Italy - The Walk

Music: Seaside by The Kooks & Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

And now, for the walk from the house to the street. Warning, the video is over 4 minutes long, and this is going down. Imagine UP! I limited myself to doing this walk three times a day. Let's just say, you didn't want to forget anything on your way out the door.

Italy - The House

Music: Sabrosa by The Beastie Boys

I'm stalling posting the final day of the vacation, so here's a tour of the house we stayed in. Basically, it was built into the mountain, so as you will see, even the shower looks like it's in a cave. It was very charming. And beside the gardeners who would walk by every day, we didn't see anyone around.

Italy - The Ride

As I mentioned earlier, when we were staying in Positano, we rented a scooter. It seriously was the way to go along the Amalfi Coast. Here's a little video of our journey.

Italy 2009 - Day 6

Marina Grande on Capri

Random church we walked by

On top of Mount Solaro

Another view from the top

Brian going down the chairlift

Waiting for boats to leave the Blue Grotto

So, where were we? Italy ... Have we really been home a week? I'm feeling very nostalgic this past week, I must say. Hopefully I'll snap back to reality soon. Anyhow, we left Positano, and caught the ferry jet to Capri (about a 40 minute ride). Once there, we took the funicular (I had no idea what that was) to Capri town, then a very winding bus ride along cliffs to Anacapri, where we would be staying the night -- Hotel Senaria (nice sized rooms with a private bath and terrace). It was close to Mount Solaro, so our first stop was to the chairlift to take us to the top of the mountain. The ride was about 12 minutes up, and the view was breathtaking. We would have loved to have hiked down, but since we were only going to be visiting Capri for the night and had more to see, we took the lift down too.

On the way back, we stopped at the Carthusia perfume store, per the recommendation of our friends The Frigs (again -- seriously, all their recommendations were great), and I picked up some Mediterraneo and Via Camerelle scents. A nice keepsake since we traveled really light, and didn't have room for anything too big.

Next, we raced back to our hotel, changed into swim suits, and took the bus to the Grotta Azzura (Blue Grotto). One way to get in, is to take a boat trip to the grotto, then load smaller boats to enter the grotto (you lay down in the boat to enter). Or, you can do what we did, and wait until the boats leave, then jump in and swim into the grotto for free. There were probably about 50 of us waiting for the boats to leave. And in fact, the front desk person at our hotel suggested this was the best way to see the grotto. It was stunning. I have no idea how long we spent, but we swam around it it a few times and didn't want to leave. You do have to be careful of the waves coming in the entrance hole, since they can push you up against the sides, which are quite sharp. But for the most part, it was no big deal.

That evening, we were walking to get dinner and stumbled upon a symphony. They would be performing a classical show later that evening, but were rehearsing a piece for another night -- it was just amazing. And the backdrop just made everything more perfect. It was a magical day.

Sprinklers

It has been so blazing hot out (not as hot as Italy though, no joke). And this is one of the boys favorite things to do. I think I remember it being one of mine too.

Lollapalooza

Brian was blessed with Lollapolooza tickets this year. He went last night, and will go tomorrow. But today, we all went. He had "premium" tickets (today only), so we had access into the Lollapolooza Lounge, which was a big time score -- free drinks, food and port-a-potties that were almost a real bathroom. Thank goodness. Maybe in 10 years H & C will look back and think it was cool, but they pretty much wanted to go home right away. I don't blame them -- it was hot, and crowded, and they really didn't know what was going on. They did well though. We saw Ralph's World at the Kidapolooza area, TV on the Radio, then came home. Honestly, I wasn't really looking forward to it, but it was a good time.

Italy 2009 - Day 5

The beach from above -- Positano.

Positano - yet another breathtaking view.

The Da Adolfo boat, coming for us.

An actual storefront display -- boom chicka wow-wow.

Delizie al Limone - a regional specialty. Usually served individually
and smaller, but this was part of the display in the store one day.
And I can imagine my parents saying "now, why in the world
would she go and post that picture" -- and I just couldn't resist.

To celebrate our last full day in Positano, we strolled the Via Positanesi d'America (a walkway along the sea) and decided to visit one of our favorite places again -- Da Adolfo. This time we got a beach chair, and indulged in another delicious lunch and lots of white wine with peaches. It was the lazy day we had been waiting for our entire vacation. After a full day at the beach, we headed back, and had a simple pizza dinner at a restaurant on the beach.

Margie's

We decided that tonight was the perfect evening for Margie's. It's been years. In fact, we haven't taken the boys since H was two, and C ... well C wasn't even eating ice cream. It was right up the street from the apartment we rented while rehabbing our house. We went there more than enough, but probably would have gone even more had it not been for the time that H ate an entire sundae and threw it up everywhere. Fortunately, that didn't happen this time. In fact, they loved it.

Italy 2009 - Day 5

Nocelle -- a tiny village overlooking Positano

The streets of Nocelle

Amazing lunch

The entrance to our beach

The stairway to the beach -- finally, the beach

Today, we rode our scooter to Nocelle -- a tiny village on top of the mountain overlooking Positano. By now, Brian's become quite amazing on the scooter, I must add. He handles the hairpin turns, small streets, large buses, and other traffic just like an Italian. Anyhow, unlike riding a scooter on the Amalfi Coast, Nocelle is very quiet and very sweet. There were stairs everywhere, so we didn't explore as much as we normally would have liked. (Have I mentioned how unbelievably hot Italy is?) We hopped back on the scooter and headed for Montepertuso, where we had an excellent lunch -- perhaps our favorite meal of the entire trip -- at Il Ritrovo. And let's just say, we didn't eat bad. Anywhere.

After our ride back down, we headed to the beach. As a man on a boat came around the corner, we suddenly saw a little head bobbing around in the water. I kid you not, it was the head of the cutest little Jack Russell terrier -- who was clearly, half fish. I mean, that dog swam forever, and even hung out in the water with the man as he clammed (yes, the man was clamming on the rocks around our beach). Anyhow, it was time to return our beloved scooter, so we had to leave. On the hike back to the house, as we were lugging groceries for dinner, a scooter drove by and honked. It was Pepe, who rented us the scooter -- with his entire family on his own scooter. Wife and two kids, to be exact. By the way, Pepe, is Giovanni, the house's caretaker's, cousin. I guess they have 50, but still, I love Italy.

That evening we spent a quit night at home. We picked up pasta, salad and meats to grill, had some nice wine, looked a photos of the kids on our iPods because we missed them, and were thankful that we didn't have to hike up the 300 stairs that evening after dinner.

Italy 2009 - Day 4

The beautiful -- but hectic -- town of Amalfi

Duomo di Amalfi in the piazza

Brian in the streets of Amalfi -- Road sign from our scooter

Il Furore -- the fjord

Down by the fjord

Dog on scooter

Small "town" in the mountain

View from dinner

We woke up bright and early so we could hit the beach before we got our day really rolling. The chickens were loud and cheerful -- I love the sound of chickens in the morning. After the beach, we got on our scooter and headed down the coast again. On our way to Ravello the day before, we drove through Amalfi. It was beautiful -- we had to go back today. Since we were a bit later, all the parking spaces were filled. We even got hit from behind by a grandfather and his little grandson on a scooter -- the highlight of the trip for Brian. He thought it was hilarious. Finally after driving around in circles for awhile, Brian dropped me off and parked the scooter about a mile away. We walked around a little bit, and while it's a gorgeous town, it was congested and full of tourist shops. We didn't spend much time there, but did have some delicious lemon ice with strawberries on top before we left.

On the way back, we stopped at Il Furore (the fjord) for lunch. It's basically a little fisherman's village with a couple houses, a beach and restaurant. We liked it here. After some grilled fish and salad, we headed to Positano. That evening, we went to Praiano to Tramonto d'Oro Ristorante . It was delicious, and oh my gosh -- the view! Breathtaking.

Italy 2009 - Day 3

Looking out from Ravello

Our ride -- Me enjoying a nice lunch in Ravello

On the third day, we decided to pick up a scooter for a few days. Brian's comfortable on two wheels, and I'm comfortable sitting behind Brian while he drives on two wheels. This may not be for everyone, but it really was the way to go. The streets along the Amalfi Coast and through the towns are narrow and winding. It was great zipping through them. And even on our scooters, we got stuck in jams a couple times. Those SITA buses are huge! Anyhow, once we got our scooter, we decided to just head down the coast, and ended up in the very cute town of Ravello. On the way back, we hit our beach for a bit, then hung out at the house. We discovered the garden we were told we could use behind our house -- it was overflowing with the most amazing tomatoes. We even picked some zucchini blossoms. Here's the thing about tomatoes. I never was much of a big fan. Even now, I have no problem passing up the pink-hued variety offered all over here. But you may now notice ... I ate caprese salad at least once a day. I couldn't get enough of them. Dinner was spent at Lo Guarracino.

Italy 2009 - Day 2

Brian and me on the boat to Da Adolfo

Positano from the water

Our house and beach from the water -- over 600 stairs from home to beach

Leaving Da Adolfo --the little one on the right

Walking the streets of Positano

After 14 hours of sleep (me, not Brian), we were ready for a new day. Our friends The Frigs had visited Positano a few years back, and gave us some great recommendations while we were there. One was this -- at the far end of the pier, one of the boats has a little fish sign on it advertising Da Adolfo. It takes you to a beach that is only accessible via boat, and a restaurant. We decided our first full non-travel day would be great spent doing this, and it was great. First off, the view from the water is amazing. It's about a 15 minute boat ride to the restaurant. We were starving, so headed directly to eat, where we sat next to a nice older British couple who recommended the white wine with peaches in it. Delicious. We had a fantastic lunch with octopus, caprese salad and grilled fish. Unfortunately, it was Sunday. And crowded. So we didn't get a beach chair. But we sat on a rock, had more wine, and were fine.

The boat picks you up between 10-1, and takes you back between 4-7. When we headed back, we picked up some groceries, then headed to the private beach our house has access to. It's a smaller, rocky beach, but was nice. The water is gorgeous. Especially after hiking up to the house to drop off groceries, then all the way down. Needless to say, on the way back up, we were very thankful for our outdoor shower and pool. Dinner was at La Cambusa -- sea bass carpaccio, carprese salad, pasta with garlic and clams, and baby squid. Lots of Americans there, which freaks me out a bit, but it was good. And the locals came around 10:30. We just eat too early. On the way back, we picked up dessert at La Zagara -- something we ended up doing every night.

And that was the day. Wonderful.

Dirty Feet

The boys and Storm came home today. Honestly, none of them rushed out of the car to greet me. I mean, they screamed "Mom" and gave me a hug. But no attached around the neck "I missed you so much" hellos. They had a great time in Wisconsin. And this is a good thing.

When they got home, they had fun playing with their stuff and in the back yard for awhile. When C came in, he disappeared in the bathroom. I found him like this -- washing his feet. We told him to take his business to the bath tub next time, but it was still pretty funny. It's nice to have my little boys home.

Italy 2009 - Day 1

Photo taken upon entering Positano

Brian & I just returned from an absolutely amazing vacation to Italy. I hadn't been to Italy since 1992, when my college roommate, Irma, and I backpacked for 7 weeks throughout Europe. And I had never got so far south as the Amalfi Coast, which was where Brian and I would be spending most of our time. I cannot lie -- it's quite the journey getting there. We flew to Washington D.C., then to Rome, caught the Leonardo Express from the airport to Roma Termini station, than the Treni Eurostar Italia (ES -- fast train) to Naples. Once in Naples, we had arranged for a car to pick us up -- one of the best decisions since we were doing the trip non-stop (The other option is to take another train to Sorrento, than the SITA bus to Positano -- or a ferry from Naples to Positano, but they don't run as often as other ferries). The driver dropped us off at a bus station in Positano, where the caretaker of the house picked us up.

We rented our house through a company called Summer in Italy, and we couldn't have been happier. They rent by the week -- we stayed 6 nights since we wanted to see a few other places. We stayed in an incredibly charming house called Villino Supremo. It was over 300 stairs from the street to the house (and it was hot out ...), so the walk could be quite grueling. Fortunately, there was a little wading pool and outdoor shower, so we would just jump in there after reaching the top. One of the most amusing things to us was watching our luggage get delivered to the house when we first arrived. The caretaker, used a pulley system located high (really high ...) above a ravine to transport the luggage. But we were very thankful for this device.

Needless to say, we were tired. We walked into town and picked up some simple foods to prepare dinner, and called it a night.

The region is known for lemons. We were told to cut them and add sugar,
so had to try for ourselves. Add a little white wine to the mix -- very refreshing.

Cats roam all over in Italy, and our mountain hideaway had it's own share.
This little one spent three days with us. I named her Bella.

Sunset view facing Positano from our house.

Evening shot of our house -- Villino Supremo.