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)!