Jake's Top Ten (in no particular order)

1. An evening with a bottle of Brunello di Montelcino.
2. Living among the grape vines and olive trees.
3. The ambiance at lunch in Ravello.
4. The layered black and white marbled columns of the Duomo in Sienna.
5. The view from our balcony in Positano.
6. Cheese and olives on our terrace in Castellina.
7. The sculpture garden near Vagliagli.
8. The hike near Valpaia.
9. The busy-ness of the Grand Canal in Venice.
10. The grand camera in our Naples hotel.

Sylvan's Top 10 (not in any particular order)

1. Sunset on the terrace in Castellina
2. Chatting with the Brazilians at the wine bar in Venice
3. Ravello's Villa Cimbrone
4. Ghetto Nuovo in Venice on Rosh Hashana
5. Climbing Bruneleschi's Dome in Florence
6. the library in Siena's duomo
7. watching the dance in the rain at the grape festival in Chianti
8. Chianti Sculpture Garden
9. lunch in Murano
10. A night with Jake and a bottle of Brunello in Positano

(and as for nature - the lizards and pine trees found all across Italy)

VIsit to the Vatican

Having reserved tickets online, we were able to breeze by the long line of tourists waiting to get into the Vatican on Monday morning. We wondered actually how many people in the long line also had reservations and just didn't realize that there was a second line with no waiting. It's the line nearest the street should any of you be visiting!

The Vatican museums are as expected enormous and impressive. There is a huge collection of Roman, Greek and Etruscan art as well as religious art from around the world. We did visit the Sistine Chapel, and I at least greatly admired Michelangelo's work there. Jake was put off by the ostentatious display of wealth and symbolism and its implications I think. The audio tour lays on theology pretty thickly although it was nice to have it along.

Pictured are the ceiling of the map gallery and the circular staircase built so that a horse could be ridden up.

The line to get into St. Peter's basilica was incredibly long, so we settled for a photo op in St. Peter's Square and chose to wander around the city instead.

Our final meal in Rome was at Osteria dell' Angelo on the corner opposite our hotel. It's run by an ex-Rugby player and is staffed by ex-Rugby players. They have a set menu at a reasonable price. We had an appetizer of small white beans cooked with Rosemary, a tuna spread and garlic toast, a choice of 4 pastas, choice of 5 meats, and dessert of cookies dipped in sweet wine. I got a simple but very good spaghetti with black pepper and parmesan and Jake got penne with Amatricaria sauce. He ordered oxtail as his second plate and I had the rabbit ("bugs bunny" the waiter said!). I also wanted the braised chickory as my vegetable and got many warnings from the waiter about how strong it was. It was very garlicky and chickory's a bitter green, but it was tasty.

Positano to Rome - foot, boat, car, train, metro ...

We had a long day of travel yesterday to reach Rome from Positano. Jake carried my suitcase down the 284 steps to the beach to spare my aching knee. We got tickets for the 10/10 at 10 am ferry to Capri then waited for 40 minutes until our ferry finally arrived. The sea was a little choppy and the ferry boats kept getting smaller until our little red one arrived. We were herded into the enclosed cabin area and gamely headed off. The pilot attempted to steer into the waves, but the boat heeled rather abruptly a few times and several people turned various shades of green. What was supposed to be a 25 minute trip stretched to 40 minutes. We did finally arrive safely in Capri. After a pastry and juice at the port we got tickets for the funicular ride to the main town. Capri is very elegant and felt like Rodeo Drive or West Palm Beach. We decided it was too rich for our blood and went back down the hill to catch an afternoon ferry to Naples. That boat was much larger and had no trouble with the waves.

In Naples we caught a cab to the train station. I'm convinced the cab driver way overcharged us, but it was a thrilling ride that beat all cab speed records. Unfortunately, that meant we had an hour and half wait at the train station which is not the most savory part of town. There were blocks of people selling piles of used clothes and shoes around the station. There aren't really any good places to eat in the area that we noticed and the only cafe in the train station belongs to McDonalds! There aren't enough seats for waiting in the train station either.

The trains though are reasonably comfortable. We sat next to a couple from Buenos Aires and chatted with them about their trip and Argentina. They were on their way to Paris on an overnight train trip. The American couple across the aisle had just come from Positano as well, but not by ferry. Trains have tended to be a good place to chat with other travelers. Although on the ride from Florence to Naples the couple next to us was Italian and I'm pretty sure from their conversation that he was taking his mistress to Rome for the weekend. She spent most of the ride sitting on his lap next to me. I asked at one point if she'd like my seat, and he replied in English that she liked to sit on his lap and that "who could blame her?". What can you say in response to that?!

Once in Rome, we hiked a long ways through the underground warren of the train station to reach Metro line A. That took us to within 4 blocks of our hotel which is in a pleasant mostly residential neighborhood not far from the Vatican. Hotel San Pietro, reasonably priced and a decent size room with a comfortable bed. We got to the hotel around 7pm and at 7:30 headed out to find a place for a light dinner. The restaurant around the corner was recommended. When we walked in the staff were all sitting at a table finishing their own dinner, but they waved us in to a table. It quickly filled up while we were there with lots of families and locals and only one other table of tourists! The food was quite good, lots of selection.

Hike on the Wild Side and Plant Quiz

We walked up 1700 steps (literally) to Nocelle and back down this morning. Nocelle is supposedly a fishing village, but why they would build a fishing village so far from a beach is beyond me! I took the steps slowly photographing plants and animals on the way up. See how many plants you recognize from the photos!(Plant names posted as a comment)

Ah, Ravello

Ravello has been host to many famous people, many of whom raved about its beauty. We had lunch, for instance, at the hotel where David Herbert L. wrote a notorious and scandalous novel about the paramour of a noble woman. I am sure you will recognize him from his passport photo.

In all fairness, I have to admit that this is a place where people are prone to extravagance in expression. We went to one garden where the pathway was called "infinity path" and the trail we hiked this morning was called "path of the gods." Still Ravello was pretty cool.

Famous writer Gore Vidal and famous composer Richard Wagner independently said that the view from Ravello was "the best in the the world" (in the world!). The famous scholar Jake Barnes similarly said that the Ristorante Sigilgaida in Ravello "has the best ambiance in the world" -- piano playing (itself) quietly in the background, host with white dinner jacket, subservient wait staff, and a great view from a shaded terrace (photo). And these are all guys who have been around! I am embarrassed (not really) by the amount we have been spending for lunches -- more than we often spend for dinner out. Last night we had our first bottle of Brunello di Montelcino. Wow!

Ravello's Gardens

We decided to take the bus from Positano to Ravello for the day, but bus travel proved to be more arduous than we anticipated. We walked to the bus stop while we waited chatted with a woman from Taiwan who was traveling alone around Italy for six weeks. A SITA bus arrived at the scheduled time of 9:50, but when we asked the driver if we was going to Amalfi he replied, "No Amalfi!" with a wag of his finger. Around 10:10 another bus showed up that was packed, SRO. The woman from Taiwan and Jake and I managed to shove our way in though balancing on the stairs by the doors in the middle of the bus. Leaning precariously around curves, the only good thing was the view over the cliffs. About half way to Amalfi 3 Australian nurses crowded their way on and I chatted with one of them for awhile while my grip on the railing got more and more slippery. At long last we reached the plaza in Amalfi and were disgorged from the bus. Jake had had enough of bus rides, but when we found that the bus from Amalfi to Ravello was an open air bus and was just about to leave, he opted to continue our journey.

And boy was it worth it! Ravello feels like it floats between sea and air perched on the terrace of a mountain. Perhaps because of its defensible position, it was one of the first places settled on the peninsula. Later it was developed when noblemen from Amalfi were forced out and went up to settle. We visited the gardens of two villas, Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone. Rufolo is very formal and not very large. Its gardens contain mostly colorful annuals. Villa Cimbrone is much grander (see Jake at his favorite overlook) and its style and plantings were influenced by Gertrude Jekyll and Vita Sackville West among others. There's a wonderful allee that gives the feel of infinite distance and many nooks with sculptures and grottoes (somehow I have no photos of these!). Little cyclamen bloomed in the grass and woods (see photo).

The return trip was much better - we spent a few extra euros to take the open bus back to Amalfi then caught a ferry back to Positano (see photo of Amalfi and Jake on the ferry)!

Positano View

This is the view from our apartment as we check our email (and, yes, do a little work) in the morning. We think it is terrif! And a photo of Sylvan to show that we were really here (or that at least she was).

While enjoying the fantastically prepared swordfish we bought at the fish market down by the beach today, we scanned the Michelin Red Book to decide which romantic restaurant we would try next. Just so hard finding a restaurant with better chefs than we have here (not to mention that we like our own portion control!).

Ah, Positano!

We are in Positano on the Amalfi coast for the week. Such a beautiful and impossible place! Posted is the view from the beach over town and a view from our apartment at sunset. Our apartment is in the beige building to the right of the church and uphill. To get anywhere requires going up or down numerous steps. If you go up about 30 steps you get to a main street that leads downhill into the center of town. If you go down about 300 steps you get to the beach. I'm figuring all this exercise justifies a cannoli when in town!

It took us awhile to get here. We took the Circumvesuviana train from Naples to Sorrento then waited in line for a bus to Positano. But the line was long and only one bus every 1/2 hour and we learned from the info booth that there was a ferry to Positano at 1:30pm. So we rolled and carried our suitcases all the way down a long hill to the ferry dock and ... no ferry because of rough seas (odd given the bright sun and seemingly calm Bay of Naples). We had a light lunch overlooking the water and then waited another 20 minutes for a local bus back up to the train/bus station. We got there just as the 2pm bus left but at least got a spot near the beginning of the line for the 2:30pm bus. That did get us to Positano relatively quickly and the views from the bus were stunning (heart in mouth around some curves!). We got off at the main Positano bus stop and called our landlady who at first couldn't figure out where we had been dropped off. But, she made up for it by picking us up in her car and dropping us at the apartment.

It's a lovely apartment with the bed upstairs in a loft and a large main room with a futon, kitchen table and tiny kitchen built into an antique cupboard. But it has everything we need for cooking. And the biggest shower space we've had yet on this trip! A full size bath tub even! French doors open out onto a very small balcony, but enormous view over the town and water.

This morning we walked over to the small beach (see photo), a much more laid back part of town. In the afternoon we sat at the balcony and watched a wedding party at the church in the center of town. Above us on the main road are several good restaurants and a little grocery. There's a butcher and fish shop near the center of town as well as a couple other little groceries.

There seem to be a mix of German, American, Italian and Australian tourists mainly as well as many additional tourists during the day that come in by boat and bus. Downtown has lots of shops selling sandals, linen clothes, pottery and other touristy items. It definitely has a more upscale feel to it, but at least this time of year it feels very relaxed.

Pompeii

On Sunday we took the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii. Pompeii is essentially a huge archaeological site, and although very interesting, both of us were expecting it to look more like it did from descriptions we read as kids I guess with loaves of bread still on hearths and people frozen forever in time. Pictures are of plaster cast of person and other salvaged objects, ruins with Vesuvius in the background, the Pompeii botanic garden!, Jake listening to the audio guide description of the process of justice (the judge sits on the elevated piece seen here to show his status and to keep him safe from the populace), bakery with flour mills and oven.

Naples

Naples seems to be known for horrible traffic, garbage, pickpockets and pizza. Maybe because we are here on a weekend and haven’t really gone beyond the historic center, but it’s been reasonably sane for a big city. Posted is a photo of pretty insane traffic with scooters zooming between lanes of traffic on one street and there is traffic noise in the distance from our hotel. We did have a good pizza our first night here. No pickpockets so far! Garbage is a little out of control, but I guess not as bad as it has been. Something about the mafia controlling garbage disposal and using that to manipulate government. We are staying at the Belle Arti hotel in the historic center, and it is in a renovated palace. See photos of the door from the street and of our room! The other notable feature of the historic center are the churches every block or so.

Leftovers from Tuscany

Downloaded a few more photos from Tuscany -

Great sculpture park in the middle of nowhere (well, close to Vagliaglia sort of)

Wedding in Panzano of Dario Cechini, the famous Dante reciting butcher. We also recommend an Enoteca near his shop with good food.

Lake Trasimeno, actually over the border in Umbria

Road sign

Florence/Firenze

We spent Thursday and Friday nights in Florence taking in the architecture and city life – and even a couple botanic gardens!! We stayed at a hotel that occupies an old convent in behind the archaeological museum and near Piazza San Marco (yes, it appears that nearly every Italian city has a piazza San Marco). We got to Florence around 11 am, but it took us awhile to figure out how to get to the Hertz Rent a Car parking lot downtown and we probably incurred a 150 euro fine for going into a restricted traffic zone. Most of the historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage site and traffic is limited, although motor scooters are not. Since the weather was nice, immediately after lunch I dragged Jake off to the Bardini and Boboli Gardens. I was not especially impressed by either garden. Bardini is fairly quiet and is built on a steep hill. There is a cafe at the top with a nice view over Florence (photo). Several parts of the garden were closed for renovation. Boboli is pretty well known, but again, is in need of renovation and several of the more interesting looking sections were closed off. Both gardens used bay laurel (bay leaf) hedges. Jake rested by the Neptune fountain while I explored the further (and more interesting) sections of Boboli gardens. The island was particularly nice (see photo and heron on fountain), but again inaccessible. Our ticket included entrance to the Museo Argenti, which despite its name does not display silver. It had a special exhibition on the history of wine making. The rooms have great frescoes and trompe l'oeil. Also entrance to the costume museum which had an exhibit comparing more modern fashions to fashions from the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Both of these museums are in the Pitti Palace where the Medicis once resided. I'm not sure if there's anywhere in Florence where the Medici's didn't reside.

We crossed back over into the center city over the Ponte Vecchio (photo), famous for its jewelry shops lining the bridge. There are many churches and piazzas in the city, each with its own character and often with various sorts of market stalls. Santa Croce had a great selection of international food booths (mostly European countries).

Day 2 we started by going to the Central Market and browsing the stalls. Jake loved all the animal parts for sale. We bought some dried porcini at what seemed like a reasonable price. By then it was time to climb the 462 stairs to the top of Brunelleschi's dome, at the time the largest dome the world had seen (aside from the Romans). The climb up is interesting, particularly as you get towards the top actually climbing between the dome's layers up winding staircases. They warn you not to try the climb if you have heart trouble but they should add not to try it if you are claustrophobic or afraid of heights. There are great views inside of the frescoes on the dome and outside of the city (photos). After a restorative expresso we headed back over to the Central Market to have lunch at Mario's Trattoria, a well-known place recommended by guide books and by our Italian teacher. There are communal tables and a hand written menu on the wall of whatever is fresh from the market. I had fish with fresh white beans and rosemary and Jake had risotto with squid.

Florence is great for wandering and has a huge selection of leather stores. The Scuola di Cuora, leather school, had particularly beautiful examples of leather work. We also stopped in a shop that sells traditional stone mosaics/inlays that was fascinating. The storekeeper explained how they assemble the “paintings” with pieces of stone. They do a lot of reproductions of famous paintings as well as more traditional inlays of flowers and butterflies. The “paintings” were remarkable in how they were able to use stone to reflect different shadings you would see in a painting.

Other food stops included Ristorante Accademia, near our hotel in Piazza San Marco. Great selection of food and good service. We had 2 meals there. I had a salad with pine nuts, honey and pears while Jake had orechietti with broccoli and meatloaf. Another meal we shared fried porcini and squash blossoms then I had beef with a juniper red wine sauce and Jake had rabbit rolled with lard. And an excellent glass of Brunello. Another dinner we had a light dinner of crostoni (bread toasted with toppings of grilled vegetables, sausage, cheese, etc.) and onion soup at a wine store/restaurant called La Canova di Gustavino. Also stopped at a gelato shop called Vestri known for its chocolate gelatos.

I guess I can't not mention art in a posting on Florence. We did not go to any of the major art museums, but we did see a copy of David and some original statues by other artists in Piazza della Signora and famous art in some chapels. Medieval and Renaissance art is just not our favorite time period and we tend to be more interested in how the art is done I guess.

Saturday morning I attempted to go to the Orto Botanico near our hotel, but the times listed in the book were wrong, and they didn't open until 10 am which was too close to when we needed to catch our train to Naples. From the gates though the garden looked much more interesting botanically than either Bardini or Boboli! There is also a botanic museum there. Maybe next time.

Cooking Class

We couldn't leave Tuscany without taking a cooking class! The hotel recommended Paola, a local cook who does classes and works as a personal chef. She invited us to join another couple at an Agriturismo outside of town for an evening class. She picked us up at the hotel at 5:30 pm and drove us out to a very nice place south of town. We used their commercial kitchen to prepare and eat dinner. The other couple was from northeastern PA and made pleasant classmates. As couples we took turns preparing dishes. They made panna cotta and it cooled while Jake and I made a spinach pancetta tart as an appetizer. The first and second courses featured grapes. We made a risotto with red wine and grapes and then a pork loin rubbed with garlic and rosemary with a sauce of honey, grape juice and balsamic vinegar. It was all delicious and we picked up some other cooking tips along the way.

Florence: Politics

'Nuff said.

Florence: Art.

Yup, Florence, lot's of art. OOoooops, sorry David.

Vagliaglia Grape Festival

Sunday was the last and most important day of Vagliaglia's Grape Festival, so we drove over despite gathering clouds. The road to Vagliaglia from Castellina is a windy gravel road mostly through forests, but only 6 km. We got there around 3pm and it turned out that was just when the wine tasting was getting started. We bought a glass for 10 euros (you got 5 euros back when you returned the glass and its little bag for carrying it around in). They had probably 30 wines you could taste grouped into Chianti Classicos, Chianti Riservas, and non-Chiantis. At least 3 brands were made in Vagliaglia. Vagliaglia is small, smaller than Denton, but charming. It is of course built on a hill and all the buildings are stone. There are a few more modern apartment buildings on the outskirts of town. It may be that the only paved road that leads to Vagliaglia is the one going to Sienna.

Back to wine tasting - there were 2 sommeliers who could tell you about the wines, Italian only spoken. We would sample a few then wander off around town, return for another couple samples. Very few people were tasting when we got there. There were other booths around town selling food and 2 with games. I stopped at the sweets booth twice, the first time for a piece of apple cake and the second time for a crostata (sort of a soft jam tart) and plastic cup of vin santo, like sweet sherry.

There was a painting and photography contest. The photos were pretty good, the paintings pretty mediocre. A couple people had also put up displays of historic bric a brac and vintage clothes in their living rooms or terraces.

There was supposed to be a parade at 5pm and crowds gathered along the route, but it didn't get going until 5:30 by which time it had started to rain. I have never seen such a chaotic parade! It was a short route with a loop at the end where we were standing and no one seemed to know which way they were supposed to go around the loop and everyone ended up quickly jumping off floats at the end trying not to get wet as the rain intensified. This was followed by a demonstration of local dances. They held the dance despite the rain, and the kids seemed to get more and more into it the harder it rained! They got a lot of applause for their endurance. Several older young men played the "clowns", dressed in country garb and cheered the dancers on while swilling Chianti from a big jug.

We thought about staying on for the food tasting which was supposed to begin at 7pm, but it would be getting dark and we weren't sure about the condition of the road home in the rain. We left following signs for Radda because we thought that would be a paved road, but it turned out to be an even longer, narrower, steeper gravel road winding down into the valley. We did finally make it to Radda with daylight to spare! We are looking forward to exploring these roads further on a dry day.