Notes from Across the Pond: Italy with Jenny & Adam

Heath and I started our Italian holiday with a day in Rome to see the Vatican. After an hour in line in the sun we finally got in. The Vatican is amazing in its abundance. Unfortunately its not easy to navigate. We did get to admire the Sistine Chapel and the Raphael Rooms. My favorite collection was actually the modern art collection at the end. They had some religious subjects done by Van Gogh and Gauguin that I had never seen before. That afternoon we got on the train for Florence.

This one is for you Mom

We stayed in a really wonderful B&B overlooking San Lorenzo Church. Heath and I had two days before Jenny and Adam came. We spent them wondering around town and eating for the most part. We started by climbing to the top of the Duomo. I think its something like 600 very uneven stairs. The view from the top is worth it though. We managed to find the Marino Marini museum which was great. I highly recommend it if one is tired of Renaissance art. That evening we enjoyed a beer and the view from the other side of the Arno at Piazzale Michelangelo. It was Heath's favorite part about the city.

Heath at the Ponte Vecchio

From the Duomo

We thought this was clever

We decided to treat ourselves to a cooking class on Sunday. We were taken to a villa in the hills overlooking Florence and we learned how to make pasta and ravioli. It's amazing the difference between dried and fresh egg pasta. We kneaded our dough and rolled it out until you can read a newspaper through it. We made beet green filled ravioli and pesto pasta. Years ago I bought a pasta machine and although my raviolis were good they weren't great. Not really worth the time and trouble to make them. Now I know what we did wrong and I can't wait to make them when we're home for Christmas.

Jenny and Adam attended a wedding in Arezzo. They met us in Florence the next day. After our lunch at Mario's we headed up to Fiesole to hike to Settignano. I had to contend with both Heath and Adam skepticism over whether I was leading them on the right trail. In fact the trail has been freshly marked from last year and we had no problems making it. Unfortunately the restaurant we'd hoped to go for dinner was closed on Mondays.

Our last day in Florence was spent at the museums. We went to the Academia to admire David and to the Uffizi to admire Venus. That evening near the Ponte Vecchio we saw what we'd been hoping for: Rodents of unusual size. Nutria are large aquatic rodents from South America. Apparently they are farmed all over Europe for cheap fur and meat. They're not extremely profitable so many farms closed and just let them loose. At the time we did not know this but we were excited to get a good look at the fabled giant Arno river rat!

Our next stop was Sorrento with a stop off for pizza in Naples. Naples is the opposite of Florence. We went to a famous pizza joint. The pizza was great but the service was awful. Adam was being indecisive so our waiter just left. Luckily for Adam, Jenny yelled an order after the waiter otherwise Adam would not have got anything. Naples train station is an experience in itself. Leave at least an hour before your train leaves to buy your tickets.

Jenny booked us a lovely B&B/ Cooking School in Sorrento. The next day we headed to Pompeii. I never realized how giant Pompeii is. I always pictured a village but it was in fact a city. That afternoon we took a bus to Positano. Positano is beautiful, climbing its way up the cliffs from the sea.

Pompeii

Positano

The next morning we treated ourselves to a boat tour of Capri. The town of Capri looks like all other affluent tourist towns. The same designer stores fill the streets. The island though is amazing. Our boat circled the island and our guide, Capitano Ago, took us swimming in the various sea caves. We went to the White Grotto, the Blue Grotto and a couple smaller caves near them. The Blue Grotto was amazing. Because the walls of the cave don't come all the way down to the floor you get light pouring in from underneath. Looking back to the entrance from the far wall the whole grotto lights up like a swimming pool. This was Heath's favorite part of the whole trip. He spent the afternoon fantasizing about owning a boat.

The White Grotto

The last stop on our Italian tour was Sicily. We stayed on the east coast in a little town called Letojanni outside Taormina. Letojanni is where Italians come to vacation. It is not fancy but it has nice beaches and a couple good cafes. We stayed in a compact three story red house overlooking the beach. We spent the evenings on our patio drinking wine and playing hearts. Very dorky but relaxing. Taormina is a beautiful town up on the hill. You can take a gondola up to town from the beach. The beach below Taormina is called Isola Bella because of a small island connected to the bay. We went snorkeling one day. The Isola Bella is so full of life that you see more fish snorkeling that we saw diving in France. Most days were spent reading at the beach and eating granite. Granite is possibly better than gelato. In Sicily it is so hot that instead of a cappuccino in the morning people have coffee granite with brioche. Granite is like a very well blended smoothie. Its made from fresh fruits, coffee or chocolate and the flavors are superior to normal ice cream. Granite was possibly the highlight of Sicily.

Taormina

One of our last days we went to Mt. Etna and hiked around the black desolate landscape pretending to be in Mordor. We also went to the Alcantara Gorges. Water from the snow on Etna comes down these volcanic gorges.