2012 Italy - Day 18 - To Sacramento

A very long travel day home…

Up at 5:00 a.m., we caught a 5:30 hotel shuttle to the airport. We had an uneventful hour flight on Lufthansa from Milan to Frankfurt. I was surprised at both the Linate and Frankfort airports that they used buses to take us back and forth to the planes. At each airport, we loaded on to the plane with stairs pushed up to the front and back of the planes.

We had a long scheduled four hour lay-over at Frankfurt. For the second time in four days, we got a little sideways again. The layout of the Frankfurt Airport is a mess. We spent a couple of hours wandering around trying to find somewhere to sit down and eat. There were too many voices trying to decide which way to go and what to do. Given how much we have traveled, these struggles surprised me.

Eventually, we boarded an eight and a half hour US Airways flight from Frankfurt to Philadelphia. Although we left about 45 minutes late, we got there a couple of minutes early.

Getting off the plane in Philly, we walked into one of the biggest messes I have ever seen. There must have been 1,000 people in the passport control lines. It took over an hour to work our way through the line. With only an hour and 55 minutes between flights, we were starting to cut it close.

Once through passport control, we grabbed our luggage, breezed through customs and then rechecked our luggage. Sharon was very concerned about the weight of one or two of the bags. Lufthansa didn't appear to weigh the bags when we checked them in Linate. They bags were checked through to Sacramento. Given that the bags were already checked to Sacramento, we did not have to recheck them in Philly; we just handed them to a porter to load on a conveyor belt. I am sure that Sharon's bag was probably 5 to 10 pounds overweight...

We had a long hike to the gate for the flight to Sacramento. They started boarding about 5 minutes after we got there.

Again the flight took off about 45 minutes late, but we landed in Sacramento only about 15 minutes behind schedule. Given how long we have been gone, I had a little trouble finding the car. I had remember how I parked it, but not which floor. [note to self: write it down!] By the time, we got home it was about 10:30 p.m. This is 6:30 a.m. Tuesday in Italian time. We had been up and moving for over 25 1/2 hours.

It was a great trip. I hope to do two more posts in the next week. First, my top ten things from the trip. Second, I am going to put together a list of random observations.

2012 Italy - Day 17 - to Milan

The kids slept very late. Sharon and I had breakfast in the hotel. I took off early on my own, while Sharon packed up the room. My plan for the morning was to tour the Galleria dell’Accademia. This is billed as the greatest collection of Venetian Renaissance paintings. It is a fairly small museum. I found the paintings interesting due to their use of color. The paintings seem brighter than similar Renaissance painting in other places. They used a lot of brighter reds, blues and greens.

Heading back to the hotel, we got everyone organized and went to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. It includes a very good selection of 20th century art. Sharon and I had visited the museum when we were there 16 years ago and found it a nice change of pace. I read Peggy’s biography a number of years ago. I particularly enjoyed the Jackson Pollacks and Pablo Picassos. I have read biographies of both of these painters.

Sharon and I always talk about having a glass of soft wine at a stand up bar when we were Venice for our honeymoon. We made a quick stop at a place that might have been the same place on the way back to the hotel…

Back at the hotel, we finished packing the room. We took a water taxi from the hotel to the train station. Just like sixteen years ago when we tried to leave Florence, we found that there was a train strike going on. Unlike our honeymoon, this strike didn't impact us. The regional trains were being cancelled, but the high speed train that we booked left on time.

We took a train three hours nonstop from Venice to Milan. There is some beautiful countryside in Northern Italy, including lots of vineyards during the first half of the trip. Sitting on the train looking through the reservations, we realized that we had booked a room at the wrong airport. While international flights fly from an airport about 30 miles outside of Milan, Europe flights fly out of Linate which is about 5 miles from the downtown.

Scrambling, we made reservations for the Crowne Plaza near the right airport. By the time we found a taxi, got to the hotel and got checked in, it was after 4 p.m.

We had been talking about going into downtown Milan for dinner. At this point in the trip, we were starting to get a little travel weary and less aggressive. Based on a recommendation from the hotel staff, we walked to find a local restaurant that specialized in Milanese food. Unfortunately, it was closed. We ended up walking about a mile to a place called Ai Du Orsi (Two Bears). The food was fine, but we probably should have just stayed at the hotel for hamburgers (the original plan).

With a long travel day planned for tomorrow, we crashed early.

2012 Italy - Day 16 - Venice

Venice is one of the most unique places in the world. Sharon booked a spectacular second floor room with a balcony overviewing the Grand Canal: our best hotel room of the trip. It was amazing waking up in the morning and standing on the balcony watching the boat traffic. All I needed was a real cup of coffee.

Letting the kids sleep later, we had breakfast in the hotel. The breakfast was second only to the hotel in Sorrento.

After yesterday’s drama, Sharon and I thought that a guided tour would be the best way to start the day. I wandered down to the front desk to see if I could book anything. Unfortunately, the tour that we had our eyes on was already booked.

As a result, we set off on our own. We started with the Doge’s Palace. The Doge’s Palace housed the government of the Venetian Empire. For almost four centuries (1150-1550), it was the most powerful place in Europe.

We got audio tours. In addition to the Palace, the tour included the Bridge of Sighs and the prison. I particularly liked the Titian fresco of St. Christopher hidden over one of the staircases. The Hall of the Grand Council is also amazing.

Afterwards, Jack and I went to St. Mark’s Basilica, while Sharon and Morgan shopped. This is Sharon’s third trip to Venice and she felt like she had seen enough of St. Mark’s already.

Jack and I brought a ticket to the Loggia, the terrace overlooking St. Mark’s Square. We wandered around the front of the Basilica and then through San Marco Museum housed upstairs.

St. Mark’s is a Byzantine Church largely decorated with loot from the Crusades. I had forgotten that it is a very dark church. Jack and I wandered the inside, including paying an additional fee to walk behind the altar and see the Golden Altarpiece (Pala d’Oro). It is probably my least favorite church that we toured on the trip.

Catching up with Sharon and Morgan, we had a light lunch. We had sandwiches at a bar on the way back to the hotel.

The plan for the afternoon was to go out to Murano. This island is known for glass blowing. We got a boat ride from the dock at the hotel out to the island. In a thirty minute demonstration, they made a vase and a glass horse. Afterwards, Sharon and I wandered through their store and bought a few items. They gave Jack the glass horse to take home.

The trip back on the company boat was interesting. Dropping one of the employees off at Ledo (a different island) before heading to St. Mark’s Square, we crossed paths with two cruise ships leaving port.

I was frankly surprised at the number of people roaming Venice during the course of the day. Oddly, the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica were not that crowded. It seemed like the majority of the tourist were just milling around rather than visiting the museums and churches.

Getting cleaned up, we had a drink in the bar of the hotel. The staff at the glass factory had recommended a restaurant, but we weren’t able to get a reservation there. Sharon ended up making a reservation at one of the restaurants recommended in the guide book: La Colomba.

We had a little bit of a struggle to find it; I finally had to ask a shopper owner for directions. It was a little bit of an odd experience. The place was empty. There was only one other couple in the restaurant. Nevertheless, the food was very good. I had seafood risotto and a mixed seafood grill. While expensive, the meal was cheaper and the food was better than the dinner at the hotel in Sorrento.

After a couple of long days, we wandered back to our hotel and crashed before 11 p.m.

2012 Italy - Day 15 - To Venice

Friday was a four train day... Occasionally, we will plan a day during a trip that seems like a bad idea when we are faced with the reality of it. There was one particular day in our trip to France that I always use as the yardstick. Today's experience was different, but in some ways more difficult.

We got up at 4:00 a.m. We finished packing the room, dragged the luggage down three flights of stairs trying not to wake everyone in the place and pulled the 200 pounds of stuff about 1/4 mile to the train station.

The regional train was scheduled to arrive at 5:11 a.m. There was only one problem; we didn't have any tickets. I had walked down during dinner the previous night to buy some tickets, but the station was already closed. It was still closed at 5 a.m. in the morning. The only other passenger on the platform--a woman with a backpack from Colorado--said that she heard that they were not checking tickets.

We boarded the train when it arrived and rode the short 10 minutes to La Spezia. No one came to ask for tickets... I got us to jump on an earlier train to Parma. This was a two hour regional train. From there, we caught a one hour regional train to Bologna. Finally, we jumped on an hour plus train from Bologna to Venice.

Although Morgan was skepitcal that we were not going to make all of the connections, everything came off relatively smoothly. The biggest problem was trying to figure out what to do with the 200 pounds of luggage on the train to Venice. It was packed and I ended up stacking the luggage between cars.

When we got to Venice about 12:30 p.m., we took a water taxi from the front of the train station to the hotel. We are spending the next two nights at the Palazzo Sant'Angelo. This will be our nicest hotel of the trip. It is on the Grand Canal with view of the Rialto Bridge.

They had the rooms ready for us about 15 minutes after we arrived. The hotel sent us to a nice restaurant for lunch. Although I had been feeling pretty strong, I faded after some wine at lunch. I was literally falling asleep.

After lunch, we wandered towards St. Marks Square, around to the Rialto Bridge and then back to the hotel. Given that we had been up since 4:00 a.m., everyone crashed for a bit.

Sharon had made a reservation for a gondola to pick us up for the hotel at 7:30 p.m. Trying to get organized, there was a general meltdown. We had been on the road for two weeks and had a long day. Morgan and Jack reached a point where they were tired of being around each other. Neither has had this much experience dealing with each other in seven or eight years.

We eventually got everyone in the gondola. I enjoyed the gondola ride a great deal. It is a very, very unique experience.

Afterwards, Morgan crashed in the room. Sharon, Jack and I had a late dinner along the Grand Canal right next to the Rialto Bridge. Like usual, it was almost midnight by the time we got back to the room and got to bed. It was a long day.

2012 Italy - Day 14 - Cinque Terre

The plan for the day was to hike the coast and explore the other three towns in Cinque Terre.

The hotel had a skimpy breakfast. Additionally, the staff at the hotel was not the most helpful. Morgan was convinced that the older woman at the front desk understands English pretty well, but pretends that she doesn't. While I had got a 7 day internet day for the wireless, the older woman kept giving Morgan 1 hour passes and it was making her a little crazy.

After breakfast, we walked to the train station, got Morgan a hiking pass and took the train to the Corniglia, the next town. It was a 382 step climb from the train station up into the hilltop town. Corniglia is the only one of the five towns that is not on the water.

We hiked the trail from Corniglia to Vernazza. It is a beautiful 2.5 plus mile hike along the coast with some great vistas. It took us about one hour and 45 minutes.

Once we got to Vernazza, we had lunch at Ristorante Belforte. The restaurant was located in a tower at the end of the town overlooking the harbor. The food was great. We had a mixed seafood appetizer again and I had some pasta with pesto.

After lunch, we caught the train from Vernazza to Monterosso. The last town of the five has the best beaches. We rented a couple of beach chairs and umbrellas and spent a couple of hours swimming in the Mediterranean Sea and reading our books. Lying on the beach is something that we never do. From the water, you could see the other four towns south along the coast.

At one point, I wandered into town and bought tickets for the ferry. We caught the 5:50 pm ferry back to Manarola. It was a gorgeous view of the coast from the water. The coast in Cinque Terre is very different than the Amalfi Coast; Cinque Terre looks more like the California coast. While Sharon and the kids took a short nap, I sat on the balcony worked on the trip notes with a glass of wine. It was a cool view of the town.

We finished the day with dinner close to our hotel in Manarola. I need to figure out the name of the restaurant. While the food was not quite as good as the previous three meals, it was still good. I had swordfish.

With a very, very early day planned for Friday, we got everyone to bed as early as possible.

2012 Italy - Day 13 - To Cinque Terre - Manarola

Another travel day...

We actually slept fairly late and had a light breakfast in the hotel. Packing up the room, we got a taxi to the main train station in Florence. This is one of the two days that we did not pre-purchase train tickets. Originally, I had pushed the idea of stopping in Pisa and checking out the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This deep into the trip my aggressiveness had faded and I punted on the idea. Instead, we got a direct train from Florence to La Spezia. Although it passed through Pisa, it didn't stop.

We got to La Spezia by a little after noon. At this point, we made a small tactical error. Instead of the taking the regional train to Manarola, we hopped in a taxi. The taxi ride was about 20 minutes, but the taxi couldn't enter the town. It had to drop us about 1/2 mile above the town. We had to drag 200 pounds of luggage to the hotel. Luckily, it was all downhill. We finally got to the hotel. We are spending the next two nights at the Hotel Marina Piccola.

After lugging the luggage up three flights of narrow stairs, we had lunch in the hotel's restaurant. The food was very good.

There is a seven mile hiking trail that stretches between the five towns in Cinque Terre. We are staying in the second of the five towns. After a leisure lunch, Sharon and I left the kids crashed in the room and hiked a short distance towards Corniglia and back. Unfortunately, most of the section between Manarola and Corniglia is closed due to landslides. There was a great view of Manarola from the trail!

Heading back to the room, Sharon and I picked up Jack headed the other way on the trail. The section between Manarola and Riomaggiore is known as Via Dell'Amore. After buying two day hiking passes, we hiked to Riomaggiore, explored the town a little bit and then headed back. There was a bar on the trail close to Manarola and we stopped for a couple of cold drinks. The bar was perched on the edge of the narrow trail with a 100 plus foot drop to the water. Have I said recently how much I don't like heights?

We also discovered that the train station is pretty close to the hotel. It would have been much easier to get the luggage to the hotel from the train station, rather than taking a taxi...

After getting cleaned up, we had a great meal at Trattoria dal Billy. The restaurant is perched high on the hill overlooking the town and the small harbor. We had a great seafood appetizer that included six or seven plates of different seafood. I had a seafood pasta and all of us shared a sea bass. The food was very good, probably the best that we have had on the trip so far. The pasta is great and the seafood is extremely fresh.

2012 Italy - Day 12 - Florence

The day in Florence was probably one of the most ambitious of the trip.

Based on Holly's recommendation, Sharon had purchased Florence Cards. It took us about 20 minutes to get them on Monday, but the cards were well worth the effort and the expense. The cards allowed us to enter the museums in the reservations line. It probably saved us more than 1 1/2 hours of waiting in lines over the course of the day.

Up early, we had a quick bite at the hotel. From there, we headed to the Galleria dell'Accademia. This small gallery contains a number of Michelanglo's works, including the David. I have to agree with Sharon that the David is the most amazing work of art that I have either seen. It has to be seen in person to be believed...

From there, we went to the Uffizi. This is a large gallery that claims to contain the finest selection of Italian art in the world. In addition to The Birth of Venus by Botticelli and Michelanglo's only surviving easel painting, I found three Caravaggios: Bacchus; Sacrifice of Isaac and Medusa. It took us about two hours to get through the Uffizi.

After leaving those two museums, Morgan summed up the experience in her tweet that read:

morgan heringer (@morganheringer) 7/3/12 12:28 saw the david and the birth of venus, dont really have any reason left to live, bye

We made one more quick stop before lunch at the Bargello Museum. This is the major sculpture museum of Florence. In particular, Sharon wanted to see Donatello's David.

We had a nice lunch on the Piazza della Signoria at the Cirus Cafe. Sharon and I both had interesting salads. After lunch, Sharon and Morgan wandered off to do some shopping, while Jack and I went to look for soccer jerseys.

Everyone met back at the hotel room. I went out for a walk about to the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. It contains an interesting piece by Tommaso Masaccio--The Trinity--that Sharon and I had seen on our previous trip. Walking back I scoped out the location of the restaurant where we had made reservations.

Back at the room, Jack wanted to the visit the Boboli Gardens. We went across the Ponte Vecchio and into the gardens. The highest points in the garden have some great views of Florence. We wandered through the gardens, including walking through a porcelain museum before it was time to get back to the room.

After getting cleaned up, we had a quick drink at the hotel and then headed to dinner. We took Jack and Morgan to Il Latini. Sharon and I had a memorable dinner there on our honeymoon in 1996 and wanted to go back. We had a great meal. It is a family style restaurant. For the main course, the waiter brought a patter that contained all of the different meats that they were serving that night. It was noisy and loud and a great experience. Although we had the hotel make a reservation, Jack and I pushed our way to the front of the line and got seated fairly quickly.

We finished the night wandering back along the Arno River. It was a beautiful evening with a full moon!

2012 Italy - Day 11 - To Florence

Another travel day.

Sleeping a little later, we had breakfast in the hotel and packed up up the room. We will be spending the next two nights in Florence at the Hermitage Hotel.

We got a cab to the train station and bought a ticket to Florence. On two of the five legs by train, we didn't buy the tickets ahead of time. It was an easy train ride, albeit with a number of stops, to Florence. Rick Steves actually recommends taking the bus?!?

After checking into the hotel about 1:30, we took off to explore the city. The hotel is literally on top of the Ponte Vecchio, the bridge with the shops across the River Arno. The hotel sent us to a nice restaurant on the other side of the bridge for lunch. At some point, I will figure out the name when I dig through the credit card receipts. The place was full of Italians and I would definitely recommend it.

After checking the doors on the Baptistry, we did audio tours of the the Duomo. Afterwards, we picked up our Florence Cards from the Tourist Information near the Baptistry. More on the Florence Card tomorrow. From there, we toured the Duomo Museum. Sharon wanted to go to a nearby scruplture museum, but it was already closed.

Instead, Sharon, Jack and Morgan decided to got to the top of the Duomo. I am not fond of heights so I found a nice spot in the shade to have a cold drink. They really enjoyed the experience. Morgan actually said that it was one of the best things that they had done so far on the trip. During the climb, they got a chance to get very close to the frescos on the dome.

Afterwards we headed back to the room to cool down and get cleaned up for dinner. We had dinner at the Frescobaldi Ristorante and Wine Bar. Sharon and Jack split steak, while I had risotto and pork loin.

2012 Italy - Day 10 - Siena - Palio!

Sharon, Jack and I went to the 8 am Mass at the Siena Cathedral. I was surprised how few people there were, probably less than 50.

Afterwards we walked back towards the Campo. We got there in time to see the morning trial of the Palio. We were not in the middle of the piazza, but along the fence at the biggest entrance just to the left of the starting line. It gave us an interesting perspective as they set up the starting line and lined up the horses. I got a couple of nice pictures.

The plan for the morning was to do laundry. When I travel, I always carry enough clothes so that I don't have to do laundry. Nevertheless, Morgan and I ended up with most of the laundry duty. Waiting for almost 45 minutes to get in [just like a Disneyland ride], Sharon and Jack spent the time going up the city tower on the Piazza del Campo. They got some great pictures.

We took the clothes back to the room and then had a quick bite to eat near the Duomo. While Sharon and Morgan shopped, Jack and I went back and took multi-media tours of the Baptistery and Crypt. Although it took us longer with the multi-media guides, I recommend both of these sites for at least a quick walk through.

From the there, Jack and I took off for the Church of San Domenico. This huge brick church has the thumb and head of St. Catherine on display. The head is displayed in a nun's habit! Afterwards, Jack and I walked around the stadium looking for a team store before heading back to the hotel.

The plan for the evening was to go back to the Piazza del Campo and watch the evening Palio trials from inside the square. Part of the reason that they run the trials is to make sure that the horses are fit for the actual race. Tonight was a good example of the kind of problems that can happen. After parading the honor guard and the horses out, they had huge problems getting the horses lined up at the rope. There are no starting gates, they just line the horses up side by side at the starting rope. Tonight one or two of the horses would not stay put. After a false start, they worked to get everyone lined up again. This went on for at least 10 minutes and the crowd was getting restless. As Morgan said, "these horses are crazy." They finally sent the horses off although they were still in a little disarray. Interestingly, the riders were all riding bareback.

Based partly on a recommendation by Tim Murphy (it was also one of the top restaurants in the guide book), we left the kids at the hotel to have room service. Jack wanted to watch the Germany versus Italy European Cup Final. Sharon and I went to dinner at Antica Osteria Da Divo. It was one of the best meals of the trip. I had rissoto and rack of lamb, while Sharon had eggplant ravioli and rabbit. When we got back to the room, both of the kids were asleep.

2012 Italy - Day 9 - To Siena

The hotel had some nice grounds with a view of Orvieta. Sharon went out on the grounds before breakfast to meditate. After breakfast, we packed up the room and loaded the car. It was a relatively easy drive to Siena.

Unfortunately, I got to spend two hours with the Italian police once we got to Siena, but that is a story for another day...

We eventually got to our hotel. We are spending the next two nights at the Hotel Athena. We have two ajoining rooms. It is very comfortable. The hotel was a 10 minute walk to the Piazza del Campo.

To my surprise, the Campo is set-up for the annual Palio [horse race]. It turns out that the horse race is Monday, July 2, but there are trials leading up to the main event. We didn't know this when we scheduled the trip. It does explain why we had some trouble finding a hotel room that we liked.

We had an expensive lunch on the piazza. They were literally tearing down the restaurant for the evening trial as Sharon and Morgan were finishing lunch.

Afterwards we wandered to the Duomo. I bought all inclusive tickets that covered a number of sites around the cathedral. I also got what I thought were audio tours. It turns out that they have multimedia guides based on Android tablets. We started in the Duomo and then headed to the museum. This took more than two hours. At this point, everyone was done. I felt like the guides were well worth the price.

We headed back to the hotel and lounged for a bit. We ended the day with a late dinner. After looking for one of the restaurants in the guide books that had a 20 minute wait, we picked a different nearby restaurant for dinner. I had risotto and osso bucco for the first time on the trip. After a couple of glasses of wine, the group replayed the events of our arrival in Siena...

2012 Italy - Day 8 - To Orvieto

After three nights in Rome and three nights in Sorrento, we will be on the move more over the next week. We are planning to spend one night near Orvieto on the way to Siena.

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, Sharon packed up the room, while I walked to pick up a Hertz rental car. I had a struggle getting back to the hotel with the car. The GPS seemed to want to lead me down into the port below the hotel. I finally headed out of town and then looped back towards the main square following the signs and ignoring the GPS. I think that part of the problem was that the GPS was set for North and a map display rather than a heads up display.

I finally found my way back to the hotel and we were on the road about 10:15 a.m. It was about a four hour drive to Orvieto. Once we got back to Naples, the drive was almost all freeway. We made two stops, including getting lunch at an AutoGrill.

The GPS led us to the wrong address, but we got back on track fairly quickly. We got to the hotel about 2:30 p.m. We are spending one night at the Hotel La Badia di Orvieto. The hotel was originally an Abbey built in the 6th century. We have a gorgeous corner room that looks out at the hilltop city of Orvieto. The picture above shows the hotel viewed from the hilltop city of Orvieto, while the picture below shows a view of the city and the Duomo from the hotel.

Sharon and I wandered the grounds and then had a cold drink in the bar. Jack had fallen asleep so we had a struggle getting him up and going. He was a bear for the rest of the day. We drove the car to a parking lot below the city and then took a series of escalators up into the town.

We toured the duomo. Afterwards, Sharon wanted to shop. I took the kids on a walk through the town to the fort and back. One of the lessons from the day is that we need a better game plan for Siena than we had for Orvieto. After a series of guided tours and scheduled days, the kids got restless when we had a looser itinerary.

Catching back up with Sharon, we took some pictures of the hotel from the city and then found a quiet place for some wine. We ended the night with a very nice dinner at La Palomba. Sharon had the "best pigeon ever," while the kids and I had ambricelli al tartufo for a first course and lamb and pork for a second course. The lamb that Jack and Morgan had was very good.

I really liked the hotel where we stayed, but will not be coming back to Orvieto.

2012 Italy - Day 7 - Amalfi Coast

Up early, Sharon and I went to a week day Mass at Santa Maria delle Grazie, a beautiful little Baroque close to the hotel. While the Rick Steve's guide book said that the nuns would be singing, there was very little singing in the Mass.

We arranged for a car and driver for the day. Our original plan was to drive down the coast all the way to Paestum, a Greek ruin. Over the last couple of days, we decided to adjust our original plan and stay close to the Amalfi Coast.

Sharon has been wanting to do some shopping for decorations for the new kitchen. One of the guidebooks listed a ceramics factory in Ravello that she was interested in visiting. We decided that we would make that our target destination for the day.

After breakfast in the hotel, we met the driver at 10 a.m. We made a number of stops for pictures heading south on the coast. After getting a chance to see the coast from the ferry yesterday, it was a nice complement to stop at a number of vista points as we wound our way south. We also stopped at one ceramics outlet.

The driver dropped us in Amalfi. One of the things that we didn't do on Wednesday was visit the cathedral. We took a quick tour of the church. The most interesting part of the church was the crypt of St. Andrew. The crypt contains a number of relics of St. Andrew brought to Amalfi in 1208.

Back in the car, we headed to Ravello. This is a hilltop town near Pontone where we hiked to yesterday. We had a cold drink on a terrace with a great view of the Mediterranean Sea; Ravello is about 1,000 feet about sea level.

While Sharon and Jack shopped, Morgan and I toured the Duomo (Cathedral) of Ravello and the Villa Rufolo.

Back in the car, we made a quick stop to buy some Limoncello. We then headed back north to Positano and had a very late lunch on the water at Chez Black. We were all starving by this point. I was surprised how big Positano was. Sharon had tried to get a room here, but couldn't find anything She liked. I would definitely come back to Positano at some point and then visit the Island of Capri; We skipped Capri on this trip.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was almost 6:45 p.m. Sharon wandered through the town to do a little more shopping, while the rest of us crashed in the room.

We finished the night watching the Italy versus Germany European Cup semi-final game in the restaurant at the hotel pool. Italy won by the score of 2 to 1. Afterwards, Sharon and I walked out into the central square of Sorrento. The town was going crazy. Sharon has a couple of videos that I will post later. It was another late night...

2012 Italy - Day 6 - Hike from Amalfi to Pontone

Both Jack and Morgan slept late while Sharon and I wandered down to breakfast. The hotel has a very nice breakfast and something resembling American coffee. The kids eventually wandered down for breakfast about 9:15 a.m.

The original plan for the day was to go to Amalfi and do a hike. After talking to the concierge about the different options (bus, taxi or ferry), we decided to grab the 10:30 a.m. ferry to Postino and Amalfi. It was a beautiful hour and ten minute ferry ride along the Amalfi Coast. The cliffs are a limestone and look very different than the California coast.

Once we were on the ground in Amalfi, we got off track a bit. The directions in the Rick Steven's Italy book for the hike past the paper mills were vague at best. We got to the starting point of the hike, but had trouble figuring out which way to go. After a couple of starts, including trying to ask directions at the Paper Mill Museum, we thought that we were going the right way, but ended up back in the town. I have to admit that I got a little frustrated.

Using the directions on a map that we bought, we started off again. This time we got on the right track, although I don't think that we actually took the hike recommended by Rick Stevens. We climbed steadily along the terraced lemon orchards for about 1.6 miles. The climb was over 900 vertical feet. We finally reached Pontone and had a nice lunch in a restaurant overlooking the ocean down a different ridge. While Amalfi was packed with tourist, there only a couple of people on the trail. Pontone was very quiet.

Going back down the mountain was a lot easier than going up. Google Earth views and maps of the hike are here.

While Sharon and Morgan shopped in Amalfi, Jack and I found a shady spot close to the Mediterranean Sea by a cold drink. We are planning to come back to Amalfi tomorrow and tour the church.

We caught a 4:35 p.m. ferry back to the Sorrento. Dusty and hot, we went for a dip in the pool after we got back to the hotel.

Getting cleaned up, we had a drink on the terrace of the hotel watching the sunset. We then wandered into town. Sharon didn't like the restaurant that the hotel recommended and we couldn't get into the restaurant on the top of the guide book. We ended up having a nice late dinner. I had an interesting seafood pizza.

The main square near the hotel has been packed with people whenever we ventured out. South of the square, the town is made up a number of a number of narrow streets that date from the old Greek city.

It was again after midnight by the time we were in bed...

2012 Italy - Day 5 - Pompeii

Up before 6 am, this was moving day. We packed up the apartment and wandered down to the cab stand. We caught a cab to the Roma Termini Train Station. After a bite to eat, we caught the 9:00 a.m. high speed train to Naples.

Sharon had arranged for a car to pick us up at Naples, but when we got off the train no one was there. After a couple of phone calls, it turns out that the driver was late and stuck in traffic. The driver eventually met us and we got everything loaded in a van.

From there, we headed to Pompeii. Sharon originally thought that we had arranged for a driver and a tour of the ruins. It turned out that it only included a stop at the ruins. The driver scheduled a tour guide as we were heading to the Pompeii. We took a two plus hour tour that included all of the high points of the site, including the Roman baths and the brothel. Although we had a little trouble understanding the guide, she moved quickly through the site and hit all of the major points of interest. I looked at the guide books afterwards and was amazed at how well she followed the their path.

When we were done, we had a quick glass of wine and a snack. Back in the van, the driver took us to the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria in Sorrento. We will be spending the next three nights at hotel exploring the Amalfi Coast.

Getting settled in the room, everyone headed to the pool. We hung out around the pool for the rest of the afternoon; something that we rarely do. Sharon had be threatening to head straight to the pool all day. After a hot, dusty afternoon at the Pompeii ruins, the pool felt particularly good.

Getting cleaned up, we had a drink on the balcony overlooking the ocean. We finished the night with a long dinner at the hotel restaurant. By the time I got back to the room and down for bed, it was after midnight.

2012 Italy - Day 4 - Vatican City

It has been hot with temperatures peaking in the high 90’s. Although we had a late night, I was up even earlier than yesterday. I couldn’t sleep much pass 6 a.m. I got more pastries from the bakery around the corner.

The plan for the day was a guided tour of the Vatican Museum tour ending with the Sistine Chapel and continuing into St. Peter’s Basilica. After talking about walking, we decided it was just a little too far and caught a taxi just behind the apartment.

Sharon had booked the ancient Rome and Vatican Museum tours with the company that the Wackman’s used last year. In a twist of fate, we ended up with the same guide as the first day: “Elvis.” Totaling twelve people, the group was twice as large as the previous day.

The Vatican Museum was literally packed with people. I believe that the guide said that 5.5 million people visited last year. One of the advantages of being with the guided tour was that you got to use a much shorter line. The line to get in the museum was more than an hour long, while the line for the tour groups was about 15 minutes. Once inside, the group got headsets so that we could hear the guide amongst all of the other people. We wandered through a good part of the museum catching a number of the highlights, including the Laocoon. Sharon had poked him at the beginning to make sure that we were going to visit the Raphael rooms. The School of Athens in the Room of Segnatura is particularly impressive.

I really enjoyed the Sistine Chapel. Although the room was packed, we spent quite a bit of time there. The guide did a very nice job of describing the features of the room. Given that we were wearing earpieces, I could wander fairly far from the group while listening to him talk.

Exiting the Sistine Chapel, we went into St. Peter Basilica and finished the tour. Highlights included the Main Altar (a seven story tall bronze canopy) and the Michelangelo Pieta. The church is huge!

After the tour, we wandered into the local neighborhood to get some lunch. I walked back to the front of the Basilica to get a couple of pictures. Eventually, we hooked back up at a store where Sharon was buying Jack a Roma jersey.

We passed by the Castel Sant’Angelo. Unfortunately, it is closed on Mondays. We crossed over the Ponte Sant’Angelo and started looking for a store that Sharon wanted to find.

Back at the apartment, everyone took a nap for the third day in a row.

With Jack still sleeping, Sharon and I headed out. Sharon wanted to go back to shop near the Spanish steps, while I wanted to get to the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo. When we were in Rome the first time, Sharon lead us to this church, but it was closed. It contains two Caravaggios: The Conversion on the Way to Damascus and the Crucifixion of St. Peter. Catching up with Sharon afterwards, we enjoyed a glass of wine before heading back to the room.

Jack has fallen asleep and slept for a couple hours every afternoon. Twice, he was woken up thinking that it was the next morning. When Sharon and I got back to the room, Jack woke up thinking that he needed to pack.

We wandered back by the restaurant that Patty recommended, but it was still closed. We finished the night with a very nice dinner near the apartment. Although we were trying to get to bed earlier, it was still after 11:30 p.m. by the time that we got to bed.

2012 Italy - Day 3 - Ancient Rome

I set the alarm for 7 a.m. and was up and moving before everyone else. Prowling for somewhere to get breakfast, it was very cool to wander the Piazza Navona when it was completely empty. I wandered as far as the Piazza di Floria. I found a pastry shop that was just opening and carried a bag full back to the apartment.

The plan for the day is a guided tour of ancient Rome. We caught a taxi to the street near the Colosseum. We had a quick cappuccino and another pastry before meeting up with the guide. Unlike Spain, it turns out that there are no Starbucks in Italy; I would kill for a cup of American coffee…

We met up with the guide at 9:30 a.m. The group included the four of us plus one other couple. A guided tour is not something that we have done before. We have typically relied on guidebooks and walking tours. Sharon felt that Jack and Morgan might get more out of a guided tour and be more engaged.

The tour started in the Colosseum. A lot more of the amphitheater is open than when Sharon and I were there 16 years ago. We walked around lower and upper levels and stopped at a number of exhibits.

From there, we headed to Palatine Hill. The palaces of several emperors and the original village of Rome are located on this hill. Sharon and I had walked part of this before, but we covered a number of new areas.

We walked down ancient subway to the Roman Forum. This included a tour of the Curia, the Senate House. Overall, the guided tour lasted just over three hours. While I was initially skeptical, I felt that it was a worthwhile investment.

We had lunch at Enoteca Cavour 313, a place that the guide had recommended. After lunch, we walked up to the top of Capitol Hill and toured the Capitoline Museums. High points of these museums include: the She-Wolf; Marcus Aurellus on horseback; the Dying Gaul; and two Caravaggios (The Fortune Teller and another version of the young St. John the Baptist).

We walked back to the apartment past an excavation of early Rome that was near where Julius Caesar was murdered.

After a short nap, Jack and I headed out to a find a Roma jersey. He had seen a team store on the walk on the first night. Unfortunately, they did not have anything in his size. The season ended a couple of weeks ago and looks like they purposely let their stock of jerseys shrink. On the way back to the hotel, Jack and I stopped at a ATM and a grocery store.

For dinner, we went looking for a restaurant that Patty Wackman had recommended. Just off Piazza di Floria, I finally found it after one false start. Unfortunately, it was closed. We needed up going to a nearby restaurant that was listed in the Rick Steven’s book: Trattoria der Pallaro. It had a different atmosphere; their motto is “here, you’ll eat what we want to feed you.” Afterwards, Sharon, Jack and I headed back to the same gelato place as the first night.

Jack and I ended the night watching the Italy versus England European Cup soccer match in a restaurant off the Piazza Navano. Italy won on penalty kicks after the overtime. It was another late night. By the time we got everyone down, it was after midnight.

2012 Italy - Day 2 - Old Rome

With the delay getting off the ground in Philadelphia, we got to the Rome airport after an uneventful flight about an hour late. We hit the ground about 9:30 a.m. rather than the scheduled arrival of 8:40 a.m. We breezed through customs. I am frankly surprised how quickly we got our luggage and were looking for taxi.

At this point, we realized that we had made a tactical error. Typically, we stop at an ATM and get local currency when we hit the ground in a foreign country. We couldn’t get any of the ATMs to work. I ended up gathering up our US dollars and went searching for someplace to change the dollars in Euros. After passing a bunch of exchange kiosks before we went through customs, it took some work to find one in the arrival area. As I noted in Spain two years ago, it is odd to have another voice (Jack’s) with input into the discussion about how to deal with these bumps.

We finally got some money, caught a cab and headed into the city. We will be spending the next three nights in Rome. We have an apartment right off of the Piazza Navona. Morgan spent a couple of weeks on the Greek Island of Cor fu, took an overnight ferry to Italy, spent a couple of days with a friend and then got to the apartment in Italy last night. She will be traveling with us for the next two weeks.

After some initial confusion, we finally got into the apartment, found Morgan and got settled. We had a bite to eat in a pizza place that Sharon had found in a magazine: Pizzeria La Montecarlo.

From there we headed off to explore. We wandered through the Piazza Navona and headed towards the Pantheon. This is the only Roman temple to survive the last 2,000 years virtually intact.

From there we wandered through Sant’ Ignazio di Loyola. This is a Jesuit Baroque church built in 1685. When Sharon and I were here before, it was filled with scaffolding.

The next stop was Galleria Doria Pamphilj. This is described as the best of the private collection galleries in Rome. It includes three of Caravaggio’s works: Mary Magdalene; Rest of the Flight into Egypt; and, Young St. John the Baptist.

Trying to work off the jet lag, we headed back to the room and slept for about two and a half hours.

While Jack took a shower, Sharon, Morgan and I went to the San Luigi del Francesi. This is France’s national church in Rome. It contains three large Caravaggios: The Angel and St. Matthew; the Martyrdom of St. Matthew; and, the Calling of St. Matthew. They are very impressive.

After getting cleaned up, we headed off on a walking tour. We used one of Rick Steve’s book to take a “Heart of Rome” walk. I really enjoyed this. Starting in the Piazza Navona, we went by the Pantheon and made our way to the Trevi Fountain. There were two interesting moments along the way. We passed an Egyptian obelisk taken by Augustus after his victory in Egypt over Cleopatra and Mark Antony. I just finished reading the book—Cleopatra—that talks about this battle. We also passed a huge second century column depicting the victories of Marcus Aurelius over the barbarians. Jack watched Gladiator on the plane on the iPad which portrayed these battles.

From the Trevi Fountain, we headed to the Spanish steps. We eventually found a place to have a late dinner in the neighborhood. After dinner, we found our way back to the Trevi Fountain and back to the hotel. We stopped at Giolitti’s for gelato. By the time we got back to the apartment and to bed, it was after midnight. All in all, a very successful first day in Italy!

2012 Italy - Day 1 - To Rome

In 1996, Sharon and I spent two weeks in Italy for our honeymoon. Although there are lots and lots of places in the world that are on my list to visit, Sharon talked me into heading back to Italy for the next two plus weeks. Frankly, she did not have to twist my arm much. We are going to cover some of the some ground that we did 16 years ago with a mix of new spots.

Up early, we caught an 8:20 a.m. five hour flight from Sacramento to Philadelphia. With a short turn around between flights of about an hour and a half, we scrambled to get a bite to eat. Once we got on the plane and out on to the taxiway, the plane sat for almost an hour due to thunderstorms. We finished the day somewhere over the Atlantic at 40,000 feet and 600 mph.