Venice

The great thing about taking a train vs. the plane is that you meet the greatest people. Unlike a plane where you dutifully sit in your assigned seat in your designated section and hardly look around, on the train you sit across from people who may not speak the same language or who grew up in your home town. That's how small the world really is!

We were fortunate to spend the 4.5 hour trip from Naples to Venice with a great couple on their 15th wedding anniversary trip from Brazil! They not only spoke Italian but fluent English as well. Once we became acquainted we learned he was a cardiac surgeon and they were both on their second marriage.

The time went quickly and by the time we arrived in Venice we had befriended at least four other riders, most of whom were on an anniversary trip.

Upon our arrival in Venice, we thought for sure we would have to catch a taxi to get to the canals but Noooo! We were right in Venice and it was our good fortune to find a friendly local who guided us to the correct water taxi. From there, we determined the closest stop to our hotel.

I bought a 48 hour water taxi pass and, with a wave of the card in front of each stop, we were able to jump on and off a taxi after a wonderful ride through the canals.

Venice is a city like no other. Big enough not to be able to fathom it all in a weekend but small enough to understand the layout after a little map studying.

Our hotel, the “Locanda Sturion” (Sturgeon Accommodations) was right on the canal and our room overlooked the grand canal. It was 69 steps up three flights to get to the front desk, but by this time, we were in pretty good shape. Despite being a little winded having to carry our bags up the stairs, we were rewarded with the most spectacular views: not only of the canal but of the famous Rialto bridge just a hop, skip and a splash away from the hotel.

All along the waterway were cute restaurants with names like “Ristorante Flagella” and “Comida Turistica” - very quaint, very expensive.

After determining that your basic 40 minute gondola ride was about the same as the closing costs on a refinance, we opted to ride the water taxi for the entire route. We were not disappointed.

It wasn't planned but we caught the 'taxi' to Lido just as the sun was setting and I snapped some decent photos of the cityscape as a cloudburst approached.

A walk through the narrow streets of Venice rewarded us with..more pizzarias and gelato outlets. However, neatly interspersed were some interesting shops brimming with cheesy tourist crap and the ever-present Murano glass, much of it was actually spectacular but exorbitant.

One of five 15 minute treks to St.Mark's square gleaned one of the most memorable parts of our trip. We decided we were finally in good enough shape to tackle the 600' high camponile to view the city from its highest point.

After paying our eight Euro's we got to the front and...entered the elevator for a 30 second ride to the top. Our supreme effort paid off as we exited to a 360 degree view of Venice and outlying islands.

What really surprised me was that, from five stories up, you cannot see one canal. A combination of an eight foot wide canal with a four story building resulted in the appearance of a 'solid' city without water breaks.

The magic of the moment was shattered by the piercing cries of school children. We were about to call it a minute when, like manna from heaven, the biggest, baddest bell started to toll. And it didn't just strike 12, it ran a freakin' 100 times. We were stunned (to say the least!) by the bell pealing at 80 decibels. Not only will we forever remember the overwhelming clanging but it served to quiet the school children until they descended the elevator to return to their classroom.

Venice is a town of contrasts. We had left the last week of our journey to the fates. We were seriously considering Venice on our itinerary but weren't sure we could fit it in. What surprised us was, with the train, nothing in Italy is more than a six hour trip from anywhere else (at least in1st class -direct).

No one didn't have an opinior about Venice. We opted to jump in the fray to judge for ourselves and I, for one, am glad we went. While I don't regret not taking a gondola ride, I feel that having gone there was one of the most important parts of our trip. It's like no other city and, despite its shortcomings, I would not have missed it for the world. I would definitely return if only to buy and prepare some of the freshest fruits, vegetables, and seafood one could ever find. Besides, our initial plans did not include a trip to the Adriatic Sea. That in itself was worth the price of admission.

Florence (Firenze)

The following events took place after we left Rapallo and the Cinque Terre and before we headed south to Sorrento.

I have been glad I was able to take lots of pictures of this trip and upload them from the camera to the computer and then to picasaweb. That way, should I lose the camera, I'd still have the computer and if I lost that, I'd still have the pictures online for re-downloading (is that a word?)

For the sheer volume of historic artwork, you can't beat 'Firenze' – unless you're in Rome. As home of DaVinci, Galileo, Michaelangelo, the Medicis, there is practically no end to the architecture, sculptures, paintings and churches and museums to house it all.

Despite our best laid plans, we didn't get to see everything we wanted. That isn't to say we didn't see volumes! First was a tour through the Uffizi Gallery where Botticelli's “Birth of Venus” awaited. Since we had the foresight to purchase tickets for both the Uffizi and the Accademia (where the “David” statue is housed), we didn't have to wait in the horrendously long lines outside. We had an awesome tour guide who admonished us not to try and see everything in our visit. Rather, he suggested we think of the plethora of sights as a menu.

“Choose a few items from that menu and savor them. You'll get a lot more from your visit than if you try to sample every item.” He was right. In the Uffizi, we didn't bother with most of the art. We stayed focused on important objects and paintings that told us something important about the time they were created. We looked in depth at perhaps 15 objects d'art and got a sense of how everything fit in to a timeframe. We also looked at seminal works that defined a new period or was revolutionary in some way.

It was funny how he kept shushing other gallery visitors and then paranthetically telling us "People act as if they're in the grocery store, not a museum."

We did visit a number of churches for their amazing frescos. I got a real sense of appreciation for how the church dominated daily life. I saw how religious scenes and subjects fueled the renaissance. As time went by, the works that spoke most to me were those by artists who started to break the mold. Michaelangelo and DaVinci pushed the limit and sometimes pissed off their benefactors (such as the Pope) by depicting scenes that pissed them off. (Like “Jesus is looking right at you” or “What's with the naked people?”)

The statue of David completely threw me. Of course I was expecting a huge marble depiction that was set off from everything else in its own gallery. What I wasn't expecting was the emotional reaction brought on by the facial expression (he really looks like he's planning on how exactly to kill Goliath) or the realism of the piece seen by Michaelangelo's attention to musculature, veins and arteries and other characteristics that made it plain he knew his anatomy.

In fact, it was a blasphemous work in some ways because it became clear he had to have dissected real bodies for him to have understood the underlying human musculature to such a degree. Apparently, a doctor friend in a local hospital invited him to view corpses late at night so he could understand better how the body was put together. If the church authorities had found out about this, he might have lost his artistic license.

We stayed at a hotel half a block from the Ponetvecchio (literally “Old Bridge”). Like a lot of other structures in the area, the building we were constructed in the 15th century and decorated about the same time. The one saving grace was that we had access to a rooftop garden where we could enjoy a vista of the entire city.

There, one evening after walking four or five miles around town, we brought our dinner plus some wine and cheese upstairs and met a terrific couple, Craig and Sonnika from Pretoria, South Africa.

Craig is a cardio-vascular technician in private practice and has a two hectare parcel on which they built a house for something ridiculous like 100,000 Rand. A rand is worth about a US dime, so the whole kit and kaboodle cost them about $10,000 in US dollars.

He spoke so lovingly about his country and the area he lives he enticed me to look into living there. They have a live-in whom they pay the equivalent of $140 month to act as a nannie and cook. They do, however, cover her room, board and medical but, compared to what it would cost in the US for the same services, it seems like a total deal if not slavery.

Only problem for them is Jacob Zuma of the Africal National Congress was just elected. They seem to feel their lifestyle may be in jeopardy if he has his way with the country. So, while buying property and hiring help at a mega-affordable price seems compelling, I'm not sure it's worth possibly ending up getting boiled in a big black kettle.

At any rate, they were lovely people and they invited us to join them the next day on a tour of Tuscany that was to include Sienna, lunch at an organic winery, a visit to San Gimignano and Pisa. We took them up on it and were not disappointed. It was especially nice not to have to walk since they are 60 miles apart from each other.

Pompeii

Pompeii

Apologies to anyone who reads this and thinks there's another way to spell Pompeii. I learned there are several but it depends on whether you're American, Italian or dead (like a Pompeiian).

As we were boarding the dreaded Circumvesuviana train, we met a couple from Sydney Australia, engaged in a conversation that lasted all the way to the front gate and started off to discover the ruins together. Almost immediately we were separated but had traded cell phone numbers so got back in touch within a couple of hours. We rented English headsets so we could enjoy a self-guided tour and were amazed by the incredible civilization that included everything from food kitchens with multiple pots for service 'on-the-go” meals to brothers complete with paintings suggesting various sexual positions one might try.

Most of the really valuable mosaics and valuable artifacts had been long-ago removed to the National museum in Naples and I swear if I ever get to that part of the world again I swear I'll go there.

It was rather warm that day but practically every day we'd been out it had either rained or threatened so we were sure to bring rain gear. As it turned out, it only sprinkled for a brief period before we were once again relegated to short sleeves. It stayed that way the rest of our time there.

For us, the most amazing things about Pompeii were the fact that you could glean so much about what life was like there from what little still remains.

Rutted roads with crosswalks between where the cartwheels went, fast food outlets, stables for horses with hay lofts, beautiful homes with courtyards that featured fountains and gardens, bath houses with hot and cold running water, indoor plumbing and toilets – all these features were functioning in this city of 20,000 over 2300 years ago.

There was also evidence of graffiti that noted such inflammations as the fact that Nero's mother was a mortal (such blasphemy!)

The experience was definitely one of the high points of our trip and, tiring as it was, the experience will always stick with me of being in the middle of a coliseum where battles occurred between gladiators and wild animals.

The entire site is over 60 acres and only 60 percent of it has been excavated. After its discovery in the late 1700's excavation began and has been ongoing since that time. It is pretty obvious where future excavations will occur and who knows what new discoveries will be uncovered.

Despite it being fairly early in the year, there were still quite a few people there. Until we got off the 'main drag', the streets of Pompeii were still crowded, mostly with Italian tourists.

Perhaps next time, we'll have a chance to visit Herculaneum, the other city buried during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

Speaking of the crowds, I recall Margi having told me of how many fewer people there were in the cities we visited when she was here with her mother in 1980. II shudder to think what the crowds must be like in the summer. In addition, the heat, at least from Rome south must be withering. Not a combination I'd like to try!

Capri

Here's a place I'd always thought I'd never see. Pronounced CA-pri (file under "everything you know is wrong"), it's only a 15 minute ferry ride from the mainland.

With an allotted three hour time window, we opted to visit the town of Capri and skip Annacapri, the more sedate of the two towns. Next visit perhaps.

Upon arrival, we opted for the 10 minute funicular ride to town rather than a long steep hike. The town square is apparantly the place to be seen. Instead of hiking through town past the Fendi and Prada stores, we chose a long, narrow cobblestone path. We were rewarded with scenes of local life: butcher and barber shops, markets with fresh produces, beauty salongs and family settings - courtyards, mothers walking their kids in strollers - and were finally rewarded with an over-the-rooftop view of the town and a long view out to sea.

While we did walk through town and were impressed with the utter charm of the place, the preponderance of high-end boutiques was a bit of a turn-off - a la "Life Styles of the Rich and Famous". Still, the weather (windy and warm) and the ambience was a winning combination.

As we headed back down the funicular to the ferry terminal, we mused how none of the locals would be caught dead in the type of clothes and accessories sold on the streets to tourists.

Just prior to arrival time for the ferry, I stole away to get some sunset shots of boats and the beach but returned to Margi at the docking station before the boat arrived.

We waited and waited...and waited.

This was a big ferry that was supposed to come and fetch us. As 7:00 PM came and went, we began to get nervous as there were really no other passengers around us. There was another ferry on the other side of the breakwater but we believed that was going to Naples and, as it turned out we were correct.

Finally, we asked some local fisherman nearby when the Sorrento ferry was scheduled to dock.

“No more!” they said. “All gone.” “No more tonight.”

What the f....?

Not having anything with us other than our wallets and windebreakers, we decided there was no way we were going to stay overnight in a $350 Euro hotel. Besides, with no makeup or toiletries Margi had her mind made up.

We raced to the other ferry and got in line. As we attempted to board, I tried to explain to one of the crew that we had Sorrento tickets but he ignored me. There, beside us, were two other couples who also had ferry tickets to Sorrento.

There was no way they were going to let us on board without Naples tickets. Since the ferry was about to leave, there was no time for us to run back to the ticket office at the other end of the breakwater.

From the flybridge the captain saw the commotion and I looked up, and pleaded for him to let us board. When I made the gesture with my hands that we would pay, he waved us aboard.

Not glad about heading an hour out of our way to Naples, nor about the prospect of having to take the local train back to Sorrento we decided it was still better than trying to find accommodations on the island.

Soon after we got under way, one of the crew approached us and commanded me to accompany him to the bridge. There, in the aircraft-like cockpit with three other officers, I met the captain. In very rapid Italian he began a rant on what-on-earth-I'll-never-know.

After he had his say, in broken Italian with a little Spanish thrown in, I explained as I showed him my Sorrento ticket that we had been stranded on the island, as were four other Americans when the Sorrento ferry failed to show. He would have none of it and insisted I pay 32 Euros to one of the crew members.

Not feeling I had much choice, other than swimming, I paid and returned to my seat. I assume the other couples also had to pay up.

Then, 10 minutes before we reached Naples, one of the crew came back to our seat, muttered something incomprehensible and nearly threw my money back at me. Apparently, my explanation about the ferry stranding us did the trick and, perhaps after checking with the ferry authority, learned the truth.

The six of us met on the dock and decided to check out whether a taxi or the train would be a better alternative to get back to Sorrento. We negotiated a 20 Euro per person ride and squeezed into what could have been our last ride ever.

To say the ride back was harrowing would spare you the gallons of adrenaline we excreted on road back. The driver, no doubt steeped in either racing in Le Mans or in destruction derby took us on an unforgettable ride, a lesson really, in how to negotiate through traffic when they just won't get out of the way. He was clearly on a schedule as we did the hour-long ride in 48 minutes and broke most of the known American driving laws. As he passed on curves, honked incessantly, tailgated and squeezed between two cars as oncoming cars drew near, Margi was freaking out in the back seat while I tried to steep myself in conversation in the front seat with a young gal who, strangely enough, came from Malibu.

Finally, after all the blood had drained from our faces, we arrived and swore off any kind of transportation for at least 48 hours. Time to drink!

Sorrento

Our arrival in Naples was accompanied by a lot of anxiety. Every book we read and everyone we talked to warned us about how dirty and scary we would find this city..

In truth, we were so nervous and kept looking over our shoulders, we were probably overprepared. The train station had plenty of polizia and we were so focused on finding our connection to Sorrento and the Amalfi coast, we were probably uber-concious of our surroundings. Within minutes, we learned about where to buy tickets and find our connecting train and were soon awaiting its arrival.

The trains run pretty much right on schedule all over Europe. Our “Circumvesuviana” train was there when scheduled and we and hundreds of other piled on and scrambled for the best seats. We were located in an “in-between” car for the first half of the hourlong trip but not because there were no seats. Instead we chose to stand because it gave us more control over our luggage.

Finally, around the Pompeii station, the crowd started to lighten and by the time we got to Sorrento, it was like paradise. Orange trees everywhere, clean streets, song sparrows and gulls whooping it up. The town is relatively small but we caught a taxi the four blocks to our hotel and were directed around a narrow corner to the entrance.

Nicest accommodations so far with brand new marble everything. The front desk people really had a smattering of English skills but it didn't matter.

Now for a short breather to ease our rattled nerves after a jolting hour-long train ride standing up and we're off to Capri.