Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast

Our day in Sorrento and driving the Amalafi Coast was not what you would call sunny. This picture of the boats in the cove is very pretty and evocative of our other sights this day.


Quite possibly my favorite shot from the whole day. It's a Target. Like our Target here in the States. They have 'em in Itly too.


The above picture is not particularly well focused, but it is proof that citrus trees grow abundantly in this region. They were planted along the street. This is an orange tree. (Yes, I know the fruit is green. It's not ripe yet!)



More citrus trees planted in someone's yard. Their own little grove, I suppose.





Anybody who knows Josh, knows that he wants 2 things in life. A gong. (He swears it's not to summon me, but rather, to announce his presence. Yeah right.) And a throne. This is one of several pictures I took of him in a throne at the dining establishment on our tour.


Look at that water. So clear and what a beautiful color. I thought you only got colors like that in the Caribbean. I guess I was wrong.





The restroom in the dining establishment where we had lunch, was down stairs. When you reached the ground floor, you were met by these stone arches.

Related to restrooms, but not Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast, Josh thinks that bathrooms were one giant afterthought in Europe, and specifically in Italy. So many of them were ill equipped and down long, narrow, cramped stairways. Sometimes you even had to pay for the privilege to use these "facilities."







Not a restaurant in which we dined, but we may have chosen if left our devices. Doesn't it look so inviting.




We saw the Amalifi Coast by coach. We kept nudging each other and pointing. We were rendered speechless by the beauty. I know these pictures don't really convey that, but like I said, we were on a bus. Difficult to get good pictures.

The next day of the cruise was an at sea day, our anniversary and a formal night. Not much to share. I will tell you that Josh is truly a romantic at heart and he knows me so well. He offered to get himself ready and make himself scarce so I could finish my preparations. (I had been trying to figure out how to make that work.) I met him for a cocktail in one of the lounges and then we went to dinner together in the "up-charge, specialty" restaurant.

Very romantic.

Like most people, I take the weekend off. Our next stop was in Corinth. Look for it next week.

Ciao!

Olive Oil Tasting

The above is the driveway to the bed and breakfast that hosted the olive oil tasting. We bought 3 bottles of evoo and 3 bottles of vino here. The name on the olive oil is "Casale Bonaparte." Yes, that's Bonaparte as in Napoleon. Or, more specifically, brother Lucien. The below is the bed and breakfast.



This is where we had our lunch and tasted olive oil.









Olive tree with ripe olives. Mmm.


This one is for my friend D. See, I found sheep in Italy, too.


This could be the farmhouse that is painted on my platter and serving set from Tucany. (It arrived today! Woohoo!)



That take us through the stop in Rome. I can make no promises about the timing of the next blog. Tomorrow is crazy busy with my student. I will do my best.

Kristen out.

Rome if you want to

We had two days in Civitevecchia. You see, Rome is not port city, but Civitivecchia is. So on our first day, we boarded a bus and, oh, about an hour and half inland we got to Rome. First stop...Trevi Fountain, pictured above.



Not the greatest picture of us, but at least one reader commented that she wanted more "gross lovey-dovey" pictures. So here ya go.

The next mass of pictures (my mom would call it a "ponk") are of the Forum.





Beautiful fruit on one of the many Roman roads we walked that day. Josh says we must have walked 3 miles. I don't care, it earned me a spa treatment. :-)

More pics of the Forum.









We are entering the Colosseum now.










This (the basement) is where the lions, gladiators, and Christians waited for the "games" to begin. An elevator of sorts lifted them to the floor of the Colosseum.


Now we move to Vatican City.


Many of the Popes are buried here.



We did not see the Sistine Chapel on this tour. Instead we saw St. Peter's Basilica. Much larger, and although we didn't Michelangelo's ceiling, we saw many other great works of Renaissance art. This is where the Pieta is housed. I have pictures, but they need some editing before they are blog worthy.

Second day in Civitivecchia we did an olive oil tasting in Toscania. Look for that on Monday.