uphill a long way. We walked around and did a lot of shopping at some of the great little shops in Sorrento. We also stopped for a bite to eat after asking a local merchant for a recommendation for lunch. It was very good! I had Dan loaded down like my pack mule with all the things we bought and we headed back to our hotel on foot. It is about a 25 minute walk back to our hotel and today was especially hot and muggy. We finally made it and I was ready for a swim at our pool…it is the sea…see pictures. We did some swimming and got some sun for about 2 hours until they closed the beach at 7 PM. We headed back to the room so I could work on my blogging. I have been typing like a mad woman trying to catch up. Tomorrow we are going to drive to Positano and Almafi to check out these two beautiful towns. Well that is all for now so Ciao till tomorrow.
Day 14 a bust.. Word of the day…stuzzicadente = toothpick
Well today was a bust as far as I’m concerned. We made a bad decision to drive to Positano and Almafi. We took some bad advice from the guy that runs the pool at our hotel. The road was extremely curvy and after 11/2 hours of driving on it I was getting a nauseas feeling. You have to concentrate so hard on the road and the crazy Italian drivers that it is no fun at all. We made it to Positano the smaller of the two towns and there was no place to park. People were parking on the road about 2 miles from town and then walking into town. Sorry folks not gonna do it. Because everyone parks along side the road there is just about a lane and a half for traffic. Mix in a few trucks and tour busses and it gets ugly. We gave up just short of Amalfi…25 miles in 90 minutes. We decided to take a different route back to Sorrento. Dan found it on the map and it was somewhat of a short cut, as I was not going to drive back the same way that we came. It took about an hour to get back to Sorrento. Rick Steves is right, take a boat so you don’t have to do the driving. Next time we come to Sorrento we will do just that. Once we got back to the hotel we walked into town, which we now had down to about a 20 minute walk (after Dan modified the route) to find something to eat. We decided to go back to the place we had lunch yesterday as it was again very good. We sat next to 3 girls who were archeologists on a dig just north of Florence. They were from Colorado, Texas and Virginia and were just on their weekend off and decided to check out Sorrento. It was interesting to talk with them. The girl from Colorado had worked on a dig at Pompeii and had spent 3 months in Sorrento. We had a nice lunch and then did a little more shopping. We also stopped and picked up some food for our dinner tonight. We just bought some cheese, meat and crackers. That is plenty for us. Dan also bought a ½ bottle of wine. I wanted to get back to the hotel so we could hit the beach. It is overcast today but still very warm. We stayed until the 7 PM closing and will just relax tonight and get packed because tomorrow we check out. We will be heading back up North with a planned stop in Assisi. Ciao for now…
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