day 8- roma

we will remember today for many reasons, but it will go down in the history of our honeymoon as the day the sun finally came out (for more than 20 minutes). booyah! all the better to appreciate rome.

breakfast this morning was on the hotel’s (enclosed—it was still raining) roof terrace- no strawberry jam but we made do with apricot. delightful cappuccino. our hotel in rome lacks the style of the hotel in capri or the graciousness of the hotel in positano, but its location is perfect- right near the piazza navona and the historic center of rome. we knew that much of our time in rome would be spent out and about, so our accommodations were less important. that said, the hotel is just fine and we were able to walk to all of the sights we wanted to see today (although by the end of dinner i was tired and made mark take a cab with me back to the hotel. i am lazy. this we know.).

our day in rome began with a walk along the tiber, past the palace of justice and across the ponte san angelo. along the way we passed the castel san angelo (castle of st. angelo), a former fortress, palace, and prison that bears more than a passing resemblance to a chocolate cake. we walked to st. peter’s basilica, waited in the huge line to get in (and today wasn’t even a pope day), through the security checkpoint that they didn’t have 7 years ago when we were here, and into the church. which is big. and made of marble. and impressive in 8 different ways and you should come and see it for yourself someday. saw michelangeo’s pieta, bernini’s baldacchino (high altarpiece, which looks like a chuppah). saw some nuns (i love nuns. they’re so cute!). armed with my blue guide of rome, i tried to bust out some of my art history knowledge for mark, but got a little confused with my berninis and bramantes and borominis and bruneleschis. no matter.

walked around the corner to the vatican museum. huge, epic line. a woman approached us, told us about a group tour in english that was starting soon that would skip the line, etc. after a brief conversation (is it a scam?), we decided to check it out. we were glad we did because not only wasn’t it a scam, it turned out to be a really fabulous tour of both the museum and st. peter’s. with chris, our art history-theology phd student from new zealand. he showed us a whole bunch of everything—we were with him for about 4 hours. all of my teacher’s pet inklings kicked into high gear, and we were each able to answer some of chris’s questions that he posed to the group. (what’s that behind god in the creation of man on the sistine chapel ceiling? a brain! what did pope gregory create that we still use today? the gregorian calendar! who is that pointing to the sky in raphael’s school of athens? why, socrates, of course.) there is no joy like the joy of being a nerd.

at one point, the guide asked if there was anyone “of jewish descent” in the group. um, yes, hello, shalom, here we are. talked about some jewish iconography that was appropriated by the catholic church, and also about what the jews were up to during the renaissance (mainly lending money and getting kicked out of spain, from what i’ve heard).

anyhow, the whole museum is so amazing and the sistine chapel is really not to be believed. it is also packed, stuffed to the gills with tourists and tour group leaders holding up their umbrellas and cranky italian guards shushing everyone. i would love to see it empty, and get to lay down on the floor. not today, alas. but that’s okay. my favorite figure is the libyian sibyl (gotta love those michelangelo backs—all the ladies look like they’ve been spending a lot of time at the gym). mark liked the last judgement best, and also liked looking at the creation of man and saying “pull my finger.” because he is classy that way.

anohter quick zip around st. peter’s, then, famished, we found pizza and our favorite gelato after the tour ended. walked back to the hotel, then to the pantheon.

the pantheon, by mark:

“it’s right in the middle of town. you just walk right down one of the many alleys of shops, and turn the corner, and there it is. it’s been there since 120 ad. it’s massive and old and amazing looking, with lots of holes on the top. i really like the color and the massiveness of it. lots of important italians are buried there: rafael, galileo, dante. it’s got a hole in the top for bird poo and rain to come in. it was the biggest dome in the world until 1960, and it feels that way. it’s surrounded by lots of buildings—there are apartments and stuff all around it. some people, they open their window and they’re like, ‘i wish my apartment had a good view but this big old building is in my way.’ but it’s not so bad. since 120 ad, birds have been pooping on top of it.”

after the pantheon, the trevi fountain, with a quick shopping stop along the way (yellow shoes!!!). then, dinner at a small place recommended by our driver from positano. pasta, artichokes, fagoli (white beans). lovely. a blissful cab ride later and we are back in our room. i’m hoping for a foot rub. we’ll see…

day 6- positano-sorrento-pompeii

today’s big adventure was pompeii. after another delightful breakfast (mark got the view of positano this time, but i got the view of mark) among loud american children eating cinnamon toast, we set out on our pompeiian adventure. originally we thought we might hire a driver to take us to pompeii. when we found out that that would cost 200 euros, and that there was a bus and a train that cost roughly one 100th of that amount, we opted for the transportation adventure.

so. bus to sorrento, along a road much like california’s highway 1 (ocean, mountains, twists, turns) with one notable exception: today’s road was wide enough to be a one-lane road, but has traffic going in both directions. ciao, italia! many tour buses were coming down the hill to positano as we were leaving, and a flurry of horn honking and maneuvering ensued. this is to say nothing of the fiats and the alfas and the mopeds, mopeds, mopeds zooming along. plus the stands on the side of the road selling lemons and clusters of san marzano tomatoes. at one point, we got sort of wedged between the mountain and another bus, with only inches to spare on each side. delightful. but we made it to sorrento without incident. hopped on the circumvesuviana train to pompeii. i had a wee moment of impressing mark when i asked the train ticket seller man for due bigletti per pompeii scavi (two tickets to the pompeii excavations). or else maybe i asked him for a roast goat. who knows, really, but we got our tickets and got on the train and did a crossword puzzle in stupid usa today which is really almost as bad as the oakland tribune but at least it has a crossword puzzle.

pompeii, by mark

“i liked the wine bar. i also liked the public baths. i liked that there was an area to work out first so you could get a little sore, and then you could go in to the sauna and have a massage. there was a room that had central heating- there were double walls with space in between, and they would boil water outside and send it through the wall to centrally heat the room and the floor. very modern. they had a public forum with shops and money changing shops. the roads had special rocks to step on when it would rain, like a built in bridge. the wine bar was cool. there was a bar with vats for different kinds of wines. some wines would be heated during the winter and poured into terra cotta bowls, which held the heat well. all they drank was wine. lots of wine. the women, they were the smart ones. when they saw the rich men they would offer their prostitution services. i saw a cool bird that was yellow and striped on its flanks, like a sparrow. it was sparrow shaped but sounded like a hummingbird. i think it was actually a warbler, but i don’t know. we saw a private home of a wealthy person, which was like a fortress.”

a side note. it has been raining pretty much nonstop since we arrived. but for our time at pompeii (with a guide we had preearanged) was sunny. it started to rain just as we were leaving to go back to sorrento. by the time we got back to positano, it had cleared up.

we love positano. it is our favorite place so far on this trip. our hotel is amazing, the town is sweet and fun, and there is the amazing cannoli shop (an impromptu song today featured the rhyme “cannoli” with “roly-poly,” which is how we’re getting here. no matter.) we would love to come back to positano someday when it is not the rainy season. maybe early may.

then, our daily profiterole/cannoli party, followed by a bath in the jaccuzi tub. went to a restaurant on the beach for dinner; sat outside under gas heat lamps. pizza, belinnis, salad, white wine. perfetto. there were two or three stray cats wandering around (one black one and one tabby tortoishell… remind you of anyone?). we fed them ham and anchovies and cheese and then they were our best friends. i was tempted by the profiteroles at dessert, but cooler heads prevailed.

we are back in the room, determined to watch the movie that we borrowed from the hotel two days ago (stranger than fiction), so we’re off.

tomorrow: roma!

day 5-positano

when i was in high school, i worked on the musical grand hotel, in which there is a song (not a very good or catchy song) about positano. it has been in my head all day.

in mark’s head: a whole new world from aladdin, which we were treated to in both english and italian this evening. bellisima!

this morning: slept in, ate breakfast in a room covered in lemon trees. no couches this time, but with the most lovely view of positano (from my seat, that is. mark had a view of me, which the smooth italian waiter was quick to suggest was also lovely). the glorious meat parade continues. the table of americans next to us spent much of their breakfasttime trying to decipher what the fruit was that looks like a sungold cherry tomato but tastes like a kumquat was. (a gooseberry, you fools! were you raised in a barn?). i resisted the urge to be a know-it-all.

after breakfast, we decided to go on a hike. all that room service pasta is catching up to us. plus, we wanted to see a view. at the last minute, i ran back for my raincoat. just in case… (foreshadowing!)

here is the thing about positano: there are many stairs. our hike was less of a hike as it was a stairmaster session—1600 stairs, the concierge said. give or take. as we walked out of the hotel, it began to drizzle. undaunted, we pressed on. around stair 500, it began to downpour. i composed an ode to my raincoat:

my raincoat is my friend
my raincoat keeps me dry
my raincoat is my friend
without it i would cry

mark had no raincoat. he almost cried. his magic hat kept his head dry, though.

we finally reached the town above positano, which has a name we can’t remember (montaverde? montepulciano? maine? something with an m). hiked down a different set of stairs, slowly. we discussed the dodgers’ prospects for the upcoming season. mark is worried that so many players are injured, but excited to see some rookies and young players in action. i can’t get over the fact that the coaches in baseball (“managers, say managers,” mark says) wear the same uniforms as the players. because what? they are all of a sudden going to pinch hit? can you imagine if coaches did this in other sports? ice hockey? water polo? fencing?

we arrived back in positano, drenched, and decided to reward ourselves with a hot bath and a pile of dessert—cream puffs and cannoli. also sandwiches. mark chose one called “panini big.” which it was.

we made our way down to the hotel spa for massages. delightful. bliss. borrowed a backgammon set to bring to the room. lazed about. cocktails in the hotel bar (i finally got my belinni!) and off to dinner, back up in the town that starts with an m, but in a car this time.

dinner: fried yummies, prosecco, ricotta, mozarella, meats! homemade pasta, meat. mark finally got to have tagliatelle con porcini. they brought us scary liquers for dessert. it was maybe the best meal yet. family place. reasonably priced (finally!). great house wine.

now, back the room. tomorrow, pompeii, sorrento, proscuitto.

day 4- capri to positano

what i love about this trip, by rebs:

clear skies (finally), the drive from sorrento to positano, tomato and mozarella salad for lunch and again for dinner, room service on silver trays in our big bed, watching best in show. sweets that feature cream and/or cheese (we found cannoli today!). our new hotel, with its orange blossomed terraces and big bathtub. the prospect of hiking, getting a massage, and drinking a belinni tomorrow. linen sheets. poorly translated things. and, of course, mark.

what i love about this trip, by mark:

all of it.

happy to report that the ferry from capri was much less eventful than the inbound trip. i feel like we’ve settled into the fun of this vacation today, realizing that we really do get to choose what we want to do without obligation of things we have to do. what we wanted to do today in positano involved taking a walk down to the beach, shooting bb guns at glass soda bottles, patting a beagle. having gelato, watching the waves. lovely.

day 3- capri

on tv in our hotel room today:

-high school musical (in Italian- high school musical 2 is on tomorrow!)
-the pope’s easter blessing from the vatican (in italian, with radiohead-like voiceover)
-european diving championships (in german)
-al jazeera (arabic)
-mary poppins (in italian)
-various bad american movies featuring dennis quaid, all dubbed

the reason we know all of this is because it was cold and damp and windy here today, so we spent some good chunks of it hunkered down in our room. fortunately our room is stocked with champagne and italian chocolates, robes and slippers, the aforementioned couch with 14 pillows, and, of course, wireless internet.

we got out in the world too, in the town of anacapri where we are staying. before we get to that, let us pause and rhapsodize about the breakfast buffet.

so many meats, so little time… homemade sausage and salami, proscuitto cut to order, sausage, bacon, ham. mark’s favorite was the extra fatty, mushy, stinky salami, of course. there is really no hope of us ever keeping kosher, ever. not with such things to eat in the world.

also for breakfast, blood orange juice and grapefruit juice, also “green apple juice” which we didn’t try but will tomorrow. smoked salmon and tuna, eggs for the obnoxious americans (but not as obnoxious as the brits who came to breakfast in their pajamas. a step up from them, we were hopelessly underdressed compared to our italian counterparts, with their full makeup at 10am and tight jeans tucked into boots and men in suits. more on italian jet-setter fashion this evening). breads and pastries and homemade jam. cocoa puffs, tastefully presented in a silver dish. and the ricotta, and the fruits…

breakfast is in the room that is the hotel’s fancy restaurant at night. mark ate sitting on a couch, i was in an armchair. more amazing flower arrangements. a second helping of proscuitto.

we are staying in anacapri, the uppermost town on the island. capri, as i understand it, is essentially 3-tiered. there is the level closest to the sea, where the ferries arrive, the center of capri town (“la piazetta”) about halfway up, and then anacapri at the top. to get to anacapri there is one road. if you don’t mind one lane for two directions of traffic, blind corners, and sheer drops to the ocean below and only some dinky little fence to protect you, then the road to anacapri isn’t harrowing at all. our hotel is right near the main square of anacapri, where the buses and taxis pick up and drop off. cobblestone streets, little alleys, views of the mountains-- it’s a little like tzfat, except with churches instead of synagogues and with different requisite tourist items for sale (instead of kipot, challah covers, and bad art, you can buy limoncello, sandals, coral jewelry—and bad art). found a fabulous painted tile sign which says, in italian, “beware of the cats.” yes, we are those cat people, who buy souvenirs because we miss our pets. so embarrassing.

we wandered around town in the morning, pausing to look for some elusive birds. visited the home of axel munthe—a swedish doctor/writer/animal lover who lived in capri and whose home is now a museum. visited a few churches. had a late lunch (pizza ai funghi), then back to the hotel for a nap and read aloud (mr. topsy-turvy and little miss bad, purchased in london).

dinner was in capri. because of the aforementioned harrowing road, i convinced mark to shell out an extra 10 euro (the exchange rate is killing us) for a taxi. the taxis here are fiat mareas- white convertibles only found on capri. ours had the top up, due to the weather. “it’s always like this in the spring,” the driver told us. “but in the summer, it’s too hot- maybe 40 degrees celsius.” When the good weather is, we don’t know.

the center of capri, build around the main square (“la piazetta”) is topsy turvy in its own way. here, mark explains:

“it’s like rodeo drive but in italy. pish posh and silly. movie stars go there have the comforts of fancy stores at home but think they’re cool because they’re in italy. really they’re just strolling around another rodeo drive. it’s a great place to get a leather jacket for your 5 year old or poufy fur your coats. make sure to walk with your collar turned up and bring a sweater to throw over your back to look preppy, italian-style. clearly they have not seen molly ringwald movies yet, but we know how it’s going to end. the geek’s going to get the girl, and the italian bully with the sweater around his neck is going to be sad and dissatisfied with his shallow italian bird of a wife. and stay away from the red house wine at ristorante da gemma.”

I will add that I saw a pair of gold lamé shorts that were just fabulous. So versatile, really.

after doing a little window shopping (prada, versace, armani), and checking out one of the hotels we didn’t choose to stay at (we were very pleased with our choice), we had dinner in a local restaurant. on the plus side, there was something on the menu called “fried medley of fabulous goodness” (or something like that) which featured cheese fried many ways, yummy bread (stuffed with meat! vivia italia!), and lovely company. on the minus side, there was bad wine, bad service, too cold, sort of empty, touristy. we braved the bus back to anacapri, had a drink by the fireplace in the hotel bar, and are now settled in for the night.

tomorrow we hope to go to positano (via sorrento, on the ferry), but we are not sure what time the ferry will leave because, as the front desk man informed us, “the sea is rough” (hello, dramamine). fortunately the ferry ride is only 20 minutes, instead of the 45 from naples, and also fortunately once we get to positano, the nautical portion of our trip will be over. land, ho.

the part where we take a boat

day 2- naples to capri

today started out at our hotel in naples, where we met the house dog (mark fed it proscuitto- don’t tell!) and had breakfast in the breakfast room with silver lamé napkins. there were some fabulous breakfast discoveries- mark did a taste test with three types of homemade jam (i predicted they were plum, marmalade, and apricot), and pronounced them all sweet but unidentifiable. i had aloe vera flavored yogurt from a tiny glass jar. quite tasty. we approve of any country that advocates eating so many dried meats for breakfast. the hotel folks said we could leave our bags in the room for the day. one more piece of bacon for the dog, and we were off.

a word about naples. naples is fabulous. anyone who says naples is dangerous and dirty and you shouldn’t go there but if you do wear fake jewelry is just a rabble-rouser. down with fear! naples is great. we went to the archeological museum, around the corner from our hotel. sculptures, mosaics. greek stuff, roman stuff, mostly stuff from pompeii and herculaneaum. many mosaics of birds, which our ornithologist easily identified.

then, a walk through town on a pedestrian street that would have been a pedestrian street except for the cars driving on it. naples is like that. we passed stores selling musical instruments and doll parts, but couldn’t find a curious sounding store listed in our guidebook that specializes in “old books, gay literature, cats, and magic” (such delightful incongruity!). paused for a snack: babalini: small, rum-soaked fried yummies (doughnuts essentially) covered in cream and nutella. watched the other patrons buy their easter cakes, including a bread with hard-boiled eggs baked into it—i’m sure this has a name, but i don’t know what it is yet.

passed piazze and pigeons (our ornithologist can and will tell you all about pigeons) on the way to pizzeria da michele, made famous to us by elizabeth gilbert in eat, pray, love. stood outside with a throng of people and finally made it inside to share a table with an italian couple. We sat across from them. It was slightly odd. We ordered pizza margarita with double cheese, and coke from glass bottles (no high fructose corn syrup here, no siree). i composed a little song to sing to my pizza, i appreciated it so. fought with an atm machine (we prevailed, after 3 rounds), back to the hotel, checked out, another taxi to the harbor.

here our story gets a little complicated, since we were let off by the taxi man at the wrong bigletteria (ticket office). there was yelling, there was schlepping, there were hand gestures, there was a long angry walk to the correct ferry terminal. we were so determined to get on the boat that we sort of forgot that we were getting on a boat.

the part where mark has the slightest tendency to become immediately and unbelievably seasick.

the part where it was raining and the waves were choppy.

the part where our italian co-riders let out collective screams as the boat bumped along.

mark, prepared with dramamine, managed to keep his pizza down. the woman across the aisle—not so much.

i knew it was bad when one of the crew members started passing out bags to vomit into. i took one, only as an (empty) souvenir.

now we are in anacapri, high at the top of the island. our hotel is a place that maybe p. diddy would stay, if he came to capri. there is a sitting area in one corner of our room; a couch with 14 pillows. Happiness is a couch with 14 pillows. when we arrived they gave us glasses of prosecco and a plate of tiny snacks. the flower arrangements here are maybe the most amazing ive ever seen.

a good dinner of pasta, grilled fish, insalata caprese, wine. and now—wireless internet, and a slew of articles about the dodgers- our ornithologist is happy. our narrator is tired. a domani…

(i saw yellow vespas for rent…)

italian holiday

instead of getting rained on and going to work in berkeley, we are drinking prosecco and getting rained on in italy. below, an update from day one:

21. march 08
napoli

purim. shabbat. heads spinninig from planes and a bottle of house wine. and from naples.

today started yesterday in san francisco. we boarded our huge 747 and sat in our comfy seats—i was asleep before takeoff—mark watched “no country for old men” and tried his luck at “who wants to be a millionaire,” british-style. “it was so hard,” he says. “stupid british.”—we did well on the american questions though. the plane was smooth- unbelievably smooth for 900,000 pounds of steel and luggage and travelers. transferred from heathrow to gatwick on the coach, stopping to buy mr. men books and top trumps. had lunch in an airport café- bangers and mash and peas (we tried to get mushy peas as an homage to loz but had no luck). mark discovered a new flavor (flavour?) potato chips (crisps?) and is now having a love affair with them. they are mc coy’s “flame grilled steak” flavored. the flight attendants said “cheerio” when we left the plane. indeed.

now we are in naples. we’re in our yellow hotel room after a fabulous dinner. the young neopolitans of the world are making noise outside our window, but no matter. we’re thrilled to be in a bed. plush purple slippers in the bathroom but i’m too tired to get up off the bed. dinner was at a local osteria, “carina” – fried ricotta balls and champagne for free surprise starters, creamy procsuitto de parma, pasta with seafood (fusilli with baby clams, fat tubes with mussels and pecorino—mark wanted to marry this dish), simple grilled fish. there was half a hard-boiled egg in the bread basket—because of easter? house wine with no label—a waiter who met us halfway with language. about 6 tables in the place.

naples is fabulous. all this talk of dirt and crime and purse-snatchers on mopeds is no reason to stay away. i held onto my purse and we walked around like everyone else doing their business at 11:30 on a friday night. now we are in our hotel room drinking limoncello. i don’t like the taste, but i like the idea of it.

our cab driver from the airport spoke french and drove like a madman. passing cars one after another on an onramp. a one-lane onramp. there are no lane markers painted on the streets here; we drove in the tram lane, and on the wrong side of the street. what fun.

i have fabulous new travel shoes but my feet are throbbing nonetheless. no matter. tomorrow will be pizzeria da michele and the archaeological museum and the gelato that we looked for in vain tonight. i’m hoping to stumble upon some pastries with cream. canolli, maybe? then off to capri but for the moment it’s lovely, simply lovely, to be in one place.